Modalism
Outside historic orthodoxy
The teaching that God is one person who appears in three modes or roles, as Father, Son, and Spirit, rather than three distinct persons.
Also called: Oneness, Oneness Pentecostalism, Oneness theology, Oneness/modalist, modalist, Sabellianism, Sabellian, modalistic monarchianism
What it means
Modalism teaches that God is a single person who reveals himself in different ways: as the Father in creation and the law, as the Son in the incarnation, and as the Spirit in the church. The names Father, Son, and Spirit are titles or manifestations of the one person, not distinct persons who relate to one another. In its modern form, often called Oneness theology, it teaches that Jesus is the Father, Son, and Spirit, and usually that baptism must be "in Jesus' name" alone.
Modalism usually begins with a strong concern to protect the oneness of God, which Scripture certainly teaches. Its ancient form is associated with Sabellius in the third century, and the early church rejected it as firmly as it later rejected Arianism.
Historic Christianity confesses one God in three persons. The Father, Son, and Spirit are not three names for one person but three persons who know, love, speak to, and glorify one another from eternity.
What Scripture says
At Jesus' baptism the Father speaks from heaven about the Son while the Spirit descends.
Jesus asks the Father to glorify him with the glory they shared before the world existed.
The Son asks the Father, who will give another Helper, the Spirit of truth.
Jesus counts himself and the Father as two witnesses.
When we sin, we have an advocate with the Father: Jesus Christ the Righteous.
What is wrong with it
Scripture shows the Father, Son, and Spirit relating to one another as distinct persons. The Father sends the Son and speaks to him; the Son prays to the Father and does his will; the Spirit is "another" helper, sent by the Father and the Son. Jesus calls himself and the Father two witnesses. Modalism must turn all of this into one person talking to himself, praying to himself, and sending himself, which empties these passages of meaning.
How it undermines the truth
It undermines the eternal love of God, which Scripture describes as the love of the Father for the Son before the foundation of the world. If God is one person, there was no one to love until creation. It undermines the atonement, where the Son offers himself to the Father through the eternal Spirit, and his ongoing work as our advocate with the Father. And it undermines our adoption, in which the Spirit leads us to cry "Abba, Father" in union with the Son.
How it can harm a church
A church that teaches modalism worships a God different from the God of the creeds, so it stands outside the historic Christian faith. Its members are often taught that only those baptized by its formula are saved, which places the conscience under a rule Scripture does not give and cuts them off from other believers. They lose the rich assurance of a Father who gave his Son and a Son who intercedes with his Father for them.
This page describes a teaching, not the faith of any person who holds it.
History
Forms of modalism were taught in Rome in the early third century and opposed by Tertullian and Hippolytus. The term "Sabellianism" comes from Sabellius, who taught it around the same time. A modern Oneness movement arose within early twentieth-century Pentecostalism.
Where it comes up
Confessions: Nicene Creed; Athanasian Creed; WCF 2.3; LBCF 1689 2.3
On this site: Trinity
Related terms
TrinityHistoric orthodoxy
There is one God, eternally existing in three persons, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, each fully and equally God.
Non-TrinitarianismOutside historic orthodoxy
Any teaching that denies the one God exists eternally as three persons, usually by denying that the Son or the Spirit is fully God.
Nicene CreedHistoric orthodoxy
The creed of the councils of Nicaea (325) and Constantinople (381), confessing that the Son and the Spirit are fully God with the Father.