Sabellianism Explained: The Trinity Analogy Your Pastor Probably Uses

Sabellianism explained — the modalism heresy behind the water, ice and steam Trinity analogy your pastor uses. Around AD 220 a priest named Sabellius taught that Father, Son and Spirit are three modes of one person, and the bishop of Rome excommunicated him for it. The illustrations he used are the same ones taught from pulpits today. In this episode: Who Sabellius was, and why almost everything we know comes from his enemies The sun and water analogies recorded by Epiphanius in Panarion 62 — Sabellius' own illustrations Noetus, Praxeas, and Tertullian's charge that modalism "crucified the Father" Tertullian admitting the modalists were the popular majority in his own day Patripassianism, monarchianism, and the Greek words prosopon and pros Why Gethsemane and John 1:1 break the analogy — and the strongest modalist reply Marcellus of Ancyra and why the creed says "whose kingdom shall have no end" The Cappadocian solution: one ousia, three hypostaseis Oneness Pentecostalism, Arroyo Seco 1913, and the 1916 Assemblies of God split What analogy for the Trinity were you taught in church, and did anyone ever tell you where it breaks? Tell me in the comments. If this made the history clearer, subscribe for more church history and doctrine explained without the Sunday school shortcuts. Sources: Primary: Tertullian, Against Praxeas, c. AD 213 (ch. 2–3 on the oikonomia and the majority of "simple" believers; ch. 1 on Praxeas crucifying the Father) Hippolytus, Contra Noetum and Refutation of All Heresies, Bk IX (Noetus; the "ditheist" charge; the accusation against Callixtus) Epiphanius of Salamis, Panarion 62, c. AD 375 (the sun and body-soul-spirit analogies; Sabellian proof texts) Dionysius of Rome, Against the Sabellians, preserved in Athanasius, De Decretis 26, c. AD 260 First Council of Constantinople, AD 381, Canon 1 and creed ("whose kingdom shall have no end," from Luke 1:33) Scripture: Deuteronomy 6:4; Isaiah 44:6; John 1:1; 10:30; 14:11; 17:5, 24; Matthew 26:39; 28:19; Acts 2:38; 1 Corinthians 15:24–28; 1 John 4:8 Secondary: Encyclopaedia Britannica, "Sabellianism" and "St. Dionysius of Alexandria" Joseph T. Lienhard, "Basil of Caesarea, Marcellus of Ancyra, and 'Sabellius'," Church History (Cambridge) G. L. Prestige, God in Patristic Thought (on Marcellus' expanding monad) Kenneth Gill, "Dividing Over Oneness," Christianity Today, 1998 (Arroyo Seco 1913; 156 of 585 ministers, 1916) Ligonier Ministries / Lifeway Research, State of Theology, 2025 Disputed or uncertain — flagged in the video: No writings of Sabellius survive; all testimony is from hostile sources, and his Libyan origin is a later inference Whether Praxeas was a real individual or a nickname for someone else (Catholic Encyclopedia rehearses the debate) Authorship of the Refutation of All Heresies — contested since Nautin (1947); Brent and Cerrato argue for a second author Whether Sabellius personally used the sun analogy, or whether Epiphanius is reporting later Sabellians The charges behind Eustathius of Antioch's deposition (c. 330) The range of pros ton theon in John 1:1 — BDAG does not support "face to face" Whether modern Oneness theology is equivalent to third-century Sabellianism — its own theologians reject the identification #Sabellianism #Modalism #ChurchHistory