INTRODUCTION
Since the birth of the Church on the Day of Pentecost, various revivals and renewal movements have emerged throughout the history of the Church. Because these movements were often condemned or marginalized by the institutional church, their history has been submerged or misconstrued. It is, therefore, a history in need of discovery and full recovery.
Pentecostals have often viewed themselves as representing a restoration of the purity and power of the first century apostolic church. The church of the first century was a Spirit-filled, Pentecostal church. If this is true, then the Pentecostal Movement has a rich history nearly 2000 years old.
In this session we will look at the history of the Christian church from a Pentecostal perspective so that we can discover the theological roots of modern Pentecostalism.
1) PENTECOSTAL ROOTS IN THE EARLY CHURCH
The church of Jesus Christ was born in the power of the Holy Spirit on the Day of Pentecost. The enduement of power and the enabling gifts of the Holy Spirit turned believers into ambassadors for Jesus Christ.
The early church (1st Century) was a Spirit-filled (Pentecostal) church. Speaking in tongues and prophecy, healing, and miracles were a normal part of the life of the church (Acts 1:8; 10:19; 13:2). This charismatic character continued to be the norm throughout the Greco-Roman world as the Gospel was carried beyond Jerusalem. Early Church leaders were characterized as being endowed with spiritual gifts. They looked to and depended entirely upon the anointing and presence of the Holy Spirit. The early church’s expectation of ministry filled with the supernatural was based upon the very teaching of Jesus Christ. Jesus had even said that when the Spirit came, believers would be enabled to do the same works that He had done and even greater works (John 14:12).
With the anointing of the Holy Spirit, early Christianity was able to expand globally while overcoming intense persecution and internal heresies. God raised up giants of the faith who were willing to pay any price to obey God and advance the kingdom. These early leaders lived out personal holiness through an internalization of the Word of God.
The testimonies of the great leaders of the first three centuries demonstrate that the gifts, including speaking in tongues, continued to the beginning of the fourth century. Origen indicates their decline, but not their cessation. Many have argued that speaking in tongues and several of the spiritual gifts ended with the death of the first apostles. They have thus argued that speaking in tongues did not continue beyond 100 A.D. It is consistent with church history that speaking in tongues continued for the first 300 years of the Christian church, therefore would it not be logical to seek to recover today the dynamic work of the Holy Spirit which enabled the early Christians to overcome Roman persecution and spread the Gospel all over the worl
Justin Martyr (A.D. 100-165 This foremost apologist of the second century was familiar with the miraculous gifts of the Holy Spirit. In Martyr’s writings he said that the “prophetical gifts remain with us even to the present time” (Dialogue with Trypho, Volume 1). In his work called The Second Apology of Justin, he speaks of the ability of Christians in his day to cast out demons and minister healing.
Irenaeus (A.D. 125-200) Irenaeus was the Bishop of Lyons and had been a disciple of the Apostle John. In his Against Heresies, Volume 1, he describes true Christians as driving out devils, having visions, prophesying, laying hands on the sick and raising the dead… He also testifies that believers were still speaking in tongues. Irenaeus in no way indicates the expectation that the gifts of the Spirit would cease.
Tertullian (A.D.160-240) Tertullian was one of the great writers and leaders in the history of the Christian church. His writing reveals a personal acquaintance with the supernatural gifts of the Holy Spirit, including speaking in tongues. In A Treatise on the Soul Tertullian says, “For seeing that we acknowledge the spiritual charismata, or gifts, we too have merited the attainment of the prophetic gift.” In his Against Marcion Tertullian reveals both his acquaintance with speaking in tongues and his belief that the supernatural gifts of the Spirit were a sign of orthodoxy. Thus, in the third century spiritual gifts were still prominent in the Church. It should also be noted that Tertullian does not predict any cessation of the gifts of the Spirit.
Origen (A.D. 185-284) Origen was the first systematic theologian in the Church. In his work, Against Celsus, Origen speaks of many miracles being performed in Jesus’ name. In this work he refers to Celsus’ criticism of prophetic utterances and defends prophesy and speaking in tongues. Origen, in his commentary of Romans 8:26, links praying in the Spirit to praying in tongues. Origen was the first of the early church fathers to express concern that the supernatural ministries of the Spirit might be diminishing in the Church. He saw this as a result of the lack of holiness among Christians, and not the will of God.
Many other early Christian writings confirm the ongoing manifestation of spiritual gifts in the churches beyond the fourth century. The controversy surrounding Montanism led to the expansion of the institutionalization of the church. Bishops became more than a body of leaders; they became powerful leaders individually in control of the church. This institutionalization brought a sharp division between the clergy and laity.
The extreme beliefs of Montanism contributed to the disappearance of spiritual gifts in many churches. The Montanists were prophesying and announcing the soon end of the world. The Montanists also called for people to be martyrs and never flee from persecution. People were often forbidden to marry, and some were even encouraged to leave their unsaved spouses. Emphasis on the Spirit was being replaced by ceremonial ritual and ecclesiastical order. The conversion of Constantine in A.D. 312 and the church’s rise to earthly affluence and power marked the end of the charismata as part of the character of the Church.
The church also rejected Gnosticism, another early heresy. Gnosticism was a plan of salvation through secret knowledge (from the Greek gnosis – knowledge), which consisted of a belief that all material things were inherently evil, and that only spiritual things were good. This belief therefore denied that Jesus came in a physical body, and that He had a physical death and resurrection. It also led to two erroneous conclusions about earthly living. One view led to an ascetic life of strict discipline. The other led to libertinism, saying that the physical body was irrelevant, since whatever was done in the body could not mar the purity of the soul.
The Monastic movement, which started around A.D. 300 and flourished during the Middle Ages, created centers of learning and devotion to God. The miraculous gifts of the Holy Spirit, which disappeared from the Church, reappeared among the Monastics. Athanasius wrote about the life of Antony (A.D. 251-356), who was considered the father of Monastisicm. Athanasius wrote that the ministry of Antony was filled with the supernatural. Many other great spiritual leaders followed the example of Antony: Athanasius, Hilarion, Ambrose, Jerome, Augustine, and Gregory the Great, just to mention a few.
2) PENTECOSTAL ROOTS IN THE MIDDLE AGES
In the early church the gifts of the Spirit were normal for all believers. In the Middle Ages, the miraculous was common among those Monastic saints who had withdrawn from the world and secular society. Miracles were most often associated with the missionary expansion of the church. The sick were healed, demons were cast out, and even the dead were raised. A significant jealousy arose during the Middle Ages between the church at Rome and the common people. Around A.D. 1000 the Roman church declared that speaking in tongues among the common people was to be considered evidence of demon possession. However, among the Monastics and the church hierarchy it could be considered evidence of sainthood. The church wanted to claim that miracles belonged only among the church hierarchy and that any occurrence of miracles among the common people was looked upon as sorcery or witchcraft.
However, the Scriptures were functionally inaccessible to the common people of the Middle Ages, since most common people were illiterate. Additionally, the scriptures were only available in Latin, The Vulgate translated from the Greek by Jerome in the 5th Century. Also, each copy of the scriptures had to be laboriously hand-copied by monks in monasteries, further limiting their availability to usually one copy per church. John Gutenberg printed the first printed Bible in 1454.
During the eleventh century a spiritual renewal took place among the various Monastic orders who went about preaching and ministering to people. Many great miracles took place around the world through men and women such as Bernard of Clairvaux (1090-1153) and Hildegard of Bingen (1098-1179). During this period God raised up many ministers who were filled with the fervor of the Holy Spirit. One of these ministers was Francis of Assisi. As a young man while praying in a church outside Assisi, Francis heard a voice say to him, “Go and repair My house which is fallen down.” Francis of Assisi started the Franciscan order, which was a Monastic order dedicated to studying the Scriptures, preaching the Gospel, praying, and helping the poor. Francis and many others during this period were known to have spoken in tongues and to possess great faith in the power of God.
During the Middle Ages there were those devoted to the Roman Catholic Church, and those who left the church to seek a closer walk with God. Those who sought a closer walk with God were called the Cathari, meaning “pure.” They sought to be free from the political and moral corruption so prevalent in the institutional church. There were also various renewal movements within the Roman Catholic church, such as the Waldenses. This group existed from 1176 to beyond the sixteenth century. The Waldenses sought to find the Biblical pattern for a New Testament church. Divine healing, miracles, and all the gifts of the Spirit were encompassed by their ministry. The Waldenses were persecuted by the Roman Catholic church, yet they endured faithfully and in the sixteenth century identified with the Protestant Reformation.
3) PENTECOSTAL ROOTS IN THE REFORMATION PERIOD
Martin Luther and the Protestant Reformation brought a renewed commitment to the work of the Holy Spirit within the Church. Stanley Frodsham’s book, entitled With Signs Following (Springfield: Gospel Publishers, 1926, p. 329) quotes a work in German by Souer who describes Luther as “a prophet, evangelist, speaker in tongues and interpreter, in one person, endowed with all the gifts of the Holy Spirit.” Luther’s theology is certainly confusing at times, yet there is no evidence that Luther believed in the cessation of miracles or other spiritual gifts. There were other Reformers, such as the Anabaptists, who felt that Luther did not go far enough in reforming the church. These radical reformers created a movement designed to reproduce as literally as possible the power and purity of the Apostolic church.
The Anabaptists insisted that baptism was for believers only, and rejected infant baptism. They were persecuted by both Catholics and Protestants for this position. The Anabaptists also emphasized that ministry was the responsibility of the entire congregation, not just the clerical hierarchy. During the sixteenth century there arose a renewed interest in both spiritual gifts and the return of Christ. Anabaptism was truly a charismatic movement.
Francois Fénelon (1651-1715) emphasized that perfection is the work of God’s grace. He said that the detachment which marks the saint of God is not withdrawal from the world but inner detachment from a selfish will. Instead of promoting solitary intellectual contemplation, he taught that the perfect life is lived out in loving fellowship with others.[1]
Fénelon viewed Christian perfection as perfect love. Perfect love involves and requires that we hold nothing back from God but that we are entirely His. Thus, we detach from our self-will that we may imitate Jesus Christ in the power of the Holy Spirit, not in our own power.
Fénelon taught that it is possible to attain perfect love in this life. Fénelon would remind us that nothing is impossible with God.
At the center of the Christian life is the purifying power of God’s love and grace. God calls us to a death of self and sin and to a watchful walk of faith and obedience. The life of holiness is a watchful life.
The Reformation redefined Christian perfection in a way that all Christians could live holy lives before God. For Luther, faith is perfection and a divine work of God within us. This work of God changes us and makes us new in Christ.
John Calvin (1509-1564) believed that we are liberated from the power of sin by regeneration. Calvin did not advocate a doctrine of Christina perfection, but he did emphasize the importance of practical holiness.
The Reformers were strong on teaching justification by faith, but were weak on teaching sanctification. Possibly, they avoided the doctrine of holiness in order to avoid the Roman Catholic practice of justification by works.
In the Post-Reformation Era, a group known as the Moravians (John Huss’s disciples or Taborites) experienced a great outpouring of the Holy Spirit in 1727. They regarded it as another Pentecost. The Moravians were great missionaries and forerunners of Wesleyanism and the holiness movement.
4) HOLINESS/METHODIST ROOTS OF PENTECOSTALISM
The most significant precursor to Pentecostalism was the Holiness Movement, which issued from the heart of Methodism with its emphasis on sanctification. John Wesley (1703-1791) believed that perfection is loving God with all your heart. He taught that as we increase in love, we increase in holiness. Wesley’s teaching was seen as a balance between justification and sanctification. For Wesley, perfection exists and is Biblical. He saw perfection as progressive even though it does not make us infallible or sinless. Perfection is staying connected to God and flowing in the power of the Holy Spirit – demonstrating the love of God in Christ. For Wesley, the sanctified man deeply feels his imperfections and failures. He never forgets that he is justified by grace (not works) through faith.
The Church of God, along with many other movements, was spawned from the Protestant Reformation which produced the foundation for the Wesleyan Holiness Movement.
Methodism in the 1700s was used by God to bring renewal and revival to the Christian church. The concept of a vibrant personal experience with God was lost in the Orthodox and Catholic churches. It was not fully recovered in the Reformation churches nor the Anglican churches.
Foundational for the holiness movement is the belief that our great purpose on earth is to know, love, and to serve God in the beauty of holiness. God has called every Christian to walk the “Highway of Holiness” (Isaiah 35:8). The Apostle Paul instructed the Colossians, “As you therefore have received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in Him” (Colossians 2:6).
A true Christian movement must be a holiness movement because God has commanded, “Be ye holy for I am holy” (Colossians 2:16). Also in the New Testament, the Word of God says that “without holiness no one will see the Lord” (Hebrews 12:14). Holiness is to be and to act like God. God acts in holy love; therefore, His love is a holy love and a jealous love.
The holiness movement is characterized by Christians who seek to please God and to worship Him in Spirit and truth. The sanctifying power of the Holy Spirit brings life and emotion to our souls. The holiness movement, which is characterized by passion, emotion, excitement, and zeal, gave birth to the present Pentecostal/Charismatic Renewal. Weslyanism in the eighteenth century and the Holiness movement in the nineteenth century were the cradle of Pentecostalism in the twentieth century.
The Church of God today is part of this global awakening which started around the turn of the century (1900). This great spiritual phenomenon far exceeds the great awakenings of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, which were mostly confined to the United States. This present Pentecostal awakening has impacted much of the world. It should be noted that Charismatic Christianity is not just a twentieth century phenomenon. Pentecostals believe that Spirit-filled Christianity has been around ever since the early church. The Pentecostal movement today is part of a new great awakening which has placed more emphasis on the Holy Spirit than any other period of time since the first century.
Classical Pentecostals are committed to a restoration of true Biblical Christianity in the purity and power of the apostolic church. Pentecostals have sought to rediscover the power and anointing of the early church in order to be the instruments of God in reaching our own generation. The result is that Pentecostalism is reshaping religion today and in the twenty-first century. David Barrett, a leading expert in religious statistics, estimates that Pentecostalism in all of its various forms already exceeds 400 million people. It is by far the largest non-Catholic grouping, accounting for one in every four Christians. Pentecostalism is the fastest growing Christian movement on earth, increasing more rapidly than even Islam.
The Pentecostal movement erupted from among society’s disenfranchised and caused people to experience faith and hope by the power of the Holy Spirit. The Pentecostal awakening has not been the work of any one man such as was the revivalism of Finney, Moody, Spurgeon, etc. The roots of the current Pentecostal movement go back to those holiness revivals especially among Baptist and Methodist believers. Men like John Wesley and others had been impacted by the Reforms of Anglicans, Puritans, Pietists, Moravians, etc. All of these reform movements had placed great emphasis on holiness of life.
The Pentecostal movement came about during a time when liberal theologians were attacking the very existence of God. Men such as Newman, Kant, Voltaire, Schleiermacher used Biblical criticism and modernism to redirect Christian thought. Darwin’s theory of evolution further added to massive desertion of many Christians, to a loss of interest in religion, and to a lack of confidence in the Bible.
God brought forth the Pentecostal movement in a time of theological tempest in order to restore to the church a beautiful and simple Spirit-filled worship, which would demonstrate the power and anointing of the Holy Spirit upon believers.
Pentecostals see themselves as true orthodox Christians who are not only Pneumatocentric but also Christocentric. Pentecostals accept Jesus Christ just as He is represented in the Word of God. He is Sovereign Lord, Savior, Sanctifier, Healer, Holy Ghost Baptizer, and Coming King.
The beginning of the Church of God goes back to August 19, 1886, when a group known as the Christian Union was formed at Barney Creek in Monroe County, Tennessee. The group was led by R.G. Spurling, Sr., a Baptist, who was sincerely seeking a reformation in his church.
The new church was organized following a two-year period of preliminary study and effort to reform the existing churches. In his book, The Last Great Conflict, A.J. Tomlinson in 1913 tells how that “after two years or more of careful searching, praying and weeping, and pleading with his church for reform to no avail…(Richard G. Spurling, with others, began to arrange for a conference and more careful consideration of religious matters)…After having taken plenty of time for consideration, the time and place of the meeting was arranged and announced. The small company of humble, faithful, conscientious pilgrims met at Barney Creek meeting house, Monroe County, Tennessee…Spurling’s arguments were full of force and effective, and were endorsed by the hearers, so that when the time came for action there was free and earnest response. The proposition and obligation were simple…As many Christians as are here present that are desirous to be free from all man-made creeds and traditions, and are willing to take the New Testament, or law of Christ, for your only rule of faith and practice; giving each other equal rights and privilege to read and interpret for yourselves as your conscience may dictate, and are willing to set together as the Church of God to transact business as the same, come forward.”
The ordination certificate of R.G. Spurling, Jr., dated September 2, 1886 shows the Christian Union (the earliest name of the Church of God) in operation as a separate organization, doing the work of an established church body.
On May 15, 1902, the Christian Union was reorganized and named “The Holiness Church at Camp Creek.”
In January 1907, the group chose the name Church of God since it was the name mentioned in the Bible. This new denomination was typical of the Holiness churches formed in America during this period. Sanctification as a second work of grace was sought and divine healing was strongly affirmed.
The news of the outpouring of the Holy Ghost at the Azusa Street Mission in California was welcomed among these Holiness people who were also experiencing the outpouring of the Holy Ghost. At the 1908 General Assembly in Cleveland, Tennessee, many pastors and laity received the Baptism and spake with other tongues.
Out of this background, the Church of God and the Pentecostal movement came forth. Pentecostalism exists in continuity and differentiating discontinuity with other Christian spiritualities.[2]
Pentecostal theology calls for a right relationship with God and for a walk of holiness and life in the Spirit. Walking in the light of God and the pathway of holiness requires a passionate commitment to the truth of God’s Word.
5) HOLINESS – THE CORE ROOT OF PENTECOSTAL THEOLOGY
Holiness is the characteristic mark of a Christian; “He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him” (Ephesians 1:4). Paul wrote to the Romans and put it this way, “Whom He foreknew He also predestined to be conformed to the image of His son” (Romans 8:29).
The New Testament word for holiness signifies something full of awe or awe-inspiring, because the thing or person so described belongs peculiarly and only to God. The Anglo-Saxon word for holiness means soundness and completeness.
A) Holiness is Provided by God
The New Testament mandates that our conduct be holy (I Peter 1:16). Along with this demand comes the provision for holiness. “Christ…became for us…sanctification (holiness)” (I Corinthians 1:30). Peter also says that we are made “partakers of the divine nature” (2 Peter 1:4). The writer of the Hebrews tells us that we are “partakers of His holiness” (Hebrews 12:10).
Holiness is not the product of human effort, it is the work of God made effective in us by the indwelling life of Christ, through the power of the Holy Spirit.
B) Holiness is Preserved by God
In writing to the Thessalonians, Paul prayed, “And the very God of peace sanctify you wholly: and I pray God your whole spirit and soul and body be preserved blameless unto the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. Faithful is he that calleth you, who also will do it.” (I Thessalonians 5:23-24). Holiness implies the preservation of a healthy spirit, soul, and body. The Holy Spirit is at work in us to keep us holy. God wants every area of our life to be holy. God has called us to holiness, and He will work in us as we stay filled with the Spirit (Ephesians 5:18). We must glorify God in our spirits, souls, and bodies so that we may be preserved “blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ” (I Thessalonians 5:23). Thus, Paul prayed that “the God of peace sanctify (us) completely…spirit, soul, and body” (I Thessalonians 5:23).
C) Holiness is Perfected by God
The God who is at work in us makes certain demands of us. We must yield to God. “…Present your members as slaves of righteousness for holiness” (Romans 6:19 NRSV). When we fully yield to God we can be fruitful, “But now that you have been set free from sin and have been slaves to God, the benefit you reap leads to holiness, and the result is eternal life” (Romans 6:22 NIV). The writer to Hebrews tells us, “By him therefore let us offer the sacrifice of praise to God continually, that is, the fruit of our lips giving thanks to his name” (Hebrews 13:15). Fruitfulness in Christian character glorifies God: “Herein is my Father glorified, that ye bear much fruit; so shall ye be my disciples” (John 15:8)). Jesus told His disciples, “Ye have not chosen me, but I have chosen you, and ordained you, that ye should go and bring forth fruit, and that your fruit should remain that whatsoever ye shall ask of the Father in my name, he may give it you” (John 15:16).
Holiness requires a crucified life. “I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me” (Galatians 2:20). God has condemned sin in the flesh and He calls for us to be crucified with Christ. “Knowing this, that our old man is crucified with him, that the body of sin might be destroyed, that henceforth we should not serve sin” (Romans 6:6). Holiness requires a crucified life, a dying to self. Romans 8:13 tells us that if we are to live, we must put to death the deeds of the body or we will die. “Likewise reckon ye also yourselves to be dead indeed unto sin, but alive unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord” (Romans 6:11).
D) Holiness is a Presentation and a Transformation
“I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service.
And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God” (Romans 12:1-2).
The first eleven chapters of Romans revel in the great doctrinal mysteries of the plan of redemption. In chapter twelve, Paul emphasizes the practical. It is a clear reminder that true Christianity involves both “believing” and “behaving” the Gospel. The Gospel has significance for our conduct. In a living Christianity, faith and conduct are inseparable. In Romans, doctrine precedes exhortation to a holy life. Paul also demonstrates that God has provided for us the resources of His grace necessary to live a holy life.
Paul stated, “Therefore (now that the doctrine is in place in the first eleven chapters), I urge you” (Romans 12:1 NIV). This was one of Paul’s favorite phrases. With passion and tenderness, Paul calls for an act of presentation and the resultant duty of transformation. The divine mercies of God make the presentation of ourselves a fitting response.
Paul calls for us to “present our bodies a living and holy sacrifice, acceptable to God.” Paul meant for this to be a sacrifice that could not later be retrieved. It should be a presentation made for life. Our bodies are now to be vehicles of righteousness.
A body fully yielded to God is essential if believers are to make a spiritual impact on the world. God wants living sacrifices (made alive by the Spirit), that are holy (set apart), and are thus acceptable to God. No sacrifice is acceptable to God unless the motives and character of the sacrificer are pure before God. The unusual Greek word used here for “spiritual” is the term from which the English word “logical” is derived. Thus, the King James Version uses the words, “your reasonable service.” Such a sacrifce is logical and consistent with a clear understanding of the matchless love of God revealed in Christ Jesus.
In Romans 12:2, Paul addresses the duty of transformation and the hindrances to the transformation. Paul takes into account the presence of sin and commands, “Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world.” Don’t let this sinful world around you squeeze you into its mold. Conformity to this world inevitably hinders and perverts spiritual transformation.
“By the renewing of your mind” reveals that the believers’ renewal works at the center of consciousness. The Holy Spirit works to transform the evil impact that sin has left on our mind. Only an internal transformation of the believer can produce holiness of life and prevent outward (external) conformity to this present age.
The result of this transformation is that the believer may know and live in harmony with the will of God. From Romans 12:1-2, we see that holiness of life involves a voluntary acceptance of the divine call to presentation and transformation. This progressive renewal of our minds enables us to discern God’s will and to obey God’s good, pleasing, and perfect will. Holiness of life is for everyone as the Apostle Paul wrote, “This is the will of God, your sanctification” (I Thessalonians 4:3).
CONCLUSION
The pursuit of holiness is essential in the life of the believer. It is the mandate of the New Testament. “Strive for…the holiness without which no one will see the Lord” (Hebrews 12:14). Peter tells us, “Be holy yourselves in all your conduct” (I Peter 1:15).
Holiness is more than avoiding sin and getting rid of our corrupt nature. Holiness is a conforming to the image of Christ (Romans 8:29). Paul writes, “But we all, with open face beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord, are changed into the same image from glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of the Lord” (2 Corinthians 3:18).
The New Testament mandates that we yield our members to “righteousness for sanctification” (Romans 6:19). We are not only to put off the old man, but we are to put on the new man; manifesting the fruit of the Holy Spirit (Galatians 5:22-23) and doing the will of God (Romans 12:1-2). Holiness is a cleansing “from all filthiness of flesh and spirit perfecting holiness in the fear of God” (2 Corinthians 7:1).
For Paul, Biblical perfection called for a forsaking of sin and pressing toward the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus.
The heart of Pentecostal spirituality is love. This holy love for God compels us to perfect holiness of life in the fear of God. The reverence for God comes from the realization that salvation is a dynamic relationship and not a static inevitability. [3] Holiness of life calls for a moment-by-moment abiding in Christ through the Spirit and the Word.
Passion for the kingdom calls for a yieldedness to the Spirit as He searches our hearts and fills us with holy love. This passion is the ruling affection of Pentecostal Spirituality. Wesley saw that true religion consisted of more than external observances. It consists of the righteousness of God stamped on the heart accompanied with the peace that passeth all understanding and joy in the Holy Ghost.[4]
The Gospel transforms us that we may bear witness to God’s love and that we may fulfill our mission. Our mission is to do justice, to love mercy, and to walk humbly with God. It should be our goal to rediscover the radical discipleship of Jesus and the power of the Holy Spirit within the church. Holy people share a passion and compassion for the lost and afflicted of humanity. They pray for, long for, and cry for the return of Jesus Christ.
[1]Charles F. Whiston, Chritian Perfection, trans. Mildred Whitney Stillman (New York & London: Harper & Brothers Publishers, 1947), pp. 8, 9.
[2]Steven J. Land, Pentecostal Spirituality, (Sheffield, England: Sheffield Academic Press, 1993), p. 30.
[3]Land, p. 176.
[4]John Wesley, Explanatory Notes on the New Testament (London: Epworth Press, 1976 [1754]), pp. 575, 598.