More Papers

Hi all,

Here is another paper that I have written. Please Pray for me, I just had 2 wisdom teeth removed yesterday.

Paper Two for Dogmatics, Assessing the Statement
“There is only one God. He is the creator of heaven and earth, and of all living beings. He has revealed Himself to humanity as the Father, in the son, and as the Holy Spirit.”
Andrew Higginbotham

“There is only one God. He is the creator of heaven and earth, and of all living beings. He has revealed Himself to humanity as the Father, in the son, and as the Holy Spirit.” This statement, when one first looks at it, appears to be an okay statement. However, when one digs down and understands what is meant by those who uphold this statement by terms such as “revealed”, “as”, and “in”, one begins to understand that those who would agree with this statement (even after explanation) are actually denying the doctrines of the Trinity and the Personhood of each Member (Father, Son, and Holy Ghost) of the Godhead. Of course, almost every heresy that has arisen since Christ’s time begins with a denial of His (Christ’s) full deity. Of course the teaching that God is One and does not have a three-in-oneness has taken on many different forms throughout history. The specific name for this heresy (the one in the afore mentioned statement) is Modalism or Sabellianism. In this paper I will refer to it as Modalism.

The basic premise of Modalism is that God is not really three distinct Persons, but rather one Person that has manifested Himself in three forms throughout history. The proponents of this view hold, to begin with, that God is Spirit (true). Further, they propose that in the Old Testament He revealed or manifested Himself as “the Father” (not completely true). In this form, He created the world, freed the children of Israel from the Egyptians, gave them His law and sent the various prophets and judges in the Old Testament. Then finding Himself inadequate to atone for the sins of His people (the result of being a Spirit), He prepared and indwelt a human body and became Christ Jesus (this is why most proponents of this view only baptize in the name of Jesus). After the resurrection, Jesus then became the Holy Spirit or Holy Ghost. In this form, He indwells all believers and gives them the “gifts of the Spirit,” i.e. speaking in tongues, etc. The reason for this is that the only major denomination which holds this view is the United Pentecostal Church (UPC). In the end they over-emphasize the doctrine of the oneness of God, and in doing so eliminate the doctrines of the personhood of each of the three (Father, Son, and Holy Spirit). Doing this they destroy the doctrine of the Trinity and ultimately the message, content, and the effect of the atonement of The Son of God, Christ Jesus. Why would anyone want to make a statement which is clearly wrong in the light of Scripture? The reason is, the human mind cannot and never will be able to completely understand the Trinity. We must follow the Bible and it’s teaching on this issue regardless of how rational or understandable it is. After all, the resurrection of Christ is not humanly understandable. So should we throw it out as well? Or explain it away? Clearly not.

In this section, I will discuss two verses of Scripture in particular. They all clearly teach a Trinity. There are many other Scriptures which could be used to prove the personhood of Christ (John 1:1-18 and various passages where Christ is praying to the Father), the personhood of the Holy Ghost (John 14:26), and the Father (1 Cr. 8:6). The first verse which I will deal with in particular is, Matthew 3:16-17 and the second is, Acts 7:55.

In Matthew 3:16-17 we are told, “And Jesus, when he was baptized, went up straightway out of the water: and, lo, the heavens were opened unto him, and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove, and lighting upon him: And lo a voice from heaven, saying, This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased,” (KJV emphasis mine). These verses show three persons involved with the baptism of Christ, each from a different angle yet at the same time. The Son was being baptized, the Holy Spirit descended upon the Son (two different personalities) and the Father blessed it. Therefore, He is separate from the Son and the Holy Spirit. The Son is separate from the Father and Holy Spirit. And the Holy Spirit is separate from either of the other two.

The second verse is Acts 7:55, “But he, being full of the Holy Ghost, looked up steadfastly into heaven, and saw the glory of God, and Jesus standing on the right hand of God.” The “He” in this verse is Stephen. He is about to be killed as he looks up, and this verse records what he saw. The scene is instructive for us as we look at the Trinity, we see all three persons of the Trinity at different “places” (although it is true that all three are in a sense omnipresent) at the same time. Thus, the Holy Ghost is on earth (in believers), the Father is in heaven, and the Son is to His right! Here again we see the Trinity clearly laid out, not three manifestations of the same “Spirit” but three persons in One!

The problem is that heretics tend to take orthodox words and pour their meaning into the words. For example, Jehovah’s Witnesses and Mormons do this with many orthodox terms which they twist and change to fit their pozisition. The same is true with the UPC. They will discuss the Father, son and Holy Ghost. However, when they use those terms they do not mean what an orthodox Christian would mean by the same terms (as presented above). When talking to someone it is important to know what they mean by the terms that they are using. This is why these statements on the surface appear to be good but as one begins to define terms and decipher what others mean by what they say, the true meaning will become clear.

Another word that must be addressed is their use of “revealed,” or their use of “manifested”. When used in the context, both of these words that are used in UPC statements, mean that God is One and there is not a Trinity. As we have already seen, this is clearly against Scripture. Both of these words have similar meanings, basically they mean: made known, disclosed, clearly visible. These aspects of these two words point clearly to a wrong view of God. If He had only made known that He is One Person Who is morphing Himself in three different ways, then we must conclude that the aforementioned Scriptures are wrong when they clearly point to three in One.

This heresy has surfaced several times in church history, but always to be condemned as unorthodox and heretical. Let us follow the Lord, the Triune God, and not a god of our making. Ultimately, those who worship and follow the god set forth by the UPC and anyone who would (after explanation) agree with the statement is worshiping another Jesus. One who is not a person of the Godhead, but one who is a manifestation of their god. Let us follow the Father, Son, and Holy Sprit and not a god of our making.

For His glory,
Andrew