Godhead

As Oneness Bible believers, there are basically two points we feel the scriptures emphasize concerning the Godhead.

1st God is one. He is absolutely one with no distinction of persons.
2nd Jesus Christ is the revelation of the fullness of God. God is incarnate in Jesus Christ.

Oneness or Pentecostal/Apostolic doctrine is derived foremost from the New Testament, but the Old Testament is a schoolmaster to lead us to Christ. The New Testament doctrine is first and foremost, the clearest exposition of our salvation. The fulness of revelation of truth is in the New Testament. But to get us there, the concepts and terms have to be defined for us and God did that through the people of God of the Old Testament…the Jews.

When we come to the New Testament, we cannot read it from the point of view of 4th century Greek philosophy, take those definitions, and then define Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, one God or Godhead in the terms of this philosophy, human terminology, or perpetuated by tradition. Although we can’t avoid that totally we have to be careful when we use these terms. Rather we need to start from the Old Testament as far as our theological education, understand who the one God is and what it means to talk about Father and Holy Spirit and so on. And then when we have a clear understanding of those elementary things, when we come to the greater revelation of the New Testament we will be in a position to receive it.

Deut 6:4 “Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God is one LORD.” We start from there as well as many other passages throughout the Bible and especially we see in the Old Testament the emphasis is that God is absolutely one.

Both Jewish and Oneness believers adhere to this monotheistic view which is the historic position of Judaism. Jesus emphasized the importance of this teaching, calling it “the first of all the commandments” (Mark 12:29), and in His conversation with a Samaritan woman He endorsed the Jewish concept of God: “Ye worship ye know not what: we know what we worship: for salvation is of the Jews” (John 4:22).

The book of Isaiah says that God is alone, he says I’m by myself, there is none like me and beside me no one is my equal. I will not give my glory to another. So when we take these statements that God is one, we say there cannot be any divisions, or separations or distinctions of persons in the Godhead. Actually the word “persons” is not in the Bible related to God, and certainly the words “three persons” or the word “Trinity” is never found.

Isaiah 42:8 “I am the LORD: that is my name: and my glory will I not give to another. “
Isaiah 44:6 “I am the first, and I am the last; and beside me there is no God.“
Isaiah 44:8 “Is there a God beside me? yea, there is no God; I know not any”
Isaiah 44:24 “thy redeemer, and he that formed thee from the womb, I am the LORD that maketh all things; that stretcheth forth the heavens alone; that spreadeth abroad the earth by myself;”
Isaiah 45:5-6 “I am the LORD, and there is none else.”
Isaiah 45:21-23 “and there is no God else beside me; a just God and a Saviour; there is none beside me.”
Isa 45:22 “Look unto me, and be ye saved, all the ends of the earth: for I am God, and there is none else.”

If we compare the OT to the NT we find the identity of Jesus Christ because the OT describes the one God in certain terms. The NT describes Jesus in those same terms. If we’re going to accept both testaments, we’re going to have to accept Jesus is the fulfillment of these statements and that they apply to Him. He is indeed the one God of the OT, Yahweh, Jehovah, the God of Moses, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaiah, fully manifested and revealed in the flesh.

For example,

Isaiah 43:10-11 “Ye are my witnesses, saith the LORD, and my servant whom I have chosen: that ye may know and believe me, and understand that I am he: before me there was no God formed, neither shall there be after me.” Vs 11 “I, even I, am the LORD; and beside me there is no saviour.”
In Isaiah 45:21-23 “Tell ye, and bring them near; yea, let them take counsel together: who hath declared this from ancient time? who hath told it from that time? have not I the LORD? and there is no God else beside me; a just God and a Saviour; there is none beside me. 22: Look unto me, and be ye saved, all the ends of the earth: for I am God, and there is none else. 23: I have sworn by myself, the word is gone out of my mouth in righteousness, and shall not return, That unto me every knee shall bow, every tongue shall swear.
The NT quotes this passage in Phil 2:9-11 “at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of things in heaven, and things in earth, and things under the earth;”

That is a prophecy Jehovah said one day every knee is going to bow to me and every tongue is going to swear or confess to me. That prophecy is fulfilled in Philippians 2:9-11 where it says at the name of Jesus, literally at the mention of the name of Jesus, every knee shall bow and every tongue shall confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the Father. We do not deny the Father but we confess Him. When we recognize who Jesus is were giving glory to the one true God the Father because the one true God has manifest Himself in the name and person of Jesus Christ. What we understand is Jesus is the fulfillment. Now Jehovah said everybody is going to bow to me. Jesus, in the New Testament, is going to be the fulfillment. Jesus is the Jehovah of the Old Testament revealed in the flesh. Jehovah says I am the only saviour. If you want to be saved you have to look to me. How can we say Jesus is my saviour? Only if we recognize He is the Jehovah of the Old Testament manifest in the flesh.

The OT consistently declares there is One God, absolutely one, in the strongest possible words. None else, none like me, none beside me, I am the first, I am the last and so forth. So when God created the universe He did it alone and did it by Himself. And the same one who created us is the same one who redeems us. The NT reveals that Jesus fulfills these descriptions.

The NT also emphasis there is One God.

Gal 3:20 “God is one”.

James 2:19 even the demons understand and believe that God is One.

1 Timothy 2:5 “For there is one God, (that’s the same emphasis as the OT, no change) and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus;”

What is the new revelation of the NT?

Not a plurality of persons that was unknown to Abraham, Isaac, Jacob and Moses, and Isaiah. But the new revelation that God has come in the flesh in a new way to be our savior.

In other words Jesus is God manifested in the flesh. He is God and man at the same time. Therefore when we believe in Him and obey His gospel, we are united with Him. And through Him we are united with God who is incarnate in Him. So it’s in Him, human identity, as a genuine human being that He became the sacrifice for sin. And that’s the key to understanding statements in the gospel that refer to Jesus as a true man. We must understand that He was a true man. And as such He took our place. Everything that we could say about ourselves as humans, Jesus could say about Himself except He did not sin. Everything that we could say in our relationship with God, Jesus had to be able to say except He did not need to repent or be born again. So when we find statements in the gospels that speak about Jesus in relationship to God, that’s not talking about a plurality of persons. That’s talking about the authentic humanity of Jesus Christ.

As Oneness or Apostolic Pentecostals we are not trying to be divisive, we’re trying our best to go back to the scripture. But those who would use foreign terms have the necessity of justifying why these terms are so important. Obviously we use terms that are not found in the Bible, but when doing so we must justify them and explain why these terms are essentially Biblical or consistent with the scripture. When you cannot find any of the terms that define the Trinity in the scripture, you have a high bar of proof that you must meet.

When the Bible says God is One that means one personal being. When you go to heaven, most expect to see one visible manifestation of God. God has one center of consciousness, not three centers of consciousness. God has one divine will, not three divine wills. So I would challenge Trinitarians if they believe God is a plurality of persons, please define what they mean. Do they mean three bodies? Do they mean three centers of consciousness? Now if they mean three manifestations then perhaps it’s just terminology.

We would agree that God has manifested Himself as Father, Son, and Spirit. In that sense we would not call ourselves “Jesus only.” We believe God’s Spirit is omnipresent. When Jesus walked on earth the Spirit of God could not be confined to a physical body. So we’re not saying outside the physical body of Jesus there is no God. We are saying all of God’s character, personality, presence, power and authority is fully revealed in Jesus Christ.

Col 2:9 “For in him (Jesus Christ) dwelleth all the fulness of the Godhead bodily.”

We need to understand that Jesus is both God and Son of God. It’s proper to say Jesus is God.

For example:

John 20:28 Thomas, the Jew who was trained from childhood to believe there was only one Lord and one God, he confessed to Jesus you are my Lord and my God.

Titus 2:13 We’re looking for the appearance of our great God and savior Jesus Christ.

2 Corinthians 5:19 To wit God was in Christ reconciling the world unto Himself.

Isaiah 9:6 A child is born a Son is given, but this child is more than a child, the Son is more than a Son, He is also called the mighty God the everlasting Father, the prince of peace.

So when the Bible says the Godhead bodily it means everything that God is, the sum total of Gods character, nature, attributes personality is fully revealed in Jesus. Jesus is not one of several persons in the Godhead but the Godhead is in Jesus. When we say the flesh or body, we’re not only speaking of the physical flesh but usually in the Bible “flesh” refers to human nature.

We cannot confine the omnipresence of God. God’s Spirit fills the universe. God was still God of heaven giving direction to the angels while Jesus walked on earth. But the fullness of God was incarnate in the man Christ Jesus. So that All the fullness of the Godhead is in Him. Everything that God is Jesus is. Every title and attribute of God can be properly applied to Jesus. He is the Son of God which means He is the human personification or manifestation of God born under the law, born of a woman Gal 4:4 When the fullness of time was come God sent forth His Son made of a woman made under the law. But He is also the almighty God. The Father is fully revealed and incarnate in Jesus Christ. John 10:30 I and my Father are one. Not merely in agreement but in identity because He said If you have seen me (John 14:9-11) If you have seen me you have seen the Father. So how can you say show us the Father? If you can’t believe the words that I am saying, look at the works that I have done and you’ll know the Father dwells in me. He’s the one doing the works.

So when we understand the fullness of the Godhead is revealed in Jesus , if we would go to heaven I think we would agree we would see Jesus. And we’ll feel the presence of God the Holy Spirit. We’ll also recognize that relationship of God as our heavenly Father. But if we were to ask Jesus, we’re so glad to see you but now I’m ready to go see the Father, take me to him. What would Jesus say? He can’t change His word. He would say the same thing to us as He told to Philip In John 14 If you have seen me you have seen the Father. How can you say show us the Father.

In contrast to trinitarianism, every name and title of God can properly applied to Jesus Christ. He is the revelation of the full undivided Godhead, not merely the incarnation of one of three persons, but the incarnation of the one God, the total God. It’s everything that makes Him who He is. God was incarnate, enfleshed bodily in Jesus Christ. When I say the flesh or body, I’m not only speaking of the physical flesh but usually in the Bible “flesh” refers to human nature. I would say that Jesus had the complete identity of humanity except for sin. Sin is a foreign element intruded into humanity. So I’m absolutely not saying that Jesus had a sinful nature. But I absolutely am saying anything we humans have, Jesus had joined inseparably to the Spirit of God. So that you have one God manifested in the flesh as Jesus Christ the Son of God.

The Father, Son, & Holy Spirit

Matt 28:19 is the only passage in the Bible that speaks of Father, Son, & Holy Ghost in one statement. It talks about the plan of Salvation. It talks about baptism in the name (singular) of Father, Son, & Holy Ghost. What does this mean? In order to redeem us from sin God had to be Father, Son, & Holy Spirit. These are not three eternal persons. To use that term which scripture does not we would have to define it. It could not mean three centers of consciousness. If it means three manifestations or three works of God then that’s what I would propose. In order to save us Jesus Christ had to be the Son of God. He had to be a human being who could die and shed blood, but in order for that perfect Son to be born God had to be His Father. God caused the conception, not any earthly man. Then in order for that salvation to be applied to us today God has to work in our lives as the Holy Spirit. How is this total work of salvation accomplished? It’s through Jesus Christ, His death, burial, and resurrection. That’s why the name (singular) of the Father, Son, & Holy Spirit is Jesus. Because everywhere in the NT, Acts 2:38 and on down, the Apostles fulfilled the command of Matt 28:19 by baptizing with the oral invocation of the name of Jesus. That shows us the One God is fully revealed in Jesus Christ.

Why does the Bible speak of Father, Son, and Holy Ghost?

Let me say at the outset that we certainly do acknowledge the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, but we do not believe they represent different persons. Analogies are imperfect, but as a simple human analogy I am a Father, I am a son, and I am a husband. I have different relationships and different ways of making myself known. But I am one person and with one proper name. That’s an analogy of how God can be our Father. He’s our Father in creation. He came in flesh as the Son of God as our redeemer and He fills our hearts today as the Holy Spirit…God in action. He can do all those things simultaneously and yet be one God. Not have separate minds or distinct minds or centers of consciousness. There is only one center of consciousness in God.

FATHER - The word Father is a term of relationship. Before my children were born I was not a father. When they were born I suddenly became a father. I did not change my nature, my personality, I didn’t split into two, I didn’t become a different person but I entered a new relationship. I’m just pointing out when we say God our Father were speaking of God in relationship to humanity. Deut 32:6 speaks of God as the Father of the nation of Israel. Mal 2:10 God is the Father of all creation. In a unique way God is the Father of the baby Jesus because Joseph did not cause the conception. The one who causes conception by definition is the Father. And the Spirit of God supernaturally caused a virgin to conceive so God was literally the Father of the baby Jesus. God is the Father of born again believers. Heb 12:9 God is called the Father of spirits. He is the source of life. So the term Father speaks of the One true God in relationship. Particularity in relationship to the human race.

HOLY SPIRIT - God is a Spirit (John 4:24). There is only one Spirit of God (Eph 4:4). The Bible speaks of God as the Holy Spirit, or the Spirit of God. So when we say “the Holy Spirit” that’s not a different person from God, that is God in His spiritual nature. The term Holy refers to God’s basic moral nature of Holiness. Over 50 times the Bible speaks of God as the holy one, never holy two, holy three, holy trinity or anything like that. Always the Holy one. Spirit refers to His non moral attributes. The basic non moral character of God is spirituality. When we say the Holy Spirit we’re speaking of the same one God. Why that term? It refers to God in His spiritual action. Gen, 1:1 “God created the heaven and the earth. Verse 2 The earth was with form, void, darkness is upon the face of the deep and the Spirit of God moved on the face of the waters. God in action.

When we think of God in relationship, we pray “our Father.” When we think of God in spiritual work and action, we say the Holy Spirit is moving here. We don’t say the Father is moving here because that implies were looking for some personage, but we say the Spirit is here. We know we’re talking about the invisible power and presence of God.

The Son of God - The term Son of God refers to God as He is manifested in the flesh. Notice in Luke 1:35 the Bible never speaks of the eternal Son, but the begotten Son. The Bible never says God the Son, but the Son of God. Why is Jesus called the Son of God. Gabriel speaking to Mary the mother of Jesus says, “The Holy Ghost shall come upon thee, and the power of the Highest shall overshadow thee: therefore also that holy thing which shall be born of thee shall be called the Son of God.“ Why is Jesus called the Son of God? Not because that’s the name of an eternal second person who is manifest in the flesh. Jesus is called the Son of God because the Spirit of God caused his conception. The term Son refers to the incarnation. The term Son is limited by time. The term Son always is in connection with flesh. In other words God as He is manifested in the flesh. Jesus is eternal as the One God but His coming in the flesh is not eternal. The Bible speaks of the Word of God John 1:1. The Word was with God, pertained to God, the Word was God. That’s God in His very identity. Verse 14 the Word was made flesh. That’s Jesus, God manifested in the flesh. The Word is God in self-disclosure. God uttering Himself.

Jesus is the revelation of the Father

The Holy Spirit is the Spirit of Jesus. Jesus is the Son of God. To elaborate, when the bible speaks of the term Father it’s speaking of relationship. God in a relationship with the human race. When the bible speaks of the Son of God, it speaks of God as He is manifested in the flesh. When the bible speaks of the Holy Spirit, it speaks of God in spiritual action in our lives.

We’re saying the scriptures teach God has revealed Himself as our Father. God has come in the flesh as the Son of God. God reveals Himself in our lives as the Holy Spirit. But these three manifestations are necessary, not because there is an inherent threeness in God, but these are necessary for the work of salvation in our lives. The fullness of God’s work of salvation is in Jesus Christ. In fact, there is no other name under heaven given among men whereby we must be saved. (Acts 4:12). Therefore we can say Jesus is the Son of God meaning he is God’s manifestation in the flesh. The Son of God died. We mean by that His humanity died. He died according to the flesh. We do not mean God ceased to exist. We could not imagine there could be multiple persons and one of those persons ceased to exist, or went unconscious or whatever the case may be. So, when we say the Son died, we mean according to the flesh He died. But Jesus was more than flesh. He was also Spirit. So, in that sense we can say Jesus is God. John 20:28 Thomas confessed the resurrected Christ, My Lord and My God. Now notice, he was speaking from a Jewish context, from the Old Testament context that there is one Lord and one God. Thomas was not confessing Jesus was a new Lord, a second Lord, a second God or a second person of God. He was saying the God I have worshipped and loved all of my life, you are the manifestation of God. This is the basic oneness position. You cannot limit the term God to a portion of the divine revelation. It must always relate to the totality of the divine revelation. Therefore when we go to heaven we are going to see Jesus Christ as the revelation of the fullness of God Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. We’re not going to see two bodily beings or three bodily beings. We’re going to see one personal being God incarnate. God manifested in the glorified human body of Jesus Christ.

When we are called upon to clarify the true deity of Jesus Christ against trinitarian, binitarian, or Arian error, we can and should explain that Jesus is “the Father incarnate.” (See Isaiah 9:6; 63:16; John 10:30; 14:9-11, 18; I John 3:1-5; Revelation 21:6-7.

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION

The Bible in both the Old & New Testaments emphatically declare there is only ONE God. CLICK HERE

Old And New Testament Texts Referring To God as "One, Alone, None Other, None Else (Compiled by Robert Sabin)

ADDITIONAL BIBLICAL TRUTH:

The Bible emphatically declares there is only one God. This doctrine is central to the Bible message, for both the Old Testament and the New Testament teach it plainly and emphatically. Despite the simplicity of this message and the clarity with which the scriptures presents it, many who believe in the existence of God have not understood it.

Simply stated, God is absolutely and indivisibly one. There are no essential distinctions in His eternal nature. All names and titles of the Deity— such as Elohim, Yahweh, Lord, Father, Word, and Holy Spirit—refer to one and the same being. Any plurality associated with God merely relates to attributes, titles, roles, manifestations, modes of activity, relationships to humanity, or aspects of God’s self-revelation. This monotheistic view is the historic position of Judaism.

Both Oneness and Jewish believers find the classic expression of this belief in Deuteronomy 6:4: “Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God is one LORD.” Jesus emphasized the importance of this teaching, calling it “the first of all the commandments” (Mark 12:29), and in His conversation with a Samaritan woman He endorsed the Jewish concept of God: “Ye worship ye know not what: we know what we worship: for salvation is of the Jews” (John 4:22).

Dr. David Bernard in his book “Oneness View Of Jesus Christ” wrote:

Many other biblical passages affirm strict monothesm, excluding any concept of plurality in the Deity; therefore, Oneness theology holds that it is biblically incorrect to speak of God as a trinity of persons. (Isaiah 43:10-11; 44:6, 24; 45:21; 46:9; John 17:3; Romans 3:30; I Corinthians 8:4-6; I Timothy 2:5; James 2:19. Whatever term is used to define God—such as being, nature, substance, or person—it can only be used in the singular; that is, God is numerically one being, nature, sub[1]stance, or person. Galatians 3:20 says flatly, “God is one”; it does not say, “There is one God [in three persons].”)

Neither the Old Testament writers nor their audiences thought of God as a trinity. If God were essentially three, He did not reveal this concept to Israel, His chosen people, and Abraham, the father of the faithful of all ages, did not comprehend the fundamental nature of his God.

The New Testament speakers and writers were monotheistic Jews who expressed no thought of introducing a dramatic new revelation of a plurality in God. Neither the writers nor the readers thought in trinitarian categories; essential trinitarian terms and ideas were not formulated in New Testament times. (The New Catholic Encyclopedia, s. v. “Trinity, Holy”; Emil Brunner, The Christian Doctrine of God (Philadelphia: Westminster Press, 1949), 236-39.)

Neither testament uses the word trinity or associates the words three or persons with God in any significant way. (Scholars generally conclude that I John 5:7 was not part of the original text. In any case, it does not divide Father, Word, and Spirit into distinct persons any more than a man, his word, and his spirit are distinct persons, but it describes the ways God has made Himself known to us. And it concludes, “These three are one.” In contrast to verse 8, it does not merely say, “These three agree in one.”)

No passage says God is a holy two, holy three, or holy trinity, but over fifty verses call God the “Holy One” (Isaiah 54:5). The only New Testament passage to use the word person (hupostasis) in relation to God is Hebrews 1:3, which says the Son is the image of God’s own person (substance). Thus the terms and concepts necessary to construct the trinitarian dogma do not appear in Scripture.

Trinitarianism is not pure monotheism; rather, it tends toward tritheism. For example, the Cappadocian fathers said that the three divine persons were one God in the same way that Peter, James, and John were all human, and this analogy is frequently used today. (Robert Morey, a prolific evangelical author and speaker, used this analogy in a videotaped discussion at the studio of Cornerstone Television in Wall, Pennsylvania, on May 1, 1989.)

Trinitarian art often depicts the three divine persons as three men, or as an old man, a young man, and a dove.

Many trinitarian Pentecostals are theological tritheists. Finis Dake spoke of God as “three separate persons,” each one being an “individual” with his “own personal spirit body, personal soul, and personal spirit in the same sense each human being, angel or any other being has his own body, soul, and spirit. . . . The word God is used either as a singular or a plural word, like sheep.” (Finis Dake, Dake’s Annotated Reference Bible (Lawrence-ville, Ga.: Dake’s Bible Sales, 1963), NT: 280.)

Jimmy Swaggart adopted the foregoing language and further wrote, “You can think of God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Ghost as three different persons exactly as you would think of any three other people— their ‘oneness’ pertaining strictly to their being one in purpose, design, and desire.” (Jimmy Swaggart, “Brother Swaggart, Here’s My Question,” The Evangelist, July 1983, 15. See also idem, “The Error of the ‘Jesus Only’ Doctrine,” The Evangelist, April 1981, 6.)

Oneness stated:

Dr. David Bernard states: The doctrine known as Oneness can be stated in two affirmations: (1) There is one God with no distinction of persons; (2) Jesus Christ is all the fullness of the Godhead incarnate.

Oneness affirms that God has revealed Himself as Father, in the Son, and as the Holy Spirit. The one God can be described as Father, Word, or Holy Spirit before His incarnation as Jesus Christ, the Son of God. While Jesus walked on earth as God Himself incarnate, the Spirit of God continued to be omnipresent.

Oneness believers attempt to conform their thoughts more perfectly to the biblical witness. The common ground for oneness believers is the conviction that there is only one true God and that this God (and not the "second person" in the Godhead) has made Himself known in and through the person of Jesus Christ.

The incarnation is the greatest miracle ever to occur, and no one will ever be able to explain it adequately. But it is wrong to embrace any theology that makes Jesus Christ anything less than God Himself manifest in the flesh. Jesus is not the second person of the Godhead manifest in the flesh; He is God manifest in the flesh. The Word is not the second person of the Godhead; the Word is God. The Son that is given and the Child that is born is not the second person of the Godhead; He is in some marvelous, miraculous, unexplainable way the Mighty God and the Everlasting Father (Isaiah 9:6). Peter describes Him as "our God and Savior Jesus Christ" (II Peter 1:1, NKJV).