Modalist unbelief

For Trinitarian theology, the Father, Son, and Spirit who act in the events recounted in the gospel are “real, distinct agents, not signs of something else.” Trinitarianism denies that “the saving action that transpires among the three is not some kind of symbol pointing to something else above and beyond the narrative” (Hinlicky, Divine Complexity: The Rise of Creedal Christianity , 164).

The modalist denial that the three are distinct persons is therefore “a kind of unbelief appearing in the guide of theological interpretation” that treats the persons “as transitory symbols of a supernatural reality not identical to them.” Modalism turns the gospel narrative into a “theatrical performance” in which one actor dons a series of masks but never personally identifies with the role.

Rejecting Modalism was not, for the church fathers, a fine point, or a “merely” metaphysical decision. It was an expression of faith in the gospel, the belief that the gospel is indeed the gospel of God.