Summary Of I Am: A Oneness Pentecostal Theology

It is imperative to fully understand the meaning of salvation, and the process in which to obtain it because compared to biblical salvation, everything else seems inconsequential. In the culture and that we live in, conservative religious doctrines have become more and more taboo. Society would rather waste time in the pursuit of earthly desires such as wealth, or physical and emotional pleasure, while salvation is left unsecured. The world has unknowingly set itself on a path that leads to eternal damnation, but God’s grace is never ending and has brought to us the gift of salvation. Salvation is the deliverance from the power and penalty of sin by grace, through faith. According to John 3:5, salvation is achieved through the baptism of immersion

In the book, I AM: A Oneness Pentecostal Theology, David S. Norris relates the idea of salvation being a choice to the story of how Adam and Eve were faced with the decision to break covenant with God. When faced with this decision, Adam and Eve did not choose to keep their covenant with God and sin was brought into the world. They had it, and then they lost it. Now with the potential for sin to infest the world, the need for salvation was created. Every individual in every generation is faced with a similar choice: to either be in covenant with God, or to be out of covenant with God; to accept salvation, or to reject salvation. God has given us the freewill to choose either to surrender to Him or to reject Him. Norris states in his work, Big Ideas, “God created us, He created us with the freedom to decide. We opt yes or no, thumbs up or thumbs down, we do. No one else.” No one else can make the decision to pursue salvation for us. There is nothing that we can do by our own hand or merit that will contribute, earn, or purchase our own salvation. But through faith and by the grace and the power of the Spirit, salvation is obtainable as a free gift. Faith is a key ingredient in accepting salvation. When Nicodemus approached Jesus in John 3, his confusion towards what Jesus tells him is typically interpreted as sincere misinterpretation; however, could it be that Nicodemus rejects Jesus’s message because he lacks faith in who Jesus is? David K. Bernard puts it into words like this: “Only he who believes is obedient; only he who is obedient, believes.” If we truly have faith in the identity of God, the pursuit of salvation is inevitable. Once salvation is obtained, the power of sin is broken; sin no longer has dominion over us. However, we are still truly sinners who must pray for forgiveness every