Oneness Pentecostalism is not Biblical.

redleghunter

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Essentially, the Oneness belief denies the Trinity as taught in Scripture.

Check out this article here:
https://www.gotquestions.org/oneness-Jesus-only.html
(Please take note that I do not agree with everything Gotquestions website writes; I merely agree with this particular article).
Thanks Jason. Theopedia directly quotes a Oneness theologian quote is in Green.

Oneness Pentecostalism
Beliefs
Godhead
One of the two most distinguishing beliefs and practices within Oneness Pentecostalism (along with Jesus Only baptism — see below) is modalism. Oneness Pentecostals deny the Trinity, believing instead that the monotheistic God simply "manifests" Himself in the offices or roles of the members of the Trinity. For example, one statement of Oneness beliefs claims:

God is absolutely one, with no distinction of persons. (Deuteronomy 6:4; Isaiah 44:8; 45:5-6, 21-23; 46:9 Romans 3:30; Galatians 3:20; James 2:19). In order to save sinful humanity, God provided a sinless Man as a sacrifice of atonement — Jesus Christ, the Son of God. In begetting the Son and in relating to humanity, God is the Father. In working to transform and empower human lives, God is the Holy Spirit. Thus, for our salvation, God has revealed Himself as Father (in parental relationship to humanity), in His Son (in human flesh), and as the Holy Spirit (in spiritual action). (Malachi 2:10; Luke 1:35; 2 Corinthians 3:17-18; 1 Timothy 2:5). ( The United Pentecostal Church International,[1])
 
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redleghunter

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You assume I have not spoken to them personally. You are wrong. I have. They believe that God the Father just puts on a mask or that He switches modes. They do not believe in the distinctiveness of God in that He is three separate persons. I have argued with them face to face about this at work. To deny the distinct persons of the Trinity is to deny who God actually is. The Son does not really exist as the Son described in the Bible to them. They believe that the Son is just a name God the Father takes on and the Son is not really separate and distinct from the Father in any way.

In any event, they are in my prayers.
Yes Oneness is a modern version of Modalism.
 
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AlexDTX

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The Bible teaches that there is one God (Deuteronomy 6:4) (1 Timothy 2:5) (Isaiah 45:5).

Yet, the Bible also teaches that there are distinctions within the Godhead or that there is a plural nature to God.

Tit_3:9 But avoid foolish questions, and genealogies, and contentions, and strivings about the law; for they are unprofitable and vain.
Rom_14:1 Him that is weak in the faith receive ye, but not to doubtful disputations.
 
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redleghunter

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redleghunter

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For those interested as several terms are being used on the thread. This may help. Click on the heresy and more data provided:

Heresies
  • Adoptionism - God granted Jesus powers and then adopted him as a Son.
  • Albigenses - Reincarnation and two gods: one good and other evil.
  • Apollinarianism - Jesus' divine will overshadowed and replaced the human.
  • Arianism - Jesus was a lesser, created being.
  • Docetism - Jesus was divine but only seemed to be human.
  • Donatism - Validity of sacraments depends on character of the minister.
  • Eutychianism - Jesus finite human nature is swallowed up in His infinite divine nature.
  • Gnosticism - Dualism of good and bad and special knowledge for salvation.
  • Kenosis - Jesus gave up some divine attributes while on earth.
  • Marcionism - An evil God of the O.T., good God of the N.T. 11, books in the Canon
  • Modalism - God is one person in three modes.
  • Monarchianism - God is one person.
  • Monophysitism - Jesus had only one nature: divine.
  • Nestorianism - Jesus was two persons.
  • Patripassionism - The Father suffered on the cross.
  • Pelagianism - Man is unaffected by the fall and can keep all of God's laws.
  • Semi-Pelagianism - Man and God cooperate to achieve man's salvation.
  • Socinianism - Denial of the Trinity. Jesus is a deified man.
  • Subordinationism - The Son is lesser than the Father in essence and or attributes.
  • Tritheism - The Trinity is really three separate gods.
https://carm.org/heresies
 
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Tit_3:9 But avoid foolish questions, and genealogies, and contentions, and strivings about the law; for they are unprofitable and vain.
Rom_14:1 Him that is weak in the faith receive ye, but not to doubtful disputations.

I don't see this topic as foolish. I also do not see Romans 14:1 being applicable here, either. The weak in the faith are in context to those who believed they could not eat certain things or they had to worship on a specific day. The context was not the Trinity or who God is. Granted, I do believe a person can be saved without knowing the intricacies of the Trinity. But when the knowledge or truth of the Trinity is revealed to them, they cannot deny it. God is triune. To worship a God that is not triune is to worship a false image of God that is simply not true.
 
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mark kennedy

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Do you know what they believe?

Just saw the link.
Thanks.
The Oneness Pentecostals came out of the Azusa Stret revival when the Assembly of God split with the COGIC churches down racial lines. In 1915 the met at Hot Springs Arkansas and encountered a problem, a group was claiming Jesus was the Father, Son and Holy Spirit. Its a nontrinitarian heresy known as Sabellianism. They are known as Oneness Pentecostals, they also teach you must speak in tongues in order to be saved.
 
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mark kennedy

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Why under Other Religions?
This is confusing.
The JW don't believe Jesus is God...it seems like they do??
They believe Jesus is 'a god', it's a heresy known as Arianism.
 
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Could you please explain what Oneness is?
Thanks.
It arose out of a Pentecostal movement that taught that there was no Father or Holy Spirit, but God was exclusively Jesus Christ. It started by being called "The Jesus Only" movement and their catch cry was "Jesus is Lord! Jesus is Lord!" which they would chant in a loud voice when anyone tried to reason with them.

The well-known healing evangelist, William Branham as influenced by the movement, but was not partcularly affected by it while he stayed within his healing evangelistic calling. But when he tried to be a Bible teacher, which God had not called him to, then he started teaching anti-trinitarian doctrine. So his followers were called "Branhamites". These people demanded that all those who were baptised in the Name of the Father, Son, Holy Spirit, needed to be rebaptised in the Name of Jesus in order to be truly saved. Since the 1960s, after his death, the "Jesus Only" branch of the Pentecostal church, evolved into what we now know as the "Oneness Pentecostals".

There are many in that movement whose hearts are right and sound, even though their heads are wonky in terms of the Trinity. I think we need to give these people the benefit of the doubt, and allow the Lord when it comes to His day of Judgment, to separate the sheep from the goats.
 
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No Pentecostals I know believe this, they believe in the trinity.

Not all Pentecostals are the same. The version we are referring to is called "Oneness Pentecostalism." For they deny the Trinity.
 
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Rescued One

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I read the link you posted.
The Trinity is such a complicated concept. I don't think about it much anymore since I stopped teaching kids.
Even when I was teaching it, I knew that every example was wrong. I liked the triangle the best.
Oneness, at first reading, seems right too. God has revealed Himself in different ways. The problem, as I see it, is that if He revealed Himself as, let's say the Son,,,then where was Father and Holy Spirit at that time? The Bible has them appearing together at Jesus' baptism.
Also Jesus told the Apostles to baptise in the name of the Father, the Son And the Holy Spirit.

He didn't add the word OR.


United Pentecostal Church (UPCI)

"The essential difference between Modalism and the Biblical trinity, is that in Modalism, the three members of the Godhood never exist at the same time and in Trinity, they always co-exist at the same time."

Modalism.gif



http://www.bible.ca/trinity/trinity-modalism.htm


Also:

Matthew 3
13 Then cometh Jesus from Galilee to Jordan unto John, to be baptized of him. 14 But John forbad him, saying, I have need to be baptized of thee, and comest thou to me? 15 And Jesus answering said unto him, Suffer it to be so now: for thus it becometh us to fulfil all righteousness. Then he suffered him. 16 And Jesus, when he was baptized, went up straightway out of the water: and, lo, the heavens were opened unto him, and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove, and lighting upon him: 17 And lo a voice from heaven, saying, This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.
 
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Tit_3:9 But avoid foolish questions, and genealogies, and contentions, and strivings about the law; for they are unprofitable and vain.
Rom_14:1 Him that is weak in the faith receive ye, but not to doubtful disputations.

How does that apply to Oneness Pentecostalism?
 
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The thing that scares me about oneness Pentecostal is that they are totally devoid of the Wesleyan way. The Wesleyan way was to get Christianity with love and a sweet spirit. The old Methodist used to tell folks, "You don't have it yet, come back tomorrow night!" If they could sense a sweetness in the experience... And to tell the story...

https://www.christianforums.com/threads/the-life-of-david-sullins.8058009/
https://www.christianforums.com/threads/the-life-of-george-clark-rankin.7757196/

The old Methodist of the Southeast just labeled getting spiritual, "religion," and you either had it or you didn't. When the Pentecostal movement rolled though the Southeast the denominations usually split the experiences in three...

1. Salvation - A simple sinners prayer
2. Sanctification - With love and a sweet Christlike spirit.
3. The Holy Ghost - The old timers would tell you if you got sanctified that the baptism was not far away.

I knew these people to be incredibly decent and of good character...

We had a oneness Pentecostal push in these parts a couple of decades ago. These people would not let anyone claim salvation unless they spoke in tongues. I had a guy I work with who was in this and his personality actually warmed up after he fell out of the movement.

Oneness Pentecostal... I think of it as "Yankee Pentecostalism" as there is very little of the warmth, care, compassion, character, charity, and joy that I was accustomed to in the Wesleyan way of getting things.
 
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redleghunter

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redleghunter

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Monophysitism is actually biblical. Nowhere does the Scriptures say or suggest that Jesus has a human nature or human soul or human spirit. Jesus was not tempted internally to do evil at any time. He was holy and undefiled and separate from sinners (See Hebrews 7:25). You can't be holy and separate from sinners if you have a corrupt human nature like a sinner (Who has lusts bubbling under the surface). Also, while Jesus had flesh and blood, he did not have human failings like we did. Jesus did not possess a human who was already in existence and nor did he possess a blank mindless soul that was inclined to sin.

In addition, some who deny Monophysitism make the claim that the atonement is denied if one denies the human nature of Christ. But nowhere will you find a verse to back up their claims (When they say this). Jesus did not need to have a human nature to pay the price for our sins. That is just silly. The Bible says Christ took on our sins within His body. For it is written, "Who his own self bare our sins in his own body on the tree, that we, being dead to sins, should live unto righteousness: by whose stripes ye were healed." (1 Peter 2:24). So no human nature is needed to take on our sins.

In fact, I believe it is heresy for Carm to claim that Jesus worshiped God the Father.

See this article here:
https://carm.org/does-jesus-have-a-god

The Bible says the Word was made flesh. It does not say the Word was made flesh and spirit.

Common objections that Jesus had a human nature is Hebrews 2:17. It says that He was made like unto his brethren. But most skip passed the word "like" in that sentence. In other words, Jesus was able to know what humans went through when they are tempted in a way while in the flesh, but in reality He was not actually internally tempted to do any kind of evil in any way because He was 100% God. God is holy and He cannot sin. Some will also say Hebrews 4:15 is proof that Jesus had a human nature. For it says he was tempted in all points like we are and yet he was without sin. How can he be without sin and yet be tempted in all points like a man? The only way He could not be tempted is if he was 100% God. So this is talking about how he was tempted in all points externally and not internally. For there is a difference between being tempted externally when you have no real interest in something vs. being tempted internally based on the fact that you have lusts that desire for something sinful to give your flesh pleasure. So folks are saying Jesus had lusts or desires. This means He was not spotless and undefiled. To just have lusts and desires like us means one is defiled. Jesus is one with the Father. The lust of the flesh is of the world and not of the Father. For it is written, "For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world." (1 John 2:16). I mean, stop and think for a second. Does Jesus still have a human nature? Does He still struggle with sin as a part of being human?

Plerosis (Which is the opposite of the Kenosis) is the what I believe the Bible teaches:
Jesus was fully God; So this means He fully possessed His powers. However, Christ did suppress them during the Incarnation. For His Omniscience was obviously suppressed because the Scripture say He grew in wisdom and He grew in knowledge of the Scriptures (See Luke 2:52) (Isaiah 7:14-16). This makes sense because Jesus was fulfilling the type of Adam. Adam in the beginning was also limited in knowledge. This explains why Jesus appeared to speak as if he had a different will than the Father's will. Christ suppressing His ability of Omniscience would mean that He appeared to not know entirely the Father's will so as to seek out another alternative to save us. This does not mean he was speaking from some human flawed nature. It only means He was merely speaking from a limited set of knowledge that was suppressed during the Incarnation so as to be a type of Adam.

As for Semi-Pelaganism: Well, I would say that I believe in something similar called:
Synergism: Synergism and Semi-Pelagianism each teach there is some form of collaboration in salvation between God and man. I believe that is very Biblical. For we are saved by both God's grace and by works in the Sanctification process (if we surrender our lives to God). But I do not believe in Semi-Pelagianism entirely because I believe God draws all men to Himself as a part of us having faith in Him (John 12:32). For Semi-Pelagianism falsely teaches that the human will is the first half of our coming to the faith. But in reality it is God who draws us (of which we cannot come to God without this drawing). However, I believe we must effectively respond to His drawing of our own free will. God does not force us to be saved. We still have free will to accept or reject the Lord Jesus in this life. Otherwise the Judgment would be a joke or farce. For even Jesus desired for those in Jerusalem to be gathered to Him, but they would not allow Jesus to do so (See Matthew 23:27).

As for Carm: Well, I do not believe in any of the classic points in Calvinism. I see them as all major problems that attempts to smear the good moral character of the Lord our God (No offense of course).
This is the expanded definition:

Monophysitism is an error concerning the nature of Christ that asserts Jesus had only one nature and not two as is taught in the correct doctrine of the hypostatic union: Jesusis both God and man in one person. In monophysitism, the single nature was divine and not human. It is sometimes referred to as Eutychianism, after Eutyches 378-452; but there are slight differences. Monophysitism arose out of a reaction against Nestorianism which taught Jesus was two distinct persons instead of one. Its roots can even be traced back to Apollinarianism which taught that the divine nature of Christ overtook and replaced the human one.

Monophysitism was confined mainly to the Eastern church and had little influence in the West. In 451, the Council of Chalcedon attempted to establish a common ground between the monophysitists and the orthodox, but it did not work and divisions arose in the Eastern church which eventually excommunicated the monophysitists in the 6th century.

The denial of the human nature of Christ is a denial of the true incarnation of the Word as a man. Without a true incarnation there can be no atonement of sin for mankind since it was not then a true man who died for our sins.

It was condemned as heresy at the Sixth Ecumenical Council in 680-681.

When we say human nature, it means Jesus was 100% human being. His Divine Nature 100%.

To say human nature is not confirming a sinful nature born to Him. It means He had the same human bodies we do as a complete person.

Two natures Human and Divine One Person.

All the other stuff you cited from CARM....I just used it as a reference for what historically is defined as Christological heresies. The rest is off topic from your OP.
 
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