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Modalistic Monarchianism, also known as Modalism or Oneness Christology, is a
Christian theology Christian theology is the theology – the systematic study of the divine and religion – of Christianity, Christian belief and practice. It concentrates primarily upon the texts of the Old Testament and of the New Testament, as well as on Ch ...
upholding the unipersonal oneness of
God In monotheistic belief systems, God is usually viewed as the supreme being, creator, and principal object of faith. In polytheistic belief systems, a god is "a spirit or being believed to have created, or for controlling some part of the un ...
while also affirming the
divinity Divinity (from Latin ) refers to the quality, presence, or nature of that which is divine—a term that, before the rise of monotheism, evoked a broad and dynamic field of sacred power. In the ancient world, divinity was not limited to a single ...
of
Jesus Jesus (AD 30 or 33), also referred to as Jesus Christ, Jesus of Nazareth, and many Names and titles of Jesus in the New Testament, other names and titles, was a 1st-century Jewish preacher and religious leader. He is the Jesus in Chris ...
. As a form of Monarchianism, it stands in contrast with Dynamic Monarchianism (Adoptionism), which limits the divinity of Jesus to a moment in time when God adopted or exalted him into the Divine Nature. The term ''modalism'' was first used by Trinitarian scholar
Adolf von Harnack Carl Gustav Adolf von Harnack (born Harnack; 7 May 1851 – 10 June 1930) was a Baltic German Lutheran theologian and prominent Church historian. He produced many religious publications from 1873 to 1912 (in which he is sometimes credited ...
, referencing this belief. Modalistic Monarchianism is also opposed to the theology of
Trinitarianism The Trinity (, from 'threefold') is the Christian doctrine concerning the nature of God, which defines one God existing in three, , consubstantial divine persons: God the Father, God the Son (Jesus Christ) and God the Holy Spirit, three ...
(and Binitarianism as well). Followers of Modalistic Monarchianism consider themselves to be monotheistic in a strict sense—similar to
Jews Jews (, , ), or the Jewish people, are an ethnoreligious group and nation, originating from the Israelites of History of ancient Israel and Judah, ancient Israel and Judah. They also traditionally adhere to Judaism. Jewish ethnicity, rel ...
and
Muslims Muslims () are people who adhere to Islam, a Monotheism, monotheistic religion belonging to the Abrahamic religions, Abrahamic tradition. They consider the Quran, the foundational religious text of Islam, to be the verbatim word of the God ...
—and they argue for no plurality of persons in the theology of God. They consider God's person to be absolutely one and assert that the person of God reveals himself to creation through different "modes" (or "manifestations"), such as the
Father A father is the male parent of a child. Besides the paternal bonds of a father to his children, the father may have a parental, legal, and social relationship with the child that carries with it certain rights and obligations. A biological fat ...
, Son, and the Holy Ghost, without limiting his modes or manifestations. In this view, all the Godhead is understood to have dwelt in Jesus from the
incarnation Incarnation literally means ''embodied in flesh'' or ''taking on flesh''. It is the Conception (biology), conception and the embodiment of a deity or spirit in some earthly form or an Anthropomorphism, anthropomorphic form of a god. It is used t ...
as a manifestation of the God of the Old Testament. The terms "Father" and "Son" are then used to describe the distinction between the transcendence of God and the incarnation (God in
immanence The doctrine or theory of immanence holds that the divine encompasses or is manifested in the material world. It is held by some philosophical and metaphysical Metaphysics is the branch of philosophy that examines the basic structure of ...
). Or to frame it another way, "Father" and "Son" are technical terms that distinguish between the deity of God alone (i.e. the Father) and the deity of God joined to the human nature in Jesus Christ (i.e. the Son). Lastly, since God is a spirit, it is held that the Holy Spirit should not be understood as a distinct person but rather should be understood as the one God who is a person in action in the world. Modalistic Monarchianism is closely related to Sabellianism and Patripassianism, two ancient theologies condemned as heresy in the Great Church and successive
state church of the Roman Empire In the year before the First Council of Constantinople in 381, Nicene Christianity, Nicean Christianity became the official religion of the Roman Empire when Theodosius I, emperor of the East, Gratian, emperor of the West, and Gratian's junior co-r ...
.


History

Theologian and church historian
Adolf von Harnack Carl Gustav Adolf von Harnack (born Harnack; 7 May 1851 – 10 June 1930) was a Baltic German Lutheran theologian and prominent Church historian. He produced many religious publications from 1873 to 1912 (in which he is sometimes credited ...
first used the term ''modalism'' to describe a doctrine that was believed in the late 2nd century and 3rd century. During that time period, Christian theologians were attempting to clarify the relationship between God the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. Concerned with defending the absolute unity of God, modalists such as Noetus, Praxeas, and Sabellius explained the divinity of Jesus Christ and the Holy Spirit as the one God revealing himself in different ways or modes: #God revealed as the creator and lawgiver is called "the Father"; #God revealed as the
savior Savior or saviour may refer to: *A person who helps people achieve salvation, or saves them from something Religion * Mahdi, the prophesied redeemer of Islam who will rule for seven, nine or nineteen years * Maitreya * Messiah, a saviour or li ...
in Jesus Christ is called "the Son"; #God revealed as the one who sanctifies and grants eternal life is called "the Spirit". By the 4th century, a consensus had developed in favor of Trinitarianism, and modalism was generally considered a
heresy Heresy is any belief or theory that is strongly at variance with established beliefs or customs, particularly the accepted beliefs or religious law of a religious organization. A heretic is a proponent of heresy. Heresy in Heresy in Christian ...
. With the advent of
Pentecostalism Pentecostalism or classical Pentecostalism is a movement within the broader Evangelical wing of Protestantism, Protestant Christianity that emphasizes direct personal experience of God in Christianity, God through Baptism with the Holy Spirit#Cl ...
, the revived theology developed into a central tenet of
Oneness Pentecostalism Oneness Pentecostalism (also known as Apostolic Pentecostalism, Jesus' Name Pentecostalism, or the Oneness movement) is a Nontrinitarianism, nontrinitarian branch of Pentecostalism, Pentecostal Christianity that emphasizes the absolute oneness o ...
. Oneness Pentecostals teach the divinity of Jesus and understand him to be a manifestation of
Yahweh Yahweh was an Ancient Semitic religion, ancient Semitic deity of Weather god, weather and List of war deities, war in the History of the ancient Levant, ancient Levant, the national god of the kingdoms of Kingdom of Judah, Judah and Kingdom ...
, the God of the Old Testament, in the flesh, and the Holy Spirit, or God in action. They also baptize solely in the name of Jesus or Jesus Christ; in this way, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit are considered
title A title is one or more words used before or after a person's name, in certain contexts. It may signify their generation, official position, military rank, professional or academic qualification, or nobility. In some languages, titles may be ins ...
s pertaining to the one God, not descriptions of distinct individuals, and Jesus is seen as the one name for these titles.


Current adherents

Modalistic Monarchianism is accepted within Oneness Pentecostalism. Much of the movement's theology attempts to begin with an
Old Testament The Old Testament (OT) is the first division of the Christian biblical canon, which is based primarily upon the 24 books of the Hebrew Bible, or Tanakh, a collection of ancient religious Hebrew and occasionally Aramaic writings by the Isr ...
understanding of God in order to understand what the first apostles would have believed about Jesus. It also seeks to avoid use of theological categories produced by Platonic- Aristotelian epistemologies, preferring rather to tell the story of redemption through narrative. Thus, the distinction found in the
New Testament The New Testament (NT) is the second division of the Christian biblical canon. It discusses the teachings and person of Jesus in Christianity, Jesus, as well as events relating to Christianity in the 1st century, first-century Christianit ...
writers between God the Father and Jesus is understood to be from the attempts to identify God the Father and Jesus together, rather than to separate them more than necessary.


See also

*
Names of God in Christianity The Bible usually uses the name of God in the singular (e.g. Ex. 20:7 or Ps. 8:1), generally using the terms in a very general sense rather than referring to any special designation of God. However, general references to the name of God may bra ...
*
Nontrinitarianism Nontrinitarianism is a form of Christianity that rejects the orthodox Christian theology of the Trinity—the belief that God is three distinct hypostases or persons who are coeternal, coequal, and indivisibly united in one being, or essence ( ...


References


Citations


Sources

* *{{Cite book, title=I Am: A Oneness Pentecostal Theology, last=Norris, first=David S., publisher=Word Aflame Press, year=2009, isbn=9781567227307, location=Hazelwood, Mo., oclc=312444348 Christology Nontrinitarianism Oneness Pentecostalism Heresy in ancient Christianity Nature of Jesus Christ