[AJPS 7:1 (2004), pp.

21-34]

DAVID YONGGI CHO’S THEOLOGY OF

THE FULLNESS OF THE SPIRIT:
A PENTECOSTAL PERSPECTIVE1

William W. Menzies

1. Introduction

I have watched with fascination the remarkable development of the

Korean churches in the last thirty years. The Korean War devastated the
country. The industrial, transportation, and communications
infrastructure was virtually destroyed. Homes and businesses were
shattered. Families were torn apart; many died. Few countries suffered in
the twentieth century as did Korea. Virtually all had suffered severely.
After the war, there was a great spiritual vacuum in the aftermath of this
colossal tragedy. Disillusionment and hopelessness prevailed. I
remember my first visits to Korea in the early 1970s, less than twenty
years after the Truce. Few public buildings were heated in the bitter cold
winter; the cities were dingy and dusty. The marks of poverty were
everywhere. It was a time of gloom and sorrow for the nation.
And, yet, I shall never forget my first night in Korea. I was hosted by
kind missionaries on the campus of the Bible school in Seoul. It was very
cold; my room was unheated. Well before daylight, I heard the sounds of
feet crunching in the snow, just outside my window. Faithful Korean
Christians were gathering in the school chapel for an early-morning
prayer meeting—a practice which I learned was common by that time
throughout Korea among earnest Christians. The commitment and
dedication of Korean believers is one of the great stories of the modern
church.

1
An earlier version of this study was presented in the Second Youngsan
International Theological Symposium, May 2003, Hansei University, Goonpo,
Korea.
22 Asian Journal of Pentecostal Studies 7:1 (2004)

What remarkable changes have occurred in the last generation!

Korea has emerged from the ashes as one of the powerful economies of
the modern world. The industrial and economic developments have been
staggering. Shining cities with efficient transportation and
communication are in remarkable contrast to the situation that prevailed
just a few short years before. And, even more phenomenal than the
physical re-birth of the nation has been the remarkable growth and
influence of the Christian church. From a very small minority in the
society at the end of the Korean War, Korean Christianity has reached
virtually every segment of the population, growing at such a rate that it
now comprises, I understand, more than one-quarter of the entire
population.
One individual, perhaps more than any other, has been at the center
of this noteworthy revival—Yonggi Cho. Cho’s personal experience of
the Spirit, which he attributes as the source of the empowering, led him
to bring together the world’s largest church, Yoido Full Gospel Church
(YFGC). In addition to his own pastoral leadership, Cho has been a
major influence in the shaping of the teaching and life of many of the
churches of Korea, certainly within the Pentecostal tradition, but also
throughout much of Evangelical Christianity in the country.2 Several of
the mega-churches in the Assemblies of God in Korea are pastored by
those mentored by Cho. As the Chairman of the World Assemblies of
God Fellowship, Cho has clearly been recognized by Pentecostal
colleagues around the world as a major leader having great influence and
significance. Therefore, to obtain better insight into the values that mark
the Pentecostal churches of Korea, one must include the teachings of
Yonggi Cho.
There are some terms that Cho employs and emphases that he
champions which are not always clearly understood within Pentecostal
churches. It is my contention that it is important to see Cho’s theology
within the context of Korean social history to avoid misunderstanding his
teaching. And, as one reads his sermons and other writings, one must
bear in mind that all of God’s truth cannot be articulated readily in a
single setting. Because of the unique history of Korea, and the special
circumstances surrounding the beginnings of Cho’s ministry, it appears
that God raised up Cho at a strategic time in Korean history to highlight
several key themes that the people desperately needed to hear—themes

2
Changsoo Kang, “An Analytical Study On the Life of Woon-Mong Na,
Indigenous Korean Pentecostal” (Th.M. thesis, Asia Pacific Theological
Seminary, 2003), p. 34.
 Menzies, Cho’s Theology of the Fullness of the Spirit 23

of hope, of deliverance, of power, of high expectations. Such themes are

certainly not all that God has revealed, but it does seem that God chose to
use him to herald a positive message for very discouraged people who
needed to hear about the possibilities, the hope that flows from the gospel
of Jesus Christ. He must be seen as a man called by God for a special
time with a special message. It is with this sense of the importance of
context that we now address the teaching of Yonggi Cho on the Holy
Spirit.

2. Baptism in the Holy Spirit and Fullness of the Spirit

Let’s begin with Cho’s own testimony:

I prayed for an experience with the Holy Spirit whom I had studied and
learned about. I asked the Holy Spirit to come and fill me with His
power, His ministry and His message for a sick and hurting world….So
daily I prayed for the filling of the Holy Spirit…. And then it happened.
One evening while I was asking the Lord for the filling of the Holy
Spirit, I felt His presence draw near. It was a wonderful experience. I
was worshipping and praising Jesus aloud, telling Him audibly again
and again how wonderful it was to know Him and how much I loved
Him…. As I worshipped, I felt a warm glow touch my face, then my
tongue, then my body, and without realizing it I began to speak new
words that came to my mind and my tongue at the same time…. My
heart was overflowing with praise and worship to Jesus in a new
language…. That was my initial experience when I was baptized with
3
the Holy Spirit.

Several things emerge from this brief personal testimony in Cho’s

own words. First, he recognized that the experience of baptism in the
Spirit is separable from new birth. He was already a committed Christian
believer. As a student in the Bible school in Seoul, he earnestly desired to
serve the Lord effectively. He had been taught to expect a subsequent
experience, an “infilling” of the Holy Spirit. Cho acknowledges with
appreciation the teaching he received at the Assemblies of God Bible
college he attended in Seoul, a school that was the forerunner of today’s
Hansei University. 4 He was mentored by sympathetic American

3
The Holy Spirit, My Senior Partner (Altamonte Springs, FL: Creation House,
1989), pp. 8, 9.
4
Kang, “An Analytical Study,” p. 2.
24 Asian Journal of Pentecostal Studies 7:1 (2004)

Assemblies of God missionaries in his early years. Consequently, it

should not be surprising that his theology of the Holy Spirit resonates
closely with standard Assemblies of God doctrine.
Second, this subsequent experience he recognized, indeed, as a
“filling” with the Holy Spirit. We will return to this terminology shortly,
since it is central to the later teaching of Cho.
Third, it is crucial to recognize that this experience of the Spirit,
baptism in the Spirit, was understood by Cho to be an empowerment for
service. This distinguishes Pentecostal teaching from historical Wesleyan
or Holiness teaching. The Wesleyan understanding emphasized the role
of the Holy Spirit in the sanctifying of believers. The latter quarter of the
nineteenth century was punctuated with a strong emphasis throughout
Evangelical Christianity of the term, “baptism in the Holy Spirit.” Before
the birth of the modern Pentecostal movement, Fundamentalists and
Holiness exponents freely used this term. The Fundamentalists employed
the term to describe an experience of the Spirit subsequent to new birth,
understood to be an enduement of power for witness and service, howbeit
without tongues.5 Holiness advocates following the Wesleyan tradition,
however, used this popular term in a different manner. By the end of the
nineteenth century, many Holiness teachers employed the term “baptism
in the Spirit” to speak of an experience commonly called sanctification.6
Cho understood this experience clearly to be an empowering for service,
clearly identifying with classical Pentecostal teaching—which followed
the Fundamentalist teaching on the empowerment of the Spirit for
service—rather than the Holiness teaching.
Fourth, Cho recognized that this particular episode was his personal
Pentecost, the event in which he was baptized in the Spirit, because it
was accompanied by speaking in other tongues. We will return to the
matter of tongues-as-evidence later.
At this point, let us compare Cho’s understanding of baptism in the
Spirit with commonly-accepted teaching among classical Pentecostals. In
the recently-issued New International Dictionary of Pentecostal and
Charismatic Movements, Professor J. Rodman Williams, widely-
respected Charismatic Presbyterian leader, outlines several aspects of
Pentecostal/Charismatic understanding of baptism in the Spirit by which
the reader can readily compare Cho’s teaching with that of standard

5
A. J. Gordon, The Ministry of the Holy Spirit (Philadelphia, PA: Judson Press,
1894; reprinted in 1949), p. 69.
6
Robert P. and William W. Menzies, Spirit and Power: Foundations of
Pentecostal Experience (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 2000), pp. 18, 19.
 Menzies, Cho’s Theology of the Fullness of the Spirit 25

Pentecostals world-wide. First, the term “baptism” is listed as essentially

the same as the term “filling,” disclosing not only totality, but also
abundance.7 The term “filling” became the favored term among Korean
Pentecostals, including Cho. It should be noted that it is virtually
synonymous with “baptism.”
J. Rodman Williams makes it clear that Pentecostals distinguish the
experience of baptism in the Spirit from salvation: “It is a pentecostal
distinctive, therefore, to affirm that salvation precedes baptism in the
Spirit or, to put it a bit differently, that one may truly believe in Christ
and not yet have received the gift of the Holy Spirit.”8 This is precisely
what Cho taught.
Williams readily acknowledges that the purpose of baptism in the
Spirit is primarily “power for witness,” not a sign of superior holiness.9
This is clearly the teaching of Cho. It is true that some classical
Pentecostals follow a “three-stage” soteriology, identifying the initiation
into the Christian life as salvation, followed by a crisis experience of
sanctification, sometimes called a “second blessing,” and finally
followed by an experience of being filled with the Spirit. This is the
common understanding of that group of Pentecostals who are direct
descendants of the Holiness tradition, those who are commonly referred
to as “Holiness Pentecostals.” Most Pentecostals, however, are classified
as “Keswickian” Pentecostals, who understand baptism in the Spirit to be
an empowering for service, not a badge of holiness. For them,
sanctification begins at new birth and continues throughout one’s life in a
progressive fashion, even after the event of baptism in the Spirit. The
Assemblies of God identifies with the Keswickian understanding. Cho’s
teaching is in perfect harmony with Assemblies of God teaching on this
point.
Pentecostals generally acknowledge speaking in other tongues to be
the normative initial sign of Spirit baptism. Williams states, “Whether
evidence or sign, the point made is that the distinctive event of Spirit
baptism is primarily exhibited through speaking in tongues.” 10 The
American Assemblies of God employs the term “initial physical

7
J. R. Williams, “Baptism in the Holy Spirit,” in The New International
Dictionary of Pentecostal and Charismatic Movements, eds. Stanley M. Burgess
and others (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 2002), pp. 355, 356.
8
Williams, “Baptism in the Holy Spirit,” p. 357.
9
Williams, “Baptism in the Holy Spirit,” pp. 358-60.
10
Williams, “Baptism in the Holy Spirit,” p. 358.
26 Asian Journal of Pentecostal Studies 7:1 (2004)

evidence” to indicate that the standard biblical sign to be expected as the

accompaniment to Spirit baptism is speaking in other tongues. 11 This
understanding is articulated in a standard textbook used widely
throughout the Assemblies of God, as well. 12 It should be noted that
although most Pentecostals adhere to this teaching, not all do. Also, most
Charismatics do not emphasize the necessity of speaking in tongues as
evidence of Spirit baptism, although many expect that tongues will
normally follow.
Although Cho does not seem to emphasize in his writings what
Pentecostals call the “initial physical evidence,” it does appear that this is
his own testimony and that this is, in fact, what he personally believes.
He does state that tongue speaking is “an external, objective sign of the
fullness of the Holy Spirit.”13
Cho seems to prefer the term “fullness of the Spirit” over the term
“baptism in the Spirit.” There may be an implied nuance of some
significance here. The term “baptism” points to a specific event, the
initial experience of being filled with the Spirit. However, the term
“fullness” points beyond that initial moment to the pattern of life that
follows. It seems to speak of the “Spirit-filled life.” Chang-soo Kang
points out that Cho in later years has chosen to use the term “fullness of
the Spirit,” a term he feels points more clearly to the pattern of life that
follows the initial reception of the Spirit than does the term “baptism in
the Spirit.” 14 Kang sees this term as the preference among Korean
Pentecostals.15
In virtually all respects, then, Cho’s teaching regarding baptism in
the Spirit appears to resonate readily with classical Pentecostal theology,
such as is found in the Assemblies of God. His favoring of the term
“fullness of the Spirit” does not seem to contradict classical Pentecostal
teaching whatsoever.

11
“Minutes of the 49th Session of the General Council of the Assemblies of God,
Convened in Kansas City, Missouri, August 7-10, 2001, with Revised
Constitution and Bylaws,” p. 92.
12
William W. Menzies and Stanley M. Horton, Bible Doctrines, A Pentecostal
Perspective (Springfield, MO: Gospel Publishing House, 1993), pp. 135-38.
13
The Holy Spirit, p. 114.
14
Kang, “An Analytical Study,” p. 2.
15
Kang, “An Analytical Study,” p. 2.
 Menzies, Cho’s Theology of the Fullness of the Spirit 27

3. Prayer and Faith

Cho’s strong belief in the empowering of the individual for witness

and service is anchored strongly in his understanding of the importance
of prayer. He writes, “Before the missionary era of the church began, the
Holy Spirit revealed to the leaders gathered in Antioch that they should
send Barnabas and Saul. Yet, the Holy Spirit only spoke after they had
been in fasting and prayer.”16A strong commitment to prayer has marked
Cho’s ministry from the beginnings in Daejo-dong, an impoverished
district just outside Seoul in 1958. He pitched a tent and lived there
through the cold Korean winter, “spending my nights in prayer.”17 Soon,
others began to join him in prayer, until more than fifty were interceding
for God’s mighty intervention in their community. Cho learned the value
of intercession early in his ministry and has sought to carry this emphasis
through in a variety of ways. In this respect, Cho exemplifies what is
common practice throughout the churches of Korea—a strong emphasis
on prayer, both private and corporate. Only through faithful prayer can
one expect the Holy Spirit to operate effectively. This, Cho believes, is
the key to revival.
It may be difficult to trace with precision the source of current
practices in Korean churches, but common to nearly all is the remarkable
schedule of prayer meetings that mark the calendars of the churches,
certainly including the Yoido Full Gospel Church. In fact, Cho’s church
is likely the fountain of influence for much of the prayer meeting
schedule in many of the churches. The daily regimen begins with a 5:00
a.m. prayer meeting in the church, to which many laymen and lay women
faithfully come. The pastoral staff is expected to be present. On Friday
evenings, it is a common practice for the Pentecostal churches (and
others, I am told), to feature an “all night” prayer meeting. These begin
about 9 or 10 p.m., and run until 2 a.m., or thereabouts. As a visitor to
one of these Friday night prayer sessions in one of the daughter churches
founded by Cho, I was impressed with the number of men who attended.
The pattern seemed to follow a cycle of a time for preaching, a time for
congregational singing, and an equal segment devoted to concert, vocal,
intense prayer. The meeting was characterized by solemnity and total
earnestness. Surely these are the habitations of God the Holy Spirit!
Visitors to Korea, looking in upon the disciplined pattern of prayer life,
come away with a strong sense that this is the secret of the great growth

16
Prayer: Key to Revival (Waco, TX: Word Books, 1984), p. 10.
17
Prayer: Key to Revival, p. 14.
28 Asian Journal of Pentecostal Studies 7:1 (2004)

of the Korean churches. And, certainly this is what Cho has taught for
many years!
Cho has provided a personal glimpse into his own prayer life. He
describes the way he prays, how he prays, and how this impacts the
course of his day. It is through this connection with God that the flow of
the Holy Spirit rests upon his life.18 He reports, “How do we get to know
the Holy Spirit? We only become aware of His nature as we enter into a
life of prayer.” 19 He spends time fellowshipping with the Holy Spirit,
being renewed spiritually, mentally and physically. “Out of the one hour
that I spend in prayer every morning, much of that time is spent in
fellowship with the Holy Spirit.”20 Cho says, “The measure of our faith is
in direct proportion to our communion with the Holy Spirit.”21
There is an intimate connection between prayer and faith. In his
book, The Leap of Faith, Cho illustrates how God works. In 1969, God
told him to build a church that would seat 10,000 people. In the
providence of God, space for one church had been allotted on Yoido
Island, at the edge of Seoul (now it is not too far from the center of the
metropolis). From the beginning of construction, many things seemed to
go wrong, including the devaluation of the currency and skyrocketing
inflation. Many people lost their jobs and the church income suffered.
About this time, Cho had felt led to initiate his prayer mountain. Deeply
discouraged, Cho joined the group at the prayer mountain. The people of
his church had been interceding for Cho. He sensed, all at once, a change
in the atmosphere. One poor woman offered all she had—a rice bowl and
a pair of chopsticks. Cho, weeping, said he did not want to take these
items from the woman, since she had so little. She insisted. One man in
the rear of the room heard the conversation. He spoke up and said, “I will
buy the bowl and the chopsticks for $1,000.” Others joined in the spirit
of sacrificial giving. Cho and his wife sold their home and put the
proceeds into the building fund. Miraculously, the church was saved
from disaster and the new building was completed. Prayer was the key
that produced faith, and faith prevailed!22
It is appropriate to acknowledge the legacy of the great revival in
Pyongyang in 1906. The Presbyterians had established the practice of

18
Prayer: Key to Revival, pp. 15-17.
19
Prayer: Key to Revival, p. 43.
20
Prayer: Key to Revival, p. 45.
21
The Holy Spirit, p. 18.
22
The Leap of Faith (South Plainfield, NJ: Bridge Publishing, 1984), pp. 56-59.
 Menzies, Cho’s Theology of the Fullness of the Spirit 29

gathering each morning for prayer. Revival broke out. Christians

confessed their sins. “As a result, Koreans were converted in all parts of
the country as the spirit of prayer prevailed.” 23 Cho would readily
acknowledge that the pattern of prayer which has characterized the
Korean churches really began in the great revival of 1906. He has been a
faithful steward of that legacy.

4. The Five-fold Message of the Gospel

In a popular document prepared in honor of thirty years of Cho’s

ministry, titled Ordeal and Glory through the Thirty-Year History of
Yoido Full Gospel Church, 24 an outline is provided that captures the
special emphases in Cho’s preaching and teaching. What Cho calls the
“five-fold message” is a listing of the “four cardinal doctrines” of the
Assemblies of God, plus a fifth one he has added: “blessing.” The four
cardinal doctrines, borrowed from American Evangelical Christianity,
are: salvation, the baptism in the Holy Spirit (what Cho calls the
“fullness of the Spirit”), divine healing and the second coming of Christ.
3 John 2, a scripture passage that is central to understanding Cho’s
ministry, is emblazoned on the wall in the reception area of the great
Yoido Full Gospel Church. This verse is the Apostle John’s expression of
desire that those to whom he wrote would “prosper and be in health.” It
is critically important to keep in mind, as one evaluates the teaching of
Cho, the situation into which he came. The Korean nation had suffered
terribly. The Christians had suffered. Many were very discouraged and
had lost all hope. It was into the dark night of post-war Korea that God
raised up Yonggi Cho to elevate the horizons of his people. His message
was the announcement of hope, of the victory there is in Christ, of the
available empowering of the Holy Spirit. He saw the practical blessings
of salvation embracing not only the spiritual dimension of mankind, but
also the physical and the material dimensions, as well. It was this
emphasis that caused Cho to be criticized, not only by non-Pentecostal
Evangelicals, but by many Pentecostals, as well.
In the United States, excesses in the “salvation-healing” crusades of
some evangelists led to a reaction to those who proclaimed what was
called the “prosperity gospel.” And, certainly a case can be made for the

23
Prayer: Key to Revival, pp. 13, 14.
24
YFGC, Ordeal and Glory through the 30-Year History of Yoido Full Gospel
Church (Seoul: YFGC, 1988).
30 Asian Journal of Pentecostal Studies 7:1 (2004)

need for a balanced presentation of truth so that God’s desire for the
prosperity of believers is not construed to mean that faith will guarantee
paradise here and now with no suffering to be encountered by those with
sufficient faith. However, an equally strong case can be made for the
need to raise the horizons of deeply-discouraged people to dare to believe
for God’s divine intervention into dark circumstances. It is in this context
that Cho’s teaching on “the five-fold message of the gospel” must be
understood.
The influence of Oral Roberts is clearly evident in the teaching of
Cho. One theme of Roberts with which Cho resonates is “God is a good
God.” In a animistic Buddhist culture, in which works-righteousness is
mixed with fear of the supernatural, Cho preached that God is a God of
love, a God of grace, and that he intends for good to happen to those who
will trust him. Jesus came to bring life and that more abundantly!25
Based on 3 John 2, Cho sees three dimensions of God’s intended
blessing for his people. The first is “as your soul prospers.” His primary
focus is on the salvation of the individual, new birth. However, Cho
moves beyond entrance into the family of God to the fullness of the Holy
Spirit.

The fullness of the Spirit includes: 1) speaking in other tongues under

the control of the Spirit as a sign that we have received the fullness of
the Spirit; 2) an overflowing blessing which touches the lives of others
26
as we live for Him.

Cho moves beyond the initial reception of the Spirit, emphasizing

that believers should seek to be filled daily. Instructive in this teaching is
that the purpose of the fullness of the Spirit is to bless others. Spirit-filled
believers are empowered to bring deliverance to others, to enrich and to
bless.
Cho refused to limit the blessing of God to the spiritual realm. He
boldly challenged Korean believers to expect God to bless their lives
materially. He stated,

The prosperity God wants to see in our lives applies to the whole
picture of living: child-rearing, our jobs, businesses, human
relationships, the necessities of life, the stability of life, joy and so on.
Consequently, if we are made whole in our spirits, souls and bodies, the

25
Salvation, Health and Prosperity (Altamonte Springs, FL: Creation House,
1984), pp. 11-18.
26
Salvation, Health and Prosperity, p. 49.
 Menzies, Cho’s Theology of the Fullness of the Spirit 31

natural outcome is that we should prosper in every area of our lives.

Jesus shed His precious blood and made out a deed—a certificate of
title—calling for our prosperity in all things. The remaining work for us
now is to exercise the rights and privileges that have already been given
27
to us in order to obtain those provisions.

Again, we must bear in mind that this message was delivered to

people who needed to hear that God, indeed, loved them and wanted his
children to raise their vision to greater expectations. Critics could charge
that this was a one-sided message, since no qualifications seem to be
stated to allow for the difficulties and disappointments that come into
every life. However, at the time this was delivered, Cho wanted to bring
a strong message of hope to Christians who had been systematically
taught to bear suffering and to expect suffering in this world.
In the last generation, an extreme form of positive thinking
abounded in the West, commonly labeled the “positive confession”
movement. Advocates of this teaching promulgated the overly-simplistic
belief that merely articulating a desire would put God into the position of
having to supply whatever wish the individual expressed. It was taught,
for example, that if one wanted a fine, large automobile, he or she should
cut out a picture of the object and put it in a conspicuous place where the
person could remind God of the need for him to fulfill the desire by
granting this wish. This promoted a view of God as little more than a
“cosmic bellhop.” It promoted materialism and self-centered living.
Against such extreme teaching, it was felt necessary in the American
Assemblies of God to produce a position paper on this matter, titled “The
Believer and Positive Confession.” The document states,

God’s Word does teach great truths such as healing, provision for need,
faith, and the authority of believers. The Bible does teach that a
disciplined mind is an important factor in victorious living. But these
truths must always be considered in the framework of the total teaching
28
of Scripture.

Cho did not allow his teaching to descend to that level of abuse. One
must remember that his mission was to pull discouraged people out of the
depths of despondency.

27
Salvation, Health and Prosperity, p. 55.
28
“The Believer and Positive Confession,” in Where We Stand (Springfield, MO:
Gospel Publishing House, 1997), p. 144.
32 Asian Journal of Pentecostal Studies 7:1 (2004)

Cho supplies this insight into his self-understanding about poverty

and what God wanted him to do about it:

I once thought that poverty had great moral value. In Korea ministers
used to preach that poverty was a blessing, that the poor were those
who reaped the most from life’s experiences. However, these same
ministers were also continually asking their congregations to give more
and more money to the church. Teaching the value of poverty, they also
preached the merit of increased contributions. This contradiction
bothered me. When I became a minister myself I volunteered to pastor
in a slum area of the city of Seoul. People in that community lived lives
of poverty, mostly eating only one meal a day. Children were sick from
malnutrition, and many were starving to death. It was then that I read
the Bible anew, searching for a solution. I wanted to know God’s will
29
about poverty.

It is clear that Cho was addressing a very definite crisis need in the
Korean situation. Certainly he emphasized strongly one dimension of the
Christian faith—the possibilities for a better life. He should not be
faulted for not tempering his message with all the qualifications that can
be cited in a balanced message, since in the crisis of that time, he
understood what emphasis was most desperately needed.
In Cho’s understanding of 3 John 2, he also saw implications for the
Christian and physical health. Categorically he states, “God desires that
we may live in good health.”30 He taught that healing is not only in the
atonement, but that the Holy Spirit has been given to the church by Jesus
Christ to bring healing to the nations.

The Holy Spirit, the other Comforter who dwells among us and
continues Jesus’ work, enables us to understand and receive
forgiveness because of Jesus’ work on Calvary. As an evidence that we
have been forgiven, He heals us. Through the Holy Spirit we have the
31
grace of salvation with healing as its sign.

Cho points out that there is a basic principle regarding healing:

where there is strong faith, there will be more healing. He does not

29
Solving Life’s Problems (Plainfield, NJ: Logos International, 1980), p. 27.
30
Salvation, Health, and Prosperity, p. 115.
31
Salvation, Health, and Prosperity, p. 141.
 Menzies, Cho’s Theology of the Fullness of the Spirit 33

guarantee that all will be healed, but that the Christian who desires
healing has the responsibility to cultivate a life of prayer and belief.32
The American Assemblies of God has from its beginnings held a
strong conviction that divine healing is an essential component of the
gospel message.
As we observe the ministry of both Jesus and the apostles, it is
evident that divine healing was not something peripheral. It was an
important witness to Jesus, as the revelation of the Father, as the
promised Messiah, and as the Savior from sin (see John 10:37, 38).33
The position paper does acknowledge that, in spite of the strong
affirmation about the privilege of all believers to enjoy the blessing of
divine healing, there remain mysteries.
In humility we recognize that we do not understand all that pertains
to divine healing. We still see through a glass darkly. We do not
understand why some are healed and others are not any more than we
understand why God permitted James to be martyred and Peter delivered.
Scripture makes it clear, however, that our part is to preach the Word and
expect the signs to follow.34
The American Assemblies of God position paper on divine healing
resonates closely with the teaching of Cho, except for the reservation
made in the concluding paragraph that acknowledges the mystery
pertaining to the fact that not all for whom prayer is offered are, in fact,
healed. I do not think that Cho would teach anything contrary to this,
although this qualification does not appear to be explicitly stated.

5. Conclusion

Pastor Yonggi Cho is a preacher with a strong message. He rose

from poverty and obscurity to a position of enormous influence around
the world. His preaching over the years has been directed to people
whom he felt needed to hear a positive message of hope for a brighter
future. The great response of the Korean people to his preaching
discloses in a dramatic fashion that his message, indeed, was heard. He
has been a key leader during the years in Korean history in which a
devastated nation rose from the ashes to become a major power, not only

32
Salvation, Health, and Prosperity, pp. 144-56.
33
“Divine Healing: An Integral Part of the Gospel,” p. 45.
34
“Divine Healing: An Integral Part of the Gospel,” p. 54.
34 Asian Journal of Pentecostal Studies 7:1 (2004)

in the world of international economics, but in the role of Christian

statesmanship and missions. In my paper I have sought to demonstrate
that Pastor Cho’s preaching is best seen in the light of the social situation
in which he ministered. He indeed had an important message of spiritual
and social transformation at a critical time in Korean national history.