1. a person who believes in or advocates modalism, a Christian theological doctrine that God exists in different modes or forms rather than as three distinct persons.
Usage: theology; historical

Examples

• Early Church theologians debated whether modalists correctly understood the nature of God.
• A modalist would argue that Father, Son, and Holy Spirit are manifestations of one divine being.
• The modalist interpretation of the Trinity was eventually rejected by mainstream Christian doctrine.
• Some scholars trace modalist ideas back to the second century.
• Modalists and Trinitarians held fundamentally different views on divine nature.