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How can God be simultaneously a Trinity of Persons, and yet one?

The Times

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The above reply needs to be critically analysed and understood, in context to the very descriptive functions within the Godhead, sequentially owing to three personas.
 
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tampasteve

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<Staff Edit>
Unfortunately this is Partialism....each part makes the whole. Each is 100% football, but not 100% of the football. The Trinity is 100% God and 100% of God in each person.
 
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tampasteve

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<staff edit>
Totally, that is true

But He is 100% God, 100% Human, and has 100% of God. A football shell/skin is not 100% football, it is only part of the football.
 
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JESUS=G.O.A.T

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Does he, I, or who mean one person is all I’m asking.
 
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yeshuaslavejeff

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Does he, I, or who mean one person is all I’m asking.
NOPE.
(YHVH SOVEREIGN ETERNAL CREATOR SPIRIT is not human.) (i.e. NOT a person)


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Numbers 23:19 God is not human, that he should lie, not a human ...
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New International Version God is not human, that he should lie, not a human being, that he should change his mind. Does he speak and then not act? Does he promise and not fulfill? New Living Translation God is not a man, so he does not lie. He is not human, so he does not change his mind. Has he ever spoken and ...

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God is not a man, that he should lie; neither the son of man, that he should repent: hath he said, and shall he not do it? or hath he spoken, and.

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God is not human, that he should lie, not a human being, that he should change his mind. Does he speak and then not act? Does he promise and not.
 
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JESUS=G.O.A.T

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no I don’t mean he as in a human person lol. I’m asking if the terms he, who, etc mean one single entity. Because we often see those terms associated with God. I’m asking if those terms mean singular. If I say he is there am I referring to just one entity whether it’s spiritual or just a human. How many beings am I referring to when I say “he” or “who”. I would say one tbh not sure how multiple fits there is what I’m saying.
 
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yeshuaslavejeff

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no I don’t mean he as in a human person lol. I’m asking if the terms he, who, etc mean one single entity. Because we often see those terms associated with God.
Echad. (worth looking up in Scripture and asking YHVH ABBA FOR HIS Understanding, since YHVH IS ECHAD, and JESUS IS ECHAD, and BELIEVERS immersed in JESUS' Name (born again) are ECHAD)
 
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JESUS=G.O.A.T

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Echad. (worth looking up in Scripture and asking YHVH ABBA FOR HIS Understanding, since YHVH IS ECHAD, and JESUS IS ECHAD, and BELIEVERS immersed in JESUS' Name (born again) are ECHAD)
I guess my question is Is God a who or a what and if he’s a who as we seem to agree on, doesn’t the term who refer to a single entity. If I say who did this or who goes there aren’t I referring to one person?
 
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yeshuaslavejeff

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I guess my question is Is God a who or a what and if he’s a who as we seem to agree on, doesn’t the term who refer to a single entity. If I say who did this or who goes there aren’t I referring to one person?

Why one person ? "who crucified Jesus" ? everyone. (not one person).
"Who has eternal life?" A few people, not one person.

YHVH and Yahshua (Yahweh's Salvation) are in agreement.

YHVH reveals as He Pleases through Scripture. Thus, the TRUTH.

Man keeps on messing up - coming up with many devices (errors, distractions, "instead of truth")
 
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Biblicist

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I guess my question is Is God a who or a what and if he’s a who as we seem to agree on, doesn’t the term who refer to a single entity. If I say who did this or who goes there aren’t I referring to one person?
When I first saw the title of this thread being “ . . . a Trinity of persons”, the use of the word person, which is certainly a legitimate use of the word, can still create unnecessary problems. As to our English word of person, it is not found within the Greek NT, which does not mean that even though they did not have a word for person that the concept was necessarily unknown to them.

So, when we use the word person or persons to refer to the members of the Trinity, we need to be careful that we do not overly-impose our own understanding of the word. With our understanding of the Oneness of the members of the Trinity, this Oneness exists essentially in their shared essence, where there are only three Beings/Persons who exist in this way, where all of their attributes are shared one with another, which means that they are One, yet three -- in essence.

As we are each made in the image of God, we cannot say that the Father and the Son do not exist in bodily form, but how can we describe their bodies which are undoubtedly unlike that of man. With man our bodies are separate from our soul, but this does not mean that we should say that each member of the Trinity exists as man does, where we each have a distinct human body and soul or even with what we often refer to as a ‘human spirit’.

With the use of "I" in reference to the Trinity, this would undoubtedly apply to each member, as with the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit.
 
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JESUS=G.O.A.T

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If you see who or he why wouldn’t that refer to one person just like it does anywhere else?
 
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yeshuaslavejeff

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If you see who or he why wouldn’t that refer to one person just like it does anywhere else?
YHVH is NOT human, NOT like anyone else, anywhere.
(well, same as Yahshua) (except for Yahshua's physical body YHVH formed)
 
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JESUS=G.O.A.T

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Wow so the word person is nowhere in the greek didn't know that.


Honestly that was an almost perfect explanation but then I thought of the following two verses THat make your last sentence or your conclusion seem off or something (there are more like this of course but these are just 2 I thought of)





Isaiah 45:5 King James Version (KJV)
5 I am the Lord, and there is none else, there is no God beside me: I girded thee, though thou hast not known me:


Comment: If I apply your framework (I agree with it at least somewhat I believe God the Father was speaking in the OT, I guess the only difference is as far as I can tell it was just him but anyway ) I find two problems here.


1. According to your framework "I" means just one member is speaking. Yet if lets say the Father is speaking here then is ...the son JESUS not Lord?

I(God the Father) am the Lord, and there is none else

2. Again you say that whenever there is the use of I (I assume you include me becuase me means the same thing I) that that means only one member is speaking.

there is no God beside me (God the Father)



Here's another one...

Isaiah 44:6 King James Version (KJV)
6 Thus saith the Lord the King of Israel, and his redeemer the Lord of hosts; I am the first, and I am the last; and beside me there is no God.


I (God the father) am the first, and I (God the father) am the last; and beside me (God the Father) there is no God.


There's no need to list more I think you get the point but yeah..... now viewing God as a "what" (I don't) would help which some trinitarian apologist gear that way, some even say that's the proper way to look at it.....but still doesn't help with the whole I/who/he thing I guess.
 
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JESUS=G.O.A.T

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YHVH is NOT human, NOT like anyone else, anywhere.
(well, same as Yahshua) (except for Yahshua's physical body YHVH formed)
I agree he's not a human...but that doesn't mean grammar doesn't apply when we describe him is what i'm saying. If we read I, or he, or who in the bible it means the same thing regardless of who it's applied to. Those words all mean one entity whether it's an angel, whether it's a man, female, etc.

To put it simple...I don't see in what world would "I" or "he" be plural is what i'm saying. I'm not a grammar nut (in fact my grammar sucks) but this is just common sense stuff.
 
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The Times

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The personal pronoun "I" has a three person construct.

Shekhinah Glory does not speak and does not do.

And the Father who sent me has himself testified concerning me. You have never heard his voice nor seen his form, (John 5:37)

LOGOS The Word is the designated spokesman of the Shekhinah Glory.

The Holy Spirit executes the Words of the second witness, The LOGOS (Son to the Father's will).

Without three persons, within the I, nothing would exist. The plural construct of I in regards to persona and NOT being, must exist in order for things to come into being.

1In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2The same was in the beginning with God. 3All things were made by him; and without him was not any thing made that was made. (John 1:1-3)

The Word (The Son) was with The Shekhinah Glory (The Father) as the second witness, the spokesman (LOGOS). He too is the ONE God.

Without the spokesman nothing would be sanctioned to happen.

Sanctioning something to happen must also require the power of the Holy Spirit, to make it so within time and space. The third witness must ratify and execute what he hears as it is written....


But when He the, Spirit of truth, shall come, He will guide you into all the truth. For He will not speak from Himself, but whatever He may hear, He will speak. And He will declare to you the things coming. (John 16:13)

The "I" is therefore a construct of three distinct heavenly witnesses, who must be ONE in being, coequal and coeternal in essence/substance.

Characterizing the one God of the Holy Bible any other way is a self defeating and a self contradictory exercise indeed!

It shows how Revelation 4:8-11 Holy, Holy Holy corresponds to three persons, designated their function within the Godhead as Glory (Father), Honour (Son), Power (Holy Spirit).

For a person to be bestowed the Honour as King, in place of the King, they must be designated as the person in charge of the King's affairs, where the King places his royal signet ring on the LOGOS, his spokesman, who speaks things into being. Another person called the Viceroy is designated the function of executing the Words of the LOGOS.

The three tier function of the ONE God is a dynamic and simultaneous will in action, within the consciousness of an infinite living being, that transcends time, space, thought and anything that would try to describe him.

On one occassion Jesus tells Phillip that when he sees him, he is already in the presence of the Father. This identifies that the one being is approachable only through the LOGOS, spokesman. Though Jesus is the Son, but being wise, he is the exact image of the invisible Father.

The only way that I personal pronoun could be understood, within the I Am, is to consider God as three separate personas, yet one infinite being, the one in the same, the Alpha and the Omega, the First and the Last of his Kind.

You don't have three gods, but have one being, because He just is, the I Am. The different aspects of his personailities, qualify his character, his actions and his intrinsic traits. God is Love because within him exists the love between the Father and the Son. This means that all members of the trinity are coequal and coeternal, because they are the same Godbeing.
 
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JESUS=G.O.A.T

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why not just put We instead of I or even "us" if this logic actually applies?
 
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Biblicist

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Wow so the word person is nowhere in the greek didn't know that.
This was something that I only came to realise a few years back when I was reading some technical commentary on the Trinity. As it came of a bit of a surprise to me I went and checked my Concordances and Lexicons which confirmed what I had read.

The use of personal pronouns such as I, me, we and us etc are certainly found within both the Old and New Testaments but we do not find a direct equivalent to our English person or persons. Unlike that of a pronoun such as I, me, we and us, our English word person or persons contains a wide range of meanings and unless we are aware of that when we come across this word in our English translations then we can easily read more into the Greek word than the original author would have desired.

As for Isa 44:6, where my knowledge of Hebrew is woeful or virtually non existent, I had to jump over to the Greek Septuagint where they have included two uses of the Greek word ego (our English 'I') in this passage. My Holladay entry gives this word as וְ particle conjunction אֲנִי pronoun independent 1st person common singular. As both uses of the word in this passage are "independent 1st person common singular" then it would be speaking of God as the Father of Israel and not as a member of the Trinity.

But my main point is not so much with the use of pronouns but with how our English translations insert the word person or persons, which is something that we always need to be aware of when discussing or studying the Trinity.
 
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JESUS=G.O.A.T

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Lastly though JESUS sems to do the same thing he speaks of what he hears... so i'm confused by what you're saying with john 16:13. If you're saying like there's a unity I guess this verse goes with that.

John 8:26 King James Version (KJV)
26 I have many things to say and to judge of you: but he that sent me is true; and I speak to the world those things which I have heard of him.
 
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JESUS=G.O.A.T

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but I guess then my question becomes why would he say he's the only God though if the goal is to let Israeli understand who God is if lets say it has nothing to do with the trinity. And God the Father here is speaking in reference to being the Father of Israel.


If they are only told he's God and he's Lord and no one else how would that help in regards to understanding the trinity? Wouldn't they assume it's God the father and that's it?
 
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The Times

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why not just put We instead of I or even "us" if this logic actually applies?

Because God is the same being, the I Am. When the sentence relates to relationship within the Godhead, Jesus uses the WE, like so.....

Jesus replied, "Anyone who loves me will obey my teaching. My Father will love them, and we will come to them and make our home with them. (John 14:23)
 
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