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Heresies & Errors
Heresy
Late 2nd–3rd centuries; revived in modern Oneness teaching · The Trinity

Modalism

The teaching that Father, Son, and Holy Spirit are not three distinct persons but one person who reveals Himself in three modes or roles. It is also called Sabellianism, and in the West patripassianism, because it implies that the Father suffered on the cross.

The central claim

God is one person who appears as Father, as Son, and as Spirit.

ClassificationHeresy
PeriodEarly Church
DatesLate 2nd–3rd centuries; revived in modern Oneness teaching
Doctrine affectedThe Trinity

A heresy denies the Gospel or the God it reveals (Galatians 1:8).

Historical origins

Where It Began

Around 200, teachers such as Noetus of Smyrna and Praxeas, and later Sabellius in Rome, set out to guard the oneness of God against what they feared was a belief in two or three gods. They concluded that the names Father, Son, and Spirit describe one divine person acting in different ways.

Major figures

The People Involved

SabelliusTeacher of modalism in Rome · fl. c. 215TertullianTheologian of Carthage · c. 155–c. 220

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In a sentence

Why This Is Dangerous

It denies the God Scripture reveals. If Father, Son, and Spirit are one person in three roles, then there is no eternal Son for the Father to send, and no Father distinct from the Son to receive His sacrifice.

Visit The Modalist Controversy · C. AD 200–220