A History of Christian Doctrine #3 - Online Christian Library

A History of Christian Doctrine
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.’” 117
Early Pentecostals, including Parham, Seymour, and
Durham, applied the terms “full salvation” and “full
gospel” to the baptism of the Holy Spirit with the initial
evidence of tongues. (See chapters 1 and 2.) Parham
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.
Seymour likewise spoke of the baptism of the Spirit as
necessary to be part of the church and to escape
Tribulation wrath. His Apostolic 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.
Durham explicitly identified repentance, water baptism,
and the baptism of the Spirit as God’s “plan of salvation,”
citing Acts 2:38. Being baptized with the Holy
Spirit was necessary to be part of the church; people who
did not receive this experience had at best an “abnormal
Christianity.”
Thus, when the early Oneness pioneers began proclaiming
water baptism in the name of Jesus Christ, it was
only a small advance for them to say that all three elements
of Acts 2:38 were necessary for entrance into the
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