Results 1 - 4 of 4
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Results from: Answered Bible Questions, Answers, Unanswered Bible Questions, Notes Ordered by Verse | ||||||
Results | Verse | Author | ID# | |||
1 | How can Jesus be tempted if He is God? | Heb 4:15 | RevC | 4859 | ||
The doctrine of the trinity was the attempt to defend three Biblical teachings all at the same time: monotheism; the divinity of the Father, Son, and Spirit; and the Scriptural distinctions between the Father, Son, and Spirit. The doctrine developed over a period of over 200 years and continued to be refined for hundreds of years after. Its development was an attempt to understand the nature of God in terms of Greek philosophical concepts, Every man will always come short and develop deficiencies in his theology. Understanding this, we need to watch ourselves lest we elevate a certain creedal statement, a certain author’s explanation, or our own understanding of God to the place of untouchable orthodoxy. Just as the doctrine of the trinity developed over time, and the individual’s theologies developed over time, so too our understanding of God develops over time.There is only one God. This is the emphatic teaching of the Old Testament. The Jews were the people who knew their God if anyone did John 4:22, and they had no concept of persons within the Godhead. In the book of Isaiah God makes some very strong statements which I believe do not allow for a Trinitarian understanding. In Isaiah 44:6-8 God makes the statement, I am the first and I am the last, And there is no God besides Me . . . Is there a God beside me? yea, there is no God; I know not any. Could scripture be any plainer than this? In verse 24 he states, I, the LORD, am the maker of all things, Stretching out the heavens by Myself And spreading out the earth all alone. If language means anything then by Myself" and alone mean that there was no other person present. If God is not claiming that he is absolutely one here, then what stronger language would one suggest to convey this? Why would God be so emphatic about oneness, if in reality he were three persons? Would not these statements be misleading? In the next chapter he states, I am the LORD, and there is no other; Besides Me there is no God. I will gird you, though you have not known MeThat men may know from the rising to the setting of the sun That there is no one besides Me. I am the LORD, and there is no other, The One forming light and creating darkness, Causing well-being and creating calamity; I am the LORD who does all these Isa. 45:5-7. Once again, if God were really three persons, could he use such emphatic language as this? If we take this to be one of the members of the Trinity speaking here, would it be honest for him to say, "There is no one besides Me? Would he not be forced to admit that there are indeed two other persons in the Godhead? In 46:9 God says, Remember the former things long past, For I am God, and there is no other; I am God, and there is no one like Me. In this statement, there is one person speaking (notice the singular pronouns) and that singular person says that there is no one like him. I do not see how it is possible to see a Trinity in these passages we have looked at. Surely the coming of Christ did not in any way compromise this strict Monotheism taught in the Old Testament. There is only one God. That God is our father. If Jesus is that God then Jesus is our father. As to his deity, Jesus Christ is God the Father. Isaiah 9:6 clearly calls him the Father. Some have argued that this should be translated "Father of Eternity," but not one major translation translates it that way However, even if we adopt the translation "Father of Eternity" does that diminish the force? Jesus is called the Father. I Corinthians 8:6 tells us that, to us there is but one God, the Father. There is no God outside of the Father. So in the sense that Jesus is that God, then Jesus is the Father. Malachi 2:10 asks the question Have we not all one Father? hath not one God created us?So we all have one Father, and our Father is God. The reason we call God our Father is because he created us. John 1:3, Colossians 1:16 and Hebrews 1:2 tell us that all things were created by Jesus, thereby making him our Father. | ||||||
2 | How can Jesus be tempted if He is God? | Heb 4:15 | Reformer Joe | 4895 | ||
Paragraphs, man! Why do you still fail to address the fact that the three persons of the Trinity constantly communicated with each other, did things with and to each other? If they are all Jesus, we have a real problem in logic, or at least an apparent deception on God's part. Why would Jesus try so hard to make everyone think that he was talking to the Father and that the Father would give the Spirit and that the Father sent the Son into the world, and that the Son obeyed the Father, and on and on? (John 14:16,17 would be a great couple of verses to unravel. I *AM* listening for any explanation, but you have yet to provide one). I agree with the deity of Jesus, as do you. I agree that the Father is God, as do you. I agree that the Holy Spirit is God, as do you. I believe there is one God, as do you. Oneness stands or falls on the ability to explain the problem stated in the previous paragraph.. Why do you keep dodging that central problem with modalism? --Joe! |
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3 | How can Jesus be tempted if He is God? | Heb 4:15 | Hank | 4901 | ||
Hello, Joe. You understand modalism. I understand modalism. You understand Triunity. I understand Triunity. There have been many, many, many postings lately by some who may well understand neither. Let me post brief definitions of some terms relative to this controversy that has all but paralyzed this Forum in recent days. For starters, the term "Oneness" that has been bandied about is not a legitimate term in any theological lexicon I know of....First I am going to list four "isms" that orthodox Christian teaching has considered heretical since Apostolic times. (1) MODALISM maintains that there is one God who manifests Himself successively as Father, Son, and Holy Spirit but who is not contemporaneously all three (2) SUBORDINATIONISM views the Son and Holy Spirit as essentially and eternally subordinate to the Father. (3) TRITHEISM (not to be confused with Triunity) asserts that there are three gods rather than one God who is in three Persons (4) UNITARIANISM rejects the Christian doctrine of the Triunity and of the full deity of Jesus Christ. With too high a view of human reason and too low a view of Scripture, this heresy also denies other important Christian doctrines.....The "Oneness" idea appears to be a confusing amalgam of various of the foregoing concepts.....What is left, then, is the orthodox Christian teaching, fully supported by Scripture: TRIUNITY, the distinctive and essential Christian doctrine that there is one God in three Persons. The Father is God. The Son is God. The Holy Spirit is God. There is a disctinction between the Persons so that the Father is not the Son, the Father is not the Spirit, and the Son is not the Spirit. Each is a Person. The Holy Spirit is not to be envisioned as a mere force or influence. This is the teaching of the Bible. This is the teaching that has been held dear by orthodox Christianity for nearly two thousand years....let us now move forward to other matters. Have we not had enough of this one for now?....Thank you, Joe, for your fine posts and for Biblical answers to Biblical questions. May God bless. --Hank | ||||||
4 | How can Jesus be tempted if He is God? | Heb 4:15 | RevC | 4936 | ||
please see my earlier posts concerning issue. Much of what you have addressed is more opinion than fact | ||||||