11. Modalism – Is the idea that God is one person and He reveals Himself in three different modes: as Father some of the time, as Son in different times, and as Holy Spirit in other times. It is also called “Unitarianism” or “Oneness.”
10. Subordinationism – This teaches that the Second Person (the Son, Christ Jesus) and the Third Person (Holy Spirit) are subordinated to the Father, the First Person. The 2nd and 3rd persons are lower in nature and rank. The two persons are not of the same essence, not the same in substance. Only similar substance or similar in essence.
12. Tritheism – The belief that the three persons are truly God and that there are three Gods: the Father as first person, the Son who is Christ as a second person, and the Holy Spirit as a third person. Strict monotheists would call the belief of Trinitarians “tritheism”, three different Gods. This is how Muslims and the preachers of the INC-Manalo group understand the Church of Christ position when we insist that Christ is God or Christ is a deity. Of course, we explain the use of the word monogenetos and the use of the word “one” or “only” as unity or harmonic one. This is fully explained in the following article.
13. Trinitarian – The belief that there is One Being who is the one true God and in that One true God, there are three distinct persons each is completely God and that the three persons are equal in essence and attributes.
14. Islam’s View – Islam teaches that Jesus Christ is the Messiah, a prophet, and will be the Judge on the last day but he is not the Son of God. Muhammad, in the mind of Muslims, is a greater prophet who is higher in rank than Jesus the Christ. Muslims insist that God has no son and that Allah has no wife. Muslim’s idea of the word “begotten” is physical and biological. In Islam, Christ is God’s Word. In the past, Allah said “Be” and the Word was created.
In the Old Testament, the idea of a Trinity in the Godhead was not a clear doctrine among the Hebrews. Yahweh to the Jews was one, singular, solitary spiritual being, the Eternal, Almighty creator God. This is called “strictly one person monotheism.” This doctrine could have been absorbed by Muhammed when he encountered the different views during his caravan days from Mecca to Syria.