QUICK FACTS: THE TRINITY MYSTERY
DOES THREE WHO ARE GOD REALLY EQUAL ONE GOD?
The doctrine of the Trinity is commonly described as a mystery: the Father is God, the Son is God, and the Holy Spirit is God, yet Christians are told there are not three Gods but one God.
But should the identity of the One True God really be a mystery?
Or has something very simple become complicated because later theology is being read into Scripture?
Let's begin with one of the clearest declarations in the entire Bible.
THE GREATEST COMMANDMENT BEGINS WITH ONE GOD
Deuteronomy 6:4 — Berean Literal Bible
“Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God, the LORD is One.”
Jesus Himself reaffirmed this commandment when asked:
“Which commandment is the first of all?”
Jesus answered:
Mark 12:29 — Berean Literal Bible
“The foremost is, ‘Hear this O Israel: The Lord our God is One Lord.’”
Jesus did not replace Israel's belief in one God with a new declaration that God was three persons.
He reaffirmed it.
And the man speaking with Jesus understood His answer:
Mark 12:32 — Berean Literal Bible
“Right, Teacher. You have spoken according to truth that He is One, and there is not another besides Him.”
Notice the language:
HE IS ONE
and:
THERE IS NOT ANOTHER BESIDES HIM.
PAUL IDENTIFIES WHO THE ONE GOD IS
Paul gives an equally straightforward statement:
1 Corinthians 8:6 — Berean Literal Bible
“yet to us there is one God, the Father, from whom are all things and we for Him; and one Lord, Jesus Christ, by whom are all things and we through Him.”
Paul identifies:
ONE GOD — THE FATHER
and:
ONE LORD — JESUS CHRIST.
The Father and Jesus are both mentioned, but Paul does not say:
“There is one God: Father, Son and Holy Spirit.”
Instead, he explicitly identifies the one God as the Father.
JESUS SAID THE SAME THING
Listen to Jesus praying to His Father:
John 17:3 — Berean Literal Bible
“And this is eternal life, that they may know You, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom You have sent.”
Again we have two clearly distinguished parties:
THE FATHER — “THE ONLY TRUE GOD”
and:
JESUS CHRIST — THE ONE WHOM HE SENT.
Jesus did not identify Himself as the same One to whom He was praying.
He called His Father:
“THE ONLY TRUE GOD.”
SO WHERE DOES THE “MYSTERY” BEGIN?
Traditional Trinitarian theology maintains three propositions:
THE FATHER IS GOD.
THE SON IS GOD.
THE HOLY SPIRIT IS GOD.
But it simultaneously insists:
THEY ARE NOT THREE GODS, BUT ONE GOD.
To be precise, orthodox Trinitarianism does not normally teach that Father, Son and Holy Spirit are three separate beings. It teaches that they are three distinct persons sharing one divine being or essence.
That distinction matters if we are going to represent the doctrine accurately.
But the biblical question still remains:
WHERE DOES SCRIPTURE ITSELF DEFINE THE ONE GOD THIS WAY?
Where does Jesus teach:
“The one God is three co-equal, co-eternal persons sharing one divine essence”?
Where do the apostles give that definition?
That is the question that should be tested against Scripture.
IS GOD'S IDENTITY REALLY PRESENTED AS A MYSTERY?
The Bible certainly contains things called mysteries.
But when Scripture identifies God, its statements can be remarkably direct.
Jesus:
“THE LORD OUR GOD IS ONE LORD.”
— Mark 12:29
Jesus speaking about His Father:
“THE ONLY TRUE GOD.”
— John 17:3
Paul:
“ONE GOD, THE FATHER.”
— 1 Corinthians 8:6
Paul again:
Ephesians 4:6 — Berean Literal Bible
“ONE GOD AND FATHER OF ALL.”
Rather than identifying three persons as the One God, these passages repeatedly identify the Father as God while distinguishing Jesus Christ as His Son, Messiah and Lord.
THE FATHER SENT HIS SON
This leads to another fundamental biblical truth.
John 3:16 — Berean Literal Bible
“For God so loved the world that He gave the only begotten Son, so that everyone believing in Him should not perish, but should have eternal life.”
Who gave?
GOD.
Whom did God give?
HIS ONLY BEGOTTEN SON.
John repeats this distinction:
1 John 4:9
“In this the love of God has been revealed among us, that God has sent His only begotten Son into the world, so that we might live through Him.”
The biblical story is not simply that God sent Himself.
It is that:
GOD SENT HIS SON.
JESUS HAS A GOD
Even after His resurrection, Jesus said:
John 20:17 — Berean Literal Bible
“I ascend to My Father and your Father, and My God and your God.”
Jesus therefore identifies the Father as:
“MY GOD.”
Revelation preserves the same language after Jesus' exaltation:
Revelation 3:12
Jesus repeatedly says:
“MY GOD.”
This raises an important question for any doctrine claiming Jesus is numerically the same One True God:
IF JESUS IS THE ONE TRUE GOD, WHO IS JESUS' GOD?
The straightforward biblical answer is:
THE FATHER.
THE FATHER AND THE SON
John gives an extremely important warning:
1 John 2:22
“Who is the liar, except the one denying that Jesus is the Christ? This is the antichrist, the one denying the Father and the Son.”
Notice John's language:
THE FATHER
and:
THE SON.
Christian faith depends upon preserving that relationship.
God is truly the Father.
Jesus is truly His Son.
The Father sent Him.
The Son obeyed Him.
The Father raised Him from the dead.
The Father exalted Him.
And the Father gave Him authority.
THREE IMPORTANT BIBLICAL QUESTIONS
When examining the Trinity, three questions therefore deserve serious consideration.
1. DOES THE TRINITY PRESERVE THE BIBLE'S DEFINITION OF THE ONE GOD?
Jesus reaffirmed:
“THE LORD OUR GOD IS ONE LORD.”
Paul identified:
“ONE GOD, THE FATHER.”
And Jesus called His Father:
“THE ONLY TRUE GOD.”
2. DID GOD HIMSELF BECOME FLESH — OR DID GOD SEND HIS SON?
Scripture repeatedly says:
GOD SENT HIS SON.
The distinction between the Sender and the One sent occurs throughout the New Testament.
3. DOES THE DOCTRINE PRESERVE THE BIBLICAL DISTINCTION BETWEEN THE FATHER AND HIS SON?
Jesus is repeatedly called:
THE SON OF GOD.
He never calls Himself:
“GOD THE SON.”
Those are not identical expressions.
One is explicit biblical terminology.
The other is a later theological formulation.
THE REAL QUESTION
The issue should not be:
“Can theologians construct a philosophical explanation for how three persons share one divine essence?”
The more fundamental question is:
HOW DOES THE BIBLE ITSELF IDENTIFY THE ONE GOD?
And again and again we encounter:
“THE ONLY TRUE GOD.”
— John 17:3
“ONE GOD, THE FATHER.”
— 1 Corinthians 8:6
“ONE GOD AND FATHER OF ALL.”
— Ephesians 4:6
Alongside:
“JESUS CHRIST WHOM YOU HAVE SENT.”
— John 17:3
“THE SON OF GOD.”
— John 10:36
“THE MAN CHRIST JESUS.”
— 1 Timothy 2:5
QUICK FACT CONCLUSION
The Trinity should not be rejected merely because it is difficult to understand.
Nor should it be accepted merely because theologians call it a mystery.
It should be tested by Scripture.
And Scripture gives us extraordinarily simple declarations:
GOD IS ONE.
THE FATHER IS THE ONLY TRUE GOD.
THERE IS ONE GOD, THE FATHER.
JESUS IS THE SON OF GOD.
GOD SENT HIS SON.
JESUS HAS A GOD — HIS FATHER.
So the central question remains:
If the Bible repeatedly identifies the Father as the One God and Jesus as His Son, where does Scripture redefine that One God as three co-equal persons?
That is the question every sincere Bible student should examine carefully for themselves.
FULL RESEARCH ARTICLE
Yahweh — The One True God and His Greatest Commandment
https://wwwrealdiscoveriesorg-simon.blogspot.com/2020/06/yahweh-one-true-god-and-his-greatest.html
Research by Simon Brown
wwwrealdiscoveriesorg-simon.blogspot.com

No comments:
Post a Comment