Preface
Why another book challenging Oneness beliefs? Because it is written, that…
“4…the weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh, but mighty before God to the throwing down of strongholds, 5throwing down imaginations and every high thing that is exalted against the knowledge of God, and bringing every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ; 6and being in readiness to avenge all disobedience, when your obedience will be made full.” (2 Corinthians 10:4-6)
Accordingly, this scripture authorizes and commissions New Testament saints to engage in nonphysical warfare against imaginations that are exalted against the knowledge of God. This study is to “imaginations” of the New Testament age, what breaking down “images” was in the Old Testament age.
“…you shall drive out all the inhabitants of the land from before you, and destroy all their figured [stones], and destroy all their molten images, and demolish all their high places.” (Numbers 33:52)
Anyone who cheers for the champions of God in the Old Testament era for breaking down the molten images and high places, ought to be just as supportive of those in this New Testament era who engage in the warfare of casting down unbiblical imaginations. And that is the purpose of this challenge.
The title “Oneness” is a word that “Modalistic Monarchians” have appropriated to give themselves the appearance of having a monotheistic view of “Jesus Christ, the son of God”, in relation to God the Father. But is that self-designation biblical, realistic, or even ethical? Let’s compare the definitions of “son” and “mode” and see if we can discern anything thereby:
Son = “a male child or person in relation to his parents”.
Mode = “a manner of acting or doing”.
These two words and concepts are simply not synonymous. The former, “son”, is a thoroughly biblical word, definition, and explanation of the “person” of “Jesus Christ, the son of God” in relation to the “person” of his Father. The latter, “mode”, has no reference whatsoever to separate persons in relationship to each other, and it is, therefore, clearly an unbiblical “imagination” that has been foisted (imposed fraudulently or unjustifiably) upon certain proof-texted scriptures by unscrupulous folks who set themselves against the truth of the word and concept that “son” communicates and describes.
It is just that simple.
Therefore, the commission in 2 Corinthians 10:4-6 not only authorizes us but mandates us to cast down such imaginations with the goal of “bringing every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ”. This study is written in obedience to this mandate to us in God’s word. To criticize this study, either its content or its objective, then, would be to criticize being obedient to the commandment of the scripture to cast down imaginations.
“3Beloved, while I was very eager to write to you about our common salvation, I was constrained to write to you exhorting you to contend earnestly for the faith which was once for all delivered to the saints. 4For there are certain men who crept in secretly, even those who were long ago written about for this condemnation: ungodly men, turning the grace of our God into indecency, and denying our only Master, God, and Lord, Jesus Christ.” (Jude 1:3-4)
“1But false prophets also arose among the people, as false teachers will also be among you, who will secretly bring in destructive heresies, denying even the Master who bought them, bringing on themselves swift destruction. 2Many will follow their immoral ways, and as a result, the way of the truth will be maligned.” (2 Peter 2:1-2)
How is this study different? What does it bring to the table? Unlike other, previous works, this study goes beyond the typical pitting of proof texts against proof texts. It is written that, “…the word of God is living, and active…and is able to discern the thoughts and intentions of the heart” (Hebrews 4:12). As such, this study, using the word of God, will not only deal with the outward symptoms, which are the “proof texts” and their extrabiblical conclusions, but will also thoroughly and clearly discern and expose the “thoughts and intentions of the heart” behind the developments of both the Trinity and Oneness extrabiblical formulations.
We will deal with the Oneness imagination directly and use the false Trinity to compare how Onenessians have adopted and followed the same method of interpretation the Trinitarians have used. The point in doing so is to show that the Onenessians are double minded in criticizing Trinitarians while doing basically the same things they did, just arriving at slightly different conclusions. Where Trinitarians use proof-texted scriptures to define the son as a coequal person in the Godhead, Onenessians have used proof texted scriptures to imagine and conclude that the son is merely a “mode” of the Father. Neither view is explained in the Bible.
Those are just symptoms. But the heart behind why these folks would imagine God and Jesus beyond what the scriptures define is what will be exposed by examining the root cause of their extrabiblical imaginations. And that will be done by comparing them to a long “Tradition of Defiance”, as will be explained in Chapter Three.
To this author’s knowledge, this level of exposé has never been done before, which takes this conflict of viewpoints to another level than has previously ever been pursued and addressed. However, what is going to be revealed here is nothing new or extrabiblical, rather, this information has been hidden in plain sight in the Bible all along as the reader will clearly see.
I believe you will begin to see the Oneness dogma quite differently after reading just the first 3 chapters, and after the 4th, you will see even more how problematic the Oneness imagination is to the overall unity of thought expressed and explained throughout the scriptures. So, the reader will know whether they feel the need or desire to continue by chapter 3 or 4. From there, the remaining chapters are basically about “explaining things”. However, the chapters on “Who is he who overcomes the world, but he who believes that Jesus is the Son of God?” (1 John 5:5), which is covered in Section Three, Chapters 3 and 14-17, explain in detail why it is so critically important to understand the son of God as the Bible explains him. This, “knowledge of the son of God”, in fact, is one of the goals and purposes of any true minister of the Gospel:
“11He gave some to be apostles; and some, prophets; and some, evangelists; and some, shepherds and teachers; 12for the perfecting of the saints to the work of serving to the building up of the body of Christ; 13until we all attain to the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to a full grown man, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ.” (Ephesians 4:11-13)
The problem here is, many already assume they have the “knowledge of the Son of God”, and falsely believe the truth is found in their extrabiblical conclusions and imaginations. But, if we have not yet attained to the other three areas of this commission, what makes anyone feel confident they have already attained the second of the four? The apostle exposed the problem at hand when he wrote,
“3But I am afraid that somehow, as the serpent deceived Eve in his craftiness, so your minds might be corrupted from the simplicity that is in Christ. 4For if he who comes preaches another Jesus, whom we did not preach, or if you receive a different spirit, which you did not receive, or a different “good news”, which you did not accept, you put up with that well enough.” (2 Corinthians 11:3-4)
The goal of this study, therefore, can be summarized as an earnest attempt to reverse the trend the apostle warned of! That is, to expose and reverse the subtlety of deception that tempted Eve in the beginning, which is the same method that has been used to deceive people away from believing in the true, biblical “son of God” as he was preached and explained to be in the Bible.
Therefore, in summary, what will be shown, and further explained, in this study is that…
- The Oneness doctrine is never clearly and openly explained in scripture.
- The Oneness doctrine relies exclusively on interpreting the Bible the way the devil deceived Eve.
- The Oneness doctrine follows a long “Tradition of Defiance”.
- The Oneness doctrine is a pagan view of “gods come to earth in the form of men” (Acts 14:11).
- The Oneness doctrine relies on antichristian Gnostic doctrines by which to define Jesus.
- The Oneness doctrine relies on extrabiblical “revelation” in alignment with humanism.
- The Oneness doctrine preaches a different Jesus than the apostles consistently preached in Acts.
- The Oneness doctrine establishes Onenessian believers themselves, rather than the Bible, as the authors and arbiters of defining God and morality instead of God, which is idolatry.
“Beloved, don’t believe every spirit, but test the spirits, whether they are of God, because many false prophets have gone out into the world.” (1 John 4:1)
Using John’s test, is it not fair to ask, how much less biblical would a doctrine have to be before being held in suspicion at the very least? How would all these issues not be strong evidence of “confusion” if Oneness is indeed the “truth”? Are these the methods to use by which to arrive at truth?
On the other hand, this study will show that the “Son of God” doctrine is Named, Proclaimed, Confessed, and Explained in the Bible. How much more biblical would a doctrine need to be before you would at least consider it, if not accept it as biblical truth? Does faith come by hearing the word of God or by the traditions of men?
All these issues and more will be covered and explained in much more detail for those who are willing to consider the information presented in this study; and if Oneness, to take the Oneness challenge.
“For although by this time you should be teachers, you again need to have someone teach you the rudiments of the first principles of the revelations of God…” (Hebrews 5:12)
“9He said, “Go your way, Daniel; for the words are shut up and sealed until the time of the end. 10Many will purify themselves, and make themselves white, and be refined, but the wicked will do wickedly; and none of the wicked will understand, but those who are wise will understand.” (Daniel 12:9-10)
Dedications & Thank Yous
For my children and grandchildren,
Whom, I suppose, think I’ve lost my mind.
Remember, Jesus’ family thought the same of him,
But they eventually overcame.
And that is my prayer for you.
Truly, I tell you, that fervent prayer is the inspiration for this project.
So, thank you for that!
This project would not have been possible if I didn’t love you all,
More than life itself,
For in the darkness of the greatest burden of my soul,
My Redeemer has shed His great Light in the words of His Truth! I would also like to thank my dear friend and brother Delroy Gayle, for inspiring the “More Questions” section, chapter 4, by providing me with questions 5-7 and 10-13.This study, I do for others, because if I am in error, just such a study, is what I would want done for me.
This Bible Challenge is on YouTube: https://youtu.be/rlHMdK-kzwc, and free on pdf at Dropbox: https://www.dropbox.com/s/j283p0mhwl7h5wp/OnenessBibleChallenge.pdf?dl=0
