NEW TESTAMENT SALVATION

Oneness Pentecostal Perspectives on Christian Initiation

By David K. Bernard
President, Urshan Graduate School of Theology, Hazelwood, Missouri
Pastor, New Life United Pentecostal Church, Austin, Texas
District Superintendent, South Texas District UPCI

Paper Presented at the Fourth Annual Oneness-Trinitarian Study Group

Society for Pentecostal Studies
March 10, 2005
Regent University, Virginia Beach, Virginia
 NEW TESTAMENT SALVATION

Oneness Pentecostal Perspectives on Christian Initiation

In the view of most Oneness Pentecostals, Christian initiation consists of repentance, water
baptism in the name of Jesus Christ, and the baptism of the Holy Spirit with the initial sign of
speaking in tongues. The Fundamental Doctrine of the United Pentecostal Church International
(UPCI), the largest Oneness group, identifies this threefold experience as “the Bible standard of
full salvation.”1 The UPCI calls this message “the whole gospel,” which it purposes to carry to
“the whole world.”2
In this paper, we will describe this doctrinal position, discuss the biblical evidence for it,
trace its historical roots in the early Pentecostal movement, and explore how this message relates
to other Pentecostals and Evangelicals.

Biblical Discussion
Oneness Pentecostals base their doctrine of salvation on the Bible, which they regard as their
sole authority in this matter. The major Oneness groups hold that repentance, water baptism in
Jesus’ name, and the baptism of the Holy Spirit constitute “the plan of salvation” for New
Testament believers. While there are differences between groups and even within groups on the
proper theological characterization of these three steps of faith, there is agreement that God
commands everyone to obey them. There is also agreement that these steps do not represent
salvation by works. Rather, they are applications of the grace of God, purchased by the blood of
Jesus Christ, and they are expressions of faith in God. The following discussion describes the
doctrine of New Testament salvation shared by most Oneness Pentecostals, particularly United
Pentecostals.3

1
Articles of Faith, Manual (Hazelwood, MO: United Pentecostal Church International, 2005), 25.
2
Constitution, Manual (UPCI), 35.
3
See David K. Bernard, The New Birth (Hazelwood, MO: Word Aflame Press, 1984).

Bernard, “NT Salvation” 2

 Salvation is by grace through faith and not of human works. It is a free gift from God,
which humans cannot merit, earn, or deserve. The atoning work of Jesus Christ has made this
free gift of salvation available, and the way to receive it is to believe in Jesus and the sufficiency
of His sacrifice.
To believe on Jesus includes believing His Word, and truly believing His Word includes
obedience to His call. Faith is more than mental assent, intellectual acceptance, or verbal
profession; it includes trust, reliance, appropriation, application. Faith is alive only through
response and action. Thus, we cannot separate saving faith from obedience. It is possible to have
an initial degree of faith in Christ and still not be saved if there is not full acceptance,
commitment, and obedience to the gospel.4
Faith is the means of appropriating God’s grace. It is the means by which people yield to
God, obey His Word, and allow Him to perform His saving work in them. Saving faith, then, is
(1) acceptance of the gospel of Jesus Christ as the means of salvation and (2) obedience to that
gospel (application or appropriation of that gospel).
The gospel of Jesus Christ is His death, burial, and resurrection for our salvation.5 On the
Day of Pentecost, the birthday of the New Testament church, the apostle Peter preached the first
gospel sermon to the crowds who had gathered to observe the Spirit-filled believers as they
spoke in tongues and worshiped God. He proclaimed the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus
Christ. Convicted of their sins by his simple yet powerful message, the audience cried out, “Men
and brethren, what shall we do?” (Acts 2:37). Peter, with the support of the other apostles, gave a
precise, complete, and unequivocal answer: “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”
(Acts 2:38). As this verse shows, a person responds to the gospel, obeys the gospel, or applies
the gospel to his life, by repentance from sin (death to sin), water baptism by immersion in the
name of Jesus Christ (burial with Christ), and receiving the Holy Spirit (new life in Christ).6
This response is the biblical expression of saving faith in Jesus Christ.7 In theological terms,
this threefold experience brings regeneration, justification, and initial sanctification.8 Baptism of

4
See Matthew 7:21-27; John 2:23-25; 12:42-43; 14:15, 23; Acts 6:7; Romans 1:5; 2:6-10; 6:17; 10:16; 16:26; II
Thessalonians 1:7-10; Hebrews 5:9; 11:6-8; I Peter 1:21-23; 4:17.
5
I Corinthians 15:1-4.
6
See Romans 6:1-7; 7:6; 8:2, 10.
7
See Mark 1:15; 16:16; John 7:37-39; Acts 11:15-17.
8
See I Corinthians 6:11; Titus 3:5.

Bernard, “NT Salvation” 3

water and Spirit is the birth of water and Spirit, the born-again experience of which Jesus spoke
in John 3:3-5. The three steps are not human works that earn salvation but divine works of
salvation in human lives. God calls people by His grace and leads them to Himself. As they
respond to His call by obedient faith, God changes their mind and direction at repentance,
washes away their sins at water baptism, and fills them with His regenerating, sanctifying, and
empowering Holy Spirit.
People in the Old Testament were saved by grace through faith based on the future sacrifice
of Christ. They expressed their faith by an obedient response to God’s plan for their day, which
included repentance. However, baptism in water and the baptism of the Holy Spirit are new
covenant experiences that were unavailable to them. While their faith was qualitatively the same
as that of New Testament saints, only the latter have the privilege of entering the fullness of
relationship with Christ.9
Those saved in the Gospels were saved under the old covenant while they awaited the new,
for the new covenant did not come into effect until after Christ’s ascension.10 Thus Acts 2:38 is
the comprehensive answer to an inquiry about New Testament conversion, expressing in a
nutshell the proper response to the gospel. Not only did Jews from many nations on the Day of
Pentecost receive the Acts 2:38 experience, but so did all other converts in the New Testament,
including the Samaritans, the apostle Paul, the Gentiles at Caesarea, and the disciples of John at
Ephesus.11
Repentance is a turn from sin to God, and it is essential to salvation. It consists of an
intellectual, emotional, and volitional change. It includes recognition of sin, confession of sin to
God, contrition or godly sorrow for sin, and a decision to forsake sin. Without repentance,
baptism is not effective; and without repentance, a person cannot receive the Holy Spirit.12
Water baptism expresses faith in God by obedience to His Word, and it specifically
confesses faith in Jesus Christ as Savior. The scriptural mode of baptism is immersion in water,
and only this method retains the biblical symbolism of baptism as a burial. Faith in Christ and

9
See Hebrews 11:7-8, 28, 39-40; Galatians 3:13-14, 26-29.
10
See Luke 7:28; 24:47-49; John 7:39; 16:7; Acts 1:4-8; Hebrews 8:6-13; 9:14-17.
11
See Acts 2:38-41; 8:5-17; 9:1-18; 10:44-48; 11:11-18; 19:1-6; 22:16.
12
See Proverbs 28:13; Luke 3:7-8; 13:3-5; Acts 17:30; 26:20; II Corinthians 7:10; II Peter 3:9.

Bernard, “NT Salvation” 4

repentance from sin are necessary to its validity; thus infant baptism is not appropriate. Water
baptism is part of entrance into the body of Christ.13
The complete work of forgiveness and remission of sins comes through repentance and water
baptism together. Repentance deals with a person’s sinful lifestyle, opening the door to a
personal relationship with God, while baptism deals with the record and consequences of sin.14
The baptismal formula. The Bible teaches that baptism should be administered by invoking
the name of the Lord Jesus Christ in faith.15 Using the name of Jesus in the baptismal formula
expresses faith in His identity, atoning work, and saving power and authority. The name of Jesus
is the only saving name, the name by which to receive remission of sins, the highest name, and
the name in which Christians are to say and do all things.16 Thus using Jesus’ name is the proper
way to fulfill the purposes for baptism.
The Bible records five historical accounts of baptism in the New Testament church that
describe a name or formula, and in each case the name is Jesus.17 The Epistles also allude
repeatedly to the Jesus Name formula.18
It is true that Matthew 28:19 speaks of baptism “in the name of the Father, and of the Son,
and of the Holy Ghost.” However, this phrase does not identify three names of three different
persons, but it describes a singular name that encompasses the redemptive manifestations of the
Godhead, and that name is Jesus.19 Moreover, the parallel accounts of the great commission in
the other Synoptic Gospels clearly describe the name of Jesus.20 Thus the apostles correctly
understood and obeyed the words of Jesus in Matthew 28:19 by baptizing all converts with the
invocation of the name of Jesus.
As the Greek text and modern translations make clear, several passages reveal that the name
is to be invoked orally.21 The disciples of John the Baptist, who were already baptized unto
repentance, were baptized a second time, the only difference being their new understanding of
Jesus and the invocation of His name.22

13
See Acts 2:38-41; 8:36-39; Romans 6:3-4; Galatians 3:27; Colossians 2:11-12; I Peter 3:21.
14
See Acts 2:38; 22:16.
15
See David K. Bernard, In the Name of Jesus (Hazelwood, MO: Word Aflame Press, 1992).
16
Acts 2:21; 4:12; 10:43; Philippians 2:9-11; Colossians 3:17.
17
Acts 2:38; 8:16; 10:48; 19:5; 22:16.
18
Romans 6:3-4; I Corinthians 1:13; 6:11; Galatians 3:27; Colossians 2:12.
19
See Zechariah 14:9; Matthew 1:21; John 5:43; 14:9-11, 16-18, 26; Revelation 22:3-4.
20
Mark 16:17; Luke 24:47.
21
Acts 15:17; 22:16; James 2:7.
22
Acts 19:1-6.

Bernard, “NT Salvation” 5

 It is interesting that noted biblical scholars agree with the exegetical conclusions of Oneness
Pentecostals on many of these points. Martin Luther and Ulrich Zwingli affirmed that the
apostles baptized by invoking the name of Jesus Christ rather than the Trinitarian titles.23
According to the lexicon of Bauer, Arndt, Gingrich, and Danker, the Greek prepositions in the
Acts baptismal passages indicate that the name of Jesus was orally invoked.24 F. F. Bruce
concurred that baptism “‘in the name of Jesus Christ’ (Acts 2:38; 10:48) probably refers to the
pronouncing of his name by the baptiser (cf. Jas. 2:7; Acts 15:17) or the invoking of his name by
the baptised person (Acts 22:16).”25
In regard to Matthew 28:19, many scholars recognize that the context demands a
Christological formula; consequently, they propose that either the words of Matthew 28:19 were
not the actual words of Jesus or else they were not originally understood as a formula.26 Karl
Barth concluded that, as a matter of theology, a simple baptismal formula that invokes the name
of Jesus would be the most appropriate and that the wording of Matthew 28:19 actually points to
Jesus Christ and His saving work.27
Moreover, church historians commonly acknowledge that the original baptismal formula of
the Christian church simply invoked the name of Jesus Christ; the Trinitarian formula was a mid-
second-century development.28
The baptism of the Holy Spirit is part of New Testament salvation.29 The phrase describes
how the believer is immersed in and filled with God’s Spirit. In Acts the terms “baptized, filled,
received, fell on, came upon, poured out the gift on” all describe this experience.30 It is promised

23
Martin Luther, “The Babylonian Captivity of the Church,” in Word and Sacrament II, vol. 36 of Luther’s Works,
ed. Abdel Wentz (Philadelphia: Muhlenberg Press, 1959), 63; Ulrich Zwingli, Of Baptism, in Zwingli and Bullinger,
trans. G. W. Bromiley, vol. 24 of The Library of Christian Classics (Philadelphia: Westminster Press, 1953), 144-
45, 168, 171. However, both said the trinitarian formula was acceptable.
24
Walter Bauer, W. F. Arndt, F. W. Gingrich, and Frederick Danker, A Greek-English Lexicon of the New
Testament, 2nd ed. (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1979), 572-73.
25
F. F. Bruce, The Books and the Parchments, rev. ed. (Old Tappan, NJ: Revell, 1984), 57 n.20.
26
G. R. Beasley-Murray, Baptism in the New Testament (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1962), 81-84. See also R. V. G.
Tasker, The Gospel according to St. Matthew, vol. 1 of The Tyndale New Testament Commentaries (Grand Rapids:
Eerdmans, 1961), 275.
27
Karl Barth, Church Dogmatics, trans. G. W. Bromiley (Edinburgh: T. & T. Clark, 1969) 4:4:75, 91-99. However,
he advocated the trinitarian formula for ecumenical reasons.
28
Kirsopp Lake, “Baptism (Early Christian),” Encyclopedia of Religion and Ethics, James Hastings, ed. (New York:
Charles Scribner’s Sons, 1951) 2:384; W. F. Flemington, “Baptism,” The Interpreter’s Dictionary of the Bible,
George Buttrick et. al, eds. (Nashville: Abingdon, 1962) 1:351.
29
See John 3:5; Romans 8:1-16; I Corinthians 12:13; Ephesians 1:13-14; Titus 3:5.
30
Acts 1:4-5; 2:4; 10:44-47; 11:15-17; 19:1-6.

Bernard, “NT Salvation” 6

to all who believe on Jesus and obey Him.31 The Bible records five historical accounts of
receiving the Holy Spirit in the New Testament church: the Jews, the Samaritans, the Gentiles,
the apostle Paul, and the disciples of John at Ephesus.32 This record establishes that the baptism
of the Spirit is indeed for everyone and is accompanied by the initial sign of tongues.33 Speaking
in tongues means speaking supernaturally, as the Spirit gives utterance, in a language the speaker
has never learned.34
As the accounts in Acts show, the baptism of the Holy Spirit can occur prior to water baptism
as well as subsequent to it. Theologically, repentance, water baptism, and the baptism of the
Holy Spirit form an integrated whole. We should expect converts to receive each divine work
almost simultaneously or in quick succession. The examples in the New Testament as well as
experiences today demonstrate that when this expectation is expressed consistently in preaching
and teaching, it indeed becomes the practical, as well as the theological, norm.
We can summarize the Oneness Pentecostal doctrine of Christian initiation as follows: (1) the
Bible is the sole authority for salvation; (2) the basis of salvation is Christ’s death, burial, and
resurrection; (3) salvation comes only by grace through faith in Jesus Christ; and (4) the
application of grace and the expression of faith occur as a person obeys Acts 2:38, thereby
experiencing the new birth of John 3:3-5.
This understanding of Christian initiation did not suddenly spring into being with Oneness
Pentecostals. Rather, the groundwork was laid in the teaching and terminology of John Wesley
and other early Methodists and then by the earliest Pentecostals, including Charles Parham,
William Seymour, and especially William Durham.

Wesleyan-Holiness Background
The concept of “full salvation” appears in the writings of John Wesley and other Wesleyan
and Holiness authors.35 Wesley, of course, believed in two distinct works of grace: justification

31
John 7:38-39; Acts 5:32; 11:15-17; 19:2; Galatians 3:14; Ephesians 1:13.
32
Acts 2:1-4, 33, 38-39; 8:5-22; 9:17; 10:44-48; 19:1-6.
33
Luke 11:13; Mark 16:17. In three of the five accounts, speaking in tongues is the initial sign that identifies the
individual reception of the Pentecostal experience (Acts 2:4; 10:45-47; 11:15-17; 19:6). It is implicit in the other two
accounts—an unnamed miraculous sign was evident in Samaria (Acts 8:15-19), and Paul later stated that he spoke in
tongues by the Spirit (I Corinthians 14:14-18).
34
Acts 2:1-11.
35
David Reed, “The ‘New Issue’ of 1914: New Revelation or Historical Development?” (paper presented at the
annual meeting of the Society for Pentecostal Studies, Wheaton, IL, November 1994), 19-20.

Bernard, “NT Salvation” 7

and entire sanctification (Christian perfection). Both John Wesley and his designated successor,
John Fletcher, spoke of sanctification as being “baptized with the Holy Spirit.”36
In an unpublished manuscript, Fletcher invoked Wesley’s authority for equating the phrases
“to be born again of water and of the Spirit” and “being baptized with water and with the Holy
Ghost.” He specifically linked John 3:3, 5 with Acts 2:38, citing them in the same paragraph.
Fletcher further said of Wesley, “He explicitly rests the doctrine of full Christian regeneration on
the full or Pentecostal dispensation of the Spirit.” Fletcher allowed for the existence of “two sorts
of children of God”: “imperfect believers in Christ” and “those who are perfected by the full
baptism of the Holy Ghost.” He argued, however, that the Christian church began on the Day of
Pentecost, that “the peculiar glory of the Christian Church consists in the Pentecostal fullness of
the Spirit,” and that “we must be baptized with [the Holy Ghost] baptism and refining fire, before
we can be styled true (I would say complete or truly spiritual) ‘members of Christ’s mystical
body.’”37

Views of Charles Parham

The earliest Pentecostal leaders applied the terms “full salvation” and “full gospel” to the
baptism of the Holy Spirit with the initial evidence of tongues.38 Charles Parham (1873-1929),
the first twentieth-century Pentecostal leader, taught that one must be baptized with the Holy
Spirit to be truly part of the church, to escape the wrath of the Tribulation, and to inherit the new
heavens. In one place he even used the phrase “being born of the water and the Spirit” to refer to
the complete experience of entering the church, as opposed to an initial confession of faith.
Parham attached tremendous significance to the baptism of the Holy Spirit. He held it to be
the fulfillment of Joel’s prophecy of the latter rain, a sign of the soon coming of the Lord, the
baptism that gives people full entrance into the church, a vital endowment of power that will
enable the church to evangelize the world before the Lord’s return, and the seal of protection
during the Tribulation. It is the “full gospel” and “full salvation.”39

36
Laurence W. Wood, “The Rediscovery of Pentecost in Early Methodism” (paper presented at the annual meeting
of the Society for Pentecostal Studies, Cleveland, TN, March 1998), 2.
37
John Fletcher, “An Essay on the Doctrine of the New Birth,” Asbury Theological Journal, Spring 1998, 35-56.
38
See David K. Bernard, A History of Christian Doctrine, Vol. 3: The Twentieth Century (Hazelwood, MO: Word
Aflame Press, 1999), 17, 28, 48-49, 112-21.
39
Sarah E. Parham, The Life of Charles F. Parham (Baxter Springs, KS: Apostolic Faith Bible College, 1930), 107.

Bernard, “NT Salvation” 8

 Twenty-one days after the Holy Ghost outpouring in Topeka, Kansas, on January 1, 1901,
Parham preached a message in Kansas City, Missouri, in which he stated, “It is the Baptism of
the Holy Spirit of promise, that seals the Bride and the same Baptism that puts us in one Body,
(the Church).”40 He equated “the sealing of the Holy Spirit of promise (which is evidenced by the
speaking tongues)” with being “baptized by the Holy Ghost into one Body, the gloriously
redeemed Church.”41
People who believe on Jesus can be saved in a lesser sense without this experience, but they
will endure the rigors of the Tribulation.42 Moreover, in eternity believers who do not receive the
Spirit will inhabit the new earth rather than the new heavens.43
In 1902, Parham published the foregoing message and teachings in A Voice Crying in the
Wilderness. In the same book, Parham wrote that after opening his Bible school but apparently
before the outpouring of the Holy Spirit, he realized that triune immersion was not scriptural.
Thus, he began baptizing by single immersion in the name of Jesus Christ, and he associated this
practice with confessing the deity of Christ, in contrast to liberal theology.44
Howard Goss testified that Parham baptized him in the name of Jesus Christ in 1903.45
Parham published the foregoing account again in 1910, indicating that perhaps he was still
baptizing in Jesus’ name at that time. As many ministers entered the growing movement,
however, for the sake of unity Parham reverted to the traditional Trinitarian formula. When the
Jesus Name controversy erupted, Parham affirmed Trinitarian theology and denounced the
Oneness movement.

Views of William Seymour and the Azusa Street Mission

William Seymour (1870-1922), the leader who spread Pentecostalism worldwide, was a
student of Parham and adopted much of his theology. Like Parham, he spoke of the baptism of
the Spirit as necessary to be part of the church and to escape Tribulation wrath. His Apostolic

40
Charles F. Parham, A Voice Crying in the Wilderness, rev. ed. (Baxter Springs, KS: Apostolic Faith Bible College,
1910), 25-38.
41
Ibid., 64, 75.
42
Ibid., 123.
43
Ibid., 137-38. There is some ambiguity as to whether those who are sanctified but not baptized with the Holy
Ghost will be part of the church and inherit the new heavens. See Charles F. Parham, The Everlasting Gospel
(Baxter Springs, KS: Apostolic Faith Bible College, 1913), 50, 54-55, 62, 82, 98-99, 102, 104.
44
Charles Parham, Voice, 21-24.
45
Fred Foster, Their Story: 20th Century Pentecostals (Hazelwood, MO: Word Aflame Press, 1975), 98, 121.

Bernard, “NT Salvation” 9

Faith paper emphasized the need of “walking in the light” and accepting this “Bible salvation.”
Those who rejected it were in danger of going to hell.
The original statement of faith published by Seymour’s Azusa Street Mission in Los Angeles
listed six topics: repentance, faith, justification, sanctification, the baptism with the Holy Ghost,
and healing. It described three—justification, sanctification, and Spirit baptism—as distinct
experiences that were part of full salvation.46
While the Azusa Street participants considered that a person was “saved” by the “first work”
of grace, they spoke of all three experiences as part of “Bible salvation.” The headline and
subheading at the top of the first issue of The Apostolic Faith reads: “Pentecost Has Come: Los
Angeles Being Visited by a Revival of Bible Salvation and Pentecost as Recorded in the Book of
Acts.”47 The November 1906 edition of The Apostolic Faith describes the baptism of the Holy
Ghost as “the real Bible salvation,” “the mark of the prize of the high calling in Christ Jesus,”
and “heaven in our souls.”48 In 1908, William Seymour wrote, “If you are sanctified and baptized
with the Holy Ghost and fire, you are married to Him already. God has a people to measure up to
the Bible standard in this great salvation. Bless His holy name. Amen!”49
Following Parham, Seymour frequently cited the parable of the ten virgins to emphasize the
importance of the baptism of the Holy Ghost. In his application, the oil of the five wise virgins is
the Holy Ghost. Thus, only people who have been baptized with the Holy Ghost will go up in the
Rapture and enjoy the marriage supper of the Lamb. Christians who have not received the Holy
Ghost will have to endure the Tribulation and be martyred.50
Articles in The Apostolic Faith affirmed that people who continued to walk with God would
receive the message and experience of the Holy Ghost and warned that those who rejected this
message and experience could be lost.51
Azusa Street participants spoke of the baptism of the Holy Ghost as the decisive turning
point in their lives. Although they identified previous experiences of conversion and

46
William Seymour, ed., The Apostolic Faith (Los Angeles) [hereafter AF] 1, no. 1 (September 1906): 2, reprinted
in The Azusa Street Papers [hereafter Papers] (Foley, AL: Together in the Harvest Publications, 1997), 11.
47
Ibid., 1, in Papers, 10.
48
AF 1, no. 3 (November 1906): 4, in Papers, 21.
49
AF 2, no. 13 (May 1908): 4, in Papers, 65.
50
AF 1, no. 5 (January 1907): 2, in Papers, 27. See Charles Parham, Voice, 123-24, for the same teaching.
51
Papers, 15, 19, 21, 26.

Bernard, “NT Salvation” 10

sanctification, their testimonies typically described the baptism of the Holy Ghost as the time
they experienced the full saving power of Jesus Christ:52

• Adolph Rosa (Portugese Methodist minister from Cape Verde Islands): “All pride, and
self, and conceit disappeared, and I was really dead to the world, for I had Christ within
in His fullness.”
• William Durham (prominent pastor in Chicago): “Then I had such power on me and in
me as I never had before. And last but not least, I had a depth of love and sweetness in
my soul that I had never even dreamed of before, and a holy calm possessed me, and a
holy joy and peace, that is deep and sweet beyond anything I ever experienced before,
even in the sanctified life. And O! such victory as He gives me all the time.”
• Maggie Geddis: “O the love, joy, and peace that flooded my being as I arose from the
floor. I was indeed a new creature.”
• C. H. Mason (founder of the Church of God in Christ): “This was wedlock to Christ….
He had complete charge of me…. It was a complete death to me…. The glory of God
filled the temple.”

When Mason attended Azusa Street, he went to the altar in response to a call for sinners to be
justified, even though he was a leader in his Holiness denomination. He explained his thought at
the time: “It may be that I am not converted, and if not, God knows and can convert me.”53 He
then received the Holy Spirit baptism.
The Azusa Street Mission did not believe in baptismal regeneration, but it emphasized the
necessity of practicing water baptism as a commandment of the Lord, and it considered water
baptism to be part of the “full Gospel.” “Baptism is not a saving ordinance, but it is essential
because it is a command of our Lord. Mark 16:16, and Acts 2:38…. It is obedience to the
command of Jesus, following saving faith. We believe every true believer will practice it.”54 The

52
Ibid., 14, 33, 36.
53
“Church of God in Christ History,” www.cogic.org/history.htm (Memphis: COGIC, 1999).
54
AF 1, no. 10 (September 1907): 2, in Papers, 51. The text actually says “Acts 2.28” but quotes Acts 2:38.

Bernard, “NT Salvation” 11

standard baptismal formula at Azusa Street was Trinitarian. Some of the converts, however, were
baptized in Jesus’ name in 1907 and 1909.55

Views of William Durham

William Durham (1873-1912) was the first Pentecostal leader to preach the “Finished Work
of Calvary,” the doctrine that sanctification is not an instantaneous second work of grace but is a
progressive work that begins at repentance as the believer appropriates the benefits of the Cross.
This doctrine raises questions about the baptism of the Holy Spirit. Is it a second work of grace,
or is it too associated with conversion?
Durham continued to regard the baptism of the Holy Spirit as a second crisis experience
following conversion. Since sanctification had no initial objective sign, it was easy for him to
collapse it back into his previous encounter with God at repentance. But the baptism of the Spirit
was an overwhelming emotional and spiritual experience, and it came with the initial sign of
speaking in tongues. Durham knew it was more than what he had received previously, which he
had already identified as conversion, so he did not equate the two.
Nevertheless, Durham did begin to speak of the baptism of the Holy Ghost as an integral part
of God’s plan of salvation that should immediately follow repentance and faith. Since all that
believers needed to do was to appropriate the finished work of Calvary, they could receive the
Spirit without delay.
Durham’s personal testimony revealed that he considered people to be saved from hell at the
initial moment of faith, yet God’s plan was for them to complete their salvation experience with
water baptism and the baptism of the Holy Spirit.56
For Durham, “God’s glorious message of full salvation,” the “Full Gospel,” and God’s “plan
of salvation” included the baptism of the Holy Ghost.57 Indeed, Durham insisted quite strongly
that to belong to the New Testament church, a person had to be baptized with the Holy Spirit
with the evidence of speaking in tongues.58

55
Cecil M. Robeck, Jr., “Making Sense of Pentecostalism in a Global Context” (paper presented at the annual
meeting of the Society for Pentecostal Studies, Springfield, MO, 1999), 10-11. Manuel Gaxiola, La Serpiente y la
Paloma: Historia, Teología Análisis de la Iglesia Apostólica de la Fe en Cristo Jesús (1914-1994), 2nd ed. (Mexico:
Libros Pyros, 1994), 117.
56
William Durham, Pentecostal Testimony [hereafter PT] 2, no. 3 (August 1912): 3.
57
Ibid., no. 1 (January 1912): 14; no. 3 (August 1912): 10.
58
Ibid., no. 1 (January 1912): 1, 13-14.

Bernard, “NT Salvation” 12

 Durham saw Acts 2:38 as the paradigm for New Testament salvation. He quoted this verse
on the masthead of his Pentecostal Testimony. In a widely distributed tract entitled Salvation in
Christ for All, he quoted Acts 2:38-39 as the answer to the question, “How may a man receive
this great blessing of full deliverance through Christ?” He said the three steps of Acts 2:38—
repentance, water baptism, and the baptism of the Holy Ghost—were God’s standard of
salvation. By these steps a person identified with the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus
Christ.59
A prominent Fundamentalist preacher, A. C. Dixon, once met with Durham and asked what
his distinctive doctrine was. Durham told him it was speaking in tongues as the initial evidence
of the Holy Ghost. Dixon exclaimed that by this doctrine he indicted all Christendom,
whereupon Durham solemnly replied, “Sir, they deserve to be indicted.”60
Durham died before the Oneness movement began. However, Frank Ewart, his associate and
successor and one of the earliest Oneness Pentecostal leaders, believed that Durham would have
received the Jesus Name message had he lived. He was a Trinitarian, but according to one report
he performed at least one baptism in Jesus’ name.61 He placed great emphasis on the name,
person, and work of Jesus Christ.62

Views of Early Oneness Pentecostals

Although the baptism of new converts in the name of Jesus Christ was common from the
onset of the Pentecostal movement, the Oneness movement began in 1914 with two simultaneous
developments: (1) Some Pentecostal leaders began baptizing people in Jesus’ name who had
previously been baptized with the Trinitarian formula. (2) They began to associate the Jesus
Name formula with the Oneness doctrine of God.
Given the previous teachings of Parham, Seymour, and Durham, it was only a small advance
for the Oneness pioneers to say that all three elements of Acts 2:38 were necessary for entrance
into the New Testament church. Indeed, for the earliest and most significant Oneness leaders,

59
Ibid., 3, 5.
60
Frank J. Ewart, The Phenomenon of Pentecost, rev. ed. (Hazelwood, MO: Word Aflame Press, 1975), 98.
61
Gordon Mallory (a United Pentecostal minister), personal interview, Austin, Texas, 14 February 1999. His mother
told him that her father, R. E. Sternall, one of the founders of the Pentecostal Assemblies of Canada, was baptized in
Jesus’ name by William Durham in Chicago.
62
Durham, PT 2, no. 1 (January 1912): 13; PT 2, no. 3 (August 1912): 6.

Bernard, “NT Salvation” 13

belief in Acts 2:38 as the “new birth” and “full salvation” came almost simultaneously with
belief in the Oneness doctrine of God.
For example, from the start of the Oneness movement in 1914, Frank Ewart (1876-1947)
equated being “born again” with baptism in Jesus’ name and the baptism of the Holy Ghost.63 He
reported the following testimony, apparently from 1914 or 1915: “Brother E. D. Yeoman ...
declared that he never was saved until he surrendered to Christ, was baptized in Jesus’ name, and
received the gift of the Holy Ghost.”64
George Farrow, who attended Ewart’s church in Los Angeles and composed the famous
Oneness hymn “All in Him,” wrote in January 1915:65

Many of the saints here are seeing it and walking in the light. This truth is water baptism
in the name of Jesus Christ.... It may seem to be very nonessential at first thought.... But God
has surely been blessing this truth and talking very definitely to many about its importance....
I also am coming to see that under the present light that we have, nothing short of the
baptism in the Holy Ghost is really salvation in the highest sense of the word.

G. T. Haywood (1880-1931), later presiding bishop of the Pentecostal Assemblies of the

World, taught that the new birth is water baptism in the name of Jesus and the baptism of the
Holy Spirit with tongues.66 In 1913, even before his baptism in Jesus’ name, he drew up a tract
showing that water baptism and the baptism of the Holy Ghost were necessary to enter into the
kingdom of God.67 In 1914 he penned the hymn “Baptized into the Body,” which stated that the
one way to enter the one church, bride, or body is to be baptized with the Holy Ghost just as on
the Day of Pentecost.68 At the same time, verse 5 says that people of faith who died before the
Holy Spirit came, may, like the saints of old, arise in the resurrection, and verse 6 exhorts
everyone to walk in the light in order to be ready for the Lord’s coming.

63
Frank J. Ewart, The Name and the Book (1936; repr. Hazelwood, MO: Word Aflame Press, 1987), 47, 55, 57.
64
Ewart, Phenomenon, 114. David Gray, a prominent UPCI minister trained under Ewart, confirmed that Ewart
taught Acts 2:38 as the new birth. David F. Gray, telephone interview, 29 March 1993.
65
George Farrow, “Letter to Miss Lulu Brumwell,” 11 January 1915, in UPCI Historical Center, Hazelwood, MO.
66
G. T. Haywood, The Birth of the Spirit in the Days of the Apostles, 15, 24, 28-29, in The Life and Writings of
Elder G. T. Haywood, Paul Dugas, comp., (Portland, OR: Apostolic Book Publishers, 1968).
67
See James L. Tyson, The Early Pentecostal Revival (Hazelwood, MO: Word Aflame Press, 1992), 180.
68
Sing unto the Lord (Hazelwood, MO: Word Aflame Press, 1978), 208. For the date, see Morris Golder, The Life
and Works of Bishop Garfield Thomas Haywood (1880-1931) (Indianapolis, 1977), 24.

Bernard, “NT Salvation” 14

 Oliver Fauss, later assistant general superintendent of the UPCI, took the following notes at a
Bible conference in Elton, Louisiana, in 1915:69

God is bringing us back to Acts 2:38, His plan…. God’s pattern is Acts 2:38, this is
plain…. We have no record of God being in these people until the Day of Pentecost
(Colossians 1:27; John 3:3). Cornelius was a just man, but not saved (Acts 10:22; 11:14-18;
Matthew 28:19; Mark 16:15; Luke 24:47; Acts 2:38).

Howard Goss (1883-1964), later the first general superintendent of the UPCI, contrasted “the
Spirit-filled Christian and the nominal church attendant.” He said, “These last are all alike
without a Saviour, and thus have no scriptural promise of ever seeing heaven, because they have
not actually been adopted into God’s family, nor have they legally become His child, and thereby
have no rightful claim on Him.”70
During the struggles over Jesus Name baptism, the Assemblies of God, in its 1915 and 1916
general councils, censured the view that the baptism of the Holy Spirit is the new birth.71 In 1917,
Assemblies of God leader E. N. Bell denounced the view that water baptism is part of salvation.72
Clearly, they dealt with ministers who taught that the birth of water and Spirit was baptism of
water and Spirit.
Andrew Urshan, a well-known pioneer Pentecostal evangelist, taught that obeying Acts 2:38
constitutes being “born of water and of the Spirit.” He proclaimed, “You must be born again or
be lost!”73
The earliest Oneness organization was the General Assembly of the Apostolic Assemblies
(GAAA). Its Articles of Faith (1917) stated that there was one entrance into the true church, the
body of Christ, namely, “a baptism of water and Spirit.” Moreover, “God’s standard of
salvation” includes “a holy, Spirit-filled life with signs following.”74
By early 1918, the GAAA merged with the Pentecostal Assemblies of the World (PAW) to
form a united Oneness group under the latter name. The first doctrinal statement of the PAW as a

69
Oliver F. Fauss, What God Hath Wrought (Hazelwood, MO: Word Aflame Press, 1985), 182.
70
Ethel E. Goss, The Winds of God, rev. ed. (Hazelwood, MO: Word Aflame Press, 1977), 111-12.
71
Combined Minutes (Assemblies of God, 1915), 9; Combined Minutes (Assemblies of God, 1916), 11.
72
David Reed, Origins and Development of the Theology of Oneness Pentecostalism in the United States (Ann
Arbor, MI: University Microfilms International, 1978), 170.
73
A. D. Urshan, Apostolic Faith Doctrine of the New Birth (Portland, OR: Apostolic Book Publishers), 13.

Bernard, “NT Salvation” 15

Oneness body repeated the foregoing phrases from the GAAA and also said, probably still
quoting from the GAAA, “In order to escape the judgment of God and to have the hope of
enjoying the glory of life eternal, one must be thoroughly saved from their sins, wholly sanctified
unto God and filled with the Holy Ghost.” The PAW’s 1919 conference affirmed by majority
vote, “The new birth (being ‘born again’) includes a genuine repentance, water baptism in Jesus’
name, and the baptism of the Holy Ghost, evidenced by speaking in other tongues as the Spirit
gives utterance.”75
Let us turn to the two organizations that merged to form the UPCI: the Pentecostal Church
Incorporated (PCI) and the Pentecostal Assemblies of Jesus Christ (PAJC). The first doctrinal
statement of the Pentecostal Ministerial Alliance (PMA), which was later renamed the PCI, said,
“The Bible way of salvation is repentance toward God, faith toward our Lord Jesus Christ,
obedience to the Word of God by baptism in water (in Jesus’ name), and receiving the gift of the
Holy Ghost, as in Acts 2:4, 38.”76 In the September 1929 issue of the Apostolic Herald, the voice
of the PMA, Howard Goss stated that to be in the Christian church “one must be baptized in the
Holy Spirit,” but he believed sins were remitted before water baptism.77 In the August 1930 issue
of the Apostolic Herald, Farrow wrote that Acts 2:38 was the new birth.78
In 1936, when discussing a possible merger with the PCI, the PAJC convention insisted that
the basis of union be the following: “that baptism in water in Jesus’ name, and the baptism of the
Holy Ghost, with the initial evidence of speaking in other tongues, be recognized as constituting
the new birth, and be accepted as one of our fundamental doctrines.” A committee of PCI leaders
responded, however, that “the matter of the new birth be left open to personal conviction.”79
At the merger of these two groups in 1945, there were still some differences of opinion on
the new birth, but a strong majority believed that the complete Acts 2:38 experience was
necessary for salvation. S. W. Chambers, who was elected general secretary at the merger, said
most ministers believed in the necessity of both water baptism and the baptism of the Holy
Spirit. He regarded the differences as primarily of terminology, not so much of basic belief.80 E.
J. McClintock, PCI pastor in Idaho at the time of the merger and later director of the UPCI

74
Arthur and Charles Clanton, United We Stand (Hazelwood, MO: Word Aflame Press, 1995), 28.
75
Minute Book and Ministerial Record (PAW, 1919), 2, 5, 9-10, reprinted in Tyson, 295, 299-300.
76
Clanton, 52.
77
Ibid., 52, 114.
78
Ibid., 52-53.
79
Ibid., 135-36.

Bernard, “NT Salvation” 16

General Sunday School Division, gave the same explanation, independently using almost the
same words. He said the ministers agreed on the necessity of the three steps of Acts 2:38 but did
not all agree on terminology.81 Nathaniel Urshan, son of Andrew Urshan and general
superintendent of the UPCI for many years, agreed with the assessment of Chambers and
McClintock and stated that the majority believed Acts 2:38 to be the new birth.82 Indeed, an
analysis reveals that about eighty-five to ninety percent of the merged body in 1945 held that the
full Acts 2:38 experience was essential to salvation.83
The two major histories of the UPCI, by Arthur Clanton and Fred Foster, state that the most
significant difference of opinion was on the essentiality of water baptism.84 Clanton explained
that the PCI allowed greater latitude on the new-birth message than the PAJC. David Gray of the
PCI, who became the first youth president of the UPC, confirmed this statement.85 In short, not
everyone agreed that Acts 2:38 was “the new birth,” and in particular, a significant minority did
not believe that “remission of sins” necessarily occurred at water baptism. What Chambers,
McClintock, Urshan, and Gray all pointed out, however, is that despite the different
interpretations, there was agreement that the Acts 2:38 experience is God’s plan for New
Testament salvation, whatever the precise theological terminology that one should attach to each
step or to the experience as a whole.
The Fundamental Doctrine of the UPCI states:86

The basic and fundamental doctrine of this organization shall be the Bible standard of full
salvation, which is repentance, baptism in water by immersion in the name of the Lord Jesus
Christ for the remission of sins, and the baptism of the Holy Ghost with the initial sign of
speaking with other tongues as the Spirit gives utterance.
We shall endeavor to keep the unity of the Spirit until we all come into the unity of the
faith, at the same time admonishing all brethren that they shall not contend for their different
views to the disunity of the body.

80
Stanley W. Chambers, telephone interview, 27 February 1993.
81
E. J. McClintock, personal interview, Hazelwood, MO, 8 April 1993.
82
Nathaniel Urshan, personal interview, Austin, TX, 24 April 1999.
83
David K. Bernard, Understanding the Articles of Faith (Hazelwood: MO: Word Aflame Press, 1998), 45.
84
See Clanton, 143-44; Foster, 143-44.
85
David F. Gray, telephone interview, 29 March 1993.

Bernard, “NT Salvation” 17

 At this point, it is important to note that the Oneness pioneers we have cited did not proclaim
dogmatically that all who had not experienced Acts 2:38 would go to the lake of fire. Like
Parham, Seymour, and Durham, most believed that there still could be a type of salvation outside
the New Testament church, similar to that of Old Testament saints, particularly for people who
walked in all the “light” they had received. We have already seen examples of this thinking in
the quotation from Farrow and in the song “Baptized in the Body” by Haywood.
Thus Ewart could say, “Pastor Durham passed on to glory at a comparatively early age,”
even though he died without being baptized in Jesus’ name. Ewart even called A. G. Garr “a
great man of God” while also remarking that he “flatly rejected” the Oneness message.87
G. T. Haywood made a distinction between being begotten and being born, similar to one
Parham had made earlier between conversion (being begotten) and sanctification (being born
again).88 Christians who had faith but who were not born again according to Acts 2:38 could still
be considered as “‘begotten’ by the Word” even though they had not yet been “born of the
Spirit.” In language reminiscent of the Apostolic Faith (Azusa Street Mission), he discussed the
question of whether all such people were lost:89

The one question that is so often asked is, “Are all those people who thought they were
born of the Spirit, and were not, lost?” No, not by any means. They shall be given eternal life
in the resurrection if they walked in all the light that was given them while they lived.

Andrew Urshan likewise made a distinction between being begotten and born. He described
his status at repentance as “a happy, blood-washed, newly conceived child of the King!” He
spoke of people being “saved” before they were born again and wrote of some who died in the
faith before baptism in Jesus’ name. Nevertheless, he taught that baptism in Jesus’ name is for
the remission of sins. It is necessary to go in the Rapture and escape the Tribulation. He also
believed strongly that the baptism of the Holy Spirit is necessary.90 People who believed in God

86
Manual (UPCI), 25.
87
Ewart, Phenomenon, 200-2.
88
See Charles Parham, Everlasting Gospel, 10-11, 102.
89
G. T. Haywood, Birth of the Spirit, in Life and Writings, 10, 12, 21.
90
Urshan, Life, 9, 88, 116, 151-52, 175-77.

Bernard, “NT Salvation” 18

and lived righteous lives “without ever coming to the light of being born again according to Acts
2:38” will rise in the second resurrection, presumably to live on the new earth.91
Contemporary Oneness Pentecostals do not necessarily proclaim as doctrine the various
beliefs and conjectures that we have just cited. Like the Oneness pioneers, however, they
recognize that God is at work in various Christian groups and that many people have genuine
faith in God and a spiritual relationship with Him while not completely fulfilling the New
Testament pattern of initiation. In such cases, they typically say that we must defer judgment to
God, for only He knows the heart and only He has the prerogative of evaluating the individual
fulfillment of His plan.

Parallels of Thought
Early Trinitarian Pentecostals typically said that believers were born again at repentance but
needed to receive the Holy Spirit in order to have full salvation, to enter the church, and to go in
the Rapture. Early Oneness Pentecostals typically said that believers needed to receive the Holy
Spirit to be born again, to enter the church, and to go in the Rapture, but those who did not could
still receive a type of salvation if they walked in all the light they knew. While the doctrines were
different, the effect upon preaching, witnessing, and praying was much the same, and both stand
in contrast to the common Trinitarian Pentecostal approach today, which is similar to a Baptist
“sinner’s prayer.”
Nevertheless, some Trinitarian Pentecostals and Charismatics today have begun to emphasize
the message of Acts 2:38, much as Oneness Pentecostals do. For example, Catholic Charismatic
scholars Kilian McDonnell and George Montague state:92

Peter describes the essential elements of Christian initiation in these words: [Quote of
Acts 2:38]…. How did the early post-biblical church appropriate the biblical teaching?
Baptism in the Holy Spirit was a synonym for Christian initiation…. The reappropriation of
initiation with the charisms, which is the baptism in the Holy Spirit, offers a significant
opportunity for life in Christ.

91
Reed, Origins, 354.

Bernard, “NT Salvation” 19

 While not insisting that tongues always accompany the baptism in the Holy Spirit,
McDonnell agrees that “charisms” (supernatural gifts or signs) should be the norm and that in
this regard speaking in tongues has “pride of place.”93
Even more remarkably, David Pawson, a leading Protestant Charismatic in Great Britain, has
independently developed a view of initiation that is very close to that of Oneness Pentecostals:94

In a nutshell, I believe that the “normal Christian birth” consists of true repentance and
genuine faith, expressed and effected in water-baptism, with a conscious reception of the
person of the Spirit with power….
Complete initiation consists of four elements—repenting towards God, believing in Jesus,
being baptised in water and receiving the Holy Spirit….
Receiving the Holy Spirit is a definite experience with demonstrable evidence….
When any of the four elements is lacking, steps need to be taken to supply the deficiency.

Pawson proclaims Acts 2:38 as normative for Christian experience. Like Oneness
Pentecostals, he insists that the complete experience is necessary for full salvation, regeneration,
justification, and initial sanctification. Pawson also presents the name of Jesus as central to the
baptismal formula, while not insisting on its essentiality and while retaining Trinitarian theology.
For him, speaking in tongues is typically the initial sign of the Holy Spirit, but he allows for the
possibility of other signs such as prophecy or ecstatic praise.
Gordon Fee, an Assemblies of God theologian, has similarly argued that Spirit baptism is not
a distinct experience subsequent to the new birth but is part of Christian initiation (although
speaking in tongues may not always accompany it).95
In principle, several non-Pentecostal Evangelicals have recognized that Acts 2:38 is the
paradigm for New Testament salvation. For instance, noted evangelist Leighton Ford quoted
Acts 2:38-39 and then commented:96

92
Kilian McDonnell and George Montague, eds., Fanning the Flame (Collegeville, MN: The Liturgical Press,
1991), 14-15, 27.
93
Kilian McDonnell, personal conversation, 18 March 2000, Kirkland, WA.
94
J. David Pawson, The Normal Christian Birth (London: Hodder & Stoughton, 1989), 5, 187-88.
95
Gordon D. Fee, Gospel and Spirit (Peabody, MA: Hendrickson, 1991), 98-99, 115, emphasis in original.

Bernard, “NT Salvation” 20

 The typical preaching in Acts offers both forgiveness and the Spirit…. A true and
complete conversion must involve both the sweeping clean that takes place in forgiveness
and the occupying of the cleansed spirit when the Holy Spirit takes up residence. Certainly
for the first Christians it was clear that a complete conversion included accepting the Word of
God, being baptised in the name of Jesus, and receiving the Holy Spirit.

In contrast to Pentecostals, however, Ford cautioned against trying to establish a normative

sign of the coming of the Spirit upon an individual. Other evangelical theologians who have
identified water baptism and Spirit baptism as integral to Christian initiation (while not accepting
tongues as the initial sign of Spirit baptism) include Frederick Bruner and James Dunn.97
In some ways, Oneness Pentecostals have a mediating position. Their message could help
Christian groups to identify the biblical strengths of various theological traditions and to develop
a greater consensus on Christian initiation. For example, like Lutherans, Catholics, and
Orthodox, they believe that God performs an inward work of remission of sins at water baptism,
while like most Trinitarian Pentecostals they underscore the need for faith and repentance to
accompany baptism. Like Evangelicals, they affirm that the baptism of the Holy Spirit is part of
Christian initiation, but like Trinitarian Pentecostals they expect speaking in tongues to
accompany this dynamic experience.

Summary
Oneness Pentecostals offer the following points relative to New Testament salvation:
1. In the New Testament, Christian initiation consisted of faith in God, repentance from sin,
water baptism, and the baptism of the Holy Spirit.
2. When baptism was administered in the New Testament church, the name of Jesus Christ
was invoked in order to emphasize the centrality of His saving work. Oneness Pentecostals urge
that everyone should still follow this practice today.
3. When New Testament believers received the Holy Spirit, they expected a powerful,
miraculous, supernatural event with inward and outward manifestations. Oneness Pentecostals

96
Leighton Ford, “The ‘Finger of God’ in Evangelism,” in J. I. Packer and Paul Fromer, eds., The Best in Theology,
Vol. 1 (Carol Stream, IL: Christianity Today, 1987), 292-93.
97
Frederick Bruner, A Theology of the Holy Spirit (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1970), 166; James D. G. Dunn,
Baptism in the Holy Spirit (London: SCM, 1970), 91.

Bernard, “NT Salvation” 21

assert that the expected sign was speaking in tongues and that everyone can still receive this
initial sign today if they will pray with expectancy.
4. In subsequent church history, much of the New Testament practice and expectation has
become the exception rather than the norm, so that Christian experiences today are often
subnormal or incomplete by New Testament standards.
5. While it is not our place to judge those whose experience does not conform fully to the
New Testament pattern, we should not be content to fall short of that pattern. Instead, we should
recognize that, to promote spiritual restoration and renewal, to facilitate worldwide revival, and
to prepare for the coming of the Lord, it is important for all believers to seek the apostolic
message, expectation, and experience.

Bernard, “NT Salvation” 22