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So you're saying that they are "one" because they work in perfect accord/harmony? That's interesting!It's a complex issue since God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit are three different entities that work in unison. Whatever God the Father knows, His Son Christ and His Holy Spirit also knows apart from the day he will come back for us. I was once told that the trinity is more or less like water in Ice, Liquid and Vapor form. Whichever way you look at it, Water is still water and God is still God. Am I making sense??? :/
It's not heretical, you just don't understand the entirety of it. Don't go jumping to conclusions based on a low-powered perception.
You see this is why people are confused about the Trinity in the first place.
There are confusing about the Trinity because people have degraded the trinity into a mystical thought, instead of delving into Scripture to deal with the issue. You down graded the Holy Spirit to NOT a person, but word spoken out of God the Father's mouth. That is heretical.
That's what I was taught, but..........I'm into investigating WHY it was deemed heretical. Pretty much everybody's been a heretic at some point in church history. It was sort of the religious equivalent of kings who overtook a region and wiped out all traces of the previous king.
So it seems like what he is saying is we have three distinct People who each possess the same infused quality of "God-ness"--and that this gives them the identity of deity.A Brief Definition of the Trinity
by James White
I know that one of the most oft-repeated questions I have dealt with is, "How does one explain, or even understand, the doctrine of the Trinity?"
Indeed, few topics are made such a football by various groups that, normally, claim to be the "only" real religion, and who prey upon Christians as "convert fodder." Be that as it may, when the Christian is faced with a question regarding the Trinity, how might it best be explained?
For me, I know that simplifying the doctrine to its most basic elements has been very important and very useful. When we reduce the discussion to the three clear Biblical teachings that underlie the Trinity, we can move our discussion from the abstract to the concrete Biblical data, and can help those involved in false religions to recognize which of the Biblical teachings it is denying.
We must first remember that very few have a good idea of what the Trinity is in the first place - hence, accuracy in definition will be very important. The doctrine of the Trinity is simply that there is one eternal being of God - indivisible, infinite. This one being of God is shared by three co-equal, co-eternal persons, the Father, the Son, and the Spirit.
It is necessary here to distinguish between the terms "being" and "person." It would be a contradiction, obviously, to say that there are three beings within one being, or three persons within one person. So what is the difference? We clearly recognize the difference between being and person every day. We recognize what something is, yet we also recognize individuals within a classification. For example, we speak of the "being" of man---human being. A rock has "being"---the being of a rock, as does a cat, a dog, etc. Yet, we also know that there are personal attributes as well.
That is, we recognize both "what" and "who" when we talk about a person.
The Bible tells us there are three classifications of personal beings---God, man, and angels. What is personality? The ability to have emotion, will, to express oneself. Rocks cannot speak. Cats cannot think of themselves over against others, and, say, work for the common good of "cat kind." Hence, we are saying that there is one eternal, infinite being of God, shared fully and completely by three persons, Father, Son and Spirit. One what, three who's.
NOTE: We are not saying that the Father is the Son, or the Son the Spirit, or the Spirit the Father. It is very common for people to misunderstand the doctrine as to mean that we are saying Jesus is the Father. The doctrine of the Trinity does not in any way say this!
The three Biblical doctrines that flow directly into the river that is the Trinity are as follows:
1) There is one and only one God, eternal, immutable.
2) There are three eternal Persons described in Scripture - the Father, the Son, and the Spirit. These Persons are never identified with one another - that is, they are carefully differentiated as Persons.
3) The Father, the Son, and the Spirit, are identified as being fully deity---that is, the Bible teaches the Deity of Christ and the Deity of the Holy Spirit.
One could possibly represent this as follows:
The three sides of the triangle represent the three Biblical doctrines, as labeled. When one denies any of these three teachings, the other two sides point to the result. Hence, if one denies that there are Three Persons, one is left with the two sides of Full Equality and One God, resulting in the "Oneness" teaching of the United Pentecostal Church and others. If one denies Fully Equality, one is left with Three Persons and One God, resulting in "subordinationism" as seen in Jehovah's Witnesses, the Way International, etc. (though to be perfectly accurate the Witnesses deny all three of the sides in some way---they deny Full Equality (i.e., Jesus is Michael the Archangel), Three Persons (the Holy Spirit is an impersonal, active "force" like electricity) and One God (they say Jesus is "a god"---a lesser divinity than Yahweh; hence they are in reality not monotheists but henotheists). And, if one denies One God, one is left with polytheism, the belief in many gods, as seen clearly in the Mormon Church, the most polytheistic religion I have encountered.
Hopefully these brief thoughts will be of help to you as you "grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ."
And that would be the heresy of tri-theism - Three gods.So it seems like what he is saying is we have three distinct People who each possess the same infused quality of "God-ness"--and that this gives them the identity of deity.
So it seems like what he is saying is we have three distinct People who each possess the same infused quality of "God-ness"--and that this gives them the identity of deity.
Who said peronhood required form? The Father is also a formless spirit.But to play Devil's Advocate, what if the Holy Spirit displays all the qualities of personhood (thought, feeling, etc.), except for form, which is embodied by Jesus?
So how do we define "essence"?Not exactly. Three Persons but One in Essense.
Then why couldn't the Word be the Holy Spirit? I don't mean the black and white ink, but the Word processed in our mind.Who said peronhood required form? The Father is also a formless spirit.
Demons are also. Persons without form or body.
Probably because that function is already covered by Jesus. The "Word became flesh and dwelt among us..."Then why couldn't the Word be the Holy Spirit? I don't mean the black and white ink, but the Word processed in our mind.
So how do we define "essence"?
Probably because that function is already covered by Jesus. The "Word became flesh and dwelt among us..."
Right. So, they are three distinct people infused with "God-ness" that is of the exact same quality and fills their whole being.It means that each Person is fully God - they are one as fully God. Jesus Christ was (is) not 1/2 human and 1/2 God, but 100% human and 100% God.
Then why couldn't the Word be the Holy Spirit? I don't mean the black and white ink, but the Word processed in our mind.
Jesus Christ created all things Jn 1:3 See also Jn 1:10; Ac 3:15; 1Co 8:6; Col 1:15-16; Heb 1:2
Jesus Christ sustains the created universe Heb 1:3 See also 1Co 8:6; Col 1:17; Rev 3:14 The word translated “ruler” can mean either “beginning” or “first in rank”.
Jesus Christ will bring the entire work of creation to perfection Eph 1:9-10 See also Ro 8:19-22; Col 1:20
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