Pentecostals, Trinity or Oneness. What's the difference

[JK8619]

Lately I have read a bit about the Pentecostal Oneness doctrine. I am having a bit of trouble understanding it completely. What is it and how is it different from the trinity doctrine.

Also…

I have heard that not all Pentecostals are into the Oneness doctrine, but teach the trinity. One of them, from what I have read, is the Assembly of God denomination. Is this true? I have been to an A of G church before and it did not seem like they were teaching the traditional view of the trinity. From my understanding it seemed more like the Oneness doctrine. Maybe I misunderstood or maybe it was just this particular church that was teaching differently.

I hope someone can clear this up for me.

Thanks,
JK

 

[DaveBj]

Actually, the so-called Oneness Pentecostals are in the minority among Pentecostals. The major Pentecostal denominations (the Assemblies of God, the Church of God [Cleveland, TN, the denomination I grew up in], and most of the Pentecostal independents) are all trinitarian.

 

[ParvaDei]

Lately I have read a bit about the Pentecostal Oneness doctrine. I am having a bit of trouble understanding it completely. What is it and how is it different from the trinity doctrine.

Also…

I have heard that not all Pentecostals are into the Oneness doctrine, but teach the trinity. One of them, from what I have read, is the Assembly of God denomination. Is this true? I have been to an A of G church before and it did not seem like they were teaching the traditional view of the trinity. From my understanding it seemed more like the Oneness doctrine. Maybe I misunderstood or maybe it was just this particular church that was teaching differently.

I hope someone can clear this up for me.

Thanks,
JK

Hm. . . if I remember correctly, Oneness doctrine states that there is no Trinity as we classically define it (Three Persons, One God). Instead, God is one spirit with three different manifestations (I guess like masks or roles, but I’m sure that’s a bad analogy ) as opposed to individual, separate persons. (Here’s a link for more complete info.) However, most Pentecostals aren’t Oneness – they’re as Trinitarian as one can get (in fact, this Calvinist/Presbyterian paper says that in 1990, they consisted of “0.8 percent of all Pentecostals” – not a very huge number).

Also, the Assemblies of God aren’t Oneness – they actually separated from them in 1916 over this particular definition of the Trinity. Maybe the pastor was talking about the Trinity in some weird convoluted manner (not surprising since it is a mystery of the Faith, after all)?

Hope that helps!

~ParvaDei

 

[Andre1000]

This Oneness sounds pretty much like modalistic monarchianism and is not some kind of unclassical trinity, it is an anti-trinity heresy.

 

[ltwin]

Lately I have read a bit about the Pentecostal Oneness doctrine. I am having a bit of trouble understanding it completely. What is it and how is it different from the trinity doctrine.

The Oneness doctrine has been called Modalism (or modern day Sabellianism), which is a belief that the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit are three different modes, manifestations, aspects, or titles of one, indivisible God. It differs from Unitarianism in that Oneness Pentecostals accept that Jesus is fully God. The Father is the title of God in parental relationship. The Son of God is Jesus of Nazareth who is God incarnate in human flesh. The Holy Spirit is the title of God in activity as Spirit.

Oneness Pentecostals also believe in Jesus’ Name baptism. Instead of the Trinitarian formula found in Matthew 28, Oneness Pentecostals believe the biblical way to baptize is “in the name of Jesus Christ” or “in the name of the Lord Jesus” as found in various places in Acts.

I don’t know if this is related to the Oneness doctrine, but Oneness Pentecostals differ in at least one important respect with other Pentecostals. Unlike evangelical Protestants and the majority of Pentecostals, conversion is not the essential component of salvation. After having a conversion experience, Oneness Pentecostals require water baptism in Jesus’ name only and baptism in the Holy Spirit with the evidence of speaking in tongues. So another difference between Oneness and Trinitarian Pentecostals is that Oneness believes a person must speak in tongues and be water baptized in order to be saved.

Also…

I have heard that not all Pentecostals are into the Oneness doctrine, but teach the trinity. One of them, from what I have read, is the Assembly of God denomination. Is this true? I have been to an A of G church before and it did not seem like they were teaching the traditional view of the trinity. From my understanding it seemed more like the Oneness doctrine. Maybe I misunderstood or maybe it was just this particular church that was teaching differently.

Well, the Trinity can sometimes be hard to explain. However, the Assemblies of God has been a solidly Trinitarian church since the Oneness Pentecostals were kicked out in 1916. You don’t really give much to go on, but perhaps you heard Jesus’ name used a lot and that gave you the impression that they only focused on Jesus and not on the Father or the Son. All varieties of classical Pentecostalism (both Trinitarian and Oneness) use Jesus-centric language. But then again we have also been accused of belittling both the Father and the Son and focusing too much attention on the Holy Spirit . . . .