Why do I believe as I believe? - The Bible Concealed

How do I believe?

I believe in God, the Father Almighty,

Maker of heaven and earth.

And in Jesus Christ, His only Son, our Lord,

I believe in the Holy Spirit,

But…

How is the doctrine of the Trinity defined?

I seem to believe in the Trinity. The vital word follows the above short lines, ‘but.’

The doctrine of the Trinity is the teaching of the Trinity of God.

According to this doctrine, there is one God, but three persons in the Godhead: the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. The doctrine of the Trinity is formulated, e.g., In the Creed of Athanasius. There are other creeds in use, but the main features of the doctrine are listed below. According to the doctrine of the Trinity, all three persons of God are equal. I do not believe in this generally accepted definition. Jesus Christ, the Son of God, has explained that God the Father is greater than him. The Godhead includes the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, and I accept and believe this.

What about you, my reader? Do you believe in the doctrine of the Trinity? As you read my writing and its biblical reasoning, do you feel the need to change your mind?

Remember Bible instruction: John 8:32 ”You will know the truth, and the truth will make you free.“

Athanasian Creed

Whoever desires to be saved should above all hold to the catholic faith.

Anyone who does not keep it whole and unbroken will doubtless perish eternally.

Now this is the catholic faith:

That we worship one God in trinity and the trinity in unity,
neither blending their persons
nor dividing their essence.
For the person of the Father is a distinct person,
the person of the Son is another,
and that of the Holy Spirit still another.
But the divinity of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit is one,
their glory equal, their majesty coeternal.

What quality the Father has, the Son has, and the Holy Spirit has.
The Father is uncreated,
the Son is uncreated,
the Holy Spirit is uncreated.

The Father is immeasurable,
the Son is immeasurable,
the Holy Spirit is immeasurable.

The Father is eternal,
the Son is eternal,
the Holy Spirit is eternal.

And yet there are not three eternal beings;
there is but one eternal being.
So too there are not three uncreated or immeasurable beings;
there is but one uncreated and immeasurable being.

Similarly, the Father is almighty,
the Son is almighty,
the Holy Spirit is almighty.
Yet there are not three almighty beings;
there is but one almighty being.

Thus the Father is God,
the Son is God,
the Holy Spirit is God.
Yet there are not three gods;
there is but one God.

Thus the Father is Lord,
the Son is Lord,
the Holy Spirit is Lord.
Yet there are not three lords;
there is but one Lord.

Just as Christian truth compels us
to confess each person individually
as both God and Lord,
so catholic religion forbids us
to say that there are three gods or lords.

The Father was neither made nor created nor begotten from anyone.
The Son was neither made nor created;
he was begotten from the Father alone.
The Holy Spirit was neither made nor created nor begotten;
he proceeds from the Father and the Son.

Accordingly there is one Father, not three fathers;
there is one Son, not three sons;
there is one Holy Spirit, not three holy spirits.

Nothing in this trinity is before or after,
nothing is greater or smaller;
in their entirety the three persons
are coeternal and coequal with each other.

So in everything, as was said earlier,
we must worship their trinity in their unity
and their unity in their trinity.

Anyone then who desires to be saved
should think thus about the trinity.

But it is necessary for eternal salvation
that one also believe in the incarnation
of our Lord Jesus Christ faithfully.

Now this is the true faith:

That we believe and confess
that our Lord Jesus Christ, God’s Son,
is both God and human, equally.

He is God from the essence of the Father,
begotten before time;
and he is human from the essence of his mother,
born in time;
completely God, completely human,
with a rational soul and human flesh;
equal to the Father as regards divinity,
less than the Father as regards humanity.

Although he is God and human,
yet Christ is not two, but one.
He is one, however,
not by his divinity being turned into flesh,
but by God’s taking humanity to himself.
He is one,
certainly not by the blending of his essence,
but by the unity of his person.
For just as one human is both rational soul and flesh,
so too the one Christ is both God and human.

He suffered for our salvation;
he descended to hell;
he arose from the dead;
he ascended to heaven;
he is seated at the Father’s right hand;
from there he will come to judge the living and the dead.
At his coming all people will arise bodily
and give an accounting of their own deeds.
Those who have done good will enter eternal life,
and those who have done evil will enter eternal fire.

This is the catholic faith:
one cannot be saved without believing it firmly and faithfully.

Criticism of the Athanasian Creed.

This defines “the only, true Christian faith.” Salvation requires believing it; otherwise, you will perish.

“We worship one God in Trinity and the Trinity in unity” Sure, I believe in the Trinity. The Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit form this Trinity. The Trinity can also be explained by saying that these three are in agreement (or agree in one).

“In their entirety the three persons are coeternal and coequal with each other.“ This is difficult or downright unacceptable to me. I cannot believe all three are equal. It is already overturned by the confession of Jesus himself: “I am going to the Father, for the Father is greater than I am” (Joh 14:28).

Deu 18:18 “I will raise them up a prophet [Christ] from among their brothers, like you; and I will put my words in his mouth, and he shall speak to them all that I shall command him.” – Already in Moses’s time, the prophecy of the coming prophet, Christ, said that he would speak all that God the Father commanded. The word ‘command’ in this verse is significant in terms of God’s mutual position, the Father and the Son.

“For just as one human is both rational soul and flesh, so too the one Christ is both God and human.“ – Was Jesus already in heaven, both God and man? Or did Jesus receive human nature only after he was born human? When He was born on earth, did Jesus preserve God’s nature while being human on earth? And did Jesus take his human nature to heaven?

I can answer this last question. If Jesus had been God while he was on earth, he could have performed the miracles he performed on his power. Now we know that Jesus assured us that (the power of) God the Father had performed all the miracles of Jesus.

“At his coming all people will arise bodily and give an accounting of their own deeds.”

The Bible speaks of the resurrection of the body, and that is what this phrase of the confession of Athanasius means. Not much does the Bible talk about the resurrection of the body. Act: 2:31 “he foreseeing this spoke about the resurrection of the Christ, that neither was his soul left in Hades, nor did his flesh see decay.”

As for Christ, this really happened because he rose from the dead three days later. Ordinary people are forced to lie down in their graves even thousands of years when the body is not left just about anything.

Those involved in the first resurrection will rise from the dead and change. They change into spirit bodies. “Resurrection of the body” does not mean resurrection in the physical body. If that were the case, they would again have to return to the spiritual bodies when the saved would enter God’s New World, where God Himself and His High Priest, Jesus Christ, will rule.

“Those who have done evil will enter eternal fire.”

With this intimidation of the fiery lake/hell, the Catholic Church and its successors, the Reformed Churches, have intimidated their Christian members for centuries. The parishioners could not check the writings’ correctness when they did not have the necessary language skills; The Bible was in Latin and its manuscripts in Hebrew or Greek.

In this context, I will not fail to refer to the comforting Bible verse: Romans 5:20″ Now the law crept in so that the offense would increase. But where sin increased, grace increased even more.” – We sinners can be comforted that no matter how great our sins, the grace of Christ [who judges us] grows exceedingly great. One word is enough to save us when we cry out, Jesus!

The Athanasian Creed also ignores the fact that although Jesus is claimed to be both God and man, God the Father exalted (or made) Jesus Lord and Messiah. How can God the Father make an equal Son Lord? For that, the Son should be inferior? I understand that one of equal value cannot exalt someone of equal value; In promotion, the promoter must be superior.

Nor is the equality of the three persons realized that God the Father has sent Jesus to earth (John 6:57) and sends the Holy Spirit. Sending includes an instruction.

Athanasian Creed defines that,

He [Jesus] is God from the essence of the Father,

begotten before time;

and he is human from the essence of his mother, born in time;

Jesus was born so that the Holy Spirit made (overshadowed) Mary pregnant. The Gospel of Luke describes Mary’s conception as follows:1:35 “The angel answered her, The Holy Spirit will come on you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you. Therefore also, the holy one who is born from you will be called the Son of God.”

Which one made Mary pregnant, the Holy Spirit or God the Father. From this description, it is clear and confirmed that God is the highest of the three because the power of the ‘highest’ overshadowed Mary. The point seems to be clear after all; “Power of the Highest” means the Holy Spirit, who is the working power of God. Another thing that becomes certain is that God the Father is higher than Holy Spirit.

The development of the doctrine of the Trinity

Jesus was Jewish and he obeyed the law of Moses. At his Last Supper, Jesus proclaimed the New Covenant. Before entering heaven, Jesus gave the apostles a mission to preach about the kingdom of God throughout the world.

Gradually, Christianity began to spread and with it, the Catholic Church began to gain a foothold. Doctrinal controversies also expanded. When Constantine the Great officialized Christianity in the early 4th century, it also marked the end of the apostolic faith and the Catholic Church’s strengthening.

Arianism became a spike in the Catholic Church’s flesh and the ecclesiastical assemblies of Nicaea and Constantinople in the 4th century. The Catholic Church pursued the doctrine of the Trinity, according to which the Son was a full and equal God with the Father. The doctrine was formulated so that the Father and the Son are of the same essence: the same Godhead. Then the Constantinople meeting was reminded to decide that the same principle applies to the Holy Spirit. This principle of the same essence was considered to mean, however, that God is one.

Indeed, the fight against Arianism was a key feature when the ecumenical ecclesiastical assemblies of Nicaea (in 325) and Constantinople (in 381) formulated the doctrine of the Trinity on the basis of the ideas of the oneness of God and the divinity of Christ.

The doctrine was expressed as saying that Jesus Christ is true God, God in the same sense as God the Father. This was clarified by saying that the Father and the Son are of the same essence. That is, their divinity is the same. That is, they are God in the same sense of the word. At the Council of Constantinople, this was found to be valid for the Holy Spirit as well. Simultaneously, these ecclesiastical meetings still clung to the Old Testament, Jewish belief that God is one. Do you think it is right to build a doctrine 300 years without being based on the Bible?

During these times, another ideological trend sought to gain a foothold; modalism, which was the absolute principle of monotheism. According to modalism, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit were explained as the same God, appearing only in different ages as the Father, the Son again, or in the form of the Holy Spirit. When this way of thinking was to be countered, the principle was invented that God has one essence (lat. Substantia) but three persons. Modalism was rejected at the Constantinople meeting. Occasionally, doctrines containing modalistic ideas are still presented today. I recently read the notion that Jesus Christ is the Old Testament Yahweh.

Gradually, the concepts of faith began to become increasingly difficult to comprehend. The ‘essence’ of the three persons was explained by the fact that there was a distinction (lat. distinctio) between the three persons, but they were not separated (lat. separatio) from each other. New definitions of person were ousia and hypostasis. The final solution was that there is only one essence (Greek ousia) in God, but three hypostases (persons), which are the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.

Ordinary people, of course, did not understand these difficult terms, hardly all priests. Me neither. In my understanding, God is one, but Godhead includes the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. The Father has exalted the Son as Lord and Christ. The Father and the Son send the Holy Spirit to perform the tasks assigned to it.

I don’t understand (nor do many others) how all three could be equal in divinity – contrary to my understanding of the Bible.

What kind of trinity do I believe in?

Perhaps I had been too feverishly pondering the nature of divinity when one morning, in October 2018, I woke up, and at the same time, an explanation came to my mind that explained what God is like. I immediately got up and rushed to my laptop to record it. Its core was that God the Father is the only God. He has made Christ, His Son, Lord, and Christ and given him all authority in Heaven and on earth. Jesus uses all the power of God. In that sense, he can be called God, but he has not always been that. In Heaven, he is a human.

The Holy Spirit of God accomplishes God’s will. So, he is exercising the power of God. The three of them form the Godhead. However, the only true God is Jehovah, the Father. Jesus is the Son of God, truly the Son of the Father, born of him. We, believers, are also sons of God, though not in the same way as Jesus. We are creations of God, his images. After the final judgment, we will meet the Father in the New World of God, where the Father and the Son will sit on their thrones. We are sons or children of God, his co-workers in the creation of the New World.

God (the Father) is one. Elohim is plural; why? What does that mean in God’s Christian concept? When God created the earth, the Spirit of God, who is his executive power, moved on the earth. God sends his spirit to carry out the will God has expressed in His word. Jesus Christ, whom God has made Lord and Christ, is the Son of God, man, and mediator between men and God. God has exalted him to sit on his right hand on the throne of Heaven. Jesus exercises all the power of God, including the judgment of the world to come.

What is Godhead?

The Collins Cobuild Dictionary defines Godhead simply: Godhead is the divine nature of God.

What is Godhead like, was asked earlier? Then it was no longer asked but was answered directly, that Godhead means Trinity. And the Trinity was defined in the Catholic creeds to mean three equal god persons.

When we talk about Godhead, one can ask.

– Who is God?
– What or who belong to the Godhead?
– What is Godhead like?

I believe and answer like this:

God the Father is the one and only true God. An integral part of Godhead is the Spirit of God and the Son of God. The Son, having exercised his judicial power, will in the future be the High Priest of God.

I also believe that there are three parties to Godhead. However, the doctrine of the Trinity is not content with this. And I cannot accept its continuation the way it has been presented since the three centuries, for example, in the Athanasian Creed, which I comment on above.

By the Triune God, I understand that it means that God the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit are one God together. This is a doctrine written by humans. God does not give it in his Word, the Bible.

Jesus himself warned against such doctrines: Mar 7:6″ He answered them, “Well did Isaiah prophesy of you hypocrites, as it is written, ‘This people honors me with their lips, But their heart is far from me.

7 But in vain do they worship me, Teaching as doctrines the commandments of men.‘

8 You abandon the commandment of God and hold to human tradition.”

9 Then he said to them, “You have a fine way of rejecting the commandment of God in order to keep your own tradition!”

Col 2:8 DBY: See that there be no one who shall lead you away as a prey through philosophy and vain deceit, according to the teaching of men, according to the elements of the world, and not according to Christ. – In his letter to Colossians, Paul warns people not to deceive themselves with philosophy and deception based on the teachings invented by men. These teachings have been developed and dictated by Catholic Ecclesiastical meetings. At the same time, Colossians emphasizes the importance of the doctrine given by Christ.

Jesus never spoke of Godhead being triune. He never said that he, too, is God.

Bible literacy, or the importance of understanding

This article was also inspired by the fact that people don’t understand what the Bible says. When people read the Bible, they see in its sentences something that it does not say, or they do not understand what it says.

The Bible’s language is undeniably tricky in places, but by comparing different translations and finding the explanatory works’ answer, you can try to understand. I noticed how the Bible opens. Many points, which I ignored without paying any more attention, after my return would open in a new and surprising way. And my faith has received several interesting findings.

One such central observation is that there are three persons in Deity, but that does not mean that all three are equal or that all are gods. The addition of three equal divine persons is not based on the Bible and has been added more than two hundred years after the apostles’ time. The apostles did not proclaim such teaching. They would have done so if Jesus had taught and commanded them so!

One example I can bring out is the forgery of the Great Commission (Mat 28:19). The Catholic Church had such a strong need to find biblical phrases that support the doctrine of the Trinity that they added the Father and the Holy Spirit to Christ’s baptismal command. My reasoning in my article.

Peter rebukes Paul for his writings, that “some things in them are hard to understand, which ignorant and unstable people distort to their destruction, as they do the rest of the Scriptures” (2 Pet 3:16). The writings of the apostles were to meet the needs of two parties; strengthen the faith of converted Jews in Christ and, on the other hand, convert Gentiles to a new religion. This made the message of the letters confusing. An example Rom 3:31: “Do we then nullify the law through faith? May it never be! No, we establish the law.” Readers were confused because they did not understand how they can follow Moses’s law or have faith in Jesus and the New Covenant’s message for grace and salvation.

The verses given as evidence do not always prove anything at all

Examples:

God appeared to Abraham in Genesis at the beginning of the 18th chapter as three men. While supporting Trinity’s doctrine itself, this narrative allows the imagination to begin to construct this doctrine.

“The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, the love of God, and the communion of the Holy Spirit be with you all. Amen.” (2 Kor 13:14). Nothing is mentioned in the teaching on the interrelationship of Godhead’s participants, which is an essential part of the doctrine of the Trinity.

Bible verse 1 John 5:7,8 caused controversy during Erasmus of Rotterdam in the 16th century because its translation stated: “… and these three are one.” This was the most blatant attempt to prove the Trinity through forgery.

World English Bible -translation says today: 7 “For there are three who testify [Only a few recent manuscripts add “in Heaven: the Father, the Word, and the Holy Spirit; and these three are one. And there are three that testify on earth”]: 8 the Spirit, and the water, and the blood; and the three agree as one.”

Is Jesus God based on Bible verses?

Romans 9:5 and 1 John 5:20 are among the verses claimed to testify of the Deity of Jesus:

Rom 9:5“ of whom are the fathers, and from whom is Christ as concerning the flesh, who is over all, God, blessed forever. Amen.

– How should this verse be understood? Those who defend the divinity of Jesus understand it as “he who is above all things is God.”

KJV translates the verse: Whose are the fathers, and of whom as concerning the flesh Christ came, who is over all, God blessed forever. Amen. – Christ, who is above all things, may God be blessed forever. God who is blessed forever is God the Father. If one had wanted to say that Christ would be that eternally blessed God, the word order should have been: Christ, God above all, be blessed forever.

1 Joh 5:20. The same kind of interpretation problem is in verse 1 Joh 5:20″ We also know that the Son of God has come and has given us understanding so that we may know the true God. We are in union with the one who is true, his Son Jesus Christ. He is the true God and eternal life.”

Which is the true God, the Father, or the Son? It is difficult to say that based on the verse above. To clarify this, I study other verses from the Bible: John 17:3″ This is eternal life, that they should know you, the only true God, and him whom you sent, Jesus Christ.

– That’s the thing! Eternal life requires that they know you, who alone is the true God. The true God is the Father alone! Christ is the one God has sent. Does anyone claim that Christ ALONE would be the true God and not his Father?

The testimony continues: To have eternal life, you must also know him whom you have sent. Whom did God the Father send? Well, of course, his Son Jesus Christ. The Father said that he alone is the true God. Jesus is said to have been sent by God, but nothing is said about the deity of Jesus. Remarkable! After all, John has been widely regarded as the emphasizer of the divinity of Jesus.

Wikipedia’s article on the doctrine of the Trinity states: “In the Gospel of John, Jesus is called God twice, at the beginning and end of the Gospel (John 1:18; 20:28).” – Let’s examine what the verses say.

Joh 1:18” No one has seen God at any time. The one and only Son, who is in the bosom of the Father, he has declared him.”

Verse 1:18 rightly says that no one has ever seen God the Father. Has his Son seen the Father. According to the verse, the Son of God has revealed him. However, John 6:46 says: “Not that anyone has seen the Father, except he who is from God. He has seen the Father.” – And Jesus is the Son of God. After ascending to Heaven, the Son has seen the Father, the only God.

Not a word about the alleged deity of Jesus!

Should I understand the saying ‘Son who is in the bosom of the Father’ means that? In the Bible, Jesus used the saying ‘in Abraham’s bosom’ in the parable ‘Rich man and Lazarus’. In that account, Abraham was in paradise, and with him, there were believers, while on the other side of the abyss, there were suffering sinners. The saying ‘in the bosom of the Father’ certainly means that Jesus is with God, that is, at home in Heaven.

Joh 20:28” Thomas answered him, saying “My Lord and my God!”

If you don’t read anything other than the above from the Bible account, the conclusion is clear. Jesus had shown the scars of the crucifixion in his hands and feet. Now, Thomas’s unbelief ended, and he said to Jesus, “My Lord and my God.” – Is it not clear now that Thomas recognized Jesus as his Lord and God?

It is not. An exclamation can mean, as Thomas said, that he gave glory to God. It could also mean: (You) my Lord and (in Heaven) my God. We do not know this for sure. Instead, we know with certainty what John meant by his statement. Namely, he explains it exactly two verses later: 20:31″ but these are written, that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that believing you may have life in his name.” – Thomas, in his exclamation, did not mean that Jesus was Lord and God. Nor did John mean that. John wants only readers to believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God.

An esteemed scholar and commentator of the scriptures had hastened to conclude without reading verse 31. This is what many are doing, unfortunately.

Suppose the interpretation of the above verses could be uncertain at any point. In that case, the following verse of Judah cannot be misunderstood: Jude 1:4 (NASB) “For certain persons have crept in unnoticed, those who were long beforehand marked out for this condemnation, ungodly persons who turn the grace of our God into licentiousness and deny our only Master and Lord, Jesus Christ.”

The verse speaks of people who will be judged and who will turn the grace of our God into licentiousness. Moreover, the same people who are judged deny our only ruler and our Lord. Please, note that the verse distinguishes between ‘the grace of our God’ and, on the other hand, the denial of our only ‘Master and our Lord, Jesus Christ’

People who are sentenced

– Turn the grace of God into licentiousness

and

– deny their only Master and Lord [the existence of Jesus Christ]

A few translations translate the latter part of the verse as follows: and denying the only Lord God, and our Lord Jesus Christ (KJV) and our only Master, God, and Lord — Jesus Christ – denying (YLT). This link will allow you to compare translations. https://www.blbclassic.org/Bible.cfm?b=Jde&c=1&v=4&t=NASB#vrsn/4

From Jesus, we know that God has exalted His Son to be Lord and Christ. Act: 2:36 “Therefore, let the entire house of Israel understand beyond a doubt that God made this Jesus, whom you crucified, both Lord and Christ!”

What does this mean? Jesus has not been ‘Lord’ before but only after God the Father exalted him to this rank. The Old Testament uses the title ‘Lord God’ of God the Father. When the Bible says that God made him (Jesus) Lord, it may mean that God made him like God in terms of power and authority. Jesus was not exalted as Lord and God, but as Lord and Christ (Anointed, Messiah). Jesus was not already God, and the Father did not exalt him as God. Instead, God gave His Son the same power as Himself — all power in Heaven and on earth.

In the Old Testament, God is often referred to as ‘Lord God.’ For example, Gen 2:4 in the day that the LORD God made earth and Heaven.

In the New Testament, Lord God is, kyrios theos κύριος θεός.

God made his Son Lord and Christ, kyrios christos κύριος Χριστός

2 Cor 13:14″ The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, the love of God, and the communion of the Holy Spirit, be with you all. Amen.” – This verse has been considered the most substantial evidence of the Trinity of God in the NT. I agree. This unquestionably reveals the Trinity of God.

After reading this writing, return to this Bible sentence. Ask yourself: If this verse confirms the Trinity of Godhead, does it prove that faith in the Triune God requires faith in all that is said in the Athanasian Creed.

Jesus Son of God – a human

Council of Chalcedon defined in 451 the doctrine concerning Christ and declared that Christ has in one Person two natures, human and divine:

“We, then, following the holy Fathers, all with one consent, teach people to confess one and the same Son, our Lord Jesus Christ, the same perfect in Godhead and also perfect in manhood; truly God and truly man, of a reasonable [rational] soul and body; consubstantial [co-essential] with the Father according to the Godhead, and consubstantial with us according to the Manhood; in all things like unto us, without sin; begotten before all ages of the Father according to the Godhead, and in these latter days, for us and for our salvation, born of the Virgin Mary, the Mother of God, according to the Manhood; one and the same Christ, Son, Lord, only begotten, to be acknowledged in two natures, inconfusedly, unchangeably, indivisibly, inseparably; (ἐν δύο φύσεσιν ἀσυγχύτως, ἀτρέπτως, ἀδιαιρέτως, ἀχωρίστως – in duabus naturis inconfuse, immutabiliter, indivise, inseparabiliter) the distinction of natures being by no means taken away by the union, but rather the property of each nature being preserved, and concurring in one Person (prosopon) and one Subsistence (hypostasis), not parted or divided into two persons, but one and the same Son, and only begotten God (μονογενῆ Θεόν), the Word, the Lord Jesus Christ; as the prophets from the beginning [have declared] concerning Him, and the Lord Jesus Christ Himself has taught us, and the Creed of the holy Fathers has handed down to us.

Col 2:9 For in him all the fullness of the Godhead dwells bodily.

The Epistle to Colossians was written either in about 60, or three decades after the crucifixion and resurrection of Jesus, or, if it was not written by Paul himself, perhaps only in 70-80. It matters whether Jesus is spoken of as a man and a teacher of the apostles on earth, or as the risen Son of God, to whom all authority in heaven and earth has been given.

That the full fulness of divinity dwells in Jesus is understandable; After all, God had made His Son Lord and Christ. He has the same power and authority as God the Father. In terms of authority and power, Christ can very well be compared to God the Father. This was about Christ in heaven.

What about Christ on earth? He performed many miracles, healed the seriously sick, calmed the stormy sea, walked on water, raised from the dead, etc. Wouldn’t he have had the fullness of deity when he was able to do supernatural deeds? The answer is: no.

Jesus himself testified that God the Father in him was responsible for these miracles. However, we know that he himself performed a miracle on earth after his death. By this miracle, I mean the blinding and conversion of Paul from persecuting Christians to the apostle of Christ. In this way, it can be stated that the fullness of God dwelled in Jesus. What is this ‘fullness’? I would define it this way: all that God has at his disposal. Is Jesus part of Godhead? We have sufficient grounds to say that this is the case.

This conclusion has significant consequences. Namely, Jesus is a man in heaven. 1 Timothy testifies: 2:5, “For there is one God, and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus.” – This, too, is written as testimony after Christ rose from the dead and ascended into heaven. There he is the mediator between God and man.

He is a human being and a part of divinity. I have not noticed that any scholar has made such a conclusion. How could the above be explained? At this point, many may dig up the doctrine of the two natures of Jesus, the nature of God and man. It could now be explained that when Jesus was resurrected, he gave up human nature. And how is it explained that Paul states that Jesus is a man in heaven? Perhaps, on the contrary, that Jesus preserved both of his natures as he ascended to heaven?

I would say this: God created man in His own image. Couldn’t then Jesus, God’s only begotten son, a man, be the image of God to the greatest extent possible? Such an accurate image of God that God has exalted him, the man, as Lord and part of divinity. Is it possible for a man to be a part of Godhead?

Jesus was a man, and Paul testifies that he is a man in Heaven too. Of course, Jesus is a special case; The Son of God, exalted by God the Father to be Lord and Christ.

As the Bible says, we ordinary people say, as believers and being born again, we are children (sons) of God. After the resurrection, we will be spirit beings, the kind of images of God that God created us to be.

Accepting Jesus as divine for the above reasons is not very difficult. However, there are still many obstacles to the full and original acceptance of the Triune God’s doctrine.

The Holy Spirit of God – part of the Trinity

The seven spirits of God

In my writings, I have described the Holy Spirit saying that the Holy Spirit is the Spirit of God. One of God’s seven spirits:

Rev 1:4 ”John, to the seven assemblies that are in Asia: Grace to you and peace, from God, who is and who was and who is to come; and from the seven Spirits who are before his throne; 1:20 The mystery of the seven stars which you saw in my right hand, and the seven golden lampstands. The seven stars are the angels of the seven assemblies. The seven lampstands are seven assemblies.

Rev 3:1″ And to the angel of the assembly in Sardis write: He who has the seven Spirits of God, and the seven stars says these things: “I know your works, that you have a reputation of being alive, but you are dead.”

The seven stars are the ‘angels’ of the seven churches. Angels refer to the parish overseers (or Bishops). Seven lamp legs mean the seven congregations. There are seven lampstands, or congregations, which describes the entire Christian faith community. Lampstands are golden, that is, extremely valuable, although they have their shortcomings.

Who is he who has the seven spirits of God? Who speaks to the seven churches at the beginning of Revelation? Jesus Christ!

Rev 5:6 “I saw in the midst of the throne and of the four living creatures, and in the midst of the elders, a Lamb standing, as though it had been slain, having seven horns, and seven eyes, which are the seven Spirits of God, sent out into all the earth.”

Rev 4:5 “Out of the throne proceed lightnings, sounds, and thunders. There were seven lamps of fire burning before his throne, which are the seven Spirits of God.”

Isaiah describes Christ and his coming Millennial Kingdom; 11:2 “The Spirit of Jehovah shall rest upon him [Christ], the spirit of wisdom and understanding, the spirit of counsel and might, the spirit of knowledge and of the fear of Jehovah.” – When the description of the lampstands, or Christian churches, in the Book of Revelation is added to the Revelation of Isaiah, a picture of the kingdom completely controlled by Christ is formed.

In verse 17 Revelation 1: 17-18 Jesus says of himself what has been understood about God: “When I saw him, I fell at his feet like a dead man. He laid his right hand on me, saying, “Don’t be afraid. I am the first and the last, 18 and the Living one. I was dead, and behold, I am alive forevermore. Amen. I have the keys of Death and Hades.”

As the Father, so the Son is first and last, the beginning of all things, and the end of all things. The throne of Christ is also in God’s New World. Then Christ will give back all the power he has received from the Father, and it will be Christ’s task to act as the High Priest.

Is the Holy Spirit the working power of God?

The best-known proponent of this concept is Jehovah’s Witnesses. I am not a Jehovah’s Witness, but I like the idea they have launched.

Is mocking the Holy Spirit an unforgivable sin?
Is the Holy Spirit a separate, independent person from God?

One can receive the Holy Spirit. How could a person get a part of a person?

The birth of Jesus. Mat 1:18 ”Now the birth of Jesus Christ was like this; for after his mother, Mary, was engaged to Joseph, before they came together, she was found pregnant by the Holy Spirit.”

1:20 ”But when he thought about these things, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream, saying, “Joseph, son of David, don’t be afraid to take to yourself Mary, your wife, for that which is conceived in her is of the Holy Spirit.”

Luk 1:35 “The angel answered her, The Holy Spirit will come on you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you. Therefore also the holy one who is born from you will be called the Son of God.” – Mat 1:20 ”for that which is conceived in her is of the Holy Spirit.”

The power of the Highest, or God the Father, ‘overshadows’ you. The Holy Spirit is, therefore, the power of the Highest. What if the Holy Spirit were an independent person? This is how the Creed says, could Jesus then be the Holy Spirit’s child? Even the idea seems impossible. Then, too, the idea that the Holy Spirit would be an independent, equal person with the Father and the Son is not right. Therefore, I understand that the Holy Spirit is the spirit and power that accomplishes the Father and Son’s duties.

Jesus baptizes with the Holy Spirit

Mat 3:11 “I am baptizing you with water as a token of repentance, but the one who is coming after me is stronger than I am, and I am not worthy to carry his sandals. It is he who will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire.” (Also Mark 1:8)

Someone uses the Holy Spirit to baptize. The Holy Spirit does not baptize by himself, but the Holy Spirit is used in baptism. It’s about Jesus. This is ensured by verse Act 19:4 ”Paul said, John indeed baptized with the baptism of repentance, saying to the people that they should believe in the one who would come after him, that is, in Jesus.”

What does it mean to “be baptized with the Holy Spirit”? In rebirth, man is born of the Holy Spirit (John 3: 5–8), but in the baptism of the Holy Spirit, he is filled with the Holy Spirit.

Act 2:3 “They saw tongues like flames of fire that separated, and one rested on each of them. 4 They were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak with other languages, as the Spirit gave them the ability to speak.”

Eph 5:18 “Don’t be drunken with wine, in which is dissipation, but be filled with the Spirit, 19 peaking to one another in psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs; singing, and singing praises in your heart to the Lord;” – Jesus sends the Holy Spirit to fill believers. The Holy Spirit is sent by both the Father and the Son.

In Act 1:8, Jesus promises; “But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.”

From these verses, a picture of the power of God coming into the recipient of the Holy Spirit begins to take shape. Indeed, Jehovah’s Witnesses describe the Holy Spirit as the working force of God. When the Bible tells God’s work of creation, it speaks of how God creates with his Spirit. This Spirit is precisely the Holy Spirit of God.

The Holy Spirit is not an independent person separate from God, but it is precisely the Spirit of God who accomplishes God’s duties (and also Jesus) has given. We meet the Holy Spirit at the beginning of Genesis:1:2″ Now the earth was formless and empty. Darkness was on the surface of the deep. God’s Spirit was hovering over the surface of the waters.”

Why can’t sin against the Holy Spirit be forgiven?

Because sin is directed against God’s most profound essence, sin against the Holy Spirit offends God the Father most profoundly. In this respect, the Holy Spirit is separated from God and Christ, that not all three are equal in this respect. We understand this expressly from this Bible verse in 1 Corinthians 2:10 “But to us, God revealed them through the Spirit. For the Spirit searches all things, yes, the deep things of God. 11 For who among men knows the things of a man, except the Spirit of the man, which is in him? Even so, no one knows the things of God, except God’s Spirit.” – In man, his conscience acts like the Holy Spirit.

Likewise, no one knows what is in God except the (Holy) Spirit of God (1 Cor. 2:11). Nor does the Son know, but God keeps secret things he desires. Mat 24:36″ But no one knows of that day and hour, not even the angels of heaven, but my Father only.” – The fact that only God knows certain things shows that he is the highest.

True God – the only God

2 Ch 15:3 Now for a long season Israel was without the true God, and without a teaching priest, and without law.

1 The 1:9 For they themselves report concerning us what kind of a reception we had from you; and how you turned to God from idols, to serve a living and true God,

Jer 10:10 But Jehovah is the true God; he is the living God, and an everlasting King: at his wrath the earth trembles, and the nations are not able to abide his indignation.

Joh 17:3 This is eternal life, that they should know you, the only true God, and him whom you sent, Jesus Christ.

The only God

1 Cor 8:6 yet to us there is one God, the Father, of whom are all things, and we for him;

Before I began writing this article, I happened to read Bible verses that the presenter of the verses said with certainty testified of God’s Trinity.

I’ve long been a proponent of a single God. The above verse, in my opinion, unequivocally testifies of the one God, Father Jehovah. Can you argue against it? The testimony of the verse still continues:

and [to us there is] one Lord, Jesus Christ, through whom are all things, and we live through him.

I don’t know of any other biblical testimony that would be as clear and undisputed about one God. The testimony of this verse also applies to Jesus Christ; of him, the Corinthians testify that Jesus is the Christ and Lord. Just as God is said to have exalted him, here, Paul would have had an excellent opportunity to equate God the Father and the Son with each other, of equal value. Paul could also have done that by explaining that the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit are one deity. But no! Only the Father is the only God, the Son is the Lord and Christ.

I will also list other passages in the Bible that testify that God the Father is the only God:

Psa 86:10 “For you are great, and do wondrous things. You are God alone.

Jes 37:20 Now therefore, Yahweh our God, save us from his hand, that all the kingdoms of the earth may know that you are Yahweh, even you only.

Jes 45:14 ‘Surely God is in you; and there is none else, there is no other god.

Mar 12:29 Jesus answered, The most important is, Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God is one Lord,

1 Tim 1:17 Now to the King of the ages, the incorruptible, invisible, only God, honour and glory to the ages of ages. Amen.

Jud 1:25 to the only God, our Savior, through Jesus Christ our Lord, be glory, majesty, power, and authority before all time and for all eternity! Amen.”

The above are examples of verses that speak of the one God; These can be said not to prove that the one God could not be part of the triune divinity. However, the verses in Psalm and Isaiah probably meant to testify of one and only God. However, at the beginning of my article, I have acknowledged that God is one, but the Godhead is composed of three persons. Once more, I accept this, but not that all three are equal.

Is Jesus the God of the Old Testament, Yahweh?

Some seriously promote this kind of title-based doctrine. Jesus’ relationship with God the Father is Son’s relationship with the Father; submissive and obedient, admirable, faithful. Should one now believe that all of the above feelings, Jesus would apply to himself? I study the Bible again and see what it says.

Joh 5:19 “Jesus therefore answered them, Most assuredly, I tell you, the Son can do nothing of himself, but what he sees the Father doing. For whatever things he does, these the Son also does likewise.”

It is claimed that “Jesus accepted the divine worship of himself and demanded of himself the same respect as was given to the Father” (John 5:23).) This is an entirely false and insane claim. I testify in the words of Jesus himself: Mat 11:29 “Place my yoke on you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.”

Joh 5:22-23 “For the Father judges no one, but he has given all judgment to the Son, that all may honor the Son, even as they honor the Father. He who doesn’t honor the Son doesn’t honor the Father who sent him.” – Christ has saved all sinners who believe in him through his sacrifice. In return, the Father has given Christ all the judgment that the Son will exercise in the last judgment.

Christ requires everyone to honor him, the Son of God. For two reasons, God the Father does not judge anyone, but has given all authority to the Son. By honoring the Son, people show respect for the Father who has sent the Son and exalted him as Lord.

“According to John 12:41, Yahweh is Jesus Christ.” – This is what an online article believes and writes. Read John’s 12th chapter, though, several times. Even with a magnifying glass, there is no evidence that Yahweh, i.e. God the Father, is the same as Jesus, the Son of God. At the end of the chapter, Son’s humble attitude toward the Father God appears; 12:49 “For I have not spoken on my own authority. Instead, the Father who sent me has himself given me a commandment about what to say and how to speak. 50 I know that his commandment is eternal life. The things therefore which I speak, even as the Father has said to me, so I speak.”

The same author says things from the Bible that is not true. Among other things, “Jesus accepted divine worship of himself (John 20:28) and demanded the same respect for himself as was given to the Father (John 5:23).” John 20:28 tells of Thomas ‘exclamation when he saw and tested the traces of Jesus’ crucifixion: “Thomas answered him, saying “My Lord and my God!” If you read John 20:31, you will find out what John meant when he reported the event.

What about John 5:22-23, let’s see. “For the Father judges no one, but he has given all judgment to the Son, 23 so that all may honor the Son as they honor the Father. The one who does not honor the Son does not honor the Father who sent him.”

The reverence Christ receives comes from the Father, who has given judgment to his Son that all may honor him as the Father is revered. Demanding respect does not come from the Son.

The author I am referring to represents modalism, for which there is no biblical basis. Decide for yourself whether God is when necessary

1) God the Father when he is required to play the role of the creator; or

2) as Savior Jesus Christ, the Son; or

3) God appears as a sanctifier and giver of eternal life and is then the Holy Spirit.

“Modalistic Monarchianism considers God to be one while working through the different “modes” or “manifestations” of Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Following this view, all the Godhead is understood to have dwelt in Jesus Christ from the incarnation. The terms Father and Son are then used to describe the distinction between the transcendence of God and the incarnation (God in immanence). Lastly, since God is a spirit, it is held that the Holy Spirit should not be understood as a separate entity but rather to describe God in action.”

All such claims that Bible sentences prove that Jesus is the Old Testament’s God, Yahweh, do not prove it. However, here is a passage from the Bible that would seem to confirm this, at least on first reading.

1 Cor 10: 4 is part of the account of the people of Israel walking in the wilderness; ”and all drank the same spiritual drink. For they drank of a spiritual rock that followed them, and the rock was Christ.” – This account of Christ following the people of Israel is a promise of the future, not that Christ would be God Jehovah.

It is clear from the Bible that Christ did not speak to the people of Israel in ancient times, such as during a wilderness peregrination, but only in later times; Heb 1:1 ”God, having in the past spoken to the fathers through the prophets at many times and in various ways, 2 has [not until] at the end of these days spoken to us by his Son, whom he appointed heir of all things, through whom also he made the worlds.

– The letter to Hebrews testifies that Jesus did not speak to Israel “in ancient times” like Moses’s time. If he had not spoken to the fathers in ancient times, he, too, could not have served as the spiritual support, the rock, for the people of Israel. During the wilderness trek, Moses was the leader of Israel’s people and a prophet of God. What, then, does Paul mean when he said that that spiritual rock was Christ? Maybe it was a promise for the future; the people drank water from that spiritual rock. Rev 21:6 states that “I [Jesus Christ] will give freely to him who is thirsty from the spring of the water of life.”

The baptism of Jesus

Luke 3:22 ”and the Holy Spirit descended in a bodily form as a dove on him; and a voice [of God] came out of the sky, saying “You are my beloved Son. In you I am well pleased.”

It is rare in this verse that it involves the voice of God the Father, the Holy Spirit in the form of a dove, and Jesus Christ as a man to be baptized.

Does this Bible verse prove that God is one God of three persons according to the doctrine of the Trinity? Or what does it prove? I consider the testimony of the verse to be a sure proof that there is God the Father, Son of God whom the Father loves and there is Holy Spirit. About the Trinity, the verse does not say anything.

An English-language online article says: Although the word “trinity” is not in the Bible, the three-in-one concept, the triune God, is. The term “Godhead,” referring to the three-in-one, can be found in Acts 17:29 and Colossians 2:9.

Consider verse Act 17:29; It goes like this: “So if we are God’s children, we shouldn’t think that the divine being is like gold, silver, or stone, or is an image carved by human imagination and skill.” – I simply do not understand how this verse would testify of the Trinity of Godhead? Is there no better evidence for the Trinity?

What about Col 2:9 ”For in him all the fullness of the Godhead dwells bodily.” – What does this verse testify of the Trinity? Nothing. Instead, it is true that in Jesus Christ, one of the three Persons of God, the fullness of godhead dwells bodily.

I repeat once again my view: “Even though there are three individual Persons in the Godhead, there is still only one God.” – I explain to the Triune God as follows:

There are three persons in the Godhead, so it is believed, yes. Yet there is only one God – the Father. Not that these three persons together would be God.
The three persons of the Godhead are: God the Father Jehovah, who is the highest
Second, Son of God, our Lord, and Christ
Third, the Godhead includes the working power of God, the Holy Spirit, who executes the commandments of God and the Son.

What does ‘Lord’ mean for which God exalted Jesus? The Old Testament also spoke of Jehovah as Lord. Is Jesus, the exalted Lord, the same as in the Old Testament the only Lord God, Yahweh or Jehovah? I cannot interpret Jesus as being exalted as God, or Lord, as God the Father is. I believe that the exaltation meant the rise of Jesus as the divine ruler and possessor of power. Yet God the Father is always above Jesus.

God is Almighty God. Jesus is also the almighty Lord, but only in relation to created people, not in concerning God. The almighty Father’s omnipotence concerns all, including Jesus. This is how a person I value defined it.

Jesus is Lord, the only Son of God. God has given Jesus all power in heaven and on earth. This power also includes the jurisdiction of the last judgment. At least ‘Lord’ means unlimited power both in heaven and on earth. When God the Father descends to earth in God’s New World, Jesus acts as the High Priest of that world. – Based on this description, you can deduce the future relationship of the Father and the Son.

Why do people understand the word of the Bible differently?

Understanding the Bible is sometimes difficult because different interpretative options easily emerge. Finding the right solution is possible with the help of God’s Holy Spirit. God and Christ dwell in people who approach God: Joh 14:23″ Jesus answered him, If a man loves me, he will keep my word. My Father will love him, and we will come to him, and make our home with him.”

God wants us to study the Bible; when we do it in prayer, we find the right answer to our question, guided by the Holy Spirit.

What does “Jesus has come from heaven” mean? “No one has gone up to heaven except the one who came down from heaven, the Son of Man who is in heaven” (Joh 3:13). Simple reasoning states that if someone has come here from heaven, he has been in heaven. The same can be deduced from the biblical statement of John 8:42, ”Therefore Jesus said to them, If God were your Father, you would love me, for I came out and have come from God. For I haven’t come of myself, but he sent me.”

According to John, Jesus says, “I came forth from God and am come from him.” At the end of the same sentence, John continues, “he has sent me.” These are Jesus ’own words, not John’s.

An interpretation of the phrase “departed from God” maybe that God is the Father of Jesus and the Holy Spirit has ‘by overshadowing’ made Mary pregnant. ‘Leaving God’ could also mean that Jesus has been with the Father in heaven as a spirit being, as everyone there is. What kind of negotiation has the departure preceded? If we believe in Trinity’s doctrine, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit are equal, which means that he cannot be sent without his permission.

If God has sent his Son from heaven, the Father must have control over the Son. After all, Jesus himself testified that the Father is greater than him. God’s highest position in heaven is manifested from Romans 8:32, ”He who didn’t spare his own Son, but delivered him up for us all, how would he not also with him freely give us all things?”

The verse shows that God is higher than the Son, that is, the Father and the Son are not equal. As a result of these somewhat confusing reflections, I believe that leaving God means the birth of Jesus as a man from the Virgin Mary.

Is sending then the same thing? I believe it is. John testifies 10:36 ”Do you say of him whom the Father sanctified and sent into the world, ‘You blaspheme,’ because I said, ‘I am the Son of God?’ – In my interpretation, sending to the world means that although he had been in the world since his birth, he went into the world as a leader of the disciples to proclaim the gospel of the kingdom of God.

This example also shows that alternative explanations for biblical expressions can be found. By pondering them and relying on the Holy Spirit, you will be learn the truth.