Trinity

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Permalink Reply by Heather_LIBAW on January 29, 2010 at 8:02pm

here is a remarkable article written about this http://www.livinginblackandwhite.com/profiles/blogs/jewishness-and-...

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Permalink Reply by Richard Leifeste on January 28, 2010 at 6:54pm

Most people are confused when asked "How can Jesus be God and be His Son?" This is an inadvertant paradox created by a misinterpretation of John 3:16-17...(KJV) 16 "For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. 17 For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved." Here is the problem. People teach that God sent His Son-from Heaven to earth. Actually God sent His Word from Heaven to earth to become His Son. The true context is once He was born, at the right time God sent His Son to die for our sins and remove His wrath from us.

Another example of begotten is so and so begat so and so. Or into today's terms, -produced. This begs the question how can Jesus be produced? The answer is simple, He was born on earth. But how was He produced in Heaven, if, like God the Father, doesnt have a beginning? Because He wasnt the Son in Heaven. If we look at the context of gave or sent it is implying a Son who was born, in verse 16. Verse 17 leaves off begotten, because it has been established in the previous verse: He was His Son by birth. If this were not accurate, then why not omit begotten?

John 1:1 (KJV) "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God." Notice here it doesn't say "In the beginning was the Son, and the Son was with God, and the Son was God." Also, it sais and the Word was with God. He had not yet sent His Word.

John 1:14 (KJV) "And the Word became flesh, and dwelt among us, and we saw His glory, glory as of the only begotten from the Father, full of grace and truth." In this verse it doesn't say the Son became flesh.

So I believe here that: 1) God is Truth 2) His Word cannot betray Him 3) We can trust in Jesus

So Jesus was and is the Word. This explains how Jesus is God, not only by virtue of Him born to the Father as His Son, but He was the Word first.

I tried to explain this and some people say He was God's Son in Heaven, but that's not what the Bible says. So often we don't understand something and we say "I guess we will know in Heaven"...To me that sounds like laziness. God is not the author of confusion, and Jesus says to search out the scriptures. If the Word isn't clear, the problem is never on Jesus' end of the equation. The problem comes from misinterpretation.

The muslims can't understand the Trinity because it seems like a paradox. They believe in one god. But the truth is clear and this will help people of other religions be able to understand.

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Permalink Reply by Jason Claus on January 29, 2010 at 6:55am

I can understand why people would disagree their are a multitude of verses that explain Christ's preexistence as the Son; such as,

Isaiah 9:6, "For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given: and the government shall be upon his shoulder: and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace."

Proverbs 30:4, "Who has ascended into heaven, or descended? Who has gathered the wind in His fists? Who has bound the waters in a garment? Who has established all the ends of the earth? What is His name, and what is His Son's name, If you know?”

Daniel 3:25, "Look!’ he answered, ‘I see four men loose, walking in the midst of the fire; and they are not hurt, and the form of the fourth is like the Son of God.’”

“In this the love of God was manifested toward us, that God has sent His only begotten Son into the world, that we might live through Him.”

“God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son that whosoever believeth in Him
should not perish but have everlasting life”

"For God sent the Son into the world, not to condemn the world, but that the world might be saved through him" (John 3:17).

"But when the time had fully come, God sent forth his Son, born of woman, born under the law" (Galatians 4:4).

"In this the love of God was made manifest among us, that God sent his only Son into the world, so that we might live through him" (I John 4:9).

"And we have seen and testify that the Father has sent his Son as the Savior of the world" (I John 4:14).

a) The Bible clearly teaches that it was “the Son” who created all things, thus strongly implying that Christ was the Son of God at the time of creation (Col. 1:13,16; Heb. 1:2).

b) The Bible teaches that the Son has eternally existed in the bosom of the Father. John 1:18 translated literally from the Greek says this: “No man hath seen God at any time; the only begotten Son, THE ONE EVER BEING (existing) IN THE BOSOM OF THE FATHER, He hath declared Him.”

c) The many passages which speak of the Father SENDING the Son all imply that Christ existed as the Son prior to His mission (1 John 4:10,14; John 20:21; Gal. 4:4; etc.).

d) The parable of the vineyard owner (Mark 12:1-12) points to Christ as being the Son prior to His coming into the world. In the parable, the son of the vineyard owner was the son long before he was sent on his mission.

e) God gave His Son (John 3:16), implying that Christ was God's Son before He was given. God the Father did not give One who would become His Son, but He gave One who already was His Son.

f) Christ had a relationship to the Father prior to the incarnation. John 16:28 teaches that Christ came forth from the Father, strongly implying that there was a Father/Son relationship before He came into this world. John 17:5,24 also indicates that there was a Father/Son relationship in the Godhead even before the creation of the world.

g) The One who existed as the Son of God became the Son of David at the time of the incarnation (Rom. 1:3-4). The incarnation is when God became a man, it is not when God became the Son. He was God's Son from all eternity.
h) Even in the Old Testament period we find evidence that God indeed had a Son, such as Proverbs 30:4 and Psalm 2:7-12 (compare also Daniel 3:25; Isaiah 9:6).

i) Melchisedec was a type of the Son of God because He was “without father, without mother, without descent, having neither beginning of days, nor end of life” (Heb. 7:3). As to His humanity Christ did have a mother, a genealogy, beginning of days, an end of His life (He died!), etc. His divine Sonship, however, has nothing to do with human parents, human lineage, human birth, or time measurements. It is an eternal Sonship.

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Permalink Reply by Jason Claus on January 29, 2010 at 7:31am

The Greek term for "begotten" in ancient Greek is "gennao" {ghen-nah'-o} as found for example in Matthew 1:2. In the verses under consideration, however, the word used was not "gennao" but "monogenes" {mon-og-en-ace'}.

"Monogenes" is a Greek word which conveys the meaning "unique" and not "begat" in the sence of producing. A clearer study of this is found in this link

http://www.seedandbread.org/seedandbread/SB173MONOGENESMeaning.pdf

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Permalink Reply by Crista May on January 30, 2010 at 5:52pm

I love this study,thank you for breakin it down.

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Permalink Reply by Debbie Hasty on January 31, 2010 at 10:04am

I did not put this together, but it truly shows what the Trinity means in simple form.


Explaining the Trinity
1. The Bible teaches that there is only one God. (Isaiah 43:10, Isaiah 44:6-8, Isaiah 45:22)
2. The Bibles teaches that there is one who is called the Father and is identified as being God. (1 Peter 1:2) 3. The Bible teaches that there is one who is called Jesus and is identified as being God. (John 1:1-3&14-18, John 20:28-29, 1 John 1:1-4&5:20, Philippians 2:5-8, Revelation 1:17-18, Revelation 22:12-20)
4. The Bible teaches that there is one who is called the Holy Spirit and is identified as being God. (John 14:16-17, John 15:26, John 16:7-15, Acts 5:3-4, Acts 13:2, 1 Corinthians 12:4-18, Hebrews 9:14, Hebrews 10:15-18)

Explaining the deity of Christ:
The scriptures are full of references to the deity of Christ
Did Jesus claim to be God? Absolutely. He claimed to be Jehovah, the "I Am" of Exodus 3:14, when He said, "Before Abraham was, I am." (John 8:58) The Jews who listened to Jesus understood His claim to deity (John 5:18, 8:59, 10:33). He claimed to be the express image of God (Col. 2:9, Heb.1:3) in John 8:19, 12:45 and 14:9. He claimed the same omniscience as God the Father (John 10:15) and claimed complete oneness with God the Father (John 10:30). He claimed the same honor as God the Father: "All men should honor the Son, even as they honor the Father." (John 5:23) Jesus did, in fact, accept worship on numerous occasions (Matt. 14:33, 28:9 and many others), something reserved only for God as Jesus Himself said (Matt. 4:10). Compare the way the apostles and the angels reacted when they were worshipped in Acts 14:11-15 and Rev. 19:10, 22:8-9. Jesus only supported the scribe's conclusion that He made the claim to be God in Mark 2:5-7 when He proclaimed the man's sins forgiven and then healed him. Further, Jesus asked us to pray in His name, and that He would answer our prayers (John 14:13. He also asked us to baptize in His name (Matt. 28:19) and to gather together in His name (Matt. 18:20). To be sure, Jesus was a man, but He was also God come in the flesh.

The Christ, born in Israel, is the Mighty God and Everlasting Father: Is. 9:6
The Christ of the seed of David is called Jehovah: Jer. 23:5-6
Jesus, the Word, was with God, and was God: John 1:1
Everything created was created by Jesus, the Word, and nothing created exists that was not created by Jesus (could He have created Himself?): John 1:3
Jesus is the image of the invisible God: Col. 1:15
All the fullness of the Godhead dwelled in the person of Christ: Col. 2:9
Paul calls Jesus Christ the Great God and our Savior: Titus 2:13
The writer of Hebrews says that Jesus was the brightness of the glory of God, the express image of His person, and also upholds all things by the word of His power: Heb. 1:3
John says that the Son Jesus Christ is the True God and Eternal Life: I John 5:20

HOLY SPIRIT - Deity, the same Spirit of God
John 4:23, 24 God is a Spirit
1 Thessalonians 4:8 the Spirit of God
John 14:18; Galatians 4:6 the Spirit of Jesus, Son of God
Philippians 2:5 the mind of Christ
John 14:17, 26; 15:26 the Spirit of truth
John 14:16, 26; 15:26; 16:7 the comforter
Matthew 10:20 the Spirit of your Father
Luke 24:49; Acts 1:4, 8; Galatians 3:14 the promise of the Father
Mark 9:1; Acts 1:8 Power
Galatians 3:2 He is the gift of God, the same as Salvation

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