We are finite and mortal creatures, designed by an immortal Creator with infinite intelligence. Should we therefore expect that we should be able to conceive of all the attributes and modes of existence of our Creator? How profoundly arrogant and absurd if we for a moment think that is possible!
All professing Christians recognize that what God wants us to know of Him, He has revealed to us in His Word. But still, in the minds of some believers, they feel that since they cannot wrap their minds around the concept of the trinity, the triune God, they fall back on one of several options that satisfy their legitimate longing to understand our Creator.
Thus there are denominations which are “Jesus Only.” Another denomination accepts the deity of the Father and the Son, but rejects the deity of the Holy Spirit. We do not doubt their sincerity, but allow us to suggest trying to understand the concept of the three-in-one (i.e., tri-unity, trinity) reality of the Godhead by means of an analogy which we set forth below.
We have written about the deity/divinity of Christ in a series of blogs which extended over dozens of entries, but we offer here only a thought or two which may also be helpful. We have heard, read, and studied numerous arguments against the trinity doctrine and have answered them all, so we refer new readers to them for detailed study.
We plan to set forth a detailed study of the deity of the Holy Spirit soon in this space, but for now, consider this.
I, James Walter Bruggeman, was born many decades ago. I was a son to my mother and father. I became a husband to my wife. I am a father to my children. I am a grandfather to my grandchildren, and I recently became a great-grandfather to my fourth great-grandchild.
I am a brother to my ten siblings, an uncle to their children, a great uncle to the children of my nieces and nephews.
Many years ago, Roxanne noticed something and said to me, you know, honey, I notice that when you are with your brothers and sisters, you act differently.
My question is, is there something wrong with that? Of course, there is nothing intrinsically wrong with that. It simply means that I have a different relationship with them than I did with my wife. When we see a young mom or dad with their infant child, we often see them (we all probably done the same) talk “baby talk” to their infant. Cuchee, cuchee, cooo…
I related in a different manner with my grandparents than I did with my parents or anyone else. It is simply common sense that we all wear different hats, meaning we relate to those in our lives in different ways, depending upon the particulars of that relationship.
So James Walter Bruggeman is (or was at some point in my life) simultaneously a son and grandson, a husband, a father, grandfather, great-grandfather, brother, uncle, great-uncle, etc. We could add to the list, but those are nine different aspects or manifestations of James Walter Bruggeman. But I AM ONE. I am not nine different persons. I am not nine persons in one.
When speaking of the fulness of the Godhead manifest in Jesus Christ, He is not one-third of God. He is fully God and yet fully man. He and the father are one. Despite Roman Catholic dogma, He is not one of three “persons” that comprise the trinity.
They are simply different manifestations of God as He deals with His creation in different ways as He chooses to do so. Our word “person” leads to confusion. Our language is insufficient to fully express the reality of the Godhead.
Hence, I give you the analogy above to help us to see that just as James Walter Bruggeman is one person, one human being, one entity; so the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit are One. There are not three Gods, but there are three distinct ways in which God chooses to relate to His mortal and finite creatures.
Praise be to the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Amen!
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