Editing Oneness Pentecostalism (section)

===View of the Trinity===
Oneness Pentecostals assert that the doctrine of the Trinity is not explicitly found in Scripture and view it as a post-biblical development. They argue that the concept of God as three co-equal persons is not explicitly taught in the Bible, noting the absence of terms such as "Trinity" or "persons" in reference to God in the Bible. Instead, they believe the doctrine emerged gradually over the first few centuries of the church and was formalized through [[creed]]s at the [[Ecumenical council|councils]] of [[First Council of Nicaea|Nicaea]] (325 AD) and [[First Council of Constantinople|Constantinople]] (381 AD).<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Yong |first1=Amos |title=Oneness and the Trinity: The Theological and Ecumenical Implications of Creation Ex Nihilo for an Intra-Pentecostal Dispute |journal=[[Pneuma: The Journal of the Society for Pentecostal Studies]] |date=1 January 1997 |volume=19 |issue=1 |pages=81–107 |doi=10.1163/157007497X00064 |url=https://brill.com/view/journals/pneu/19/1/article-p81_6.xml |access-date=7 May 2025 |language=en |issn=0272-0965|url-access=subscription }}</ref><ref name=":3">{{Cite web |title=The Jesus Name Movement |url=https://www.apostolicarchives.com/articles/article/8795236/172416.htm |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201119023034/https://www.apostolicarchives.com/articles/article/8795236/172416.htm |archive-date=19 November 2020 |access-date=19 November 2020 |website=www.apostolicarchives.com}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |first1=David |last1=Bernard |url=http://ourworld.compuserve.com/homepages/pentecostal/One-Top.htm |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080216034825/http://ourworld.compuserve.com/homepages/pentecostal/One-Top.htm |archive-date=February 16, 2008 |title=The Oneness of God |publisher=Word Aflame Press |year=1993 |isbn=978-0-912315-12-6 |page=263|chapter=Trinitarianism: Definition and Historical Development|quote=There is no question that Christian trinitarianism developed over several centuries of time after the New Testament was written.}}</ref>

This historical claim is not unique to Oneness Pentecostals. Some editions of the ''Oxford Dictionary of the Christian Church'', ''[[Encyclopædia Britannica]]'', and the ''[[Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy]]'', among others, note that Trinitarianism formally developed over the early centuries as a response to theological controversies.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Cross |first1=F. L. |last2=Livingstone |first2=E. A. |editor-first1=F. L. |editor-first2=E. A. |editor-last1=Cross |editor-last2=Livingstone |title=Trinity, doctrine of the |url=https://www.oxfordreference.com/display/10.1093/acref/9780192802903.001.0001/acref-9780192802903-e-6964?rskey=c5EMNA&result=6941 |website=Oxford Reference |publisher=Oxford University Press |access-date=6 May 2025 |language=en |doi=10.1093/acref/9780192802903.001.0001 |date=2009 |isbn=978-0-19-280290-3 }}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=Trinity |url=https://www.britannica.com/topic/Trinity-Christianity |website=Encyclopædia Britannica |access-date=6 May 2025 |language=en |date=22 April 2025}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |last1=Baber |first1=H.E. |title=Trinity |url=https://iep.utm.edu/trinity/ |website=Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy |access-date=6 May 2025}}</ref><ref name=":14">{{cite journal |last1=Tuggy |first1=Dale |title=Trinity |journal=The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy |date=20 November 2020 |url=https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/trinity/index.html |access-date=14 July 2025 |publisher=Metaphysics Research Lab, Stanford University}}</ref> The ''[[Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy]]'' states that no Christian theologians were Trinitarian for the first three centuries, with a diverse range of views regarding the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Tuggy |first1=Dale |title=History of Trinitarian Doctrines (Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy) |journal=Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy |date=2020 |url=https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/trinity/trinity-history.html |access-date=14 July 2025 |language=en |quote="No theologian in the first three Christian centuries was a trinitarian in the sense of believing that the one God is tripersonal, containing equally divine “Persons”, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit... As this sort of theology features no tripersonal God, it is misleading to call it 'trinitarian.'"}}</ref> Prominent biblical scholars such as [[James D.G. Dunn]], [[Raymond E. Brown]], [[N.T. Wright]], and [[Larry Hurtado]], affirm that while the [[New Testament]] portrays Jesus and the Holy Spirit in ways that laid the groundwork for later formalized Trinitarian theology, it does not present the fully developed doctrine. They describe the Trinity as a theological synthesis formed in the post-apostolic era, drawing on the New Testament's presentation of Jesus and the Spirit within a monotheistic framework.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Dunn |first1=James D. G. |title=Christology in the making: a New Testament inquiry into the origins of the doctrine of the Incarnation |date=1996 |publisher=W.B. Eerdmans Pub. Co |location=Grand Rapids, Mich |isbn=0802842577 |edition=2nd}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last1=Brown |first1=Raymond Edward |title=An introduction to New Testament Christology |date=1994 |publisher=Paulist Press |location=New York |isbn=0809135167}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last1=Wright |first1=N. T. |title=Paul and the Faithfulness of God: Two Book Set |date=2013 |publisher=Fortress Press |location=Erscheinungsort nicht ermittelbar |isbn=978-0800626839}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last1=Hurtado |first1=Larry W. |title=God in New Testament theology |date=2010 |publisher=Abingdon Press |location=Nashville, Tenn |isbn=978-0687465453}}</ref>

Other scholars argue that Trinitarian doctrine represents a theological departure from the [[wikt: Unitarian|unitarian]] [[monotheism]] of the [[Early Christianity|earliest Christians]].<ref name="GezaBook">{{cite book |last1=Vermès |first1=Géza |title=Christian beginnings: from Nazareth to Nicaea |date=2013 |publisher=Yale University Press |location=New Haven |isbn=978-0300205954}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |last1=Ehrman |first1=Bart |title=The Trinity! A Final Summation |url=https://ehrmanblog.org/the-trinity-a-final-summation/ |website=The Bart Ehrman Blog |access-date=21 November 2025 |date=10 June 2021 |quote=The earliest Christians inherited a strict monotheism from Judaism.}}</ref> [[Bart Ehrman]], an [[agnostic]] historian of [[Early Christianity]], and [[Jews|Jewish]] scholar [[Géza Vermes]] contend that neither Jesus nor his earliest followers taught Trinitarian concepts and that the doctrine was a product of later reflection.<ref name="GezaBook"/><ref>{{cite web |last1=Ehrman |first1=Bart |title=Is the Trinity in the Bible? |url=https://ehrmanblog.org/is-the-trinity-in-the-bible/ |website=The Bart Ehrman Blog |date=6 January 2021}}</ref> Jewish scholars such as [[Daniel Boyarin]], and [[Alan F. Segal]] have examined how [[Second Temple Judaism|Second Temple Jewish]] concepts—such as divine agency and the "two powers" tradition—provided theological categories that early Christians adapted in ways that eventually contributed to Trinitarian thought. Both Jewish scholars document how concepts of divine agency informed early Christian understandings of Jesus, but neither identifies the Trinity as a biblically or historically continuous doctrine.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Segal |first1=Alan F. |title=Two powers in heaven: early rabbinic reports about Christianity and Gnosticism |date=2012 |publisher=Baylor University Press |location=Waco, Tex |isbn=978-1602585492}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last1=Boyarin |first1=Daniel |title=The Jewish gospels: the story of the Jewish Christ |date=2013 |publisher=The New Press |location=New York |isbn=978-1595588784 |edition=Paperback}}</ref> 

Trinitarian theologians and apologists maintain that the doctrine represents a faithful synthesis of biblical revelation, developed more fully in response to early heresies and theological disputes. Figures such as [[Alister McGrath]] and [[Karl Rahner]] argue that the Trinity accurately expresses both the unity of God and the relational distinctions found in Scripture.<ref>{{cite book |last1=McGrath |first1=Alister E. |title=Christian theology: an introduction |date=2017 |publisher=Blackwell |location=Chichester, West Sussex |isbn=9781118869574 |edition=25}}</ref> Rahner, for instance, argued that "the [[Trinity#Economic and immanent Trinity|economic Trinity is the immanent Trinity]]," proposing that God's self-revelation in salvation history corresponds to his eternal triune identity.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Rahner |first1=Karl |last2=Donceel |first2=J. |title=Trinity |date=2001 |publisher=Continuum International Publishing |location=London |isbn=0860120155}}</ref> They maintain that the Trinity, though not formulated in creedal terms during the apostolic era, accurately expresses the unity and distinction presented in Scripture.<ref>{{Cite web|title=The Doctrine of the Trinity at Nicaea and Chalcedon|url=https://www.str.org/w/the-doctrine-of-the-trinity-at-nicaea-and-chalcedon|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220109040544/https://www.str.org/w/the-doctrine-of-the-trinity-at-nicaea-and-chalcedon|archive-date=9 January 2022|access-date=9 January 2022|website=Stand To Reason}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|last=Wayne|first=Luke|date=7 January 2017|title=The Trinity before Nicea|url=https://carm.org/doctrine-and-theology/the-trinity-before-nicea/|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220109040812/https://carm.org/doctrine-and-theology/the-trinity-before-nicea/|archive-date=9 January 2022|access-date=9 January 2022|website=Christian Apologetics & Research Ministry|language=en-US}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|title=Jehovah's Witnesses: Masters of Misquotation|url=https://www.catholic.com/magazine/print-edition/the-witnesses-masters-of-misquotation|access-date=13 January 2022|last1=Brumley|first1=Mark|date=1 April 1990|website=Catholic Answers}}</ref>