Doctrine of God - He is One (Part III)

Introduction

Colossians 2:9 KJV 1900

9 For in him dwelleth all the fulness of the Godhead bodily.

Body

Historical Teachings about the Godhead (Cont.)

Sixteenth Century (A.D. 1500 - A.D. 1600)

Overall Background:

Very superstitious

People attributed most natural phenomena to the work of spirits

The Renaissance

Emphasized the human potential

Caused individuals to begin to look critically at the abuses of the Roman Catholic Church

Humanism’s main goal in 16th century Europe was inner reformation of the Roman Catholic Church

To abolish the greatest of the Church’s abuses and a minor restructuring of the institution without touching its foundational aspects

For the most part, they had no desire to return to a Biblical Christianity.

Because their foundation was human philosophy and not scripture, they were able to arrive at some correct conclusions, but never came to a knowledge of the truth

Up until this time people believed they were guilty and would always be guilty and in danger of eternal damnation from an angry God. Now they believed that, as human beings, they had good qualities and the potential for greatness.

In Jesus Christ, this is true, but not inherently.

They were able to recognize that the Church was abusing their authority

However they were not interested in true and full reform, simply bringing the church in line with their new ideas of what was good and right.

The Printing Press

Johannes Gutenberg used his printing press in 1456 to print, using movable type, the Bible

This invention made it many times faster and easier to publish printed material, and thus it became cheaper, and more available

This helped spread new ideas quickly and broadly

Martin Luther

Born November 10th, 1483

His father, Hans, was a peasant but became rich in copper mining and so was able to give young Martin a proper education

After Martin Luther graduated from Erfurt University in 1501, he became extremely despondent, becoming more and more aware of his own sinfulness and so decided to become a monk

It was here that he received a revelation. Not from the Catholic synods. Not from Greek philosophers. From the Holy Scriptures. He discovered Romans 1:17 “17 For therein is the righteousness of God revealed from faith to faith: as it is written, The just shall live by faith.” .

He understood from scripture that it was faith in God alone that man could find salvation, and not in penance or works.

A Dominican Friar named John Tetzel was authorized by the Pope to sell indulgences to raise money for the building of St. Peter’s church in Rome

“As soon as coin in coffer rings, the soul from Purgatory springs.”

Martin Luther wrote his 95 theses in 1517, proposing an academic discussion of the practice of indulgences.

He never got a response from the church, but his fame spread like wildfire!

He dared stand up to the institution that was, at present, persecuting, torturing, and killing millions as heretics. Who held kings and governments in their sway.

He attended the Diet of Worms in 1521

Pope Leo X and the Holy Roman Emperor Charles V asked him to renounce his writings. Martin Luther asked for a day to think about it

The next day Martin Luther said he would renounce them if they could demonstrate their error from scripture.

The Emperor threatened judgment from a convened church council. Remember these were considered infallible

Luther said he could prove church councils had been wrong in the past

In the confusion that followed, Charles left the room

Although Martin Luther was very antagonistic against nontrinitarian Christians, his great contribution was that he recognized only the authority of scripture to determine doctrine.

Michael Servetus

Born in Spain in the fall of 1511

While traveling as the Secretary to the Royal Chaplain, he became interested in the Bible and began to study it.

Servetus was concerned with the problems encountered with the conversion of the Jews and the Moors and discovered that the difficulty stemmed from the requirement of a belief in the trinity.

So, he studied the scriptures.

He discovered, to his great delight, there was no substantiation for a belief in the trinity anywhere in the New Testament

He concluded that the formulation of this doctrine at the Council of Nicea (A.D. 325) constituted the fall of Christianity.

His first published work, called On the Errors of the Trinity, was published in 1531.

For a time he carried on a correspondence with John Calvin

Their views differed greatly, and, after a time, the correspondence was cut off by John Calvin

In fact, Calvin told Jean Frellon, the man who channeled the correspondence between Servetus and Calvin, that if Servetus ever came to Geneva, he’d never leave alive.

In 1553 Calvin put together his work The Restitution of Christianity which contained his views of the Godhead.

He was discovered as the author of the work and arrested by the inquisition

The Inquisition initially had insufficient evidence to move forward, but that was later provided by John Calvin

Servetus somehow managed to escape before they could move any further against him

He later ends up in Geneva where he was recognized and arrested

The trial demonstrates Calvin’s extreme intolerance against anyone who disagrees with his doctrine

He encouraged the council trying Servetus to pronounce a capital sentence upon him

He was convicted and sentenced to burn at the stake

Reasons given: He did not believe in the trinity, and he did not believe in infant baptism.

Seventeenth Century (A.D. 1600 - A.D. 1700)

Thomas Emlyn

Born at Stamford, in Lincolnshire, in May 27th, 1663

He was an associate pastor in a large protestant church in Dublin when he was called into question about his beliefs about the Godhead by one of his parishioners.

Mr. Emlyn openly denied the doctrine of the trinity and so was called before the ministers of his area to answer question about his doctrine

Mr. Emlyn and the Dublin Ministers were agreed, as he says, that God is but one infinite, necessary, perfect and supreme being, or spirit, with one understanding and will, who is the sole object of divine worship: and that he was in an ineffable manner united to the man Christ Jesus, dwelling and operating in him, by a fixed and perpetual influence, as the governing principle. But he differed from them as to the manner of this union. He conceived it to be more for the honor of Jesus Christ to suppose that the Deity, in its full conception, was united to him, than to suppose it only a portion of God, or of God, partially considered; and he held this to be the plain doctrine of scripture, which says, Colossians 2:9 “9 For in him dwelleth all the fulness of the Godhead bodily.”: John 14:10 “10 Believest thou not that I am in the Father, and the Father in me? the words that I speak unto you I speak not of myself: but the Father that dwelleth in me, he doeth the works.”

Robert Wallace, Antitrinitarian Biography

By the middle of the 17th century, Antitrinitarianism was widespread in England

In 1646, Rev. Thomas Edwards printed a list of heresies present in England. Among that list was found these:

24. That in the Unity of the Godhead there is not a Trinity of Persons; and that the doctrine of the Trinity is a Popish tradition, and a doctrine of Rome. 25. That there are not three distinct persons in the divine essence, but only three offices; and that the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost are not Persons but Offices.

Wallace

Rev. Edwards received a lot of responses objecting to his work and stating a belief in oneness.

William Penn

William Penn attacked the notion of three persons in one God, and came out at last with a species of Sabellianism; and it is certain, whatever may be said or written tot he contrary by the leaders of the sect in our times, that Isaac Pennington, John Crook, and the early Quakers generally, not excepting even Robert Barclay himself, did not believe in the Athanasian doctrine of the Trinity

Wallace

William Penn had a conflict with a Presbyterian minister named Thomas Vincent because two of Rev. Vincent’s congregation had been converted and he was very upset

Penn and Whitehead (a leading Quaker) pushed for a debate with Vincent

During the “debate”, Vincent asked them if the Quakers believed in the doctrine of the Trinity.

Whitehead responded by saying that the Scripture made no such statement.

After the inefficacy of this meeting, a second was agreed to, which came to very little

Penn was not willing to leave the matter be however, and so published a tract called The Sandy Foundation Shaken

In this tract Penn stated plainly his denial of the Trinity

This earned him a place in the Tower of London where he was kept under close confinement without being allowed visitations from friend.

After he was there awhile, his servant brought him word that the Bishop of London, Dr. Henchman, had resolved Penn should publicly recant or spend the rest of his life in prison. Penn responded

All is well: I wish they had told me so before, since expecting of a release put a stop to some business. Thou mayest tell my father, who I know will ask thee, these words; that my prison shall be my grave, before I will budge a jot; for I owe my conscience to no mortal man; I have no need to fear. God will make amends for all. They are mistaken in me; I value not their threats, nor resolutions; for they shall know I can weary out their malice and peevishness; and in me shall they all behold a resolution above fear; conscience above cruelty; and a baffle put to all their designs, by the spirit of patience, the companion of all the tribulated flock of the blessed Jesus, who is the author and finisher of the faith that overcomes the world, yea, death and hell too. Neither great nor good things were ever attained without loss and hardships. He that would reap and not labor, must faint with the wind, and perish in disappointments; but an hair of my head shall not fall, without the Providence of my Father, that is over all

Wallace

Eighteenth and Nineteenth Centuries (A.D. 1700 - A.D. 1900)

During this time the Enlightenment was in full swing, and we see the development of Deism

Deism is the belief that there is a God, but an impersonal one who does not intervene in the affairs of men.

The Enlightenment focused on man, since God is gone, and the inherent potential of man to bring a Utopia to pass all by ourselves

Originally attacking the superstitious elements of Roman Catholicism, it now found fault with every supernatural reference found in scripture

And if the Bible is wrong in these areas, how about the rest of it???

We also see the rise of Evangelicalism

George Whitfield and John & Charles Wesley preached powerful open-air revivals and many people received conversionary experiences

Missionary fervor gripped the churches and many people felt a need to reached the heathen with the Gospel

Many people during this time were oneness believers

Many New England preachers were considered Sabellianists, including Henry Ward Beecher.

A Presbyterian minister named John Miller wrote a book entitled Is God a Trinity in which he ascribed to Jesus Christ the fulness of Deity.

New England

In Levi Leonard Paine’s book entitled A Critical History of the Evolution of Trinitarianism, he states that controversy concerning the proper interpretation of the Church’s creed dealing with the Godhead started with a publication of the 17th century.

These discussions began with the publication of Firman’s “Tracts” in the latter part of the seventeenth century. The position of the “Tracts” was that “the unity of God is a unity of person as well as of nature,” and that God being unipersonal “cannot be three persons any more than a man could be three persons.”

Mr. Paine goes from here to a man by the name of Dr. Nathaniel Emmons

Emmons gave prominence to the theory of “official subordination.” “The name Father is taken from the peculiar office which he sustains in the economy of redemption. The second person assumes the name of Son and Word by virtue of his incarnation.” In this very statement lurks the Sabellianizing leaven which one day will leaven the whole lump. Father and Son are “names” “assumed” to set forth certain activities of the one Absolute God. This is essential Sabellianism at the start.

From here Mr. Paine moves to Moses Stuart and Horace Bushnell.

Mr. Bushnell published a work entitled God in Christ

It’s a fascinating summary of the development of the oneness doctrine in New England during the 18th and 19th century.

A lot of people were re-examining the doctrine of the trinity in light of what the bible said about it.

When all you look at is scripture, and don’t have the “benefit” of councils, synods, man’s philosophies, and the need to stabilize governments and peoples, then we can clearly see God reveals Himself to us as being One.

Twentieth Century (A.D. 1900 - A.D. 2000)

Charles Fox Parham

Independent Holiness preacher and founder of a small Bible school in Topeka, Kansas called Bethel Bible College, on October 15, 1900

On January 1st, 1901, he was conducting a prayer meeting with his students when Agnes Ozman, a student, asked Parham to lay his hands on her that she might receive the Holy Ghost. She did.

On January 3rd, Parham, his wife, and twelve ministerial students all received the baptism of the Holy Ghost.

Parham called his new group the Apostolic Faith Movement

In 1903 a woman was instantly healed of a blinding eye disease during one of Parham’s meetings and he was invited by this woman to preach in Galena, Kansas

During this revival in Galena, more than 800 people were baptized in water, many hundreds received the Holy Ghost, and at least 1000 people testified that they were healed

One of Parham’s converts during this revival was a man named Howard Goss.

An Atheist at the time, later became one of the founders of the Assemblies of God and later the first General Superintendent of the United Pentecostal Church

In 1905 Parham received invitation to hold revivals in Orchard, Texas, and God gave miraculous results there

The response was so overwhelming he opened a short term bible school in Houston

One of Parham’s students attending this college was a man by the name of William Joseph Seymour, a black Holiness minister

William Joseph Seymour

Received an invitation to pastor a small holiness church in Los Angeles, CA

When he got there, he was locked out of the church building because of his doctrine

Later, him and several people held services in an old rented, two-story building on Azuza street in downtown Los Angeles

There first service was held on April 15th, 1906.

That mission held services daily for three years.

One convert of the Azuza Street revivals was a man by the name of William Durham

William Durham

Holiness preacher in Chicago

His assistant was a man by the name of Frank J. Ewart

Andrew D. Urshan was an immigrant from Persia (modern day Iran) who received the Holy Ghost in Chicago in 1908

Ordained by William Durham in 1910

He began to meditate on the question “Why did the apostles always baptize in the Name of Jesus in the Book of Acts when Jesus Himself had instructed them to baptize in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost?

He concluded:

The blessed Lord showed me then and there, that “The Lord Jesus Christ” is the ONE PROPER NAME of God for this gospel dispensation; because in Him, Jesus Christ, Our Lord, all the fullness of the Godhead dwelt; and to Him, all power in heaven and earth, was given; that repentance and remission of sins should be preached everywhere in Jesus’ Name ONLY.

Bro. Urshan called this new understanding “a wonderful revelation of the Triunity in Christ” and “a blessed revelation of Christ’s absolute deity.”

The Pentecostal Movement

McClain described it thus, ‘In the same year, 1914, when The Assemblies of God organization was set up, Frank J. Ewart of Los Angeles, California, through much seeking God in prayer, had revealed to him through the Word of God a great truth concerning the plan of salvation: that God was in his Son Jesus, reconciling the world unto Himself (2 Cor. 5:19), and that the simple plan of salvation had been plainly laid out by the Apostle Peter in Acts 2:38 “38 Then Peter said unto them, Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost.” It was revealed further that Jesus is the only door of salvation, Acts 4:12 “12 Neither is there salvation in any other: for there is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved.” Still further it was revealed that all the fullness of the Godhead (Father, Son, and Holy Ghost) dwelled in Him bodily (Col. 2:9). Thus all the apostles, fully understanding the words of Jesus Christ in Matthew 28:19 “19 Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost:” , baptized every candidate in the ‘Name of Jesus.’ He saw that the apostolic commandment is, Colossians 3:17 “17 And whatsoever ye do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God and the Father by him.”

Fred Foster, Think It Not Strange

Pentecostal ministers who were converted to the Oneness message began to publish this great truth

Daniel C. O. Opperman was editor of the leading paper called ‘The Blessed Truth,’ which did much to carry the truth around the world. Oliver F. Fauss began publishing ‘A Very Staunch Advocate,’ and later merged it with ‘The Blessed Truth.’ G. T. Haywood, an outstanding minister who stood high among all Pentecostal ministers and saints, published ‘The Voice in the Wilderness.” Haywood, a noted Bible teacher, and pastor of one of the largest Pentecostal churches, published several books which were used of the Lord to persuade many. Leading ministers and saints put out other publications and thousands of tracts which convinced sincere people of Bible truths, causing many to be buried in the lovely Name of Jesus, and to receive the infilling of the Holy Ghost.”

Foster

The Assemblies of God had twelve preachers in Louisiana; all twelve departed the Trinitarian faith.

But there arose opposition from those who still held to a trinitarian belief

Those against the message began fighting it very severely. Great exertions were made to win back those who had gone into Oneness. So the lineup was beginning to take shape: those for and those against. The leaders began exerting great pressure to re-align those who had gone into Oneness, and to keep others behind the Trinitarian teaching. They could very well see the strong possibility of the large majority of the organization going over to the Oneness camp. In harmony with this thinking, one Trinitarian writer, calling the Oneness teaching ‘Sabellian heresy,’ said that ‘it came within a hair’s breadth of capturing the Assemblies of God.’

Foster

In St. Louis on October 1-7, 1916, a meeting was held made up entirely of Trinitarian adherents, met to formulate a new creed that would eliminate the preaching of the Oneness message in their ranks.

When the committee reported to the council, there was immediate opposition from the Oneness section. They hopefully wanted to stay with this group and would do all in their power to remain. They desperately endeavored to strike the strong Trinitarian ideas from these ‘statements,’ but they, in turn, were met with the most offensive type of struggle. The die had already been cast, and this naturally was against Goss, Haywood, Opperman and cohorts.

Foster

After this the Oneness preachers were basically left out in the cold. But they began to organize, and after many trials and several mergers, we get to September 1945 in Keil Auditorium in downtown St. Louis, the Pentecostal Assemblies of Jesus Christ and the Pentecostal Church merged to become the United Pentecostal Church, the largest Oneness organization in the world.

Conclusion

Proverbs 23:23 KJV 1900

23 Buy the truth, and sell it not; Also wisdom, and instruction, and understanding.

Truth is going to cost something. It ought to!

Prominent Holiness leaders of the days following the Azuza Street revivals said the Pentecostal movement was “the last vomit of Satan,” “emphatically not of God,” “wicked and adulterous,” “anti-Christian,” “sensual and devilish.”

Pentecostal workers were threatened, beaten, shot at, tarred and feathered. They were pelted with rocks and with rotten fruit, vegetables, and eggs. Tents ropes were slashed; tents and buildings were set afire.

We could never be sure we were not going to be injured. Some workers were attacked, some were beaten, some had bones broken, some were jailed, some were made to leave town, some were rotten egged, and some were shot at. We were stoned, but at least we were never “sawn asunder.”

Church services were disturbed by roughnecks for many years. Tents, buildings, and sometimes residences were burned; drinking water was poisoned, and windows were broken. We were sometimes threatened by angry mobs or by raging individuals when some member of their family had been converted. Often, we had no protection; there were times when the police chose to close their eyes because we were the strangers, while the city paid them a salary.

Howard Goss

These lived often in extreme poverty, going out with little or no money, seldom knowing where they would spend the night, or how they would get their next meal, sleeping in barns, tents and parks, or on the wooden benches of mission halls, and sometimes in jail. Bands of workers would pool their funds, buy a tent or rent a hall, and live communally in the meeting place, subsisting at times on flour and water, or rice, or sardines and sausages…The Pentecostals found their chief asset in the spirit of sacrifice and the enormous drive of their leaders.

Robert Mapes Anderson, Non-Pentecostal historian, Vision of the Disinherited: The Making of American Pentecostalism