Why is Jesus ONLY Doctrine Danerous



This is a shocking article and an eye-opener. You will be shocked to realize that JESUS NAME ONLY group of people are making Jesus as ANTICHRIST! So many sincere people are caught in their snare. The 'Jesus Only' or 'Jesus' Name Only' teaching denies the Trinity, and claims that 'Father,' 'Jesus,' and 'Holy Spirit' are only different titles for the same person. The shocking truth is that the 'Jesus' Name' group are not exalting Jesus; rather they are portraying Him as the Antichrist! The Trinity cannot be comprehended intellectually. However, God opens the eyes of a spiritual man to have a measure of understanding about the mystery surrounding the Trinity. To know the fullness of the truth, we must heed the whole counsel of God, and not just choose some verses and ignore others. To say that 'Father', 'Son', and 'Holy Ghost' are just titles is that terrible spirit of the Antichrist: "He is antichrist, that denieth the Father and the Son" (I Jn 2:22). The separation of the words in the expression "the name of the Father, and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost" (Matt 28:19) by the conjunction 'and' itself proves that they are three separate persons.

"The word 'Trinity' is not in the Bible," they contend. But they themselves use the words 'millennium', 'rapture', 'incarnation', etc. which are not mentioned in the Bible. Because these words are not mentioned in the Bible, is it possible to deny the truth of the 'rapture', 'millennium', etc.? There is ample evidence to show that the early Church had a simple belief in one God existing in three Persons. The writings of the early Church Fathers also give evidence to show how common it was for the early Christian community to continue to recognize clear distinctions within the one God. The Persons in the Trinity are referred to in the Bible as "Us," "Our," etc. "And God (Elohiym- plural form of God in Hebrew) said, "Let Us make man in Our image, after Our likeness" (Gen 1:26). In the same way, in the original Hebrew manuscript, we have 'Holy Ones' (Prov 9:10); 'Creators' (Ecc 12:1); 'Makers' (Isa 54:5); 'Masters' (Mal 1:6) - all pointing to the plurality of the Godhead.
There are numerous scriptures that clearly reveal that God is three distinct Persons - the Father, the Son and the Holy Ghost: Jn 5:17, 8:16, 13:3, 16:7,27,28; Acts 2:33, 10:38; Lk 4:18, etc. The Father is referred to as distinct from Jesus, the Son, throughout the New Testament over 200 times. Over 50 times, the Son and the Father are juxtaposed, that is, put side by side especially in order to emphasize the contrast between them, within the same verse. Over 60 times in the New Testament the Father, Son, and the Holy Spirit are associated together in creation, salvation, the Christian life, and the future judgment. Verses such as John 14:16,17 make no sense unless God is triune: How can the Father send a Comforter other than Jesus if the other Comforter is also Jesus?

Those who hold to the 'Jesus Only' doctrine often cite John 17 as evidence that Jesus is the Father because the expression "keep through Thine own name those Whom Thou hast given Me" can be translated so that it is the name, rather than the disciples, that was given to Him. However, when a father gives his name to his son, the son does not thus become the father. Jesus and the Father are clearly distinct and yet they are One. And Jesus prayed to the Father that the same oneness that exists between Him and the Father should exist between us also. "There are three that bear record in heaven, the Father, the Word, and the Holy Ghost: and these three are one" (I Jn 5:7). To argue that this verse in not in certain Greek manuscripts is pointless, for it agrees with the revelation given throughout the Scripture.

Two other verses quoted are Isaiah 9:6 and John 14:7-11. These verses only show that Jesus has the character of His Father in Him, and not that He is the Father. In one sense, it is perfectly legitimate to say that manifestations of the Father are seen in Christ, because He shares and reflects the same divine nature (Heb 1:3). These verses may also suggest His unity with the Father.

A person's will is an essential and unique part of his being. The Scriptures reveal to us that Jesus and the Father had distinct and different wills: "Father, if Thou be willing, remove this cup from Me: nevertheless not My will, but Thine, be done" (Lk 22:42). And is it not mockery for Jesus to cry, "My God, My God, why hast Thou forsaken Me?" (Matt 27:46) if He Himself were the Father?

The 'Jesus Only' sect, in many aspects, is treading the same path the Jehovah's Witnesses are treading. They claim, "There is no personal Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit is described in impersonal terms. The appearance of the Holy Spirit in the form of a dove is to reveal to us the purity, humility and other heavenly virtues that are embodied in Him. And the Holy Spirit being compared to fire is to explain His purifying nature." These by no means disprove His personality. The Holy Spirit has a name (Matt 28:19). He is called 'parakletos' (Jn 14:16), a word referring to a personal representative, advocate, defender, or helper. He can be lied to or grieved (Acts 5:3; Eph 4:30). He teaches, bears witness, and speaks whatever the Son says (Jn 14:26, 15:26,27, 16:13,14). He spoke to the disciples and guided them in their ministry (Acts 8:29, 10:19,20, 16:7). He calls people into specific ministries (Acts 13:2, 20:28). He chooses or wills which spiritual gifts to give to which believers (I Cor 12:11). When Peter told Ananias that in lying to the Holy Spirit, he had "not lied to men but to God," the deity of the Holy Spirit was made clear (Acts 5:3,4). And as Jesus refers to Him as another Comforter in John 14:16, He cannot be Jesus Himself.

A classic text that is cited to argue that Jesus is the Holy Spirit is II Corinthians 3:17. While the Old Testament prophets did not have the Holy Spirit indwelling them, they had the blessedness of the indwelling of the Spirit of Christ in them (I Pet 1:10,11). Christ has His own spirit. Although Paul certainly viewed the activity of the risen Christ and that of the Holy Spirit very closely, he clearly distinguishes between the two in verses 3-6 of the same chapter. Paul also distinguishes between Jesus and the Spirit immediately after stating that the Lord is that Spirit when he calls the Spirit, the Spirit of the Lord. Paul is clearly making some distinction between 'the Lord' and 'the Spirit of the Lord' Who is also 'Lord.' One must bear in mind that, almost the whole chapter is dealing with the "ministration of the (Holy) Spirit." The shining but veiled faced of Moses representing the old covenant, is contrasted with the new covenant of the Spirit in the New Testament. Therefore, for Paul to refer to the Spirit as the Lord Whom those under the new covenant experience, is to make an identification with Yahweh God of the Old Testament to whom Moses turned. This identification of the Spirit as Yahweh God, the Lord, is perfectly consistent with the Trinitarian belief.

Another text used in arguing that Jesus is the Holy Spirit is Romans 8:9-11. It is by the Spirit of Christ that we are born again. If one does not have the Spirit of Christ in him, he is not a Christian. Paul, therefore, is simply stating that a born-again, water-baptized believer who is anointed with the Holy Spirit has both the Holy Spirit and the Spirit of (Jesus) Christ in him.

The heretic teaching of the "Jesus Only" sect which states that one must be baptized or rebaptized in Jesus' name only in order to be saved, has destroyed and is destroying many well-meaning believers.

Jesus clearly taught the disciples that they must pray in His name (Jn 14:13); preach repentance and remission of sins in His name (Lk 24:47); and heal and cast out devils in His name (Mk 16:17,18). However, when He gave them the commandment to baptize their converts, He clearly and specifically told them to baptize "in the name of the Father, and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost" (Matt 28:19).

In the incident recorded in Acts 19:1-7, when the disciples at Ephesus stated, "We have not so much as heard whether there be any Holy Ghost," Paul's immediate response was, "Unto what then were ye baptized?" for, if they had received the baptism administered in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, they would have naturally heard of the Holy Spirit. From this it is evident that the formula of the New Testament baptism includes the name of the Holy Spirit. It was a step intended to prepare the hearts of the believers to receive the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit through the experience called "the baptism in the Holy Spirit" (Acts 2:38; Jn 14:20,23).

Baptism 'in the name of Jesus' means 'in the authority of' or 'for the sake of'. It does not mean that one should be baptized in Jesus' name ONLY . That is not the formula. That is why it does not occur exactly same way twice in the Acts: it says "name of Jesus Christ" (2:38), "name of the Lord Jesus" (8:16), "name of the Lord" (10:48). So the incidents where names are mentioned in themselves are not always the same letter for letter, and hence cannot be a formula. The triune formula has only one wording, and it has not changed over 2000 years.

The phrase 'in the name of' had a variety of meanings. For example, receiving a prophet "in the name of" a prophet (Matt 10:41) means, receiving him because of who he is, and not receiving him with the words, "I greet you in the name of a prophet." In this light we may say, "baptizing in the name of Jesus," means throwing the whole weight of the authority of Jesus behind it because of Who He is. Also, during the days of the early apostles there was another water baptism called "John's baptism" (brought by John the Baptist). But with the coming of the Holy Spirit on the Day of Pentecost it was replaced by the baptism authorized by the Lord Jesus. The apostles wanted to clearly differentiate between the two baptisms. Hence they used expressions such as 'baptism in the name of Jesus,' etc. In the place where Jesus gave His disciples the command to baptize, however, the name of the Trinity has been clearly stated.

The 'Jesus Only' group, along with other anti-Trinitarian groups, accuse Trinitarians of worshipping three gods. God is only one. Those who believe in the Trinity have always affirmed this truth as an indisputable fact (Deut 6:4; Isa 42:8, 44:6; Mk 12:29; I Tim 2:5; James 2:19). John 1:1 says,"In the beginning was the Word (Jesus), and the Word was with God, and the Word was God." When John says "the Word was with God," the word 'God' [ho theos] here is understood to refer to the specific Person most often called in Scripture, the Father. When he says "the Word was God," the word 'God' [theos] here is understood as classifying or describing Him as God. Had he written, "the Word was ho theos" this would have implied that the Word (Jesus) was God the Father. John avoids this idea.

To speak of three eternal and divine Persons in the one Godhead is to recognize the relationship that exists between the Three. We see this relationship clearly mentioned throughout the Old and the New Testaments: the Father sends the Son into the world (Jn 3:16; Gal 4:4; I Jn 4:9); both the Father and the Son send the Holy Spirit (Jn 14:26, 15:26, 16:7; Gal 4:6); the Holy Spirit glorifies the Son (Jn 16:14), etc. Oneness theologians and the 'Jesus Only' sect maintain that texts that seem to imply a relationship of Persons are purely illusionary, and that it is actually Christ's two natures that are in operation within the one Person. Particularly troublesome to this interpretation are the many texts that speak of the love that exists between the two Persons (Jn 3:35, 14:31, 17:23-26, etc.). We all know that natures cannot love each other, but persons can. This is also true of the many passages where Jesus speaks to the Father and the Father speaks to Him; natures cannot speak to one another, only persons can.

The danger of the heretic teaching of 'Jesus Only' becomes apparent when one considers the apostolic nature of Jesus' ministry. The term 'apostle' really means 'one who is sent'. Jesus clearly stated that He was sent by the Father and came not on His own, and that He came to do the will of the Father (Jn 5:30, 6:38, 7:28,29, 8:16,42). He is called "the Apostle" (Heb 3:1). If Jesus and the Father are not two Persons, He came by Himself, and hence cannot be an apostle. What a dangerous doctrine! Moreover, the statement "I came to do the will of the Father" would then mean "I came to do the will of Me." It's the Antichrist who does his own will, (Dan 11:36; Jn 5:43). So by saying that Jesus came to do His own will, they are in veiled way making Him Antichrist. How utterly blasphemous! And Jesus praying to the Father would imply He prayed to Himself!

We've now arrived at the crux of the matter. The 'Jesus Only' or 'Unitarian' doctrine is a doctrine of hidden self-will - "Jesus did His own will. Let us also do our own thing; let us pray to ourselves!" That is why it is so dangerous. Water baptism is obedience to God's will. By teaching and practising a wrong baptism, they short-circuit the real power of baptism so that they can continue doing their own will, disobeying God while appearing to obey. For this reason, it is of utmost importance that anyone baptized by any group which denies the Trinity, be rebaptized as soon as possible, to remove the curse of self-will.

Self-will is a trait of Lucifer (Isa 14:13,14). This false doctrine, 'Jesus Only', denying the Trinity, therefore comes from the enemy. Various types of denials of the Trinity from Jehovah's Witnesses, Unitarians, Adventists, etc. are only variations of manifestations of self-will. Taken to the logical extreme, self-will results in a person thinking "You can be your own god." So it is not surprising that heretical groups such as the Mormons teach that a person can become a god.

With the understanding that we now have, we can discern why those who deny the Trinity are so eager to defend their false doctrine. Since this false doctrine has a hidden agenda of self-will, they of course, not wanting to yield to do the will of God, will fight tooth and nail to avoid doing so. The enemy will give a special anointing from the pit of hell to help such people defend their doctrine, and twist the Scriptures to do so. For instance, when we cite Matthew 3:16,17 to say that one can see the Father in Heaven, the Son (Jesus) in the waters of baptism, and the Holy spirit descending as a dove, they twist this scripture and say that it only shows that God can be in three places at once!

Only those who do the will of God will know of the doctrine (Jn 7:16,17). This brings a person into a horrible feedback loop: false doctrine prevents doing the will of God, and not doing the will of God brings blindness to the true doctrine, hence more false doctrine can get in, and the person rebels more against the will of God ... and the cycle continues.

Dear reader, perhaps you are confused and troubled about the "Jesus Only" doctrine. As Jesus loves you, today He has clearly spoken to you the blessed truth of the Blessed Trinity. Please humble yourself and heed the counsel of God.

"The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the communion of the Holy Ghost, be with you all. Amen." (II Cor 13:14)



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