A History of Christian Doctrine #3 - Online Christian Library

The Finished Work Controversy
Nevertheless, Durham did begin to speak of the baptism
of the Holy Ghost as an integral part of God’s plan
of salvation that should immediately follow repentance
and faith. Since all that believers needed to do was to
appropriate the finished work of Calvary, they could
receive the Spirit without delay.
Durham’s personal testimony revealed that he considered
people to be saved from hell at the initial moment of
faith, yet God’s plan was for them to complete their salvation
experience with water baptism and the baptism of
the Holy Spirit: 52
Faith instantly sprang up in my heart to accept
Him as my full Savior, and the moment I did so, I
felt the quickening power of the Spirit, was made a
new creature in Christ, and unutterable joy filled my
soul. . . .
I had no one to tell me that the next step was to
be buried with Him, in Whom I had died and had been
made alive. Had I been taught the truth, as the
Apostles taught it, had I been baptized and had hands
laid on me, I would have at once received the Holy
Ghost. . . .
My greatest difficulty was in harmonizing my
experience with that in the Acts of the Apostles. My
difficulty was, that I mistook soul rest and peace, and
the sweet holy joy of salvation, and the witness, and
influence of the Spirit, for the gift of the Spirit. . . .
For Durham, “God’s glorious message of full salvation,”
the “Full Gospel,” and God’s “plan of salvation”
included the baptism of the Holy Ghost. 53 Indeed, Durham
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