THE TRINITY REVIEW

Pentecostalism

We do not deny that there may be true Christians who subscribe to the Pentecostal thesis. Some people's minds are wonderfully confused. But there are four points that must be raised about Pentecostalism in the light of justification:

1. When God justifies the sinner for the sake of Christ alone, he does this by ascribing to the believer all that Christ did in his holy obedience on our behalf. All that Christ is, all his unconquerable righteousness with all that it merits and inherits, belongs to the needy sinner whom the Holy Spirit joins to Christ in saving faith. This is the gift that comprehends and swallows up all else.

Now, if our Pentecostal friends confess with us the magnitude of this gift of justification, why do they talk about the experience of being baptized in the Spirit as if it were something higher and better than what every believer in Jesus possesses?

The present gift of the Holy Spirit is only the "down payment" (Ephesians 1:13, 14) of what we inherited through Jesus Christ. The grace of justification is like the water in the whole ocean. The inward experience is like the little shell holding some of that water. A gift which can be reduced to the dimension of the experience of a sinful mortal is not very big after all.

2. When Pentecostalism teaches a religious experience after justification and conversion, it implies that the free gift of Christ's righteousness to the believer does not suffice to bring the in-filling, or baptism, of the Holy Spirit. But justification means that since Christ's righteousness is imputed to the believer, God must not only regard him but treat him as righteous. Is not a justified man righteous with God? Does not God delight in and love to embrace a righteous man? The apostle Paul says that the Spirit comes with the blessing of justification (Romans 4:1-4; 8:1-10; Galatians 3:1-14; Ephesians 1:24; etc.). A justification before God which does not bring the Holy Spirit abundantly (Titus 3:5-8) is not justification at all and would merit very little talking about, which is generally the case among charismatic enthusiasts.

3. If the reception of Christ's imputed righteousness by faith alone does not bring with it the abundant gift of the Spirit, other steps or techniques must be resorted to in order to obtain "Heaven's best." Here the door is opened to a new kind of legalism. People become obsessed with getting the Spirit by their own acts of "absolute surrender," "total dedication," "eradication of the self," or "putting Jesus on the throne of your life." The attention is turned from the Gospel message that Christ has actually won the Spirit for the believer by his own acts of absolute surrender, total dedication, and the putting away of sin which took place on Calvary (Acts 2:33; Galatians 3:13, 14; John 7:38, 39).

Paul reminded the foolish Galatians that the Spirit came (Galatians 3:2) and continues to be given abundantly (Galatians 3:5, literal translation) by the hearing of faith. Gospel preaching is proclaiming how the Spirit comes to men by the conquering acts of Jesus Christ on man's behalf. Galatianism proclaims how men may earn the Spirit.

4. The overwhelming preoccupation of Pentecostalism is the inward life of the believer. Its predominant testimony is to the inward experience of the Spirit rather than to the historical action of God in Jesus Christ. For this reason, Pentecostal spirituality is in fundamental harmony with Roman Catholic spirituality. Pentecostalism has been able to bridge the gulf between Romanism and apostate Protestantism, but the traffic across that bridge is mostly one way. Every religious experience which is a denial of justification by faith alone finds its home in Rome.

Subjectivism

As for thy saying that salvation is Christ within, if thou mean in opposition to Christ without, instead of pleading for Christ thou wilt plead against him; for Christ, God-man, without on the cross, did bring in salvation for sinners; and the right believing of that justifies the soul. Therefore Christ within or the Spirit of him who did give himself a ransom, doth not work out justification for the soul in the soul, but doth lead the soul out of itself and out of what can be done in itself, to look for salvation in that Man that is now absent from his saints on Earth....

And indeed they that will follow Christ aright must follow him without, to the cross without, for justification on Calvary without (that is, they must seek for justification by his obedience without) to the grave without, and to his ascension and intercession in Heaven without; and this must be done through the operation of his own Holy Spirit that he has promised shall show these things unto them, being given within them for that purpose. Now the Spirit of Christ, that leads also; but whither? It leads to the Christ without (The Riches of Bunyan [New York: American Tract Society, 1850]142, 143).

This doctrine of justification is a radical "No" to religious subjectivism. We have already considered two major forms of religious subjectivism (Romanism and Pentecostalism) but it must also be said that the neo-evangelical movement has drowned in it too. Neo-evangelicals who internalize or psychologize the Gospel have no good reason to oppose Pentecostals or Romanists, for the theology is the same.

We are not trying to minimize the necessity of regeneration, the indwelling of the Spirit, and holiness. What we are against in the name of the Gospel is a distortion of these things which makes them utterly false. For instance:

New Birth: The new birth is a radical change wrought in the soul by the Holy Spirit, which turns the chosen one from unbelief to assent to the truth of the Gospel. The sinner now agrees that Christ alone is the basis of salvation. He lives a new life of faith in the Son of God: continually confessing his sinfulness, always relying on Christ's merits, and habitually obeying his commandments. If we are going to advocate this kind of new birth, this can only magnify the glory of Christ's imputed righteousness.

But what often happens is that the "born again" experience (regeneration is never experienced, but its effects are) is put in the place of the imputed righteousness of Christ. Conversion becomes in itself the grand saving event or the "finished work" which guarantees eternal security. Baptism becomes the grand memorial and celebration of this new life within, The Biblical doctrine of salvation and security in an "alien righteousness" is utterly against this popular and perverted concept of new birth.

Christ Within. The present age requires clear discernment on the part of God's people because the same words and expressions can be and have been given totally different meanings. We have seen how Rome can use the slogans of the Reformation and yet mean something totally different. The same thing happens with the expression "Christ in our hearts by faith." People get the idea that Christ comes into their hearts so that their inward experience itself becomes "the hope of glory." Instead of directing their whole attention to the majestic, incomparable Person of Christ as exalted Lord in the throne room of God's heavenly temple (Hebrews 8:1, 2; Revelation 11:19), they focus on the human heart as the real throne room of the Lord of glory.

A certain crusade leader proudly introduced his latest convert in the city of Denver: "Tell him about your experience, Harry," said the leader. "Jesus Christ has become so real to me," beamed Harry as he clutched his very over-sized belly, "because I've got him right in here." This sort of talk is dishonoring to the majesty and glory of the Christ who presides at the right hand of God.

The Spirit-filled Life. The truth of justification by faith alone means preoccupation with Christ's experience and not our own. This is what frees us from ego-centric concerns so that we may live lives of holiness (Isaiah 53:11). It sets us at liberty to live for God's glory rather than our own. Much of the current enthusiasm for the "Spirit-filled life" bears little resemblance to the Spirit-filled witnessing which is recorded in the New Testament. The dissimilarity lies in a totally different understanding of the Holy Spirit's work. William Childs Robinson makes this comparison in his book, The Reformation: A Rediscovery of Grace (Eerdmans):

Indeed, the enthusiasts so emphasized the sovereign freedom of the Spirit as to sever the connection between the mission of the Spirit and the historical Christ. Their emphasis fell upon the subjective experience of the Spirit in the individual rather than upon the Spirit's mission of enabling the believer to appropriate the redemption wrought by Christ in his incarnate life.... God's objective revelation of himself is the work of Christ; God's subjective revelation that of the Spirit. The Spirit speaks not of himself; he takes of the things of Christ and shows them unto us, thus glorifying him Cohn 16:13-24). In severing this connection, enthusiasm left itself with no objective criterion and exposed itself to the danger of unregulated spirituality. Instead of the saving knowledge of God revealed in Jesus Christ, it offered sundry varieties of religious experience. For, "where the Holy Spirit is sundered from Christ, sooner or later, he is always transmuted into quite a different spirit, the spirit of religious man, and finally the human spirit in general." As Luther pointed out, the Holy Spirit is called a witness, because he witnesses to Christ and to no other. The Apostles declare, "We preach not ourselves, but Christ Jesus the Lord" (2 Corinthians 4:5)....

The true Holy Spirit comes from God, from the ascended Christ, and brings in his hand to shed abroad in our hearts the love of God revealed in the death of Christ for sinners. Consequently it is not enough for a preacher to be a religious genius who fancies that by the recital of his own or some others' current experiences he can awaken the dormant possibilities of religion in the heart of the hearer. Nor is it sufficient to have a philosopher of religion presenting himself as an example of faith or as a possessor of human understanding, or even using the crucifixion of Jesus or the stoning of Stephen as a stimulus to bring an existential decision to a student. While these may give the appearance of devotion to Christ they do not locate the glory of salvation in his atoning work for us. Rather, "the historical revelation of Christ is treated as the stimulus to a subjective spiritual experience in the individual, not as itself the content of that experience. The spiritualist individual experiences his conversion and the resultant spiritual glow rather than Jesus Christ and him crucified," so that "when he bears testimony, it is to speak of his new found peace and happiness rather than to confess that Jesus is Lord."

Representatives of this school frequently declare that it is not the birth in Bethlehem but the re-birth in their hearts which counts, not the cross on Golgotha but their own dedication to live for eternity rather than time, not his bodily resurrection but their own faith in immortality. But true preaching from the Holy Spirit who came at Pentecost leads the hearer back through all his experiences to the source of all true and proper experiences; that is, to Jesus Christ. It calls him to no other faith than faith in the Christ who was born in Bethlehem, who died for our sins on Calvary, who rose from the dead on the third day (172,173).

We wish that these penetrating comments by Dr. Robinson could be read and re-read by every neo-evangelical. What he says is the heritage of the Reformation. It is the truth of justification by faith alone.

Dispensationalism

The dispensationalist is comfortable when the doctrine of justification is just one of a number of doctrinal beliefs. But it is a different matter entirely when justification by faith alone becomes so central and all-embracing that it becomes the hermeneutical principle that determines our view of everything else.

No one who genuinely and consistently holds to the apostolic and Reformation principle of justification by faith alone can be a dispensationalist. It is as simple as that, and for the following reasons:

1. The New Testament everywhere testifies that Christ is the fulfillment of Old Testament hopes and promises, "that what God promised to the fathers, this he has fulfilled to us their children by raising Jesus" (Acts 13:32, 33). "For all the promises of God find their Yes (fulfillment) in Him" (2 Corinthians 1:20). In Jesus Christ, God has made an end of sin, abolished death, given Israel peace, wisdom, wealth, and righteousness. In him the old order has passed away and all things have become new (2 Corinthians 5:17). The Old Testament declares, "Behold, the days come . . . ," and, "it shall come to pass...." But the New Testament points to Christ and says: "The hour ... now is ...." "This day is this Scripture fulfilled in your ears."

Unless we believe that all that God promised to the Jews has really been fulfilled in Jesus Christ, we admit to unbelieving Jews that Jesus is not the true Messiah. Of course, when Jesus comes again, there will be an open disclosure of his victory to the whole world. It has already been accomplished in him. We believe it and possess it all by faith. But it will be openly revealed at the end of the world.

2. Paul tells the foolish Galatians in the plainest of terms that justification by Christ alone (Galatians 2:17) is the blessing which God had promised the seed of Abraham (see Galatians 3). Any Jew who is justified by the righteousness of Jesus Christ has received all that God has promised to Abraham and his posterity.

3. The Gentile Galatians knew that the promises of God were to Abraham and his seed. They desperately wanted to become part of Abraham's family. They were led to believe that this coveted status could be conferred on them by way of circumcision. Paul was indignantly amazed. He told them that this was a denial of the Gospel. He declared that Christ was the Seed to whom all the promises were made (Galatians 3:16,19). He is the Seed of Abraham; that is to say, the Israel of God personified. To belong to Christ is to belong to Israel: "if you are Christ's, then are you Abraham's seed, and heirs according to the promise" (Galatians 3:29). To be in Christ is to be in Israel: "Know you therefore that they which are of faith, the same are the children of Abraham" (Galatians 3:7). Could words be plainer?

How could Christians, above all people, encourage Jews to look to some political events in Palestine for the fulfillment of Old Testament promises instead of pointing to their glorious fulfillment in the Person and work of Jesus Christ? Justification by faith in Christ is the blessing of Abraham. All who have it are children of Abraham without distinction. And these and none else are "the Israel of God" (Galatians 6:16). That is why the truth of justification is a radical "No" to dispensationalism. Dispensationalism could only grow in a climate where the doctrine of justification is not central and all-embracing.

In its method of separating the Old Testament from the New Testament, dispensationalism has its roots in the movement called Enthusiasm. Says Dr. Robinson:

In the interests of the continuity of the Church, the evangelical church likewise opposes the enthusiasts who separate the Old Testament believers from the New Testament faith.... Luther's Introduction to the Old Testament shows that this part of the Bible was also a book of faith about such believers as Abraham and David. Bucer accepted the patriarchs, who held to the promises, as men of faith; while for Zwingli and his successor Bullinger, "Abraham participated in the one eternal covenant and rejoiced." God has only one people; our faith is a unit with that of Abraham; the New is the further unfolding of the Old Covenant. Calvin shows that all those whom God has adopted into the society of his people are in the very same covenant, for even the Old Testament saint was offered the hope of immortality, founded on the mere mercy of God and confirmed by the mediation of Christ (Institutes II, x, 1-4) (171).

For Further Reading

Justification by Faith Alone, Charles Hodge, $10.95
The Clark - Van Til Controversy, Herman Hoeksema, $7.95
God's Hammer: The Bible and Its Critics, Gordon H. Clark, $10.95
Religion, Reason and Revelation, Gordon H. Clark, $10.95
Education, Christianity and the State, J. Gresham Machen, $9.95
The Everlasting Righteousness, Horatius Bonar, $8.95
William James and John Dewey, Gordon H. Clark, $8.95
Post Office Box 1666,
Hobbs, New Mexico 88240
This article reprinted by permission of the author.

Go to Justification and the Clarity of the Bible, Part Three