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Modalism / Sabellianism
Modalism (also called Sabellianism after Sabellius, ~215 AD, and Patripassianism) holds that Father, Son, and Holy Spirit are not three distinct persons but three modes or manifestations of the one God — the same divine subject appearing in different forms at different times. The Father becomes the Son who becomes the Spirit. This is the most obvious solution to the problem of monotheism + Trinity, and it has persistent popular appeal (‘Jesus is the Father, the Father is the Son’). Tertullian coined the Latin terms that define orthodox Trinitarian theology specifically against Modalism: una substantia, tres personae (‘one substance, three persons’). The problem with Modalism: it cannot account for the Gospel narratives where Father and Son speak to each other, or where the Son prays to the Father. If the Father and Son are the same subject, Jesus was praying to himself. Modern Oneness Pentecostalism holds a position structurally similar to Modalism.