What’s wrong with Oneness Pentecostalism?

The Bible teaches that God exists in multiple Persons.

Gen 19:24 Then the Lord (Yahweh) rained down burning sulfur on Sodom and Gomorrah—from the Lord (Yahweh) out of the heavens.

Both Persons have the name Yahweh.

Gen 3: 22 And the Lord God said, “The man has now become like one of us, knowing good and evil. The phrase “one of us” makes no sense if God is only one Person.

John 1: In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.

Two distinct Persons referred to as God.

Matt 3:16 As soon as Jesus was baptized, he went up out of the water. At that moment heaven was opened, and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and alighting on him. 17 And a voice from heaven said, “This is my Son, whom I love; with him I am well pleased.”

All three Persons appearing at the same time.

Why did Jesus pray to the Father if he was the Father? Jesus could not have done that just to set an example because Jesus prayed to His Father in desolate places with no one looking. (Luke 5:16)

Luke 22: But from now on, the Son of Man will be seated at the right hand of the mighty God.”

Jesus cannot be sitting at His own right hand. It makes no sense in saying that the human nature of Jesus is sitting beside the divine nature.

Jesus is explicitly referred to as “the Son” over two hundred times in the New Testament, and never once is he called “Father.” By contrast, over two hundred times “the Father” is referred to by Jesus or someone else as being clearly distinct from Jesus.

Isa 9:6 For to us a child is born, to us a son is given, and the government will be on his shoulders. And he will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.

The term “Everlasting Father” could also be translated “Father of eternity”. Therefore, it does not mean that Isaiah is teaching that Jesus was also the Father.

John 8: 16 But if I do judge, my decisions are true, because I am not alone. I stand with the Father, who sent me. 17 In your own Law it is written that the testimony of two witnesses is true. 18 I am one who testifies for myself; my other witness is the Father, who sent me.”

Jesus describes himself and the Father as two persons.

Col 2:9 For in Christ all the fullness of the Deity lives in bodily form…

This verse does not teach that the totality of the godhead exists in Jesus alone. It teaches that Jesus exhibits the essence of God in bodily form.

John 8:19 Then they asked him, “Where is your father?” “You do not know me or my Father,” Jesus replied. “If you knew me, you would know my Father also.”

Jesus said that because he is the representation of the Father, not that he is the Father.

John 8:24 I told you that you would die in your sins; if you do not believe that I am he, you will indeed die in your sins.”

Jesus is not saying that unless we believe that “I am He (referring to the Father), we will not be saved. The word “he” does not appear in the original text. That means Jesus is saying, “If you don’t believe that I AM (the name God revealed to Moses), you will perish.” We must believe in Jesus’ deity.

John 8: 28 I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; no one will snatch them out of my hand. 29 My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all; no one can snatch them out of my Father’s hand. 30 I and the Father are one.”

This verse is not teaching that Jesus is the Father since Jesus’ hand is the Father’s hand. Jesus is not saying that he and the Father are one person. The fact that they are two distinct persons is clear when it says the Father has given the believers to him.

John 10:38 … that you may know and understand that the Father is in me, and I in the Father.”

It does not mean that if Jesus is in the Father and the Father is in Jesus, they are one person. We will not argue from the verse below that because the believers are in Jesus and the Father, the believers, Jesus and the Father are one person.

John 17: 20 “My prayer is not for them alone. I pray also for those who will believe in me through their message, 21 that all of them may be one, Father, just as you are in me and I am in you. May they also be in us so that the world may believe that you have sent me.