Full Gospel


The term Full Gospel is a term often used to describe the doctrinal teachings of Pentecostalism and Charismatic Christianity, evangelical movements that originated in the 19th century. The movement and its teachings grew out the Wesleyan Arminianism of the post-American Civil War era's holiness movement, especially through the "fourfold" teachings of A. B. Simpson, founder of the Christian and Missionary Alliance.
Early Pentecostalism saw their teachings on baptism with the Holy Spirit, spiritual gifts, and divine healing as a return to the doctrines and power of the Apostolic Age. Because of this many early Pentecostals and Charismatics call their movement the Apostolic Faith or the Full Gospel.

History

The term "Full Gospel" refers to Romans 15,18-19, where Paul says: "... to make the Gentiles obedient, by word and deed, through mighty signs and wonders, by the power of the Spirit of God; so that from Jerusalem, and round about unto Illyricum, I have fully preached the gospel of Christ."
This term has origins in the holiness movement and in the Pentecostalism. A. B. Simpson, the founder of the Christian and Missionary Alliance, framed his core beliefs around the "Fourfold Gospel", that Christ is Savior, Sanctifier, Healer, and Soon Coming King. The "Foursquare Gospel" of Aimee Semple McPherson and the International Church of the Foursquare Gospel also contributed to the expression. Many Pentecostals were influenced by Simpson and adopted his Fourfold or "Foursquare" Gospel as an articulation of their beliefs. Donald Dayton identified the full gospel as the theological roots of classical Pentecostalism. A variety of Pentecostals have further developed the motif of the full gospel, predominantly the five-fold theme of salvation, sanctification, Spirit baptism, divine healing, and the coming kingdom. In 2017, Wolfgang Vondey proposed a systematic and constructive Pentecostal theology on the basis of the full gospel motif.