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Results from: Answered Bible Questions, Answers, Unanswered Bible Questions, Notes Ordered by Verse | ||||||
Results | Verse | Author | ID# | |||
1 | Please explain the Trinity. | John 1:1 | Brent Douglass | 1732 | ||
Brothersalas, Was your question dealt with beyond the one reply attached to it? The reply I saw seemed to be along unorthodox lines with no further reply. Maybe it was handled elsewhere, but I don't want to let it pass without comment, for this is a central issue. There is only one God, but He exists in 3 persons who are in relationship with one another. The Father, Son and Holy Spirit have relationship; they are not merely separate manifestations of one person. In Genesis 1:26-27, God talks to himself relationally in the plural, and yet One God creates. John 1 goes in depth about the concurrent permanent nature of the Word as God (Jesus) and God (the Father). Throughout his earthly ministry, the Son prays interactively with the Father and is confirmed through the physical descent of the Spirit ( ex. Jn 1:33) in every Gospel account of Jesus's baptism. God is One in essence, yet there is relationship WITHIN the Godhead. Members of the 3 persons consistently appear concurrently and interactively. Regardless of the terminology used, this is the essence of the Trinity concept; I suggest a study of the Gospels specifically asking the question throughout, "How does the Son interact with the Father and the Spirit?" This will bring out the concept of the Trinity. Although this inner relationship in the One God works is not fully understandable, it is clearly portrayed over and over in the Gospels. God was NOT first the Father, THEN the Son on earth, THEN the Spirit in believers after his resurrection. This is heretical. Every Gospel shows concurrent appearance, interaction and relationship among the Members of the One Godhead. |
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2 | Please explain the Trinity. | John 1:1 | Jess | 1736 | ||
The above answer is excellent. However , I explained this to a fried once. you are first a man, second if you are marred you are a husband, third, if you have children you are a father; yet you are one person, plus three different enities. Therefore, God is one person yet he is also Son and Holy Spirit. |
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3 | Please explain the Trinity. | John 1:1 | Brent Douglass | 1781 | ||
Any illustration is obviously going to have its limitations, and the concept of the Trinity is beyond our ability to completely understand, and I think your illustration is a good attempt at getting at the idea of God appearing in different ways. However, that said, I think it misses the focal point of distinction between the members (or "persons" as is sometimes used) of the Trinity. It can give the indication that there are simply "Manifestations" of a single entity. This still loses the idea of relationship and interaction between Members of the One Godhead. The Son actually sits at "the right hand of... the Father," "received" the Holy Spirit from the Father according to promise, and "poured forth" the Holy Spirit, so that the Spirit is visible among God's people (Acts 2:33). These are not merely manifestations of a Single Member; there is interaction, absolute and complete agreement, and division of roles among the Members of the One Triune God. I believe this is one sense in which man (mankind -- including both male and female) is "created in the image of God" (Genesis 1:27). We have mutiple components that exist concurrently but function as a whole. Specifically, we have at least body, soul and spirit (Hebrews 4:12; 1 Cor 15:49-53). (As a sidenote of limited value, some may add the mind and-or the heart, but a hidden separation of soul and spirit is clear from Hebrews 4:12 and the need for the body to be changed is clear from 1 Cor 15:49-53; the mind and heart may be additional parts of this joint oneness or simply a "place" or "way" for them to join.) The Spirit can commune with God (Galatians 4:6). When God breathed into man (gave us our spirit, considering breath or wind to mean spirit), man became a living soul (Gen 2:7). We know that our fleshly bodies die; yet this is not permanent. As with the dead saints whose decomposed bodies were changed and restored at the time of Christ's resurrection (Mt 27:52), so will my (and-or your) body be changed at the time of Christ's return (1 Cor 15:49-53), and my new spiritual body will, once again, unite with my soul and spirit in my ongoing worship before the throne of God in my-our completed form. (Obviously this illustration is limited as well. For one, when I am finally complete before God, the Son will be seated at the right hand of the Father, and I will have only one physical prescence -- never being God. Nevertheless, I think it more accurately sets a tone for the interaction of separate members of one whole. |
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4 | Please explain the Trinity. | John 1:1 | richilou | 10583 | ||
If I may another feeble illustration to clarify the concept of the Trinity let me say this. One day, I opened the door to two women of Jehovah's Witnesses (who are the farthest than them in rejecting the trinity?). But, in the providence of God it has been given to me to be face to face with not only two women, but the mother and her daughter. So trying to give them a simple illustration of the trinity (while it is always limited), I asked to the older: "Are you a woman?" She said: "Yes." Then, I asked to the younger: "Are you a woman?" She said yes too. But as a second question I asked them do you notice that while you are both women, you are not the same in your role; one is the mother and one is the daughter. They understood that very well. So I concluded like this. When we say that you are two women, but not the same person at the same time in your role, we make an allusion to your nature (womanhood) and your role (mother-daughter). In the same way, when we, christians say that Jesus is God, we don't mean by that that the Son IS the Father and the Father IS the Son. We say that they are one concerning their nature (divine). It is in that way that John said in his Gospel that the Word was God. Not to say that the Son is the Father or vice versa, but that they are of divine nature, equal in essence, but not confusing each other. It is exactly that in the Creed of the Nicea and Chalcedon as well. | ||||||