Fundamental
to the understanding of God’s triune nature,
who He is, His attributes and abilities is
our acceptance of the truth of all
scriptures. Denial of God’s truth is
tantamount to denying one or more of God’s
natures which must be considered rebellion,
period. Denying
truth never eliminates truth. God’s truth is
always our foundation, we start there. When
we consider that the discernment of God’s
inerrant word is imparted only to those who
believe and trust Him, we realize our faith
in God underscores all possible
understanding of His word and who He is.
“In the
beginning God created the heaven and the
earth…And the Spirit of God moved upon the
face of the waters.”
Genesis 1:1, 2. In the very first
verse of the
book of Genesis, God plainly states that He
created the Heavens and the earth. Then He
goes on to say that His spirit was upon the
face of the waters. What’s so hard about
understanding those two statements? Denying
any portion of God’s truth is rebellion to
God and will fog or distort ones biblical
understanding. God said it, so believe it,
period.
When we read
a little further down the page we find one
of God’s natures, His triune nature, staring
us square in the face. “And God said, Let
us make man in our image, after our
likeness:” Genesis 1:26. What’s
that He said? In Our image? After Our
likeness? Who do those who deny the
Trinity suppose God was speaking to here?
His angels? Scripture never tells us that
God created the angels in His image. So who
else would be in view here? Could it be His
only begotten Son and His Holy Spirit? There
is no other explanation; after all, man was
only a twinkle in God’s eye at this point.
For many, it
really won’t matter what God says about His
triune nature. Rebellion, stubborn pride,
even arrogance and ignorance, will always
form a very significant barrier against
understanding truth. Since the word
“trinity” is nowhere found in our English
Bibles there will never be enough proof to
support God’s declaration that He is fully
capable of the most supernatural of
manifestations, that of three distinct God’s
in One. The word trinity doesn’t need to
appear in our English Bibles. At least not
to establish the truth since Hebrew was the
language in which the Old Testament
scriptures were originally written.
“In the
beginning God.” The word God was
translated into English from the original
Hebrew word “Elohiym”, which is a
plural masculine noun. The Holy Spirit
placed this Hebrew word
“Elohiym” in the original text for a
very specific reason, to show all who would
read His word that God has a very unique
ability apart from all the “man invented”
gods. From the beginning, God intended for
His creation to understand that He is one
God with a very significant and quite unique
attribute. Our One God, through His own
confessed supernatural ability and nature,
is able to manifest Himself into three
different personages, which are God the
Father, God the Son, and God the Holy
Spirit. By reading the Hebrew text, we find
within the first four words of the first
verse of the Bible God telling us He is a
triune God.
God had no
intention of hiding this ability from His
creation; it’s only His creation who insists
on denying Him and His Son as well as His
Holy Spirit as being One triune God. Many
deny God altogether and they, we are told,
are without excuse. “For the invisible
things of him from the creation of the world
are clearly seen, being understood by the
things that are made, even his eternal power
and Godhead; so that they are without
excuse:” Romans 1:20. Clearly,
those who insist on denying God’s triune
nature by re-interpreting scripture to fit
the box they wish to place God into are
equally without excuse.
“I am Alpha
and Omega, the beginning and the ending,
saith the Lord, which is, and which was, and
which is to come, the Almighty.”
Revelation 1:8. Who is speaking in
this verse? The Apostle John tells us
whose revelation this is in the very first
verse. “The Revelation of Jesus Christ…”
Revelation 1:1. So Jesus Christ is
speaking. He’s giving instructions to the
Apostle John. Jesus Christ is God Almighty
as He clearly states in verse 8 above.
I’ve
received numerous letters from folks who
reject any notion of a triune God, and who
consistently point to the Catholic Church as
the inventors of this doctrine. Others
choose Constantine as the culprit who
instilled this supposedly erroneous concept
into the minds of the believers. This whole
approach as a way to write off the truth
about God’s triune nature is in itself a
corruption of God’s word. The scriptures
declare an eternal triune God. The Catholic
Church did not write the scriptures nor did
Constantine.
“And the
Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us,
(and we beheld his glory, the glory as of
the only begotten of the Father,) full of
grace and truth..”
John 1:14. Here in the very first chapter of
the book of John we are told that the Word
(referring to Jesus Christ) became flesh and
dwelt among us. This verse indicates that
the Word had to have been in existence
before becoming flesh and blood. And yet
Jesus is referred to as the Son of God.
Undeniable proof of a Father and Son
relationship intertwined within the Godhead.
“And Jesus,
when he was baptized, went up straightway
out of the water: and, lo, the heavens were
opened unto him, and he saw the Spirit of
God descending like a dove, and lighting
upon him: And lo a voice from heaven,
saying, This is my beloved Son, in whom I am
well pleased.”
Matthew 3:16. Here in this straight
forward verse God is fully revealed in His
triune nature. God the Son (Jesus the
Christ), God the Holy Spirit descending and
lighting upon Jesus, and God the Father
announcing from Heaven how pleased He is of
His beloved Son.
Again, there
are numerous verses that declare the truth
of how God reveals Himself at different
times in different natures both in the Old
Testament and the New. In the book of Isaiah
we read the same Hebrew word that was used
in Genesis 1:1 –
Elohiym. “Remember the former things of
old: for I am God, and there is none else; I
am God, and there is none like me,”
Isaiah 46:9. Simple as this verse reads
in the English the Hebrew has a few more
surprises for those who will diligently seek
them. First of all, the first reference to
God in this verse is the Hebrew word “EL”
which is always used as a singular masculine
noun. Here we see God declaring He alone is
God and there is none else. In other words,
God says there is only one God not many
gods. For example, the “man invented” moon
god, allah of the Muslim faith, is not our
God. He is simply a manifestation out of the
minds of those who are deceived.
Then God
takes us a little further into revealing His
triune nature. He says “I am God, and
there is none like me.” In this instance
the Hebrew word used to represent our
English word for God is “Elohiym”
which is the plural form of the same
masculine noun. “None like me” again,
all those false gods which continually pop
up on the scene are created out of the minds
of men, yet time after time they are shot
down by our one and only true triune God. By
God referring to Himself as Elohiym, He
stakes claim to having a triune nature and a
nature that is not possible for any of those
false gods to replicate. Only God Almighty
can manifest Himself in three different
personages.
But still, when folks are predisposed with
the idea that the Trinity is a false
doctrine there are not many who can convince
them otherwise. God Himself, try as He does
through His very own words, is very often
rejected or dismissed as only man’s
misunderstanding, or misrepresentation of
scripture. Those who rebel at the idea of
the Trinity are too often saying “Don’t
confuse me with facts”.
Another
couple of verses that clearly reveal God’s
triune nature, yet become bones of
contention while being interpreted
erroneously, are John 1:1 and Colossians
1:16-18. In John’s Gospel, John refers to
Jesus Christ as the Word. That fact is for
the most part universally understood. “In
the beginning was the Word, and the Word was
with God, and the Word was God.” John
1:1. In denying the Trinity many people
will use a book that the Jehovah’s Witnesses
have written themselves using their own
fallible re-interpretation so
the scriptures adhere to their own manmade
doctrines. In their corrupting of the verse
in question they’ve inserted an “a” between
the God inspired words “was” and “God” in
order to prove their point that Jesus was
only a god not God Almighty. This is an
obviously slanted and biased attempt to
diminish Jesus’ deity. And as it would seem,
many believe that that is precisely what the
original Greek states. But in fact the “a”
is not to be found in any of the original
Greek manuscripts. Consequently what has
occurred is just another case of corrupting
God’s inerrant word for the purpose of
promoting man’s doctrines over God’s truth.
Further
analysis of the text in the following two
verses of John chapter 1 gives conclusive
evidence that Jesus Christ is God Almighty,
the Creator Himself. “The same was in the
beginning with God. All things were made by
him; and without him was not anything made
that was made.” John 1:2-3. John,
still referring to Jesus Christ as the Word,
states that “the same was in the
beginning with God” and that everything
made was made by Jesus Christ, thus Jesus
Christ is God the Creator of everything,
while co-existing from the beginning with
God the Father and God the Holy Spirit.
To emphasize
the truth of Jesus Christ as our Creator
God, the Apostle Paul adds, “For by him
were all things created, that are in heaven,
and that are in earth, visible and
invisible, whether they be thrones, or
dominions, or principalities, or powers: all
things were created by him, and for him: And
he is before all things, and by him all
things consist.” Colossians 1:16-17.
Wow, what more could anyone want in regards
to Jesus’ deity and His triune nature. Alas
these two verses prove nothing in the
skeptic’s eyes.
Why? This
next verse gets in their way. “And he is
the head of the body, the church: who is the
beginning, the firstborn from the dead; that
in all things he might have the
preeminence.” Colossians 1:18. In
the Greek, the word for firstborn is “prōtotokos”.
Firstborn – from
protos, meaning “first,” and tikto, meaning
“to beget” – is
used in His relationship to the Father,
expressing His priority to, and preeminence
over, creation, not in the sense of being
the “first” to be born. “Who is the image
of the invisible God, the firstborn of every
creature:” Colossians 1:15. Here
is where Christ’s eternal relationship with
the Father is in view, and the clause means
both that He was the “Firstborn” before all
creation and that He Himself produced
creation.
On and on it
goes as scripture after scripture declare
the triune nature of our awesome Creator
God, Jesus the Christ. At the top rung of
the ladder of rebellion stand those who
fundamentally reject God’s inerrant and
infallible word. They are those who wish,
through corruption of His word, to
influence, disrupt, and lead astray those
simple minded who have no drive or
inclination of studying for themselves to
ascertain the truth. They simply parrot what
they’ve heard.
“I said
therefore unto you, that ye shall die in
your sins: for if ye believe not that I am
he, ye shall die in your sins.”
John 8:24. This verse is so very
important for all those who remain in their
stubborn rebellion to God. Why? Because by
denying God’s triune nature they deny Jesus’
deity. In the verse above, Jesus is speaking
and in no uncertain terms is telling all
those who refuse to believe that He is God,
that they will surely die in their sin. Be
careful folks.
God the
Father, God the Son, God the Holy Spirit are
One. That’s the truth.
God bless
your all,
Ron Graham
twotug@embarqmail.com
All
scripture is from the KJV and God breathed