In general, traditional Methodism shares a great deal with most Protestants, and the interested reader should consider reading the article concerning Lutherans and Protestants before continuing on. I should also point out that I have used the term “Traditional Methodism” here. This is because the United Methodist Church, being a theologically rather liberal church body, has for many years been straying away from its traditional roots in many important ways. To understand the import of that, the reader might want to consult the discussion regarding Theological Liberalism at some point as well.
At the heart of Methodist theology is Arminianism, a teaching which strongly denies the predestinarian teachings of Calvinism. Methodists are not Lutherans, but they are not Calvinists either!
Similarities
Traditional Methodist prayers and worship rites tend to be more liturgically minded than, say, those of a Baptist. For that reason, a Lutheran worship service is probably going to feel a little less foreign to a Methodist than to many other Protestant Christians.
Furthermore, Lutherans share Methodism’s rejection of the Calvinist doctrines of Double Predestination and a Limited Atonement. Lutherans also share Methodism’s rejection of the Calvinist doctrines of Once Saved Always Saved and Irresistible Grace, although Lutherans do so for different theological reasons than Methodism, which will be discussed below.
Differences
A key difference between Methodists and Lutherans, not surprisingly, relates to the defining doctrinal position of Arminianism, and that defining doctrine is this: that human beings have free will, not only in matters of daily life (and Lutherans agree with Methodism on that), but also with respect to our ability to love, serve and believe in God. Methodists insist that any conversion to Christianity, to be genuine and real, must involve the freely made choice of the person who would come to Christ. To put it simply, to become a Christian, one must “choose Christ”. Here, Lutherans disagree with Methodism. It is a classic teaching of Lutheranism that “I cannot by my own reason or strength believe in Jesus Christ, my Lord, or come to Him.” Lutherans believe that an unbeliever choosing Christ on his own is impossible, and that an unbeliever must be empowered by the Holy Spirit to believe in Christ or come to Him. Methodism does acknowledge that problem, but teaches that God, through what they call “prevenient grace”, which He gives to all people, essentially brings every unbeliever to the point where choosing Christ becomes possible for them.
Methodism rejects the Calvinist Doctrine of Irresistible Grace, as do Lutherans, but for different reasons. Lutherans believe that God extends grace to sinners through the physical means of Word and Sacrament, and that a human being has the innate power to resist God when He comes in this way. Methodists anchor their believe that grace may be resisted in its foundational teaching that conversion, to be genuine, must be freely embraced. For the Methodist, the very idea of God calling a person to salvation in such a way that he cannot resist simply doesn’t fit with human free will.
Methodism, like Lutheranism, also rejects the Calvinist teaching that once a person is saved, he cannot fall away. Popularly speaking, this is the Doctrine of “Once saved, always saved.” However, Methodists and Lutherans have different reasons for believing that a sincere Christian can fall away from the faith. Lutherans understand a Christian’s ability to remain in the faith is dependent on remaining connected to the Word and Sacraments. Thus, faith which becomes disconnected from the Word will die in time. Methodists, on the other hand, believe that for a human being actually to have free will, this requires that a person always retain the ability to abandon Christ if he decides to.
Historically, most non-Methodist Protestants were Calvinists. That appears to be changing somewhat. Today “Decision Theology” is becoming very popular in Evangelical circles, especially in non-Denominational churches. Consider the so-called “sinners prayer”, or the expression “asking Jesus into your heart.”