First Council of Constantinople


Sabellianism

In Christianity, Sabellianism, (also known as modalism, modalistic monarchianism, or modal monarchism) is the nontrinitarian belief that the Heavenly Father, Resurrected Son and Holy Spirit are different modes or aspects of one God, as perceived by the believer, rather than three distinct persons within the Godhead.
The term Sabellianism comes from Sabellius, a theologian and priest from the 3rd century. Modalism differs from Unitarianism by accepting the Christian doctrine that Jesus is fully God.


Catholic criticism

Catholics charge that modalistic monarchianism has its origin by means of influence in Greek pagan philosophy, including pagan philosophers like Euclid and Aristotle,[10][not in citation given] who based their logic on Monism and Aristotle's arguments around his concept energeia (i.e. energy) called metaphysics.[11] As the concept that ontology (also generally referred to as metaphysics) can be reduced to either a single detectable substance (called substance theory) and or a single being (the concept of the Absolute).[12] Aristotelian logic is the way ontologically or via metaphysics that Hellenic pagan philosopher Aristotle reasoned (Aquinas analytically, Zeno, Plato and Socrates dialectically, Aristotle syllogistically) to deconstructed human consciousness and existence and being. In order to represent their view of the monad or single-ness (unity of all things). As unity or oneness in the "idea" of God and God's ousia as the essence or universal category above finite being.[13]

Meaning and origins

Main article: Trinitarianism

God was said to have three "faces" or "masks" (Greek πρόσωπα prosopa; Latin personae).[1] Modalists note that the only number ascribed to God in the Holy Bible is One and that there is no inherent threeness ascribed to God explicitly in scripture.[2] The number three is never mentioned in relation to God in scripture, which of course is the number that is central to the word "Trinity". The only possible exceptions to this are the Great Commission Matthew 28:16-20, 2 Corinthians 13:14, and the Comma Johanneum, which many regard as a spurious text passage in First John (1 John 5:7) known primarily from the King James Version and some versions of the Textus Receptus but not included in modern critical texts.[3] It is also suspected that Matthew 28:19 is not part of the original text, because Eusebius of Caesarea quoted it by saying "In my name", and there is no mention of baptism in the verse. Eusebius only quoted the trinitarian formula after the Council of Nicea,(Conybeare(Hibbert Journal, i(1902-3) Page 102). The Shem-Tob's Hebrew Gospel of Matthew,(George Howard), also has no reference of baptism or a trinitarian formula in Matthew 28:19. Trinitarians believe that all three members of the Trinity were present as seemingly distinct beings at Jesus' baptism, and believe there is other scriptural evidence for Trinitarianism (see main page for details). Modalism has been mainly associated with Sabellius, who taught a form of it in Rome in the 3rd century. This had come to him via the teachings of Noetus and Praxeas.[4]
Hippolytus of Rome knew Sabellius personally and mentioned him in the Philosophumena. He knew Sabellius disliked Trinitarian theology, yet he called Modal Monarchism the heresy of Noetus, not that of Sabellius. Sabellianism was embraced by Christians in Cyrenaica, to whom Demetrius, Patriarch of Alexandria, wrote letters arguing against this belief.
Modalism teaches that the Heavenly Father, Resurrected Son and Holy Spirit identified by the Trinity Doctrine are different modes or aspects of the One God, as perceived by the believer, rather than three coeternal persons within the Godhead. In passages of scripture such as Matthew 1:16-17 where the Son, Father, and Holy Spirit are separated in the text, they view this phenomenon as confirming God's omnipresence, and His ability to manifest himself as he pleases. Oneness Pentecostals and Modalists dispute the traditional Trinitarian doctrine, while affirming the Christian doctrine of God taking on flesh as Jesus Christ. Like Trinitarians, Oneness adherents believe that Jesus Christ is fully God and fully man. However, whereas Trinitarians believe that "God the Son", the eternal second person of the Trinity, became man, Oneness adherents hold that the one and only true God—who manifests himself in any way he chooses, including as Father, Son and Holy Spirit—became man. Oneness Pentecostals and other modalists are regarded by Catholic, Orthodox, and some other mainstream Christians as heretical for rejecting the Trinity Doctrine, which they regard as equivalent to Unitarianism. Modalists differentiate themselves from Unitarians by affirming Christ's Deity.[5] Oneness teaches that there is only one being, revealing himself in different ways.[6] Modalists cite passages in the New Testament that refer to God in the singular, and note the lack of the word "Trinity" in any canonical scripture.[7] They claim that Colossians 1:15-20 refers to Christ's relationship with the Father in a similar sense:
He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation. For by him all things were created, in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities; all things were created through him and for him. And he is before all things, and in him all things hold together. And he is the head of the body, the church. He is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that in everything he might be preeminent. For in him all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell, and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether on earth or in heaven, making peace by the blood of his cross.[8]
They also cite Christ's response to Philip's query on who the Father was in John 14:10:
Jesus answered: "Don't you know me, Philip, even after I have been among you such a long time? Anyone who has seen me has seen the Father. How can you say, 'Show us the Father'?
A notable modern adherent of Modalism is T.D. Jakes[9]