Modalism

Modalism

Introduction

            The Trinity is a tough subject. One can err on many sides when approaching this delicate topic, but it is critically important to our faith. Anyone who has a false view of the Trinity completely undermines the Gospel. This is important stuff!

History

          Modalism was first propagated in the third century by a guy named Sabellius. The roots of Modalism came from Sabellianism. Obviously the third century was a long, long time ago. So, none of Sabellius writing still exists ( Also most, if not all of it, was burned when it was deemed heresy). All we know of Sabellius we have from his critics. Rightfully, no matter what kind of fruitful things this man did in his life, none of it will be remembered because of the heresy he spread. This is a secondary but good reason not to be a heretic. Nineteen year old punks will be writing about how bad a dude you are seventeen centuries after you die.

            Dionysius officially named Modalism a heresy in 263 A.D. All of this information is eerily similar to Arianism because it is really just the opposite extreme on the spectrum of Trinitarian theology. The Orthodox theologians reacted in the same way and did their best to remove the ideas of Modalism from the church like they did Arianism. The difference between the two systems is that Modalism has stuck.

Theology   

Modalism teaches that…

·         God is one person

·         God has three modes or masks

·         God does not exist as the three persons at the same time

Orthodoxy teaches that…

·         There is one God and only one God

·         The Father is God, the Son is God, and the Holy Spirit is God

·         God eternally exists in three persons

Application

The differences might seem like small nuances, but these differences are anything but small. Consider…who was Jesus praying to in the Garden (Mark 14:32-42)?  What descended on Jesus as he was being baptized (Luke 3:22)? Who died on the cross (John 3:16)? (the Father?) Who is Jesus mediating too (1 Timothy 2:5)? All of these questions are paradoxical for the Modalistic person. Belief in Modalism leaves the Gospel completely out of whack and distorts the Bible.

The biggest concern I have with modalism is that it is the most common error concerning the Trinity. Oneness_Pentecostalism, "The Shack", T.D. Jakes…to name a few of the recent big name items propagating Modalism.  Also the amount of practical Modalists is staggering. It does not take long to remember the last time you heard someone say “God died on the cross.” In our Biblically illiterate day in age, people do not understand the Trinity. The Trinity is important. So, get it right!  

Arianism

Arianism

Wrong Trinity

History

          In AD 313 the Diocletian persecution had just ended and Constantine rose to the throne. He proclaimed Christianity to be legal and there was joy in all the land. Slowly evil began to creep back up (honestly evil was there the whole time, but I’m trying to paint a nice word picture). Arius, a Libyan preacher, began teaching a view of the trinity which would eventually be named after him and be called Arianism. Arius spread his teaching by writing songs about Arianism and disseminating them all across Christendom.

            The trinity was the hot topic in the early church. Arianism stood in opposition to an orthodox view of the trinity. The champion for orthodoxy at the time was a man named St. Athanasius. Athanasius’ mentor Alexander presided over the council of Nicea the first Ecumenical council (basically a meeting of a bunch of awesome dudes who know a lot about the Bible). The council of Nicea declared Arianism a heresy, but unfortunately it took till around the 7^th century for Arianism to finally die out.

Theology

            Arianism teaches…

·         God is separate from the lesser being Jesus

·         Jesus was created

·         Jesus was made from nothing

Orthodoxy was defined at the Council of Nicea as believing…

·         “that is from the substance of the Father, God from God, light from light, true God from true God,

·         begotten not made

·         consubstantial”

In English…

·         God and Jesus are the same in essence and equal

·         Jesus is eternal and was never created

·         God, Jesus and the Holy Spirit all consist in the same substance (John 1:1)

How does Arianism affect us today?

          Today Arians exist, but no one really holds to historic Arianism. The Mormons and Jehovah’s Witnesses both have a view of the Trinity which is similar to Arianism. Also many liberal protestant seminaries and preachers are teaching varied strains of Arianism. The important thing to remember is that Jesus is fully God, fully man and eternal. If Jesus is not entirely God then He wouldn’t have had power over death. If Jesus isn’t eternal then he couldn’t bear the wrath the eternal offense committed against God incurred to our account. If Jesus is not fully man then he couldn’t have correctly represented human kind. Arianism (or any deviant view of the trinity) completely skews the Gospel.

Random Fact       

And if you are wondering if Aryanism has anything to do with this…it doesn’t. They are just homonyms.

Pelagianism

Pelagianism – your heresy of the week.

What were people thinking about in 350 A.D.?

About 1700 years ago, people everywhere were finally getting used to the fact that only a few pastors were still debating the Trinity. Unfortunately, so much thought had been put into figuring out how to illustrate God’s triune nature without always falling back on the egg cliché that the significant doctrines of soteriology and christology were getting kind of fuzzy.

Meanwhile, the Doctor of Grace (a.k.a St. Augustine of Hippo) was basically doing some serious work in Northern Africa. The Doctor was rediscovering the majesty of the doctrine of grace and taking a fresh approach to the interpretation of the scripture. All was well in the world of the post-Nicene fathers. All was well that is, until Pelagius showed up.

Pelagius was a bad dude, but ironically he thought he was good (huh?). This “Brit” was an ascetic monk. He believed that with enough self discipline and restraint he would someday be able to be perfect and earn favor with God. Although that lifestyle is weird and quite honestly unproductive, it alone would probably not have been enough to smear his name through the dirt for 17 centuries. The reason his name has been thoroughly smeared was the theological system that he invented.

Theology

Pelagianism mainly pertains to original sin and denies a few essentials to our faith….

·        Pelagianism denies original sin

·        Pelagianism claims that man’s will is capable of doing good because…

·        Pelagianism teaches that there is good and evil in man

Orthodoxy on the other hand states…

·        All men inherit Adam’s sin (Rom 5:12)

·        No man is able to do good in and of himself (Rom 8:8)

·        Every person since Adam has been born with a sin nature (Rom 3:10)

Thankfully in a few short years this theological theory was branded heresy. In 418 AD “ETS” was held in Carthage (the Council of Carthage *Check Canon 108 and following). At this council, the pastors branded Pelagianism a heresy, and branded Pelagian a heretic. The day was saved and everyone lived happily ever after... or do we?

Pelagius: We know this guy was bad...check out that stache!

Great…so why should I care?

People don’t really claim to be pelagians today, but messing with the doctrine of Total Depravity is a current and dangerous problem. Any attempt to say that a person can earn favor apart from grace is heresy! Pelagianism is really just an extreme form of legalism which is really just a religious form of humanism.

I have to admit that there have been times when I have asked for forgiveness for a sin purely because I was afraid that if I didn’t then my team would lose tomorrow’s football game on my account (don’t pretend like that thought hasn’t crossed your mind before). Don’t fall into the pelagian trap of trying to earn salvation and perfection through perfectly obeying a cosmic list of do’s and don’ts. It won’t work!

So what is the solution to this problem? Well, Augustine suggested that the answer to the pelagian problem would be to get back to the Bible. The Bible says that salvation, eventual perfection, and ultimately all good things come from Christ. (Eph 1)

  

Why Heresy?

Introduction

            I hope that while clicking on this link and reading these lines that at some point the question crossed your mind, “Why should I want to read about heresy?” This is a good question. We are people of the Book after all! So logically, instead of reading something incorrect about the Bible (heresy) we should just be reading the Bible at all times…right?

A couple of days ago, I was talking to a very nice girl who has had the unfortunate displeasure of never fully grasping the game of football. I, an avid football fan, was saddened to hear of her misfortune, but began asking diagnostic questions to attempt to see how bad the damage really was. She responded by telling me she liked football, but she had no level of understanding of any of the penalties. The statement revealed the fact that she is not a devout fan. I tell you all of this to say that I believe the conversation we had is somewhat analogous to orthodoxy      

If you still have not figured out the metaphor at this point then I will just tell you what I meant. To truly understand football on a deep level, you cannot only understand how to play, but you must also understand how NOT to play. The same is true for theology (just don’t think about it too hard, all metaphors break down at some level.). If you really want to know God on a deep level then you cannot just be content with the basic idea of God that you have. You must also understand exactly who God is not. It will point you to a greater view of who God is.  

            My goal for this blog is to help show the casual individual what orthodoxy is not! Visit back over the next couple of weeks as I write little vignette's about different important heresies!