Do Christians Believe in Three Gods

34 Pages·2004·0.29 MB·English

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Q0107 Trinity 2col pp 10/27/04 5:39 PM Page 1
DO CHRISTIANS
BELIEVE IN
THREE GODS?
CONTENTS
MMuslims, Jews,
Jehovah’s Witnesses,
Questions At
The Door. . . . . . . . . . . . 2 and Mormons say
yes. They insist that the orthodox
How Important
Is The Teaching Of Christian doctrine of the Trinity is
Three In One? . . . . . . . . 4 unbiblical and is a hangover from
What Is The Relationship the polytheism of Greek and
Of Father,Son,And Spirit? Roman mythologies. Is this true?
The Father As God . . . . . 7 Or is believing in a three-in-one
God foundational to biblical
The Son As God . . . . . . . 8
faith?
The Holy Spirit
To help answer these
As God . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19
questions, RBC senior research
Do Christians
editor Herb Vander Lugt has
Believe In Three
Gods Or One?. . . . . . . 21 written the following pages to
show what the Bible says about
Questions
People Ask . . . . . . . . . . 23 the relationship between the
Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. It is
What Difference
Does It Make?. . . . . . . . 30 our prayer that this booklet will
help you to see why followers of
Knowing God. . . . . . . . 32
Christ believe in a three-in-one
God, and why this doctrine of the
Trinity has such great significance.
Martin R. De Haan II
Managing Editor:David Sper Cover Photo:Roger Markham Smith/TSW
Scripture quotations are from the New King James Version.Copyright © 1982 by Thomas
Nelson,Inc.Used by permission.All rights reserved.
© 1992,2002 RBC Ministries,Grand Rapids,Michigan Printed in USA
© RBC Ministries. All rights reserved.
Q0107 Trinity 2col pp 10/27/04 5:39 PM Page 2
QUESTIONS AT
problems to a national
THE DOOR spiritual crisis. They are
looking for people who are
IIt’s 10:15 Saturday willing to study the Bible
morning. A slow-starting with them.
weekend yawns one You don’t invite them in,
more time. Sections of the but you find it hard to turn
newspaper try to make them away. You sense they
conversation with a half- have earned a few minutes
empty coffeemaker. A nearly of your time simply by their
overdrawn checkbook waits willingness to stand at your
to be balanced. Breakfast door. You wonder if you’d
dishes lie in state on the be willing to do as much
kitchen table. Then the for your own faith. Would
doorbell reminds you that you knock on the door of
you owe the paperboy for strangers to talk to them
2 months of news. about the future, about
As you open the door, God, and about their soul?
two young men dressed in These members of a
white shirts and ties greet faith different from yours
you with a smile. You’ve are doing that. These
never seen them before. serious-minded visitors
Yet you recognize them have a message of warning
and their briefcase. Other about average, normal, run-
members of their faith have of-the-mill church people.
visited you in the past. You They say they can show you
expect that these two will from your own Bible that
ask similar questions about much of what church people
your spiritual interests. They believe is actually contrary
will politely try to give you to the Bible. Christians, they
pamphlets linking our social say, have believed a lie.
2
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Take, for instance, the The visitors at your
church’s doctrine of the door are not alone in their
Trinity, they say. Christians anti-Trinity conviction. They
worship a Father, Son, and join with Jews, Muslims,
Holy Spirit. Yet Moses, and several other Bible-
the great lawgiver revered quoting voices who insist
by Jews, Christians, and that anyone believing in
Muslims alike, declared that the Trinity has violated
there is only one God when the sacred Hebrew Shema
he wrote, “Hear, O Israel: recited twice daily by devout
The Lord our God, the Lord Jews: “Hear, O Israel: The
is one! You shall love the Lord our God, the Lord is
Lord your God with all your one!”
heart, with all your soul, Anti-Trinity groups insist
and with all your strength” that when we speak about
(Dt. 6:4-5). God as existing in three
How, your visitors Persons, we are in reality
gently prod, can Christians establishing three Gods.
be faithful to Moses and to They rightly declare that the
the foundations of the Old word trinitynever appears
Testament while worshiping in the sacred Scriptures.
three distinct Persons of But then they go on to say
Father, Son, and Holy Spirit? that this idea of three-in-one
Is it possible, they ask you, was transplanted into
that you have bought into Christianity from Greek
a doctrine that violates the and Roman paganism.
most basic teaching of the Is it possible that they are
Bible? Is it possible that you right? Is there evidence that
have unknowingly accepted this teaching had its origin in
a teaching that puts you at paganism? Is the doctrine of
risk with God? a three-in-one God biblical?
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HOW IMPORTANT
church theologians, a
IS THE TEACHING biblical teaching of the
OF THREE IN greatest importance.
Catholic, Protestant,
ONE?
and Orthodox branches of
OOpponents of the the church all agree that
teaching of the the New Testament teaching
Trinity make very of a three-in-one God is a
serious claims. They insist doctrine firmly grounded in
that anyone who believes in Scripture not in philosophy.
a three-in-one God violates Together they agree that the
the first commandment of Trinity shows us the extent to
Moses in which the Lord which God’s own existence is
states, “I am the Lord your rooted in the joys of eternal
God, who brought you out relationship. The three-in-
of the land of Egypt, out of oneness of God shows us
the house of bondage. You the eternal reality of His
shall have no other gods love and the enormous
before Me” (Ex. 20:2-3). price that God paid in giving
Yet, for many centuries His Son as a sacrifice for our
church theologians have sin. The three-in-oneness
also made serious claims of God shows that our own
in support of the Trinity. relationships are important to
This doctrine, according a God in whom relationship
to church fathers, is not a and love are foundational to
matter of pagan philosophy. His existence. A three-in-one
It is not polytheistic. It is not God gives us the example of
a matter of semantics. That one who exists not merely as
the one true and Most High one, but in the inexpressible
God exists in three distinct joy and creativity of a
Persons is, according to perfectly shared relationship.
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Unlike the many warring example, He said, “Let Us
gods of pagan religion, and make man in Our image,
unlike our own history of according to Our likeness”
broken relationships, this (Gen. 1:26). Later, after
God is always one in mind Adam and Eve had eaten
and heart and action. from the forbidden tree,
All major branches of God said, “Behold, the man
Christendom also agree has become like one of Us,
that a three-in-one God is to know good and evil”
consistent with the trail of (Gen. 3:22).
Old Testament evidence for When Moses declared
the same doctrine. The Old that God is one (Dt. 6:4),
Testament gives strong he used the same word he
implications that though had employed to describe
God is one, He is not a the “one flesh” relationship
solitary Being. Old of a man and his wife (Gen.
Testament writers often 2:24). The word onein
use language that makes Deuteronomy 6:4 definitely
us think of a plurality within allows for the idea of a
this unity. plurality of Persons within
For example, the word the unity of the Godhead.
translated “God” some 2,570 Both Testaments,
times in the Old Testament is therefore, give us reason
Elohim—a plural term. In to believe that onecan be
all except five instances, it more than one. That this is
clearly refers to the one God beyond our ability to fully
who is Creator, Sustainer, understand is not reason
and Master of everything. to reject it, but to try to
God sometimes used understand as much
a plural pronoun when as we can of what God
speaking of Himself. For has revealed.
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WHAT IS THE
The New Testament
RELATIONSHIP does not reveal these three
OF FATHER, SON, Persons to us separately, but
in a profound sense of unity.
AND SPIRIT?
It represents all three in a
SSome Christians have relationship of oneness and
attempted to explain love for one another and
the three-in-oneness for us as well.
of God by suggesting that The New Testament
God has three different ways relationship between
of revealing Himself to us. Father, Son, and Holy Spirit
Sometimes He portrays disproves the conclusion that
Himself as Father, the Father alone should be
sometimes as Son, and thought of as the only True
sometimes as Holy Spirit. and Most High God. While
The explanation of one it is understandable that
God in three different roles some would try to protect
might carry more weight if it the oneness of God by seeing
were not for the evidence for the Son and Spirit as lesser
plurality within oneness that beings or forces, such a
we have already considered. conclusion is not valid.
Since the Old Testament The Old Testament makes
does reveal a God who it clear that the one true God
says, “Let Us create man of the Bible is a jealous God.
in Our image,” it’s much He is a God who, according
easier for us to understand to Isaiah, will not give His
the sense of relationship, glory to another (Is. 48:9-12).
submission, love, and The God of the New
loyalty that the Scriptures Testament, however, links
describe as existing between His own name in the
the Father, Son, and Spirit. threefold designation as
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Q0107 Trinity 2col pp 10/27/04 5:39 PM Page 7
Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.
Just as important, the New
R
Testament shows us that the E
H S
Father makes our relationship FAT ON
to Him dependent on our
relationship to the Son,
and our relationship to HOLY SPIRIT
the Son dependent on our
relationship to the Spirit.
This God certainly shares His the nation of Israel (Dt. 32:6;
glory among three Persons, Isa. 1:2; Hos. 11:1; Mal.
who in turn offer Their love to 2:10). Jesus called God His
all who will accept the love of Father (Jn. 5:17-18) and
the Father, Son, and Spirit. taught us to pray, “Our
To see how the glory of Father in heaven”(Mt. 6:9).
a jealous God is shared in He told us that we are to
this oneness of Persons, come to the Father in His
let’s take a brief look at each name (Jn. 16:23). He
Person of this one Godhead declared that both He and
as described by the Bible. His Father would soon send
His disciples a divine Helper
THE FATHER (Jn. 15:26).
AS GOD It is clear from these
Among those who recognize verses that the Father is
the authority of the Bible, God. God is Father. The
few if any doubt the full apostle Paul referred to Him
deity of the Father. In many as the “God and Father of
different ways, the Father is our Lord Jesus Christ, the
revealed as the personal God Father of mercies and God
of creation. The Scriptures of all comfort” (2 Cor. 1:3).
reveal God as the Father of What is important about
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the Father’s revelation of great prophet. But she
Himself, however, is that insists that Islam’s sacred
He made our relationship book “states emphatically
to Him dependent on our in passage after passage that
relationship to His only Son. Jesus is not God’s Son, . . .
that such a notion has much
THE SON AS GOD more in common with pagan
The New Testament writers
repeatedly refer to Jesus
R
Christ as the Son of God. E
H S
But what does this title FAT ON
mean?
Jehovah’s Witnesses take
this expression to mean that HOLY SPIRIT
He was ason of God, much
like angels and other human
beings. They believe that mythologies in which
Jesus was the archangel ‘gods’ fathered semi-divine
Michael in human form. children by human women,
Present-day leaders in than with a true religion
Judaism say that Jesus was coming from God” (What
a great prophet, but nothing Everyone Should Know
more. Muslims take the About Islam And Muslims,
same view. Suzanne Haneef, 1979, Kazi
Haneef, a well-educated Publications, Chicago).
contemporary Muslim, The New Testament,
points out that the Koran however, teaches that Jesus
honors Jesus by teaching Christ is the “only,” the
that He was born without unique (see p.24) Son of
the agency of a human God (Jn. 1:14,18; 3:16,18;
father, and that He was a 1 Jn. 4:9). The Scriptures
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Q0107 Trinity 2col pp 10/27/04 5:39 PM Page 9
portray Christ as sharing the were written well before
glory of a jealous God who, AD70. And although the
through Moses, insisted Gospel of John was not
that no one deserved to be produced until around AD
worshiped but God Himself. 90, the evidence is strong
This God shares His love that it belongs to the apostle
with angels and mortals. John, who was actually with
But with Christ the Son, Jesus throughout His earthly
He shares His glory. ministry. The apostles
To see the extent to undoubtedly repeated the
which the Son shares the words of Christ often as
glory of the Father, let’s they began to proclaim the
consider the evidence gospel. Jesus’ words tell us
of Christ’s words, the that He definitely claimed
testimony of the apostles, to be God. We’ll look at only
the predictions of the Old two of the tremendous
Testament prophets, and the statements Jesus made
declarations of the church about Himself.
fathers. In John 8:58 we find
The Words Of Jesus. Christ’s claim that He never
The four Gospels record had a beginning. Since only
many of the words Jesus God is eternal, this amounts
spoke during His earthly to a declaration of deity. To
ministry. Even if a group of hostile religious
we did not believe in the leaders, He said, “Most
inspiration of the New assuredly, I say to you,
Testament, we would have before Abraham was, IAM.”
good reason to accept what Notice, Jesus didn’t say,
they wrote as accurate. We “Before Abraham was
have strong evidence that born, I was born.” He said,
Matthew, Mark, and Luke “Before Abraham came into
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