EDORSED BY DR. DAVID K. BERNARD!!!! (see Dr. Bernard's comments below)
"A distinctly Pentecostal doctrine of justification"
In recent years, several scholarly works have discussed the theology of salvation, particularly justification and sanctification, in ways that are of special interest to Oneness Pentecostals. One such book is, “
Justified in the Spirit: Creation, Redemption and the Triune God” written by Frank D. Macchia.
Macchian is an Assemblies of God scholar and university professor. He argues for a distinctly Pentecostal doctrine of justification. In contrast to traditional Protestant explanations, he emphasizes that justification is not just forensic (legal).
That is, it is not solely a transaction or declaration that occurs outside humans. “Justification in scripture has legal overtones but cannot be grasped by any legal metaphor. Righteousness is not imputed; it is accessed or participated in through faith and by the life of the Spirit” (6). Justification is both in the Spirit and by faith (53). It is both imputation and indwelling, not one without the other (67).
As a corollary,
he argues that the legal theory of the Atonement is also inadequate, specifically Anselm’s satisfaction theory.
Christ’s sacrifice is not merely a legal payment, but it involves God himself taking on the consequences of our sin through the death of Christ. “Justice is fulfilled through mercy and redemption by God’s taking injustice, shame and death into Godself in order to bring all things into the intimate communion of the Spirit” (166).
Finally, he asserts that
we cannot separate the Atonement from Pentecost or justification, as Protestants typically do. “One cannot…..separate the cross from the resurrection and Pentecost along the lines of justification and sanctification.
…………
Rather than sanctification and justification representing two thoroughly distinct stages or dimensions of one’s salvation, they are to be viewed as two overlapping and mutually complementary lenses” (8). “If we are ever to recover the ancient integration of justification and the Spirit, we must heal the breach between the cross and Pentecost”(162).
While Macchia links the doctrine of the Atonement to the Trinity, his explanation can easily be enunciated in Oneness terms. He addresses classic Oneness interests: Christ’s work on the cross is actually God’s work in Christ; justification involves the work of the Holy Spirit; and justification issues forth in sanctification. Indeed he quotes from Frank Ewart several times and cites my work on justification. He suggests that the Oneness Pentecostal view of initiation, which includes the impartation of the Holy Spirit, is the ‘quintessential Pentecostal soteriology”(187).
http://www.amazon.com/Justified-Spir...the+Triune+God
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