The Nature of Pentecostal Theology

Auckland Park Theological Seminary (ATS) is 80 years old this year. 

As part of our birthday celebrations, ATS held a 3-day ‘Bosberaad’ where all our lecturers came together. For three days we looked at our whole curriculum and discussed it. We reflected on God’s plan for, and through, ATS.

This process started with Prof FP Möller giving an overview of the nature of Pentecostal Theology, to provide the orientation for the rest of the review that followed.

I am going to start by commenting on a few things about the nature of healthy theology, and then I will talk about the curriculum for my subject Dogmatics and Ethics.

We are all theologians, and we are all teachers. That’s our calling. And, therefore, I think it is necessary that we should think about being a teacher and being a theologian. In this context there are especially four topics that I want to present to you before I go to the curriculum, and I will try to be brief. And, of course, it’s not possible to speak in-depth about these four topics.

1. The first one is the question about our concept of God.
2. The second one is a Christ-centred theology and our approach in our theology.
3. The third one is to be a Pentecostal theology, and
4. The last one is to be a teacher according to the model of Christ, who is also called a teacher.

I will briefly look at these four topics. I know that you are theologians and that you are informed people, and I don’t think it’s possible to tell you something new, but I will try to remind you of that which you already know.

1. Our concept of God

A while ago, I’ve again read 2 Peter 2:1,2.  I think it is necessary that we should take note of what is written there because Peter talks about teachers. You will find in 2 Peter 2:1 that he refers to false teachers and false prophets. And then he ends this whole section in verse two with these words. He says that false prophets and false teachers, they will bring the way of truth into disrepute.

I think it’s necessary that we should take note of what He said there. He refers here to the way of Truth. And, of course, it has to do with the gospel of Jesus Christ. But I think it goes deeper than that. If you go to John 14:6, where Jesus said, ‘I am the Way and I am the Truth’. Truth is more than just the gospel. It is deeper than that, false teachers are bringing Jesus Christ, the Way, and the Truth, in disrepute. That’s what happens with false teaching.

I thought by myself, what does it really mean to bring something into disrepute? What is really written in the Bible? I went back to the Greek bible, and I saw there that the word that is used for disrepute is blasphēmeō. You will immediately recognise that this word is also the word from which the English word blaspheme comes. It is also the same word that is used when Christ refers to the sin against the Holy Spirit, to blaspheme – blasphēmeō against the Holy Spirit. Of course, blasphēmeō has many translation possibilities.

I’ve looked at all the different possibilities, but there’s one possibility that I think includes all the others, namely the meaning to violate someone’s character. Thus, false prophets and false teachers are violating the character of God in Jesus Christ. And if you do that, it stands to reason that you portray a wrong image of who God is, and it has everything to do with your concept of God. You give people a wrong concept of who God is, that is to violate – blasphēmeō – the character of God.

It is very important that we should have a biblical view of who God really is. Our concept of God is so important. I say it’s important because how you think about God, how you talk about God, how you feel about God will also determine your relationship with God, what you expect from God. A wrong concept of God actually does not only violate your relationship with God and harm your relationship with God, but it also harms your theology.

You start to believe and to say things about God that is obviously not true because your concept of God is violated. For example, you know, in the last few months, I’ve started to rewrite my notes on eschatology, and I especially looked again at Revelations 20: 1-10. Now that is a section in the Bible that you know is all about the thousand years where Satan is bound and the whole story of the millennium. I’ve actually written an article for North-West University, “Hermeneutical Approach and Exegesis of Revelations 20 verse 1 to 10”, and it was also published in the journal In Luce Verbi.

I even got reaction from a university in Wales on that article. They asked me to be an external examiner for them. So, it is a very relevant section in the bible in terms of the eschatology. In fact, today, if you talk about eschatology, they will ask you, are you a premillennialist or a postmillennialist or an amillennialist, as if the millennium[1] is in the centre of the eschatology, and that is not acceptable.

I thought about the whole story of this misinterpretation of the millennium, and I realised that at the very core, at the base of this wrong interpretation is a wrong concept of God. That is what it’s all about. Think for yourself. If you really believe that Jesus Christ will come back again with all the saints, millions and millions of them in glorified bodies and rule from Jerusalem over this whole earth for a thousand years. Think carefully about what you are saying.

Sometimes we say a lot of things without thinking about the consequences of what we say. You know, a thousand years is quite a long time. South Africa, in terms of the coming of Jan van Riebeeck coming to the Cape, is not even four hundred years ago. The whole America came into existence just a little more than four hundred years ago. A whole nation.

A thousand years is quite a long time, isn’t it? And Christ will return, and you ask yourself, okay, He’s going to rule from Jerusalem. Where is he going to stay? Is he going to stay in his own home in Jerusalem for a thousand years?

He will not grow older with all these millions and millions and millions of saints and also, of course, in glorified bodies because there’s no indication that the person will die and come back and again be clothed with a physical body, a fleshly body. Think for yourself. More people that live in the whole of America will come back. Where are they going to stay? All in glorified bodies.

Christ with the glorified bodies. Is he going to stay in his own home? Is he going to have a cleaner in his home, sleep at night in a home there in Jerusalem, going every morning with his own motorcar to the building where his office is, sit behind the computer, answer all the emails, talk a bit to his secretary, then Jesus Christ with his glorified body will take a plane to, say for example, the United Nations Building in America, book into a hotel, sleep the night there, watch TV, be the chairperson of the gathering, and so forth. Think in concrete terms about it, and when you think about it, it becomes ridiculous.

It is possible to think like that if you have a wrong concept of who God in Christ really is. I think the whole problem started when people begin to proclaim that when Christ has risen from the death, he rose in a glorified body. I think that’s the place where this wrong concept of God started. And let me tell you, a wrong concept of God, as Peter says here, false teachers, false prophets, doesn’t only influence your eschatology, of course, but it influences your whole theology.

If you believe that Christ has risen in a glorified body, you have a wrong concept of God. And it is preached from our pulpits. It is as if people do not read what is written in the Bible. If you go to Peter’s sermon after the outpouring of the Holy Spirit in Acts 2, listen what he says there in Acts 2:31. He says that David prophesied in terms of Christ’s resurrection that his body will not see decay.  This is actually a quotation out of Psalm 16:10. Peter was very clear about it, that Christ will be risen from the dead in his fleshly body, not his glorified body, because his body will not see decay. You know, there are two times in the Bible where Christ’s disciples thought that he was a ghost or a spirit. And you will remember that the first time was when he walked on the sea on the water, and they were afraid and they thought this must be a ghost. And then you read there in Matthew 14:26,27 that Christ came to them and said to them, “take courage”. “It is I. I’m not a spirit. I’m not a ghost. It is I”. The second time when they thought that he was a ghost was when he appeared to them after the resurrection behind closed doors.

Again, they were afraid and thought that Jesus is indeed a ghost or a spirit because it could not happen. But listen to Christ’s reaction to that, and you find it in Luke 24:39. Christ said, “Behold my hands and my feet, that it is I myself: handle me, and see; for a spirit hath not flesh and bones, as ye see me have”. Very clearly Christ pronounces here, I am flesh and blood. There’s no question about it. I do not understand why people do not read the bible and listen what is said in the bible. Even later, we read in John 20:42 to 43 that he ate grilled fish and bread.

A spiritual body does not need food to survive. It is also true that the very earliest church confessed that Christ has risen in his flesh. You know the whole apostolic confession that was made in 390 AD. It was completed as it is today at the Council of Milan. And you know it by heart.  It starts with, I believe in God the father, the creator of heaven and earth. And then it goes on, I believe in the Holy Spirit. I believe in the holy general church. And then it ends with these words. I believe in the resurrection of the flesh, referring to Christ, and eternal life.

It was one of the oldest confessions of the church that Jesus Christ has risen in the flesh. Think for yourself, he had to rose in his flesh to be recognised. If Jesus Christ has risen in a glorified body, no one would have recognised him. And they would not be able to proclaim that he is really the Christ because a glorified body is a spiritual body, and a glorified body looks completely different.

Then again, I sometimes hear that pastors say from the pulpit, once in heaven, Christ will be the only one with a wounded body because we will see the wounds of the cross in his body. We will all have glorified bodies except Christ, and you will always look at the wounds of the cross to remind you what he has done for us. But how can you think like that? One of the main reasons why Christ became flesh, he was incarnated in the flesh, was to die. A spiritual body cannot die.  Only a fleshly body could be wounded and wounded up to death, and that was the reason why He became flesh. But Paul is very clear, that although we knew Christ in his flesh, we do not know him like that anymore. He is with God in his glorified body, and that’s not a fleshly body. Because of this wrong theology, many see Christ in a glorified body just like our bodies, with only a few possibilities added to Christ.

The fact is, however, that a glorified body is a magnificent body, is a spiritual body. I don’t think we have even an idea of what it entails to have a glorified body. Just to give you some clues in this regard, take for example Moses. Moses had this experience that Christ in his glorified state, before he became flesh, revealed himself to Moses. Moses asked the Lord: “may I see your face?” Listen to the answer of the Lord in Exodus 33:20. “You cannot see my face, for no one can see me and live. You will die”. That’s what he said to Moses. If you see me in my glorified state, you will die.

You will also remember in Revelation 1 when the glorified Christ revealed himself to John on the Isle of Patmos. That revelation was of such extent that John said it is absolutely impossible to describe what I’ve seen. His face was like the sun shining in its full power. His eyes were like flaming fire. It was overwhelming, and he fell down like a dead person at the feet of Christ.

It is a majestic revelation of God, and I believe it was not the full revelation of God at that stage. Let me take you to another example. You know, the bible is very clear that when Christ returns, every eye will see Him. I remember when I was a student there at Pretoria University, we asked our Professor in the class, how is that possible? How is it possible that, every eye will see him with his return? His answer was, we have a very developed technology, and we will be able to see it because there is television. Now think for yourself: My wife tells me, Francois, we must watch news tonight because Jesus Christ has come again and then we will see Him. It’s ridiculous. God does not need our technology to do whatever He wants to do.

And I believe when Christ will come again in great power and in glory, it will be an event that will fill the whole universe. The creator of heaven and earth returns in great glory and power. It will be like light entering into darkness. He who is holy comes into that which is unholy. He who is perfect comes into that which is not perfect, and everything will be dissolved. Therefore, the bible is very clear, namely that the return of Jesus Christ will be accompanied with cosmic catastrophes. The sun will turn black, the moon like blood, the stars from the heaven will fall, and the elements of the earth will melt. It will be an event like no other event that anyone ever experienced.

The whole universe will be filled with the glory of its Creator. And if we do not change in a moment to be equal to him, we will also die. We read in 1 John 3:2 where John says, we do not know exactly what we will be, but we know this, that when Christ returns, we will see Him as He is. How’s that possible? We will die if we see Him like this. It is because we will be like Him. That’s why it’s possible to see Him, if not, then we will also die. We will also be demolished by the return of Jesus Christ. I think the greatest danger for us as theologians and teachers is to underestimate who God in Jesus Christ is!

We can say a lot more about it, but the first thing as the teacher, we should make sure that our concept of God is a biblical concept. It is so vital for our theology.

2. Christ-centred theology

The second thing I want to talk about is not only our concept of God that is important, but also that we should have a Christ-centred theology. Prof Jan has touched on it already, what I want to say is complementary to what he has already said. I’m convinced that our approach to theology should be a Christ-centred approach.

When I refer to a Christ-centred approach, I do not deny the reality of the Trinity. It is not Christ at the cost of the Holy Spirit and the Father. I know there are theologians that will tell you, it’s not right to have a Christ-centric paradigm when practising theology. It is better to have a Trinitarian approach to theology. There are lot of discussions in this regard, namely should it be Christ-centric or should it be in terms of the Trinity? I think this confusion has to do with the fact that we do not distinguish between two things. And these two things are not exactly the same. First, our relationship with God, and secondly, theology as a science.

You cannot separate these two from one another. Your relationship and your theology are closely linked to one another, but it is important to distinguish between the two. In terms of our relationship with God, it is all about the Trinity. I think our ultimate goal in our relationship with God is to have a relationship with God the Father. I say it because God the father is the highest authority in the Trinity. There is an authority structure in the Trinity. For instance, you will read in the Bible that God the Father sent Christ and Christ sent the Holy Spirit, but you will never read that the Spirit sent Christ, or that Christ sent the Father. It is first the Father, then the Son, and then the Holy Spirit.  Therefore, our highest goal is to have a relationship with the highest authority, the Father, and it happens through Jesus Christ and the Holy Spirit. So, there is no question that in our relationship with God, the Trinity is in the centre of it all.

When it comes to theology, then we have to do with the science. And when we talk about science, it is all about the scientist on the one hand and the field or the object of research on the other hand. In the relationship between the subject, the scientist and the object, the field of study, the science realised. For instance, botany. The subject is the botanist. The field of study is the different plants and in the relationship between the two, the botany is developed. The same is true in terms of theology. You have the subject that is theologians, and we have the object, the field of study. And the field of study for theology is not God. God can never become an object.  He’s the eternal subject. There’s no way that we can put God there and study God. God is not an object. He’s a person. He is “I am who I am”. He’s the subject.

God is not the object of our studies, but the object of our studies is the revelation of God. And this is the reason why I say that in our theology we should be Christ-centred because the revelation of God comes to us only through Jesus Christ. He is the one who reveals the Trinity to us. It happens through Jesus Christ.

He is the bridge between heaven and earth. He is the connection between God and man. He’s the mediator between us and the Trinity, and there’s no one else that could be that. Why? Because only Christ is the God-man. The Father is not God-man. The Spirit is not God-man, but Christ is the God-man. And because he is the God-man, he is the one in whom God and man connects. Therefore, if it is about the revelation of God, it stands to reason that we should be Christ-centric in our approach. In fact, the whole message of the gospel should be understood in the light of who Christ is, what he has said, what he has done, and what he will do.  Through Christ and because he is the self-revelation of God, we can know the Trinity, but there’s no other way. This is why I’ve started with the whole idea that our concept of Christ should be a biblical concept. If our concept of Christ is wrong and we try to be Christ-centric, everything will still be wrong. And much more can be said about who Christ is, but I do not have the time to do it. You can fill it in; I just want to make you aware of the importance to have the right concept of who God is in Christ, and also the importance to have a Christ-centric paradigm in our approach and doing theology.

3. Pentecostal Theology

Thirdly, our theology should also be a Pentecostal theology, not only Christ-centred, not only a right concept of God, but it should also be a Pentecostal theology. To be Christ-centred in our approach, we need the guidance of the Holy Spirit. We cannot really study the revelation of God in Christ without the guidance of the Holy Spirit.

In fact, I’ve told you that in ordinary science you have a subject, and you have an object of study, but in theology you have two subjects, the theologian and the Holy Spirit and the object is the revelation of God. You cannot do it on your own. The truth is there are two subjects, you and the Holy Spirit.

3.1 Salvation and eternal life

When we talk about the revelation of God, his self-revelation, I think the biblical message is that in the very core of His self-revelation is the whole question about salvation. Salvation is what it is all about and accompanied with salvation is, of course, eternal life. It is beautifully expressed in John 3:16 that says, “God so loved the world that he has given his only begotten son. So, whoever believe in him will receive eternal life”. You immediately notice how the whole concept of salvation is linked to eternal life. I think eternal life is a sort of an umbrella term in the bible that includes everything in terms of our relationship with God. It is the ultimate goal of salvation, to receive eternal life. It is a concept to give expression of all that God grants us – in his love for us.

When you ask me, but what is eternal life all about? Then you have a very clear answer from Christ in this regard. I take you to John 17, that marvellous section in the Bible that gives us the Lord’s prayer before he was crucified. There’s such a lot of theology in that prayer because when you pray in times of turmoil, stress, fear, you do not pray about anything, you pray about that which is really important. If you read John 17, you come to the very core of the gospel of Jesus Christ. Listen what he says in verse three. “This is eternal life …” now remember, salvation is all about eternal life. Salvation is all about the self-revelation of God. That’s what it is all about. “This is eternal life that they may know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent.” Eternal life means – to know you, the only true God, and to know Jesus Christ whom you have sent.

3.2 To know God

It is all about knowledge of God. Theology is all about knowledge of God. But the immediate question in reading John 17, the logical question is, but what about Satan? If there is someone who really knows God, it is Satan.

Satan can tell us much more about God than we can. He really knows who God the Father is, and he really knows who Jesus Christ is. But in spite of the fact that he really knows the Father and Jesus Christ, he does not have eternal life. Why? Is that a contradiction in terms of John 17:3?

No. Knowledge of God in the biblical sense of the word goes deeper than logic, what we think about God. It goes deeper than emotion, what we feel about God. Knowledge of God includes spiritual knowledge of God.

When you go to psychology, you will find that they will divide intelligence into two main groups. Your physical intelligence, your IQ, the capacity of your brain, and also emotional intelligence, and a lot of other subtopics underneath those two main topics. But theology also works with spiritual intelligence, and it has everything to do with your view of what man is. Most psychologists view man as spirit and soul (one and the same) and the body. But it is different in the New Testament. In the Old Testament, it’s not that clear (the distinction between spirit and soul).  We should remember that the revelation of God was progressive in nature, it is like a light becoming brighter and brighter and brighter up to the New Testament.

3.3 Spiritual intelligence is needed to know God

When you read the New Testament, it is very clear that spirit and soul is not the same. I don’t want to elaborate on that, but the New Testament view on man, the anthropology is man is spirit, soul, and body. And therefore, when we talk about intelligence, about knowledge in the Biblical sense of the word, yes, it’s true, there is your IQ, your physical intelligence. There is also your emotional intelligence, but there is also spiritual intelligence. I’m amazed that I did not find any book on spiritual intelligence in theological circles. Isn’t that amazing that no one thought about it, no one writes about it, and it is so important? In fact, I believe that spiritual intelligence is the most important intelligence in terms of knowing God.

Listen to what Paul says in terms of knowing Christ, and I take you to 1 Corinthians 12:3. Paul says, “no one can say that Jesus Christ is Lord except by the Holy Spirit”.  Some theologians will say, no that’s not true. I will do good research on the Old Testament, and it is recorded that there are almost 350 predictions of how the Messiah will be and how it is fulfilled in Christ in the Old Testament. They will tell you, I can look at all these predictions, and I will prove that Jesus Christ is Lord. I can do it through good exegesis, and I will prove to you that Jesus Christ is Lord.

Paul says no. No one can say that Jesus Christ is Lord except through the Holy Spirit. Why? Because knowledge of God goes deeper than logic (what we think about God) and emotion (what we feel about God). Knowing God, knowing who He is and then to talk about God, there’s a need for spiritual intelligence and that can only happen through an encounter and the real intervention of the Holy Spirit in our spirit. That is why knowledge of God is also that event, that connects us spiritually to God, that our spirit and the spirit of God become one. It happens through spiritual intelligence.

This is also why Satan does not have eternal life, although he knows a lot about the Father and the Son. There’s no spiritual intelligence. There’s no connection, spiritual connection between God and Satan.

3.4 The truths revealed in Christ are made true in our very inner being, through the work of the Holy Spirit

In fact, theology that is not Pentecostal theology, that does not reckon with this intervention of the Holy Spirit in a person’s life, is actually dangerous. If the revelation of God through Jesus Christ is not made true in our spirit through the Holy Spirit, then it happens that we start to question the reality of God.  This happens actually in many theologians that start to question the reality of God. They start to question their theology, is Christ really the son of God? Can we really believe in God? And eventually, to be a person of doubt, is seen as a good quality of a theologian.

Therefore, I say, it’s true, we should be Christ-centred, but the truths that are revealed in Christ remain just something objective if it is not revived and made true in our very inner being through the work of the Holy Spirit. That is so necessary and without that, you cannot be a good theologian. That should happen to each one of us and, of course, I believe it has happened.

3.5 My personal confession

I would like to make my own confession. I’ve written my own confession in terms of being Christ-centric and being Pentecostal. I think this confession is every one of us’ confession. If we really are Christ-centric and if we are really Pentecostal, it goes like that.

It is in terms of Christ:

Through His death, Christ’s death, I am justified. I say it with the greatest confidence, and I know it’s true. Through his death, I am justified.
Through His stripes, I am healed.
Through His poverty, I am rich.
Through His close proximity, I am anointed.
Through His truth, I am wise.
Through His power, I am strong.
Through His blood, I am sanctified.
Through His resurrection, I am spiritually alive, and
Through His ascension, I am seated with Him in heaven and reign with Christ.
His name is “I am who I am”. My name is “I am, like the great I am”. (Image of the invisible God. Col. 1:15)

To conclude: what is important in theology?

• First of all, I think we should have a biblical concept of God.
• Secondly, we should be, in our approach in studying the revelation of God, Christ-centred.
• And we should also be Pentecostal, being spiritually intelligent. We know what we talk about, and no one can convince us of the opposite. God is real. I’m one with Him, and everything that the Bible says is true. I know it spiritually, and spiritual knowledge is a greater knowledge than intellectual knowledge and emotional knowledge. You are absolutely convinced through the work of the Holy Spirit.

Lastly, we should also be teachers according to the model of Christ.

4) Teachers according to the model of Christ

I think it’s more than 45 times in the New Testament that reference is made to Christ as teacher or rabbi. It’s one of his most important references in the Bible: teacher, rabbi.  For this reason, we must look at Christ because we are teachers. When I said that we should be Christ-centric in our thoughts, then we should also be Christ-centric in terms of what is a teacher. It stands to reason.

You can say much more than what I have said, but I think there are especially three outstanding characteristics in terms of being a teacher looking at Christ. The first one is, as teacher, he has challenged his disciples. Secondly, as teacher, he changed his disciples. And thirdly, as teacher, he has given his disciples hope. To challenge, to change, to give hope, I think should be the manner in which we teach our students. Those three characteristics should also be present in the way we teach. There could be more characteristics, and you can fill in the context and the content of being challenged, be changed, to give hope. But I think those three characteristics are outstanding in the teaching of Jesus Christ, Christ as a teacher.

The main reason why I mentioned these three characteristics and why I emphasise it is because we should not be teachers or we should not teach like most universities teach in theology. Sometimes you know we are so used to being taught in a certain manner that we just take it and apply it without thinking about it.

When I was still part of North-West University, it was expected from a lecturer to write at least two articles a year for publication in the faculty.  I’ve written more or less two articles every year. You know, however, that an article is first examined [peer reviewed] before it is published, and then examiners decide whether it is fit to be published and so on. And you get certain remarks about your article. And the remark that I usually got was this, be aware in writing your article not to preach, just present the reader with exact theology.

If I look at Christ, I think that is wrong. It’s not how our study material (Reader in ATS’ context) should look like, just theological facts. It is true that our study material should not consist of a lot of sermons. That’s true. It should be good Christ-centric Pentecostal theology.

But in the manner that we present it, it should be in such a way that when our students read our Readers, that the content (information) should speak to them. When they read it, they should have this feeling that it’s not just theology that I study. The content talks to me, and it challenges me. It changes me, and it also gives me hope. Then I think we are in line with the model or the way in which Christ has taught his disciples.

I’m firmly convinced that theology is there to serve proclamation. If a student cannot use our theology to proclaim the gospel better than before, then our theology is of no use. It’s not about theology for the sake of theology.  The great commandment of Christ was proclaiming the gospel to the whole world, not form (or formulate) theology.

Theology is very important to fill the gap between what is written in the bible and proclamation. The bible will talk about rebirth. Theology is the subject that explains what is meant by rebirth so that the person can proclaim to the world what rebirth is all about. And therefore, theology serves proclamation.

I think we should take that into account when writing our notes, our Readers. Challenge the students. Change them. Give them hope. Then we are in line with the model of Christ as teacher.

Believe me, it is very important. Believe me if I tell you most of our students are not able to breach the gap between theology and the application of theology, the consequences of what we teach them, and the truths involved. They read through our Readers, they study theology, but they have no clue how to apply it in their ministry.

If, however, we start to say for ourselves, I’m going to write it in a manner that it will talk to them. Write your notes in the second person. Why not? Address your student. Give them good theology. That’s what I believe. When they read it, it speaks to him or to her.

Challenge them. Change them. Give them hope. That is very important, and it is difficult – let me tell you that. To rewrite your theology and constantly think about the consequences of what you have written and write it also into the Reader, then it becomes alive. I’ve started to do it, and I have to confess it is hard work and it will take time. But I’m absolutely convinced that is the way we should go. Because at the end, ATS will develop a unique theology, the theology that models the teaching of Jesus Christ.

Then I believe it will be effective in challenging our students and changing our students and giving our students hope. And through that, our students will also be able in their own ministry to challenge the world, to change the world, and to give the whole world hope. May God help us in doing that.

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[1] the doctrine of or belief in a future (and typically imminent) thousand-year age of blessedness, beginning with or culminating in the Second Coming of Christ.