# What Is Oneness Pentecostalism? > The United Pentecostal Church International teaches one God revealed as Father, in the Son, and as the Holy Spirit, and baptism in the name of Jesus Christ. That is not the Trinity. - Canonical: https://apologetics.wiki/oneness-pentecostalism/what-is-oneness-pentecostalism - Religions: Oneness Pentecostalism - Denominations: none - Beliefs: none - Tags: oneness-pentecostalism, trinity, baptism - Updated: 2026-10-11 - Author: [Paul Ambrose](https://apologetics.wiki/author/hi-its-paul) ([GitHub](https://github.com/hi-its-paul)) Oneness Pentecostalism, in the words of the United Pentecostal Church International, is the belief that there is one God who has revealed himself as Father, through his Son in redemption, and as the Holy Spirit by emanation, and that Jesus Christ is God manifested in flesh. The same church says people obey the gospel by repentance, water baptism in the name of Jesus Christ, and the baptism of the Holy Spirit with tongues as the initial sign. That is not the confession that the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit are three persons in one God. [The Trinity](/christianity/the-trinity) is that confession. [What Do Pentecostals Believe?](/christianity/what-do-pentecostals-believe) is the Assemblies of God and the Church of God, which confess three persons. The [Pentecostal](/pentecostal) shelf lists those churches. ## Key Points - The UPCI says it is a Oneness Pentecostal organization, formed in 1945 by the merger of the Pentecostal Church, Incorporated, and the Pentecostal Assemblies of Jesus Christ. [(1)](#ref-1) - Its beliefs page says there is one God, revealed as Father, through his Son in redemption, and as the Holy Spirit by emanation, and that Jesus is both God and man. [(2)](#ref-2) - The same page says salvation is by grace through faith, and that obeying the gospel is repentance, water baptism in the name of Jesus Christ, and Spirit baptism with tongues as the initial sign. [(2)](#ref-2) - The Oneness page says “Jesus Christ is the one God incarnate.” [(3)](#ref-3) - The Assemblies of God statement says the church may speak of the Lord “as a Trinity or as one Being of three persons.” [(4)](#ref-4) [Matthew 28:19](/bible/matthew/28/19) names the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost. ## What Is the Oneness Pentecostal Belief? The UPCI beliefs page states the doctrine in two sentences. On [Our Beliefs, on God](https://upci.org/our-beliefs/): > There is one God, who has revealed Himself as Father; through His Son, in redemption; and as the Holy Spirit, by emanation. Jesus Christ is God manifested in flesh. He is both God and man. The page cites Deuteronomy 6:4, Ephesians 4:4–6, Colossians 2:9, and 1 Timothy 3:16. [(2)](#ref-2) [Deuteronomy 6:4](/bible/deuteronomy/6/4) says the Lord our God is one Lord. Christians confess that. The question is whether the Son and the Holy Spirit are that one Lord, or modes in which one person is revealed. The UPCI sentence says one God revealed as Father, through the Son, and as the Holy Spirit. The historic name for the teaching that the one God is one person who appears in three modes is modalism. The UPCI does not use that word on the page quoted here. The sentence is the teaching the word names. The Oneness page says the Creator became the Savior, that God came in flesh and did not send someone else, and that the Creator-Savior is also the indwelling Spirit. It says Jesus Christ is the one God incarnate. [(3)](#ref-3) [Colossians 2:9](/bible/colossians/2/9) says in him dwells all the fulness of the Godhead bodily. The verse says the fulness dwells in the Son. [John 1:1](/bible/john/1/1) says the Word was with God and the Word was God. “With God” is a distinction inside the one God. [John 14:16](/bible/john/14/16) has Jesus ask the Father to give another Comforter. The Father, the Son who asks, and the Comforter who is given are not one speaker taking three titles in that sentence. [The Trinity](/christianity/the-trinity) reads those lines as one God in three persons. [Is the Holy Spirit God?](/christianity/is-the-holy-spirit-god) is the Spirit’s side of that confession. ## Oneness Pentecostal Theology The Oneness page puts the same confession in one line. On [that page](https://upci.org/oneness-pentecostalism/): > Jesus Christ is the one God incarnate, and in Him we have everything we need: healing, deliverance, victory, and salvation (Colossians 2:9-10). The about page locates the organization. It says the UPCI was formed in 1945 by the merger of the Pentecostal Church, Incorporated, and the Pentecostal Assemblies of Jesus Christ, with roots in the Pentecostal revival at Topeka in 1901 and Azusa Street in 1906, and organizational roots in 1916 around the oneness of God and baptism in Jesus’ name. It says the UPCI is the largest Oneness Pentecostal organization, and that its identity includes belief in the oneness of God and the new birth described in Acts 2:38. [(1)](#ref-1) The beliefs page also says everyone has sinned and needs salvation, and that salvation comes by grace through faith based on the atoning sacrifice of Jesus Christ, citing Ephesians 2:8–9. [(2)](#ref-2) [Ephesians 2:8](/bible/ephesians/2/8) says by grace you are saved through faith, and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God. The next section of the same UPCI page ties the application of that grace to obeying Acts 2:38. [What Does the Bible Say About Salvation?](/christianity/what-does-the-bible-say-about-salvation) is the Ephesians sentence. [Is Baptism Necessary for Salvation?](/christianity/is-baptism-necessary-for-salvation) quotes churches that disagree about baptism and does not decide that dispute among churches that confess the Trinity. The UPCI is not one of those churches. Its page makes baptism in Jesus’ name part of obeying the gospel. The pages fetched here do not give a separate Oneness definition of the unforgivable sin. [What Is Blasphemy Against the Holy Spirit?](/christianity/what-is-blasphemy-against-the-holy-spirit) quotes Matthew 12:31, the Catechism, and a Lutheran answer, and it does not decide among them. ## Oneness Pentecostal vs Pentecostal Both use the word Pentecostal. They do not confess the same God. The Assemblies of God Statement of Fundamental Truths says, “We therefore may speak with propriety of the Lord our God, who is One Lord, as a Trinity or as one Being of three persons.” [(4)](#ref-4) [What Do Pentecostals Believe?](/christianity/what-do-pentecostals-believe) quotes that sentence and the Church of God’s Declaration of Faith. Those churches are on the [Pentecostal](/pentecostal) shelf because they confess the Trinity. The UPCI says Jesus is God manifested in flesh, and that the one God has revealed himself as Father, through the Son, and as the Holy Spirit. [(2)](#ref-2) That is one God who is one subject, revealed in three ways. The Assemblies of God sentence is one Being of three persons. [Matthew 28:19](/bible/matthew/28/19) [(5)](#ref-5) is the baptismal name: the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Ghost. The UPCI page says baptism in the name of Jesus Christ fulfills that verse, because Jesus is the name of the one God. The verse itself names three. ## Which Churches Are Oneness Pentecostal? The about page says the United Pentecostal Church International is the largest Oneness Pentecostal organization. [(1)](#ref-1) It does not say it is the only one. A church that confesses the UPCI sentences above is Oneness in that sense. The Assemblies of God and the Church of God are not. Their statements, quoted on [What Do Pentecostals Believe?](/christianity/what-do-pentecostals-believe), speak of three persons. ## Is the Apostolic Church a Oneness Church? The UPCI about page traces roots to the Apostolic Faith movement and to the 1916 controversy over the oneness of God and baptism in Jesus’ name, and it calls the UPCI itself Oneness Pentecostal. [(1)](#ref-1) The name Apostolic is older and wider than that organization. This page does not class every church that uses the word Apostolic as Oneness, and it does not class a minister by reputation when his own statement is not the document quoted here. The test on this page is the confession: one God revealed as Father, Son, and Spirit by manifestation, and baptism in Jesus’ name, as the UPCI prints it. ## Jesus-Name Baptism The beliefs page says the saving gospel is that Jesus died, was buried, and rose, and then it says how the church obeys that gospel. On [Our Beliefs, on baptism](https://upci.org/our-beliefs/): > We obey the gospel (II Thessalonians 1:8; I Peter 4:17) by repentance (death to sin), water baptism in the name of Jesus Christ (burial), and the baptism of the Holy Spirit with the initial sign of speaking in tongues as the Spirit gives the utterance (resurrection). [(2)](#ref-2) The Oneness page says that as people believe on Jesus they will repent, be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ, and receive the gift of the Holy Spirit, citing Acts 2, 8, 10, and 19. It also says, “We do not reject those who have not received the complete New Testament experience,” and that “the application of grace and the expression of faith come as a person obeys Acts 2:38.” [(3)](#ref-3) [Acts 2:38](/bible/acts/2/38) says repent and be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ. [Matthew 28:19](/bible/matthew/28/19) says the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost. The UPCI reads the second as fulfilled by the first. The two sentences do not use the same words. [What Does the Bible Say About Speaking in Tongues?](/christianity/what-does-the-bible-say-about-speaking-in-tongues) quotes Acts 2, 1 Corinthians 12–14, the Assemblies of God, and Westminster, and it does not decide that disagreement among Trinitarian churches. The UPCI page makes tongues the initial sign of Spirit baptism. That is its sentence, not the Assemblies of God sentence, though both speak of an initial sign. ## Frequently Asked Questions ### Are Oneness Pentecostals Saved? The UPCI says salvation comes by grace through faith based on the sacrifice of Jesus Christ, and that the application of grace comes as a person obeys Acts 2:38. [(2)](#ref-2) [(3)](#ref-3) [Ephesians 2:8–9](/bible/ephesians/2) says salvation is by grace through faith, not of works. The Christian confession also says the one God is Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. [The Trinity](/christianity/the-trinity) is that claim. This page does not publish a verdict on any person’s standing before God. ### What Is the Problem With Oneness Theology? The UPCI sentence makes the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit revelations of one God rather than three persons. [John 1:1](/bible/john/1/1) says the Word was with God. [John 14:16](/bible/john/14/16) has the Son ask the Father for another Comforter. [Matthew 28:19](/bible/matthew/28/19) names the three in the baptismal formula. ### Do Oneness Pentecostals Believe in the Trinity? Not in the sense of one God in three persons. The beliefs page says one God revealed as Father, through the Son, and as the Holy Spirit by emanation. [(2)](#ref-2) The Assemblies of God statement uses the word Trinity for three persons. [(4)](#ref-4) ## Keep Reading - [The Trinity](/christianity/the-trinity) - [Is Jesus God?](/christianity/is-jesus-god) - [What Do Pentecostals Believe?](/christianity/what-do-pentecostals-believe) - [Pentecostal](/pentecostal) - [Is Baptism Necessary for Salvation?](/christianity/is-baptism-necessary-for-salvation) - [What Does the Bible Say About Speaking in Tongues?](/christianity/what-does-the-bible-say-about-speaking-in-tongues) - [What Is Blasphemy Against the Holy Spirit?](/christianity/what-is-blasphemy-against-the-holy-spirit) - [What Is Iglesia Ni Cristo?](/iglesia-ni-cristo/what-is-iglesia-ni-cristo) - [What Does the Bible Say About Salvation?](/christianity/what-does-the-bible-say-about-salvation) ## Passages Quoted on This Page ### Matthew 28:19 King James Version. > Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost: ### Deuteronomy 6:4 King James Version. > Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God is one LORD: ### Colossians 2:9 King James Version. > For in him dwelleth all the fulness of the Godhead bodily. ### John 1:1 King James Version. > In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. ### John 14:16 King James Version. > And I will pray the Father, and he shall give you another Comforter, that he may abide with you for ever; ### Ephesians 2:8 King James Version. > For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: ### Acts 2:38 King James Version. > Then Peter said unto them, Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost. ### Ephesians 2:8–9 King James Version. > [2:8] For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: [2:9] Not of works, lest any man should boast. ## Sources Numbered to match the HTML References list. Item 1 is `#ref-1` under `#references`. Scripture links to the King James Version on this site. 1. [About the UPCI](https://upci.org/about-the-upci/) (United Pentecostal Church International. Formed in 1945. It calls itself the largest Oneness Pentecostal organization.) 2. [Our Beliefs](https://upci.org/our-beliefs/) (United Pentecostal Church International. One God revealed as Father, through the Son, and as the Holy Spirit, and baptism in the name of Jesus Christ.) 3. [Oneness Pentecostalism](https://upci.org/oneness-pentecostalism/) (United Pentecostal Church International. Jesus Christ is the one God incarnate. Adapted from On Being Pentecostal by David K. Bernard and Robin Johnston.) 4. [Statement of Fundamental Truths](https://ag.org/-/media/AGORG/Beliefs/Fundamental-Truths/Statement-of-Fundamental-Truths.pdf) (The Statement of Fundamental Truths of the General Council of the Assemblies of God.) 5. [Gospel of Matthew, 28:19](https://apologetics.wiki/bible/matthew/28/19). King James Version 6. [Deuteronomy, 6:4](https://apologetics.wiki/bible/deuteronomy/6/4). King James Version 7. [Gospel of John, 1:1; 14:16](https://apologetics.wiki/bible/john/1/1). King James Version 8. [Acts of the Apostles, 2:38](https://apologetics.wiki/bible/acts/2/38). King James Version 9. [Letter to the Ephesians, 2:8](https://apologetics.wiki/bible/ephesians/2/8). King James Version ## See Also - [Who Was at Jesus' Baptism?](https://apologetics.wiki/christianity/who-was-at-jesus-baptism) — Who baptized Jesus, who was at the Jordan, and why the sinless Jesus was baptized, from Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, with the Catechism and an Orthodox essay. - [Are Mormons Christians?](https://apologetics.wiki/latter-day-saints/are-mormons-christians) — Latter-day Saints worship Jesus Christ and use his name. Their teaching of God, of Jesus, and of salvation is not the Nicene confession, so they are not a denomination inside Trinitarian Christianity. - [Can God Have a Son?](https://apologetics.wiki/islam/can-god-have-a-son) — The Qur'an condemns the claim that God has taken a son, especially a son by a consort. Christians deny that picture and still confess the eternal Son. - [Do Mormons Believe in the Trinity?](https://apologetics.wiki/latter-day-saints/the-godhead-in-latter-day-saint-teaching) — No. Latter-day Saints teach that the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost are three separate beings, one in purpose. That is not the Nicene confession of one God in three persons. - [Do Muslims and Christians Worship the Same God?](https://apologetics.wiki/islam/do-muslims-and-christians-worship-the-same-god) — Is Allah the same God? Muslims and Christians both confess one Creator, the God of Abraham. They do not confess the same account of who that God is: Christians say Jesus is God, and the Qur'an denies it.