What is Modalism? Why is it a Dangerous and Heretical Doctrine?

Modalism

What is Modalism? Why is it a dangerous and heretical doctrine? Modalism is a theological doctrine stating that God is a single person who appears in three different modes, roles, or manifestations (as the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit) rather than three distinct, co-existing persons. God has one divine essence and one person, not three.

This teaching has been given the Heresy Designation, meaning mainstream historical Christianity (including Eastern Orthodox, Roman Catholic, and traditional Protestant groups) rejects Modalism as a heresy because it contradicts biblical accounts where the Father, the Son, and Holy Spirit interact simultaneously (such as at Jesus’ baptism).

Early Heresies

Strictly called “Modalistic Monarchianism,” this teaching has its roots in the false teaching of Noetus of Smyrna around AD 190. Noetus called himself Moses and called his brother Aaron, and he taught that, if Jesus was God, then He must be the same as the Father. Hippolytus of Rome opposed this falsehood in his “Contra Noetum.” An early form of Modalistic Monarchianism was also taught by a priest from Asia Minor named Praxeas, who traveled to Rome and Carthage about AD 206. Tertullian countered the teaching of Praxeas in “Adversus Praxean” around 213. Modalistic Monarchianism and its related heresies were also refuted by Origen, Dionysius of Alexandria, and the Council of Nicea in 325, but most importantly, it has been proven false by Scripture.

The Trinity

The Bible teaches that God exists in three co-eternal, co-equal Persons. Jesus prayed to His Father (Luke 22:42) and now sits on the right hand of the Father in heaven (Hebrews 1:3). The Father and the Son sent the Spirit into the world (John 14:26; 15:26). The Spirit drove Jesus into the Wilderness (Mark 1:12). Modalism and the more specific Modalistic Monarchianism are theologically dangerous because they attack the very nature of God. Any teaching that does not acknowledge God as three distinct Persons is unbiblical.

A Dangerous Doctrine

Why is this teaching so dangerous? Jesus said in John 17:3 that “this is eternal life, that they know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent.” Now if they get the Father wrong and don’t really know that He exists apart from Jesus Christ, then they don’t have eternal life. Eternal life is knowing the only true God and knowing Jesus Christ whom (you or God, the Father) sent. Get this wrong, you’ve got the wrong savior. Get the wrong savior, you get no salvation! That’s because by Jesus saying, “this is” He means it is equal to, as in, this is (equals) eternal life, knowing the right Persons of the Trinity. Knowing Jesus Christ Who died for us and the Father, who sent Jesus into the world to die for the world (John 3:16).

Reasons for Three

There are multiple reasons to see why God is not just One Person, but three different Persons, and yet one in essence, or one in nature, that being God. God being holy, set apart, righteous and altogether perfect. It’s important to know that all Three of the Persons of the Trinity are equally God. That is, God the Father is as much God as Jesus is and as much God as the Holy Spirit is, and the other way around! Scripture has sufficient evidence to prove that we can know the right Jesus and then we can have eternal life, by also knowing the right Father God (John 17:3) as described in the Bible. So here are a few (and there are many more) examples showing that God the Father and Jesus, the Son of God, and God the Holy Spirit, operate together in our salvation and therefore, are three different Persons and yet, the One true God.

Jesus’ Baptism

Stained glass window of Jesus’s baptism by Tiffany

Matthew 3:16–17 “And when Jesus was baptized, immediately he went up from the water, and behold, the heavens were opened to him, and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and coming to rest on him; and behold, a voice from heaven said, “This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased.” Notice that Jesus the Son is baptized, then the Spirit descends on Him like a dove from heaven, and lastly, the Father’s voice speaks from heaven saying, “This is my Son, whom I love; with him I am well pleased.” How can one God switch back and forth or be in three places at one time doing three different things at one time. For even God Himself to do this seems deceptive or deceiving. Is God using ventriloquism? No, these are three distinct individuals…God the Father and Jesus, the Son of God and then God the Holy Spirit who descended from heaven. At the Mount of Transfiguration, the voice from Heaven was from the Father and was distinct from Jesus, standing there (Matt 17).

The Great Commission

The Great Commission is found in Matthew 28:19-19 and where Jesus instructs His disciples to make new disciples and then baptize those new disciples into three distinct persons’ names: the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit. The word “and” denotes in the Greek, an additional person. Like there is me, and my wife and my daughter. Jesus said we are commanded to be: “baptizing them into the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit,” so why not baptize them into “God” or “Jesus” if this is only one Person.

The Apostolic Benediction (Praise)

Notice 2 Corinthians 13:14 where Paul writes, “May the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all.” Here we read of Jesus our Lord and the love of God and the Holy Spirit’s fellowship, being with them. Again, the word “and” marks out another, distinct person!

The word for “God” frequently used in Genesis is Hebrew for Elohim which is plural.

The “Let Us” and “our” at Creation

Genesis 1:26 states “Then God said, “Let us make man in our image, after our likeness. And let them have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over the livestock and over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.” The word for “God” in the Hebrew is Elohim and it is plural and there are several uses of the word “us” in Genesis, and not just in the first two chapters. So to use the Hebrew plural words of “us” and “our,” clearly and obviously means there is more than one person. We read in Genesis 1:26-27 where it says, “Let us make man in our own image.” Even the word “our” in this verse is obviously plural, meaning more than one person is involved in the creation, as when the Spirit hovered over the waters (Gen 1:2).

Romans 1:7 states that it is “To all those in Rome who are loved by God and called to be saints: Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.” Again, the “and” denotes another, singular and separate person and distinct and apart from the other, like me, the husband and my spouse and mother, even though we are one family.

Conclusion

I pray this warning about the heresy if Modalism steers you clear of any of this satanic doctrine. Satan would love nothing more than to cover up the real God and the real Jesus, leaving us and others in the dark about eternal life, and knowing the Father and Jesus, is equal to eternal life (John 17:3).

I pray you have put your trust in our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. If that has not happened yet, my friend, you are in real danger of hell fire. And I mean, in immediate danger. You’re one breath, one heartbeat…one accident away from eternity when it will be too late to repent. Today is the best day to believe (2 Cor 6:2) since tomorrow is no guarantee. If Jesus Christ came today, here is your fate (Matt 7:21-23). This is why I plead with you as you read this, repent today…and I mean right now. Put your trust in Jesus Christ. If you do not, you will face God’s judgment after death guaranteed (Heb 9:27) or at Jesus Christ’s appearance (Rev 20:12-15), which could happen at any moment.

Here is some related reading for you: What is Adoptionism? Is it Heresy?

Resource – Scripture quotations are from The Holy Bible, English Standard Version^® (ESV^®), Crossway Bibles. (2007). ESV: Study Bible: English standard version. Wheaton, Ill: Crossway Bibles. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Tagged as: doctrine, False Teaching, heresy, Modalism