Finished Work Pentecostalism
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Finished Work Pentecostalism is a major branch of
The doctrine arose as one of the "new issues" in the
History
Background
When Holiness Pentecostalism, the earliest form of Pentecostalism, emerged as a distinct movement within
Another movement stressing the importance of sanctification arose called the
Though distinct from Keswickian (Higher Life) theology, the Finished Work Pentecostal doctrine was also propagated through ministers of a
Articulation and opposition
In 1910, William Howard Durham preached a sermon entitled "The Finished Work of Calvary" at a midwestern Pentecostal convention. His finished work teaching "sought to 'nullify' the understanding of sanctification as wholly realized in the believer by a crisis experience subsequent to and distinct from conversion." This teaching began the controversy that divided the Pentecostal movement into a three-stage (Holiness Pentecostalism), which was the original Pentecostal view, and Durham's two-stage Pentecostalism (Finished Work Pentecostalism). Three-stage Pentecostalism (Holiness Pentecostalism) held the view that there are three distinct experiences of grace—conversion, sanctification, and baptism in the Holy Spirit; the third stage was added to the two traditional Wesleyan Methodist works of grace: conversion (New Birth) and entire sanctification (Christian perfection).[17] In contrast, two-stage Pentecostalism (Finished Work Pentecostalism), which was the non-Wesleyan view held by Durham, held that sanctification was a lifelong process that began at conversion, thus this view only professed two stages—conversion and Spirit baptism.[18]
Durham wrote in his magazine, The Pentecostal Testimony:
I ... deny that God does not deal with the nature of sin at conversion. I deny that a man who is converted or born again is outwardly washed and cleansed but that his heart is left unclean with enmity against God in it... This would not be Salvation. Salvation ... means a change of nature... It means that all the old man or old nature, which was sinful and depraved and which was the very thing in us that was condemned, is crucified with Christ.[19]
Converts began to share their beliefs in meetings and councils in the western United States where the Azusa Movement and its emphasis on sanctification as a definite experience was seen as orthodoxy, and any deviation was viewed with suspicion. This took the form of family members and friends who frequented various revival and camp meetings in the eastern US returning home to the Northwest and attempting to share their understanding of the “new doctrine.”[7] The popularist version suggested that sanctification was not a requirement for Spirit Baptism. This was viewed as a dangerous and fallacious polemic by the majority who assumed that anyone who had received the Pentecostal Blessing had in fact been sanctified and as an outright heresy by those who had slipped into the entire sanctification camp. In either case, proponents of the finished work were seen as contentious and were in many cases officially shunned to the point of dividing families.[7]
The dispute grew more heated in February 1911 when Durham went to Los Angeles where he was prohibited from preaching at the Upper Room and Azusa Street Missions. He was able to hold services at the Kohler Street Mission where he attracted 1000 people on Sundays and around 400 on weekdays.[20] Durham died that same year, but the controversy surrounding finished work persisted.
Outcome
The effect of the controversy was that the young Pentecostal movement was split between Wesleyan-holiness and non-Wesleyan Reformed evangelicals. The finished work gained the greatest support from the independent and unorganized urban churches and missions. The Pentecostal denominations centered in the
Despite the resistance of Wesleyan Pentecostals, however, finished work adherents were successful in persuading many Pentecostals of the validity of their view. As a result, most of the Pentecostal denominations founded after 1911 adhered to the finished work doctrine.
References
Notes
- ^ The Apostolic Faith Church is the original denomination of Holiness Pentecostalism that emerged from the Azusa Street Revival.[21]
Citations
- ^ Wesleyan understanding of sanctification as a distinct second experience of grace separate from conversion and which bestowed "Christian perfection" on the recipient.
- ^ S2CID 149417223.
- ISBN 978-0-8028-4103-2, pp. 149-150.
- ^ James Leo Garrett, Systematic Theology, Volume 2, Second Edition, Wipf and Stock Publishers, USA, 2014, p. 395.
- ^ ISBN 978-0-521-53280-8.
Those who resisted Durham's teaching and remained in the 'three-stage' camp were Seymour, Crawford and Parham, and Bishops Charles H. Mason, A. J. Tomlinson and J. H. King, respectively leaders of the Church of God in Christ, the Church of God (Cleveland) and the Pentecostal Holiness Church. Tomlinson and King each issued tirades against the 'finished work' doctrine in their periodicals, but by 1914 some 60 percent of all North American Pentecostals had embraced Durham's position. ... The 'Finished Work' controversy was only the first of many subsequent divisions in North American Pentecostalism. Not only did Pentecostal churches split over the question of sanctification as a distinct experience, but a more fundamental and acrimonious split erupted in 1916 over the doctrine of the Trinity. ... The 'New Issue' was a schism in the ranks of the 'Finished Work' Pentecostals that began as a teaching that the correct formula for baptism is 'in the name of Jesus' and developed into a dispute about the Trinity. It confirmed for Holiness Pentecostals that they should have no further fellowship with the 'Finished Work' Pentecostals, who were in 'heresy'.
- ^ ISBN 978-0-87436-865-9.
The Finished Work Pentecostals believed that conversion and sanctification were a single act of grace. The Assemblies of God, created in 1914, became the first Finished Work denomination.
- ^ ISBN 0-88243-646-5.
- ^ ISBN 9781630878320.
In addition to these separate denominational groupings, one needs to give attention to the large pockets of the Holiness movement that have remained within the United Methodist Church. The most influential of these would be the circles dominated by Asbury College and Asbury Theological Seminary (both in Wilmore, KY), but one could speak of other colleges, innumerable local campmeetings, the vestiges of various local Holiness associations, independent Holiness oriented missionary societies and the like that have had great impact within United Methodism. A similar pattern would exist in England with the role of Cliff College within Methodism in that context.
- ^ Three comparatively recent works which explain Wesley's theological positions are Randy Maddox's 1994 book Responsible Grace: John Wesley's Practical Theology, Kenneth J. Collins' 2007 book The Theology of John Wesley: Holy Love and the Shape of Grace, and Thomas Oden's 1994 book John Wesley's Scriptural Christianity: A Plain Exposition of His Teaching on Christian Doctrine.
- ^ ISBN 0-88243-457-8. pp. 42-43.
- ISBN 978-0-252-06281-0. p. 26.
- ISBN 978-1-5326-7918-6.
- ^ a b Waldvogel, Edith L. (1979), "The "Overcoming" Life: A Study in the Reformed Evangelical Contribution to Pentecostalism", Pneuma: The Journal of the Society for Pentecostal Studies, 1 (1): 8.
- ISBN 978-1-4982-8522-3.
Much of the Keswickian influence came through A.B. Simpson's Christian and Missionary Alliance, itself an ecumenical missionary movement.
- ^ Hollenweger, Walter. The Pentecostals.
- ^ Blumhofer, Edith L. "The Reformed Roots of Pentecostalism", PentecoStudies 6 (2): 78-99.
- ISBN 978-1-4185-8753-6.
Most of the first generation of Pentecostals were from this holiness stream that had its roots in Methodism. ... When the Pentecostal movement began, these "Holiness Pentecostals" simply added the baptism in the Holy Spirit with tongues as "initial evidence" of a "third blessing" that brought power for witnessing to those who had already been sanctified. With the news tongues experience, sanctification was seen as a prerequisite "cleansing" that qualified the seeker to experience the "third blessing" of baptism in the Holy Spirit. An early prophetic utterance stated ominously that "My Spirit will not dwell in an unclean temple." Seekers were encouraged to abandon all the roots of bitterness and original sin so that nothing would block their reception of the Spirit. In fact, it was told that Seymour would not admit seekers to enter the upper room to seek the baptism until he was satisfied that their sanctification experience had been certified downstairs. The historic Azusa Street testimony was "I am saved, sanctified, and filled with the Holy Ghost."
- Pneuma: The Journal of the Society for Pentecostal Studies, 1 (1): 27–28.
- ^ Clayton, 29-30.
- ^ Clayton, 31-32.
- ISBN 978-1-4422-4432-0.
- ^ Synan, The Holiness–Pentecostal Tradition: Charismatic Movements in the Twentieth Century, 152.
- ^ "Statement of Faith". Heritage Bible College. Retrieved 10 May 2024.
In sanctification subsequent to the new birth, through faith in the blood of Christ, through the Word, and by the Holy Ghost.
- ^ Scott, Rebekah (5 January 2006). "Murrysville Bible school produces teachers, preachers, prophets and apostles". Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. Retrieved 17 June 2022.
- ^ Synan, The Holiness–Pentecostal Tradition: Charismatic Movements in the Twentieth Century, 151-152.
- ^ Clayton, 35.