SOTERIOLOGY IN PENTECOSTAL TRAJECTORY
Colossians
3:14 (NRSV)
Above
all, clothe yourselves with love, which binds everything together in perfect
harmony.
Love is the centerpiece of our
redemption in the Pentecostal faith; this love is not a flimsy emotional frenzy
connected to a mystical feeling, but rather, the very source by which our faith
exist. “For in Jesus Christ neither
circumcision availeth any thing, nor uncircumcision; but faith which worketh by
love” (Galatians 5:6).
Love is God at work in us. “But God commendeth his love toward us, in
that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us” (Romans 5:8). It
is His love for us and our love for Him that we understand salvation as a way
of life and a way of living. Salvation
is a path taking us from this temporal life to the immortal life of eternity
with the one we love and the one who loves us; Father God.
Salvation is not seen as a one-time
event, it is not something we earn or something static setting in the corner of
our lives as a memory that we are no longer connected to. Salvation is a gift given to us by God; it is
the life of God dynamically growing in us transforming us in the purchased gift
of redemption, not of silver nor of gold but by the precious blood of Jesus
Christ the captain of our salvation (1Peter 1:18-20).
Our pursuit of holiness is holiness
pursuing us. “Not that I have already
obtained it or have already become perfect but I press on so that I may lay
hold of that for which also I was laid hold of by Christ Jesus” (Philippians
3:12 NASB).
As I see it, holiness is
interaction, transformational exchange between our lives and the life of God,
“Jesus became like us so we could become like Him.” (Dr. Land) I am grateful that Jesus did not set up in
heaven with His holiness and expect that we would get it without Him. He became flesh and dwelt among us; He
brought Himself and His holiness to us.
"Our pursuit of holiness is not a
means to establish a form of legalism; legalism is choosing certain things to
justify ourselves. Thus, obedience to
God’s will and a passion for God’s will is not legalism. This is where love comes into play;
Pentecostal theology of holiness in the process of salvation is whole hearted
love to God as we walk out our lives in the revelation of His love for us" (Dr.Land).
Furthermore, righteousness is the
structure that shapes holiness internally and externally in all that God
requires, and the content becomes the triune love of God at work in us and for
us. Therefore, holiness is not
righteousness against us. It is His love
that empowers us to live righteously, and that empowerment is directing us
towards His goal or that which He has in mind. This becomes Christianity lived out as we
participate with God and His nature.
Once we understand His love for us
and realize He is for us and not against us is when our passion for holiness
grows stronger. It is in the crisis
moments of our lives that the Spirit and the Word collides with our former
nature and our new found nature in Christ. Rather than ignoring the crisis, we
Pentecostals see this as redemptive opportunity to walk in the light as He is
in the light (1John 1:5-7).
We do not teach a sinless life, on
the other hand, we have no “happy sin” in us; once sin is revealed by the
Spirit and the Word it becomes unhappy and remains unhappy until His love
wrestles it out of us. “‘Mercy and truth are met together; righteousness and
peace have kissed each other’. The point
of union between these two perfections is the infinite love of God in which all
divine qualities are finished. This is
true holiness: pure religion and undefiled before God (James 1:27).” (Dr.
Gause)
As a result, our spirituality is
clearly marked as our beliefs and practices are manifested out of our
affections for the one who has demonstrated His love toward us. We believe that a combination of right
beliefs (orthodoxy), right practices (orthopraxy), and right affections
(orthopathy) work together as an ethos that clearly marks our path of
salvation.
We begin this journey by activating
our faith in the grace gift of repentance; this is where the Spirit and the
Word develops within us a godly sorrow induced upon us by the goodness of God
(2Corinthians 7:9). His mercy and His
goodness afford this gift to us; and it has been purchased for us by the blood
Jesus shed for us on the cross of Calvary.
In other words, repentance is not
something we can conjure up out of our own goodness or just because we decided
one day to be a better person. There is
this deep sense of knowing that comes to us in the form of revelation, and this
revelation is birthed in us by the Spirit and the Word of God.
This revelation becomes a resolve
that we are sinful, wicked, and twisted in our human sinful nature. This deep sense of knowing is a turning in
God that sets us on this path of salvation, that in the redemptive process we
are continually turning from being distant from God to being to drawn to Him: “…turn thou me, and I shall be turned; for
thou art the LORD my God. Surely after that I was turned, I repented; and after
that I was instructed, I smote upon my thigh: I was ashamed, yea, even
confounded, because I did bear the reproach of my youth” (Jeremiah
31:18-19).
This interaction with God is a faith
walk and with our faith in this interaction we are justified by our faith;
God’s grace in this relational transformation remits our sinful acts and
declares us righteous in Christ Jesus (2Corinthians 5:21; 6:1-2).
As we interact with God in this
process the Spirit and the Word working together creates this crisis
development dialectic changing us from glory to glory (revelation to
revelation). Therefore, repentance unto
salvation is not just an initial encounter but also becomes revolving in the
fuller redemptive plan of God.
Initially in repentance we are
adopted into the family of God by the new birth; we are born of the spirit, not
by a corruptible seed, but by an incorruptible seed (the Word of God). We were dead in our trespasses and sins and
now are made alive as a creative act of grace in regeneration; creating a new
inner nature.
Moreover, with this new nature
and as a new creature in Christ through regeneration, we are released into a
more fruitful growth in and by the Holy Spirit to another definite work of
grace, subsequent to the initial work of grace in repentance, justification,
adoption, and regeneration; that being sanctification.
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