The Oneness of God and Baptism in the Name of Jesus
As taught in the Oneness Pentecostal tradition
How Oneness Pentecostals read the absolute oneness of God and baptism in Jesus' name.
Oneness Pentecostalism is a movement within the broader Pentecostal family that holds a distinctive, non-Trinitarian view of the nature of God. Its adherents are sometimes called "Apostolic" or "Jesus' Name" Pentecostals. To understand the movement on its own terms, it is essential to set aside the assumption that all Pentecostals share the same doctrine of God, because Oneness believers consciously dissent from the Trinitarian consensus held by the large majority of Christians, including most other Pentecostals.
By the end of this lesson
- Describe, in third-person and attributed terms, the Oneness Pentecostal doctrine that God is absolutely one and that Father, Son, and Holy Spirit are manifestations of the one God rather than three eternally distinct persons.
- Explain how Oneness Pentecostals argue from Acts 2:38, Acts 4:12, and Matthew 28:19 for baptism in the name of Jesus, and how they read the singular 'name' in the Great Commission.
- Summarise the Oneness reading of Colossians 2:9, John 14:9-11, and Isaiah 9:6 regarding the deity of Christ, and contrast it with the majority Trinitarian reading of the same texts.
- Locate the historical emergence of the movement in the early Pentecostal 'New Issue' of about 1914-1916 and identify G. T. Haywood as an attributable early Apostolic voice.
- State accurately that the large majority of Christians, including most Pentecostals, affirm the Trinity, and articulate the precise point at which Oneness theology dissents, without endorsing or condemning either side.
Scripture
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