Trinity

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
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