Modalistic Monarchianism

Modalistic Monarchianism, also known as Modalism or Oneness Christology, is a <a href="/facts/Christian_theology/sLefEsAd">Christian theology</a> upholding the unipersonal oneness of <a href="/facts/God_in_Christianity/L00rNhTu">God</a> while also affirming the <a href="/facts/Divinity/qU7hCtL5">divinity</a> of <a href="/facts/Jesus_in_Christianity/bQ8eyYNT">Jesus</a>. As a form of <a href="/facts/Monarchianism/07Xp9Ana">Monarchianism</a>, it stands in contrast with <a href="/facts/Adoptionism/8kBuV5Wf">Dynamic Monarchianism</a> (Adoptionism), which limits the divinity of Jesus to a moment in time when God adopted or exalted him into the Divine Nature. The term modalism was first used by Trinitarian scholar <a href="/facts/Adolf_von_Harnack/QN0ltj69">Adolf von Harnack</a>, referencing this belief. 
Modalistic Monarchianism is also opposed to the theology of <a href="/facts/Trinitarianism/2eElg705">Trinitarianism</a> (and <a href="/facts/Binitarianism/DJeYqHL2">Binitarianism</a> as well). Followers of Modalistic Monarchianism consider themselves to be monotheistic in a strict sense—similar to <a href="/facts/Jews/T9Y4wE6A">Jews</a> and <a href="/facts/Muslims/W2ukq4pg">Muslims</a>—and they argue for no plurality of persons in the theology of God. They consider God's person to be absolutely one and assert that the person of God reveals himself to creation through different "modes" (or "manifestations"), such as the <a href="/facts/God_the_Father/HKb6YJBm">Father</a>, <a href="/facts/The_Son_of_God/4RSrYgeM">Son</a>, and the <a href="/facts/Holy_Spirit_in_Christianity/reEWIwbX">Holy Ghost</a>, without limiting his modes or manifestations. 
In this view, all the <a href="/facts/Godhead_in_Christianity/tewFzWBa">Godhead</a> is understood to have dwelt in Jesus from the <a href="/facts/Incarnation_(Christianity)/6sVzRAnK">incarnation</a> as a manifestation of the God of the Old Testament. The terms "Father" and "Son" are then used to describe the distinction between the <a href="/facts/Transcendence_(religion)/7XP571KV">transcendence</a> of God and the incarnation (God in <a href="/facts/Immanence/dSK4m4kv">immanence</a>). Or to frame it another way, "Father" and "Son" are technical terms that distinguish between the deity of God alone (i.e. the Father) and the deity of God joined to the human nature in Jesus Christ (i.e. the Son). Lastly, since God is a <a href="/facts/Non-physical_entity/f28dJbtH">spirit</a>, it is held that the Holy Spirit should not be understood as a distinct person but rather should be understood as the one God who is a person in action in the world.
Modalistic Monarchianism is closely related to <a href="/facts/Sabellianism/bNkALuKa">Sabellianism</a> and <a href="/facts/Patripassianism/SSl7Y7XY">Patripassianism</a>, two ancient theologies condemned as heresy in the <a href="/facts/Great_Church/AFy7RAUf">Great Church</a> and successive <a href="/facts/State_church_of_the_Roman_Empire/fBcnIdbt">state church of the Roman Empire</a>.

Modalistic Monarchianism open-in-new

Modalistic Monarchianism