The Godhead Part 2

 For Bethel's Thursday night Bible Study, Bro Will Cook continued with his lesson series on The Godhead Part 2.  I always enjoy hearing him teach because he truly gets excited about it. His love for The Word is evident and it comes through in his teaching. As I have been doing in the previous Thursday night lessons, I will pull directly from the notes that are posted on the Bethel App. Due to the extensive length, I will not be posting it in its entirety. 

 

The trinitarian concept of God has been compared to “one law firm with three partners,” “one senate with three senators,” or “one club with three members.”

The word “trinity” never appears in the Bible, and the original church of the apostolic era did not believe or teach the idea of a “trinity.” The official doctrine of the trinity is formally expressed in the following terms, none of which are found in the Bible. • “Triune God” • “Separate and distinct Persons” • “Co-equal, co-eternal, co-existent” • “God, the Son” • “God, the Holy Ghost” 

The trinitarian dogma was not developed until approximately three hundred years after the apostles died. For the first three centuries after Pentecost, Christianity adhered to the strict monotheism that it had inherited from the Hebrews.

 The most foundational doctrine of the Bible is “monotheism” – the belief that there is only one God. This doctrine is reiterated over and over again in both the Old and New Testaments. It is God’s declaration of His unchanging being and essence. • Deuteronomy 6:4 – “Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God is one Lord.” 1. Note that Jesus also reaffirmed this essential truth in the New Testament. • Mark 12:28-29 – “And one of the scribes came, and having heard them reasoning together, and perceiving that he had answered them well, asked him, Which is the first commandment of all? And Jesus answered him, The first of all the commandments is, Hear, O Israel; The Lord our God is one Lord.” 

 To the Jewish people, Deuteronomy 6:4 is known as “The Shema”: “Shema Yisroel Adonai Elochenu Adonai Echad” (Hear O Israel: The Lord our God is one Lord)

In regard to the Old Testament disclosure of the Godhead, noted Jewish theologian and rabbi, Stanley Greenberg, of the Temple Sinai of Philadelphia writes: “[Trinitarian] Christians are, of course, entitled to believe in a Trinitarian conception of God, but their effort to base this conception on the Hebrew Bible must fly in the face of the overwhelming testimony of that Bible. Hebrew Scriptures are clear and unequivocal on the oneness of God. The Hebrew Bible affirms the one God with unmistakable clarity. Monotheism, an uncompromising belief in one God, is the hallmark of the Hebrew Bible, the unwavering affirmation of Judaism and the unshakable faith of the Jew. Under no circumstances can a concept of a plurality of the Godhead or a trinity of the Godhead ever be based upon the Hebrew Bible [Old Testament].”

The Bible speaks loudly on the subject of the Godhead – there is only one God. It is unthinkable to imagine that God proclaimed this foundational truth time and time again in the Old Testament only to change His essence or nature in the New Testament. • Malachi 3:5-6 – “…I am the Lord, I change not …” 

Just as water (H20) can display itself as liquid, ice or vapor, so God reveals Himself to mankind through three specific modes or manifestations: • He is the Father in Creation – the invisible Spirit, omniscient, omnipotent and omni-present. • He is the Son in Redemption – the visible, tangible expression of God, willingly subject to the limitations of human flesh. • He is the Holy Ghost in regeneration – the renewing quantity of the Spirit that indwells humankind.

Paul tells us that there is one God (One Elohim) and One Lord Jesus (One Jehovah who has become salvation). He is speaking of two manifestations of the One God. One God and one mediator – two manifestations of the same Lord. • Jude 1:4 – “For there are certain men crept in unawares, who were before of old ordained to this condemnation, ungodly men, turning the grace of our God into lasciviousness, and denying the only Lord God, and our Lord Jesus Christ.” • Ephesians 4:5 – “One Lord, one faith, one baptism.”

 Paul wants us to remember that Jesus Christ is the flesh of God, the very “person” of God Himself, made visible. • Hebrews 1:1-3 – “God … hath in these last days spoken unto us by his Son …who being the brightness of his glory, and the express image of his person…” • 1 Timothy 3:16 – “…God was manifest in the flesh, …received up into glory.” • John 1:18 – “No man hath seen God at any time; the only begotten Son, which is in the bosom of the Father, he hath declared [manifest, shown] him.”

The physical manifestation of God is Jesus Christ. The only image that we can see of God is His express image, His flesh, Jesus Christ. (John 8:58; 2 Corinthians 4:6; John 14:9)

Apostle Paul reminds us that Jesus Christ was more than mortal flesh only; He is also God incarnate (dual nature). • Philippians. 2:5-6 – “Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus: Who, being in the form [image] of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God.” 

Since it would be inconsistent for John 14:28 and Philippians 2:5-6 to contradict each other, it becomes apparent that they are both referring to the different aspects of the dual nature of Jesus Christ. a. As flesh, Jesus Christ was not “co-equal” with God because the flesh placed limitations upon Him. (John 14:28) b. As Spirit, Jesus Christ was God. (Philippians 2:5-6) • 2 Corinthians 5:19 – “…God was in Christ, reconciling the world unto himself…” 

The scriptures, teach that the Son of God, Jesus Christ (the flesh) had a definite beginning. The flesh began when it was begotten of the Father. • Hebrews 1:5 – “For unto which of the angels said he at any time, Thou art my Son; this day have I begotten thee? And again, I will be to him a Father, and he shall be to me a Son.” • John 1:14 – “And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth.” • Luke 2:11 – “For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Saviour, which is Christ the Lord.” • Galatians 4:4 – “But when the fulness of the time was come, God sent forth his Son, made of a woman, made under the law,”

Jesus Christ was begotten of the Father (John 1:15; John 3:18); yet scripture reveals that it was the Holy Ghost that conceived Jesus Christ. • Matthew 1:20-21 – “…the angel of the Lord appeared unto him in a dream, saying, Joseph, thou son of David, fear not to take unto thee Mary thy wife; for that which is conceived in her is of the Holy Ghost. And she shall bring forth a son, and thou shalt call his name JESUS…” • Luke 1:35 – “And the angel answered and said unto her, The Holy Ghost shall come upon thee, and the power of the Highest shall overshadow thee: therefore also that holy thing which shall be born of thee shall be called the Son of God.”

I will end at this point and plan to share the rest next week. 

God is good.