The Trinity-Tritheism?

[pacunurse30]

Awhile ago I was on another forum (former SDAs) and they were accusing the SDA church of being tritheists. In other words, our concept of what the trinity actually represents is incorrect. I was a bit confused by this because I always believed that the trinity was considered an orthodox concept. I also believed that all churches who teach the trinity have the same concept of what it is. I'd like to know what everyone's understanding of what it is. Here's mine:

God exists as the father, son, and holy spirit. Each of these entities have their own forms, and can function separately, yet they are all one God. John 1:1, as well as other texts, identify Christ as being syonymous with Jehova God. However, when we see the life of Christ as told in the gospels, Christ was able to pray to, draw strength from, and gain power from the father. It can't be arbitrary that Christ was praying to the father, or that he made statements indicating that the father was another entity. It was a difficult concept for the disciples and leaders of Jesus' day to understand. It is also difficult for us to understand, especially when we are describing it using human terms.

[Beryl]

Quote:

I was a bit confused by this because I always believed that the trinity was considered an orthodox concept. I also believed that all churches who teach the trinity have the same concept of what it is.

Hi, Pacunurse30,

You are correct, the majority of Christians take the Biblical teaching of what is termed "the Trinity" -- three distinct persons who are so in tune with each other that it is as though they are one.

We can liken this to what would be a perfect marriage (not many of these about!!), but here you have two people whose lives have been joined together for life.

In Genesis we find the story of the creation of Adam and then Eve, in Gen. 2:24 it says, "For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and they will become one flesh." We have two distinct persons, one male and one female, who have become so united in their thinking, the things they enjoy, their outlook on life, and their desires for each other's fulfilment that they are one in purpose, united in love, united for life. At the same time they each have different roles to fill, and they do so, while conscious of the fact that they are working in complete harmony with each other.

Now, we realise that such a marriage on this old sinful earth rarely happens, but in the Trinity, with three perfect Persons, working together, this perfect harmony does exist.

No, we are not tritheists. We have only one God -- three Persons working in complete unity. A glimpse at this unity is found in John 16:12-15.

This was just before Jesus and the disciples left for the garden of Gethsemane. Jesus was explaining to them the work of the Holy Spirit, the third person of the Godhead. Just look at the evidence of their closeness -- Jesus said, "I have much more to say to you than you can now bear, but when he, the Spirit of truth, comes, He will guide you into all truth. He will not speak on His own, He will speak only what He hears, and He will tell you what is yet to come. He will bring glory to me by taking from what is mine and making it known to you.

"All that belongs to the Father is Mine. That is why I said the Spirit will take from what is mine and make it known to you."

What these former SDAs are doing is to lower the status of Jesus and the Holy Spirit, basically denying that either of them are God. That is not what the Bible teaches.

I will expand on this later if you wish me to do so.

God bless,

Beryl

[Nightingale]

Can you explain the Trinity?

Q: "What about the doctrine of the Trinity, the Holy Trinity?"

our A: "Trinity" is a term that is not found in the Bible but a word used to describe what is apparent about God in the Scriptures. The Bible clearly speaks of God the Father, God the Son (Jesus Christ), and God the Holy Spirit...and also clearly presents that there is only one God. Thus the term: "Tri" meaning three, and "Unity" meaning one, Tri+Unity = Trinity. It is a way of acknowledging what the Bible reveals to us about God, that God is yet three "Persons" who have the same essence of deity.

Some have tried to give human illustrations for the Trinity, such as H2O being water, ice and steam (all different forms, but all are H2O). Another illustration is an egg having a shell, egg yolk and egg white, but this egg illustration shows that there would be "parts" to God, which isn't the case.

God the Son (Jesus) is fully, completely God. God the Father is fully, completely God. And God the Holy Spirit is fully, completely God. Yet there is only one God. In our world, with our limited human experience, it's tough to understand the Trinity. But from the beginning we see God this way in Scripture. Notice the plural pronouns "us" and "our" in Genesis 1:26 -- Then God said, "Let us make man in our image, in our likeness, and let them rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air, over the livestock, over all the earth, and over all the creatures that move along the ground."

Though not a complete list, here is some other Scripture that shows God is one, in Trinity:

"Hear, O Israel! The LORD is our God, the LORD is one!" (Deut. 6:4)

"I am the LORD, and there is no other; Besides Me there is no God." (Isa. 45:5)

There is no God but one. (1Cor. 8:4)

And after being baptized, Jesus went up immediately from the water; and behold, the heavens were opened, and he saw the Spirit of God descending as a dove, and coming upon Him, and behold, a voice out of the heavens, saying, "This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well-pleased." (Matt. 3:16-17)

"Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit." (Matt. 28:19)

Jesus said: "I and the Father are one." (John 10:30)

"He who has seen Me has seen the Father." (John 14:9)

"He who beholds Me beholds the One who sent Me." (John 12:45)

If anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he does not belong to Him. (Rom. 8:9)

"Joseph, son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary as your wife; for that which has been conceived in her is of the Holy Spirit." (Matt. 1:20)

And the angel answered and said to her [Mary], "The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you; and for that reason the holy offspring shall be called the Son of God." (Luke 1:35)

[Jesus speaking to His disciples] "And I will ask the Father, and He will give you another Helper, that He may be with you forever; the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it does not behold Him or know Him, but you know Him because He abides with you, and will be in you." ... "If anyone loves Me, he will keep My word; and My Father will love him, and We will come to him, and make Our abode with him." (John 14:16-17, 23)

[nuff sed]

You cannot 'explain' the Trinity any more than you can 'explain' where a triangle begins and where it ends. It just "IS".

[pacunurse30]

I do understand the concept, but as gladusee indicated, it's still a difficult thing to explain. Again, we're thinking of it using human terms. The idea of an infinite being defies human logic as well. We live in a rhelm that is subject to the limits of time. Everying begins. Everything ends. The fact that there is a being who always was, is, and shall be is just.......there are no words. This is the same way that I view the trinity. We can't really comprehend this! When we get to heaven, how many "forms" will be visible to us? Will we see a father, son, and holy spirit existing as separate beings? Very interesting.