The Holy Spirit - a person??

BrotherAlan
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Re: The Holy Spirit - a person??

Post by BrotherAlan » Mon Jun 24, 2019 3:47 am

BTW, I know there are a lot of questions that have been thrown out which we would do well to continue to address (some of them directed to me). I'll be away from the internet for a week (going on a retreat, actually; pray for me, as I'll pray for all of you on retreat), but, when I retreat, I hope I will be able to get back here and respond to at least some of them questions. Peace.

In Christ,
BrotherAlan
"Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit,
as it was in the beginning, is now, and always, and unto the ages of ages. Amen."

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21centpilgrim
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Re: The Holy Spirit - a person??

Post by 21centpilgrim » Sun Jul 07, 2019 11:25 am

Brother Alan, were you going to interact with some of my points I called attention to in my opening post here?
Thanks
Then those who feared the LORD spoke with each other, and the LORD listened to what they said. In his presence, a scroll of remembrance was written to record the names of those who feared him and loved to think about him.

BrotherAlan
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Re: The Holy Spirit - a person??

Post by BrotherAlan » Sun Jul 07, 2019 9:07 pm

Hi, 21centpilgrim--
I was planning on doing so, but, as I saw that, based on the questions that were arising, we needed to cover some more fundamental questions, and, thus, I started that "Theology from the Top!" thread. However, even as we go through that thread, I can address some of your specific points/questions on the Holy Spirit-- about which one (or two) questions in particular are you interested in hearing my thoughts?

Peace.

In Christ,
BrotherAlan
"Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit,
as it was in the beginning, is now, and always, and unto the ages of ages. Amen."

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21centpilgrim
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Re: The Holy Spirit - a person??

Post by 21centpilgrim » Mon Jul 08, 2019 4:06 pm

Well I just got and pasted this second point from the initial post


NT greetings- if the Trinity is true, then you would expect a common greeting from God the Father, the Lord Jesus Christ and the Holy Spirit.
Yet that is not the case at all.
'from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ'- no Holy Spirit in the greetings is a disturbing silence when looking at the case for the Trinity. One God in three persons and yet this third person is left out of the greetings - the Holy Spirit never sends greetings

Thanks
Then those who feared the LORD spoke with each other, and the LORD listened to what they said. In his presence, a scroll of remembrance was written to record the names of those who feared him and loved to think about him.

BrotherAlan
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Re: The Holy Spirit - a person??

Post by BrotherAlan » Tue Jul 09, 2019 11:58 am

Dear 21centpilgrim,
Thanks for following up on these questions.

Okay, so, let’s hop into it; you wrote:
NT greetings- if the Trinity is true, then you would expect a common greeting from God the Father, the Lord Jesus Christ and the Holy Spirit.
Yet that is not the case at all.
'from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ'- no Holy Spirit in the greetings is a disturbing silence when looking at the case for the Trinity. One God in three persons and yet this third person is left out of the greetings - the Holy Spirit never sends greetings
Before I get into my opinion on how to best answer your questions, I think an important preliminary note is worth mentioning, which is this: before considering why the Holy Scriptures do NOT reveal something that, perhaps, we would expect Them to reveal (if something was really true), we ought to first consider what the Holy Scriptures DO reveal, and then go from there. So, with this said, when considering the revelation about God, and the revelation of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit (whoever and whatever they are), we can note some pretty “interesting” things, to say the least, about these three (Father, Son, and Spirit), including the following:
First, there are times in which the Holy Scriptures mention all three—Father, Son, and Spirit—together. The most obvious, of course, is Mt. 28:19, in which Our Lord, Jesus, declares that these three have the very same NAME, and that we should be baptized in this name: “Go, therefore, and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.” Just stop to think about that for one second: Christ is “grouping” the Son and the Holy Spirit WITH the Father AND is declaring that they—the Son, and the Holy Spirit, with the Father—have a SINGLE name. I don’t know about you, but I find that to be VERY significant, the Son and the Holy Spirit being “grouped” with the Eternal Father and even being said to have the same NAME with Him! And, on top of that, the Apostles were ordained to baptize all nations in that very name. If you ask me, the importance and significance of this alone cannot be exaggerated.

On top of that, there are other references in the Scriptures in which the Son and the Holy Spirit are mentioned with the Father. For example, we have 2 Cor. 13:13, in which Paul, in signing off his letter to his spiritual children in Corinth, bids these children of his farewell by stating, “The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ and the love of God and the fellowship of [participation in] the Holy Spirit be with you all.” Again, VERY significant (if you ask me) that here, again, Paul “groups” the Lord Jesus and the Holy Spirit with the Father in mentioning them all together. It is probably worth noting, too, that in this expression, the Father is not even listed first—He is mentioned in between the Son and the Holy Spirit (all of which makes it rather reasonable for us to at least begin to ask such questions as, “Why did he do that? If Jesus, the Son, and the Holy Spirit were not equal to God the Father, would that make much sense, would that be fitting? Would it be fitting to mention them all together—even mentioning the Father in the middle of the Son and the Holy Spirit—if the Son and the Holy Spirit were not equal in dignity to the Father? Hmmm…”)

The Apostle Peter greets his spiritual children by greeting them in a similar manner to that of the Apostle Paul by stating that his children were called “according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, unto the sanctification of the Spirit, unto obedience and sprinkling of the blood of Jesus Christ.” Again, VERY interesting that all three—Father, Spirit, and Son (Jesus) (as Peter orders them here)—are mentioned together AND that they are all given “credit” for different sanctifying actions performed upon the disciples of Christ (showing, or, at least, very strongly indicating that all three—Father, Son, and Spirit—are responsible for the sanctification and salvation of souls, which, if that is true, shows that all three have divine power—for, sanctification and salvation of souls can only occur through divine power—which would, in turn, show that all three have the divine nature, since only a being/person with the divine nature can have divine power…for, ”A thing acts in accord with its nature; being precedes doing.”)

And, there are other Scriptures in which all three—Father, Son, and Spirit—are mentioned together, as well as shown to have divine power in themselves.

So, well, that right there provides us with a LOT to think about. So, to respond to your questions, “If the Trinity is true, then you would expect a common greeting from God the Father, the Lord Jesus Christ and the Holy Spirit. Yet that is not the case at all.” Well, I have shown that there actually are greetings in which all three persons are mentioned by name (in addition to the even more significant passage of Mt. 28:19 in which Christ Himself mentions all three together and declares they have the same Name, and that we must be baptized in that name). So, it seems to me that the more fundamental question we need to ask in light of these (and other) passages is, “WHY would these three be mentioned together like this, and be shown to have divine power in themselves, if they do not all share the divine nature together?”

Your thoughts?

In Christ, the Son,
BrotherAlan
"Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit,
as it was in the beginning, is now, and always, and unto the ages of ages. Amen."

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Homer
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Re: The Holy Spirit - a person??

Post by Homer » Tue Jul 09, 2019 5:37 pm

BrotherAlan,

I might add, to what you said, that Matthew's recounting of Jesus' words regarding making disciples "baptizing them into (Greek eis, not en) the name" can be understood as being baptized into the "person" of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, as the scriptures elsewhere speak of being baptized into (the person of) Christ. Person and name are frequently very closely associated in scripture. See Acts 1:15, Rev. 3:4, 11:15 where forms of the Greek onoma, name, speak of people or persons.

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Re: The Holy Spirit - a person??

Post by Paidion » Tue Jul 09, 2019 8:42 pm

If God is a Trinity, why is it that no occurrence of the word in the Bible denotes a Trinity? Rather well over 90% of occurrences refers to the Father alone, and the rest (except where "god" or "gods" denote the imaginary gods of the heathen) refers to the Son, analogous to the word "man" referring to a human being.
Paidion

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BrotherAlan
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Re: The Holy Spirit - a person??

Post by BrotherAlan » Wed Jul 10, 2019 1:37 am

Thanks, Homer and Paidion--
To respond to Paidion's assertion that 90% of the use of the word "God" refers to the Father...first off: is this certainly true? I ask this because many uses of "God" in the Scriptures do NOT explicitly say "God, the Father". Yes, there are some in the New Testament in which this is the case; but, most of the uses of "God" in the Scriptures (considering both the Old and the New Testaments) do not explicitly state that that word, "God", is pointing to the Father (and, if we are trying to discover whether or not the Scriptures are teaching that God is a Trinity, one can not simply assume that every use of the word "God" in the Scriptures refers to the Father, unless it is explicitly stated that it refers to the Son). Secondly, even in those cases in which it is clear that "God" is pointing to the Father, that would be explained in Trinitarian theology by stating that the Father is the principle of the Divine Nature who gives to the Son (and, with the Son, to the Holy Spirit) the entirety of that Divine Nature (as the Son says, "The Father has life in himself, so has he given the Son to have life in Himself." (John 5:26))

But, again, the better question to ask is that why do the Scriptures attribute Divine actions and qualities to the Son and the Holy Spirit? Why is the Son called "God" (eg., John 1:14; 1 John 5:20)? How is it that the Son has life in himself (as just stated in John 5:26), if the Son is not God (meaning, if the Son does not possess, in its fullness, the SAME Divine Essence/Nature as the Father)? Why are our bodies called Temples of the Holy Spirit-- a statement that certainly seems to imply that the Holy Spirit is God (given the fact that a Temple is built for God)? Or, again, how is it that the Holy Spirit searches all things, even the deep things of God, if the Holy Spirit is not God (for, only God can search the deep things of God)? How is it that the Son saves, and that the Holy Spirit sanctifies, if these are not God (considering that the works of salvation and sanctification are works that only God can do)? Etc, etc., etc.

Again, rather than trying to conform the Scriptures to our expectations of what SHOULD be revealed if something were true, we need to look, first, at what the Scriptures DO reveal, and ask ourselves, "Huh? Why would the Scriptures say THAT?" If we ask ourselves THAT question, we can not help but see that there are a LOT of VERY strong statements made about the Son and the Holy Spirit, indeed, statements that, really, in the end, can not help but lead us to the conclusion that the Son and the Holy Spirit have divine powers and, therefore, they fully possess the divine nature.

In Christ,
BrotherAlan
"Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit,
as it was in the beginning, is now, and always, and unto the ages of ages. Amen."

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Re: The Holy Spirit - a person??

Post by BrotherAlan » Wed Jul 10, 2019 10:36 am

While I know I just posted, I thought that it just might be worth "throwing out" some texts from Scripture which, I think, manifest to us the Divinity of the Holy Spirit (the following is an excerpt from the Summa Contra Gentiles of Thomas Aquinas, Book IV, Chap. 17, in which Aquinas gives a good number of texts from Scripture which indicate the Divinity of the Holy Spirit):
Chapter 17
THAT THE HOLY SPIRIT IS TRUE GOD
[1] One shows, of course, by clear testimonies from Scripture that the Holy Spirit is true God. For to none but God is a temple consecrated, and so the Psalmist speaks of “God in His holy temple” (Ps. 10:5). Yet there is a temple assigned to the Holy Spirit, for the Apostle says: “Or know you not that your members are the temple of the Holy Spirit?” The Holy Spirit, therefore, is God. This is especially clear since our members, which the Apostle calls the temple of the Holy Spirit, are the members of Christ. For just above he had set down: “Know you not that your bodies are the members of Christ?” (1 Cor. 6:19, 15). It obviously would be awkward (since Christ is true God, as is clear from the foregoing) to have the members of Christ a temple of the Holy Spirit if the Holy Spirit were not God.

[2] Again, holy men do not give the cult of adoration except to the true God, for Deuteronomy (6:13) says: “You shall fear the Lord your God, and shall serve Him only.” But holy men serve the Holy Spirit, as the Apostle says: “We are the circumcision who serve the Spirit of God” (Phil. 3:3). And although some books have “who serve in the spirit of the Lord,” the Greek books and some Of the more ancient Latin ones have: “who serve the Spirit of God.” And from the Greek itself, this clearly must be understood as the cult of adoration which is due to God alone. Therefore, the Holy Spirit is true God to whom adoration is due.

[3] Further, to sanctify men is the proper work of God, for Leviticus (22:32) says: “I am the Lord who sanctify you.” It is, of course, the Holy Spirit who sanctifies, as the Apostle says: “You are washed, you are sanctified, you are justified in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, and the Spirit of our God” (1 Cor. 6:11). And in 2 Thessalonians (2:12) one reads: “God has chosen you first fruits unto salvation, in sanctification of the Spirit and faith of the truth.” Necessarily, therefore, the Holy Spirit is God.

[4] And further, just as the life of corporeal nature is from the soul, so the life of justice of the soul itself is from God; and so our Lord says: “As the living Father has sent Me, and I live by the Father, so He that eats Me, the same also shall live by Me” (John 6:58). Of course, this kind of life is from the Holy Spirit, and so our Lord adds in the same place: “It is the Spirit that gives life” (John 6:54); and the Apostle says: “If by the Spirit you mortify the deeds of the flesh, you shall live” (Rom. 8:13). Therefore, the Holy Spirit is of the divine nature.

[5] Our Lord, furthermore, when arguing His divinity against the Jews who could not bear the fact that He made Himself equal to God, asserts that there is in Him a power of raising to life. He says in John (5:21): “As the Father raises up the dead and gives life, so the Son also gives life to whom He will.” The power of raising to life, of course, belongs to the Holy Spirit; as the Apostle says: “If the Spirit of Him that raised up Jesus from the dead dwell in you; He that raised up Jesus Christ from the dead shall quicken also your mortal bodies, because of His Spirit that dwells in you” (Rom. 8:11). Therefore, the Holy Spirit is of the divine nature.

[6] Again, creation is the work of God alone, as was shown above. But creation belongs to the Holy Spirit; as the Psalmist says: “Send forth your Spirit, and they shall be created” (Ps. 103:30); and Job (33:4) says: “The Spirit of God made me”; and Sirach (1:9) says of God: “He created her,” meaning wisdom, “in the Holy Spirit.” Therefore, the Holy Spirit is of the divine nature.

[7] The Apostle says, further: “The Spirit searches all things, yea, the deep things of God. For what man knows the things of a man but the spirit of a man that is in him? So the things also that are of God no man knows, but the Spirit of God” (1 Cor. 2:10-11). But to comprehend all the deep things of God is not the act of a creature. And this is clear from our Lord’s words: “No one knows the Son but the Father, neither doth any one know the Father but the Son” (Mat. 11:27). And Isaiah (24:16) says in the person of God: “My secret to Myself.” Therefore, the Holy Spirit is not a creature.

[8] What is more, in the comparison by the Apostle just given, the Holy Spirit is to God as the spirit of man is to man. Now, the spirit of man is intrinsic to man and is not extraneous to him in nature, but is of his nature. Therefore, the Holy Spirit as well is not by nature extraneous to God.

[9] If one further compares the just quoted words of the Apostle with those of the Prophet Isaiah, he will see clearly that the Holy Spirit is God. For Isaiah (64:4) says: “The eye has not seen, O God, besides You, what things You hast prepared for them that wait for You.” And the Apostle, indeed, when he had introduced these words (1 Cor. 7:9) adds the words just mentioned, to wit, that “the Spirit searches the deep things of God” (1 Cor. 2:9-10). Manifestly, therefore, the Holy Spirit knows those deep things of God “which He has prepared for those that wait for Him.” Therefore, if none sees these besides God, as Isaiah says, clearly the Holy Spirit is God.

[10] Isaiah, once again (6:8-9), says: “I heard the voice of God saying: Whom shall I send? And I said: Lo, here am I, send me. And He said: Go, and you shall say to His people: Hearing, hear, and understand not.” Now, Paul ascribes these words to the Holy Spirit; and thus we are told that Paul said to the Jews: “Well, did the Holy Spirit speak... by Isaiah the Prophet, saying: Go to this people and say to them: With the ear you shall hear and shall not understand” (Acts 28:2526). Manifestly, therefore, the Holy Spirit is God.

[11] It is further apparent from sacred Scripture that it is God who speaks by the Prophets. For from the mouth of God, Numbers (12:6) says: “If there be among you a prophet of the Lord, I will appear to him in a vision, or I will speak to him in a dream.” And a Psalm (84:9) says: “I will hear what the Lord God will speak in me.” But it is plain to see that the Holy Spirit has spoken in the Prophets. One reads in Acts (1:16): “The Scripture must needs be fulfilled, which the Holy Spirit spoke before by the mouth of David.” And in Matthew our Lord says: “How do the scribes say that Christ is the son of David. For David himself says by the Holy Spirit: The Lord said to my Lord: Sit you at My right hand.” And in 2 Peter (1:71) we read: “For prophecy came not by the will of man at any time, but the holy men of God spoke, inspired by the Holy Spirit.” Therefore, one plainly gathers from the Scriptures that the Holy Spirit is God.

[ 12] Again, that the revelation of mysteries is a proper work of God is shown in Scripture, for in Daniel (2:28) it says: “There is a God in heaven that reveals mysteries.” But the revelation of mysteries is seen to be a work of the Holy Spirit, for we read in 1 Corinthians (2:10; 14:2): “To us God has revealed them, by his Spirit”; and: “By the Spirit He speaks mysteries.” The Holy Spirit, therefore, is God.

[13] What is more, to teach within is a proper work of God, for the Psalmist says of God: “He who teaches man knowledge” (93:16); and Daniel (2:21): “He gives wisdom to the wise, and knowledge to them that have understanding.” ]out that such is the proper work of the Holy Spirit is plain, for our Lord speaks in John (14:26): of “the Paraclete, the Holy Spirit whom the Father will send in My name: He will teach you all things.” The Holy Spirit, therefore, is of the divine nature.

[14] Furthermore, those who are identical in operation must be identical in nature. But the operation of the Son and the Holy Spirit is identical. For Christ speaks in the saints, as the Apostle shows in the words of 2 Corinthians (13:3): “Do you seek a proof of Christ that speaks in me?” This also plainly appears to be a work of the Holy Spirit, for we read in Matthew (10:20): “It is not you that speak, but the Spirit of your Father who speaks in you.” There is, then, an identical nature in the Son and the Holy Spirit and, consequently, the Father, since it has been shown that the Father and Son are one nature.

[15] Moreover, to dwell in the minds of the saints is the proper work of God, and so the Apostle says: “You are the temple of the living God; as God says: I will dwell in you” (2 Cor. 6:16). But the Apostle attributes the same thing to the Holy Spirit, for he says: “Know you not that you are the temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwells in you?” (1 Cor. 3:16). Therefore, the Holy Spirit is God.

[16] Once again, to be everywhere is proper to God, who says in Jeremiah (23:24): “I fill heaven and earth.” This belongs to the Holy Spirit, for we read in Wisdom (1:7): “The Spirit of the Lord bath filled the whole world,” and the Psalmist says: “Whither shall I go from your Spirit? Or whither shall I flee from your face? If I ascend into heaven, You are there,” and so forth (Ps. 138:7-8). Our Lord also says to the disciples: “You shall receive the power of the Holy Spirit coming upon you, and you shall be witnesses unto Me in Jerusalem, and in all Judea, and Samaria, and even to the uttermost parts of the earth” (Acts 1:8), from which it is clear that the Holy Spirit is everywhere; He dwells in those existing in every place. The Holy Spirit, therefore, is God.

[17] There is more. Scripture expressly names the Holy Spirit God, for Peter says: “Ananias, why did Satan tempt your heart, that you should lie to the Holy Spirit?” Later on, he adds: “You hast not lied to men, but to God” (Acts 5:3-4). The Holy Spirit, therefore, is God.

[18] We read again, in 1 Corinthians (14:2, 21): “He that speaks in a tongue speaks not unto men, but unto God; for no one hears. Yet by the Spirit He speaks mysteries,” from which he gives one to understand that the Holy Spirit was speaking in those who spoke with different tongues. Later on, of course, he says: “In the Law it is written: In other tongues and other lips I will speak to this people; and neither so will they hear me, says the Lord.” Therefore, the Holy Spirit who speaks mysteries with diverse lips and tongues is God.

[19] Furthermore, after a bit, this is added: “If all prophesy, and there come in one that believes not, or an unlearned person, he is convinced of all, he is judged of all. The secrets of his heart are made manifest; and so, falling down on his face, he will adore God, affirming that God is among you indeed” (1 Cor. 14:24-2-5). Clearly, of course, from what he had previously set down, “the Spirit speaks mysteries,” the manifestation of the secrets of the heart is from the Holy Spirit. And this is a proper mark of divinity, for we read in Jeremiah (17:9-10): “The heart of man is perverse... and inscrutable, who can know it? I am the Lord who search the heart and prove the reins: And so from this indication even an unbeliever (cf. 1 Cor. 14:24) is said to consider carefully that He who speaks these secrets of hearts is God. Therefore, the Holy Spirit is God.

[20] Again, a bit later, the Apostle says: “The spirits of the prophets are subject to the prophets. For God is not the God of dissension, but of peace” (1 Cor. 14:32-33). Of course, the graces of the Prophets which he named “the spirits of the prophets” are from the Holy Spirit. Therefore, he shows that the Holy Spirit who distributes graces of this kind in such wise that from them follows not dissension but peace is God by these words: “God is not the God of dissension, but of peace.”

[21] Furthermore, to adopt as sons can be the work of no other than God. For no spiritual creature is called son of God by nature, but by the grace of adoption. Hence, the Apostle attributes this work to the Son of God who is true God: “God sent His Son that we might receive the adoption of sons” (Gal. 4:4-5). But the Holy Spirit is the cause of the adoption, as the Apostle says: “You have received the spirit of adoption of sons, whereby we cry: Abba (Father)” (Rom. 8:15). Therefore, the Holy Spirit is not a creature, but God.

[22] Again, if the Holy Spirit is not God, He must be a creature. Plainly enough, He is not a bodily creature, And neither is He a spiritual creature, for no creature is infused into a spiritual creature, since a creature is not participable, but rather participating. The Holy Spirit, of course, is infused into the minds of the saints, as it were participated by them, for we read that Christ was full of Him (Luke 4:1) and even the Apostles (Acts 7:4). The Holy Spirit, therefore, is not a creature but God.

[23] But, if one says that the aforesaid works which are God’s are not attributed to the Holy Spirit in principalship as to God, but in ministry as it were to a creature, he says what is expressly false. And this is clear from the words of the Apostle: “There are diversities of operations, but the same God, who works all in all.” Afterwards, when the Apostle had enumerated the different gifts of God, he adds: “All these things one and the same Spirit works, dividing to every one according as He will” (1 Cor. 12:6, 11). Therein clearly he has set forth that the Holy Spirit is God: not only by saying that the Holy Spirit performs the works which he said before that God performs, but also by proclaiming that the Holy Spirit performs them according to a decision of His will. Manifestly, therefore, the Holy Spirit is God.
In Christ,
BrotherAlan
"Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit,
as it was in the beginning, is now, and always, and unto the ages of ages. Amen."

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Paidion
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Re: The Holy Spirit - a person??

Post by Paidion » Wed Jul 10, 2019 8:43 pm

Why is the Son called "God" (eg., John 1:14; 1 John 5:20)?
Brother Alan, what are you saying? John 1:14 doesn't call the Son "God." Indeed, it does not even contain the word "God."

How can the Son be God, when He Himself addressed His Father as "the only true God"? John 17:3. Indeed, He added, "AND Jesus Christ whom you have sent" which seems to indicate that He was someone other than the only true God. If 1 John 5:20 were calling the Son "God" it would contradict Jesus' own words in John 17:3.

Let's examine 1 John 5:20 carefully:

And we know that the Son of God has come, and has given us understanding so that we may know Him who is true; and we are in Him who is true, in His Son Jesus Christ. This is the true God and eternal life. (NAS 95)


John is writing about "Him who is true" and he writes that the the Son of "Him that is true" is Jesus Christ. The word "This" in the final sentence refers to "Him that is true" that is—God the Father.

Remember that the first and second century Christians said that the Father begat (or "generated") the Son before all ages, the first of the Father's acts. So how could He be part of "the Trinity" since according to Trinitarian teaching, the Trinity had no beginning. This is John in the first verse of his gospel, wrote that Jesus "was God" (in the generic sense) just as you and I are "man" in the generic sense since we all have been begotten or generated by man. Indeed Jesus is the ONLY begotten Son of God. God begat no other.

In the beginning was the Logos, and the Logos was with God, and the Logos was God.
Don't emphasize "was" when you read the second clause. Rather emphasize "God."

The Logos is the very expression of God. That's why He is called "the Logos." Hebrews 1:3 tells us that He is "the exact expression of God's essence." The word "God" is used in two different senses in John 1:1. When the word "God" is prefixed with the article "the" (and that is the only article in Greek) it refers to the Father alone if it has no other modifiers. And "the God" occurs in over 90% of the instances of the word.

So John writes in John 1:1 that Jesus was with "the God", that is the Father. And that Jesus was God. In the second occurrence of the word "God" (which Jesus was) in John 1:1 the word "God" has no article. Jesus was God but not "the God."

The word order is reversed. It is written "God was the Logos." The is the same word order as for "Your word is truth." The order is "Truth is your word." The same thing with the clause translated as "God is love." The word order is "Love is God." For love is the kind of thing, or essence of God. Truth is the essence of God's word. God is the essence of the Son. He is "God" or divine in essence, but He is not God the Father.
Paidion

Man judges a person by his past deeds, and administers penalties for his wrongdoing. God judges a person by his present character, and disciplines him that he may become righteous.

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