Oneness Pentecostalism

At a glance

Oneness Pentecostals, often organized in bodies such as the United Pentecostal Church International (formed in 1945), confess Jesus as God and still reject the Trinity as three distinct Persons. They typically baptize with the formula “in the name of Jesus Christ” and read Matthew 28:19 as a description of Jesus’ one name, not as a command to name Father, Son, and Spirit as distinct persons.

The disagreement is whether the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit are distinct, coeternal Persons. Nicaea confessed the Son as God. Constantinople confessed the Spirit as Lord and giver of life. Jehovah’s Witnesses deny that Jesus is God Almighty. Oneness churches usually affirm that Jesus is God and then treat the three names as modes of that one God. The two teachings are not the same.

Origin and history

Classical Pentecostalism after Azusa Street (1906) was Trinitarian. A new teaching spread from 1913–1914, especially after preaching associated with the Arroyo Seco camp meeting near Los Angeles and then with ministers such as Frank J. Ewart and G. T. Haywood: the baptismal formula should be Jesus’ name only, because Jesus is the revealed name of the Godhead. Assemblies of God and other bodies rejected the doctrine in 1916. Those who held it formed their own fellowships.

The United Pentecostal Church International united two Oneness groups in 1945. Other Oneness bodies exist, and not every Jesus-Name congregation is UPCI. The movement is global, often intense in holiness codes (dress, media, sometimes facial hair rules), and missionary. It should not be confused with the Catholic Charismatic Renewal, which is Trinitarian and remains inside the sacramental Church.

• 1913–1916 — Jesus-Name / Oneness controversy in early Pentecostalism
• 1916 — Assemblies of God rejects Oneness teaching
• 1945 — United Pentecostal Church International formed
• Distinct from Trinitarian Pentecostals and from Catholic charismatics

Beliefs and doctrines

Oneness theology is a modern form of modalism: the one God is revealed as Father in creation, Son in redemption, and Spirit in the Church, without three distinct persons who eternally relate to one another. Baptism in Jesus’ name is often treated as the biblical and necessary formula, with Matthew 28:19 explained as Jesus’ identity rather than as three names. Many Oneness churches teach that Spirit baptism evidenced by tongues is necessary, not optional, which creates a two-tier Christianity the Catholic Church does not teach.

They usually hold a high moral code, believer’s baptism by immersion, and a memorial or spiritual view of the Lord’s Supper rather than transubstantiation, with varied language about justification. The Catholic confession, which is the Nicene Creed, is that the Son is not the Father, and that the Spirit is a Person, not another name for Jesus.

• Denial of three distinct divine Persons
• Jesus-Name baptism as the required formula
• Tongues often as initial evidence of Spirit baptism
• Holiness rules as identity markers

• United Pentecostal Church International

  Our Beliefs, About God

  Our Beliefs, About the Gospel

  “There is one God, who has revealed Himself as Father; through His Son, in redemption; and as the Holy Spirit, by emanation. Jesus Christ is God manifested in flesh. He is both God and man.”

  God

  Suggest a correction

  “We obey the gospel by repentance (death to sin), water baptism in the name of Jesus Christ (burial), and the baptism of the Holy Spirit with the initial sign of speaking in tongues as the Spirit gives the utterance (resurrection).”

  The gospel

  Suggest a correction

Scripture they emphasize

Expect Acts 2:38, 8:16, 10:48, and 19:5 on baptism “in the name of Jesus.” Expect Colossians 2:9 (“fullness of deity dwells bodily”) and Isaiah 9:6 (“everlasting Father”) as proofs that Jesus is the Father. Catholics should keep Matthew 28:19, the baptism of Jesus where the Son is in the water, the Spirit descends, and the Father speaks (Matthew 3:16–17), and Jesus’ prayer to the Father in John 17. A name used in Acts does not erase the scene in which three are manifested at once.

John 1:1–18 remains the short path: the Word was with God and was God, and became flesh. “With” is relation, not a costume change. The Nicene and Constantinopolitan faith is the Church’s reading of that grammar, already fought out against Sabellius in the third century and against Arius in the fourth. Oneness revival is new in organization; the idea is old, and it was already answered.

• Acts 2:38 — Jesus-Name baptism texts

  “Peter said to them, “Repent, and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of sins,”

• Matthew 28:19 — Trinitarian formula

  “Go,and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit,”

• Matthew 3:16-17 — baptism of Jesus
• John 1:1 — the Word was with God

  “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.”

• John 17 — the Son prays to the Father

  “Jesus said these things, and lifting up his eyes to heaven, he said, “Father, the time has come. Glorify your Son, that your Son may also glorify you;”

What to know before dialogue

Do not open with “cult.” Many Oneness Christians are morally serious and biblically busy. Define the terms person, nature, and name, then show the baptism of Jesus as three-at-once. Then show that Acts’ “in the name of Jesus” is authority and confession, the way one might say “baptized into Christ,” not a veto of Matthew 28. Invite them to the Creed the Church has prayed since the fourth century, not to a cooler Pentecostalism.

Use the Trinity, Baptism, and Pentecostalism pages together. If tongues become the membership badge, 1 Corinthians 12–14 is already Paul’s brake: not all speak in tongues, and love outranks the showy gifts. The Catholic Charismatic Renewal is not a door into Oneness doctrine. It is a reminder that the Spirit who gives charisms is the third Person, not a mask.

• Distinguish Oneness from JW and from Trinitarian Pentecostals
• Keep Matthew 3 and John 17 on the table
• Explain Acts 2:38 as authority, not a rival Trinity
• Do not mock holiness codes; argue the Godhead

Common misconceptions

Sources

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