Coming Up Sonday March 2:
God the Father.
Read Colossians 1:9-14
It’s never enough to simply state a Bible verse and think that you have done your bit to prove your case. Such proof texting is relatively pointless. The men who formulated the Westminster Confession of Faith, which stands as one of the greatest confessions of all time, understood this. When ordered by Parliament to draw up a statement of what the Bible teaches they produced a body of literature with no proof texts. Their goal was to show what the Bible taught in its entirety - something proof texting cannot do. But the Parliament simply ordered them to go back to the drawing board to put in proof texts. As such many of our current versions of the Westminster Confession of Faith have proof texts in it.
Monarchianism arose because of such an imbalanced view of Scripture, often caused by proof texting. The word is made up of mono - "one"; and arche - "rule". This teaching was an error concerning the nature of God that developed in the second century A.D. It arose as an attempt to maintain Monotheism and refute tritheism. Unfortunately, it also contradicts the orthodox doctrine of the Trinity. Monarchianism teaches that there is one God as one person: the Father. Monarchians were divided into two main groups, the dynamic monarchians and the modal monarchians.
Dynamic Monarchianism teaches that God is the Father and that Jesus is only a man, void of the personal substance of the Logos and that the Holy Spirit was a force or presence of God the Father. Present day groups in this category are the Jehovah's Witnesses, Christadelphians, and Unitarians. Some ancient dynamic monarchianists were also known as Adoptionists who taught that Jesus was tested by God and after passing this test and upon His baptism, He was granted supernatural powers by God and adopted as the Son.
Modal Monarchianism teaches that the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit are just modes of the single person who is God. In other words, the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit are not simultaneous and separate persons, but consecutive modes of one person. Praxeas, a priest from Asia Minor, taught this in Rome around 200 AD. Modern groups in this general category are the Oneness Pentecostal groups known as the United Pentecostal and United Apostolic Churches.
If we rely solely on proof texting it is very easy to defend and promulgate heresy without even realizing it. What is needed is biblical literacy and a desire to know what the entire Bible teaches! What we need to be praying for each other is the kind of prayer in Colossians 1:9-14 - a prayer for growth in knowledge, spiritual wisdom and understanding!
Prayer: Write down your prayer points in the space provided. Use today’s reading to help you get ideas.
Adoration:
Confession:
Thanks:
Supplication:
ª Pray for a growing knowledge of God among your congregation and that this growing knowledge would bear much fruit.
ª Pray that God would enable each person to be passing on their knowledge and wisdom as they enter into mentoring relationships.
Walk Moment – In Psalm 139:23-24 the Psalmist prays that God would search him out thoroughly, remove the sinful bits and lead him in the way of holiness and righteousness. Are you able to pray this prayer and to completely repent of all the things/attitudes that the Lord reveals to you?
Discussion Questions For Families and Groups
1. Of what benefit would it be for a modern day Christian to study the struggles and battles of theology throughout the last 2,000 years?
2. How could it help to study and learn the creeds and confessions of church history?
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