[af_vet_1981]

One of the hardest things to teach is the concept of a Triune God. I don't even like to call it the Trinity because that denotes 3 Gods. It's one God in 3 forms.

It's one God in three Persons, blessed Trinity.

The early Christians were quick to spot new heresies. In the third century, Sabellius, a Libyan priest who was staying at Rome, invented a new one. He claimed there is only one person in the Godhead, so that the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit are all one person with different "offices," rather than three persons who are one being in the Godhead, as the orthodox position holds.

Of course, people immediately recognized that Sabellius’s teaching contradicted the historic faith of the Church, and he was quickly excommunicated. His heresy became known as Sabellianism, Modalism, and Patripassianism. It was called Sabellianism after its founder, Modalism after the three modes or roles which it claimed the one person of the Trinity occupied, and Patripassianism after its implication that the person of the Father (Pater-) suffered (-passion) on the cross when Jesus died.

Because Modalism asserts that there is only one person in the Godhead, it makes nonsense of passages which show Jesus talking to his Father (e.g., John 17), or declaring he is going to be with the Father (John 14:12, 28, 16:10) One role of a person cannot go to be with another role of that person, or say that the two of them will send the Holy Spirit while they remain in heaven (John 14:16-17, 26, 15:26, 16:13–15; Acts 2:32–33). Modalism quickly died out; it was too contrary to the ancient Christian faith to survive for long. Unfortunately, it was reintroduced in the early twentieth century in the new Pentecostal movement. In its new form, Modalism is often referred to as Jesus Only theology since it claims that Jesus is the only person in the Godhead and that the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit are merely names, modes, or roles of Jesus. Today the United Pentecostal Church, as well as numerous smaller groups which call themselves "apostolic churches," teach the Jesus Only doctrine. Through the Word Faith movement, it has begun to infect traditionally Trinitarian Pentecostalism. Ironically, Trinity Broadcasting Network, operated by Word Faith preacher Paul Crouch, has given a television voice to many of these Jesus Only preachers (who are, of course, militantly anti-Trinitarian).

[chuckles]

I'm not Catholic. Nothing you said makes any sense to me. I read the Bible and interpret it as a spiritual being would, not a carnal man. John 1:1 tells me that in the beginning was the Word. The Word was with God, and the Word was God. Verse 14 says the Word became flesh and dwelt among us. The Word cannot be separate from God and still be God. This same "Word" became flesh and dwelt among us. These statements say that Jesus was God, God was Jesus, and the Word was God.

God revealed Himself to us in 3 forms, but He is still one God.

Trinity appears no where in Scripture. Trinity speaks of 3 separate Gods. Triune speaks of 3 forms of one God. If God was a Trinity, I suppose it makes it easier to worship Mary, John, Paul, Peter, and other saints. There is but one God and all our worship should be His.

How could Melchizedek, have no beginning and no end, be a High Priest forever, be the King of Salem, and have no genealogy? God appeared on earth in bodily form thousands of years before the birth of Christ. To a Jew, a King and a Priest cannot be the same person, unless He is in the order Melchizedek. Melchizedek was a theophany of Jesus or Jesus is not a High Priest forever. If He had no beginning or end, one could say Jesus was born of Mary and died on the cross so we should be looking to Melchizedek for salvation.

God is Spirit and can appear in whatever form He chooses. Was the burning bush God? No, God was in the form of a burning bush. Jesus is the fleshly form God took to be a final sacrifice for His people, but there is still but one God. If God is spirit, is the Holy Spirit God, or a part of God, or another God?