A History of Christian Doctrine #3 - Online Christian Library

Oneness Pentecostal Organizations
baptism and the baptism of the Holy Spirit. He regarded
the differences as primarily of terminology, not so much
of basic belief. 135 E. J. McClintock, PCI pastor in Idaho at
the time of the merger and later director of the UPCI
General Sunday School Division, gave the same explanation,
independently using almost the same words. He said
the ministers agreed on the necessity of the three steps of
Acts 2:38 but did not all agree on terminology. 136
Nathaniel Urshan, son of Andrew Urshan and general
superintendent of the UPCI for many years, agreed with
the assessment of Chambers and McClintock and stated
that the majority believed Acts 2:38 to be the new birth. 137
Indeed, an analysis reveals that about eighty-five to ninety
percent of the merged body held that the full Acts 2:38
experience was essential to salvation. 138
The two major histories of the UPCI, by Arthur
Clanton and Fred Foster, state that the most significant difference
of opinion was on the essentiality of water baptism.
139 Clanton explained that the PCI allowed greater
latitude on the new-birth message than the PAJC. David
Gray of the PCI, who became the first youth president of
the UPC, confirmed this statement. 140 In short, not everyone
agreed that Acts 2:38 was “the new birth,” and in particular,
a significant minority did not believe that
“remission of sins” necessarily occurred at water baptism.
What Chambers, McClintock, Urshan, and Gray have
pointed out, however, is that despite the different interpretations,
there was agreement that the Acts 2:38 experience
is God’s plan for New Testament salvation,
whatever the precise theological terminology that one
should attach to each step or to the experience as a whole.
J. L. Hall, editor in chief of the UPCI, chairman of the
119