Trinity

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TRINITY & OTHER DOCTRINES OF GOD: PROF. M. M. NINAN The Oneness doctrine differs from Sabellianism in that Oneness Pentecostals conceive of the “trimanifestation” of God as simultaneous instead of successive, as is the case with classical Modalism. They declare a non-dispensational monarchism. They contend that, based on Colossians 2:9, the concept of God’s personhood is reserved for the immanent and incarnate presence of Jesus only. Hence, Oneness Pentecostals generally argue that the Godhead is in Jesus, yet Jesus is not in the Godhead. Oneness theology specifically maintains that God is absolutely and indivisibly one. It equally proclaims that God is not made of a physical body, but is an invisible spirit that can only be seen in theophanies (such as the burning bush) that he creates or manifests, or in the person of the incarnate Jesus Christ. In the person of Jesus, one sees the last, best, and complete theophany of God (Colossians 2:9 KJV: "For in him dwelleth all the fullness of the Godhead bodily"). Oneness Pentecostalism rejects all concepts of a subordination, duality, trinity, pantheon, co-equality, co-eternity, or other versions of the Godhead that assert plural gods, plural beings, divine "persons", individuals, or multiple centers of consciousness within that Godhead. It equally denies all concepts of Jesus as anything other than fully God and fully man, together with all teachings that assert that he was merely a "good man," or only a sinless man, high priest or prophet, rather than God himself. Oneness doctrine declares that Jesus Christ is the only begotten Son of God, but that this happened only when he was born from Mary on Earth. It rejects the view that any person can "obtain" the status of God whether by works or by grace, maintaining that Jesus Christ did not "obtain" his status, but rather that he is the one, eternal God himself manifested in the flesh according to the Oneness Pentecostal interpretation of 1 Timothy 3:16, as is rendered in the King James Version. Unlike Arians, who present the Son as a subordinate being to the Father, both Oneness and Trinitarians seek to establish an ontological oneness (union) between the Father and Son. Trinitarians do this by recognizing distinct consciousnesses (persons) within 121
TRINITY & OTHER DOCTRINES OF GOD: PROF. M. M. NINAN the Divine Nature. Oneness seeks to accomplish this by attributing the distinct consciousnesses to that of the true humanity of Christ – that is to say, in a union between a truly infinite person, and a truly finite person, there will of necessity be a distinction of consciousness – yet in this distinction of consciousness there is a shared Identity (Person). So from the Oneness viewpoint the Son is both distinct from the Father while being essentially one with the Father by virtue of his ontological oneness with the Father. It should be noted that both views, Oneness and Trinitarianism, resolve the issues of distinction of consciousnesses to the principle of monotheism by attributing ontological oneness of being to the Father and the Son – the difference is in what way they are distinct and in what way they are one. The difference being that Oneness Pentecostals still maintain that the Father and Son are not actually distinct persons, but rather are distinct modes or manifestations. Oneness Pentecostals reject the Trinity doctrine of distinct "co-equal and co-eternal persons in one triune Godhead" as a non-biblical distortion or an extra-Biblical invention, which dilutes true Biblical Monotheism, and also, in a sense, limits God. Oneness believers say that God can operate using an unlimited number of manifestations, not just three. However, they recognize that the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit are the great and major roles that God has carried out in man's redemption. Oneness Pentecostals believe that Trinitarian doctrine is a "tradition of men" and neither scriptural nor a teaching of God, and cite the absence of the word "Trinity" from the Bible as one evidence of this. They generally believe the doctrine is an invention of the fourth-century Council of Nicea, and later councils, which made it orthodox. The Oneness position on the Trinity places them at odds with the members of most other 122
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The Mystery of tefillin The Manduky
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Trinity

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