Questions (in regular font) from Signapore
Answers (in bold) by Keith Sharp
1) In praying to the Father, Jesus declared: “This is life eternal, that they might know Thee, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom Thou has sent.” (John 17:3) To what extent do we know God? Is our knowledge according to Bible truth? Most churches teach that the god is a Being, made up of Father, Son and the Holy Spirit – One yet Three. On the other hand, a group who call themselves christians claim that the doctrine of the Trinity is false; that god is One only; that Jesus Christ is His Son born 1900 years ago, before which He had no corporeal existence; and that the Holy Spirit is the power of God. How do you explain this?
1) I am a Christian (Acts 11:26; 26:28; 1 Peter 4:16). Sometimes the term “God” is used to denote the Father (John 17:3), sometimes the Holy Spirit (Acts 5:3-4), sometimes the Son (Hebrews 1:8), and sometimes the three Persons as unitary (Romans 3:29-30; James 2:19). I neither defend nor attack the word “trinity.” It is not a biblical word but a theological term loaded with theological baggage. One may or may not be described God as He is revealed in the Bible when he uses the term. The Bible clearly teaches three distinct, divine Persons (i.e., beings possessing personality) compose the one God. No, Jesus had no “corporeal” (bodily) “existence” before He was conceived in the womb of Mary, but that doesn’t mean He didn’t exist before His earthly sojourn. God has no corporeal existence (John 4:24; Luke 24:39), but He certainly exists! (Psalm 19:1; 14:1) If the Holy Spirit is only “the power of God,” how does He love (Romans 15:30), have knowledge (1 Corinthians 2:11), possess will (Ibid), guide (John 16:13), forbid (Acts 16:6-7), search (1 Corinthians 2:10), teach (1 Corinthians 2:13), and speak (1 Timothy 4:1)? How can He be lied to (Acts 5:3), grieved (Ephesians 4:30), and insulted? (Hebrews 10:29)
2) How can “One God” be Three Persons, each One a God? How can the Son be “begotten” and yet be from eternity? How can the Father be separate from His Holy Spirit?
2) If I cannot answer these questions, that doesn’t prove the doctrine of the three Persons composing one God is false. I don’t know how God will raise decomposed bodies, but He will! (1 Corinthians 15:20-54) Some things of God are too wonderful for us (Psalm 139:6). I did not say nor do I believe that each Person of God is “a God.” All three are divine Persons, but there is one God (Isaiah 44:6) in that there is perfect unity between the Persons of God (John 17:20-21; cf. Genesis 11:6). The Son was begotten in the womb of Mary (John 1:14; Matthew 1:18-23) and begotten from the grave (Acts 13:33) in that He is human (John 1:14; Hebrews 2:17). He is from eternity in that He is divine (John 1:1-3). Jesus sent the Holy Spirit from the Father, and the Spirit proceeded from the Father (John 15:26), so they are indeed separate.
3) St. Paul taught that “God is not the Author of confusion” (1 Cor. 14:33), but the doctrine that teaches that God is both One and Three is an obvious error of logic and confusion. Do you agree?
3) I agree that God is not the author of confusion (i.e., “disorder” – International Standard Version; 1 Corinthians 14:33). There is no confusion (whether “disorder” or logical confusion) in the doctrine that three divine Persons compose one God.
4) how can god be both Three and One; how can He be “without body parts and passions,” and yet be “one substance,” how can the Son be from all eternity, and yet at the same, be God’s only begotten Son” (John 1:18)?
4) Two parts of this three part question have already been answered. The third part of the question quotes human creeds, which I do not defend. The Son is “the exact representation of” the “nature” of God (Hebrews 1:3; New American Standard Bible).
5) If the doctrine of the Trinity is contradictory, incomprehensible, and unscriptural, what then is the alternative?
5) I have given the consistent, comprehensible, scriptural teaching about God, so no alternative is needed.
6) The Bible nowhere teaches that God is a Triune Being, or that the Lord Jesus Christ is co-equal and co-eternal with the Father, but the very opposite. Do you agree?
6) The Lord Jesus Christ is equal to the Father in nature (John 5:18; Hebrews 1:3) but voluntarily lowered Himself (Philippians 2:5-8) to be under the Father in authority (John 5:30; 12:49). He was with the Father from the very beginning (John 1:1-3).
7) Many theologians admit that the doctrine is not taught in the Bible, and that it cannot be logically explained. They acknowledge that the teaching is incomprehensible, and that it propounds a contradiction in terms. They cannot explain how One god can be also Three Gods and vice versa; how God can have substance and yet no form; or how the Son of God can at the same time be His own Father! Do you accept this?
7) I don’t care what theologians do or don’t admit. I’m only concerned with what the bible teaches. This statement does not represent what I believe, nor is it even a fair representation of Catholic and Protestants, and I summarily reject it.
8) the Bible teaches that God cannot be tempted (James 1:8) and yet Jesus was subject to temptation; the Bible teaches that God cannot die (1 Tim. 6:17) and yet Jesus died; since the Bible teaches that Jesus offered up prayers to God, did He offer them to Himself?
8) Jesus was tempted in all points as we are because He was human as well as divine (Hebrews 2:17-18; 4:15; 1:8). The divine Word had to become a man in order to die for us (Hebrews 2:9-17). As a man, He prayed to the Father (Hebrews 5:5-10), but, as He is divine, we may pray to Him (Acts 7:59).
9) Jesus disclaimed equality with God. When the disciples asked certain information of Him at one time, He declared: “Of that day and hour knoweth no man, no, not the angels which are in heaven, neither the Son, but the Father” (Mark 13:32). In this statement, the Lord Jesus confessed that He was limited in knowledge. How would that be possible if He were God?
9) The divine Word voluntarily emptied Himself of the use of His peculiarly divine attributes to be a man, a Servant (Philippians 2:5-8).
10) Some reason that He was speaking from the standpoint of His himanity (sic), which they allege, He had assumed for the purpose of saving mankind, but there is no Scriptural evidence for such a theory. Moreover, if it were true, He should have possessed all knowledge when He ascended into heaven, whereas Revelation 1:;1;; teaches the contrary. It claims that the Revelation was added knowledge “that God gave unto Jesus to shew unto His servants” things to come. Please explain.
10) Hebrews 2:9-17 is the scriptural proof the divine Word became a man to save us. He is still a man in heaven (1 Timothy 2:5). He must be both divine and human in order to mediate between God and man (Job 9;32-33; New King James Version).
11) If it were necessary for God to give the Revelation unto the Son, it is obvious that He did not possess equality of knowledge with the Father, but was subordinate to Him. Indeed, Christ, Himself taught His disciples that such was the case when He refused to answer questions they submitted to Him, on the grounds that the Father retained the knowledge in His power (acts1:6). Please explain.
11) See the answer to six.
12) If Jesus is the Second Person of the trinity, what is the reason for the lonely cry that issued from His lips during the agony of Calvary, when God withdrew His Spirit from Him: (Mark 15:34)? How could St. Paul write concerning Him at the epoch of his greatest triumph when every enemy is crushed before Him (1 Cor. 15:28)?
12) I am not defending the “trinity” doctrine but the truth that three divine Persons compose one God. Christ endured the penalty of sin for us (Mark 15:34; Romans 3:21-26). I fail to see any difficulty concerning the nature of Christ in 1 Corinthians 15:28.
13) The use of the title “God” shows that, though it is applied to the Lord Jesus, it no more constitutes Him a pat of the Trinity than it does those priests as rulers in Israel to whom it was also once applied. How do you explain this?
13) Christ is not just “a god” (cf. John 10:34); He is Jehovah God (Isaiah 8:13-14; cf. 1 Peter 2:4-8; Isaiah 40:3; cf. Matthew 3:1-3; isaiah 44:6; cf. Revelation 1:17-18; 2:8), equal to the Father in nature (John 5:16-18).
14) If Jesus is God in fact, would it be n(sic) exaltation to elevate Him to be a Prince and Saviour? The fact that Peter taught that Jesus was promoted to that status shows conclusively that prior to it He held a lower position? Is this true?
14) Because He voluntarily lowered Himself to be a man, a Servant, “God also has highly exalted Him” (Philippians 2:5-11).
15) Who is the Holy Spirit? Is he the energy or power of God by which all creation came originally into being, and by which it is sustained?
15) See the last two sentences in the answer to number one.
16) Why is the Spirit personified in the Bible, as in John 16:7-8, and this has led many to believe that it is Person, identifying it with God, and so it is personified as He. However, if the Holy Spirit is actually a Person it should be rendered as He in every place where the word is referred to; but it is not. It is sometimes rendered in the neuter (Romans 8:16). To personify inanimate objects is normal in Scripture. For example: Wisdom(Prov. 9:1), mammon (Luke 16:9).
16) See the last two sentences in the answer to number one. The King James Version also uses neuter pronouns to refer to God (e.g., Acts 15:8). Does this prove God is just a power and does not possess personality?
17) In the Bible the Holy Spirit is never referred to as the Third Person of a Triune God, clearly showing that the Trinity of the churches was not acknowledged by the early believers. This is shown beyond all doubt by the expressions of Acts 19:2-3. Obviously they had never heard of the doctrine of Trinity! Please explain.
17) See the last two sentences in the answer to number one. The twelve men of Ephesus had not even heard of the Holy Spirit, whether as an impersonal power or a Person of God (Acts 19:1-7). Their ignorance proves nothing about the nature of the Holy Spirit.
