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The Doctrine of God

There is only one God. The Trinity is Heresy.

1. Modalists call their theology "Oneness" because they believe a plural­ity of persons does not exist within God's nature. In other words, God exists only as one "person."

•  p.7 - Essential Doctrines of the Bible - "God is absolutely and indivisibly one.... His eternal nature contains no essential distinctions or divisions.... Any plurality associated with God is only a plurality of attributes, titles, roles, manifestations, modes of activity, or relationships to man."

•  p. 66 - Meet the United Pentecostal Church Inter­national - "In contrast to trinitarianism, Oneness asserts that (1) God is indivisibly one in number with no distnction of persons ..."

•  p.8 - Essentials of Oneness Theol­ogy - "The Oneness doctrine can be presented succinctly in two propositions:

1. There is one indivisible God with no distinction of persons.

2. Jesus Christ is all the fulness of the Godhead incarnate. All titles of the Deity can be applied to Him and all aspects of the divine personality are mani­fest in Him."

This is an ancient heresy known by a number of different names, including Modalism, Monarchianism, and Sabellianism. The latter refers to  a third-cen­tury teacher named Sabellius who systematized this doctrinal heresy.

In contrast, I will be showing, during this series, that although God reveals Himself in the Bible as existing as One from eternity past, this oneness isn't of "person," as Modalist's contend, but rather as three distinct Persons sharing in one nature, and committed to one purpose.

Further, I will be showing that the teaching concerning the Trinity of God not only is biblical, preceding the heresy of Modalism by more than a century, But that it was also accepted as orthodox by those discipled by the Apostles as they confronted the unbiblical teachings of early heretics.

2. The doctrine of the Trinity is not men­tioned in Scripture. Oneness doctrine restores the biblical doctrine of God that was held by the apostles.

•   p. 58 - Meet the United Pentecostal Church International - "Trinitarians sometimes explain that the Old Testament monotheistic passages merely speak of perfect agreement and unity among the trinity, excluding a plural­ity of false deities but not a plurality of persons in the true God. This view would allow outright polytheism, however, for many distinct deities could exist in perfect harmony. Neither testament uses the word trinity or associates the word three or the word persons with God in any significant way."

•  p. 67 - Meet the United Pentecostal Church International - "The Oneness doctrine is important because it upholds biblical Christianity in at least three specific ways: (1) It restores biblical terms and patterns of thought on the subject of the Godhead..."

While it is true that the actual term "Trinity" isn't found in the Bible, this is no reason to reject it as a biblical teaching. Often those who reject the Trinity do so solely on these grounds. The reality is the Latin word "trinitas" came to be used in relation to scripture as a theological attempt to explain in simple terms a teaching illustrated in scripture that clearly presents the idea that three persons are shown to somehow simul­taneously exist within biblical illustration of a monotheistic God. These three persons are shown to be distinct from one another, possessing personal attributes. Only persons can express intel­lect, emotion, and will. They are also shown to interact with each other in a subject-object fashion. When the Father and the Son communicate, there is a demand for the two persons to be involved, not two natures somehow communicating within one person. 

3. God consists of Jesus only, who is the Father. God is not three distinct persons.

•  Volume 1, p.98 - The Oneness of God: Series in Pentecostal Theology - "The term Father refers to God Himself— God in all His deity."

The confusion arises in the definition and understanding of personhood versus nature.

• A Person can be described as self-aware and aware of others who are also self-aware, having an intellect, being voli­tional (having a will), and capable of emo­tional thought and sensibilities or feelings.

• A Nature is different from a person as it describes the parameters and essence of personal qualities or attributes.

The human nature is finite in its intellectual compre­hension, whereas God is infinite. The same can be said of all aspects of person­ality shared by God and mankind. This understanding helps to explain how man can be made in the image of God and yet can never legitimately hope to be God.

Nature can also describe character. God's nature is contrasted with fallen human nature in that God is good and man is evil. Jesus shared man's nature in the person-hood sense, but not in character, as He was without sin.

4. The Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, rather than being three distinct per­sons within the Godhead, are actu­ally titles that describe the multi­ple roles played by God as He has pro­gressively revealed Himself to mankind.

•  pp. 60, 61 - Meet the United Pentecostal Church International - "The Bible certainly speaks of the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, but not as three dis­tinct persons.... the titles of Father, Son, and Spirit describe God's multiple roles and works.... The terms can also be understood in God's revelation to human­ity: Father refers to God in family relation­ship to humanity; Son refers to God in flesh; and Spirit rhi
• efers to God in activity. For example, one man can have three sig­nificant relationships or functions—such as administrator, teacher, and counsellor— and yet be one person in every sense of the word."

The idea that God role-plays or assumes modes of function, e.g.; acting as the Father, as the Son and as the Holy Spirit successively is why the Oneness Pentecostal groups are associated with the Modalistic Monarchians of old.