The Prophetic Telegraph - No.96
THE TRINITY
THE TRINITY IS THE KEYSTONE OF THE
DOCTRINAL ARCH;
WITHOUT WHICH THE REST OF THE
STRUCTURE WILL FALL DOWN.
"THERE IS ABSOLUTE UNITY AND
EQUALITY IN THE GODHEAD"
I am writing this brief
paper as a testimony, rather than a Bible exposition. We have many contacts
over the world because of the Prophetic Telegraph, and some of our readers may
wonder what is the basis of our faith in respect of the Trinity, so we now
believe it is the right time to make a declaration so that all doubts will be
removed.
Although the deep nature of
God is quite obviously beyond human comprehension, except within the limits
conveyed by Scripture, yet the Trinity is really a very simple concept, and one
that a child finds very easy to accept. Having four children of our own, and
having presented them with this concept in their earlier years, we have found
them able to grasp it with ease, and now in their adult years it has become the
cornerstone of their faith in God.
It is perplexing to us why
so many of the cults stumble over this doctrine, unless of course they are
being tricked by a cunning deceiver who wants to rob them of this important
truth about God.
It would be burdensome to
our readers for us to quote numerous passages of Scripture to establish our
position, and we have no desire to use references as "bullets" to
shoot down all the opposition. But there are just a few important passages
which must be presented.
In Matthew 28:19 Jesus
briefed His disciples about their future work, saying, "Go
therefore, and disciple all nations, baptising them in the name of the FATHER,
and of the SON, and of the HOLY SPIRIT." Three persons, but
one name.
In 2 Cor.13:14 Paul
concludes his letter by saying, "The grace of the Lord Jesus
Christ, and the love of God, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you
all." At Jesus' baptism (Matt.3:16) we read of the descent of
the Holy Spirit upon the person of the Son, and a voice from heaven saying, "This
is my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased."
Peter, in his first letter,
addressed the "Elect, according to the foreknowledge of God the
Father, through sanctification of the Spirit unto obedience and sprinkling of
the blood of Jesus Christ." (1 Pet.1:2)
In each of these references,
there is a clear and unmistakeable reference to the threefold nature of the
Godhead. We have been amazed at the contrivances of the cults to
"reduce" this simplicity to a complexity. And for what purpose?
The desire for a
"Unitarian" faith, to comply with the Jewish position based on the
Shema, and the Arabic position as carved in stone at the entrance of the Dome
of the Rock in
The Shema, which is recited
by orthodox Jews every day, is found in Deut.6:4 "Hear O
The Arabs have inscribed on
the Dome of the Rock the following:- "Praised be Allah who never
produced a son nor had a companion. Jesus, son of Mary, is only an apostle of
God! Say not "Three". God is only one God! Far be it from His glory
that he should have a son!" This is like the abomination that
makes desolate, standing on the holy place. We are told that the "Doctrine
of the Trinity" was not conceived until the time of Theophilus of Antioch,
about AD 180, the first to mention it in writing. But one doesn't need to
search for this in the Patristic writings. It is already clearly stated in the
New Testament, as shown above, and by many other allusions, too numerous to
mention.
Others tell us that the
O.T. is consistently Unitarian, and that the plurality concept only crept in
after the resurrection of Christ. But there are verses in the O.T. to challege
this, for example, in Gen.1:26, "Let US make man."
Gen.3:22 "Behold the man is become as one of US."
Isa.6:8 "Whom shall I send, and who will go for US?"
And five times is this plural form found in Isa.41:22-23.
Unitarians deny the
Divinity of both Jesus and the Holy Spirit. Binatarians deny the Divinity of
the Holy Spirit. To deny the Divinity of Jesus is to fly in the face of
Thomas's declaration to Jesus, "My Lord and my God." (Jn.20:28)
Jesus never reprimanded him for saying this. If He was other than Divine, it
would have been gross blasphemy.
But even before Jesus was
born, He was declared to be Emmanuel, which means "God with
us." Do we really need further proof? And all such
"proof texts" are in essence only an academic exercise. The true
glory of God's Son shone through all His life and His words, so that one needs
never question who He was.
But what of the Holy
Spirit? There are those who enforce their view that God's Spirit is none other
than the "force" or the "power" of God the Father. They
give many quotes to prove this assertion. But even the least able reader of
Greek, who possesses, say, an Interlinear Greek-English N.T. would be able to
see at a glance that the words "holy spirit" appear frequently
WITHOUT the definite article, and refer to "holy spiritual power".
But when those same words are used WITH the definite article "The Spirit
the Holy (One)" they must refer to a Person. It's a great shame that the
A.V. and other newer translations do not distinguish between the Giver and the
Gifts.
We read about holy spirit
being "poured out." Such words cannot be applied to a Person. But
they can be applied to a power. On the other hand, "the
blasphemy against the Holy Spirit" cannot be attributed to a
power, but only to a Person. (Mark
To read John 14 - 17, and
in particular the way the Lord spoke about the coming of the Holy Spirit,
should banish all erroneous concepts about the Holy Spirit as a Person.
But now we come to another
aspect of the Trinity which is seldom considered by Christians of any
denomination or persuasion. In fact we have hardly ever heard anyone mention it
over the last 30 years, in all our travels and contacts with fellow believers.
We frequently speak about
God as "Father", and equally as "the Son", without
realising that both of these expressions are meaningless without the word
MOTHER! In human terms, there cannot be a father, without their also being a
mother and a child. Likewise there cannot be a son, without there also being a
father and a mother. Who then is the Heavenly Mother but the Holy Spirit? This
will come as a shock to most of our readers, and be quite unacceptable to many.
But the reason for the shock cannot possibly be that the simple conclusion is
monstrous, blasphemous, or against Scripture. It is merely that it has never
been taught. It's new, it's unusual, tradition has nothing to say about it, so
it can't be true!!
I've presented this thought
to some in the past, only to have them come back to me saying that the Greek
pronouns connected with the words "Holy Spirit" are always either
neuter or MASCULINE, and therefore my theology is out of order. But there is a
mystery here, a sacred secret which possibly needs to be unlocked at this time.
We assert that we are
"born of the Holy Spirit", and on earth ALL babies are born of a
MOTHER. Should the simple analogy fall down when applied to a new, and heavenly
birth? Is it not simpler to say that we are born of the Holy Spirit, our
Mother?
In Eph.5:31-32, Paul quotes
from Genesis about a man leaving his father and mother. Then he says,
"This is a great mystery, but I am speaking about Christ and the
church." What GREAT MYSTERY is contained in these words? None
at all, unless we are to read that Jesus left HIS FATHER AND MOTHER to come to
the earth and seek a Bride! That would still seem to be a great mystery to many
of God's children.
But the key to this mystery
is found way back in Genesis 1:26-27, "Let US make man in OUR
image, after OUR likeness." "So God created man in His image, in the
image of God created He him, male and female created He them." Adam
was specifically in the image of God as Father, and Eve in the image of God the
Holy Spirit, as Mother. Only thus can these words be given their full
significance and meaning.
But when Eve was created,
she was taken from Adam, a most singular and strange operation to be sure. But
in it God displayed something about the nature of the Godhead that is very deep
and meaningful. He was trying to show us that the Holy Spirit, as Mother,
resides in Him as Father. She, as "Wisdom" was "possessed"
by God in the beginning of His way, before His works of old. She was
"established" from the beginning, or ever the earth was. She was
"brought forth" before the mountains and the hills were
made,(Proverbs
To extend this figure, the
Divine Son of God was "begotten, not made", He was "brought
forth" from BOTH Father and Mother. When the Angel spoke to Mary, he said
that the Holy Spirit would attend her, AND the power of the Highest would
overshadow her, and because of the presence of these TWO, that which would be
born of her would truly be THE SON OF GOD. In the mystery of the incarnation,
there was a replay, if I might use that expression courteously, of the manner
in which God's Son existed from eternity WITHIN the Father and the Mother.
Some have said that Jesus
never existed before He was born. But this cannot be true. He Himself said
"I have come down from heaven, not to do my own will, but the will of Him
who sent me." (John 6:38) And on another occasion He said to
the Pharisees, "Before Abraham was, I AM", which angered
them." (John 8:58)
I hope and pray these brief
notes will act as a refreshment to the spirits of those who read.