Do you know how the uniquely Methodist phrase “Strangely Warmed” came about?
The story of John Wesley being strangely warmed happened on 24 May 1738. John Wesley had opened his Bible at about five in the morning and came across these words, “There are given unto us exceeding great and precious promises, even that ye should partakers of the divine nature.” He read similar words in other places.
That evening he reluctantly attended a meeting in Aldersgate. Someone read from Luther’s Preface to the Epistle to Romans. At about 8.45 pm, something happened, as John Wesley described: “While he was describing the change which God works in the heart through faith in Christ, I felt my heart strangely warmed. I felt I did trust in Christ, Christ alone for salvation; and an assurance was given me that He had taken away my sins, even mine, and saved me from the law of sin and death.”
