WikiPortallus: Oneness Pentecostalism.html

Oneness Pentecostalism is a movement of Pentecostal Christianity that believes in the atoning death of Jesus Christ, his resurrection, his soon return, and the word of God as contained in the Bible. Oneness Pentecostals believe that there is one God. That the one God is omnipresent, omniscient, and omnipotent. They believe God is eternal, immutable, and invisible; and he has individuality, personality, and rationality. They do not describe God in the manner of personages like Trinitarians but describe God in the manner of three manifestations. They believe that God was manifest in the flesh as Jesus Christ. Oneness Pentecostal organizations often follow the practice of baptizing people in Jesus' name according to the baptismal formula found in Acts 2:38 and other New Testament scriptures.

Both Oneness and Trinitarian denominations acknowledge that Christianity is a monotheistic religion with the God of the Bible as the only deity in existence and that Jesus was born, died, and resurrected. Oneness Pentecostals believe that it is inappropriate to describe God in the form of three persons.

The Oneness doctrine affirms that God is one. Oneness Pentecostals believe in the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit as three manifestations of One God. Oneness doctrine affirms the full deity of Jesus, by holding that God incarnate manifested himself to humanity in the man Jesus. They cite 1Timothy 3:16 which says, "And without controversy great is the mystery of godliness: God was manifested in the flesh, justified in the Spirit, seen by angels, preached among the Gentiles, believed on in the world, received up in glory." Oneness Pentecostals teach that this is literally true and that Jesus was God manifest in the flesh. They believe that the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit all refer to God simultaneously and that God is not separated from himself. Oneness Pentecostals differ from Trinitarians in that Trinitarians describe the manifestations as three persons who are coexistent, co-divine, co-equal, co-eternal, and co-powerful yet at the same time one in substance or essence.

Doctrine and theology

God

Oneness Pentecostalism holds to a monotheistic view of God and stresses that Jesus Christ is the visible manifestation of God in the New Testament (the Father in the Son). God was known by several names and titles in the Old Testament, but with the New Covenant he revealed his name as Jesus. It rejects all concepts of Trinity, polytheism, or other doctrines which are seen as representing multiple and separate Gods. As such it rejects three separate persons in the Godhead. All concepts of Jesus Christ are explained as either the Father or the Son, the divine Spirit or the man Christ in two different modes. Jesus is taught as being fully God and fully human, and as to his humanity, Christ is believed to be the only begotten Son of God. They reject Jesus being seen as only one of three Gods. They believe Jesus as the Son is the only present high priest and at the same time God.

Some confuse the terms Unitarian and Oneness; however, Oneness Pentecostals deny charges of believing in Unitarianism or that they believe Jesus was only human. Although Unitarians and Oneness are similar in the belief that there is not a plurality of persons in the Godhead, Unitarians believe that Jesus was only a moral authority whereas the deity and humanity of Jesus Christ are essential to Oneness doctrine. For a contrast and comparison of the Oneness and Trinity doctrines, see Oneness vs Trinity.

Jesus' Name doctrine

The Jesus' Name doctrine is often misunderstood. Jesus' Name is the description used by Oneness Pentecostals when referring to themselves or their baptismal beliefs, as they are believers who were baptized in the name of Jesus Christ( which they believe contains the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit). Jesus' Name, to Oneness Pentecostals, contains the saving name of God for the present Church age. Jesus inherited his name from the eternal name of the Godhead, and Oneness Pentecostals place emphasis on use of the name of Jesus regarding it as the name above all names.

Critics of Oneness believers commonly refer to them as Jesus Only, implying they deny and reject the persons of the Father and the Holy Spirit in the Trinity. Most Oneness Pentecostals consider that term to be pejorative and a misreprentation of their true beliefs on the issue. The label arose early on in reference to their insistence on baptizing in the name of Jesus Christ. The Oneness position is that they do indeed believe in baptism in the name of Jesus Christ, but that to describe them as Jesus Only Pentecostals implies a denial of the Father and Holy Spirit, a contention they vigorously reject as false. Instead of denying or rejecting the Father and Spirit, they teach a different description or interpretation of their natures.

Salvation

Oneness Pentecostal doctrine and theology typically maintains that salvation comes by faith through grace. The acts of faith and grace are achieved by obedience to specific commands and requirements that are found in the New Testament. The requirements held as necessary for salvation are: faith in Jesus Christ, repentance by faith, water baptism by faith in the name of Jesus Christ, and the gift of the baptism in the Holy Spirit by faith with the evidence of speaking in tongues. The view of Oneness Pentecostals is that scripture records the commandment of these acts of faith for salvation and explains that the lack of them would result in not having salvation. However, not all Pentecostals who are Oneness hold to this type of soteriology (doctrine of salvation) and believe that water baptism and the baptism of the Holy Spirit are subsequent to salvation. One of the predecessor organizations of the UPCI, the Pentecostal Church, Inc. (PCI),brought this view over into the Oneness merger in 1945. The vocal minority which held this view were called "one steppers" whereas those of the Pentecostal Assemblies of Jesus Christ (PAJC) who followed strictly their interpretation of Acts 2:38 were called "three steppers."

Holiness

Oneness Pentecostals believe that a Christian's lifestyle should be one characterized by holiness. This holiness begins at baptism when the blood of Christ washes away sin and a person stands before God holy for the first time in his/her life. Subsequent to this sanctification, Oneness Pentecostals hold that separation from the world in both practical and moral areas will keep converts from lapsing back into past sins. Moral or inward holiness is righteous living guided and powered by the indwelling of the Holy Spirit. Practical or outward holiness involves modest apparel and gender distinction. For some Oneness Pentecostal organizations, because of what they consider the amoral conduct of society in dress, this involves establishing dress codes for its members known as holiness standards similar to those all Pentecostal denominations used for much of the first half of the 20th century. While these dress codes are officially treated as a matter of personal conviction, in practice there is strong social pressure in most circles to comply. Generally, women are expected not to wear pants, wear makeup, or cut their hair; men are expected to be clean-shaven and short-haired. Many of these views on holiness have roots in the Holiness movement.

History

Overview

The present day Oneness Pentecostal movement began in the early 20th century inside the wider Pentecostal movement. Led by early leaders such as Charles Parham and William J. Seymour and beginning at the Azusa Street Revival, Pentecostalism spread around the world. In its early and formative years, doctrinal division developed and widened over the traditional Christian theology of the Trinity and the valid formulas of baptism. Adherents split along these doctrinal lines. Those who held the belief in the Trinity and continued using the traditional Trinitarian baptismal formula (In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit) formed the Church of God in Christ, the Assemblies of God, Church of the Foursquare Gospel, and many other denominations and ministries. Those who rejected the Trinity as contrary to the Bible and as being a form of polytheism by dividing God into three separate beings, formed their own denominations and institutions. While the date of the start of the Oneness movement is debatable, by 1919 the Pentecostal Assemblies of the World (PAW) had definitively embraced the movement, and other groups identified as Oneness Pentecostal.

Restorationism / church successionism

While widely accepted that today's Oneness Pentecostal movement came into existence in the early 20th century during the latter days of the Azusa Street Revival, there are those within the movement who disagree. Church historians such as Curtis D. Ward, Marvin Arnold, and William Chalfant argue that the movement has existed in every generation from the original day of Pentecost to the present day.¹ Ward has proposed the view of an unbroken Oneness Pentecostal Church lineage and claims to have chronologically traced its perpetuity throughout history. ² This segment of Oneness Pentecostalism are non-restorationists commonly referred to as Church successionists. However, restorationists such as Bernard and other Oneness historians deny any direct link from earlier Apostolic believers to the current Oneness Pentecostal movement. Restorationists teach the Apostolic church went into apostasy and became the Catholic Church. They believe modern Pentecostalism is a total restoration culminating after a step by step separation within Protestantism until the early Apostolic Church was fully restored.

Oneness Pentecostals believe the Apostles adhered to the Oneness doctrine. This belief is held mainly around the baptismal formula followed in Acts 2:38, “Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins; and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost," and that there are no new testament references to water baptism using any other formula or reference other than Jesus Name baptism. In Acts 2:42 when "they continued steadfastly in the apostles' doctrine," Oneness Pentecostals believe that doctrine was the repentance, baptism, and indwelling of the Holy Spirit as described in Acts 2:38.

Citing various sources, Oneness theologian David K. Bernard traces Oneness adherents back to the first converted Jews of the Apostolic Age, citing no evidence of Jews having any issues comprehending the new teachings and integrating them with their existing strict Judaistic monotheistic beliefs.^{citation needed} In the Post-apostolic Age, he claims that Hermas, Clement of Rome, Polycarp, Polycrates and Ignatius from 90 to 140 A.D., and Irenaeus who died about 200 A.D, were either Oneness, modalist, or at most a follower of an "economic Trinity," that is a temporary Trinity, not eternal one ³ (However, Bernard does not teach an unbroken succession of the Church, but teaches that there have been Oneness Pentecostal believers sporadically throughout history until the restoration of the Church after the Asuza Street revival).

In support of the theory that the majority of all believers up until Tertullian (died c. 225; first to use the term Trinity to describe God) were Oneness adherents, Bernard quotes Tertullian as writing, "The simple, indeed (I will not call them unwise or unlearned), who always constitute the majority of believers, are startled at the dispensation (of the Three in One), on the very ground that their very Rule of Faith withdraws them from the world's plurality of gods to the one only true God; not understanding that, although He is the one only God, He must yet be believed in with His own economy. The numerical order and distribution of the Trinity, they assume to be a division of the Unity."⁴

Later non-trinitarian teachers included the following: Abelard (1079-1142) who was accused of Sabellianism and forced into refuge in a monastery in France; Michael Servetus (1511-1553) eminent physician from Spain, sometimes cited as a motivating force of Unitarianism, who wrote, "There is no other person of God but Christ ... the entire Godhead of the Father is in him,"⁵ was burned at the stake for heresy on October 27, 1553 for his teaching; Emanuel Swedenborg (1688-1772); Presbyterian minister John Miller, author of Is God a Trinity? (1876), John Clowes, pastor of St. John's Church in Manchester, England, reportedly wrote a book in 1828 that taught Oneness.⁶

Development

Oneness historian Morris Golder, cites PAW Bishop G. T. Haywood in an article from 1915 in The Voice in the Wilderness, as dating the beginning of Oneness Pentecostalism to at least 1906 with the formation of the Pentecostal Assemblies of the World. The founders were E. W. Doak, G. T. Haywood, and D. C. Opperman. According to Dr. David Bundy, a Pentecostal historian at the Christian Theological Seminary, as early as 1907 a white Baptist minister in Los Angeles was preaching non-Trinitarian water baptism in the name of Jesus Christ. According to Dr. Deborah Sims LeBlanc, William and Maggie Bowden, the parents of former Assistant Presiding Bishop Frank Bowden, were baptized in the name of Jesus after the Azusa Street Mission Revival (1906-1909).

However, the beginning for many was in April 1913 at The World-Wide Apostolic Camp Meeting held in Arroyo Seco, California and conducted by Maria Woodworth-Etter. Organizers promised that God would "deal with them, giving them a unity and power that we have not yet known." ⁷ Canadian R. E. McAlister preached a message about water baptism "just prior to a baptismal service to be conducted". His message defended the "single immersion" method and preached "that apostolic baptism was administered as a single immersion in a single name, Jesus Christ," saying "The words Father, Son, and Holy Ghost were never used in Christian baptism." This immediately caused controversy when Frank Denny, missionary to China, jumped on the platform and tried to censor McAlister.

Oneness Pentecostals mark this occasion as the initial "spark" in the Oneness revival movement. "John G. Schaepe, a young minister, was so moved by McAlister's revelation, that after praying and reading the Bible all night, he ran through the camp the following morning shouting that he'd received a 'revelation' on baptism that the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost was Lord Jesus Christ." ⁸ Ironically, Frank Denny himself, along with G. T. Haywood, Harry Morse, John G. Schaepe, R. J. Scott, George Studd, R. E. McAlister, Andrew D. Urshan, and Homer L. Falkner embraced Lord Jesus Christ as the three-in-one name of the Trinity for baptism as the "exclusive apostolic formula." When other Oneness objected to this Trinitarian baptism and said Lord Jesus Christ was the full name only of Jesus, Trinitarians such as John Schaepe, Robert McAlister, and E. N. Bell bolted and returned to the use of the titles Father, Son, and Holy Spirit recorded in Matthew 28:19.⁹

Schaepe (whose name is often misspelled Scheppe in a number of sources) claimed that the revelation he'd received during the camp meeting revival was that the baptismal command posited by Peter in Acts 2:38 - i.e., baptism "in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ" - was the fulfillment and counterpart of the Great Commission in Matthew 28:19 - i.e., baptism "in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit." This conclusion was accepted by several others in the camp and developed further theologically by a minister named Frank J. Ewart. By 1914, Frank Ewart and Glenn Cook publicly baptized each other in "the name of the Lord Jesus Christ but as the one name of Jesus not as a trinitarian formula." A number of ministers claimed they were baptized "in the Name of Jesus Christ" before 1914, including Frank Small and Andrew D. Urshan. Urshan claims to have baptized in Jesus Christ name as early as 1910. ¹⁰ Even Charles Parham himself baptized using a Christological baptismal formula prior to Azusa Street (Dr. Charles Wilson, Our Heritage, p. 12). However it was not their baptismal formula which was the issue, but rather the rejection of the Trinity that was the bigger issue to other Pentecostal ministers.

Schaepe's revelation caused a great stir within Pentecostalism. During the next year, Frank J. Ewart, another Pentecostal minister, struggled between his Trinitarian teachings and the new issue. He often spent hours debating with R. E. McAlister, attempting to bring the two doctrines together. R.E. McAlister, the man who had fired the shot heard around the world at Arroyo Seco, formally renounced the Oneness doctrine in 1919 ⁹. Thereafter, he became one of the Canadian teachers of orthodox Trinitarianism among Pentecostals in Canada as well as a proponent of the finished work doctrine¹¹ In the Assemblies of God the re-baptisms had the effect of causing a backlash from many Trinitarians who feared the direction their organization might be heading. J. Roswell Flowers initiated a resolution which caused the Oneness baptizers to withdraw from the organization. By October 1916 the issue finally came to a head at the Fourth General Council of the Assemblies of God. The mostly Trinitarian leadership, fearing the new issue might overtake their organization, drew up a doctrinal statement affirming the Trinity among other issues. When the Statement of Fundamental Truths was adopted more than one quarter of the ministers and membership left to form Oneness fellowships.^{citation needed}

Organizational history

Pentecostal Assemblies of the World

The Pentecostal Assemblies of the World is the oldest Oneness Pentecostal organization in existence.^{citation needed} As a result of the Azusa Street Revival, a number of independent Pentecostal churches and their leaders, in an effort to stabilize these new works, felt the need to come together and form an association of churches of "like precious faith", thus forming the Pentecostal Assemblies of the World. Its goal was to further spread the gospel and to give support to each other. For the next few years, the Pentecostal Assemblies of the World focused upon general meetings and the development of its organizational structure.^{citation needed} The late Bishop Morris E. Golder wrote: "The original organization bearing the name of the Pentecostal Assemblies of the World came into existence in the year of 1906 in the city of Los Angeles, State of California.^{citation needed} The late Bishop G. T. Haywood concurs with this fact, writing in the Voice In The Wilderness in 1921: "It (The Pentecostal Assemblies of the World) was started in 1906 in Los Angeles, California."^{citation needed} This was also the position asserted by Bishop Ross Paddock, the former Presiding Bishop of the Pentecostal Assemblies of the World. He declared that after one year of being organized, the Pentecostal Assemblies of the World had its first annual business meeting and that, at the same time, it was Trinitarian in its doctrine and liturgy of water baptism.^{citation needed} It was in this context of varying ideas, personal differences, doctrinal and other conflicting elements that not only was the need of organization seen, but the Pentecostal Assemblies of the World in its original state (1906) came into existence.^{citation needed} However, it was not until 1919 that it became incorporated and took on the identity of being a Oneness body of ministers and believers.^{citation needed}

According to PAW historians, "From 1913 to 1914, for one year, the battle raged within the Association regarding the God-head and the 'new issue."^{citation needed} Consequently, in 1914, the Pentecostal Assemblies of the World experienced its first split.^{citation needed} Essentially, there were two questions around which the debate was centered: (1) "Is there one God, or are there three distinct persons in the God-head? and (2) How then, should an individual be baptized? Should one be baptized in the Name of the Father, Son and Holy Ghost, or should one be baptized in the Name of Jesus Christ?" In 1916, after four years (1912-1916) of this intense and bitter debate, those leaders and individuals who embraced the Trinitarian concept split from Jesus Name Christians.^{citation needed} These then formed the PAW which had no organizational board until 1919. During the transition period some minsters took their ministerial credentials from the Church of God in Christ. In 1916, the Pentecostal Assemblies of the World was loosely organized in Indianapolis, Indiana, at the Christ Temple Assembly of the Apostolic Faith, where Bishop G. T. Haywood was the pastor.^{citation needed} Bishop Haywood became the organization's first Presiding Bishop at that meeting.^{citation needed} During that meeting, the organization's headquarters were established in Portland, Oregon.^{citation needed} In 1919, the Pentecostal Assemblies of the World headquarters were moved from Portland to Indianapolis, and was incorporated in the state of Indiana. The incorporators were E. W. Doak, G. T. Haywood, and D. C. Opperman".¹²

Several small Oneness ministerial groups formed after 1914. Many of these merged into the Pentecostal Assemblies of the World and some remained independent. Division occurred within the PAW over the role of women in ministry, wine or grape juice for communion, divorce and remarriage, and proper mode of water baptism. There were reports of racial tension in the early PAW. African Americans were joining the PAW in great numbers and were in many significant positions of leadership.^{citation needed} In particular the African-American pastor G. T. Haywood served as General Secretary and signed all ministerial credentials. PAW resolutions were proposed that credentials be signed by individuals of the same race.^{citation needed} This factor, along with Jim Crow segregation policy, contributed greatly to the split primarily along racial lines which resulted in the United Pentecostal Church's formation. In 1932, the Pentecostal Assemblies of the World was reorganized and elected Elder Samuel Grimes of New York, as the new Presiding Bishop.^{citation needed} Bishop Grimes served as the Presiding Bishop for 35 years (1932-1967). The Pentecostal Assemblies of the World has never left their original vision of a racially integrated body of believers. To this day, although predominantly black, they continue to reach out and work toward racial unity in worship and organization. There have been both white and black presiding bishops in this group.

The Apostolic Assembly of the Faith in Christ Jesus (AAFCJ) and its sister church the Apostolic Church of the Faith in Christ Jesus (IAFCJ), left the Pentecostal Assemblies of the World to serve the Hispanic community in the United States and the nations of Latin America.^{citation needed} The Apostolic Assembly of the Faith in Christ Jesus is the largest Oneness Pentecostal group of primarily Spanish-speakers in the United States of America, and it is also the oldest primarily Hispanic denomination in the world.^{citation needed}

United Pentecostal Church International

In 1945, a merger of two predominantly white Oneness Pentecostal organizations, the Pentecostal Church Incorporated and the Pentecostal Assemblies of Jesus Christ, resulted in the formation of the United Pentecostal Church. Beginning with 1,800 ministers and 900 churches, it has become the largest and, through evangelism and publishing efforts, most influential Oneness organization.¹³ Presently they are called United Pentecostal Church International (UPCI), adding the word "International" in 1972.

The UPCI has suffered several splinters since its inception in 1945. In 1955, a group of ministers led by Bishop C. B. Gillespie (Fairmont, WV), Bishop Ray Cornell (Cleveland, Ohio), and Bishop Carl Angle (Nashville, Tennessee) rechartered the PAJC using the original charter.^{citation needed} In 1968, a number of ministers organized the Apostolic Ministerial Fellowship - AMF, citing the UPCI as 'too liberal'. Central issues were holiness and local church government. In 1986, Pastor L. H. Hardwick, a UPCI pastor in Nashville, Tennessee, broke away, citing the UPCI as 'too conservative' and referred to them as "legalists" (referring to the issue of dress code and standards), and formed the Global Network of Christian Ministries.^{citation needed}

In 2001, Bishop Teklemarim Gezahagne and the more than 1 million members of the Apostolic Church of Ethiopia (ACI)broke their 45 year alignment with the UPCI. The official position of the UPCI is that the division was over Christology. Bishop Teklemarim taught that the flesh of Jesus was God and had no human connection to the seed of Adam, David, or his mother Mary. He taught one nature in Christ and it was divine. The UPCI has always taught two natures in Christ, human and Divine. Bishop Tekelmarim refused to reconsider his stance after high ranking envoys came from the UPCI to Ethiopia to discuss his error. Thus the interpretation of Christology caused the division.

Oneness Pentecostals

Oneness Pentecostalism.html

Contents

Doctrine and theology

God

Jesus' Name doctrine

Salvation

Holiness

History

Overview

Restorationism / church successionism

Development

Organizational history

Pentecostal Assemblies of the World

United Pentecostal Church International

Oneness Pentecostals

See also

References

External links

Articles, indexes, & other resources

Favoring views

Comparative articles

Other

Organizations