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A Definitive Look At Oneness Theology Book

A Definitive Look at Oneness Theology
Defending the Tri-Unity of God (by Edward L. Dalcour, University Press, 2005)
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10 Questions to ask Oneness Believers

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 Preexistence of the Son see short summery below
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." (or "dimension" as Oneness advocate T .D. Jakes describes Him in his Doctrinal Statement).

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)

The Preexistence of the Son and Oneness Theology

(Short Outline)

Oneness theology (Modalism) rejects the eternality of the Person of God the Son, Jesus Christ. They claim He had a beginning and He will have an end. Conversely though, Scripture presents unequivocally that the Person of the Son eternally existed WITH (pros, para, meta) the Father (esp. John 1:1; 17:5; Phil. 2:6-11; Heb. 1:8-10). The Son is said to BE the very Agent of creation (e.g., John 1:3; Col. 1:16-17: dia + the genitive). Demonstrating that Jesus Christ, God the Son, was the actual Creator demolishes Oneness theology. Thus, Oneness teachers sacrifice many clear biblical passages that teach the preexistence of the Son at the expense of their unitarian pre-committed doctrine of Modalism.

Hence, Oneness theology dishonors God by asserting that (a) the Person of the Son was a mere creation at Bethlehem and (b) it was the Father who came down and wrapped Himself in flesh (not becoming flesh) and that flesh was called “Son”—Jesus’ human nature.

By Him [en autō] all things [ panta] were created . . . all things [panta] have been created through Him [di’ autou] and for Him [ eis auton]. He is before all things [autos estin pro pantōn], and all things [ panta] in Him [en autō] hold together (Col. 1:16-17; lit. rendering).

In sharp contrast to the Oneness theological position, Jesus, the Son, declared: Unless you believe that I AM [egō eimi] you will die in your sins (John 8:24).

NOTE: The full force of Jesus’ assertion is striking: ean gar mē pisteusēte hoti egō eimi, apothaneisthe en tais hamartiais humōn (“For if you shall believe not that I AM [egō eimi] you will die in the sins of you”). Hence, “I AM” (egō eimi) and not “I am He” (i.e., there is no supplied predicate) is the literal rendering. Jesus clearly asserts here that salvation rests on believing that He (as the Person of the Son; cf. vv. 16-18, 27) is the eternal God. Jesus applied the divine title “I AM” (egō eimi) in the absolute (i.e., appearing at the end of the clause) to Himself on seven (or possibility eight; cf. Mark 6:50) different occasions, these would be: John 8:24, 28; 8:58; 13:19; and John 18:5, 6, 8). Egō eimi was a frequent title used of Yahweh alone (e.g., Deut. 32:39; Isa. 41:4; 43:10; 46:4; cf. LXX).

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