Let us endeavor to discern from the Scriptures and from reason the equality of the first and second persons of the Holy Trinity and examine how Jesus can be both equal to the Father and lesser than the Father in the oneness of the Trinity. There are many errors by the heretics in the understanding of Jesus as He related to His divine atoning work of salvation. Man’s desire to be exalted to being divine prompts many to try to explain in terms understood within the limits of our intellect the mysterious aspects of God. Most often man fails in this endeavor and concludes errors to be fact by failing to recognize his intellectual inferiority to the mind of God.
The incarnation being for the purpose of working out the salvation of humanity required Jesus to be the one mediator between God and man and in Scriptures there are indications that the Father is greater than the Son. This must be balanced with the fact that Jesus is also less than himself after the incarnation as is the nature of the flesh but the Scriptures clearly tell us of the fact that before the incarnation that He was eternal and after His atoning work His eternal substance remains. Jesus himself reveals and is quoted as saying that the Father is greater than I. Jesus at the incarnation was made less than Himself as being a servant instead of one who is served as is God. We find by Scriptures that Jesus is greater than Himself as God and lesser than Himself as a servant. Neither of these two roles as servant or as God are denied in Scriptures instead they reveal that Jesus is equal to the Father and also that the Father is greater than the Son.
Philippians 2:7 (King James Version)
7But made himself of no reputation, and took upon him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men:
In the form of God Jesus is the Word made flesh but in the form of the servant He came forth from a woman under the same law as man to fulfill the law and serving within the law to redeem mankind from the law. He is the only perfect sacrifice that could accomplish the atoning work in that His perfection was not from being under the law but by being truly God. Just as God was not changed to be the servant so too the servant was not changed to be God. Man was not made without the Son and to say differently is to deny Scriptures that say:
Genesis 1:26 (King James Version)
26And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness: and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth.
It is clear that in the form of the servant of man Jesus was fully God in every sense. As the servant He was fully man in every sense. Neither the servant nor God changed into the other but both remained fully God and fully man in every aspect of reason. God bless!
In Christ
Fr. Joseph
If God is indeed a trinity, why just discuss the Father and Son? According to the trinity doctrine, doesn't the holy spirit complete the "unity of three" persons, which is what "trinity" means? Where in the Bible did Jesus teach that God is composed of three co-equal, co-eternal persons? NOWHERE! Where does the Bible say that the holy spirit is equal to either the Father or Son? NOWHERE!If the holy spirit is equal to the Father, why doesn't it know "the day and hour" like the Father. (Matt. 24:36) It has been said that the Son didn't know the "day and hour" because his knowledge was limited as a human. But not so with the holy spirit. It never was human. Why, then, did it not know of such an importsnt event if it was equal in knowledge with the Father?
ReplyDeleteThe trinity is one of the most confusing doctrines that have ever been conceived by men. According to the Catholic Athanasian Creed, "we worship one God in trinity." In other words, the Father, Son, and holy spirit are worshiped as a single unit or God. But is that what Jesus taught his disciples? No. At John 4:23, he said: "Nevertheless, the hour is coming, and it is now, when the true worshipers will worship the Father with spirit and truth, for, indeed, the Father is looking for suchlike ones to worship him." So, Jesus instructed his disciples to worship only the Father, not a mythical three-person deity? Why worship just the Father? Because the Father is "the only true God." (John 17:3)
Consider the "Gods" of the trinity:
1. God is the trinity (Father, Son, holy spirit)
2. God is the Father, the first person of God #1, who is the trinity.
3. God is the Son, the second person of God #1, who is the trinity.
4. God is the holy spirit, the third person of God #1, who is the trinity.
How many Gods does this add up to? FOUR! One three-person God and three one-person Gods. This is a far cry from what Paul wrote at 1 Cor. 8:6. There, he said: "There is actually to us one God the Father, out of whom all things are." This verse completely harmonizes with Jesus' words that the Father is the "only true God." (John 17:3)
Those who believe the trinity are put in the same classification of the religious leaders of Jesus day. Of them, Jesus said: "It is in vain that they keep worshiping me, because they teach commands of men as doctrines." (Matt. 15:9) The trinity is one of those doctrines.
Scripture refutes your claims. Here is a link to Scripture Catholic that will help you to understand that the Bible does indeed teach the Trinity as did the Church Fathers.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.scripturecatholic.com/jesus_christ_divinity.html#tradition-II
God bless!
In Christ
Fr. Joseph