Can't Have It Both Ways

My friends in the United Pentecostal Church International want to convey the impression that they do not believe in works-righteousness as the basis of a person’s salvation. I consider this a sincere belief. But I believe it is inconsistent with the general teaching across the UPCI over the last 30 years. In many of their writings (Adult S.S. literature, doctrinal books, Pentecostal Herald, et. al.) they say that no one can be saved by works. They even say in some cases that a person is justified by faith sheerly by grace alone. But, what is disconcerting, is that in the next line or paragraph it is stated that one is not saved unless they have "repented" (definitions of this vary in the UPCI), are immersed in water as the name of Jesus is spoken, and speak with other tongues as the initial evidence of being baptized with the Holy Ghost, and, one must live a "holy life" which is most readily identifiable by the keeping of certain behaviors and appearances (as defined by the UPCI).

Here is the problem: You cannot have it both ways. Either the UPCI believes that one is only saved by the above steps or conditions, or, one is saved by faith alone in Jesus Christ alone. Either people are saved by believing in Jesus as the Sacrifice for their sins and as their righteousness before God, or they are not. This is not a minor matter. Nor is it hair-splitting about minor issues. It is about salvation itself. It is my contention that while the UPCI in general rejects works righteousness and claims salvation by grace, it rejects justification by faith alone and, in fact, believes in salvation by the "experience" of Acts 2:38 and sanctification obedience. Often Acts 2:38 is called the Gospel. This is not the New Testament teaching concerning the Gospel. It is a confounding the true Gospel.

For example, in Salvation - the Key to Eternal Life, (Word Aflame publications, p. 119-120) the writer states:

If one man is able to become righteous by keeping the law, thus saving himself, all other men can do likewise. Calvary would be the biggest blunder of all time. But by the law, no one can be saved, for the law condemns sins - revealing that every person is a sinner to be judged and punished. Jesus died on Calvary because all were guilty, helpless, hopeless, and ever sinking more deeply into the quagmire of sin. There are several things man must do in order to be saved. He must hear the gospel preached, he must repent, he must be baptized in Jesus’ name. Yet none of these things justifies man. They only place him in a position where God may consistently and graciously grant him justification. Man can do nothing to merit it or earn it by good works. In fact, the first step in justification is to despair of good works. They follow but do not precede justification. The working man is not justified, but the justified man is the working man. Even repentance does not justify, although repentance is absolutely essential to salvation. (My italics)

This author illustrates the contradictory language common to the UPCI. On the one hand, a person cannot do anything to save themselves, while at the same time there are "several things a man must do in order to be saved." While, "none of these things justifies man," yet, "repentance is absolutely essential to salvation." How can both of these be true? Because in the UPCI theology justification is not salvation in the Protestant or Evangelical sense. It is salvation in the Roman Catholic sense. That is that justification does not take place at the moment of faith in Christ, but as a process whereby an individual does what is righteous by the power of grace "infused" into his soul by the Holy Spirit. This is called sanctification in the Bible, but too many Christians confusingly call this justification.

The clearest way to determine what any member of the UPCI believes is to ask this question: "If I have trusted in Jesus Christ’s death and resurrection as the atonement for my sins but I have not been immersed in water with the name of Jesus spoken over me, nor have I spoken with tongues as evidence of being baptized with the Spirit, nor have I kept the holiness standard of the UPCI, AM I SAVED?"

The answer to this question will either place the UPCI on the side of Scripture and the Gospel of the Apostles, or it will identify them as a group holding a very peculiar, irregular and atypical understanding of the Gospel from all other Christians in the history of the Church. The point is, the UPCI cannot have it both ways. Either they are right about the Gospel and all the rest of Christianity is wrong and lost and preaching a false Gospel. Or they are wrong and they are preaching a false Gospel. There is no middle ground.

As to this question, I find myself in a unique position. For I have followed the steps of Acts 2:38 as taught by the UPCI. I truly repented as I was taught to do (though I have come to understand this in a much more Biblical sense). I was immersed in water as the name of Jesus was spoken over me (I still accept this as my baptism). I spoke in another tongue as a result of praying for the Holy Ghost. I kept the "standards of holiness" for twenty years. But, after all of this, I was stunned by the teaching of Scripture that none of that entitled me to salvation. My mind and heart were awaken to the truth that only by fully trusting in a salvation which is all of God and not of myself could I be saved. Salvation is not about what I do to respond to God. [cp. Article "Is the Gospel God’s Word or Our Response?"] It is not about anything that I do. It is about what God has done to save me. All I bring to my salvation is my sins. My faith today is that Jesus, God Incarnate, was and is the perfect, righteous Lamb of God, who died and rose again to take away my sins and account to me His righteousness. Because of Jesus and Jesus only I am right with God. "Neither is there salvation in any other: for there is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved."

There are not two ways, but one. I thank God He has opened my eyes to choose the way of in Christ alone, by God’s grace alone, through faith alone, to the glory of God alone.

Being justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus: Whom God hath set forth to be a propitiation through faith in his blood, to declare his righteousness for the remission of sins that are past, through the forbearance of God; To declare, I say, at this time his righteousness: that he might be just, and the justifier of him which believeth in Jesus. (Rom 3:23-26 KJV)