What is modalism / Modalistic Monarchianism?

Answer

Modalism and Monarchianism are two erroneous perspectives on the nature of God and Jesus Christ that emerged in the second and third centuries AD. A modalist perceives God as a single Person rather than three Persons and asserts that the Father, Son, and Spirit are merely distinct modes or forms of the same divine Person. According to modalism, God can transition among three different manifestations. A Monarchian upholds the oneness of God (the Latin term monarchia signified “single rule”) to the extent of rejecting God’s triune nature. Both modalism and Monarchianism inevitably adhere to the doctrine of Patripassianism, which teaches that God the Father suffered on the cross with (or as) the Son, and are closely associated with Sabellianism.

Monarchianism manifested in two main variations, Dynamic (or Adoptionist) Monarchianism and Modalistic Monarchianism. Dynamic Monarchianism originated from a mistaken belief about Jesus’ nature, specifically, that He was not God but, at His baptism, was empowered by God to perform the miracles He did. In contrast, Modalistic Monarchianism embraced the modalistic notion that Jesus was God, but solely because Jesus was one of God’s “manifestations.” According to Monarchianism, the Logos of God does not have a distinct, personal existence. The biblical terms Father, Son, and Spirit are merely different designations for the same Person, as per the Monarchian perspective.

Modalistic Monarchianism asserts that the unity of God cannot coexist with a differentiation of Persons within the Godhead. According to modalism, God has revealed Himself variably as the Father (predominantly in the Old Testament), as the Son (mainly from Jesus’ conception to His ascension), and as the Holy Spirit (chiefly after Jesus’ ascension into heaven).
Modalistic Monarchianism traces its origins to the erroneous teachings of Noetus of Smyrna around AD 190. Noetus identified himself as Moses and his brother as Aaron, teaching that if JeIf Jesus was God, then He must be the same as the Father. Hippolytus of Rome opposed this falsehood in his work “Contra Noetum.” An early form of Modalistic Monarchianism was also taught by a priest from Asia Minor named Praxeas, who traveled to Rome and Carthage around AD 206. Tertullian countered Praxeas’ teachings in “Adversus Praxean” around 213. Modalistic Monarchianism and its related heresies were also refuted by Origen, Dionysius of Alexandria, and the Council of Nicea in 325.

A form of Monarchianism still exists today in Oneness Pentecostalism. In Oneness theology, which is anti-Trinitarian, there are no distinctions among the Persons of the Godhead. Jesus is God, but He is also the Father and the Spirit. In a slight deviation from ancient modalism, Oneness Pentecostals teach that God is able to manifest Himself in all three “modes” simultaneously, such as at Jesus’ baptism in Luke 3:22.

The Bible presents God as one God “Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God is one LORD:”, (Deuteronomy 6:4), but then speaks of three Persons—the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit “Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost:”, (Matthew 28:19). How these two truths harmonize is inconceivable to the human mind. When we attempt to understand the inscrutable, we will always fail to varying degrees. But Scripture is plain: God exists in three co-eternal, co-equal Persons. Jesus prayed to His Father “saying, Father, if thou be willing, remove this cup from me: nevertheless not my will, but thine, be done.”, (Luke 22:42) and now sits on the right hand of the Father in heaven “who being the brightness of his glory, and the express image of his person, and upholding aAll things by the word of His power, when He had by Himself purged our sins, sat down on the right hand of the Majesty on high; », (Hebrews 1:3). The Father and the Son sent the Spirit into the world (John 14:26; John 15:26). Modalism and the more specific Modalistic Monarchianism are theologically dangerous because they attack the very nature of God. Any teaching that does not acknowledge God as three distinct persons is unbiblical.