Dear Oneness believer, I full well know how precious the Oneness doctrine is to you. I sincerely loved the Oneness doctrine for decades. I loved the proof texts that seemed to confirm that “special revelation.” But I was using those proof texts to jump to a conclusion that the Bible never explained.

When I first really read and heard Jesus, in John 5:19 & 30, say “The Son can do nothing of himself” (John 5:19); and “I can of myself do nothing.” (John 5:30); and again, “I do nothing of myself.” (John 8:28); I realized this was from the one who died for me telling me this heart to heart, from his heart to mine. I realized then that I had been taught to believe in a man-made imagination of Jesus, and not the genuine article.

When people claim they “love” Jesus but must redefine his moral relationship with his Father in order to believe in him, doesn’t that expose their true heart about the matter? Is it the true Jesus whom that person loves if that Jesus is a man-defined image or imagination of him that person is in love with?

As has been shown in this study, this is why John wrote, “Who is he who overcomes the world, but he who believes that Jesus is the Son of God?” (1 John 5:5)

The “son” is not a “mode.” The “son” is not a code word for the flesh of the Father. A “mode” is not morally responsible to use its conscious free will to choose to honor “its” father. The true “son of God” was a real man who faced, and overcame, all the temptations you and I have faced and most often succumbed to at one time or another. And some of those biggest temptations were wondering if God was truly with him, and the temptation to use his God-given dominion to do things his own way.

To claim “Jesus is God in a man suit” is to artificially create a handy excuse not to “overcome” even as he overcame. That claim is a direct way to not overcome the world. That is the attitude by which to align with the world in a long tradition of humanistic defiance.

Have you ever asked yourself, “Has God sworn with an oath to the veracity that He would perform the doctrine of ‘modalism’ like He did when He swore to David that David’s offspring would sit on David’s throne?” God swore to the “son of God” doctrine:

“Therefore, being a prophet, and knowing that God had sworn with an oath to him that of the fruit of his body, according to the flesh, he would raise up the Christ to sit on his throne, he foreseeing this spoke about the resurrection of the Christ. (Acts 2:30–31)

“³I have made a covenant with my chosen one, I have sworn to David, my servant, ⁴‘I will establish your seed forever, and build up your throne to all generations… ³⁵Once have I sworn by my holiness, I will not lie to David. ³⁶His seed will endure forever, his throne like the sun before me.” (Psalm 89:3-4, 35-36)

“Yahweh has sworn to David in truth. He will not turn from it: “I will set the fruit of your body on your throne.” (Psalm 132:11)

“¹¹…Moreover Yahweh tells you that Yahweh will make you a house. ¹²When your days are fulfilled, and you shall sleep with your fathers, I will set up your seed after you, who shall proceed out of your bowels, and I will establish his kingdom. ¹³He shall build a house for my name, and I will establish the throne of his kingdom forever. ¹⁴I will be his father, and he shall be my son. If he commits iniquity, I will chasten him with the rod of men, and with the stripes of the children of men.” (2 Samuel 7:11-14)

This truth that God and His son are two different “who’s,” two different personalities, is confirmed in so many places as to make the Oneness claims utterly ridiculous when you see the truth of the son of God in so many scriptures and compare it to the proof texts that are offered to try to “prove” the Oneness is biblical. For example, when the angel proclaimed the birth of this son…

“³¹Behold, you will conceive in your womb, and bring forth a son, and will call his name ‘Jesus.’ ³²He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High. The Lord God will give him the throne of his father, David, ³³and he will reign over the house of Jacob forever. There will be no end to his Kingdom.” (Luke 1:31-33)

The angel didn’t say that this baby, who was to be called the “son of God,” would be an incarnation of the Father but that God the Father would give him (not his human nature) the throne of his father, David. Then there is 2 Chronicles 21:7 that shows that the promise was with the house of David and to David’s children…

“However, Yahweh would not destroy the house of David, because of the covenant that he had made with David, and as he promised to give a lamp to him and to his children always.” (2 Chronicles 21:7).

Regarding this same Jesus, God clearly spoke of him in the third person. Has God audibly spoken from heaven your doctrine, saying, “This is me, in my human nature ‘mode’ of myself, listen to me”? No.

“¹⁶Jesus, when he was baptized, went up directly from the water: and behold, the heavens were opened to him. He saw the Spirit of God descending as a dove, and coming on him. ¹⁷Behold, a voice out of the heavens said, ‘This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased’.” (Matthew 3:16–17; also found in Mark 1:11 and Luke 3:22)

“While he was still speaking, behold, a bright cloud overshadowed them. Behold, a voice came out of the cloud, saying, “This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased. Listen to him” (Matthew 17:5; also Mark 9:7 and Luke 9:35).

Did the audible voice of God lie? Why would God say He was with and in His son if His son was Himself?

Does the Bible ever say that God sacrificed your version of Jesus? Does John 3:16 say “God so loved the world that He gave His beloved human nature mode of himself”? No, John 3:16 says…

“For God so loved the world, that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish, but have eternal life.” (John 3:16)?

By rejecting God’s sworn oath in explaining His son, Onenessianism has claimed, like the humanists, “if there be a God, he is welcome to His opinions, but we have a better idea.” Or like the devil, “yea, has God said…?” and then go on to negate what God said with something of your own making. And thereby Onenessianism honors the devil and the subtilty of his deception rather than the man who became obedient unto death and died for you and me to save us from just such types of lies. Isn’t that ironic?

Shouldn’t we, “Let God be true but every man a liar. As it is written” (Romans 3:4)?

Next, let’s look at that whole list of proof texts in one place.  Not that we need to reread them, but simply to emphasize the scope of how many clear scriptures are either negated, neutralized, or hidden when extrabiblical imaginations are used to interpret the Bible instead of clear explanations.

I had to shrink the font on the text on the right in order to make the list fit on one page. This list isn’t a coincidence (nor is it exhaustive). It doesn’t matter how many additional “proof texts” Onenessian believers may come up with, the pattern will always be the same. That is phenomenal.

Although we haven’t addressed every possible proof text that Onenessians use, we’ve clearly shown enough to prove a “pattern.” There is undoubtedly a large ratio of the scriptures that are made “of no effect” by the Oneness interpretation that isn’t even ever once stated or explained in scripture.

If “proof texting” is what the devil used to bring sin and death into the world, and Jesus called him the “father of lies,” and he called those who did his works the children of the devil (John 8:38-47), why would anyone who trusts Jesus’ words believe that using the devil’s method of interpretation is how to arrive at truth? This is why the challenge on the table is so important. If Oneness is biblical, then do yourself a favor and prove to yourself where Oneness is Named, Proclaimed, Confessed, AND Explained in the Bible.

Otherwise, this puts Onenessians on the opposite side of the battlefield of casting down imaginations.

“⁴for 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)

Instead of casting down imaginations (such as “‘Father’ means ‘deity’ and ‘son’ means ‘flesh’ in a single individual named Jesus,” or like “Jesus is a dual natured individual in one personality,” or “Father, Son, and Holy Spirit are modes of expression, Father in creation, Son in redemption, and Spirit in Sanctification”), Onenessians use their imaginations to cast down the scriptures that explain that Jesus is an agent of the Father, the scripture that explains that Jesus can do nothing of himself, the scriptures that explain that Jesus is not alone, and so forth as has been shown with many examples for you.

Putting forth and believing in imaginations of who and what God and His son and servant Jesus Christ are, instead of truth, has a very dangerous side to it. Jesus said to the Samaritan woman,

“²²You worship that which you don’t know. We worship that which we know; for salvation is from the Jews. ²³But the hour comes, and now is, when the true worshippers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for the Father seeks such to be his worshippers. ²⁴God is spirit, and those who worship him must worship in spirit and truth.” (John 4:22-24)

Paul wrote, 

“⁶Since it is a righteous thing with God to repay affliction to those who afflict you, ⁷and to give relief to you who are afflicted with us, when the Lord Jesus is revealed from heaven with his mighty angels in flaming fire, ⁸giving vengeance to those who don’t know God, and to those who don’t obey the Good News of our Lord Jesus” (2 Thessalonians 1:6-8)

And Jesus clearly explained to us just how important it is to know who God is and who His son is,

“¹Jesus 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; ²even as you gave him authority over all flesh, he will give eternal life to all whom you have given him. ³This is eternal life, that they should know you, the only true God, and him whom you sent, Jesus Christ.” (John 17:1-3)

Why, why, why would “God incarnate” lie or speak in secret code language in prayer to Himself?

Now, in this “challenge” I have…

1. tasked you to quote scripture that Names, Proclaims, Confesses, AND Explains your beliefs; and 

2. I have demonstrated to you that the “son of God” doctrine is Named, Proclaimed, Confessed, AND Explained; and 

3. I have posed for you a good number of serious questions regarding the Oneness beliefs; and 

4. I have shown how the Oneness doctrine is arrived at by no other method than applying the devil’s method of quoting a proof text, jumping to a false dilemma conclusion, and negating what is explained to the contrary in scripture; and…

5. I have shown that the method of interpretation used by Onenessians to arrive at their conclusions follows a long line of failures in the humanistic Tradition of Defiance.

My final question to you, therefore, is simply this,

“So then, have I become your enemy by telling you the truth?” (Galatians 4:16)

“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)

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