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Grace, mercy and peace
will be with us, from God the Father and from Jesus Christ, the
Son of the Father,
in truth and love” (2
John 1:3; emphasis added).
Summary of oneness Theology
In contrast to Oneness theology, an
exegetical analysis of particular biblical passages in both the Old and New
Testaments establishes the fundamental data for the doctrine of the Trinity.
Hence, Scripture reveals in the clearest way that there are three
distinct Persons—the
Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit—that share the nature of the one God.
Thus, the three Persons are co-equal, co-eternal, co-existence, and
co-distinct. The full deity, incarnation and pre-existence of the Son, as a
distinct Person from the Father, are especially expressed in the Apostle
John’s writings. . . .
read more
The greatest weakness of the Oneness
unitarian position is the biblical doctrine of
the preexistence of the Son
Oneness advocates erroneously assume that the Son’s life began in
Bethlehem—thus rejecting the pre-existence and deity of the Son. They teach that the “Son” represents
the humanity of Jesus while “Father” represents the deity of Jesus. Thus,
Oneness theology sees God as unipersonal—i.e., a one Person deity whose name
is “Jesus”—hence they embrace a unitarian God that manifests in three modes,
not existing as three distinct co-eternal Persons.
So, being that they assert that
before time for there was only Jesus as the Father mode, God, and seeing
that the Son was only in the Father’s mind, hence, showing that the Son
pre-existed as Creator and God co-existing with the Father (and Holy
Spirit) annihilates the Oneness position, which rejects the Trinity, thus
rejecting Christ. Jesus is God the Son in the flesh distinct from the
Father—that is the biblical revelation of Jesus.
Which is exegetically expressed especially at
John
1:1-4;
John
17:5;
Philippians
2:5-11; and passages that show clearly the Son is Creator of all things (see
Jesus Christ the
Son as Co-Creator)
See The Pre-existence of the Son
and
Jesus Christ, the Son, Creator of All
Things
NEW
EDITION: 3rd Edition, Revised, Updated, and
Expanded of Dr. Edward Dalcour's, Definitive Look
at Oneness Theology: In the Light of Biblical Trinitarianism
(North-West
University,
Potchefstroom, SA, 2011)
Get it here:
"For those who do not have time to conduct
the exegetical work necessary to refute Oneness claims but who wish to be
theologically informed or to discuss the doctrine of the Trinity with theologians in the United Pentecostal tradition, Dalcour has provided a
valuable resource."—John D. Laing, Harvard
School for Theological Studies, Southwestern Journal of Theology,
Vol. 47 No. 1
>>A note on
Personhood and Being: Since
the fundamental premise upon which Oneness theology is built is the notion
that God is unitarian or unipersonal (as previously established), the
Oneness position denies the deity, unipersonality and pre-existence of the
Son. By way of definition, modes, roles and offices are non-personal.
Oneness theology asserts that Jesus is unipersonal, thus the Father, Son and
Holy Spirit are mere modes or roles, not Persons. Thus, the Oneness idea of
the Son differs severely from the biblical presentation.
To deny the deity
and pre-existence of the Son is to deny the very essence of Jesus Christ.
Commenting on John 8:24, Luther (1959: 365) can say: “The Lord Christ is
angry below the surface and says: ‘Do you know who I am? I am God, and that
in the fullest sense. Do as you please. If you do not believe that I am He,
then, you are nothing, and you must die in your sins.’”
Articles:
Isaiah
9:6: “Everlasting Father”: The Error of Oneness Theology Refuted
Are
Oneness Pentecostals Christian?
A Concise Look at Oneness
Beliefs
10
Questions to ask Oneness Believers
See
Grammatical Details
Introduction to
Oneness Theology (Modalism)
As with Jehovah's Witnesses, Oneness Pentecostals reject the historic biblical
doctrine of the Trinity. They teach that Jesus IS the Father, the Son and the
Holy Spirit (no distinction of Persons). In Oneness theology God exists as a
unipersonal monad, that temporarily manifested as the
"modes," "roles," or "offices" of the
"Father," the "Son," or the "Holy Spirit" at different
times. The unipersonal deity of Oneness theology lives in absolute
solitude. Hence they deny that God has revealed Himself in three distinct
coequal, coeternal, and coexistent Persons. In the end, their theology is
decidedly unitarian, which denies the the Person Jesus Christ as
revealed in Scripture.
Examining the Oneness
Claim that Jesus is His Own Father
In Oneness theology Jesus
IS both Father and Son (and Holy Spirit). Jesus is the name of the unitarian
deity that play the different roles of "Father," "Son,"
and "Holy Spirit." In other words, according to Modalism, when we
come to Scripture we have to decide if Jesus was speaking as the divine Father
or as the human Son. Thus, the modalistic Jesus has two natures: divine,
being the Father (and Holy Spirit) and human, as the human
"Son."
Examining the Oneness
Objections to the Doctrine of the Trinity
In this section we will analyze the main
objections that Oneness writers and teachers have concerning the doctrine of
the Trinity. However, the arguments used are largely dependent on out-dated
nineteenth century Unitarian arguments. The same theologically unsophisticated
argumentations are greatly employed by the Jehovah's
Witnesses.
Also in this
section, the anti-Trinitarian assertions made by UPCI writer and teacher David
K. Bernard in his book The Oneness of God are
biblically (and logically) refuted.
The Pre-existence of the Son
(see short summery
here)
All non-Christians cults have one definitive commonality: they deny that Jesus
Christ is eternal God. By asserting that God is unipersonal (one Person)
Oneness leaders teach that Jesus Christ (as the Person of the Son) did
not exist before Bethlehem. As with Jehovah's Witnesses, Oneness
theology teaches that the Person of Jesus Christ (distinct from His
Father) was created at a point in time. Hence, Jesus is reduced
to a mere temporary "manifestation," "role,"
or "office" called the "Son." For example, read the
Doctrinal
Statement of Oneness advocate
T .D. Jakes
(pastor of the Potter's House church, Dallas, TX)
describing God as "existing in three manifestations."
Oneness
Pentecostals and Acts 2:38: “In the Name of Jesus” Only Formula
The
Multi-Personal God in the Old Testament and Oneness Theology
Modalism
and Church History
Was the early church Oneness? Did the early church Fathers teach it? What was
the reaction of the church when Modalism first emerge?
When Modalism first emerged it was universally
rejected as a non-Christian destructive heresy which rejected the Person of
Jesus Christ: The early
Christian church rejected Oneness Modalism (and Sabellianism) and did
not believe that God was unitarian (unipersonal) as Oneness teachers claim,
rather they believed that God was multi-personal, triune:
There is one Physician who is
possessed both of flesh and spirit; both made and not made [agennhtoj];
God existing in flesh; true life in death; both of Mary and of God; first
possible and then impossible, even Jesus Christ our Lord (Ignatius,
Letter to the Ephesians, 7. 2; c. A.D. 107).
We
worship the one Deity in three Persons, subsisting without beginning,
uncreated, without end, and to which there is no successor (Methodius,
Oration on the Psalms, 5; c. A.D. 305).c. A.D. 305).
We neither separate the Holy Trinity,
like some; nor do we as Sabellius work confusion [into it] (Cyril of
Jerusalem, Catechetical Lectures, 16. 4;
c.
A.D.
348).
Sabellianism is
Judaism
imported into the
preaching of the Gospel under the guise of Christianity. . . .
(Basil the Great “To the notables of Neocaesarea,” in Letter 210;
c. A.D. 375)
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Department of Christian Defense,
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