Baptism in the Spirit. By William K. Atkinson, Cambridge, The Lutterworth Press 2012, Pp. x + 164. $19.00, and Getting “Saved”: The Whole Story of Salvation in the New Testament. By Charles H. Talbert and Jason A. Whitlock, Grand Rapids, Mich., William B. Eerdman’s Publishing Co. 2011, Pp. xii + 324. $30.00.
William P. Atkinson is a minister in the Elim Pentecostal Church, UK. Presently, he works at the London School of Theology, where he is Director of Research and a Senior Lecturer in Pentecostal and Charismatic Studies. He is author of several books, including the award-winning The “Spiritual Death” of Jesus (2009) and Trinity After Pentecost (2013). The present title under review is about that treasured doctrine of Pentecostalism: baptism in the Holy Spirit, understood as a work subsequent to conversion to Christ. Since the British theologian James Dunn’s publication of his influential work Baptism in the Holy Spirit (40 some years ago), there has been heated response from Pentecostals in defense of the doctrine. This book reviews Pentecostal criticisms of Dunn with respect to Luke-Acts, concluding that Pentecostals are right: for Luke, receiving the Spirit was not the inception of new covenant life; rather, it was a powerful enabling for prophecy and miracles.
Chapter one surveys Dunn’s work and outlines the six key scholars who have engaged his arguments. The key players are Roger Stronstad, Howard Ervin, David Petts, James Shelton, Robert Menzies, and ex-Pentecostal Max Turner. Here Atkinson defines baptism in the Holy Spirit as “a charismatic empowering for Christian service distinct from and thus, potentially, chronologically subsequent to initial regenerating faith in Christ” (p. 3). Dunn clearly rejects this definition, following instead a conversion-initiation understanding of Spirit baptism. Thus, Pentecostal scholars have responded, since they see the doctrine of subsequence as central to Pentecostal identity. Their critiques are outlined in chapter two: Dunn reads Luke-Acts through the lens of Paul and assumes an identical pneumatology. Taken cumulatively, Atkinson concludes that Dunn’s debaters have cast doubt on his claim that to become a Christian is to receive the Spirit (p. 65).
Chapter three then provides an assessment of the various intra-Pentecostal alternatives; chapter four addresses the canonical context of the debate by looking specifically at the writings of Paul and John (1 Cor 12:13; John 20:22), while chapter five summarizes and offers several practical suggestions for contemporary expressions of the present-day work of the Spirit. Atkinson suggests using the term “Baptism in the Spirit” to describe an equipping for service that is experienced by modern-day Pentecostals. This book is quite useful for people seeking to comprehend this distinctive Pentecostal doctrine; it is not designed to convince non-Pentecostals (instead, it is a survey of intra-Pentecostal discussions using Dunn’s work as a dialogue partner).
The second title under review herein, Getting “Saved”: The Whole Story of Salvation in the New Testament, through careful exegesis of relevant NT texts, shows that “getting saved” involves both God’s forgiveness and God’s enablement to obey from initial conversion to full eschatological salvation. It is important to note at the outset that most of these essays have appeared elsewhere before, so the newness of the book is by its construction of these texts together, rather than by any novel addition per se.
Overall, this title is about soteriology – the science of being ‘saved’. So then, such questions as, ‘How does one gain a covenant relationship with God and remain therein until final salvation’ are appropriate to the study of soteriology. Herein, one will find twelve total essays by six different authors, with the essays being arranged by their canonical order. They first consider the Pauline and Pauline-related epistles, then the Gospels, the catholic epistles, and finally Revelation.
In the leading essay, Charles H. Talbert addresses the New Perspective on Paul. In so doing, Talbert argues that Paul moves beyond the legalistic and synergistic soteriological streams of Middle Judaism and sets forth a divinely enabled obedience of the Christian life that is demonstrated among other things by Paul’s use of the language of being “clothed in” or “putting on.” Jason A. Whitlark then takes up, in chapter two, the deutero-Pauline letter of Ephesians. Whitlark demonstrates that for the author of Ephesians, ongoing obedience is not grounded in the feeling of indebted gratitude for prior benefits that is characteristic of the reciprocity rationale, but in God’s continual charis to sustain the Christian life. Talbert then examines the pastorals and their portrayals of divine enablement of Christian faithfulness between the two epiphanies of Christ (incarnation, parousia). He concludes that the enablement of faithfulness is brought about by visionary transformation. Whitlark concludes the section on Pauline-related epistles with an essay on Hebrews, in which he argues that perseverance in Hebrews is grounded in Jesus’ high priestly ministry.
There are four essays herein that cover the gospels, and then three that cover the catholic epistles. Speaking of the catholic epistles, Clifford A. Barbarick examines the word-milk metaphor in 1 Peter 2:2, and claims that it is the word that provides the transformative milk. Concluding this volume is Talbert’s demonstration that the central motif of divine enablement in Revelation concerns its vision of the future. He proffers that Revelation’s empowering vision of the future argues for a pervading new covenant piety in the Christian apocalypse.
Bradford McCall
Regent University, Virginia Beach, VA.