Pentecostal and Charismatic Theology — Unit 1: Pentecostal Theology as Encounter: Sources and Method

Key Verse

"And this is eternal life, that they may know You, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom You have sent." (John 17:3, NKJV)

Learning Objectives

When you finish this unit, you should be able to:

1. Explain what it means to call Pentecostal theology a "theology of encounter."

2. Describe Steven Land's three parts of Pentecostal spirituality: right belief, right practice and right affections.

3. Name the main sources of Pentecostal theology and put them in their proper order, with Scripture first.

4. Describe a simple method for testing a teaching or an experience against Scripture.

5. State the main objections to an experience-centered theology and explain how Pentecostals answer them.

The Voice of This Course

This course is written from inside the classical Pentecostal tradition, for students who belong to it. It is conservative and Trinitarian. When it says "we," it means Pentecostal believers who confess the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit as one God and hold the Bible to be the inspired and authoritative Word of God. We do not repeat the history taught in Course 1. Here we ask a different question: how do we think about God, and how do we know that our thinking is sound?

Other Christians and some scholars see these matters differently. We state their views fairly and then give our answer. Scripture says, "Test all things; hold fast what is good" (1 Thessalonians 5:21).

Why Begin with Encounter

Many theology courses begin with a list of doctrines. This course begins with a meeting. The Bible does not first offer us a system. It first shows us God coming to people and people responding. Abraham heard a call. Moses met God at a burning bush. Isaiah saw the Lord in the temple. On the day of Pentecost the disciples were filled with the Holy Spirit, and a crowd came together because of what they saw and heard (Acts 2:4-6).

The Lord Jesus said that eternal life is to know God, and the word "know" in Scripture is not only about facts. It means a living relationship. This is why many Pentecostal scholars call our theology a theology of encounter. The Pentecostal scholar Keith Warrington used this idea in the subtitle of his book Pentecostal Theology (2008). Pentecostals believe that the God of the Bible still meets His people, speaks to them, heals them, fills them and sends them out.

Paul understood preaching in this way. He wrote to the Corinthians: "And my speech and my preaching were not with persuasive words of human wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power, that your faith should not be in the wisdom of men but in the power of God" (1 Corinthians 2:4-5). Paul did not despise teaching. He wrote some of the deepest theology in the Bible. But he wanted his hearers to meet God, not only to learn about Him.

Encounter does not mean that feelings are the judge of truth. A meeting with God must be understood, and what we understand must be tested. That is why we also need sources and a method.

Belief, Practice and Affections Together

The American Pentecostal theologian Steven Land wrote Pentecostal Spirituality (1993). He argued that the early Pentecostals held together three things that are often separated. We may put them in plain words.

Right belief. This is what we confess about God: the Trinity, the deity of Christ, the cross and resurrection, the authority of Scripture, and the return of the Lord.

Right practice. This is what we do: prayer, worship, witness, service to the poor, praying for the sick, and obedience in daily life.

Right affections. This is what we love and long for: gratitude, joy, reverence, compassion, and a burning desire to see Christ honored. Land used the word "affections" for the deep dispositions of the heart that shape a whole life.

Land's point is that a living faith needs all three. A church can have correct doctrine and a cold heart. A church can have warm feelings and weak doctrine. A church can be busy and yet not know why. The Pentecostal tradition at its best joins truth, action and love. Jesus said the greatest commandment is to love the Lord with all the heart, soul, mind and strength. Doctrine that never reaches the heart or the hands is incomplete.

The Sources of Pentecostal Theology

Where do we get our theology? Pentecostals name several sources. They are not equal. There is an order.

1. Scripture, the final authority

The Bible is our first and final authority. "All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness" (2 Timothy 3:16). Every other source is judged by it. This was the conviction of the early Pentecostals, who called themselves people of "the Book" and who read the Bible for hours together. The great statements of our denominations all begin with the inspiration and authority of Scripture.

2. The Holy Spirit, who opens and applies the Word

The Lord Jesus promised, "However, when He, the Spirit of truth, has come, He will guide you into all truth" (John 16:13). Pentecostals believe the Spirit who inspired the Word also helps us to understand it and to obey it. But the Spirit never contradicts the Scripture He inspired. The same Lord said of the Spirit, "He will glorify Me, for He will take of what is Mine and declare it to you" (John 16:14). The Spirit leads us to Christ and to His Word. A so-called leading that goes against the Bible is not from the Holy Spirit.

3. The teaching of the church through history

Pentecostalism is not a lonely movement that began with no connection to the past. Our churches confess the faith of the early councils about the Trinity and about the person of Christ. In 1916 the Assemblies of God, a young denomination only two years old, adopted a Statement of Fundamental Truths, and its confession of one God in three persons was a response to the Oneness controversy you studied in Course 1. We will study that controversy in Unit 7. Pentecostals respect the creeds because the creeds summarize what Scripture teaches. We hold them below Scripture, but we do not ignore them.

4. The community and its testimony

Most Pentecostal theology was not first written in books. It was sung in hymns, spoken in testimonies, preached in sermons and prayed at altars. The community that testifies to what God has done is a real source of understanding, and it is also a check. When a believer says, "God spoke to me," the church listens, weighs, and compares it with Scripture. Paul told the Corinthians that when prophets speak, "let the others judge" (1 Corinthians 14:29).

5. Experience, received with thanks and tested

Experience is not a source on the same level as Scripture. It is a meeting place where Scripture becomes real. A Pentecostal says, "I read in Acts that the Spirit fills believers, and then I received the Spirit." Experience here confirms and illuminates the Word. It does not replace it. Pentecostal scholars sometimes say that experience shapes how we read, but Scripture must still judge our experience. We return to this question in Unit 2.

6. Reason and study

Some think a Spirit-filled believer does not need to study. Scripture says otherwise. Luke praised the people of Berea: "These were more fair-minded than those in Thessalonica, in that they received the word with all readiness, and searched the Scriptures daily to find out whether these things were so" (Acts 17:11). Notice that they were eager and careful at the same time. Languages, history and careful thinking are gifts of God. They serve the Word and are not its master.

Oral Theology and Written Theology

For its first decades Pentecostal theology was mainly oral. Sermons, songs, testimonies and altar calls taught doctrine to people of all levels of education. This is still true in many of your churches. A chorus can teach more theology to a village than a book. Historians of Pentecostalism often note this, and it is one reason the movement spread so well among people who could not read.

Oral theology is a strength, but it has a weakness. A teaching that is only spoken can change slowly without anyone noticing, and a mistaken idea may travel as fast as a true one. This is why pastors need to put their teaching into clear, written statements and to teach them to the next generation. Today there is a growing body of Pentecostal scholarship. Writers such as Steven Land, Frank Macchia, Keith Warrington, Wolfgang Vondey, Amos Yong and Kenneth Archer have written on Pentecostal theology and method. We do not agree with every point any writer makes, but we are grateful that our tradition is now thinking in writing, and we use the work with care.

A Simple Method for Pastors

When a teaching or an experience comes to the church, a pastor can follow five steps. They are not a formula, but they protect the flock.

1. Listen. Find out exactly what is being claimed. Ask who, what and where. Do not answer a rumor.

2. Open the Scripture. Ask what the passages actually say, in their setting. What did the author mean for his first readers?

3. Compare the whole Bible. A single verse is not enough. Ask whether the idea fits the whole teaching of Scripture and the faith of the church through the centuries.

4. Test the fruit. John wrote, "Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits, whether they are of God; because many false prophets have gone out into the world" (1 John 4:1). Does the teaching honor Jesus Christ as Lord? Does it produce love, truth and holiness?

5. Decide in the community. Bring the matter to the elders and the congregation. No one should decide alone, least of all the one who made the claim.

This method honors both the Spirit and the Word. It lets us receive what is good and reject what is not.

Objections and Our Answers

A pastor should be able to state objections fairly and answer them with courtesy.

Objection 1: Pentecostal theology puts experience above Scripture.

Some evangelical critics fear that a theology of encounter will measure truth by feelings. They point out that people in many religions have powerful experiences, and that experiences can be misread or even false.

Our answer. The criticism contains a real warning, and we accept it. Experience can mislead. That is why Pentecostals give Scripture the first and final word. The Bible itself calls for testing (1 Thessalonians 5:21; 1 John 4:1). But we also say that the Bible presents faith as a living relationship with God, not only as agreement with a list of ideas. Paul prayed that the Ephesians would know the love of Christ. The answer to false experience is not no experience. It is true experience, tested by the Word.

Objection 2: Pentecostals have no real theology, or they are against study.

Some critics say early Pentecostal preachers were suspicious of schools and had little interest in careful thought.

Our answer. It is true that some early preachers, who were often poor and had little schooling, feared that learning could replace the power of God. That fear should be understood but not copied. The Lord gave the Church teachers (Ephesians 4:11), and the Spirit is the Spirit of truth. Pentecostal schools, seminaries and scholars now work in many countries. A pastor serves his people best when he loves both the Spirit and the study of the Word.

Objection 3: Emphasis on the Spirit pushes Christ and the Bible to the side.

Some critics say Pentecostals talk about the Spirit more than about Jesus.

Our answer. The Spirit's own work is to glorify Christ (John 16:14). Classical Pentecostal teaching is Christ-centered: the Full Gospel, which we study in Unit 3, is a gospel of Jesus as Savior, Sanctifier, Baptizer in the Spirit, Healer and coming King. Where a church has drifted into talking about the Spirit apart from Christ, it should return to the center. That is a correction of practice, not a rejection of the doctrine.

Objection 4: A theology built on "encounter" cannot be shared across cultures or checked.

Some critics say that experience is private, so that Pentecostals cannot agree on anything.

Our answer. Our confessions, creeds and shared reading of Scripture show that this is not so. Pentecostals in Chile, Ghana, Korea and the United States confess the same Trinity and the same Lord. What they share is not only a feeling but a message about Jesus, grounded in the apostles' teaching. The common testimony of the Spirit to the same Christ is one of the strongest evidences that we are speaking of the same God.

Pastoral Application

A man in a village church stands during the service and says, "God has told me that three families in this congregation must sell their land and give the money to me, because I will build a school." Some believers are afraid and some are excited. They look at the pastor.

The pastor does not shame the man in public. He thanks him for his zeal and says, "Let us weigh this together, as the Bible teaches." Later, with two elders, he follows the steps. He listens to exactly what was said. He opens Scripture and notes that the Bible tells us to give freely and cheerfully, never under pressure, and that it warns against false prophets who seek gain. He compares the claim with the whole Bible and with the way the church has always understood prophecy. He asks about the fruit: does this message honor Christ, protect the poor, and bring the leaders into the light? Finally, the elders decide together and speak with the man in love. They say plainly that no one in the church is required to sell land, and they offer to help him plan a school in an open and accountable way.

The pastor has not quenched the Spirit. He has done what Scripture asked: he tested, and he held fast what was good.

Summary

Pentecostal theology begins with encounter: the living God meets His people and makes Himself known. As Steven Land observed, it holds together right belief, right practice and right affections. Its sources are Scripture as the final authority, the Holy Spirit who opens the Word and always agrees with it, the teaching of the church through history, the testimony of the community, experience that is received with thanks and tested, and reason and study. For many decades our theology was oral, carried by songs, sermons and testimonies, and it is now also written by Pentecostal scholars. Pastors can follow a simple method: listen, open Scripture, compare the whole Bible, test the fruit, and decide with the community. Critics warn that experience may be placed above Scripture, that Pentecostals neglect study, and that the Spirit is emphasized over Christ. We take these warnings seriously and answer that Scripture judges experience, that the Spirit gives teachers and the love of truth, and that the Spirit's work is to glorify Jesus.

Further Reading

• Steven J. Land, Pentecostal Spirituality (1993).

• Keith Warrington, Pentecostal Theology (2008).

• Frank D. Macchia, Baptized in the Spirit (2006).

• Wolfgang Vondey, Pentecostal Theology (2017).

• Kenneth J. Archer, A Pentecostal Hermeneutic (2004).

• Amos Yong, The Spirit Poured Out on All Flesh (2005).

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