Jesus-Name doctrine

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Main article: Oneness Pentecostal

Jesus-Name doctrine is an informal term used to describe the Oneness doctrine, i.e., regarding the oneness of God^[1], which is taught by Oneness Pentecostals such as the United Pentecostal Church and other Protestant denominations. They explicitly reject the doctrine of the Trinity as an inadequate and inaccurate description of God. Most who hold to the Oneness doctrine claim that the doctrine of the Trinity was slowly formulated over a period of more than three centuries.

Ancient Sabellianism or modalism is defined by some as the belief that the Godhead is comprised of one God that manifests himself in different forms at different times. That disputable definition is sometimes ascribed to modern Oneness people as well. However, most modern Oneness scholars hold the words "at different times" in such a definition as objectionable. For example, modern-day Oneness Pentecostal theologian Talmadge French, in his book Our God Is One, points out the difference between sequential modalism and simultaneous modalism, and he indicates that modern-day Oneness Pentecostals do not teach or believe in sequential modalism.

Citing 1Timothy 2:5, the Oneness doctrine holds that God is indivisibly one in number, and sees the biblical distinction between God the Father and Jesus (the Son of God), as being a proper, observable father-son distinction, except between an incorporeal, transcendent, eternal God as Father, and a corporeal human, in whom God manifested Himself for the purpose of salvation.

The Oneness doctrine seeks to affirm the full deity of Jesus by holding that God chose to make Himself known to humanity through the man Jesus. According to this view, the deity of Jesus is confined to God the Father and does not refer to that human person born of Mary, nor does it refer to Christ's flesh as being divine as does the historic orthodox trinitarian position.

In the sense that the one God and one man of 1Timothy 2:5 co-exist simultaneously, the Oneness doctrine holds that God the Father exists simultaneously as the man Jesus while at the same time existing as his own Father. The person of Jesus Christ, son of Mary, is not considered God because his humanity (body, soul, and spirit) is divine in nature, but because he possesses a special union with the Father.

Citing John 4:24 (God is a Spirit), the doctrine claims that the terms God the Father and Holy Spirit are references to the same one God, who is Spirit. In affirming that the Holy Spirit is God the Father, the doctrine holds that God’s own Spirit is not another divine person distinct from the Father.

Oneness doctrine holds that, according to Acts 4:12, the name by which man is to know God is Jesus. Other scriptures like Exodus 34:5-7, Isaiah 61:1-3, and Luke 4:18-19 are cited to prove that Jesus Christ is the epitome of the Father in which Father and Son are united and are the same by name and deity.

One touchstone issue is the wording used when baptising new believers. Adherents of this doctrine are taught that a person cannot be saved unless baptized "in the Name of Jesus," according to an interpretation of several scriptures, most notably Acts 2:38. In contrast, the baptismal formula accepted by most Christians is found in Matthew 28:19, which commands the 3rd / 5th century development of baptism "in the name of the Father, & of the Son, & of the Holy Ghost". ^[2] However, non Jesus-name affiliations also regard the practice of baptizing in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ alone (not F,S,H) such as Jehovah's Witnesses, The Church of Christ, and some Roman Catholics to name a few.

Critics of the movement refer to it as Jesus-Only, but most Oneness Pentecostals take that term as derogatory and prefer the phrase Jesus-Name when referring to their beliefs or themselves as believers.

[edit] Footnotes/References

^ http://ourworld.compuserve.com/homepages/pentecostal/One-Top.htm
^ The same disciples that heard Jesus speak these words, understood & obeyed this command by baptizing in the name of Jesus. See: Acts 2:38, 8:16, 10:48, 19:5, 22:16. For the name of the Lord, see Acts 9:5-6.

I notice that the writer acknowledges that man consists of BODY, SPIRIT & SOUL, yet we are ONE man. Man is said to be made in God's image yet the Father, Son & H.S. is not the ONE God. Very interesting. The scriptures do not mention the trinity but it does mention the Godhead 3 times in the N.T.