Oneness Pentecostalism Is Heresy, Not Hairsplitting
Brief History
The roots of Oneness Pentecostalism can be
traced in the North American Pentecostal movement during the early 1900s.
During a camp meeting in Arroyo Seco, California in the late 1913 or
early 1914 conducted by the Assemblies of God (AG), one minister by
the name of John G. Scheppe revealed that during his night of meditation
it was revealed to him that baptism must be done "in the name of Jesus
only" and not "in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit."
Several AG ministers including R.E McAlister, Frank J. Ewart, Glenn
A. Cook, and Garfield T. Haywood, began teaching this "new issue."
While this "baptismal formula" began as a
friendly debate it developed into a fierce controversy over the nature
of Godhead. This "new issue" made a rift between the AG movement that
prompted J. Roswell Flower to oppose Oneness theology and baptismal
formula in their Third General Council in 1915. In their Fourth General
Council in 1916, the AG ministers adopted a "Statement of Fundamental
Truths" that forcefully maintained the Trinity doctrine, that banned
the 156 of the 585 AG ministers.
The Nature of the Trinity is Essential Christian
Doctrine
The June 1997 issue of Charisma features an
article by executive editor J. Lee Grady entitled, "The Other Pentecostals,"1
reporting on the estimated 17 million Oneness Pentecostals worldwide
with 2.1 million in the United States.2
Grady calls Pentecostalism a "house divided."3
While Trinitarian and Oneness Pentecostals alike trace their roots back
to the Azusa Street Revival of l906,4 Oneness Pentecostals have been
"separated from their brethren by a nasty doctrinal feud that split
families and churches."5 Today younger leaders in the Oneness movement
hope to end the feud and lead their movement into the mainstream church.6
It is disturbing enough to read that 17 million
Oneness believers are following a theology that rejects the biblical
doctrine of the trinity.7 Even more troubling is the article's suggestion
that among many evangelicals this Oneness error is not terribly significant!"
PAPERING OVER DIFFERENCES
After discussing the Oneness rejection of
Trinitarian language, Grady uses the phrase, "To split doctrinal hairs
even further,..." to introduce Oneness' insistence on baptism in Jesus'
name only.9 While Oneness Pentecostals may be "too sectarian to mix
with other evangelicals," he writes, "they are too orthodox to be compared
with Mormons or Jehovah's Witnesses." Grady concludes, "No one really
knows what to do with them."10
He proceeds to juxtapose striking comments
by two leaders, one from each camp. Trinitarian scholar and ex-Oneness
follower Gregory Boyd is quoted as saying, "If you deny the eternality
of the three personal ways God is God, you undermine the very essence
of Christianity."11 Oneness leader T. F. Tenney states, "We do not deny
the Father, the Son or the Holy Spirit.... We believe Jesus Christ is
wholly, fully, absolutely, and completely God. But no one is going to
put us in the position of saying that there are three Gods."12
Grady then offers an observation on our times,
seemingly without recognizing its devastating ramifications: "The argument
over whether God is three-in-one or one-in-three is a moot point for
the average layman, who tends to view the doctrine of the trinity as
an unexplainable mystery."13 Grady implies that the Church should be
more concerned with other issues.
Concerning the baptismal view of the most
rigid Oneness Pentecostals, he states, "It is on this issue, theologians
say, that Oneness Pentecostals have drifted dangerously toward spiritual
elitism and heresy."14 Indeed, the Oneness view of baptism is lethally
flawed.
ONENESS VIEW SERIOUSLY FLAWED
Even to remotely imply, however, that corrections
to the Oneness understanding of baptism would rescue Oneness theology
is wholly misleading.
Grady expresses cavalier confidence that a
prominent leader within the largest Oneness denomination, the United
Pentecostal Church (UPC), has a right relationship with the Holy Spirit.
Referring to Anthony Mangun, a friend of President Clinton, Grady writes:
"A good friend who has the Holy Ghost. That might be the best friend
any president could have."15
The problem is that a group's denial of an
essential biblical teaching excludes that group from Christianity. While
there may be some Christians in Oneness churches, the movement as a
whole is non-Christian. As CRI president Hank Hanegraaff has said, "It
would be inappropriate to argue that Jehovah's Witnesses or various
other groups are non-Christian because they deny the doctrine of the
Trinity, but that the United Pentecostal Church can reject the Trinity
and still be considered Christian."16
Notes
1. J. Lee Grady, "The Other Pentecostals,"
Charisma, June 1997, 62-68. 2. Ibid., 63. 3. Ibid. 4. Ibid. 5. Ibid.,
62. 6. Ibid., 62-63. 7. The Trinitarian view of God teaches that within
the nature of the one true God there are three eternally distinct persons.
Oneness theology denies the eternal distinctions among the three persons,
insisting there is only one actual person in the Godhead (see CRI's
The Biblical Basis for the Doctrine of the Trinity (DT16O). The historic
Christian church has always affirmed Trinitarian theology, while condemning
Oneness models during the early centuries after Christ. 8. E.g., Paul
Crouch, President of the Trinity Broadcasting Network, has asserted
that the debate over the nature of God as Triune or Oneness is merely
a semantic one, and has encouraged affirmations of the United Pentecostal
Church International (Praise the Lord, TBN, September 5, 1991). 9. Charisma,
63. 10. Ibid. 11. Ibid. A similar quote can be found in Gregory Boyd's
book Oneness Pentecostals and the Trinity (Grand Rapids: Baker, 1992),
196. CRI recommends Boyd's book as an effective biblical refutation
of the Oneness view and defense of the Trinitarian view of God. 12.
Ibid., 63. Tenney's criticism confuses tritheism, the belief in three
separate gods, with Trinitarianism. 13. Ibid. 14. Ibid. 15. Ibid., "President
Clinton's Pentecostal Connection." 63. 16. Hank Hanegraaff, "Is the
United Pentecostal Church a Christian Church?" CRI Perspective (Rancho
Santa Margarita, CA: CRI, 1994) (CP0603) The Oneness denial of the true
nature of God is heretical. Additional false teachings only compound
their error. If you want to know more about the dangerous heresy known
as Oneness Pentecostalism, please refer to our Resource Catalog Listing
or call our Resource Center toll-free at (888)7000-CRI.
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