Pentecostal and Charismatic Theology — Unit 7: Oneness Theology and the Trinitarian Response

Key Verse

"Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God, the LORD is one!" (Deuteronomy 6:4, NKJV)

Learning Objectives

When you finish this unit, you should be able to:

1. Describe the origin of the Oneness movement within early Pentecostalism and how classical Pentecostals responded.

2. State what Oneness Pentecostals believe about God, about Jesus, and about baptism and salvation.

3. Explain the Trinitarian doctrine in plain language: one God in three persons.

4. Answer the main Oneness arguments from Scripture, including Deuteronomy 6:4, John 10:30, Isaiah 9:6 and Acts 2:38.

5. Describe how a pastor can teach the Trinity clearly and speak with a Oneness believer in a firm and respectful way.

The Voice of This Unit

This unit is written from inside the classical Pentecostal tradition, for students who belong to it. It is conservative and Trinitarian. We confess the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit as one God. Oneness Pentecostals share our experience of the Spirit, our worship and our zeal. But they teach something different about the nature of God, and we believe this difference is not small. We therefore teach their view fairly, in their own terms as far as we can, and then we answer it from Scripture and from the faith of the church. Course 1, Unit 4 told the history of the division. This unit asks what is true.

Where Oneness Teaching Came From

Early Pentecostals were Trinitarians. They baptized in the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit, as the church always had. Around 1913, at a large camp meeting at Arroyo Seco, near Los Angeles, a preacher spoke of the power in the name of Jesus, and the discussion that followed led some to say that baptism in the Apostles' day was done in the name of Jesus only. Over the next few years the idea grew that the names Father, Son and Holy Spirit are not three persons but different names or roles of one person, Jesus. Frank Ewart was one of the early leaders who spread this teaching. It was called the "Jesus Only" or "Oneness" message.

The young Assemblies of God, formed in 1914, faced this division directly. In 1916 its General Council adopted a Statement of Fundamental Truths that clearly confessed the Trinity, and ministers who held Oneness views left. The Oneness bodies that followed include the Pentecostal Assemblies of the World and, since 1945, the United Pentecostal Church International. Today Oneness churches exist in many countries, and you may meet their members in your town.

The great majority of classical Pentecostal denominations hold the Trinitarian faith. We do not hold it because of a vote in 1916. We hold it because we believe the Bible teaches it.

What Oneness Pentecostals Teach

We should state their position as they would. Here are the main points.

1. God is one person. Oneness believers insist on the oneness of God, as Deuteronomy 6:4 declares. They teach that God is one single person, not three.

2. Jesus is the one God. The Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit are, in their view, different manifestations or roles of this one God. The one God was manifested as Father in creation, as Son in the incarnation, and as Holy Spirit in the work in the church. Jesus is the name of this one God. Most Oneness teachers use "Son" for the human nature that God took, not for an eternal second person.

3. Baptism must be in the name of Jesus. They point to Acts 2:38, where Peter says, "Repent, and let every one of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins; and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit." They hold that Matthew 28:19 is fulfilled by using the name Jesus.

4. Salvation includes water baptism and tongues. The largest Oneness bodies teach that new birth involves repentance, baptism in Jesus' name, and baptism in the Holy Spirit with the sign of speaking in tongues. They read Acts 2:38 as a pattern.

They often say that Trinitarians believe in three gods, and they believe their teaching protects the oneness of God and the full deity of Jesus. We should note that they do believe in the full deity of Jesus. We have no quarrel with them on that point. Our quarrel is about whether God is one person or three.

What Trinitarians Teach

The Christian church has confessed for centuries that there is one God, eternally existing as three persons: Father, Son and Holy Spirit. In plain words, three things must be held together.

• There is only one God. There are not three gods.

• The Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit are each fully God.

• They are distinct persons, not three names for one person. The Father is not the Son, the Son is not the Spirit, and the Spirit is not the Father.

The word "Trinity" is not found in the Bible, just as the words "Bible" and "missions" are not. Tertullian, a Christian writer in North Africa around the year 200, used the Latin word for it. He wrote against a teacher named Praxeas who said the Father Himself had been born and had suffered. Another teacher, Sabellius, taught in Rome in the third century that God is one person who appears in three modes. The church rejected this teaching, which is called modalism. At Nicaea in 325 the church confessed that the Son is of the same being as the Father, and at Constantinople in 381 it confessed the full deity of the Holy Spirit.

Classical Pentecostals see Oneness teaching as a modern form of modalism. Oneness believers prefer to say that their view differs from the old one, because it stresses that Jesus is the whole of God. But the core is the same: one person who takes three roles.

The Biblical Case for the Trinity

Our doctrine is built on Scripture, from several kinds of evidence.

God is one. We agree with Deuteronomy 6:4. We never teach three gods.

The Son is distinct from the Father and yet God. John 1:1 says: "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God." The Word was "with" God, so distinct, and "was God," so divine. Jesus prays, "And now, O Father, glorify Me together with Yourself, with the glory which I had with You before the world was" (John 17:5). Before creation the Son was with the Father and shared His glory. The Father says to the Son, "Your throne, O God, is forever and ever" (Hebrews 1:8).

The Spirit is distinct from both. Jesus says, "And I will pray the Father, and He will give you another Helper, that He may abide with you forever" (John 14:16). In one sentence there are three: the Son prays, the Father gives, and another Helper comes.

The three appear together. At Jesus' baptism the Son stands in the water, the Spirit descends like a dove, and the Father's voice is heard from heaven (Matthew 3:16-17). The Lord commands baptism "in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit" (Matthew 28:19). Notice that "name" is singular, followed by three persons. They share one divine name. Paul's blessing joins the three also (2 Corinthians 13:14).

The persons relate to one another. The Father sends the Son. The Son prays to the Father and does the Father's will (Luke 22:42). The Spirit is sent by the Father and the Son. These relations make no sense if one person simply plays three parts.

The Main Oneness Arguments and Our Answers

Argument 1: "The LORD is one" means one person.

Our answer. We agree that God is one. But the Bible's own use of "one" allows for unity that includes distinction. In Genesis 2:24 a man and wife become "one flesh," yet remain two. In Deuteronomy 6:4 the Hebrew word for "one" can mean a united one. We do not rest our case on this word alone. The point is that the oneness of God and the distinction of persons are both taught, and neither cancels the other.

Argument 2: Jesus said, "I and My Father are one" (John 10:30).

Our answer. Jesus says "I and My Father," and two are named. In Greek the word "one" is neuter, meaning one in being and purpose, not one person. The next verses show the Jews understood this as a claim to deity. The verse teaches the Son's full deity and also distinguishes the Son from the Father. In John 17:22 Jesus prays that His disciples "may be one just as We are one." Believers do not become one person, so the word does not mean one person.

Argument 3: "He who has seen Me has seen the Father" (John 14:9).

Our answer. Jesus reveals the Father perfectly, because He is truly God. But in the same chapter He says He will pray to the Father, who will send the Helper. The verse shows revelation, not identity of person.

Argument 4: Isaiah 9:6 calls the child "Everlasting Father."

Our answer. The verse also says "Mighty God." We agree that the Messiah is God. The title "Father" there describes the Messiah's caring rule over His people. It does not erase the New Testament's teaching that the Father sent the Son.

Argument 5: Colossians 2:9 says all the fullness of the Godhead dwells in Christ bodily.

Our answer. Amen. We confess the full deity of Christ. The verse says nothing against the Father and the Spirit being distinct persons.

Argument 6: Jesus prayed as a man, so the prayers are the human nature speaking to the divine.

Our answer. This is the Oneness explanation of verses such as Luke 22:42. We reply that Jesus speaks in John 17:5 of a glory He had "with" the Father before creation, before there was any human nature to pray. At the baptism the voice says "You are My beloved Son" (Luke 3:22), and the Son is standing there. If there were only one person, we would have to read the voice, the Son and the dove as three appearances of one person at the same moment, and we find no hint of this in Luke. Jesus' prayers read as the real conversation of the Son with the Father.

Argument 7: Acts baptizes only "in the name of Jesus," so Matthew 28:19 means Jesus' name.

Our answer. In Acts 2:38, 8:16, 10:48 and 19:5, Luke tells us that people were baptized under the authority of Jesus. He does not give a spoken formula. To be baptized "in the name of" someone means to be baptized by his authority and into allegiance to him. These accounts do not contradict Jesus' own command in Matthew 28:19. The command from Jesus is the clearer teaching, and the Acts passages should be read in harmony with it. Trinitarian Pentecostals baptize with the words of Matthew 28:19, because they are the Lord's own words.

Argument 8: Salvation requires baptism in Jesus' name and tongues.

Our answer. This teaching goes beyond Scripture. Paul writes, "For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God" (Ephesians 2:8). He also writes, "if you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved" (Romans 10:9). We practice water baptism as a command of Christ, and we teach Spirit baptism and the evidence of tongues, as Units 4 and 5 showed. But we do not make any of these a condition of being saved. Tongues are the evidence of Spirit baptism, not of new birth. Paul even asks, "Do all speak with tongues?" (1 Corinthians 12:30), which would make no sense if tongues were required for salvation.

How We Relate to Oneness Believers

We should speak plainly. Oneness teaching departs from the Bible and from the historic faith on the nature of God, and this matters, because we are saved by the true Christ. We cannot say that the two views are only different styles. At the same time, we do not judge the hearts of individuals. Many Oneness believers love Jesus sincerely and serve Him at cost. Our duty is to teach the truth, speak with courtesy, and pray for them.

Pastoral Application

Sister Elena, a member of your church, has a neighbor, Marcos, who attends a Oneness church. Marcos has told her, "You Trinitarians believe in three gods. Jesus is the Father, the Son and the Spirit all in one. And your baptism does not count, because you were not baptized in Jesus' name." Elena is troubled and asks you what to say.

First, the pastor reminds Elena that Marcos is a person to love, not an enemy to defeat.

Second, he teaches her to correct the first charge gently: "We do not believe in three gods. We believe there is one God, as Deuteronomy 6:4 says, and that the one God is Father, Son and Spirit."

Third, he opens John 17:5 and Matthew 3:16-17 with her and points out that the Son speaks to the Father, and that the three are present together at the baptism.

Fourth, he shows her how to speak about baptism. She was baptized by the authority of Jesus, following His command in Matthew 28:19, and Acts does not give a different formula. Her salvation depends on Christ, not on a form of words.

Fifth, he warns her not to argue in anger or to mock. She is to ask Marcos honest questions, such as "Who was Jesus speaking to when He prayed?" and invite him to read the Gospel of John with her.

Summary

Early Pentecostals were Trinitarian. Around 1913, at Arroyo Seco, the Oneness teaching arose, and leaders such as Frank Ewart spread it. In 1916 the Assemblies of God adopted a Statement of Fundamental Truths that confessed the Trinity, and Oneness ministers left. Oneness bodies include the Pentecostal Assemblies of the World and the United Pentecostal Church International. Oneness believers teach that God is one person who has been manifested as Father, Son and Spirit, that baptism must be in Jesus' name, and, in the largest bodies, that salvation includes baptism and tongues. We teach one God in three persons, each fully God and distinct. The church rejected modalism in the time of Tertullian and Sabellius and confessed the Trinity at Nicaea and Constantinople. We answer the Oneness arguments from Deuteronomy 6:4, John 10:30, John 17:5, Matthew 28:19 and Ephesians 2:8. We speak with courtesy and hold firm.

Further Reading

• Wolfgang Vondey, Pentecostal Theology (2017).

• Allan Anderson, An Introduction to Pentecostalism (2nd ed., 2014).

• Vinson Synan, The Holiness-Pentecostal Tradition (1997).

• Tertullian, Against Praxeas, a public-domain primary source.

• The Nicene Creed (325) and the Nicene-Constantinopolitan Creed (381).

Submit Exam & Check Pass Reset