Why is modalism wrong

God is not one essential being who only manifests Himself in three different forms one at a time. Each person of the Godhead is exactly that, a person. And it should be clear that to deny this is to pave the way to serious error that nullifies the atonement, distorts the person of Christ, and casts serious doubt on the testimony of Scripture. Facebook-f Twitter Instagram.

The Danger of Modalism. Other Errors Other serious errors accompany modalism. If God can only exist in one form at a time, then what do we make of the doctrine of the indwelling of the Holy Spirit? What sense do we make of passages about Christ and the Holy Spirit constantly interceding for us before the Father? Is God jumping around at light speed transforming into each form and playing each part to himself in the mirror?

Are two of them not God in that moment? If so, which two? Kris Sinclair March 6, Share this post. Share on facebook. Share on google. Share on twitter. Share on linkedin. Share on pinterest. Share on print. Husband to an amazing woman, father to two brilliant little boys, OT scholar, Latin teacher, and video game player.

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Notify me of new posts via email. Skip to content Question: What is modalism, and why is it a mistake? Short Answer: One word — Transcendence. In the following two verses, he prays: Yet have thou respect unto the prayer of thy servant, and to his supplication, O Lord my God, to hearken unto the cry and to the prayer, which thy servant prayeth before thee to day: that thine eyes may be open toward this house night and day, even toward the place of which thou hast said, My name shall be there: that thou mayest hearken unto the prayer which thy servant shall make toward this place.

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Follow Following. Bite-Sized Exegesis Join 29 other followers. Sign me up. Already have a WordPress. For example, John wherein Jesus states that he had glory with the Father before the world existed. In order to counter this, Modalists will insist that Jesus had glory with the Father as a "plan" in the mind of the Father before the world existed.

Creative, but eisegetical, and thus fallacious. Modalists deny the pre-existence of the Son and insist that the "Son" only began to exist when he was born at Beit-Lechem. The argument against modalism is that the Trinity is made of three distinct Persons, a topic which is addressed here: When talking about the Trinity, what does "persons" mean? 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.

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 , 2 Corinthians , and the Comma Johanneum, which many regard as a spurious text passage in First John 1 John known primarily from the King James Version and some versions of the Textus Receptus but not included in modern critical texts.

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Create a free Team What is Teams? Learn more. What are the Biblical arguments against modalism? Ask Question. Asked 9 years, 9 months ago. Active 2 years, 6 months ago. Viewed 9k times. Improve this question. To make this a good question, I think you need to answer this question before asking it considered heretical to whom? PeterTurner, thanks - does this work? The problem is, different denominations will have different reasons for considering it a heresy.

The Trinity is dogmatic and not strictly speaking Biblical, so you probably don't care why Catholics reject modalism. Most high quality questions about Christianity should be answerable using doctrine or applications of doctrine.

Questions of this type must ask specifically about the doctrinal tradition e.