Entire Sanctification: The Second Prayer of Faith: A Nazarene's Theology of Christian Salvation - Paperback

by Darrell Robert Poeppelmeyer (Author)

A minister explains salvation as taught by the Church of the Nazarene within the context of two-thousand years of Christian experience. There are three sections.The first section deals with a doctrine of salvation. Two lists are derived from New Testament materials. The first list deals with items of conversion. The second list deals with the call to live the Christian life-style. The space between these two lists provides the Biblical foundation for an experiential doctrine of entire sanctification.Only post-resurrection materials are used to ferret out a doctrine of Christian conversion. This places the emphasis of a conversion theology on Lucan, Johannine and Pauline materials. Only after a doctrine of conversion and the call to the Christian life-style is established on the basis of post-resurrection materials, do I venture to pre-resurrection materials. This process protects against an overt confusion between the Jewish faith and Christian faith as found interposed within the Canonical Gospels. I determine the Canonical Gospels establish the fulfillment of the Jewish faith as a historical transition to post-resurrection, Christian experience.The doctrinal section concludes there is no standard ordo salutis within the Biblical materials. However there is a complex of materials that identify Christian conversion and the call to live a Christian life-style.The second section deals with the experience of salvation. The lack of a Biblical ordo salutis is carried over into the experiential section to explain why two-thousand years of Christian experience has varied so much in terms of its descriptions and denominational and cultural expectations. The concept of a via salutis is introduced to explain the historical emergence of varying types of ordo saluti. Within this broader Christian context arises a description of Christian salvation that includes the classical terminology used within the Church of the Nazarene.Included in this section is a Biblical model of the Apostle Peter's spiritual growth. The doctrine of sin as a misplaced, controlling love is used as the standard for understanding entire sanctification.The third section deals with the theological history of entire sanctification as experienced within the Church of the Nazarene. Internal and external debates concerning entire sanctification are covered in detail including every major and minor work posted within the Wesleyan Theological Journal.I conclude the Church of the Nazarene exists as a coherent denomination as a result of the confluence of her revival evangelists and educational institutions. I further demonstrate that our theology of entire sanctification has remained coherent throughout this last century. Its variability, which was previously demonstrated in both the Biblically-derived doctrinal section and the experiential section, is far more expansive than either the holiness movement or Wesley. This context is used as a better way of interpreting our particular theological history than merely pitting our historical foundations against each other.I conclude with offering an ingredient for the attitude necessary for the future teaching and preaching the doctrine of entire sanctification within the Church of the Nazarene. All Christians will appreciate the candor and honesty of this book. You may be challenged in your own spiritual walk and understanding.