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Chapter 1
Modalistic,
Trinitarian and Tritheistic Oneness Defined

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Defining the Oneness of God

by Carl Franklin

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Modalistic, Trinitarian and Tritheistic Oneness
Defined

Ancient philosophers called Modalists taught that God is a single
divine Being Who manifests Himself in different modes or ways. Based on
this philosophic concept, whole denominations of Christians firmly believe
that God has always been only one divine Being. In Old Testament times He
was known as Yahweh or Jehovah, and since the New Testament,
they say, He is both the Father and the Son- -a single Being. Leaders of
these denominations claim that this belief is Scriptural: "What is the
essence of the doctrine of God as taught by the Bible--the doctrine we
have labeled Oneness: First, there is one indivisible God with no
distinction of persons. Second, Jesus Christ is the fullness of the
Godhead incarnate. He is God the Father--the Jehovah of the Old
Testament--robed in the flesh. All of God is in Jesus Christ, and we find
all we need in Him. The only God we will ever see in heaven is Jesus
Christ" (Ibid., p. 304).

The God of the Old Testament, according to this definition, was a "one
in one" God, and the New Testament God appears to be a "two in one" God.
The author of the above definition of oneness readily admits that this
doctrine, embraced by tens of millions of fundamental evangelical
Christians, has its origin in ancient Modalism. He also shows that this
Modalist belief is actually similar to the Trinitarian belief in a "three
in one" God. Notice his summary statement in the glossary:

"Modalism. Term used to describe a
belief in early church history that Father, Son, and Spirit are
not eternal distinctions within God's nature but simply
modes (methods or manifestations) of God's activity. In
other words, God is one individual being, and various terms used
to describe Him (such as Father, Son, and Holy Spirit) are
designations applied to different forms of His action or different
relationships He has to man....Also called modalistic
monarchianism, Patripassianism [the teaching that the Father
suffered on the tree], and Sabellianism [the philosophy of
Modalism as taught by the philosopher Sabellius ca. 100 A.D.].
Basically, modalism is the same as the modern doctrine of
Oneness....Modalistic monarchianism held that God is one
individual being and that Father, Son, and Holy Ghost are terms
which apply to different modes of action of the one God. Unlike
dynamic monarchianism, modalistic monarchianism identified Jesus
Christ as God Himself (the Father) manifested in flesh" (Ibid.,
pp. 318-319).

Modalism holds that while only one divine Being exists, that
single divine Being can manifest Himself in three different modes at
once--as Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Although Modalism supports a
"three in one" God, the author who espouses the Modalist definition
of oneness asserts that "Oneness believers ... reject trinitarianism
as a departure from biblical monotheism" (Ibid., p. 319).

Trinitarian Oneness

The majority of Christians around the world hold the Trinitarian
view of God's oneness. In the Western world, most of these
Christians follow the form of Trinitarianism that is based on the
Athanasian Creed. To these Christians, the term "oneness" means that
three distinct deities coexist in a single divine Nature or
Substance. These three distinctions are called "Persons," but are
not actually persons in the true sense of the word. Here is a
statement of the Trinitarian belief:

"There are then (as the statement may run) three
Persons (Hypostases) or real distinctions in the unity of the
divine Nature or Substance....As a 'person' in Trinitarian usage
is more than a mere aspect of being, being a real ground of
experience and function, each divine Person, while less than a
separate individuality, possesses His own hypostatic character or
characteristic property" (W. Fulton, Encyclopedia of Religion
and Ethics, "Trinity," pp. 459-460).

The doctrine of Trinitarianism states that there are three
distinctions, called "Persons" or "Hypostases," in one divine
Substance, but only one distinction or "Person" can be manifested at
any given time. This definition of God contradicts that of the
Modalist, who claims that the single divine Substance can manifest
itself in all three modes (or "Persons") at the same time.

Trinitarianism views God as a sort of hide-and-seek, peek-a-boo
God who has neither body nor personality, but who can manifest
Himself as Father or Son or Holy Spirit--only one at a time. Unlike
the Trinitarian belief, the God of Modalism can manifest Himself as
Father, Son or Holy Spirit all at the same time.

According to the Trinitarian statement of belief,
the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit are all divine "Persons,"
but each is "less than a separate individuality." In other words,
these "Persons" are not actually individuals. This statement is
confusing and contradictory because it is expressing philosophical
concepts that were deliberately intended to be interpreted in
different ways. These philosophic constructs have always been
ambiguous statements of belief. A word or phrase used in these
statements may be given a variety of philosophic definitions. The
result is that more than one meaning can be drawn from the same
statement.

When we read such statements, we should be aware that the problem
in understanding them is not due to our own lack of intellect but to
the ambiguous construction of the statements themselves. This type
of grammatical structure is known as "amphiboly." Statements which
are worded in an amphibolous manner allow room for a variety of
interpretations. Amphiboly has long been a favorite tool of
philosophers and politicians. "Amphibolously worded predictions [and
philosophic constructs] have long been exploited by astrologers
[ancient Magi/Chaldean philosophers], tea-leaf readers, political
columnists, and even ancient oracles [demonically inspired mediums]"
(Rescher, Introduction to Logic, p. 75).

To add to the confusion, the names used in philosophical
statements are often vacuous; i.e., the names as they are
used actually designate nothing! Names are properly used
to designate a thing or entity or to describe an aspect of a thing
or entity--a quality that the entity has or a relationship it bears
to something else. Names that do not represent such actual
things or entities are vacuous--empty and meaningless. Here is a
warning against being misled by such names: "A name that literally
designates nothing [the "One" or the "Hypostases" of philosophy] is
called a vacuous name. Because of vacuous names, care must be
taken when some name is presented to avoid the conclusion that there
necessarily exists a thing which answers to this name. A subtle but
important line of separation must be drawn between names with
fictitious or imaginary designations [such as characters in plays,
novels or movies] and vacuous names. This distinction is sometimes
obscured by the fact that one and the same name may fall into either
category, depending upon how it is understood" (Ibid., p. 23).

The names "One," Hypostases, Father, Son, Holy
Spirit, God, Person and Being can be categorized either as authentic
names or as vacuous names, depending on how they are used.
These terms are vacuous as used in philosophic statements
about the Trinity. These names are not vacuous when we
understand them in the light of God's Word. To define these terms
solely in the artificial framework of philosophic constructs and
then attempt to superimpose this philosophy upon Scripture makes
these names vacuous and meaningless.

Those who profess allegiance to the God of the Bible and then
proceed to distort God's Word, elevating the philosophy of Plato and
Aristotle above His Word, are not Christian but pagan. The paganism
of ancient and modern philosophers is not compatible with the Holy
Scriptures. As the pagan philosopher Mortimer J. Adler so forcefully
and honestly wrote in How to Think About God: A Guide for the
20th-Century Pagan: "The God that is the object of pagan
philosophical thought is not the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob,
or of Moses, [or] Jesus ..." (p. 28).

Tritheistic Oneness

One school of thought among Trinitarians insists that God's
oneness is manifested in three individual Beings, each possessing a
separate personality, body and intellect. Modalists and Trinitarians
are quick to brand Tritheism as a form of ancient pagan polytheism,
the belief in a plurality of gods. Polytheism taught that the gods
bore human shapes, animal shapes, or half human/half animal shapes,
and human or animal characteristics; i.e., personality,
self-awareness, form, intellect, emotions. Other human
characteristics attributed to these false gods were procreation,
family structure, industry and warfare. The process of attributing
human characteristics to deities is called anthropomorphism.

While it is true that many ancient pagan religions were guilty of
anthropomorphism, it does not negate the fact that the true God
shares many of the same characteristics which He bestowed upon
humankind! God Himself declares that He has made us in His image
(Genesis 1:26-27). It is utter folly to assert that Christians are
anthropomorphizing God by accepting and believing what God reveals
about Himself in His Word.

Belief in a personal God Who possesses emotion and intellect, and
a spiritual body with eyes and ears, arms and legs and hands and
feet, should not be discredited and dismissed under the label of
anthropomorphism. The determining factor in evaluating any belief
should not be how it is categorized, but whether or not the teaching
agrees with the revealed Word of God.

Even pagan philosophers, with all their misguided speculations on
the nature of God, admit that the Word of God clearly reveals Him as
a fully personal Being. Notice this admission in The Encyclopedia
of Philosophy:

"In the preceding sections [article "God, Concepts
of"] it has been assumed that God has personality. The assumption
is justified by the fact that... philosophers (in the West, at any
rate) have nearly always described His nature to some extent by
analogy with the human self....While Aristotle's first mover
contemplates Himself, He does not have any knowledge of the world.
Therefore, like Spinoza's God, He cannot return the love that He
receives....Some thinkers have attempted to mediate between
philosophy and religion by suggesting that concrete images of God
are inadequate attempts to grasp a reality that is suprapersonal.
Thus Hegel [the philosophic father of Nazi Germany] held that
absolute spirit can be adequately known only by speculative
intellect [philosophy]. Consequently, when he speaks of the
absolute as God he means by God (as Aristotle meant) self-thinking
thought. The personal God or Theism is a prerational
[pre-philosophical] and imperfect representation (Vorstellung) of
the absolute....Christians, however, are obliged by revelation
[the Word of God] to identify the absolute with a God who is fully
personal, both in Himself and in His dealings with mankind.
Such primary images as Father, King, and Friend mediate a
knowledge that cannot be surpassed by abstract speculation
[philosophy]"(p. 347).

Chapters in
Defining the Oneness of God

Introduction

Chapter 1

Modalistic, Trinitarian
and
Tritheistic Oneness Defined

Chapter 4

"One" Used of Spiritual Unity with Jesus
Christ

Chapter 2

Ditheistic Oneness
(Binitarian or
Bi-personal)

Chapter 5

A Primary New Testament Example of
"One"

Chapter 3

The Scriptural Meaning of
"One."

Chapter 6

"One" Used to Show the Holiness of
God

Chapter 7

"As One of Us" in Genesis 3 Refers to
Godlike
Characteristics

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