Whitefield embodied and exemplified many of the features that have come to characterize evangelicalism for the past 300 years…bypassing ecclesial structures and creating a trans-denominational evangelical community. In the process, he helped cultivate evangelicalism’s signature fondness for parachurch ministries.

1. Whitefield consistently proclaimed the necessity of the new birth.

When George Whitefield entered Pembroke College at Oxford University in 1732, he was soon attracted to Charles and John Wesley and others who had formed what has often been called the “Holy Club” (more accurately known as the Oxford Methodists). These earnest men sought not only to draw closer to God through highly regimented spiritual disciplines but also engaged in acts of charity, including visiting prisoners and helping those in need. Despite this intensity, Whitefield became exhausted by his lack of peace in his relationship with Jesus Christ. As he redoubled efforts, his severe asceticism almost drove him mad. Charles Wesley gifted him a book by the Scottish minister and professor Henry Scougal, The Life of God in the Soul of Man, that unlocked the mystery of the new birth for him. This led to the liberating experience of Whitefield’s conversion and experience of the new life in Christ.

Surprisingly, this was not his first sermon, but rather “The Necessity and Benefit of Religious Society” (i.e., small groups). But it was his second sermon, simply called “On Regeneration,” and one that he repeatedly proclaimed. Even in sermons on different topics, Whitefield frequently returned to the critical importance of the new birth. For Whitefield, central to being born again were the themes of union with Christ, the indwelling presence of the Holy Spirit, and the emphasis on inward transformation that would continue to resonate throughout his ministry.

2. Whitefield was a convinced Calvinist.

By his own admission, Whitefield didn’t see himself as a theologian—at least not a theologian of the conventional sort. Instead of writing systematic theologies, Whitefield preferred to communicate his theology through sermons. Most of his evangelistic sermons feature three doctrines: conviction of sin, justification by grace through faith, and the necessity of experiencing the new birth.

But if Whitefield wasn’t a systematic theologian, that’s not to say that he didn’t have strong theological convictions. Whereas some of his fellow first-generation evangelical contemporaries like John and Charles Wesley were Arminian in their theology, Whitefield was a convinced Calvinist. In other words, Whitefield emphasized the ultimacy of God’s choice in our salvation, but not at the expense of our genuine human responsibility. God uses secondary means, like preaching and preachers, to draw his elect to himself. And he emphasized that when God justifies us, he forgives all of our sins: past, present, and future. And not only that, he imputes Jesus’s righteousness to us. And he emphasized the way God preserves those he’s saved: he promises to complete the good work that he’s begun in us.

Whitefield was willing to contend for these theological convictions in the public sphere, even when it resulted in significant interpersonal friction, most notably during the so-called Free Grace episode that split the early Methodist movement along Wesleyan-Arminian and Whitefieldian-Calvinist lines.

3. Whitefield warned of the dangers of being an “Almost Christian.”

Whitefield contrasted what he considered to be the biblical view of following Christ with the counterfeit understanding that did this in speech and appearance only. The former he termed an “altogether Christian,” while the latter he called an “almost Christian.” The grave danger of being an “almost Christian” was that the person was only a partial believer. Instead of seeking the guidance of God’s word to direct their life, they were more influenced by the dazzling attractions of the world. In his sermon “The Almost Christian” based on Acts 26:28, Whitefield proclaimed there were four marks that distinguished a faithful disciple of Jesus Christ. First, a believer is someone who understands and cultivates true religion (or a sincere religion of the heart).

Second, Jesus’s disciples must be filled and guided by the presence and power of the Holy Spirit. And third, they must seek to consistently deny themselves, take up their cross, and be Christ’s followers (Luke 9:23). The fourth and most challenging indicator is persecution for the cause of Christ, or at least willingness to suffer for him if needed. Interestingly, John Wesley preached on the same text with the same title three years later.

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