Oneness Pentecostals & Salvation

When it comes to how salvation is understood in OP, there is a little truth mixed with a lot of error. For instance, OP's believe in the imputation of Adam’s sin, total depravity, Christ’s substitutionary atonement, salvation by grace through repentance and faith, which leads to heaven for those who do and hell for those who don’t.

However, OP’s reject salvation by grace alone through faith alone, teaching instead that the new birth is achieved by (1) repentance and faith, (2) water baptism and (3) Spirit baptism. In OP, salvation is a three-step process.

Their first great error is with baptismal regeneration. Water baptism must be (1) accompanied by saving faith, (2) done by immersion and (3) performed in Jesus’ name to be efficacious. They use the typical “proof texts” for baptismal regeneration (e.g., Mark 16:16; Acts 2:38, 22:16; 1 Pet 3:20).

Also, they unbendingly insist that water baptism be in a Jesus name formula (= “in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ,” or “in the name of Jesus Christ,” or “in the name of the Lord Jesus,” or “in the name of Jesus,” or “in Jesus’ name”) based on (1) the singular “name” in Matt 28:19, (2) no Trinitarian but many Jesus name formulas in Acts and other places (e.g., Acts 2:38; 8:16; 10:48; 19:5; 22:16; Rom 6:3-4; 1 Cor 1:13; Gal 3:27; Col 2:11-12), and (3) “Jesus’ name” being the baptismal formula of the early church (This is where they get the name “Jesus Only,” though they do not like this label [Bowman 23]).

Their second great error in salvation is the third step, namely, that “baptism in the Holy Spirit is essential to salvation and never occurs without the ‘initial evidence’ of speaking in unknown tongues” (Beisner 54).

Their argument that baptism in the Spirit is absolutely necessary for salvation, not an optional, post-conversion experience for the gifted, first, based on texts like John 3:5 & Titus 3:5.

Second, they teach that all five accounts in Acts of receiving the Spirit were to the Jews, then Samaritans, Gentiles, Paul and John the Baptist’s disciples demonstrating that the baptism in the Spirit is for everyone and accompanied by tongues (explicit: Acts 2:1-4; 10:44-48; 19:1-7; implicit: 8:8, 12-19; 9:17).

Finally, when the event that told Peter the Gentiles had received the Spirit was their speaking in tongues, this proves for OP’s that tongue speaking is the initial evidence of a person’s reception of the Spirit (Acts 10:46).

Therefore, if a person has not spoken in tongues, they have not been baptized in the Spirit and if they do not have the Spirit, that person is certainly not saved. If you do not speak in tongues you are “not yet salvation worthy” (Boyd 198).

As an aside, when I've talked with OP's, I've been told I'm not saved because I have not spoken in tongues, and I've heard those who do not "have the Spirit" really question God and weep and complain and feel very forsaken by Him for not blessing them with tongues so that they can be saved.

* For the names of the resources quoted in this post, please refer to the previous posts where they're named.