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Key Verse
"Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever." (Hebrews 13:8, NKJV)
Learning Objectives
When you finish this unit, you should be able to:
1. Explain what Pentecostals mean by the "Full Gospel" and why it is centered on Jesus Christ.
2. Name the five themes of the fivefold gospel and the four themes of the fourfold gospel, and say which Pentecostal groups use each.
3. Describe the origin of the pattern in the Christ-centered teaching of A. B. Simpson and in early Pentecostal preaching.
4. Give the main Scripture for each of the five themes.
5. State the main objections, especially about healing and the atonement, and give the Pentecostal answer.
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. In Unit 1 we saw that Pentecostal theology begins with encounter, and in Unit 2 we saw how Pentecostals read the stories of Luke–Acts. In this unit we gather the whole message into one picture of Jesus Christ. We state the views of critics fairly and then give our answer.
What Is the Full Gospel?
When early Pentecostals preached, they often spoke of the "Full Gospel" or the "Whole Gospel." They did not mean that other Christians had no gospel. They meant that the gospel of Jesus Christ has a fullness, and that in their view the church had neglected some parts of it. They wanted to proclaim all that Jesus did and all that He still does.
The center of the Full Gospel is not a doctrine. It is a Person. The Letter to the Hebrews says, "Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever" (Hebrews 13:8). The Lord who saved, healed and baptized with the Spirit in the Gospels and Acts is the same Lord today. Everything in the Full Gospel is therefore a way of saying who Jesus is and what He does. This answers the critics who say that Pentecostals talk about gifts and not about Christ. The Full Gospel is Christ-centered from beginning to end.
Where the Pattern Came From
Pentecostals did not invent the idea of presenting Jesus in several roles. In the late 1800s the preacher A. B. Simpson, who founded the Christian and Missionary Alliance, taught a "fourfold gospel": Jesus as Savior, Sanctifier, Healer and Coming King. His teaching was one of the streams that fed the early Pentecostal movement, as you saw in Course 1. Simpson was not a Pentecostal, and he did not teach that tongues were the sign of Spirit baptism, but his pattern was loved by many in the Holiness and healing movements.
Early Pentecostals took this pattern and made changes. They added Jesus as the one who baptizes in the Holy Spirit. The result took two forms, and the difference matters.
The fivefold gospel. Many Holiness Pentecostal bodies, which teach sanctification as a second work of grace, speak of five themes: Jesus as Savior, Sanctifier, Spirit-Baptizer, Healer and Coming King.
The fourfold gospel. Many Finished Work bodies, such as the Assemblies of God, speak of four themes: Jesus as Savior, Spirit-Baptizer, Healer and Coming King. The Foursquare Gospel, preached by Aimee Semple McPherson in the 1920s and the name of the denomination she founded, also uses these four. In these groups sanctification is taught as part of the work of salvation and the life of the believer, rather than as a separate step.
The historian Donald Dayton, in Theological Roots of Pentecostalism (1987), traced this pattern and argued that it shows how deeply the Holiness and healing movements shaped Pentecostal thought. He is right to point out the debt. We do not hide it. But we add that these themes were chosen because they are in the Bible, and every one of them rests on the Word. We study the disagreement between the Holiness and Finished Work views of sanctification in Unit 6. For now we study all five themes together.
Jesus the Savior
Salvation is the foundation. No other theme means anything without it. Peter said of Jesus, "Nor is there salvation in any other, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved" (Acts 4:12). Paul wrote, "that if you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved" (Romans 10:9).
Pentecostals hold the common faith of the evangelical church here. We teach that sinners are saved by grace through faith in the crucified and risen Christ, that they are forgiven, born again by the Holy Spirit, and made children of God. We have no separate gospel of salvation. Everything else in the Full Gospel grows from this root. A church that preached tongues and healing without the cross would no longer be preaching the Full Gospel.
Jesus the Sanctifier
Paul wrote that Christ Jesus "became for us wisdom from God—and righteousness and sanctification and redemption" (1 Corinthians 1:30). To sanctify is to make holy and to set apart for God. Paul also prayed, "Now may the God of peace Himself sanctify you completely; and may your whole spirit, soul, and body be preserved blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ" (1 Thessalonians 5:23).
Every Pentecostal group teaches that believers are called to holy living, and that holiness is the work of the Spirit in the believer, not a human achievement. Early Pentecostal churches were known for their serious stand against worldliness and sin. The groups differ on how sanctification happens. Holiness Pentecostals teach a definite second work of grace, while Finished Work Pentecostals teach that believers are set apart at conversion and grow progressively in holiness through a life in the Spirit. This will be treated fairly in Unit 6. All agree that a person can be filled with power and yet fail if character is neglected. Gifts without holiness are dangerous.
Jesus the Baptizer in the Holy Spirit
John the Baptist announced, "I indeed baptize you with water unto repentance, but He who comes after me is mightier than I, whose sandals I am not worthy to carry. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire" (Matthew 3:11). Notice who the baptizer is. It is Jesus. The experience that Pentecostals call baptism in the Holy Spirit is Christ's gift to His people. Before He went to the Father, the Lord said, "But you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be witnesses to Me" (Acts 1:8).
This is the theme that gives Pentecostalism its name. We teach that the baptism is an experience of Spirit-filled empowerment for witness and service, and that it is available to every believer. Unit 4 will discuss subsequence and empowerment, and Unit 5 will discuss initial evidence and its critics. The point to hold now is that Spirit baptism is not a separate religion. It is one part of the work of the same Jesus who saves and sanctifies.
Jesus the Healer
The Gospels show Jesus healing the sick as a regular sign of the kingdom of God. Peter described His ministry: "how God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and with power, who went about doing good and healing all who were oppressed by the devil, for God was with Him" (Acts 10:38). Matthew writes that this fulfilled Isaiah: "He Himself took our infirmities And bore our sicknesses" (Matthew 8:17).
The central Old Testament text is Isaiah 53:5: "But He was wounded for our transgressions, He was bruised for our iniquities; The chastisement for our peace was upon Him, And by His stripes we are healed." Peter, speaking of the cross, quotes it: "who Himself bore our sins in His own body on the tree, that we, having died to sins, might live for righteousness—by whose stripes you were healed" (1 Peter 2:24). For the church, James gave a plain instruction: "Is anyone among you sick? Let him call for the elders of the church, and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord. And the prayer of faith will save the sick, and the Lord will raise him up. And if he has committed sins, he will be forgiven" (James 5:14-15).
Pentecostals therefore believe that the Lord still heals today in answer to prayer, and that healing is a gift of grace bought by the work of Christ. Divine healing is not an extra. We will give the whole of Course 3, Units 5 and 6, to the teaching and practice of healing.
The question of healing in the atonement
Evangelical critics, including many who believe that God still heals, say that Pentecostals go too far when they teach that healing is "in the atonement." They argue that Isaiah 53:5 and 1 Peter 2:24 speak mainly of the healing of sin. They add that if physical healing were guaranteed in the cross in the same way as forgiveness, no faithful believer would ever be sick, and that this is plainly not so.
Our answer. We take the objection seriously, because bad teaching on this subject has hurt many people. We give four answers. First, Matthew applies Isaiah's words about infirmities and sicknesses directly to Jesus' healing ministry (Matthew 8:17), so the connection is not our invention. Second, we say that healing is a provision of the cross, not an automatic result for every person at every moment. The full redemption of our bodies awaits the resurrection, and until then we live in the tension of the "already" and the "not yet." Third, the Bible itself shows faithful people who were sick. Paul left Trophimus sick at Miletus (2 Timothy 4:20), he told Timothy to take a little wine for his stomach and frequent infirmities (1 Timothy 5:23), and he wrote of a thorn in the flesh which the Lord did not remove, though He gave grace (2 Corinthians 12:7-9). Fourth, we never say that a sick person lacks faith or is under judgment. Responsible Pentecostal teachers say that we pray in faith and leave the result to the Lord, who is sovereign. We do not despise doctors or medicine, and we do not blame the sick.
Jesus the Coming King
The Full Gospel looks forward. The angels said to the disciples at the ascension that this same Jesus "will so come in like manner as you saw Him go into heaven" (Acts 1:11). Paul told the church to be "looking for the blessed hope and glorious appearing of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ" (Titus 2:13). Early Pentecostals expected the Lord's soon return and saw the outpouring of the Spirit as a sign that the harvest was near. This hope drove their missionary zeal.
Most classical Pentecostals have held to a premillennial view of the end times, which teaches that Christ will return before His thousand-year reign. Not all Pentecostals agree on the details, and later in this course (Unit 8) we present the main views fairly. What all share is the conviction that Jesus is coming again in person and in glory, that history is not endless, and that the church lives and works in the light of His return. A believer who awaits the King works while it is day.
The Five Themes Together
These are not five separate gospels. They are five ways of looking at one Lord: the Savior who forgives, the Sanctifier who makes holy, the Baptizer who fills for witness, the Healer who touches body and mind, and the King who will complete all things.
Each theme protects the others. Salvation without the Spirit's power can become a dry religion. Spirit baptism without holiness becomes a show. Healing without the cross becomes a business. Hope without mission becomes escape. A church that holds the Full Gospel keeps the balance by keeping its eyes on Jesus.
Other Objections and Our Answers
Objection: The Full Gospel adds to the gospel. Some critics say that Paul's gospel is the death, burial and resurrection of Christ, and that to speak of a "full" gospel suggests that others have a partial one.
Our answer. We agree that the core of the gospel is the cross and the resurrection (1 Corinthians 15:3-4). We do not say that Christians who lack our emphasis have no gospel. We say that the New Testament shows Jesus doing more than forgiving sins, and that the church loses something when it forgets it. The word "full" describes a fullness of Christ, not a second gospel.
Objection: The Full Gospel is the root of the prosperity gospel. Some say that preaching healing and blessing leads to teaching that every believer will be healthy and rich.
Our answer. The classical Pentecostal bodies have themselves rejected the teaching that faith guarantees wealth and health. The Full Gospel is about Christ, who suffered, and it calls disciples to take up the cross. We deal with this teaching in Course 5, Unit 6.
Pastoral Application
A faithful woman in the congregation is sick with cancer. The church has prayed and anointed her with oil. After several months she dies. Her family is grieved. Someone in the church whispers that she did not have enough faith. A visitor from another church says, "This is why you should not teach divine healing."
The pastor does not choose between healing and mercy. He goes to the family first, as a shepherd, and weeps with them. At the funeral he says plainly that the Lord Jesus is the same yesterday, today and forever, and that He heals. He also says that we live between His first coming and His second, and that the final healing is the resurrection. He says that the woman's faith was not weak, that she trusted Christ to the end, and that she is with the Lord. Privately he speaks to the one who whispered, and he reads from Scripture about Paul's thorn and about Trophimus.
The pastor holds the Full Gospel in its fullness: the Lord heals, the Lord is sovereign, and the Lord is coming back.
Summary
The Full Gospel is the message of Jesus Christ in all His work. Its pattern grew from A. B. Simpson's fourfold gospel of Savior, Sanctifier, Healer and Coming King, and early Pentecostals added Jesus as Baptizer in the Holy Spirit. Holiness Pentecostal bodies speak of a fivefold gospel, while Finished Work bodies such as the Assemblies of God and the Foursquare Gospel speak of four themes. Donald Dayton showed how deeply Holiness and healing streams shaped the pattern. Each theme rests on Scripture: salvation in Acts 4:12 and Romans 10:9, sanctification in 1 Corinthians 1:30 and 1 Thessalonians 5:23, Spirit baptism in Matthew 3:11 and Acts 1:8, healing in Isaiah 53:5, Matthew 8:17, 1 Peter 2:24 and James 5:14-15, and the return of the King in Acts 1:11 and Titus 2:13. Critics question healing in the atonement, and we answer that healing is a provision of the cross, fully realized at the resurrection, never to be used to blame the sick. All five themes are centered on the same Lord, who is the same yesterday, today and forever.
Further Reading
• Donald W. Dayton, Theological Roots of Pentecostalism (1987).
• Frank D. Macchia, Baptized in the Spirit (2006).
• Keith Warrington, Pentecostal Theology (2008).
• Wolfgang Vondey, Pentecostal Theology (2017).
• Steven J. Land, Pentecostal Spirituality (1993).
• A. J. Gordon, The Ministry of Healing (1882), a primary source.
Unit 3 Exam
Certificate track: the 20 multiple-choice questions. Associate track: add the 10 fill-in-the-blank questions. Master’s tracks: add the 10 short-answer questions.