Bishop T.D. Jakes says he has moved away from a “Oneness” view of the Godhead to embrace an orthodox definition of the Trinity — and that some in the Oneness Pentecostal movement now consider him a heretic.
Jakes — long a controversial figure among evangelicals because of his past unwillingness to affirm the Trinity — stated his belief Wednesday (Jan. 27) at the second-annual Elephant Room (theelephantroom.com), an event that brings together Christian figures from different backgrounds for what organizers call “conversations you never thought you’d hear.” This year’s Elephant Room was held at Harvest Bible Chapel in Illinois and was simulcast to other locations nationwide.
Jakes, founder and senior pastor of The Potter’s House in Dallas, was the focus of a motion at Southern Baptist Convention annual meetings in 2009 and 2010 by a messenger who wanted LifeWay Christian Stores to stop selling his books. One was ruled out of order by the SBC president, the other referred to LifeWay for study.
| ‘I began to realize that there are some things that could be said about the Father that could not be said about the Son.’ — T.D. Jakes |
Jakes — who once made the cover of Time magazine, which asked if he might be the next Billy Graham — said he was saved in a Oneness Pentecostal church. Oneness Pentecostalism denies the Trinity and claims that instead of God being three persons, He is one person. In Oneness Pentecostalism, there is no distinction between the Father, Son and the Holy Spirit. It is also called “modalism,” and it is embraced by the United Pentecostal Church International.
“I began to realize that there are some things that could be said about the Father that could not be said about the Son,” Jakes said. “There are distinctives between the working of the Holy Spirit and the moving of the Holy Spirit, and the working of the redemptive work of Christ. I’m very comfortable with that.” [See the transcript of Jakes’ comments at the end of this story.]
The doctrine of the Trinity — embraced by all three historical branches of Christianity — holds that God is three persons, each person is distinct, each person is fully God, and that there is one God.
Several key Bible passages, Jakes said, impacted his transition.
| ‘It is encouraging to see T.D. Jakes moving away from the heresy of modalism. However, we should pray for him and exhort him privately and publicly to move into biblical orthodoxy without equivocation.’ — Malcolm Yarnell |
“Jesus was baptized in the Jordan River, for example, coming up out of the water [and] the Holy Spirit descends like a dove, the Father speaks from heaven — and we see all three of them on one occasion,” he said, “or in Genesis [where God said,] ‘let us make man in our own likeness’ or Elohim — He is the one God who manifests Himself in a plurality of ways. Or what Jesus says, ‘I am with the Father, and the Father is in me.'”
Jakes added: “That began to make me rethink some of my ideas and some of the things that I was taught. I got kind of quiet about it for a while. Because when you are a leader and you are in a position of authority, sometimes you have to back up and ponder for a minute, and really think things through.”
James MacDonald of Harvest Bible Chapel and Mark Driscoll of Mars Hill Church in Seattle interviewed Jakes.
Not everything Jakes said will make Trinitarians happy. He said he considers both sides of the issue to be Christians, and that his church has affiliations with both camps. He also said “we’re all saying the same thing.” But under questioning from Driscoll, Jakes again affirmed the Trinity:
Driscoll: “Do you believe this is the perfect, inspired, final authority Word of God?” [Driscoll held up a Bible.]
Jakes: “Absolutely.”
Driscoll: “So you believe there’s one God, three Persons — Father, Son and Holy Spirit? You believe Jesus was fully God, fully Man?”
Jakes: “Absolutely.”
Driscoll: “You believe He died on the cross in our place for our sins?”
Jakes: “Absolutely.”
Driscoll: “You believe He bodily rose from death?”
Jakes: “Absolutely.”
Driscoll: “You believe that He is the judge of the living and the dead?”
Jakes: “Yes.”
Driscoll: “And you believe that apart from Jesus there is no salvation?”
Jakes: “Absolutely.”
Jakes said he prefers the term “manifestations” instead of the term “persons” — a position he has stated before.
He also said that “many of the circles that I came from would never allow me in their pulpit [now] because they consider me a heretic.”
Southern Baptist leaders applauded Jakes’ transformation while also saying Jakes isn’t fully where he should be on that and other issues.
“It is encouraging to see T.D. Jakes moving away from the heresy of modalism,” said Malcolm B. Yarnell III, director of the Center for Theological Research at Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary in Fort Worth, Texas. “However, we should pray for him and exhort him privately and publicly to move into biblical orthodoxy without equivocation. Much of what Jakes stated about God the Trinity in this interview was correct. For instance he noted the simultaneous but distinct movements of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit in the baptism of Jesus. This is very true, though I might have described it differently.”
Yarnell said Jakes incorrectly interprets 1 Timothy 3:16, which says “He was manifested in the flesh, vindicated in the Spirit, seen by angels, preached among the nations, believed on in the world, taken up in glory.” Jakes uses that verse to argue for his usage of “manifestations,” but Yarnell says the passage is speaking only of Jesus — not the other members of the Godhead.
“The only ‘manifestation’ to which 1 Timothy 3:16 refers is the incarnation of God in Christ,” Yarnell said. “… Jakes simply does not offer a proper exegetical basis for his unique theological term.” [Yarnell’s complete statement on Jakes’ comments follows this story.]
Russell D. Moore, dean of the school of theology at Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in Louisville, Ky., said he takes “Bishop Jakes at his word that he holds to Trinitarianism.”
“But there’s still some elephants left in the room,” Moore said. “First of all, Bishop Jakes isn’t a new convert being discipled in the basics of the Christian faith. He is a celebrity mega-church pastor. Moreover, Trinitarianism isn’t the ‘meat’ of some advanced doctrine, but the most foundational doctrine of the Christian faith. A Christian pastor affirming least-common-denominator Christian doctrine should hardly be news, much less an elephant in the room. This can only happen in an American evangelicalism that values success, novelty and celebrity more than church accountability.”
Moore added, “There still stands the issue of the prosperity gospel Bishop Jakes preaches. Joyce Meyer and Kenneth Copeland are Trinitatians but their health and wealth gospel is different from the message of Jesus and His apostles.”-BP