Oneness

Early in the third century, a monk and theologian named Sabellius came up with the idea that God is not triune, that He is really just One Person who wears three hats, the Father hat, the Son hat, and the Holy Spirit Hat.  This was rightly seen as heresy and the church excommunicated Sabellius in 220 A.D.

The understanding of the trinity was in its early stages in the third century.  The church believed  the Father was God, the Son was God, and the Holy Spirit was God.  They just didn’t know how that worked seeing the Bible also says there is only One God.  There were several heretical answers to this problem.  Sabellius’ heresy was one of the more prominent. 

Around the same time, Dionysius of Alexandria, in an attempt to disprove Sabellius, taught that the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit were three separate gods.  He was quickly corrected by other scholars and changed his view.  Arius of Alexandria, in another effort to fight what he thought was the return of Sabellianism, taught that only the Father was God and that He had created the Son.  “There was when the Son was not,” was his famous statement.  He was refuted by Athanasius, yet it took the Council of Nicea (325 a.d.) to resolve the matter and show that the church supported the truth of the trinity.

That’s a lot of church history to make this point: Sabelius’ heresy is still seen today in what is called the “Oneness Movement.”  They teach that God is just one Person who relates to man in three ways, as the Father, as the Son, and as the Holy Spirit.  Usually this is explained as, “Only Jesus is God and He presents Himself as the Father and the Holy Spirit at times.”  This gave the movement the nickname, “Jesus Only.”

The organization most often identified with the “Jesus Only” doctrine is the United Pentecostal Church International.  There are others out there, but this is the largest that I know of.  Be careful, though.  Most Pentecostal churches are mainline Christian churches.  It is the United Pentecostal Church that teaches it.

“So, what is the problem,” you might ask.  “They still believe in Jesus, don’t they?”  Well, they believe in a Jesus but not the Jesus of the Bible.  The Jesus of the Bible is God the Son, second Person of the trinity.  He is not the Father or the Holy Spirit.  2 Corinthians 11:4 says there is another Jesus, another Spirit, and another gospel being taught out there and we should beware.  Galatians 1:9 says anyone who preaches another gospel than the one Paul taught should be cursed.  So, we need to be on guard.

2 Corinthians 13:5 says we should examine ourselves to make sure we are in the true faith.  To do that, we need to know the true faith, what it means and how we are to act.  Acts 17:11 commends the Christians at Berea because they examined what they were taught before accepting it as true.  Let’s be like the Bereans and test all things we hear from friends, radio programs, flyers at our doors, and even the pulpit.  Any sincere Bible-teaching pastor will encourage us to do so. 

Let’s be noble Christians like the Bereans and test what we hear, Christians who are sure of what we believe.