Beyond the Walls with Jeremy Thomas
Jeremy approaches Bible teaching with a passion for getting the basic doctrines explained so that the individual can understand them and then apply them to circumstances in their life. These basic and important lessons are nestled in a framework of history and progression of revelation from the Bible so the whole of Scripture can be applied to your physical and spiritual life.
Beyond the Walls with Jeremy Thomas
NT Framework - Does God only present Himself in different ways?
Some Christians believe that God is only one person and wears masks, a costume if you will, to appear differently to people throughout time. What is the basis for this and does it adequately reflect the Bible?
More information about Beyond the Walls, including additional resources can be found at www.beyondthewalls-ministry.com
This series included graphics to illustrate what is being taught, if you would like to watch the teachings you can do so on Rumble (https://rumble.com/user/SpokaneBibleChurch) or on YouTube (https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLtV_KhFVZ_waBcnuywiRKIyEcDkiujRqP).
Jeremy Thomas is the pastor at Spokane Bible Church in Spokane, Washington and a professor at Chafer Theological Seminary. He has been teaching the Bible for over 20 years, always seeking to present its truths in a clear and understandable manner.
Welcome to Beyond the Walls with Jeremy Thomas and our series on the New Testament Framework. Today a smaller, bite-sized piece from the larger lesson. We hope you enjoy it.
Speaker 2:The first one we'll look at is called ancient modal monarchianism, sometimes also known as Sabellianism, and a related but different view is called protropassionism, which is the crucifixion of the Father. The Father was crucified, not the Son. That's related to this. So those first three words, they're not necessarily all synonyms. They're either nuanced versions or results of one of these views. But I don't have time to go through all the views. There's probably 20 or 30. So we don't have time for all that. But that's the ancient concept and the modern concept is oneness Pentecostals. So oneness Pentecostals, so oneness Pentecostals are still around. So they believe something very similar to this ancient view. So let me ask you about this word monarch, see ancient modal monarchianism. If I just ask you, well, what's a monarch? What would you say? Okay, one guy is the sole, absolute ruler or king, right, a monarch. So that helps you understand what this view is. This view is basically saying that God is one, an absolute one, an absolute monarch. There's no diversity of person within himself, there's just the one God. Okay, their conclusions from this presupposition were basically to look at the Bible successively, like you're moving from the Old Testament to the Gospels and then into the New Testament epistles. And they said in the Old Testament, the Father is God. In the New Testament, gospels, the Son is God, and in the epistles and on down to our own day, the Holy Spirit is God. What are they saying? They're saying that God has revealed him successively in three different masks. In the Old Testament, he wore the mask of the Father. In the New Testament, gospels, he put on the mask of the Son. And in the epistles and following, he put on a different mask, the mask of the Spirit. But there's really only one God. There's not three different persons, they are three different masks of the one God. So this view is based again on the idea of God's solitary oneness. Right, there can't be a diversity of person in him, but he can reveal himself with different masks to us. So this is their idea. Okay, jesus, well, god is the Father, reveals himself in the Old Testament, the Son is a manifestation of God in the New Testament, and the Spirit is now the manifestation of God on down to our own day Oneness. Pentecostals are very similar to this ancient idea, because they believe that Jesus is the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit, and they base this on Colossians 2.9 as their main verse. So let's look at Colossians 2.9.
Speaker 2:If you can't remember where it is Galatians, ephesians, philippians then Colossians. As my daughter reminded me the other day, my way of telling people to remember these four books is to remember God eats popcorn. Galatians, ephesians, philippians and Colossians. God eats popcorn, which is a whole other question we could discuss, since God is spirit. Has he ever eaten popcorn? And we know he doesn't have a body, so he doesn't eat popcorn. But then you ask the question well, does he know what popcorn tastes like, since he never ate it, but he's omniscient? So we have lots of questions there. Colossians 2.9.
Speaker 2:This is their main verse for saying that Jesus is the Father, the Son and the Spirit, for in him, that is, in Christ. Right Into verse 8, christ. In Christ, all the fullness of deity dwells in bodily form. All the fullness of deity dwells in bodily form. All the fullness of deity dwells in bodily form. So, oneness Pentecostals, use this verse as a key interpretive verse to explain all the other verses in the Bible and emphasize that Jesus is Father, son and Spirit.
Speaker 2:So what are some thinking about this model? What are some problems with this? One of the problems is that this model makes it very difficult to explain text where Jesus is talking to the Father, since, well, he is the Father, or just a manifestation of the Father, however they exactly view it. So, for example, look at John 17. This is Jesus' high priestly prayer, and you notice right off the bat in 17.1, jesus speaking these things, lifting up his eyes to heaven.
Speaker 2:You might ask yourself even there, well, is he looking toward himself? Oh, wait a minute. You see, if he is all that there is of God, who is he looking at? He said, father, the hour has come. Glorify your son, that the son may glorify you, even as you gave him authority over all flesh. So you know like who is he talking to. If he's all of God that there is, there's no one else to talk to see. So these types of passages get very difficult to explain. Another one, for example, verse 5 here Now, father, glorify me together with yourself, with the glory which I had with you before the world was. That doesn't make a lot of sense. If he's the only God there is and there's no one else there, who exactly are you talking to? You're, the only other person you could possibly be talking to is yourself, and you're telling yourself to do something. So it doesn't make much sense and this whole chapter has a number of those types of statements throughout.
Speaker 2:Another problem with this concept of God is it doesn't explain how the father is the father of the son, if they're really the same See, just different manifestations of God. So father-son passages don't even make sense. There have to be two distinct persons for us to have a concept of father and another being son. They can't just be the same. Father and son can't be the same. So this view, while it attempted and tried to explain the idea of God and some multiplicity as multiple masks that he puts on it, doesn't do a good job of explaining certain texts that seem to indicate two distinct persons in God. So that's one view. It's ancient, but it's also got a modern counterpart oneness, pentecostalism.
Speaker 1:Thank you for joining us on Beyond the Walls with Jeremy Thomas. If you would like to see the visuals that went along with today's sermon, you can find those on Rumble and on YouTube under Spokane Bible Church. That is where Jeremy is the pastor and teacher. We hope you found today's lesson productive and useful in growing closer to God and walking more obediently with Him. If you found this podcast to be useful and helpful, then please consider rating us in your favorite podcast app, and until next time, we hope you have a blessed and wonderful day.