In view of Pentecostalism’s criticism of the life, not only of the lax, unfaithful, and disobedient church member, but also of the faithful Reformed believer (who has not received Pent.’s baptism with the Spirit) and in view of its promise to transport people into a higher level of Christian life and experience, we ask: What is the Christian life and experience? What is the “normal Christian life”?
Pentecostalism is proud. It is arrogant in its attitude towards the Church of the past. Until about 1900, there was no such thing as the Pent. baptism with the Spirit within the Church. Athanasius and Augustine did not have it; Luther and Calvin did not have it; the Reformed saints of the Netherlands who died by the scores of thousands under the Roman Catholic and Spanish persecution never had it. Says Pent. : “Up till now the Church has been a very poor and lifeless Church; the full gospel, the full salvation, and the full Christian life start with us.”
In the previous article (Sept. 15 issue of The Standard Bearer) it was proved from Holy Scripture that the miracles alleged today by Pentecostalism are fraudulent. The Reformed faith disavows miracle working. Our faith is the doctrine of the apostles, who received it from Jesus. This doctrine has already been confirmed by many miracles. It does not need any further attestation. The only gospel that requires new miracles is a new gospel.
In two previous articles (April 1 and May 1 issues of the Standard Bearer), we examined the Pentecostal doctrine of the baptism with the Holy Spirit and began to examine the related Pentecostal doctrine of the extraordinary gifts, the “charismata.” It was readily acknowledged that Scripture teaches that there were extraordinary gifts—the miraculous—in the time of the apostles, including the gift of speaking in tongues. We will now consider Pentecostalism’s appeal to Scripture in support of its teaching and practice of the extraordinary gifts of the Spirit.
If it is true, as we said in the previous article, that there is but one baptism for every elect child of God, the baptism with the Holy Spirit of which the sign and seal is the sprinkling with water, how is it to be explained that in the book of Acts there obviously were two distinct works of the Holy Spirit upon some of God’s people? Jesus’ disciples, e.g., were reborn, saved men prior to the day of Pentecost. This, of course, was due to the gracious operation of the Spirit upon their hearts.
It will be worth our while to examine the religious movement known as Pentecostalism from the viewpoint of the Reformed faith. The Reformed faith is the faith that the Holy Spirit had handed down to us as a glorious heritage through the Protestant Reformation of the 16th century, especially throughJohn Calvin. It is the faith set forth in our Reformed creeds, the Heidelberg Catechism, the Belgic Confession, and the Canons of Dordt.
