Heresies 4
Overview
Sabellianism: An Old Heresy Still With Us
Sabellius, a third-century teacher, promoted what is called modalistic monarchianism—the belief that the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit are not three distinct persons, but rather three modes or manifestations of the one God. On this view, God merely appears at different times as Father, then as Son, then as Spirit. This is a denial of the Trinity, and it is far from a relic of the past. It lives on today in the Oneness Pentecostal movement, which encompasses an estimated 24–25 million adherents worldwide—roughly a quarter of Pentecostals and Charismatics. T.D. Jakes is among its most well-known proponents.
What Reason Cannot Reach, God Reveals
Creation itself testifies that there is a God Romans 1:20, but natural reason cannot tell us who this God is. People variously conclude pantheism (God is creation), polytheism (many gods), or monotheism (one God). Scripture confirms monotheism—"Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God, the LORD is one" (Deuteronomy 6:4; cf. Isaiah 64:3-4)—but it also reveals something reason could never deduce: this one God exists in three persons. As Luther observed, natural reason argues violently against the idea that more than one person could be the same God; this is precisely why heretics like Sabellius arose. Yet God speaks of Himself in the plural (Genesis 1:26; Genesis 3:22; Genesis 11:7; Isaiah 6:8), and that plurality is defined as Trinitarian in the Great Commission: "baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit" Matthew 28:19.
Three Persons, One Essence
Each person of the Trinity is fully God—not one-third of God. "In him the whole fullness of deity dwells bodily" Colossians 2:9. The Father is fully God, the Son is fully God, the Spirit is fully God, yet there is one God: "I and the Father are one" John 10:30. When one person of the Trinity acts, all act; when one is present, all are present. The Athanasian Creed gives a careful confession of this mystery. The Trinity is not a puzzle to be solved by human reasoning but a truth to be received from God's revelation. Like Job, we learn to say, "I had heard of you by the hearing of the ear, but now my eye sees you" Job 42:5-6. The natural person cannot grasp such things 1 Corinthians 2:14; the unfolding of God's words gives light (Psalm 119:130; Matthew 11:25).
Pastoral Application
Christians come to know the triune God from the very beginning of the Christian life—through Holy Baptism. There we are adopted as children of God Galatians 3:26-27, joined to the death and resurrection of Christ Romans 6:3-5, and given the gift of the Holy Spirit Acts 2:38. When someone tells you they "believe in God," ask them to describe the God they believe in—it opens a door to witness. And when conversation with a Pentecostal or Charismatic friend turns to the Trinity, listen carefully; you may be hearing Sabellius speak through modern lips. We are not called to convert—that is God's work—but to be faithful in casting the seed of God's revealed Word.
Transcript
Gracious Heavenly Father, what a joy it is to be on your house on this the 0s
Lord's Day. What a joy because you've called us together because you have 5s
something to give us. Word and sacrament. So as we turn to your infallible word 9s
now Lord we do so with the very confidence that the voice that we hear is your 15s
voice. Bless we pray our study today to your glory in Jesus' name. Amen. Last 20s
week we took a look at a group called the Areans. The Areans believed in what 28s
was called neoplatemism or dualism. And that was the understanding that evil or 35s
material is evil and the spiritual is that which is good. So they reasoned that 42s
because God is spiritual and good and because that which is material and is 48s
evil they've got a problem then with Jesus Christ taking on flesh. And so 54s
according to Areos there was a time when the sun was not. It was a denial of 60s
the of the Trinity. It was an example of how human philosophy can lead someone 67s
away from the truth instead of anchoring one in the very truth of God. How a 74s
belief system that is contrary to the scripture then becomes paramount and 81s
it is adopted and the scripture is pushed as pushed aside. We saw who the 86s
modern day Areans are and that's the Jehovah Witness that knocks on your door. 93s
You see the continuity in the in the line of understanding in their theology. We 98s
talked about how you witness to a Jehovah's Witness. I hope a Jehovah witness 105s
knocked on your door this week and I hope you answered it or you made a you 109s
answered it and said I'd like to make an appointment to talk with you because 115s
in invite them in witness witness to them. Remember we don't convert. We're not 119s
responsible for growth. That's God's business. We're responsible for faithfulness 127s
and casting the seed. And so I hope that a Jehovah witness stopped by this 132s
week and that you witnessed to him. Well today I'd like to introduce you to the 137s
Sibelians. The Sibelians. And the Sibelians taught what is called 143s
monastic monarchy inism. That's a mouthful, huh? The Sibelians taught, it seems like 163s
you should come up with a little freight like Peter Piper picked a pick of 171s
Pickle Peppers. You know, Sibelians taught, monastic, I digress here. They taught 174s
monastic monarchy inism. This was a third century heresy that we're going to see 181s
has implications for today. And as fact is held by a large swath of folk. They 187s
it cropped up in several churches. At the heart of Sibelius and his followers 198s
and this monastic monarchy inism is a denial of the three distinct people of 206s
the Trinity, the three distinct persons of the Trinity. They understand the three 214s
persons of the Trinity as simply being different phases or different modes of 221s
the one God. So in other words God will sometimes appear according to 227s
the Holy Spirit. We'll sometimes appear as the Son. We'll sometimes appear as 236s
the Holy Spirit. But you don't have three distinct persons in the Godhead that are 241s
all fully God and of one essence. And when you think of our understanding of God 249s
natural knowledge reveals the existence of God, right? That's Romans. You can 258s
look out in creation and you can infer from creation that someone had to create 264s
it. The amazing complexity of creation, the exact positioning of the earth and 270s
the solar system and all of the degrees and the tilts and the angles and its 279s
relationship to the distance to the sun. I mean you go all through that and one 284s
infer that there is indeed a creator of this complex system. One can look 291s
outside and simply see a creator. Well that's the natural knowledge of the 298s
existence of God. There's also the revealed knowledge of who God is. So we can 303s
look out at creation and we can see a creation and infer a creator of the 309s
creation. But this just wasn't some kind of big cosmic accident here that 315s
that happened. No, this is planned and purposed and you see the orderliness of 321s
creation, etc. But we don't know who the God is that created. And so we have to 325s
then turn to the reveal the knowledge of God and that's what we get in in Holy 332s
Scripture. As you look at creation there are some that will say that God is 340s
creation. That's pantheism. So God is the tree, God is the mountain, etc. So 350s
that's pantheism. Then you've got this belief that creation must have been 361s
created by someone and the someone is a lot of someone. So that's polytheism. 367s
Polytheism. Theism, the Greek word for God is theos and poly is simply many. So 375s
many gods. Or you can look and you say monotheism. That's one God, right? Greek 382s
theos, theism and mono one. So you've got pantheism, polytheism and monotheism. 392s
We of course believe in the scriptural witness that there is one God and there 400s
is one God only. So we adhere to monotheism. But we cannot discern by our 405s
knowledge that this one God is one God in three persons and one essence. That is 414s
an article of faith where God has to reveal his identity to us. And that's 424s
exactly what he does in Holy Scripture in his revealed word. The overwhelming 429s
people in the world believe in in a God. Overwhelming. There are very few 439s
percentage wise of people that strictly will say no I don't believe in a God at 447s
all. When someone says they believe in God the question then to follow up with 452s
them is just tell me about the God you believe in. Tell me about the God you believe in. 458s
Instead of making the assumption that when they say they believe in God they're 465s
talking about father, son, Holy Spirit, three distinct persons each being fully God 471s
one essence. So when someone says I believe in God, tell me about the God that 476s
you believe in. Because then you can get into an opportunity for witnessing. God's 482s
word calls for hearing ears. Let's go to Psalm 119 verse 130. Easy way of course to 491s
find the book of Psalms is just to open it up to the very center and then you land 501s
on on one of the Psalms Psalm 119 verse 130. So some people believe that God is the 506s
world other people believe in a whole bunch of gods. Other people will say no there's 524s
only one God that created but we will not be able to discern by our minds who 529s
God is. God has to reveal that with the specificity that he does in his word of one God three 536s
persons. Psalm 119 we're called to have hearing ears. The unfolding of your words gives 544s
light. It in parts understanding to the simple. The unfolding of your words gives light just 553s
a little aside here. This is why these kind of verses here. This is why I believe so strongly 562s
in expository preaching. That was how Luther preached, how Calvin preached. You expository is 569s
the explaining of the text. So instead of taking a portion of scripture where you get a generalized 578s
theme and then you use it as springboard to jump into the theme that is totally divorced from the 585s
text. No we should exposit the very word that is that is given to us and see the complexity and 591s
the richness of all that's going on in the in the word of God instead of using as a spring 601s
board to thematic type of preaching or if you're going to do a theme then you go backwards 608s
and you find out where in scripture that theme is addressed and you exposit the scriptures in 615s
association with that. That's why I love the word the unfolding of your words gives light. So we 621s
say the same thing. In fact when Calvin was thrown into prison and there was a period of time when 638s
he wasn't preaching when he went back to his pulpit he went right back to where he left off 644s
unless in Calvin you know as we left off you know oh really well you know there's prison in 650s
between there but as we love and he just picks it up and he expounds it so that as we study the 656s
word of God we can see where it is what we're expounding what where it's coming from. So you're 662s
constantly making your case then from the word of God. So the word calls for hearing years or over 668s
into Matthew the 11th chapter Matthew chapter 11 verse 25 677s
that time Jesus said I thank you Father Lord of heaven and earth because you have hidden these 696s
things from the wise and the intelligent and have revealed them to infants. Yes Father for such was 702s
your gracious will. How do we know what God thinks? How do we know what he says? How do we know 709s
what is his priorities etc we simply go to the word of God. Well, monastic monarchanism is 717s
alive and well today. It is part of what is what is called the oneness Pentecostal movement 727s
and it encompasses about 24 to 25 million people in this movement. So that translates worldwide 738s
to about 25% of Pentecostals slash Charismatics will hold to a monochial or monochial or 751s
monochialistic monarchanism. This is a denial of the Trinity. That's a significant number of people 763s
that that hold to this. The most well-known adherent is T.D. Jakes. 771s
There is a big church that he pastors, I don't know if he still pastors it but it's in southern 780s
part of Dallas. I know he had a talk show for a while on one of the networks. I don't know if that 785s
is still going on. T.D. Jakes is a heretic. He is a flat out of heretic. He denies the Trinity 792s
and he adheres to this monochialistic monarchanism that the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit are simply 801s
different manifestations of the one God. So God can appear as the Father or He can appear as the 811s
Son or He can appear as the Holy Spirit. Luther said this. Well, natural reason, easily 819s
grasped but there's only one God and many statements of the Bible substantiate this and it is, 829s
of course, true. Natural reason argues most violently against the notion that more than one person 837s
should be the same God. Let me say that again. Luther is really onto something here. Natural 846s
reason argues most violently against the notion that more than one person should be the same God. 853s
This is why there are rows the heretic, Sibelius who says that Father, Son, and Holy Ghost are only 862s
one person. Let's explore this a little bit. Let's go to Deuteronomy, the sixth chapter. Genesis, Exodus, 871s
Leviticus, Numbers, and then Deuteronomy. Deuteronomy chapter 6 verse 4. 880s
Now remember the people of Old were surrounded by polytheism, the worship of many gods. Deuteronomy 900s
chapter 6 verse 4. Here, O Israel, the Lord is our God, the Lord alone. Lord is our God, the Lord 908s
alone. Or let's go to the prophet Isaiah. Good way to find Isaiah in the Old Testament is go to 921s
Psalms and start working your way toward the New Testament. Psalms, Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, 928s
Song of Solomon. Then you hit Isaiah. You've hit Jeremiah, you've gone too far. Isaiah 64 936s
verses 3 to 4. Isaiah 64 verses 3 to 4. 947s
When you did awesome deeds that we did not expect, you came down the mountains quake that your 968s
presence. From ages past, no one has heard, no ear has perceived, no eye has seen any God 975s
besides you who works for those who wait for him. So scripture lifts up this monotheism that 984s
there is one God. But God also speaks of himself in the plural. Speaks of himself in the plural. 994s
So let's go to Genesis chapter 1 verse 26. Genesis 1 verse 26. 1004s
Verse 26 of chapter 1, then God said, let us make humankind in our image according to our 1027s
likeness. So you hear here have the one God speak of himself in the plural. Or jumping over into 1039s
chapter 3 verse 22. Then the Lord God said, see the man has become like one of us knowing good 1048s
and evil. Let's go to Genesis chapter 11 verse 7. Genesis chapter 11 verse 7. 1069s
Come, let us go down and confuse their language there so that they will not understand one another's 1090s
speech. This is an association with the tower of Babel. So one God, however God speaks, 1100s
of himself in the plural. Let's go to Isaiah again chapter 6. So back to Psalms and then turn 1109s
right. Proverbs, please, he asks these song of Solomon, then Isaiah. Isaiah chapter 6 verse 1. 1118s
In the year that King Uzziah died, I saw the Lord sitting on a throne high and lofty, and the 1136s
hem of his robe filled the temple. Seraphs were in attendance above him. Each had six wings with two 1143s
they covered their faces and with two they covered their feet and with two they flew and one 1149s
called to another and said, holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts. The whole earth is full of his 1155s
glory. The pivots on the thresholds shook at the voices of those who called and the house filled 1162s
with smoke and I said, woe is me? I am lost for I am a man of unclean lips and I live among the 1168s
people of unclean lips. Yet my eyes have seen the king, the Lord of hosts. Then one of the seraphs 1175s
flew to me holding a live coal that had been taken from the altar with a pair of tongs. The 1183s
seraph touched my mouth with it and said, now that this has touched your lips, your guilt has departed 1189s
and your sin is blotted out. Then I heard the voice of the Lord saying, whom shall I send and who 1195s
shall I send and who will go for us. The plurality of the persons is trinitarian in number. Let's go to 1212s
Matthew chapter 28. So the Bible speaks of one God. We see God referring to Himself in the plural 1225s
and then we see how the plurality is then defined as being trinitarian in number. So Matthew chapter 28 1236s
verse 19 and this of course lands us in the great commission. Go therefore and make disciples of 1244s
all nations. Well how are disciples made? Here comes the the participle phrase modifying it, 1259s
baptizing them in the name of the here comes the trinity, Father and of the Son and of the Holy 1266s
Spirit. And the second aspect of the great commission and teaching them to obey everything that I 1273s
have commanded you and remember I'm with you always to the end of the age. So God, one God, 1279s
God speaks of Himself in plural and then the plural is defined in trinitarian understanding. When one 1286s
person of the trinity is present they're all present. When one member of the trinity acts they all 1296s
act. So it's three distinct persons, one essence, one God, each member of the trinity is fully God. 1303s
When one acts they are all acting. So the Father is God, the Son is God, the Holy Spirit is God, 1312s
not three gods but only one God. But the deity is not split into three parts with each one of them 1319s
making one third of the Godhead and then you do the math and you come up to 100%. No each person is 1328s
the fullness of the Godhead. Let's see that in Colossians the second chapter. So Matthew, Mark, 1336s
Luke, John, Acts and Romans, 1st and 2nd Corinthians, Galatians, Ephesians, Philippians and then 1345s
Colossians. Colossians chapter 2, verse 9. Colossians chapter 2, verse 9. 1353s
There we read for in him the whole fullness of deity dwells bodily. Who are they talking 1371s
about? They're talking about Christ. In him the whole fullness of deity dwells bodily. Notice it 1381s
in him is one third of all the deity. It's all the fullness of the deity dwells in him bodily. 1388s
So each of the distinct person and each is the full and complete God. With the sake of time, 1399s
let me just give you a couple of verses here but we won't turn to them. The Father is one and only 1404s
God. That's John 173. The Father is one and only God. That's John 173. The Son is one and only God. 1410s
That's 1st John 520. The Son is one and only God. That's 1st John 520. The Holy Spirit is the one 1419s
and only God. Acts 5 verses 3 to 4. So while definitely each person is distinct, they are one 1426s
in essence. Let's go to John chapter 10, please. Matthew, Mark, Luke, and then John, John chapter 10, 1437s
verse 30. If by the way you want a great creed, it's not like the nice scene in Apostles 1448s
don't address it but if you want a great creed that really addresses the Trinity, Google 1462s
Athanasian creed, we don't use it in the church service because it's as long as a sermon. 1468s
But the Athanasian creed deals with the Trinity and it's very, very helpful. It gets at exactly 1476s
what we're talking about. The whole persons and the whole essence and all of that. So John chapter 1482s
10 verse 30. Jesus says, the Father and I are one. We're one. That's one essence. 1488s
So God has described His three and God has described as one. Rather than trying to solve the mystery 1501s
of the Trinity, the mystery of the Trinity is that which is to be received 1510s
because God has said, this is who I am. It's like getting your head around the fact that Jesus 1517s
is Christ is true God and true man. And then you look at heresies in the early church 1524s
where you either fell off the horse on the one side where Jesus was adopted as the son. 1531s
Right? Or you fall off on the other side where no Jesus may look like He's human but He's really not. 1538s
It's all attempts of people trying to solve the mystery of the two natures of Christ. 1547s
You don't solve the mystery of the two natures of Christ. You receive the truth. 1553s
It's like the the antinomy which is two truths, the true truths of our conversion. 1559s
That if you believe it is solely the work of God and if you don't believe it's solely your own fault. 1565s
Right? That drove me nuts in seminary. I mean nuts. I can't tell you the number of times I was 1572s
in my professor's office on this until one night by the grace of God. I remember I just wept 1579s
because it was it was not that to be understood. It was that to which was to be received. 1588s
Same thing with eternity, same thing with the two natures of Christ. Same thing about our conversion. 1595s
God understands it is who God is. We're not going to be able to solve the mystery of eternity. We 1600s
receive the mystery of the of the Trinity. We should not try and attempt to give human explanations 1606s
to things that are divine. Remember when God caught Job up on this. Let's go to the book of Job. 1616s
Right. Rest right before the book of Psalms. Job chapter 40. Verse 4. 1625s
I had heard of you by the hearing of the ear but now my eye sees you. 1657s
Therefore I despise myself and repent, Indust and ashes. We should not attempt to try and give 1663s
human explanation to the things that are divine. We submit to the authority of the Word of God. 1670s
Let's go to 1 Corinthians chapter 2 please. Matthew, Mark, Luke, John, Axon, then Romans. 1681s
And 1 Corinthians chapter 2 verse 14. 1688s
The teachings of the scripture, including the Trinity, appear as nothing but foolishness 1697s
to those who don't believe. Verse 14, those who are unspiritual do not receive the gifts of God's 1702s
spirit, but they're foolishness to them. They're unable to understand them because they're spiritually 1711s
discerned. So we may be able to look out at creation and infer from creation that there is a 1718s
God we will not be able to figure out that this God is one God three persons one essence. That's 1723s
revealed. And that's why we turn to where God has revealed Himself. We know God from the start of 1730s
our Christian life. Our baptism gives us the right take on God. Let's go to Galatians chapter 3. 1740s
So we're in 1 Corinthians. Go toward Revelation, please. 2 Corinthians and then Galatians. Galatians 1750s
chapter 3 verse 26. We get the right understanding of who God is, Trinitarian and form. 1757s
Through our baptism. Galatians chapter 3 verse 26. For in Christ Jesus you were all children of God 1769s
through faith. 27. As many of you as were baptized into Christ have clothed yourself with Christ. 1777s
In our baptism we are adopted then as children of God. And now remember is everyone in creation 1787s
a child of God? No, no. Everyone is a creation of God. Who are the only children of God? The believers 1800s
in Jesus Christ. And so we are made then a child of God in the waters of baptism. We're joined to 1810s
the death and resurrection of Jesus. Let's go to Romans the sixth chapter. So turn back towards 1820s
Matthew. You bump quickly into Romans. Romans chapter 6 verse 3 to 5. So in baptism we're adopted 1826s
by the Father. In baptism we're joined to the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. 1839s
So verse 3. Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were 1847s
baptized into his death? Therefore we have been buried with him by baptism into death so that 1852s
just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father so we too might walk in 1860s
newness of life. If we've been united with him in a death like his we shall certainly be united 1866s
with him in a resurrection like his. So in our baptism then we get the understanding God and the 1872s
three distinct persons. Father, Son and then the Holy Spirit is poured out upon us. Let's go to 1880s
Acts the second chapter. Matthew, Mark, Luke, John and then Acts, Acts chapter 2 verse 38. 1889s
Peter has just finished preaching here. Verse 37 says, now when they heard this they were cut to 1909s
the heart and said to Peter and to the other apostles, brothers, what should we do? Verse 38, Peter 1917s
said to them, repent and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ so that your sins 1924s
may be forgiven and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. So they're the third member 1930s
of the Trinity then in association with our baptism. We understand then who God is by his revealed 1938s
word. We receive that. We don't try and solve that mystery and we live in the truth of that. 1945s
So, monolithic monarchy and ism goes all the way back to Sibelius in the third chapter and is 1956s
it alive today? It sure is. It sure is. And in fact if you're talking with a pentacostal, a 1964s
charismatic and the topic turns to the Trinity, listen very closely. Very closely is probably about 1973s
25% of them are going to hold to this. Well, next week we're going to talk about a group of 1983s
folks called the historians. The historians, well who are these folks and where do we hear the 1994s
echoes of today? We'll continue then. 2001s