Binitarian, Arian and other -isms

Binitarian (definition). Is generally understood and defined in trinitarian terms—that is, the belief that there is only one true God made up of two Persons (Father and Son) in one essence or substance (homousios). The Spirit is simply the Spirit of Christ. However, not all binitarians would agree with this definition. At least some subscribe to the idea of referring to God as one family consisting of the Father and the Son, but not in the one substance sense of the Catholic or Nicean view. See Binitarian View: One God, Two Beings Before the Beginning for a detailed explanation of this view. Binitarianism is also distinguished from bitheism or ditheism, the belief in two gods.

Arianism. The teaching of Arius (AD. 250 or 256 - 336) regarding the nature of God. According to Arius, there is one God, the Father, who has a begotten Son. The Son is divine (i.e. of God's nature), but with a beginning and subordinate to the Father. This is the same view the early Adventists held to.

Notes

• Isaac Newton was non-trinitarian.
• Arian versus trinitarian Adventists. "The Trinitarian understanding of God, now part of our [Seventh-day Adventists] fundamental beliefs, was not generally held by the early Adventists." - Adventist Review, Jan 6, 1994. p. 10.