I'm a Oneness Pentecostal who used to be Trinitarian

updated 2020 October 17th

I'm an Apostolic Pentecostal Christian and I believe in the Oneness view of the Godhead. We believe that God is one. We do not believe that God is 3 in 1. We believe it is the same God who is the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. His name is Jesus.

I used to be Trinitarian. The doctrine of the Trinity believes that God is 3 distinct yet inseparable gods or divine "persons" in the Godhead: The Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. It's been compared to a 3 leaf clover. The Son's name is Jesus.

I do want to say that I believe Trinitarians and Oneness Christians are both genuinely Christian and we have the same God. We simply have different views of the Godhead and how God can be the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit.

I had never heard of the Oneness view until I met an Apostolic Pentecostal friend in 2011. The Trinity had never really made sense to me. I accepted it as a great mystery that I couldn't fully understand. When I first heard of Oneness I was leery having had been taught that any church not adhering to the Trinitarian view was not really a Christian church or at least not an acceptable denomination. I was intrigued. As I studied, I found myself unable to prove them wrong. I found the Trinity, however, to not be as bible-based as I thought it was.

Consider these things.

• The bible says many, many times that God is one. It never uses the word Trinity. It never says God is 3 gods (or 3 persons) in 1 Godhead. It never says “God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit”.
  
• What it does say is that God is one (Deut. 6:4 and many other places).
  
• Isaiah 9:6 For a child will be born to us, a son will be given to us; And the government will rest on His shoulders; And His name will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Eternal Father, Prince of Peace.
• John 1:14 And the Word became flesh, and dwelt among us, and we saw His glory, glory as of the only begotten from the Father, full of grace and truth.
• Colossians 2:9 For in Him all the fullness of Deity dwells in bodily form,
• Colossians 1:15-20 He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation. For by Him all things were created, both in the heavens and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities—all things have been created through Him and for Him. He is before all things, and in Him all things hold together. He is also head of the body, the church; and He is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, so that He Himself will come to have first place in everything. For it was the Father’s good pleasure for all the fullness to dwell in Him, and through Him to reconcile all things to Himself, having made peace through the blood of His cross; through Him, I say, whether things on earth or things in heaven.
• 2 Corinthians 4:4 in whose case the god of this world has blinded the minds of the unbelieving so that they might not see the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God.
• 1 Timothy 3:16 By common confession, great is the mystery of godliness: He who was revealed in the flesh, Was vindicated in the Spirit, Seen by angels, Proclaimed among the nations, Believed on in the world, Taken up in glory
• 1 Timothy 1:17 Now to the King eternal, immortal, invisible, the only God, be honor and glory forever and ever. Amen.
• Hebrews 1:3 And He is the radiance of His glory and the exact representation of His nature, and upholds all things by the word of His power. When He had made purification of sins, He sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high,

(All scripture taken from the New American Standard Bible)

God . . .
The prince of peace, the eternal father, the king
revealed in the flesh (1 Timothy 3:16)
the image of the invisible God (Colossians 1:15, 2 Corinthians 4:4)
an exact representation of His nature (Hebrews 1:3)
radiance of His glory (Hebrews 1:3)
the fullness of the Deity in bodily form (Colossians 2:9)
I see one God in the bible.
Jesus

A couple other verses to consider:

• Jesus says he has come in his Father's name (John 5:43)
• John 14:7 If you had known me, you would have known my Father also; from now on you know Him, and have seen him.
• John 14:26 But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in My name, He will teach you all things, and bring to your remembrance all that I said to you.

How can God be the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit?
God is omnipresent. He is everywhere all the time. He can be in numerous places at once; he can be in heaven and in spirit form and in bodily form all at the same time. He is that powerful. He is that big. He has no limits. He is not restricted the way that mankind is. He is able to manifest himself in multiple ways. He is not divided or weakened. He is one.

A man can be a couple's child, a woman's husband, and a child's father all at the same time. One man can be in those 3 roles without being divided. Surely God can be in 3 roles without division or restriction.

The doctrine of the Trinity became accepted in 381AD at the First Council of Constantiple. The apostles didn't teach it. The early church didn't teach it. Jesus didn't teach it. The bible does not use the word Trinity nor does it say anything about "God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit" with a triune teaching. The Trinity is using man's logic to explain how God can be in 3 roles. It is not in scripture nor is it a direct interpretation of scripture. Coming to that revelation and studying the scriptures above was sufficient for me to stop following the trinitiarian view.

God said in his word that he is one. Jesus said he has come in his father's name and the holy spirit will be sent in his name. The bible says Jesus is the image and representation of God revealed in the flesh (bodily form). The bible says that the fullness of God was in him. I believe it. I believe that God is One. Jesus is God. This is what I follow.