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1. The father and the son are not the same and neither is the Holy Spirit.
2. All three have divine attributes and are called God according to scripture.
3. They all existed in the old testament but Jesus was not known as the son except in allusions to his coming to the world as Messiah and this is when God would be the father in this sense.
4. This means all three were separate but equally divine with separate operations. This made up the Godhead.
5. The son becoming the God-man shows that he was divine and he was created by the Spirit not the father.
6. 1 Corinthians 8:6: But to us there is but one God, the Father, of whom are all things, and we in him; and one Lord Jesus Christ, by whom are all things and we by him.
The one God was referred first to the father and the word "and" is a conjunction that added one Lord Jesus Christ which refers to God.
7. John 17:3 Jesus is the eternal son and this scripture is about the father son relationship. There are plenty of other scriptures that Jesus is called God like John 1:1 and others. He is the essence of God is true and proceeded forth from him as the son John 8:42. The last line of that verse says neither came I of myself, but he sent me is an illusion that he existed already as part of the Godhead of which he could of have had a choice not to come even though we know he agreed with his God who would be his father and Christ would be his begotten son to freely to become man and the Savior of the world.
8. Remember God the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit existed before the new testament but are never known as the Father and the Son in the old testament except maybe illusions to the new testament of the Messiah on earth which is technically the end of the old testament because the new testament was in his blood at the cross of Calvary.
Scriptures show compound unity in three separate entities, God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit. This is not illogical. Jerry Kelso
Gonna have to disagree. The Scriptures say that the Father is the Father of Jesus. That the Holy Spirit came upon Mary shows that the Holy Spirit is not a separate person but rather is the Father, in a limited sense of course.
There were not three co-equal beings prior to the incarnation. In the beginning there was God the Father. At some point He begat a Son. That Son later became flesh as the man Jesus. Ignatius speaks of the Son being begotten before all worlds as does the Nicene Creed. This first quote is of particular value because Ignatius was a disciple of the apostle John. The apostle John is the one who tells us that the Word was in the beginning with God the Father and John is the one who taught Ignatius
Ignatius Letter to the Antiochians Chapter 14
I write this letter to you from Philippi. May He who is alone unbegotten, keep you stedfast both in the spirit and in the flesh, through Him who was begotten before time began! And may I behold you in the kingdom of Christ! I salute him who is to bear rule over you in my stead: may I have joy of him in the Lord! Fare ye well in God, and in Christ, being enlightened by the Holy Spirit.
Early Church Fathers - – Ante-Nicene Fathers: The Writings of the Fathers Down To A.D. 325.
Justin Martyr Second Apology Chapter 6
But to the Father of all, who is unbegotten there is no name given. For by whatever name He be called, He has as His elder the person who gives Him the name. But these words Father, and God, and Creator, and Lord, and Master, are not names, but appellations derived from His good deeds and functions. And His Son, who alone is properly called Son, the Word who also was with Him and was begotten before the works, when at first He created and arranged all things by Him, is called Christ, in reference to His being anointed and God’s ordering all things through Him; this name itself also containing an unknown significance; as also the appellation “God” is not a name, but an opinion implanted in the nature of men of a thing that can hardly be explained.
Early Church Fathers - – Ante-Nicene Fathers: The Writings of the Fathers Down To A.D. 325.
Ireneaus Fragment 53
With regard to Christ, the law and the prophets and the evangelists have proclaimed that He was born of a virgin, that He suffered upon a beam of wood, and that He appeared from the dead; that He also ascended to the heavens, and was glorified by the Father, and is the Eternal King; that He is the perfect Intelligence, the Word of God, who was begotten before the light; that He was the Founder of the universe, along with it (light), and the Maker of man;
Early Church Fathers - – Ante-Nicene Fathers: The Writings of the Fathers Down To A.D. 325.
Tertullian Against Praxas Chapter 7
Then, therefore, does the Word also Himself assume His own form and glorious garb,
His own sound and vocal utterance, when God says, “Let there be light.” This is the perfect nativity of the Word, when He proceeds forth from God—
formed by Him first to devise and think out
all things under the name of Wisdom—“The Lord created
or formed me as the beginning of His ways; ” then afterward
begotten, to carry all into effect—“When He prepared the heaven, I was present with Him.” Thus does He make Him equal to Him: for by proceeding from Himself He became His first-begotten Son, because begotten before all things; and His only-begotten also, because alone begotten of God, in a way peculiar to Himself, from the womb of His own heart—even as the Father Himself testifies: “My heart,” says He, “hath emitted my most excellent Word.”
Early Church Fathers - – Ante-Nicene Fathers: The Writings of the Fathers Down To A.D. 325.
