:Oneness Pentecostalism

{{See also|Pentecostalism#Early controversies}}

The first Pentecostals were Holiness Pentecostals, teaching three works of grace: the new birth, receipt of entire sanctification, and baptism with the Holy Spirit accompanied by glossolalia. Finished Work Pentecostals broke away from the Holiness Pentecostals before further partitioning into Trinitarian and nontrinitarian branches, with the latter forming Oneness Pentecostalism.{{cite book |last1=Anderson |first1=Allan |title=An Introduction to Pentecostalism: Global Charismatic Christianity |date=13 May 2004 |location=Cambridge |publisher=Cambridge University Press |isbn=978-0-521-53280-8 |page=47 |language=English|quote=Those who resisted Durham's teaching and remained in the 'three-stage' camp were Seymour, Crawford and Parham, and Bishops Charles H. Mason, A.J. Tomlinson and J.H. King, respectively leaders of the Church of God in Christ, the Church of God (Cleveland) and the Pentecostal Holiness Church. Tomlinson and King each issued tirades against the 'finished work' doctrine in their periodicals, but by 1914 some 60 percent of all North American Pentecostals had embraced Durham's position. ... The 'Finished Work' controversy was only the first of many subsequent divisions in North American Pentecostalism. Not only did Pentecostal churches split over the question of sanctification as a distinct experience, but a more fundamental and acrimonious split erupted in 1916 over the doctrine of the Trinity. ... The 'New Issue' was a schism in the ranks of the 'Finished Work' Pentecostals that began as a teaching that the correct formula for baptism is 'in the name of Jesus' and developed into a dispute about the Trinity. It confirmed for Holiness Pentecostals that they should have no further fellowship with the 'Finished Work' Pentecostals, who were in 'heresy'.}}{{cite book |last=Levinson |first=David |year=1996 |title=Religion: A Cross-cultural Encyclopedia |location=Santa Barbara, California |publisher=ABC-Clio |isbn=978-0-87436-865-9 |page=151 |language=English |quote=The Finished Work Pentecostals believed that conversion and sanctification were a single act of grace. The Assemblies of God, created in 1914, became the first Finished Work denomination.}} Finished Work Pentecostals rejected the Wesleyan doctrines of outward holiness and Christian perfection, which Holiness Pentecostals teach is an instantaneous, definitive second work of grace in which the baptized person's soul is cleansed of its original sin and perfected.{{cite book |last1=Stewart |first1=Adam S. |title=Handbook of Pentecostal Christianity |date=15 April 2012 |publisher=Cornell University Press |isbn=978-1-60909-047-0 |language=en |quote=By 1910 Durham had become convinced that the Holiness doctrine that sanctification was a "second work of grace" was an error. This doctrine presented sanctification as something that happened at a specific moment subsequent to conversion. Holiness preachers often described this as an instantaneous experience of "entire sanctification" or "Christian perfection." Durham's strenuous opposition to the doctrine was controversial because it was a common doctrine among Pentecostals of his day; indeed, it was a doctrine that Durham himself had previously preached. ... Durham's break with the Holiness tradition was not so much that he believed sanctification was provided through the cross of Christ, but, rather, because of the implications that he made from this; namely, he taught a two-stage Pentecostal experience of conversion and then baptism in the Holy Spirit, rather than the three-stage Pentecostal experience his Pentecostal-Holiness counterparts were teaching (conversion, sanctification, and then baptism in the Holy Spirit).}}{{cite book |last1=Demarest |first1=Bruce |title=The Cross and Salvation (Hardcover): The Doctrine of Salvation |date=1 August 2006 |publisher=Crossway |isbn=978-1-4335-1957-4 |page=393-394 |language=en|quote=Holiness Pentecostals ... trace their roots to the nineteenth century Wesleyan-Holiness revival. They identify three instantaneous works of grace, as follows. (1) The regenerating work of grace includes justification and the new birth. Here God forgives sins and imputes to believers Christ's righteousness. (2) A post-conversion, sanctifying work of grace eradicates the Adamic nature and completely purifies the Christian's heart and mind. Following Wesley, the believer's state following this second blessing is known as "entire sanctification," "Christian perfection," or "perfect love." The second work of grace renders believers purified vessels fit for the Spirit's filling. The Pentecostal Holiness Church affirms, "We believe that entire sanctification is an instantaneous, definite second work of grace, obtainable by faith on the part of the fully justified believer." (3) The empowering work of grace represents the Pentecostal experience of baptism in the Spirit. Here the Holy Spirit takes full possession of perfected believers. Tongues-speaking represents the initial sign that this Spirit-baptism has occurred. The Church of God (Cleveland, Tennessee) sums up the sequence as follows: "We believe...in sanctification subsequent to the new birth...and in the baptism of the Holy Ghost subsequent to a clean heart." ... Other Pentecostal groups arose independently of Wesleyanism. The Assemblies of God and related groups deny the experience of entire sanctification that destroys inbred sin.}} The Oneness Pentecostal movement began in 1913 as the result of doctrinal disputes within the nascent Pentecostal movement,{{Cite web|last=Gill|first=Kenneth|title=Dividing Over Oneness|url=https://www.christianitytoday.com/history/issues/issue-58/dividing-over-oneness.html|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201119024652/https://www.christianitytoday.com/history/issues/issue-58/dividing-over-oneness.html|archive-date=19 November 2020|access-date=19 November 2020|website=Christianity Today|date=April 1998 |language=en}}{{cite web|url=https://www.namb.net/apologetics/resource/oneness-pentecostalism/|title=Oneness Pentecostalism|first1=Tal|last1=Davis|website=North American Mission Board|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201119020648/https://www.namb.net/apologetics/resource/oneness-pentecostalism/|archive-date=19 November 2020|access-date=19 November 2020|language=en-US}} specifically within the Assemblies of God, the first Finished Work Pentecostal denomination.

File:Urshan-andrew-fig1.jpg, an early leader in the Oneness Pentecostal movement]]

In April 1913, at the Apostolic Faith World-Wide Camp Meeting held in Arroyo Seco, California, conducted by Maria Woodworth-Etter, organizers promised that God would "deal with them, giving them a unity and power that we have not yet known."{{cite web |last1=Warner |first1=Wayne |date=Spring 1983 |title=World-Wide Apostolic Faith Camp Meeting |url=https://archives.ifphc.org/pdf/Heritage/1983_01.pdf |website=The Assemblies of God Archives |publisher=Assemblies of God Heritage}}{{cite book |first1=Edith Waldvogel |last1=Blumhofer |year=1993 |chapter=Baptism and the Trinity |chapter-url={{Google books|tKuTIfCPeJwC|page=127|plainurl=yes}} |page=127 |title=Restoring the Faith: The Assemblies of God, Pentecostalism, and American Culture |publisher=University of Illinois Press |isbn=978-0-252-06281-0 }} Canadian R.E. McAlister preached what was described by some as a "new revelation" (though others interpreted it as a rediscovery of apostolic practice{{cite journal |last1=Hogsten |first1=Chaplain Doug |title=The Monadic Formula of Water Baptism: A Quest for Primitivism via a Christocentric and Restorationist Impluse |journal=Journal of Pentecostal Theology |date=1 January 2008 |volume=17 |issue=1 |pages=70–95 |doi=10.1163/174552508X331989 |url=https://brill.com/view/journals/pent/17/1/article-p70_8.xml |access-date=7 May 2025 |language=en |issn=0966-7369}}) that a baptismal formula in "the name of Jesus" only was to be preferred over the Trinitarian formula "Father, Son, and Holy Ghost" found in Matthew 28:19, pointing rather to Acts 2:38.{{cite book |last1=Weaver |first1=C. Douglas |author1-link=Doug Weaver |title=The healer-prophet, William Marrion Branham: a study of the prophetic in American Pentecostalism |date=2000 |publisher=Mercer University Press |location=Macon, GA |isbn=9780865547100 |page=16 |edition=2 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=0mQUxz82-08C&pg=PA16 |access-date=3 November 2023 |quote=In 1913, at a World Wide Pentecostal Camp Meeting in Los Angeles, a well-known Canadian Pentecostal, Robert T. McAlister, preached a sermon in which he declared that the baptismal formula of Acts 2:38 (in the name of Jesus Christ) was to be preferred over the Trinitarian formula of Matthew 28:19 (in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost), because the former was the one used by the early Church.}}{{Cite web |title=Oneness Pentecostalism |url=https://religionfacts.com/oneness-pentecostalism |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220109041333/https://religionfacts.com/oneness-pentecostalism |archive-date=9 January 2022 |access-date=9 January 2022 |website=ReligionFacts}} The revelation immediately caused controversy, with Frank Denny, a Pentecostal missionary to China, jumping on the platform and trying to censor McAlister.{{Cite journal |last1=Barba |first1=Lloyd |last2=Johnson |first2=Andrea Shan |date=2018 |title=The new issue: A pproaches to oneness P entecostalism in the U nited S tates |url=https://compass.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/rec3.12288 |journal=Religion Compass |language=en |volume=12 |issue=11 |doi=10.1111/rec3.12288 |issn=1749-8171}}

McAlister's revelation inspired a young minister named John G. Schaepe. After all-night prayer and bible study, he proclaimed the following day that he had also received a private revelation against Trinitarian baptism.{{cite news|last1=Reckart|first1=Sr. Gary P.|title=Great Cloud Of Witnesses|publisher=Apostolic Theological Bible College|page=124}}{{cite book|title=Dictionary of Pentecostal and Charismatic Movements|first1=C. M. Jr.|last1=Rabic|chapter=John G. Schaepe|last2=Burgess|last3=McGee|pages=768–769}}{{cite journal|first1=J.|last1=Schaepe|title=A Remarkable Testimony|journal=Meat in Due Season|date=21 August 1917|page=4}}{{Cite book |last=French |first=Talmadge L. |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/j.ctt1cgf8cm |title=Early Inter-racial Oneness Pentecostalism: G.T. Haywood and the Pentecostal Assemblies of the World (1901-1931) |date=2014 |publisher=The Lutterworth Press |isbn=978-0-227-17477-7 |edition=1 |pages=63 |doi=10.2307/j.ctt1cgf8cm |jstor=j.ctt1cgf8cm |quote=John Schaepe, who received Spirit baptism at Azusa, February 23, 1907, received a "revelation" six years later of Jesus' Name baptism at Arroyo Seco. Many, including Harry Morse, heard him shouting the news throughout the camp in the early morning hours, persuading many of the new doctrine, and impacting Ewart himself, with whom Schaepe's Los Angeles ministry was associated.}} His judgment was accepted by several others in the camp and given further theological development by a minister named Frank Ewart.{{cite book|last1=Bernard|first1=David|title=A History of Christian Doctrine, Volume Three: The Twentieth Century A.D. 1900–2000|date=1999|publisher=Word Aflame Press|location=Hazelwood, MO|page=87|isbn=978-1567222210}} Ewart also continued to promote the theology of the movement through his periodical Meat in Due Season and became the primary developer of the doctrine in its early stages.{{cite journal |last1=Fudge |first1=Thomas A. |title=Did E.N. Bell Convert to the ’New Issue’ in 1915? |journal=Journal of Pentecostal Theology |date=1 January 2001 |volume=9 |issue=1 |pages=122–140 |doi=10.1163/17455251-00901007 |url=https://brill.com/view/journals/pent/9/1/article-p122_7.xml?rskey=jPuhlN&result=6 |access-date=7 May 2025 |language=en |issn=0966-7369}} Another attendee of the camp meeting, evangelist Glenn Cook took the message with him back to the Midwest.{{cite web |last1=Gimpel |first1=Richard W. |title=The Oneness Theology of the United Pentecostal Church International as Articulated By David K. Bernard |url=https://digitalshowcase.oru.edu/tren/1894 |website=Oral Roberts University |publisher=Theological Research Exchange Network |access-date=7 May 2025 |date=2016}} Although early proponents described their doctrinal insights as a “revelation,” both Oneness and Trinitarian Pentecostals affirmed that all doctrine must be grounded in Scripture, not independent of it.{{cite journal |title=Oneness-Trinitarian Pentecostal Final Report, 2002-2007 |journal=Pneuma: The Journal of the Society for Pentecostal Studies |date=2008 |volume=30 |issue=2 |pages=203–224 |doi=10.1163/157007408X346311 |url=https://brill.com/view/journals/pneu/30/2/article-p203_2.xml |access-date=7 May 2025 |language=en |issn=0272-0965}}

A year later, on April 15, 1914, Ewart and Cook publicly baptized each other specifically in "the name of the Lord Jesus Christ" in a tank set up in Ewart's crusade tent.{{cite book |last1=Tyson |first1=James L. |title=The Early Pentecostal Revival |date=1992 |publisher=Word Aflame Press |location=Hazelwood, Missouri |isbn=0-932581-92-7 |page=171}}{{cite book |last1=Bernard |first1=David |title=A History of Christian Doctrine 1900-2000 Volume 3 |date=1999 |publisher=Word Aflame Press |location=Hazelwood, Missouri |isbn=0-932581-91-9}} This is considered to be the historical point when Oneness Pentecostalism emerged as a distinct movement. As it grew, the movement added prominent leaders as G. T. Haywood, the African-American pastor of a large Assembiles of God church in Indianapolis, IN, Franklin Small from Winnipeg, Canada, and Andrew Urshan, a Persian evangelist. The soteriology of the Oneness movement was primarily outlined by these three men, who identified Acts 2:38 as the primary plan of salvation.{{cite journal |last1=Reed |first1=David Arthur |last2=Benthe |first2=H. F. |last3=Haberland |first3=G. |title=Origins and Development of the Theology of Oneness Pentecostalism in the United States |journal=Pneuma: The Journal of the Society for Pentecostal Studies |date=1 January 1979 |volume=1 |issue=1 |pages=31–37 |doi=10.1163/157007479X00046 |url=https://doi.org/10.1163/157007479X00046 |access-date=7 May 2025 |language=en |issn=0272-0965}}

A number of ministers claimed they were baptizing in Jesus' name before 1914, including Urshan and Small. Urshan claimed to have baptized others in Jesus' name as early as 1910,{{cite book |last1=Urshan |first1=Andrew D. |title=Pentecost as it was in the early 1900's |date=1 January 1987 |publisher=Apostolic Book Publishers |page=77 |edition=revised}}{{cite book |last1=Urshan |first1=Andrew D. |title=The Life story of Andrew Bar David Urshan: An autobiography of the author's first forty years |date=1 January 1967 |publisher=Apostolic Press |page=102}}{{cite journal |first1=E. N. |last1=Bell |title=The Sad New Issue |journal=Weekly Evangel |year=1915 |issue=93 |pages=3 }}{{cite book |last1=Anderson |first1=Robert |title=Vision of the Disinherited: The Making of American Pentecostalism |date=July 1, 1980 |publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn=978-1565630000}} and Small claimed to have baptized 30 in Jesus' name only at the Annual

Pentecostal Convention in Winnipeg in November 1913.{{cite book |last1=Reed |first1=David A. |title=Winds from the North |date=1 January 2010 |publisher=Brill |isbn=978-90-04-19251-5 |pages=191–213 |url=https://brill.com/display/book/edcoll/9789004192515/Bej.9789004185746.i-293_011.xml |access-date=8 May 2025 |language=en |chapter=Chapter Nine. Oneness Seed On Canadian Soil: Early Developments Of Oneness Pentecostalism}}{{cite book |last1=Wilkinson |first1=Michael |title=Canadian Pentecostalism: transition and transformation |date=2009 |publisher=McGill-Queen's University Press |location=Montréal |isbn=9780773534575 |edition=1}} In addition, Charles Parham was recorded baptizing using a similar formula during the Azusa Street revival;{{cite book |last1=Johnston |first1=Robin |title=Howard A. Goss: A Pentecostal Life |date=24 September 2010 |publisher=Word Aflame Press |language=English|isbn=978-0757740299

}} until 1914, both Parham and William J. Seymour baptized using this Christological formula but repudiated the new movement's nontrinitarian teachings amidst the controversy as they baptized as Christocentric Trinitarians.{{Cite book |last=French |first=Talmadge L. |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/j.ctt1cgf8cm |title=Early Inter-racial Oneness Pentecostalism: G.T. Haywood and the Pentecostal Assemblies of the World (1901-1931) |date=2014 |publisher=The Lutterworth Press |isbn=978-0-227-17477-7 |edition=1 |pages=57–58|doi=10.2307/j.ctt1cgf8cm |jstor=j.ctt1cgf8cm }} Other baptisms in the name of Jesus were performed as far back as the 19th century, prior to the development of Pentecostal or Oneness theology{{em-dash}}though some used justification similar to that of the later Oneness Pentecostals.{{cite journal |last1=Hogsten |first1=Chaplain Doug |title=The Monadic Formula of Water Baptism: A Quest for Primitivism via a Christocentric and Restorationist Impluse |journal=Journal of Pentecostal Theology |date=1 January 2008 |volume=17 |issue=1 |pages=70–95 |doi=10.1163/174552508X331989 |url=https://brill.com/view/journals/pent/17/1/article-p70_8.xml |access-date=8 May 2025 |language=en |issn=0966-7369}}

In the Assemblies of God, the re-baptisms in only Jesus' name caused a backlash from many Trinitarians. Particularly controversial was the re-baptism of E. N. Bell{{em-dash}}who was the chairman of the Assemblies of God at the time{{em-dash}}by Indianapolis pastor L.V. Roberts at a camp meeting in Jackson, TN in 1915. Though he remained Trinitarian, the re-baptism remained a source of confusion over his views. The Oneness position on both baptism and the Godhead became known by the term "New Issue", which was widely used during the controversy.{{cite journal |last1=Baker |first1=Josiah |title=‘One Lord, One Faith, One Baptism’?: Between Trinitarian Ecumenism and Oneness Pentecostals |journal=Journal of Pentecostal Theology |date=17 February 2020 |volume=29 |issue=1 |pages=95–112 |doi=10.1163/17455251-02901006 |url=https://brill.com/view/journals/pent/29/1/article-p95_95.xml |access-date=7 May 2025 |issn=0966-7369}} It became an issue in the General Council of 1914, and in 1915, the General Council specifically focused on the issue, resulting in an "appeal for tolerance" by the Assemblies of God.{{cite web |last1=Johns |first1=Jackie David |title=Pentecostal Churches |url=https://referenceworks.brill.com/display/entries/ECO/P.65.xml |website=The Encyclopedia of Christianity Online |publisher=Brill |access-date=7 May 2025 |language=en |date=2011}} The issue finally came to a head in October 1916 at the fourth General Council, where the mostly Trinitarian leadership, fearing that the new movement might overtake their organization, drew up a doctrinal statement affirming the truth of Trinitarianism. When the resulting Assemblies of God Statement of Fundamental Truths was adopted, a third of the Assemblies' ministers left to form Oneness congregations.{{cite journal |doi=10.1163/157007403776113224 |title=An Emerging Magisterium? The Case of the Assemblies of God |journal=Pneuma: The Journal of the Society for Pentecostal Studies|volume=25 |issue=2 |pages=164–215 |year=2003 |last1=Robeck |first1=Cecil }} After this separation, most Oneness believers became relatively isolated from other Pentecostals and Nicene Christianity more broadly.

Several small Oneness ministerial groups formed during and after the controversy between 1914 and 1916. Many of these groups ultimately merged into the Pentecostal Assemblies of the World (PAW), while others remained independent (e.g., the Apostolic Faith Mission Church of God).

The early PAW was racially diverse: it had both strong African-American representation in the North and white representation in the South. The organization's headquarters was located in Indianapolis, IN, and many of the organization's conferences were held in the North where segregation laws were not in place. However, as the organization grew, divisions occurred within the Pentecostal Assemblies of the World over the role of women in ministry, usage of wine or grape juice in communion observance, divorce and remarriage, and the proper mode of water baptism. Additionally, there were also reports of racial tension in the organization. White Southerners expressed objections to the logistical and financial burdens associated with annual travel to the North, and many African Americans held significant leadership positions within the PAW. In particular, Haywood served as the PAW's general secretary and signed all ministerial credentials.{{cite book |last1=Clanton |first1=Arthur L. |last2=Clanton |first2=Charles E. |title=United we stand |date=1995 |publisher=Word Aflame Press |location=Hazelwood, MO |isbn=1567221343}}

Amid these tensions, White Southerners broke away from the PAW in 1924, and three new organizations were formed by 1925: the Apostolic Churches of Jesus Christ, Emmanuel's Church in Jesus Christ, and the Pentecostal Ministerial Alliance.{{Cite web |title=Pentecostal Ministerial Alliance (1924 - 1932) |url=https://www.thearda.com/us-religion/group-profiles/groups?D=1205 |access-date=2023-10-19 |website=Association of Religion Data Archives}} The former two later merged to become the Apostolic Church of Jesus Christ,{{Cite web|title=History of the Apostolic Church of Jesus Christ|url=https://www.acjcii.org/history|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201119011948/https://www.acjcii.org/history|archive-date=19 November 2020|access-date=19 November 2020|website=ACJC International|language=en}} and the latter became the Pentecostal Church, Inc. (PCI). In 1945, a merger of two predominantly-white Oneness groups—the PCI and the Pentecostal Assemblies of Jesus Christ—resulted in the formation of the United Pentecostal Church International (UPCI).{{Cite web |title=About the UPCI |url=https://upci.org/about-the-upci/ |access-date=2023-10-19 |website=United Pentecostal Church International |language=en-US}} Toronto pastor Howard Goss became the first UPCI general superintendent after previously holding credentials with the PCI and preaching the Oneness message, despite being affiliated with the Pentecostal Assemblies of Canada until 1937.{{cite book |editor1-last=Melton |editor1-first=J. Gordon |title=Melton's Encyclopedia of American Religions |date=2017 |publisher=Gale |pages=1178-1179 |edition=9th |url=http://link.gale.com/apps/doc/CX3709002347/GVRL?u=umuser&sid=bookmark-GVRL |access-date=7 May 2025 |chapter=2140 {{!}} United Pentecostal Church International [Canada]}} Starting with 521 member-churches, it became the largest and most influential Oneness Pentecostal organization, reporting a membership of over 5.75 million in 2024.

A majority of Black Pentecostal churches in both the United States and United Kingdom remain Oneness Pentecostal.{{cite web |last1=Hollenweger |first1=Walter J. |title=Pentecostalism |url=https://referenceworks.brill.com/display/entries/ECO/P.66.xml |website=The Encyclopedia of Christianity Online |publisher=Brill |access-date=7 May 2025 |language=en |date=2011}} In Great Britain particularly, there is a substantial presence of Oneness African-Caribbean churches, originating from Oneness Pentecostal influence in the poor urban centers of North America and the villages of the Caribbean islands.{{cite web |last1=Jelks |first1=Randal M. |last2=Gerloff |first2=Roswith I. H. |title=Black Churches |url=https://referenceworks.brill.com/display/entries/ECO/B319.xml |website=The Encyclopedia of Christianity Online |publisher=Brill |access-date=7 May 2025 |language=en |date=2011}} Additionally, Oneness Pentecostalism has seen growth in Western Europe through the evangelistic efforts of African organizations.

The Oneness movement has grown throughout South America. The United Pentecostal Church of Colombia (the national branch of the UPCI) is the second-largest denomination in the country behind the Catholic Church,{{cite web |last1=Zurlo |first1=Gina A. |title=World Christian Database |url=https://worldchristiandatabase.org/data/ |website=World Christian Database |access-date=7 May 2025}} whereas countries such as Brazil, Argentina, and Chile have seen indigenous growth complemented by denominations from the United States.

The Asian Pacific region has seen substantial growth by Oneness Pentecostal organizations, especially in countries such as Indonesia and Australia. Particularly, in the Philippines, there are over two million adherents across more than 120 different Oneness organizations. In China, True Jesus Church became the largest indigenous Christian group in China in 1949 and has seen extensive growth in Singapore, the Philippines, Australia, Europe, and the Americas.

Oneness Pentecostalism has a historical precedent in the Modalistic Monarchianism of the fourth century.{{Cite web|title=Modalistic Monarchianism|url=https://www.ligonier.org/learn/devotionals/modalistic-monarchianism/|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201119015708/https://www.ligonier.org/learn/devotionals/modalistic-monarchianism/|archive-date=November 19, 2020|access-date=19 November 2020|website=Ligonier Ministries|language=en}} The early movement affirmed two central aspects of later Oneness belief:

1. There is one indivisible God with no distinction of persons or components within God's eternal essence.
2. Jesus was the manifestation, human personification, and/or incarnation of the same singular God.{{cite book |first1=Wolfgang |last1=Vondey |title=Pentecostalism, A Guide for the Perplexed |publisher=T&T Clark |year=2012 |page=77 }}

Oneness Pentecostals contend, based on Colossians 2:9, that the concept of God's personhood is reserved for the immanent and incarnate presence of Jesus only.{{cite book |first1=Kerry D. |last1=McRoberts |chapter=The Holy Trinity |title=Systematic Theology |editor1-first=Stanley M. |editor1-last=Horton |location=Springfield, MO |publisher=Logion |year=2007 |page=173 }}

Oneness theology maintains that God is a singular spirit who is absolutely and indivisibly unitary, not three persons, individuals, or minds.{{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=10}}Talmadge French, Our God is One, Voice and Vision Publishers, 1999, {{ISBN|978-1-888251-20-3}}.{{page needed|date=September 2017}}{{cite book |last1=Norris |first1=David |title=I AM: A Oneness Pentecostal Theology |date=4 September 2009 |publisher=Word Aflame Press |isbn=978-1565630000 |page=5 |chapter=Oneness Pentecostalism |quote=On the other hand, Oneness adherents decry any ontological distinction between persons "in the Godhead."}} They contend that the terms "Father", "Son", and "Holy Ghost" (or "Holy Spirit") are mere titles reflecting the different personal manifestations of God in the universe.{{Cite web|date=10 June 2009|title=Oneness Pentecostalism: Heresy, Not Hairsplitting|url=https://www.equip.org/article/oneness-pentecostalism-heresy-not-hairsplitting/|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201119015133/https://www.equip.org/article/oneness-pentecostalism-heresy-not-hairsplitting/|archive-date=19 November 2020|access-date=19 November 2020|website=Christian Research Institute}} To Oneness believers, the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit are three manifestations of one personal God.{{Cite web|title=Oneness Pentecostalism|url=http://www.religionfacts.com/oneness-pentecostalism|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201119024500/http://www.religionfacts.com/oneness-pentecostalism|archive-date=19 November 2020|access-date=19 November 2020|website=ReligionFacts|language=en}}

Oneness theologians often quote a phrase used by early pioneers of the movement: "God was manifested as the Father in creation, the Son in redemption, and the Holy Ghost in emanation."{{cite web |url=http://www.upcbaypoint.com/onegodtruth.html |title=The Truth About One God |website=United Pentecostal Church of Bay Point |access-date=21 August 2015 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150817001820/http://www.upcbaypoint.com/onegodtruth.html |archive-date=17 August 2015}} However, Oneness theologian David Norris points out that this does not mean that Oneness Pentecostals believe that God can only be one of those manifestations at a time, which may be suggested by the quote.{{cite book |last1=Norris |first1=David |title=I AM: A Oneness Pentecostal Theology |date=4 September 2009 |publisher=Word Aflame Press |isbn=978-1565630000 |page=238 |chapter=Epilogue |quote=Sometimes, in a kind of echo of Haywood's profession, one will encounter a Pentecostal preacher offering a sound byte about God: "He is the Father in creation, Son in redemption, and Holy Spirit in sanctification." But they do not mean (as Haywood did not) that there is some sort of "dilation" where the Father became the Son (without remainder and ceased to be the Father) and then, subsequently the Son became the Spirit (and ceased to be the Son).}}

According to Oneness theology, the Father and the Holy Spirit are the same personal God. It teaches that the term "Holy Spirit" is a descriptive title for God manifesting himself through the broader Christian Church.{{cite book|last1=Bernard|first1=David|url=http://ourworld.compuserve.com/homepages/pentecostal/One-Ch6.htm|title=The Oneness of God|publisher=Word Aflame Press|year=1993|isbn=978-0-912315-12-6|chapter=The Father is the Holy Ghost|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080209202633/http://ourworld.compuserve.com/homepages/pentecostal/One-Ch6.htm|archive-date=February 9, 2008}}{{cite book|first1=David| last1=Bernard| title=A Handbook of Basic Doctrines|publisher=Word Aflame Press|date= 1 September 1988|isbn=978-0932581372}}{{page needed|date=September 2017}} These two titles—as well as others—do not reflect divisible persons within the Godhead, but rather two different ways in which the one God reveals himself to his creatures. Thus, when the Old Testament (Hebrew Bible) speaks of "the Lord God and his Spirit" in Isaiah 48:16, it does not indicate two distinct persons, according to Oneness theology. Instead, "the Lord" means God in all his glory and transcendence, while "his Spirit" refers to his Holy Spirit that moved upon and spoke to the Hebrew prophets. Oneness theologian David K. Bernard states that this passage does not imply two persons any more than the numerous scriptural references to a man and his spirit or soul (such as in Luke 12:19) imply two "persons" existing within one body.{{cite book |first1=David |last1=Bernard |chapter=The Lord God and His Spirit |chapter-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080212180425/http://ourworld.compuserve.com:80/homepages/pentecostal/One-Ch7.htm |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=16 February 2008 |title=The Oneness of God |publisher=Word Aflame Press |year=1993 |isbn=978-0-912315-12-6 }}{{page needed|date=September 2017}}

Bernard asserts that it is unbiblical to describe God as a plurality of persons in any sense of the word, "regardless of what persons meant in ancient church history."{{cite book |first1=David |last1=Bernard |chapter=Trinitarianism: An Evaluation |chapter-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080212180425/http://ourworld.compuserve.com:80/homepages/pentecostal/One-Ch7.htm |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=16 February 2008 |title=The Oneness of God |publisher=Word Aflame Press |year=1993 |isbn=978-0-912315-12-6 |page=287 |quote=Speaking of God as a plurality of persons further violates the biblical concept of God. Regardless of what persons meant in ancient church history, today the word definitely connotes a plurality of individuals, personalities, minds, wills and bodies. Even in ancient church history, we have shown that the vast majority of believers saw it as a departure from biblical monotheism.}}

Oneness Pentecostals maintain that early Christianity taught a form of strict monotheism consistent with their view, contrasting their views not only with Trinitarianism but equally with the theology espoused by the Latter-day Saints (who believe that Christ was a separate god from the Father and the Spirit) and Jehovah's Witnesses (who see him as the first-begotten Son of God and a subordinate deity to the Father). The Oneness position as nontrinitarian places them at odds with the members of most Christian denominations, and some apologetics ministries and writers have categorized Oneness groups as cults.{{Cite web |last=Lang |first=J. Stephen |date=1 April 2002 |title='Jesus Only' Isn't Enough |url=https://www.christianitytoday.com/ct/2002/april1/22.60.html |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201119024127/https://www.christianitytoday.com/ct/2002/april1/22.60.html |archive-date=19 November 2020 |access-date=19 November 2020 |website=Christianity Today |language=en}}{{Cite journal|title=The Other Pentecostals|last1=Grady|first1=J.|journal=Charisma Magazine|date=June 1997}}{{Cite web|last1=S|first1=Fred|last2=On|first2=Ers|date=3 May 2014|title=Oneness Pentecostalism: An Analysis|url=https://scriptoriumdaily.com/oneness-pentecostalism-an-analysis/|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220109042320/https://scriptoriumdaily.com/oneness-pentecostalism-an-analysis/|archive-date=9 January 2022|access-date=9 January 2022|website=The Scriptorium Daily|language=en-US}}Burgos Jr., Michael R., Against Oneness Pentecostalism: An Exegetical-Theological Critique, 2nd Ed., (Winchester, CT: Church Militant Pub., 2016), {{ISBN|978-0692644065}}, 181-191; Hindson, Ed, Caner, Ergun eds., The Popular Encyclopedia of Apologetics, (Eugene, OR: Harvest House Pub., 2008), 371-376, {{ISBN|978-0736920841}}; Nichols, Larry A., Mather, George A., Schmidt, Alvin J., Encyclopedic Dictionary of Cults, Sects, and World Religions, Rev. and Updated Ed., (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2006), 221-225, {{ISBN|978-0310239543}}. However, David A. Reed, a Trinitarian scholar at Wycliffe College and a leading academic authority on Oneness Pentecostalism, disagrees.{{cite journal |last1=Reed |first1=David |title=Oneness Pentecostalism: Problems and Possibilities for Pentecostal Theology |journal=Journal of Pentecostal Theology |date=1 January 1997 |volume=5 |issue=11 |pages=73–93 |doi=10.1177/096673699700501104 |url=https://brill.com/view/journals/pent/5/11/article-p73_4.xml |access-date=7 May 2025 |language=en |issn=0966-7369}} He contends in his book "In Jesus’ Name": The History and Beliefs of Oneness Pentecostals that the movement should be considered theologically heterodox, rather than heretical or cultish.{{cite book |last1=Reed |first1=David A. |title="In Jesus name": the history and beliefs of Oneness Pentecostals |date=2008 |publisher=Deo Publishing |location=Blandford Forum |isbn=1905679017}}{{cite journal |last1=French |first1=Talmadge |title="In Jesus' Name": A Key Resource on the Worldwide Pentecostal Phenomenon & the Oneness, Apostolic, or Jesus' Name Movement |journal=Pneuma: The Journal of the Society for Pentecostal Studies |date=2009 |volume=31 |issue=2 |pages=267–274 |doi=10.1163/027209609X12470371387921}}

Oneness believers are frequently identified with Modalism.{{cite book |first1=David |last1=Bernard |chapter=The Council of Nicea |chapter-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071130181956/http://ourworld.compuserve.com:80/homepages/pentecostal/One-Ch11.htm |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=16 February 2008 |title=The Oneness of God |publisher=Word Aflame Press |year=1993 |isbn=978-0-912315-12-6}} Additionally, some critics{{em-dash}}usually individuals rather than denominational bodies{{em-dash}}have also alleged that Oneness theology bears resemblance to Arianism or Semi-Arianism.{{cite web |title=Exchanged Life Outreach |url=http://www.exchangedlife.com/Sermons/topical/trinity.shtml |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110710211315/http://www.exchangedlife.com/Sermons/topical/trinity.shtml |archive-date=10 July 2011 |access-date=20 May 2009}} While Bernard acknowledges similarities between Oneness theology, Modalistic Monarchianism, and the teachings of Sabellius, he rejects associations with Patripassianism, Arianism or Subordinationism that have historically been linked to some modalistic views. Bernard argues that Oneness theology represents a distinct, biblical form of modalism that differs from some traditional formulations and interpretations historically deemed heretical.

According to Oneness theology, the Son of God did not exist (in any substantial sense) before the incarnation of Jesus of Nazareth except as the logos (or word) of God. They believe that the humanity of Jesus did not exist before the Incarnation, but that Jesus pre-existed in his deity (not his humanity) as the eternal God. This belief is supported by the lack of Jesus' incarnate presence anywhere in the Old Testament (Hebrew Bible).{{cite book|last1=Bernard|first1=David|url=http://ourworld.compuserve.com/homepages/pentecostal/One-Ch5.htm|title=The Oneness of God|publisher=Word Aflame Press|year=1993|isbn=978-0-912315-12-6|chapter=Begotten Son or Eternal Son?|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080411183805/http://ourworld.compuserve.com/homepages/pentecostal/One-Ch5.htm|archive-date=11 April 2008}} Thus, Oneness Pentecostals believe that the title "Son" only applied to the Christ when he became flesh on earth. The Father in this theology embodies the divine attributes of the Godhead, and the Son embodies the human aspects. Oneness Pentecostals believe that Jesus and the Father are one essential person, though operating in different modes.

Oneness author W. L. Vincent writes, "The argument against the 'Son being his own Father' is a red herring. It should be evident that Oneness theology acknowledges a clear distinction between the Father and Son–in fact this has never been disputed by any Christological view that I am aware of."

Oneness theology holds that "the Word" in John 1:1 was God's mind or plan. Oneness Pentecostals believe that the Word was not a separate person from God but that it was the plan of God and God itself. Bernard writes in his book The Oneness View of Jesus Christ,

{{Blockquote|In the Old Testament, God's Word (dabar) was not a distinct person but was God speaking, or God disclosing Himself (Psalm 107:20; Isaiah 55:11). To the Greeks, the Word (logos) was not a distinct divine person, but reason as the controlling principle of the universe. The noun logos could mean thought (unexpressed word) as well as speech or action (expressed word). In John 1, the Word is God's self-revelation or self-disclosure. Before the Incarnation, the Word was the unexpressed thought, plan, reason, or mind of God.{{cite book|last1=Bernard|first1=David|title=The Oneness View of Jesus Christ|publisher=Word Aflame Press|year=1994|isbn=1-56722-020-7}}}}

Bernard additionally claims that the Greek word pros (translated as "with" in John 1:1) could also be translated as "pertaining to", meaning that John 1:1 could also be translated as (in his view) "The Word pertained to God and the Word was God."{{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 |pages=60–61 |archive-date=16 February 2008 |title=The Oneness of God |publisher=Word Aflame Press |year=1993 |isbn=978-0-912315-12-6}}

In the incarnation, Oneness believers hold that God put the Word (which was his divine plan) into action by manifesting himself in the form of the man Jesus, and thus "the Word became flesh".{{bibleverse|John|1:14|KJV}} As an extension, Oneness Pentecostalism argues that the incarnation was a singular event unlike anything God has done prior or will ever do again.{{cite book |last1=Norris |first1=David |title=I AM: A Oneness Pentecostal Theology |date=4 September 2009 |publisher=Word Aflame Press |isbn=978-1565630000 |page=161 |chapter=The Man Who Preexisted |quote=...and of course, the Incarnation is one of a kind-it is unique, as it is expressed in the rest of the verse.}} Oneness Pentecostals believe that the Word of John 1:1 does not imply a second pre-existent, divine person but that the Word is simply the plan of God, which was put into action through the incarnation.

{{Main|Hypostatic union}}

When discussing the Incarnation, Oneness theologians and authors often refer to a concept known as the dual nature of Christ, which is understood as the union of human and divine natures in the man Jesus. Bernard describes this concept in his book The Oneness of God, stating that Jesus "is both Spirit and flesh, God and man, Father and Son. On his human side, He is the Son of man; on his divine side, He is the Son of God and is the Father dwelling in the flesh."{{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 |chapter=Jesus is God |publisher=Word Aflame Press |year=1993 |isbn=978-0-912315-12-6 |pages=69–70}} Oneness Pentecostals see this not as two persons in one body but instead as two natures united in one person: Jesus.{{cite web |last1=Dulle |first1=Jason |title=The Dual Nature of Christ |url=https://www.onenesspentecostal.com/dualnature.htm |website=Institute for Biblical Studies |access-date=6 November 2021 |quote=...Jesus' natures never worked independent of one another. His two natures exist "without confusion, without change, without division, without separation; the difference of the natures having been in no wise taken away by reason of the union, but rather the properties of each being preserved...."}} Oneness believers see the mystery referred to in 1 Timothy 3:16 as referencing this concept of two natures being united in the one person of Jesus.{{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 |pages=63–64 |chapter=Jesus is God}}

Although the Oneness belief in the union of the divine and human into one person in Jesus is similar to the Chalcedonian formula, Chalcedonians disagree sharply with them over their opposition to Trinitarian dogma. Chalcedonians see Jesus as a single person uniting God the Son—the eternal second person of the Trinity—with human nature.{{Cite web |title=Catholic Encyclopedia: Hypostatic Union |url=https://www.newadvent.org/cathen/07610b.htm |access-date=2025-03-03 |website=www.newadvent.org}}{{Cite web |last=Weinandy |first=Thomas |title=The Hypostatic Union: History and Dogmatic Reality |url=https://churchlifejournal.nd.edu/articles/the-hypostatic-union-history-and-dogmatic-reality/ |archive-url=http://web.archive.org/web/20240223032701/https://churchlifejournal.nd.edu/articles/the-hypostatic-union-history-and-dogmatic-reality/ |archive-date=2024-02-23 |access-date=2025-03-03 |website=Church Life Journal |language=en-US}} Oneness believers, on the other hand, see Jesus as one single person uniting the one God himself with human nature as the Son of God.

Oneness Pentecostalism subscribes to the doctrine of sola scriptura in common with mainstream Pentecostals and other Protestants.{{Cite web|title=Pentecostals and Sola Scriptura|url=https://www.apostolictheology.org/2008/10/pentecostals-and-sola-scriptura.html|access-date=13 April 2021|language=en-GB|date=30 October 2008|website=Apostolic Theology}} They view the Bible as the inspired Word of God, and as absolutely inerrant in its contents (though not necessarily in every translation). They specifically reject the conclusions of church councils such as the First Council of Nicaea and the Nicene Creed. They believe that mainstream Christians have been misled by long-held and unchallenged "traditions of men".{{cite web|url=http://www.1lord1faith.org/wm/Oneness/1TrinDebate.htm|last1=Raddatz|first1=Tom|title=A Response to the Oneness-Trinity Debate|date=20 March 2005|access-date=31 March 2009|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20050320000616/http://www.1lord1faith.org/wm/Oneness/1TrinDebate.htm |archive-date=20 March 2005}}

The overwhelming emphasis on the person of Jesus shapes the content of a theology based on experience among both Oneness and Trinitarian Pentecostals. In principle, the doctrinal emphasis on Jesus attributes all divine qualities and functions to the Christ. What might, therefore, be called a 'Christological maximalism' in the Pentecostal doctrine of God among Oneness Pentecostals leads to a factual substitution of the three divine persons with the single person of Jesus. At the same time, Trinitarian Pentecostals typically elevate Jesus from the second person of the Trinity to the central figure of Christian faith and worship.{{cite book |first1=Wolfgang |last1=Vondey |title=Pentecostalism, A Guide for the Perplexed |publisher=Bloomsbury |year=2013 |page=84|isbn=978-0567522269

}}

Critics of Oneness theology commonly refer to its adherents as "Jesus Only", implying that they deny the existence of the Father and Holy Spirit. Most Oneness Pentecostals consider that term to be pejorative and a misrepresentation of their true beliefs on the issue.{{cite book|last1=Bernard|first1=David|title=A History of Christian Doctrine, Volume Three: The Twentieth Century A.D. 1900–2000|date=1999|publisher=Word Aflame Press|location=Hazelwood, MO|page=59|isbn=978-1567222210

}}{{cite web |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/religion/religions/christianity/subdivisions/pentecostal_1.shtml| title=Pentecostalism |website=BBC |access-date=18 October 2021 |date=2 July 2009 |quote="The Oneness movement is sometimes referred to as the "Jesus Only" churches, but this is a somewhat derogatory name and should be avoided." }} Oneness believers insist that while they do indeed believe in baptism only in the name of Jesus Christ, to describe them as "Jesus Only Pentecostals" implies a denial of the Father and Holy Spirit.

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 creeds at the councils of Nicaea (325 AD) and Constantinople (381 AD).{{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}}{{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}}{{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.}}

This historical claim is not unique to Oneness Pentecostals. Sources such as the Oxford Dictionary of the Christian Church, The Encyclopedia of Christianity, Encyclopædia Britannica and the Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy note that Trinitarianism developed over the early centuries as a response to theological controversies.{{cite web |last1=Cross |first1=F. L. |last2=Livingstone |first2=E. A. |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/acref-9780192802903-e-6964?rskey=c5emna&result=6941 |date=2009}}{{cite web |last1=Rolnick |first1=Philip A. |last2=Hoffmeyer |first2=John F. |title=Trinity |url=https://referenceworks.brill.com/display/entries/ECO/T.85.xml |website=The Encyclopedia of Christianity Online |publisher=Brill |access-date=7 May 2025 |language=en |date=2011}}{{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}}{{cite web |last1=Baber |first1=H.E. |title=Trinity |url=https://iep.utm.edu/trinity/#:~:text=The%20Trinity%20Doctrine%20was%20an,and%20the%20transcendent%20reality%20beyond. |website=Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy |access-date=6 May 2025}} 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 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.{{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}}{{cite book |last1=Brown |first1=Raymond Edward |title=An introduction to New Testament Christology |date=1994 |publisher=Paulist Press |location=New York |isbn=0809135167}}{{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=0800626834}}{{cite book |last1=Hurtado |first1=Larry W. |title=God in New Testament theology |date=2010 |publisher=Abingdon Press |location=Nashville, Tenn |isbn=0687465451}} Other scholars{{em-dash}}especially from secular and non-Christian backgrounds{{em-dash}}argue more critically that Trinitarian doctrine represents a theological departure from the monotheism of early Christianity. Bart Ehrman, an agnostic historian of Early Christianity, and 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.{{cite book |last1=Vermès |first1=Géza |title=Christian beginnings: from Nazareth to Nicaea |date=2013 |publisher=Yale University Press |location=New Haven |isbn=0300205953}}{{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}} Jewish scholars such as Daniel Boyarin, and Alan F. Segal have examined how 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 Boyarin and Segal document how concepts of divine agency informed early Christian understandings of Jesus, but neither identifies the Trinity as a biblically or historically continuous doctrine.{{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=1602585490}}{{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=1595588787 |edition=Paperback}}

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.{{cite book |last1=McGrath |first1=Alister E. |title=Christian theology: an introduction |date=2017 |publisher=Blackwell |location=Chichester, West Sussex |isbn=9781118869574 |edition=25}} Rahner, for instance, argued that "the economic Trinity is the immanent Trinity," proposing that God's self-revelation in salvation history corresponds to his eternal triune identity.{{cite book |last1=Rahner |first1=Karl |last2=Donceel |first2=J. |title=Trinity |date=2001 |publisher=Continuum International Publishing |location=London |isbn=0860120155}} They maintain that the Trinity, though not formulated in creedal terms during the apostolic era, accurately expresses the unity and distinction presented in Scripture.{{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}}{{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}}{{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}}

Scholars within the movement differ in their views on church history. Some church historians, such as Dr. Curtis Ward, Marvin Arnold, and William Chalfant, hold to a Successionist view, arguing that their movement has existed in every generation from the original day of Pentecost to the present day.{{cite book |first1= William |last1= Johnson |title= The Church Through the Ages |publisher= Bethesda |year= 2005 |page= 25 }}{{cite book |last= Arnold |first= Marvin M |title= Pentecost Before Azusa: The Acts of the Apostles, Chapter Two; Fanning the Flames of International Revival for Over 2000 Years |year= 2002 |publisher= Bethesda Ministries |isbn= 978-1-58169-091-0}}{{page needed|date= September 2017}}{{cite book |first1= William B. |last1= Chalfant |title= Ancient champions of oneness: an investigation of the doctrine of God in church history |publisher= Word Aflame Press |year= 2001 |isbn= 978-0-912315-41-6 | url = https://books.google.com/books?id=4oOXAAAACAAJ }}{{page needed|date= September 2017}} Ward has proposed a theory of an unbroken Pentecostal church lineage, claiming to have chronologically traced its perpetuity throughout the church's history.{{cite book |first1= William |last1= Johnson |title= The Church Through the Ages |publisher= Bethesda Books |year= 2005 |page= 27 }}

Others hold to a Restorationist view, believing that while the apostles and their church clearly taught Oneness doctrine and the Pentecostal experience, the early apostolic church went into apostasy, which eventually developed into the institutional forms seen in Roman Catholicism. For them, the contemporary Oneness Pentecostal movement began in America in the early 20th century during the latter days of the Azusa Street Revival. Restorationists such as Bernard and Norris deny any direct link between the church of the Apostolic Age and the current Oneness movement, believing that modern Oneness Pentecostalism is a total restoration originating from a step-by-step separation within Protestantism culminating in the final restoration of the early apostolic church.{{cite book|last1=Bernard|first1=David|url=http://ourworld.compuserve.com/homepages/pentecostal/One-Top.htm|title=The Oneness of God|publisher=Word Aflame Press|year=1993|isbn=978-0-912315-12-6|chapter=Oneness Believers In Church History|chapter-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071130145231/http://ourworld.compuserve.com:80/homepages/pentecostal/One-Ch10.htm|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080216034825/http://ourworld.compuserve.com/homepages/pentecostal/One-Top.htm|archive-date=16 February 2008}}{{page needed|date=September 2017}}{{cite book |last1=Norris |first1=David |title=I AM: A Oneness Pentecostal Theology |date=4 September 2009 |publisher=Word Aflame Press |isbn=978-1567227307 |pages=224–225 |chapter=Rediscovering Covenant}}

Both Successionists and Restorationists among Oneness Pentecostals assert that the early apostolic church believed in the Oneness and Jesus name baptism doctrines. David K. Bernard, a leading Oneness scholar, has written extensively on this subject in works such as The Oneness of God and A History of Christian Doctrine. Bernard traces Oneness adherents back to the first converted Jews of the Apostolic Age and asserts that there is no evidence of these converts having any difficulty comprehending the Christian Church's teachings and integrating them with their existing Judaic beliefs.{{cite book |last1=Bernard |first1=David K. |title=A History of Christian Doctrine - Volume 1 |date=1995 |publisher=Word Aflame Press |location=Hazelwood, MO |isbn=9781567220360}} In the post-apostolic era, Bernard contends that the earliest believers, including Hermas, Clement of Rome, Polycarp, Polycrates, Ignatius, and Irenaeus either held to a Oneness-like view of God or followed an "economic Trinity" model that did not reflect eternal personal distinctions within the Godhead. Bernard theorizes that the majority of all believers were Oneness adherents until the time of Tertullian, quoting Tertullian as writing against Praxeas:

{{Blockquote|The simple, indeed (I will not call them unwise or unlearned), who always constitute the majority of believers, are startled at the dispensation (of the Three in One), on the very ground that their very Rule of Faith withdraws them from the world's plurality of gods to the one only true God; not understanding that, although He is the one only God, He must yet be believed in with His own economy. The numerical order and distribution of the Trinity, they assume to be a division of the Unity.{{cite web|author=Tertullian|title=Sundry Popular Fears and Prejudices. The Doctrine of the Trinity in Unity Rescued from These Misapprehensions|url=http://www.ccel.org/ccel/schaff/anf03.v.ix.iii.html|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201119022850/https://www.ccel.org/ccel/schaff/anf03.v.ix.iii.html|archive-date=19 November 2020|work=Against Praxeas}}}}

As part of his broader critique, Bernard briefly references 19th-century Presbyterian minister Alexander Hislop, who associated Trinitarian doctrine with pagan religious influence, but does not rely on Hislop’s conclusions as a primary source. While contemporary scholars widely reject Hislop’s claims as unreliable,{{Cite book|last=Grabbe|first=Lester L.|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=K2hIY_E_ngYC&pg=PA28|title=Can a 'history of Israel' be Written?|date=1997-01-01|publisher=A&C Black|isbn=978-1-85075-669-9|language=en}}{{Cite web|title=Blind Spot: A Tale of Two Babylons|url=https://www.historicalblindness.com/blogandpodcast//blind-spot-a-tale-of-two-babylons|access-date=7 November 2021|website=Historical Blindness|language=en-US|date=26 March 2019|first1=Nathaniel|last1=Lloyd}}{{Cite web|date=23 April 2021|title=No, Easter wasn't named after a Mesopotamian goddess|url=https://www.aap.com.au/factcheck/no-easter-wasnt-named-after-a-mesopotamian-goddess/|access-date=9 January 2022|website=Australian Associated Press|language=en|quote=Church historian and emeritus professor of history at Massey University in Auckland, Peter Lineham, told AAP FactCheck: "Hislop's tendency was to think if it sounds the same it must be connected. That was the logic he used. It's a wonderful book because it's full of imagination and nonsense. It's fantastic but utterly misconceived."}} Bernard’s core argument rests not on Hislop but on patristic sources and the biblical absence of tri-personal language.{{Cite book|last=Bernard|first=David|url=http://ourworld.compuserve.com/homepages/pentecostal/One-Ch11.htm|title=The Oneness of God|publisher=Word Aflame Press|year=1993|isbn=978-0-912315-12-6|chapter=Trinitarianism: Definition and Historical Development|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071130181956/http://ourworld.compuserve.com/homepages/pentecostal/One-Ch11.htm|archive-date=30 November 2007|url-status=dead}} Oneness theologians such as Norris have also advanced alternative lines of argument based on biblical exegesis and early Christian texts.

In contrast to Bernard's theory, Trinitarian scholars suggest the writings of Ignatius and Irenaeus teach an eternal Trinity,{{Cite web|title=What the Early Church Believed: God in Three Persons|url=https://www.catholic.com/tract/god-in-three-persons|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210929014304/https://www.catholic.com/tract/god-in-three-persons|archive-date=29 September 2021|access-date=13 April 2021|website=Catholic Answers}}{{cite web |last1=Hanson |first1=Mark |title=Tracing the Thread of Trinitarian Thought from Ignatius to Origen |url=https://www.mbu.edu/seminary/tracing-the-thread-of-trinitarian-thought-from-ignatius-to-origen/ |website=Maranatha Baptist Seminary |access-date=30 September 2021 |date=30 December 2011 }} though Norris, whose academic work extensively engages early Christian sources, disagrees with them in his book I AM: A Oneness Pentecostal Theology, arguing that writers like Ignatius should not be retroactively read through the lens of fourth-century Trinitarian orthodoxy.{{cite book |last1=Norris |first1=David |title=I AM: A Oneness Pentecostal Theology |date=4 September 2009 |publisher=Word Aflame Press |isbn=978-1565630000 |page=161 |chapter=Moving Away from Orthodoxy}}

In common with most Protestant denominations, Oneness Pentecostal soteriology maintains that all people are born with a sinful nature, sin at a young age, and remain lost without hope of salvation unless they embrace the Gospel that Jesus made complete atonement for the sins of all people, which is the sole means of human redemption; and that salvation comes solely by grace through faith in Jesus.{{cite book |chapter=Only through faith in Jesus Christ |first1=David |last1=Bernard |title=A Handbook of Basic Doctrines |publisher=Word Aflame Press |year=1988 |pages=31–2 }} Oneness doctrine also teaches that true faith results in obedience, and that salvation is not only to profess faith but to demonstrate it as well in action.{{cite book |chapter=Salvation is through faith |first1=David |last1=Bernard |title=A Handbook of Basic Doctrines |publisher=Word Aflame Press |year=1988 |pages=31–5 }} Oneness churches, while exhibiting variations, generally teach the following as the foundation of Christian conversion:

• repentance;
• water baptism in the name of Jesus Christ;Acts 2:38; Acts 10:48
• baptism in the Holy Spirit with the evidence of speaking in tongues.{{bibleverse|Acts|2:4|KJV}}; {{bibleverse|Acts|10:46|KJV}}; {{bibleverse|Acts|19:6|KJV}}

Oneness Pentecostals generally accept that these are the minimal requirements of conversion.{{Cite web |date=9 August 2020 |title=The "Oneness" Heresy Exposed |url=https://thebereans.net/2020/08/09/the-oneness-heresy-exposed/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201119014839/https://thebereans.net/2020/08/09/the-oneness-heresy-exposed/ |archive-date=19 November 2020 |access-date=19 November 2020 |website=The Bereans Apologetics Research Ministry |language=en-US}}

Oneness Pentecostals maintain that no good works or obedience to the law can save anyone apart from God's grace. Furthermore, salvation comes solely through faith in Jesus; there is no salvation through any name or work other than his (Acts 4:12). Oneness teaching rejects interpretations that hold that salvation is given automatically to the elect; they believe that all humans are called to salvation, and "whosoever will, may come" (Revelation 22:17).{{Cite web |last1=Slick |first1=Matt |date=8 December 2008 |title=What is Oneness Pentecostal theology? |url=https://carm.org/oneness-pentecostal-theology |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201119015348/https://carm.org/oneness-pentecostal-theology |archive-date=19 November 2020 |access-date=19 November 2020 |website=Christian Apologetics and Research Ministry |language=en}}{{cite book |last1=Bernard |first1=David K. |title=The New Birth |date=1998 |publisher=Word Aflame Press |location=Hazelwood, MO |isbn=1567222382 |chapter=Grace and Faith |page=38}}

While salvation is indeed a gift in Oneness belief, it must be received. This reception of salvation is generally considered conversion and is accepted in most evangelical Protestant churches. The first mandate is true faith in Jesus, demonstrated by obedience to God's commands and a determination to submit to his will in every aspect of life. Oneness adherents reject the notion that one may be saved through what they call mental faith: mere belief in Jesus without life-changing repentance or obedience. Thus, they emphatically reject the idea that one is saved through praying the Sinner's prayer, but rather the true saving faith and change of life declared in scripture. Oneness Pentecostals have no issue with the prayer itself but deny that it alone represents saving faith, believing the Bible accordingly mandates repentance, baptism by water and spirit with receipt of the Holy Spirit as a manifestation of the spirit part of the rebirth experience and the actual, godly faith obeyed and done by the early Church's believers. Thus, one who has truly been saved will gladly submit to the biblical conditions for conversion. According to these believers, Jesus and the apostles taught that the new birth experience includes repentance and baptism in both water and God's Spirit.{{cite book |last1=Bernard |first1=David K. |title=The New Birth |date=1998 |publisher=Word Aflame Press |location=Hazelwood, MO |isbn=1567222382 |chapter=Are There Exceptions? |page=314}}

Oneness Pentecostals maintain that salvation is not possible without repentance. While repentance is, in part, godly sorrow for sin, it is as much a complete change of heart and mind toward God and his word. This is why Oneness churches expect a complete reformation of life in those who have become Christians.{{Cite web|title=The Hidden Cult of Oneness Pentecostalism|url=http://www.marketfaith.org/the-hidden-cult-of-oneness-pentecostalism/|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201119011745/http://www.marketfaith.org/the-hidden-cult-of-oneness-pentecostalism/|archive-date=19 November 2020|access-date=19 November 2020|website=www.marketfaith.org}}

Oneness Pentecostals believe that water baptism is an essential component of salvation, not merely a symbolic act.{{cite book |last1=Bernard |first1=David K. |title=The New Birth |date=1998 |publisher=Word Aflame Press |location=Hazelwood, MO |isbn=1567222382 |chapter=Water Baptism |pages=132–134}} They cite Acts 2:38, where Peter says to "be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins" as evidence that baptism is necessary for the forgiveness of sins.{{cite web |last1=Huston |first1=David |title=Into Forgiveness of Sins |url=https://www.apostolic.edu/into-forgiveness-of-sins/ |website=Apostolic Information Service |access-date=25 February 2025 |date=11 July 2009 |publisher=Indiana Bible College}} They also appeal to passages such as Mark 16:16 ("He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved") and John 3:5, where Jesus states, "Except a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God," interpreting "born of water" as a direct reference to baptism.{{cite web |last1=Haywood |first1=G.T. |title=The Birth Of The Spirit In The Day Of The Apostles |url=https://www.apostolic.edu/the-birth-of-the-spirit-in-the-day-of-the-apostles/ |website=Apostolic Information Service |access-date=25 February 2025 |date=5 November 2009 |publisher=Indiana Bible College |quote=To be born of “water and the Spirit,” and “believe and is baptized” (John 3:5 and Mark 16:16), are proven to be synonymous terms expressing the one and self-same thing, by reading, or comparing the words of Jesus in John 10:9 . All three of these expressions are spoken by the same Person. In the first’ mentioned scripture He says that if a man is not born of water and the Spirit he cannot enter into the Kingdom of God, while in the second, He says that he that believeth and is baptized shall be saved.}} Oneness Pentecostals reject the idea that baptism is a mere public declaration of faith, arguing that it plays an active role in salvation by uniting believers with Christ and applying his atoning blood.{{cite web |title=Comparing Beliefs: Baptists vs. Oneness Pentecostals |url=https://www.sermondownload.net/post/comparing-beliefs-baptists-vs-oneness-pentecostals |website=Ready Made Sermons |access-date=25 February 2025 |language=en |date=2 August 2024}} They cite Romans 6:3-4, which states that believers are "baptized into Christ" and "buried with him by baptism into death," as evidence that baptism is the moment when one is spiritually united with Christ’s death, burial, and resurrection. Similarly, they reference 1 Peter 3:21, which states that "baptism doth also now save us," reinforcing their belief that baptism is not optional but an integral part of the salvation process.{{cite web |last1=Huston |first1=David |title=Is Baptism Necessary for Salvation? |url=https://www.apostolic.edu/11271-2/ |website=Apostolic Information Service |access-date=25 February 2025 |date=11 July 2009 |publisher=Indiana Bible College}} Oneness Pentecostals also insist that baptism must be preceded by faith and repentance, rejecting infant baptism and baptisms performed by compulsion.{{cite web|url=http://www.cooljc.org/AboutUs/StatementofFaith/tabid/70/language/en-US/Default.aspx|title=Church of our Lord Jesus Christ Statement of Faith|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120824233306/http://www.cooljc.org/AboutUs/StatementofFaith/tabid/70/language/en-US/Default.aspx|archive-date=24 August 2012}}{{cite web|url=http://aljc.org/doctrine-statement/|title=Doctrine Statement|work=ALJC|access-date=5 March 2015|archive-date=2 March 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150302170309/http://aljc.org/doctrine-statement/|url-status=dead}}

This doctrinal emphasis on baptism as a salvific act is one of the key distinctions between Oneness Pentecostals and many other Protestant groups, which often view baptism as an outward testimony of an already completed salvation rather than an essential step in the process of being saved.

{{Main|Immersion baptism}}

Oneness Pentecostal theology maintains the literal definition of baptism as being completely immersed in water. They believe that other modes have no biblical basis or are based upon inexact Old Testament rituals and that their mode is the only one described in the New Testament.{{cite book |last1=Bernard |first1=David K. |title=The New Birth |date=1998 |publisher=Word Aflame Press |location=Hazelwood, MO |isbn=1567222382 |chapter=Water Baptism |pages=128–129}} The Articles of Faith of the UPCI state that "the scriptural mode of baptism is immersion and is only for those who have fully repented."{{cite book|title=Manual, United Pentecostal Church International|chapter=Articles of Faith|page=33|date=2017|url=http://www.pentecostalsofdadeville.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/02/2017upcimanual.pdf|access-date=13 January 2022|archive-date=26 March 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230326025737/http://www.pentecostalsofdadeville.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/02/2017upcimanual.pdf|url-status=dead}}

{{Main|Baptism in the name of Jesus}}

Oneness adherents believe that for water baptism to be valid, one must be baptized "in the name of Jesus Christ",See "The Baptismal Formula: in the Name of Jesus" and "The One Name in Matthew 28:19, in David Bernard, A Handbook of Basic Doctrines, Word Aflame Press, 1988, pp. 43-45. rather than the Trinitarian baptismal formula "in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit."{{Cite web|title=What the Early Church Believed: Trinitarian Baptism|url=https://www.catholic.com/tract/trinitarian-baptism|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210929022050/https://www.catholic.com/tract/trinitarian-baptism|archive-date=29 September 2021|access-date=13 April 2021|website=Catholic Answers}} This is referred to as the "Jesus' name doctrine". "Jesus' name" is a description used to refer to Oneness Pentecostals and their baptismal beliefs.

Oneness Pentecostals mainly center their belief around the baptismal formula found in Acts 2:38: "Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins; and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost." Other passages cited include:{{cite book |last1=Bernard |first1=David K. |title=The New Birth |date=1998 |publisher=Word Aflame Press |location=Hazelwood, MO |isbn=1567222382 |pages=156–157 |chapter=Baptismal Formula: In the Name of Jesus}}

• Acts 8:16 – Samaritans were baptized "in the name of the Lord Jesus."
• Acts 10:48 – Cornelius and his household were commanded to be baptized "in the name of the Lord."
• Acts 19:5 – Disciples of John the Baptist were re-baptized "in the name of the Lord Jesus."
• Acts 22:16 – Paul was baptized "calling on the name of the Lord"

Oneness Pentecostals assert that these five mentions of baptism in the Book of Acts were performed in the name of Jesus and that no Trinitarian formula is ever referred to therein.{{Cite web|last1=Schoolcraft|first1=Ron|date=11 July 2009|title=The Name in Matthew 28:19|url=https://www.apostolic.edu/the-name-in-matthew-2819/|access-date=13 April 2021|website=Apostolic Information Service |publisher=Indiana Bible College}} In addition, {{bibleverse|1 Corinthians|1:13|9}} is taken by Oneness Pentecostals to indicate baptism in Jesus' name as well;{{cite book |last1=Bernard |first1=David K. |title=The New Birth |date=1998 |publisher=Word Aflame Press |location=Hazelwood, MO |isbn=1567222382 |page=172 |chapter=Baptismal Formula: In the Name of Jesus}} Oneness author William Arnold III explains their reasoning: "If we follow Paul's train of thought, his obvious implication is 'No, Christ was the one crucified for you and so you were baptized in the name of Christ.' So the believers at Corinth as well as those in Rome were baptized in Jesus' name."{{cite web |last1=Arnold |first1=William |title=Baptism in Jesus' Name |url=https://www.onenesspentecostal.com/name.htm |website=Institute for Biblical Studies |access-date=7 November 2021}} Hence, Oneness believers claim that this constitutes proof that the Jesus name formula was the original one and that the Trinitarian invocation was erroneously substituted for it later. As additional support for their claim, Oneness Pentecostals also cite editions of Britannica, the Catholic Encyclopedia, Interpreter's Bible, and various scholars to justify this claim;{{cite web|title=History of Baptism in Jesus' Name|url=https://www.apostolicarchives.com/articles/article/8801925/180090.htm|access-date=7 November 2021|website=Apostolic Archives International Inc.}}{{Cite web|last=Trapasso|first=Michael|date=8 October 2009|title=History Authenticates That the Early Church Baptized In The Name of Jesus: Part V|url=https://www.apostolic.edu/history-authenticates-that-the-early-church-baptized-in-the-name-of-jesus-part-v/|access-date=9 January 2022|website=Apostolic Information Service|language=en-US |publisher=Indiana Bible College}} Norris teaches that "there is a strong scholarly consensus that the earliest Christian baptism was practiced in Jesus' name."{{cite book |last1=Norris |first1=David |title=I AM: A Oneness Pentecostal Theology |date=4 September 2009 |publisher=Word Aflame Press |isbn=978-1565630000 |page=193}}

The Didache an early Christian manual of instruction generally dated by scholars to the late first or early second century AD, includes a reference to baptism "in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit" (Didache 7:1).{{Cite web|title=The Didache|url=https://www.newadvent.org/cathen/04779a.htm|access-date=7 November 2021|website=Catholic Encyclopedia|publisher=New Advent|quote=This (vii-x) begins with an instruction on baptism, which is to be conferred "in the Name of the Father, and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost" in living water, if it can be had — if not, in cold or even hot water.}}{{Cite web|last=Brickley|first=Ralph|date=24 October 2018|title=Schisms: Baptism in Jesus Name or…|url=https://dividetheword.blog/2018/10/24/schisms-baptism-in-jesus-name-or/|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211107222101/https://dividetheword.blog/2018/10/24/schisms-baptism-in-jesus-name-or/|archive-date=7 November 2021|access-date=7 November 2021|website=DivideTheWord.blog|language=en|quote=Now concerning baptism, baptize thus: Having first taught all these things, baptize ye into the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, in living water. And if thou hast not living water, baptize into other water; and if thou canst not in cold, then in warm (water). But if thou hast neither, pour [water] thrice upon the head in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.}} This text is sometimes cited by Trinitarian theologians as early support for the threefold baptismal formula.{{Cite book|last=O'Loughlin|first=Thomas|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=IfpqBgAAQBAJ|title=The Didache: A window on the earliest Christians|date=15 February 2011|publisher=SPCK|isbn=978-0-281-06493-9|language=en}} However, the document also describes individuals being "baptized into the name of the Lord" (Didache 9:5), a construction that parallels the book of Acts.{{cite web |last1=Weisser |first1=Thomas |title=Was the Early Church Oneness or Trinitarian? |url=https://www.apostolic.edu/was-the-early-church-oneness-or-trinitarian/ |website=Apostolic Information Service |publisher=Indiana Bible College |access-date=8 May 2025 |date=20 June 2009}} Oneness Pentecostal writers such as David K. Bernard interpret references to baptism "in the name of" as pointing exclusively to the name of Jesus, and they highlight the absence of any recorded apostolic use of a triune formula.{{cite book |last1=Bernard |first1=David K. |title=The New Birth |date=1998 |publisher=Word Aflame Press |location=Hazelwood, MO |isbn=1567222382 |pages=257–281 |chapter=The Witness in Church History: Baptism}} Some have also raised concerns about the Didache's reliability, noting that the only complete Greek manuscript, discovered in 1873, is dated to the 11th century.{{cite web |last1=Drysdale |first1=Ross |title=The Ante-Nicene Fathers |url=https://www.apostolic.edu/the-ante-nicene-fathers/ |website=Apostolic Information Service |publisher=Indiana Bible College |access-date=8 May 2025 |date=6 August 2009}}{{Cite web|last=Ritchie|first=Steven|date=22 October 2016|title=The Didache – Can We Trust It?|url=https://www.apostolicchristianfaith.com//post/2016/10/22/the-didache-can-we-trust-it|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220109044830/https://www.apostolicchristianfaith.com//post/2016/10/22/the-didache-can-we-trust-it|archive-date=9 January 2022|access-date=9 January 2022|website=Apostolic Christian Faith|language=en|quote=Falsely Called "The Teaching(s) of the Twelve Apostles." The only manuscript we have of the Didache (which means "Teaching") was discovered in 1873 in Constantinople (modern day Turkey). The manuscript is signed, "Leon, notary and sinner," and bears the date, A.D. 1056.}} Trinitarian scholar Willy Rordorf summarizes the scholarly debate on this topic by stating that "Without any doubt, Didache 9:5 has preserved the most ancient baptismal formula. At the beginning of Christianity, one baptized 'in the name of Jesus.'"{{cite book |last1=Rordorf |first1=Willy |title=The Didache in Modern Research |date=1 January 1996 |publisher=Brill |isbn=978-90-04-33249-2 |pages=212–222 |url=https://brill.com/display/book/9789004332492/BP000013.xml |access-date=7 May 2025 |language=en |chapter=Baptism According to the Didache}}

Mainstream Trinitarian Christians exegete "in the name of Jesus Christ" as by the "authority of Jesus," which denotes baptism in the name of the three persons of the Trinity.{{Cite web|date=8 December 2008|title=Must baptism be "in Jesus' name"?|url=https://carm.org/oneness-pentecostal/must-baptism-be-in-jesus-name-baptize/|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220109044313/https://carm.org/oneness-pentecostal/must-baptism-be-in-jesus-name-baptize/|archive-date=9 January 2022|access-date=9 January 2022|website=Christian Apologetics & Research Ministry|language=en-US}}{{Cite web |title=Why Don't We Baptize in the Name of Jesus? |url=https://www.catholic.com/magazine/online-edition/why-dont-we-baptize-in-the-name-of-jesus |access-date=2023-10-19 |website=Catholic Answers}} In response, Oneness Pentecostals have claimed that the wording of Acts 22:16 requires an oral invocation of the name of Jesus during baptism (calling on the name of the Lord). They also assert that the way one exercises the authority of Jesus is by using his name, pointing to the healing of the lame man at the Gate Beautiful in Acts 3 as an example of this.{{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 |pages=137–138 |archive-date=16 February 2008 |title=The Oneness of God |publisher=Word Aflame Press |year=1993 |isbn=978-0-912315-12-6|chapter=Father, Son, and Holy Ghost|quote=Acts 22:16 says, "Arise and be baptized, and wash away thy sins, calling on the name of the Lord." The Amplified Bible says, "Rise and be baptized, and by calling upon His name wash away your sins." The Interlinear Greek-English New Testament says, "Invoking the name." Therefore this verse of Scripture indicates the name Jesus was orally invoked at baptism. James 2:7 says, "Do not they blaspheme that worthy name by the which ye are called?" The Greek phrasing indicates that the name was invoked over the Christians at a specific time. Thus, TAB says, "Is it not they who slander and blaspheme that precious name by which you are distinguished and called [the name of Christ invoked in baptism]?" (brackets in original). For an example of what "in the name of Jesus" means, we need only look at the story of the lame man's healing in Acts 3. Jesus said to pray for the sick in His name (Mark 16:17-18), and Peter said the lame man was healed by the name of Jesus (Acts 4:10). How did this happen? Peter actually uttered the words "in the name of Jesus Christ" (Acts 3:6). The name Jesus invoked in faith produced the result. The name signifies power or authority, but this signification does not detract from the fact that Peter orally invoked the name of Jesus in effecting the healing.}}{{cite web |last1=Arnold III |first1=William |title=More On Baptism In Jesus' Name |url=https://www.onenesspentecostal.com/morebaptism.htm |website=Institute for Biblical Studies |access-date=12 January 2022 |quote=Jesus is the one who personally commissioned the disciples to go and baptize and they went "on behalf of him," or "in his name." He also sent them to heal people and work miracles. When Peter healed the man at the Gate Beautiful in Jesus' name, scripture tells us that he actually spoke the words "in the name of Jesus Christ" when he did it (Acts 3:6). Even when Trinitarian Christians pray for someone for healing they speak the words "in Jesus' name." They realize that they are doing it "on behalf of" or "in the name of" Christ. Why would baptism be any different? Jesus said that when we pray we are to ask the Father in him name (John 14:13; 15:16; 16:23, 26). And so when many Christians pray, they end their prayer with the actual words "in Jesus name."}}

Oneness Pentecostals insist that there are no New Testament references to baptism by any other formula—save in Matthew 28:19, which most hold to be another reference to baptism in the name of Jesus. Although Matthew 28:19 seems to mandate a Trinitarian formula for baptism, Oneness theology avows that since the word "name" in the verse is singular, it must refer to Jesus, whose name they believe to be that of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.{{cite book |first1=David |last1=Bernard |title=The Oneness of God |publisher=Word Aflame Press |year=1993 |isbn=978-0-912315-12-6|chapter=Father, Son, and Holy Ghost |pages=136–137|quote=In this passage, Jesus commanded His disciples to baptize "in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost." However, this verse of Scripture does not teach that Father, Son, and Holy Ghost are three separate persons. Rather, it teaches that the titles of Father, Son, and Holy Ghost identify one name and therefore one being. The verse expressly says "in the name," not "in the names." ... Jehovah or Yahweh was the revealed name of God in the Old Testament, but Jesus is the revealed name of God in the New Testament... Father, Son, and Holy Ghost all describe the one God, so the phrase in Matthew 28:19 simply describes the one name of the one God. The Old Testament promised that there would come a time when Jehovah would have one name and that this one name would be made known (Zechariah 14:9; Isaiah 52:6). We know that the one name of Matthew 28:19 is Jesus, for Jesus is the name of the Father (John 5:43; Hebrews 1:4), the Son (Matthew 1:21), and the Holy Ghost (John 14:26).}} Oneness believers insist that all Bible's texts on the subject must be in complete agreement with each other; thus, they say that either the apostles disobeyed the command they had been given in Matthew 28:19 or they correctly fulfilled it by using the name of Jesus.

A minority of Oneness Pentecostals argue that the text of Matthew 28:19 is not original, quoting various scholars and the early Church historian Eusebius, who referred to this passage at least eighteen times in his works.{{Cite web |title=Matthew 28:19 Corruption |url=http://www.teliacarriermap.com/tag/matthew_2819_corruption/index.html |access-date=13 April 2021 |website=The Apostolic Voice |archive-date=13 April 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210413043015/http://www.teliacarriermap.com/tag/matthew_2819_corruption/index.html |url-status=dead }}{{Cite web|title=Historical Evidence in favour of Matthew 28:19 and Response to Claims of Inauthenticity|url=https://www.asitreads.com/blog/2018/2/22/historical-evidence-in-favour-of-matthew-chapter-2819-and-response-to-claims-of-inauthenticity|access-date=13 April 2021|website=As It Reads|date=22 February 2018|last1=Valiant|first1=Brendan|language=en-US|archive-date=26 March 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230326025754/https://www.asitreads.com/blog/2018/2/22/historical-evidence-in-favour-of-matthew-chapter-2819-and-response-to-claims-of-inauthenticity|url-status=dead}}{{cite web|last1=Willis |first1=Clinton D. |title=A Collection of Evidence Against the Traditional Wording of Matthew 28:19 |url=https://www.onenesspentecostal.com/matt2819-willis.htm |website=Institute for Biblical Studies |access-date=6 January 2022}} Eusebius' text reads: "go and make disciples of all nations in my name, teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I commanded you."{{cite book|last1=Burgos|first1=Michael R. Jr.|title=Against Oneness Pentecostalism, 2nd Ed.|publisher=Winchester, CT: Church Militant Pub.|date=2016|pages=101–112}} However, most Oneness believers accept the full Matthew 28:19 as an authentic part of the original text and interpret it through a Christocentric lens.{{cite web |last1=Kilmon |first1=Bobby |title=Is the longer reading of Matthew 28:19 a trinitarian Insertion? Should the text read "in my name" instead of "in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost"? |url=https://ibcperspectives.com/answer-forum-vol-31-no-10/ |website=IBC Perspectives |publisher=Indiana Bible College |access-date=18 October 2021 |date=14 October 2021 }}

Oneness Pentecostals believe that the baptism of the Holy Spirit is a free gift commanded for all.{{cite book |chapter=The Baptism of the Holy Ghost: Promise and Command |first1=David |last1=Bernard |title=A Handbook of Basic Doctrines |publisher=Word Aflame |year=1988 |pages=45–46}} They believe that the baptism of the Holy Spirit is an essential component of salvation, asserting that receiving the Holy Spirit evidenced by speaking in tongues directly fulfills the New Testament mandate.{{cite book |last1=Bernard |first1=David K. |title=The New Birth |date=1998 |publisher=Word Aflame Press |location=Hazelwood, MO |isbn=1567222382 |chapter=Speaking in Tongues |pages=235–236}} This distinguishes their theology from classical Trinitarian Pentecostalism: while Oneness and Trinitarian Pentecostals emphasize the importance of Spirit baptism, they diverge on its role in salvation. Trinitarian Pentecostals, such as those in the Assemblies of God, teach that the baptism of the Holy Spirit is a subsequent experience meant for empowerment, not necessarily required for salvation.{{cite web |title=FAQ: Baptism in the Holy Spirit |url=https://news.ag.org/en/article-repository/spiritual-life/2019/05/faq-baptism-in-the-holy-spirit#:~:text=Receiving%20eternal%20life%20does%20not,Christ%20when%20He%20was%20crucified. |website=AGNews |publisher=Assemblies of God |access-date=24 February 2025 |language=en |date=9 May 2019}} In contrast, Oneness Pentecostals maintain that one must be baptized in the Holy Spirit with the initial sign of speaking in tongues to be truly born again. Oneness Pentecostals cite biblical passages such as John 3:5 ("Except a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God") and Romans 8:9 ("Now if any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of his") to support their belief that Spirit baptism is a requirement for salvation.

Pentecostals—both Oneness and Trinitarian—maintain that the Holy Spirit experience denotes the genuine Christian Church and empowers the believer to accomplish God's will. Like most Pentecostals, Oneness believers maintain that the initial sign of the infilling Holy Spirit is speaking in tongues and that the New Testament mandates this as a minimal requirement. They equally recognize that speaking in tongues is a sign to unbelievers of the Holy Spirit's power and is to be actively sought after and utilized, especially in prayer. However, this initial manifestation of the Holy Spirit ({{bibleverse|1 Corinthians|12:7|9}}) is seen as distinct from the gift of divers kinds of tongues mentioned in {{bibleverse|1 Corinthians|12:10|9}}, which is given to selected spirit-filled believers as the Holy Spirit desires. Oneness adherents assert that receipt of the Holy Spirit (manifested by speaking in tongues) is necessary for salvation.

In common with other Pentecostals, Oneness believers are known for their charismatic style of worship. Oneness Pentecostal worship is characterized by expressive congregational participation, including verbal praises, prayers, singing accompanied by musical instruments, and energetic preaching.{{cite web |last1=Bernard |first1=David K. |title=Pentecostal Worship (Entire Article) |url=https://www.apostolic.edu/pentecostal-worship-entire-article/ |website=Apostolic Information Service |publisher=Indiana Bible College |access-date=25 February 2025 |date=1 March 2011}} They believe that the spiritual gifts found in the New Testament are still active in the church; hence, services are often spontaneous, being punctuated at times with acts of speaking in tongues, interpretation of tongues, prophetic messages, and the laying on of hands for the purposes of healing.{{cite web |title=How We Worship |url=https://apcstl.org/about/how-we-worship |website=Apostolic Pentecostal Church |access-date=5 February 2024}} Oneness believers, like all Pentecostals, are characterized by their practice of speaking in other tongues.{{cite web |last1=Gabriel |first1=Andrew |title=Tales of Visiting a Oneness United Pentecostal Church |url=https://www.andrewkgabriel.com/2019/05/07/oneness-united-pentecostal/ |website=Andrew K. Gabriel - Pentecostal-Charismatic Theologian |date=7 May 2019 |access-date=16 November 2022}} In such ecstatic experiences a Oneness believer may vocalize fluent unintelligible utterances (glossolalia), or articulate a natural language previously unknown to them (xenoglossy).{{cite web |last1=Kidson |first1=L.E. |title=Speaking With Other Tongues |url=https://www.apostolic.edu/speaking-with-other-tongues/ |website=Apostolic Information Service |publisher=Indiana Bible College |access-date=19 March 2025 |date=10 January 2010}}

Some Oneness Pentecostals practice foot washing, often in conjunction with their celebration of communion, as Jesus Christ did with his disciples at the Last Supper.{{cite web |last1=Thornton |first1=James |title=Foot Washing Service |url=https://everyonesapostolic.com/foot-washing-service/ |website=Everyone's Apostolic |access-date=16 November 2022 |date=2021}}

Many Oneness Pentecostal groups emphasize holiness standards in dress, grooming, and conduct. This is a teaching similar to traditional Holiness Pentecostals but distinct from other Finished Work Pentecostals.

{{main|Outward holiness#History}}

The doctrine of outward holiness originated in Methodism. The early Methodists wore plain dress, with Methodist clergy condemning "high headdresses, ruffles, laces, gold, and 'costly apparel' in general".{{cite book|last=Lyerly|first=Cynthia Lynn|title=Methodism and the Southern Mind, 1770-1810|date=24 September 1998|publisher=Oxford University Press|language=en|isbn=9780195354249|page=39}} John Wesley, the founder of the Methodist movement, recommended that Methodists read his thoughts On Dress, in which he detailed acceptable types and colors of fabrics, in addition to "shapes and sizes of hats, coats, sleeves, and hairstyles".Journals of Wesley, Nehemiah Curnock, ed., London: Epworth Press 1938, p. 468. In that sermon, John Wesley expressed his desire for Methodists: "Let me see, before I die, a Methodist congregation, full as plain dressed as a Quaker congregation."{{cite web|url=http://wesley.nnu.edu/john-wesley/the-sermons-of-john-wesley-1872-edition/sermon-88-on-dress/|title=The Wesley Center Online: Sermon 88 - On Dress|last=Wesley|first=John|year=1999|publisher=Wesley Center for Applied Theology|language=en|access-date=19 June 2017}} He also taught, with respect to Christian headcovering, that women, "especially in a religious assembly", should "keep on her veil".{{cite book|last=Wesley |first=John |title=Wesley's Notes on the Bible|publisher=Christian Classics Ethereal Library|language=en|isbn=9781610252577|page=570|quote=Therefore if a woman is not covered — If she will throw off the badge of subjection, let her appear with her hair cut like a man's. But if it be shameful far a woman to appear thus in public, especially in a religious assembly, let her, for the same reason, keep on her veil.|year=1987 }}{{cite web |last1=Dunlap |first1=David |title=Headcovering-A Historical Perspective |url=http://www.uplook.org/1994/11/headcovering-a-historical-perspective/ |publisher=Uplook Ministries |access-date=24 June 2019 |language=en |date=1 November 1994 |quote=Although women were allowed to preach in the Methodist ministry, the veil covering a woman’s head was required as a sign of her headship to Christ. Concerning the theological significance of the veil, Wesley wrote, “For a man indeed ought not to veil his head because he is the image and glory of God in the dominion he bears over the creation, representing the supreme dominion of God, which is his glory. But the woman is a matter of glory to the man, who has a becoming dominion over her. Therefore she ought not to appear except with her head veiled as a tacit acknowledgement of it.”}}

This Methodist doctrine continues to be taught (in varying degrees) in conservative Methodist denominations aligned with the holiness movement, such as the Fellowship of Independent Methodist Churches and the Allegheny Wesleyan Methodist Connection. The 1858 Wesleyan Methodist Book of Discipline stated,

{{Blockquote|We would not only enjoin on all who fear God plain dress, but we would recommend to our preachers and people, according to Mr. Wesley's views expressed in his sermon on the inefficiency of Christianity, published but a few years before his death, and containing his matured judgment, distinguishing plainness—Plainness which will publicly comment them to the maintenance of their Christian profession wherever they may be.{{cite book|title=The Discipline of the Wesleyan Methodist Connection, of America|year=1858|publisher=Wesleyan Methodist Connection of America|language=en |page=85}}}}

The teaching of Methodists aligned with that the holiness movement, where outward holiness is a testimony of a Christian believer's regeneration, done in obedience to God.{{cite book | last1=Thornton | first1=Wallace Jr. |title=Behavioral Standards, Embourgeoisement, and the Formation of the Conservative Holiness Movement |date=2008 |publisher=Wesleyan Theological Society |pages=187–193 |language=English}} This teaching was inherited by Holiness Pentecostalism at its inception, incorporating this Wesleyan theology alongside Holiness Pentecostal's insistence on a third work of grace.{{cite book |last1=Fudge |first1=Thomas A. |title=Christianity Without the Cross: A History of Salvation in Oneness Pentecostalism |date=2003 |publisher=Universal-Publishers |isbn=978-1-58112-584-9 |pages=14–16|language=en}}{{cite book |last1=Goss |first1=Ethel E. |year=1977 |title=The Winds of God: The Story of the Early Pentecostal Movement (1901-1914) in the Life of Howard A. Goss |publisher=Word Aflame |isbn=978-0-912315-26-3 }}{{page needed|date=September 2017}}

Though the Finished Work Pentecostalism movement rejected the Wesleyan and Holiness Pentecostal doctrine of entire sanctification as an instantaneous, definite second work of grace, many early denominations maintained similar standards for their members. After World War II, however, these standards began to fade as they allowed for greater individual choice.{{cite book |last1=Holm |first1=Randall |editor1-last=Riggs |editor1-first=Thomas |title=Worldmark Encyclopedia of Religious Practices |date=2015 |publisher=Gale |pages=278-286 |edition=2 |url=https://go.gale.com/ps/i.do?p=GVRL&u=lom_umichanna&id=GALE%7CCX3602600033&v=2.1&it=r&sid=bookmark-GVRL&asid=09578ac1 |access-date=7 May 2025 |chapter=Christianity: Pentecostalism}} Despite this, Oneness Pentecostals have continued to retain the original Holiness Pentecostal practice of holiness standards.

Oneness Pentecostals believe that a Christian's lifestyle should be characterized by holiness. In their view, this holiness begins at baptism, when the blood of Christ washes away all sin and a person stands before God truly holy for the first time in his or her life.{{cite web |last1=Bernard |first1=David K. |title=Biblical Holiness |url=https://www.apostolic.edu/biblical-holiness/ |website=Apostolic Information Service |publisher=Indiana Bible College |access-date=26 February 2025 |date=27 September 2009}} After this, a separation from the world in both practical and moral areas is essential to spiritual life.{{cite book |chapter=Holiness and Christian Living |first=David |last=Bernard |title=A Handbook of Basic Doctrines |publisher=Word Aflame |year=1988 |pages=61–100 }} Moral or inward holiness consists of righteous living, guided and powered by the indwelling of the Holy Spirit. Practical or outward holiness for many Oneness believers involves certain holiness standards that dictate, among other things, modest apparel and gender distinction.{{cite web |last1=Bernard |first1=David K. |title=The Theology of Holiness |url=https://www.apostolic.edu/the-theology-of-holiness/ |website=Apostolic Information Service |publisher=Indiana Bible College |access-date=26 February 2025 |date=27 September 2009}}

Oneness Pentecostals believe wholeheartedly in dressing modestly. They believe there is a distinct deference to God's commands in living modestly (shunning indecency) and in moderation (avoiding excesses and extremes).{{cite web |last1=Bernard |first1=David K. |title=Scriptural Teaching on Adornment and Dress |url=https://www.apostolic.edu/scriptural-teaching-on-adornment-and-dress-entire/ |website=Apostolic Information Service |publisher=Indiana Bible College |access-date=26 February 2025 |date=26 January 2016}} They justify this belief by using 1 Timothy 2:9 ("In like manner also, that women adorn themselves in modest apparel") and Philippians 4:5 ("Let your moderation be known unto all men").{{cite book |last1=Bernard |first1=David |last2=Bernard |first2=Loretta |author1-link=David K. Bernard |title=In Search of Holiness |date=1981 |publisher=Word Aflame Press |isbn=0912315407 |page=38 |chapter=The Christian Life}} Some Oneness organizations, considering current social trends in fashion and dress to be immoral, have established dress codes for their members. These guidelines are similar to those used by all Pentecostal denominations for much of the first half of the 20th century. According to UPCI standards, women are generally expected not to wear pants, make-up, form fitting clothing, jewelry, or to cut their hair; while men are expected to be clean-shaven, short-haired, and are expected to wear long sleeve shirts (women are also expected to wear long sleeve dresses or blouses) and long-legged pants, as opposed to shorts.{{Cite web |date=1977 |title=Holiness |url=https://upci.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/10/Holiness.pdf |website=United Pentecostal Church International |publisher=General Board of the United Pentecostal Church International}} Additionally, some Oneness organizations strongly admonish their members not to watch secular movies or television.{{cite web |last1=Bernard |first1=David K. |title=Television and Movies |url=https://www.apostolic.edu/television-and-movies-entire/ |website=Apostolic Information Service |publisher=Indiana Bible College |access-date=26 February 2025 |date=18 October 2015}} However, the precise degree to which these standards are enforced varies from church to church and even from individual to individual within the movement.

Due to the comparative strictness of their standards, Oneness Pentecostals are often accused of legalism by some Christians.See, for instance, {{cite web|url=https://www.namb.net/apologetics/resource/oneness-pentecostalism/|title=Oneness Pentecostalism|first1=Tal|last1=Davis|access-date=9 June 2011|website=North American Mission Board}} as an example of a website in which Oneness Pentecostals are accused of this. Oneness denominations respond by saying that holiness is commanded by God and that it follows salvation, rather than causes it. They say holiness proceeds from love rather than duty and is motivated by the holy nature imparted by the indwelling of the Holy Spirit.{{cite web |last1=Hall |first1=L.J. |title=Holiness Standards: Part 1 The Christian’s Lifestyle |url=https://www.apostolic.edu/holiness-standards-part-1-the-christians-lifestyle/ |website=Apostolic Information Service |publisher=Indiana Bible College |access-date=26 February 2025 |date=27 September 2009}} While the Christian life is indeed one of liberty from rules and laws, that liberty does not negate one's responsibility to follow scriptural teachings on moral issues, many of which were established by Jesus and the apostles themselves.{{cite web |last1=Yohe |first1=Jim |title=True Holiness |url=https://www.apostolic.edu/true-holiness/ |website=Apostolic Information Service |publisher=Indiana Bible College |access-date=26 February 2025 |date=1 October 2009}}

==Notable adherents==

• David K. Bernard – minister, theologian, general superintendent of the United Pentecostal Church International, and founding president of Urshan University and Urshan Graduate School of Theology
• Irvin Baxter Jr. – minister, founder and president of Endtime Ministries, seen on various Christian television channels{{cite web|url=http://www.dallasobserver.com/2012-10-18/news/apocalypse-now-ish-irvin-baxter-s-end-times-empire/2/|title=Apocalypse Now(ish): Irvin Baxter's End Times Empire|first1=Anna|last1=Merlan|date=18 October 2012|website=Dallas Observer|access-date=30 June 2021}}
• Kim Davis – clerk of Rowan County, Kentucky, who gained national media attention after defying a federal court order requiring that she issue same-sex marriage licenses following the U.S. Supreme Court decision in Obergefell v. Hodges{{cite news|last1=McFarlan Miller|first1=Emily|title=What's an Apostolic Christian and why is Kim Davis's hair so long?|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/acts-of-faith/wp/2015/09/30/whats-an-apostolic-christian-and-why-is-kim-daviss-hair-so-long/|newspaper=Washington Post|access-date=1 March 2018|date=30 September 2015}}
• Garfield Thomas Haywood – first presiding bishop of the Pentecostal Assemblies of the World (1925–1931); also the author of many tracts and composer of many gospel songs{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Qq-kWdqNJVEC&pg=PT462|title= Century Of The Holy Spirit: 100 Years Of Pentecostal And Charismatic Renewal, 1901-2001|year=2001|author= Vinson Synan|publisher=Thomas Nelson|isbn= 978-0785245506|page=462}}
• Pastor Gino Jennings – founder of the First Church of our Lord Jesus Christ, Inc{{Cite web |title=First Church of our Lord Jesus Christ: Growing and serving the community |url=https://www.phillytrib.com/religion/first-church-of-our-lord-jesus-christ-growing-and-serving-the-community/article_20102296-156d-593d-9362-e68eb6851cc2.html |access-date=2023-04-06 |website=The Philadelphia Tribune |date=13 June 2020 |language=en}}
• Bishop Robert C. Lawson – protege of Bishop G. T. Haywood and founder of the Church of Our Lord Jesus Christ of the Apostolic Faith from 1919 to his death in 1961
• Bishop Sherrod C. Johnson – founder and chief apostle of the Church of the Lord Jesus Christ of the Apostolic Faith{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=fxsmAgAAQBAJ&pg=PA591|title= Encyclopedia of African American Religions|editor=Murphy, Melton and Ward|isbn= 978-0815305002|publisher=Routledge|year=1993|page=591}}{{cite book|url= https://books.google.com/books?id=v2yiyLLOj88C&pg=PA716|year=2010|title= Religions of the World: A Comprehensive Encyclopedia of Beliefs and Practices |publisher=ABC-CLIO|editor=Melton and Baumann|isbn= 978-1598842036 |page=716}}
• Hailemariam Desalegn – former Prime Minister of Ethiopia{{cite web|url=http://kweschn.wordpress.com/2012/09/29/ethiopia-first-lady-roman-tesfaye-profile/|title=Ethiopia: First Lady Roman Tesfaye (Profile)|work=Kweschn|access-date=5 March 2015|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141129151146/http://kweschn.wordpress.com/2012/09/29/ethiopia-first-lady-roman-tesfaye-profile/|archive-date=29 November 2014}}
• Tommy Tenney – a minister and best-selling author{{cite news|url=http://www.charismamag.com/blogs/134-j15/peopleevents/people-events/374-some-christian-bookstores-pull-best-sellers-by-author-tommy-tenney|title=Some Christian Bookstores Pull Best Sellers by Author Tommy Tenney|publisher=Charisma|access-date=10 July 2014|archive-date=18 January 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210118181354/https://www.charismamag.com/blogs/134-j15/peopleevents/people-events/374-some-christian-bookstores-pull-best-sellers-by-author-tommy-tenney|url-status=dead}}
• Bishop Jesse Delano Ellis II – first presiding prelate of the United Pentecostal Churches of Christ and Pentecostal Churches of Christ; founder of the Joint College of Bishops{{Cite web|title=Bishop J. Delano Ellis II Biography|url=https://www.jdellisministries.com/about|access-date=20 September 2020|website=J.D. Ellis Ministries|language=en}}

• Nontrinitarianism
• List of Oneness Pentecostal denominations

{{Reflist|colwidth=30em}}

• {{cite journal |last1=Reed |first1=David Arthur |title=Origins and Development of the Theology of Oneness Pentecostalism in the United States |journal=Pneuma: The Journal of the Society for Pentecostal Studies|volume=1 |pages=31–7 |year=1979 |doi=10.1163/157007479X00046 }}
• {{cite journal |last1=Del Colle |first1=Ralph |title=Oneness and Trinity: a Preliminary Proposal for Dialogue With Oneness Pentecostalism |journal=Journal of Pentecostal Theology |volume=5 |pages=85–110 |issue=10 |year=1997 |doi=10.1177/096673699700501004 }}
• {{cite book |last1=Burgos |first1= Michael R. Jr. |year=2020 |title= Against Oneness Pentecostalism: An Exegetical-Theological Critique |publisher=3rd Ed., Church Militant Publications |isbn=9798602918410 }}
• {{cite book |last1=Fudge |first1=Thomas A. |year=2003 |title=Christianity Without the Cross: A History of Salvation in Oneness Pentecostalism |publisher=Universal Publishers |isbn=978-1-58112-584-9 }}
• {{cite book |last1=Boyd |first1=Gregory |year=1992 |title=Oneness Pentecostals and the Trinity |publisher=Baker Books |isbn=978-1-4412-1496-6 }}
• {{cite book |last1=Reed |first1=David A. |chapter=Then and Now: The Many Faces of Global Oneness Pentecostalism |chapter-url={{Google books|HSwDBAAAQBAJ|page=52|plainurl=yes}} |pages=52–70 |editor1-first=Cecil M. |editor1-last=Robeck |editor2-first=Amos |editor2-last=Yong |year=2014 |title=The Cambridge Companion to Pentecostalism |publisher=Cambridge University Press |isbn=978-1-107-00709-3 }}

{{Apostolic Church}}

{{New Religious Movements}}

{{Authority control}}

Category:Christian fundamentalism

Category:Nontrinitarian denominations

Category:Nature of Jesus Christ