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Grace Bible Church

4000 E. Collins Rd.   P.O. Box #3762   Gillette, WY  82717   (307) 686-1516

 

- Preaching the Living WORD through the Written WORD - 2 Tim 4;:2 -

 

 

 

 

V.    REBUTTAL TO THE HOLINESS PENTECOSTAL VIEW

 

A.    Scripture Does Not Teach Two Separate Works in Sanctification

1.     In discussing the three works in the Holiness Pentecostal doctrine, we see that Scripture does talk about the ministry of the Holy Spirit but not three levels of work.

2.     In conversion, Scripture teaches the convicting ministry of the Holy Spirit (Jn 16:8). The Holy Spirit “convicts” (elegchō - to expose, convict, or reprove) the sinner about his sin to lead him to repentance. The Spirit exposes and reproves the sinner concerning his sinfulness and unbelief (Jn 16:9), the sinner’s unrighteousness and Christ’s righteousness (Jn 16:10), and the judgment the sinner will receive if they do not come to Christ. This will be the same judgment that the Devil will receive (Jn 16:11).

3.     As discussed earlier, another ministry of the Holy Spirit is sanctification, which includes initial Positional Sanctification, ongoing Progressive Sanctification, and final Perfect Sanctification when the believer goes to heaven. As for the present life of the believer, he may subjectively observe that he grows in the Lord. This may even take place in degrees of intensity during his life, but there are no specified levels of sanctification in Scripture (2Pe 3:18).

B.    The Believer is Not Cleansed from All Indwelling Sin

1.     Part of the problem is that the Holiness Pentecostals confuse Positional Sanctification with Progressive Sanctification. When He 10:10 states that, “we have been sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all,” it is referring to Positional Sanctification. Though the word “sanctified” (hagiazō) is in the perfect tense, it signifies that we have been sanctified at a point in time in the past (Positional Sanctification) with ongoing results. The ongoing results are not speaking of sinless perfection, but as affecting the dominating force of our present indwelling sin principle.

2.     Paul teaches that our sin nature has been “rendered inoperable” as the dominating force of the believer’s life (Ro 6:6). The KJV’s language is misleading by the translation of katargeō as “destroyed” or the NASB’s “done away.” Though katargeō can be strong enough to imply “abolish” (1Co 15:26; Ep 2:15), the basic sense means to be caused to be idle, useless, or rendered inoperative. Take for example He 2:14, where the devil was not “destroyed” (KJV), but has been “rendered powerless” over the power of death. The sin nature has not been “destroyed” but has been “rendered powerless” as the dominant force in the believer’s life.

3.     We have already pointed out that Paul still struggled with sin in the flesh (Ro 7:13-21) and had not become perfect (Php 3:12-16).

C.    There is Only One Baptism of the Spirit at Salvation

1.     The Pentecostal View sees two spiritual baptisms in Scripture. One is at salvation by the “Spirit” when He places the believer in the body of Christ (1Co 12:13). The second is by “Christ” when he places the believer in the Spirit for the second blessing (Ac 1:5).

2.     Their argument is based on agency of spiritual baptism. They see 1Co 12:13 referring to the Holy Spirit’s agency of baptism and see Ac 1:4-5 as Christ’s agency.

3.     Ac 1:5 explains the only two baptisms represented in Scripture. One is John’s baptism is with “water” and the second is Christ’s baptism with the “Holy Spirit” (one is instrumental “with” (en - in, with, or by) “water,” and the other is instrumental “with” (en - in, with, or by) the “Holy Spirit.”). These are the only two different baptisms in Scripture.

4.     1Co 12:13 is not a different kind of baptism from Ac 1:5b. In fact, 1Co 12:13 could be translated, “For ‘with’ (en - in, with, or by) one Spirit we were all baptized.” There is no mention in the Scriptures of different types of spiritual baptisms, especially with reference to a time after salvation. Simply stated, the Father and the Son are the agents or baptizers, who both sent the Spirit (Father - Jn 14:26; Ac 1:4; Son - Jn 15:26; Jn 16:7). And the Holy Spirit is the means or instrument in both Ac 1:5 and 1Co 12:13.

5.     Baptism of the Spirit is the Spirit’s ministry whereby He places the believer into the body of Christ (1Co 12:13). He does this for “all” believers at the moment of salvation. They are all “made to drink of one Spirit” (enabled and empowered) by the Spirit when the believer is indwelt by the Holy Spirit (1Co 6:19) at the moment of salvation. This was the baptism promised by Jesus (Ac 1:4-5, 8), which took place on the day of Pentecost, not a separate baptism subsequent to salvation.

D.    Tongues was a Spiritual Gift Which was Not Given to Every Believer

1.     Though the gift of tongues was given to those who were baptized with the Spirit on the day of Pentecost, they were not an evidence of Baptism of the Spirit.

2.     Tongues was a spiritual gift given by the administration of the Holy Spirit as He willed and to whom He willed (1Co 12:4, 11). Tongues was not given to every believer (1Co 12:8-10, 29-30), yet every believer is baptized with the Holy Spirit at the moment of salvation (1Co 12:13). Therefore, tongues cannot be the evidence of the Baptism of the Spirit.

3.     Furthermore, the Scriptures do not admonish believers to seek tongues or the Baptism of the Spirit (Ro 12:6; 1Co 12:13).

E.    Scripture Does Not Teach a Crisis of Experience (See Keswick View)