Pentecostalism and Ecumenism: Past, Present, and Future (Part 1 of 5) by Amos Yong

Amos Yong challenges classical Pentecostals to re-examine what ecumenism really is.

I am pleased to present this important series by Professor Amos Yong. The subject of what ecumenism truly is and what it means to the Pentecostal/charismatic is an important one today.

This article has been specifically written to classical Pentecostals, those whose traditions come from the Azusa Street Outpouring of the early 20th Century. Classical Pentecostals have historically been predisposed against ecumenism. The reason for this is that ecumenism has often been viewed as an attempt by ungodly men to bring together all religions of the earth into a compromised one world religion.

Perhaps at no other time in North American history has the church been on the precipice that we are today. While the rest of the nations of the earth are experiencing dramatic awakenings, the church of North America continues to lose ground. Morally and evangelistically (if nothing else), the church is not the agent for change or preservation she was just decades ago. Some have forecasted persecution of Christians in the relative near future. All Christian leaders seem to realize that something must change in order for the church to impact the rising generations of fatherless, visionless youth.

Whether the woes of the church can be rectified such that she regains her saltiness is more than a matter of eschatology. Whether you believe that the church is going to usher in the Millennial reign of Christ or that we are on the brink of the Tribulation, we have standing commands in God’s Word to embrace believers as brethren and love one another. My prayer is that you will study this subject with heart tuned to what the Spirit is saying to the church. He who has ears to hear, let him hear.

— Raul Mock, Executive Editor

Introduction
In this paper, I would like to raise and attempt to answer four questions. First, is there a biblical ecumenism, and if so, what does that mean (this will be answered in Part 1)? Second, what are some of the classical Pentecostal objections to ecumenism, and how might these be answered (Part 2)? Third, does Pentecostalism have an ecumenical history, and if so, how has this related to the ecumenical movement in the mainline churches (Parts 3-4)? Finally, what is the future of Pentecostal ecumenism and what might be ways we could contribute to such a venture (Part 5)? Let us plunge right into this difficult topic.

I.   The Biblical Basis of Ecumenism

The English word ‘ecumenism’ is a transliteration of the Greek word oikoumene of which various forms are found fifteen times in the New Testament (Matt. 24:14; Luke 2:1, 4:5, 21:26; Acts 11:28, 17:6, 31, 19:27, 24:5; Rom. 10:18; Heb. 1:6, 2:5; Rev. 3:10, 12:9, 16:14). Derived from oikos—house—and meno—dwelling—it is invariably translated “world” or “whole world,” and signifies the world’s inhabitants. Clearly, oikoumene most often functions as a figure of speech describing a pervasive reality. It is not used in the modern sense of the term as related to the unity of the Church except in a very indirect way when referring to the widespread influence of Christian actions such as preaching the gospel (e.g., Matt. 24:14; Acts 17:6, 24:5; Rom. 10:18). Instances of the term in the New Testament do not therefore advance our understanding of contemporary ecumenism. Its current use derives more so from the etymology of the term—the whole world or the entire household or inhabitants of the world—rather than from the specific ways in which it is used in the New Testament.

Contemporary ecumenism, however, is intimately connected with ecclesiology, or the doctrine of the Church. Here, of course, there is an abundant wealth of biblical material that emphasizes the unity of the body of Christ. In fact, the metaphor of household (oikeios) is applied to the Church as well (Gal. 6:10). In Paul’s letter to the Ephesians, the household of God (2:19) is composed of both Jews and Gentiles (cf. 2:11-22), is governed by the gospel (oikonomia; 3:2), and is united together ‘in the promise in Christ Jesus’ (3:6). Later on in this same letter, he writes, ‘Make every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace. There is one body and one Spirit—just as you were called to one hope when you were called—one Lord, one faith, one baptism; one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all’ (4:3-6). Clearly, for Paul, the oneness of God extends to the effects of the work of God, the Church, its faith, its baptism, etc.

This Paul confirms in no uncertain terms in his first letter to the Corinthians where factions had developed among those baptized by Paul, by Apollos, by Peter, and so on (1 Cor. 1:10-16; 3:4, 21-23). In response, Paul again emphasizes, among other things, the unity of the body of Christ (12:12 ff.). The intention of God is that ‘there should be no division in the body, but that its parts should have equal concern for each other. If one part suffers, every part suffers with it; if one part is honored, every part rejoices with it. Now you are the body of Christ and each one of you is a part of it’ (12:25-27). Some might respond that Paul is here speaking to the various individual persons who make up the one body of Christ at Corinth. They may therefore say that these words provide no justification for thinking about the unity of various churches as understood by the contemporary ecumenical movement. This ignores, however, both the plain understanding of Paul’s usage of the metaphor ‘body of Christ’ to describe the Church here and elsewhere in his writings, and the fact that in his salutation, he addresses not only the Corinthians but also ‘all those everywhere who call on the name of our Lord Jesus Christ—their Lord and ours’ (1:2). It is therefore arguable that the ‘various parts of the one body’ metaphor is meaningful at a number of levels, including various individual persons in one local congregation, various congregations in a city or geographic region, various groups of churches in the world, and so on.

To stop with Paul, however, would be to leave the discussion at a fairly abstract level. A much more concrete picture emerges when considering the gospel accounts. Specifically, ecumenists have frequently pointed to Jesus’ ‘high priestly prayer’ for the disciples and all believers in John 17. God’s heart for the church and the world is unmistakable as the following lengthy excerpt shows:

My prayer is not for them alone [the immediate disciples, in vv. 19 and before]. I pray also for those who will believe in me through their message, that all of them may be one, Father, just as you are in me and I am in you. May they also be in us so that the world may believe that you have sent me. I have given them the glory that you gave me, that they may be one as we are one: I in them and you in me. May they be brought to complete unity to let the world know that you sent me and have loved them even as you have loved me.

Father, I want those you have given me to be with me where I am, and to see my glory, the glory you have given me because you loved me before the creation of the world. Righteous Father, though the world does not know you, I know you, and they [the disciples] know that you have sent me. I have made you known to them, and will continue to make you known in order that the love you have for me may be in them and that I myself may be in them (John 17:20-26).

Three points should be made about this passage. First, note that Jesus’ prayer extends far beyond the circle of the twelve disciples, and embraces all of those who believe in him. The unity that is prayed for, in other words, is universally inclusive of believers in Jesus Christ, then, now, and so long as the our Lord shall tarry.

Second, the unity that is expected derives from the unity between the Father and the Son. This is an important point because the Father-Son unity in the Johannine gospel appears to be all-encompassing: ontologically in terms of shared presence (1:1-2; 10:38; 14:10-11; 16:32) and the divine name (8:58, cf. Ex. 3:14); imagistically in terms of the Son revealing (1:18; 14:7-9) and representing (13:20) the Father; act-ually in terms of the Son doing (only) what the Father does (5:19; 8:29; 14:31); gloriously in terms of equal honor being due to Father and Son (5:23) and bestowed by each on the other (8:49-50, 54; 13:31-32); judicially, as rendered by the Son on behalf of the Father (5:22, 26-27, 30; 8:16); mutuality in terms of witness and testimony (8:18) and will and intention (6:38; 12:28); evangelistically in terms of Jesus’ proclaiming and teaching (only) the Father’s message (7:16-17; 8:28; 12:49; 14:24; 15:15); salvifically in terms of Jesus being the way to the Father (14:6); communally in terms of fellowship (11:41-42) and love (14:21); and so on. This is a deep unity that cannot be simply explained in only one or another way. As prayed for by Jesus, then, the unity of believers should be understood not simplistically at any one level, but holistically, embracing every aspect or dimension of reality. As such, this unity transcends all artificial lines of demarcation that human beings so often erect to distinguish themselves from others.

Finally, it would be remiss not to mention the centrality of love to the Father-Son unity and the unity that Jesus prayed for those who believe in his name. Love is that which characterizes the Trinitarian relationship between Father and Son, between the Son and the world, and between the Father and the world. Earlier in the gospel, Jesus had said, ‘By this all men will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another’ (13:35). How do we show forth the salvation that we have experienced? By loving each other. Failure to demonstrate such love to the world betrays our witness to non-believers. On the other hand, the loving unity that should bind believers together in Jesus is precisely that testimony by which others realize the love of God for the world.

John does also mention another motif of the unity between Father and Son that is connected to the sending of the Spirit. Jesus promised the arrival of the Counselor, the Spirit of truth, from the Father, and foretold that ‘On that day you will realize that I am in my Father, and you are in me, and I am in you’ (14:20). Later in the same upper room speech, Jesus indicates that the common message of Father and Son will be made known to the disciples by the Spirit of truth (16:12-15). Yet nowhere else in the autoptic gospel is this connection between the Spirit and the ecumenical prayer of Jesus explicated.

Such explication is, however, found in volume two of Luke’s writings. Luke, as is well known, is supremely concerned in the book of Acts with the person and work of the Holy Spirit. This pneumatological motif finds expression on the Day of Pentecost when the Spirit is, literally, poured out ‘on all people’ (Acts 2:17). One should not take this ‘all’ lightly since Luke goes to great lengths to describe the universality of peoples represented in Jerusalem who heard those in the upper room speaking to them each in their own native tongue. This gathering of Judeans, Parthians, Medes, Elamites, Cappadocians, Asians, Phrygians, Pamphylians, Egyptians, Libyans, Cyreneans, Romans, Cretans, Arabians, residents of Mesopotamia, and others (2:9-11) has long been understood to represent the re-gathering of God’s people from their initial dispersal at the Tower of Babel. More importantly, however, it was individuals from each of these people groups who were baptized into the one body of Christ on that day (2:41), and who, in turn, took the gospel from Jerusalem to Judea, to Samaria, ‘and to the ends of the earth’ (1:8).

The cumulative fruit of the Spirit’s outpouring on the Day of Pentecost finds its fulfillment in the eschatological consummation of God’s saving work. We are told in the revelation to the seer on the isle of Patmos that those gathered before the throne of God and the Lamb are ‘from every tribe and language and people and nation’ (Rev. 5:9; cf. 7:9). This is in part because the gospel is being sent ‘to every nation, tribe, language and people’ (14:6). On that final day, the great multitude representing such a staggering diversity of persons will lift up one great voice to the Lord God Almighty as they celebrate the great wedding feast joining together once for all the Lamb and his bride (19:6-9). The one body of those who are saved, as this picture and that depicted at Pentecost show, knows no boundaries, whether such is conceived politically, socially, linguistically, racially or ethnically, or otherwise.

To summarize, then, a biblically conceived ecumenism begins with the one work of God represented during the New Testament era as and through the Church of Jesus Christ. The unity of this body is—or should be—a reflection of the unity between the Father and the Son. Put another way, this unity is demonstrated in the love that members of this body have for each other, in the same way that the Father loves the Son and vice versa. It is therefore appropriate to consider this love as ‘the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace’ (Eph. 4:3), begun at Pentecost and to be completed on that great and final Day of the Lord.

PR 

Read also:
Pentecostalism and Ecumenism: Past, Present, and Future (Part 2 of 5)
Pentecostalism and Ecumenism: Past, Present, and Future (Part 3 of 5)
Pentecostalism and Ecumenism: Past, Present, and Future (Part 4 of 5)
Pentecostalism and Ecumenism: Past, Present, and Future (Part 5 of 5)