The Evangelical Universalist Forum

The Trinity and why it is a big issue

This is possibly the best discussion I’ve had on the Trinity, and I find it very helpful, so thanks to you all! I’m essentially trying to start afresh and work out how we get from the New Testament to the concept of the Trinity, and why nothing less seems to do. Is it really the case that the whole of Christianity unravels if it is not true?

Here’s a thought I’ve had for a while… God made us in His image. We, as perfect humans, are God’s sons (and daughters). We messed that up because of sin, but by choosing Christ we can be adopted back into God’s family, reclaiming our place as His children. As such, God became a Father when He created us. It is not solely “Jesus” which makes Him a Father.

Added to which, I understand the phrase “son of…” to describe character. For example, the phrase “He’s his father’s son” is more than merely biological. It mean the son has the character of the father. An example from Scripture: Mark 3:17 where “Sons of Thunder” are clearly character descriptions. Jesus being the “Son of God” illustrates that he had the character of God… hence the miracles, healings, wisdom, etc.

I do not think that God is the biological father of Jesus. Just as God can miraculously heal people, He miraculously allowed Mary to become pregnant. I used to think, “Ahh, but the Bible says Jesus is God’s only ‘begotten’ son” (as per the KJV, NKJV, etc). Most translations nowadays render the verse, " sononly" or, " sonone and only." The word means “unique.” Where the rest of humanity sinned (and fell short of God’s glory), Jesus did not. He was the sinless man, the true child of God, not needed to be adopted back into God’s family as he never left it in the first place. He is the true image of God, and as such he has the characteristics of God (“Anyone who has seen me has seen the Father…”). That, to me, is why he is the Messiah.
[This theme will be picked up later in my post.]

I see what you’re trying to get at, but can we really use Joseph and Pharaoh as an analogy of Jesus and God? I’m not sure…

I’m not that much of a mathematician! :wink:

Ok, here’s another thought (picking up the Messiah theme): Jesus is the mediator between us and God. That was the role of the Messiah: to reconcile us to God. As such, we are still commanded to worship God (Father) alone, but it is Jesus who brings our worship to the Father. When we pray to and worship God, Jesus takes our acts of worship and offers them to God on our behalf. When we pray to and worship Jesus, I believe he takes that to God as well… there is the understanding that Jesus must be the mediator, so when we direct our acts of worship to him, it is because we know that he must then take them to God.

I worship Jesus with the above understanding. I do this for two reasons:

  1. It makes it easier following along at church services.
  2. I’m still figuring it out myself: I am aware that I may be wrong and do not wish to throw the baby out with the bathwater.

However, I will still agree that:

  1. Jesus is the only way to the Father.
  2. Jesus is the image of God.
  3. Jesus is the “Son of God” (characteristically).
  4. Jesus is perfect.
    and so on.

One question I have is why there is little (if any) worship of the Holy Spirit… if God is indeed Trinity?
[But I do not wish for this question to take over the discussion… Robin talks about it in his [url=http://www.amazon.co.uk/Worshipping-Trinity-Coming-Heart-Worship/dp/1842273477/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1301961116&sr=8-1]book.]

Ha ha. Boy, that’s for sure. Can’t argue with this.

I have a question. At who’s right hand is Jesus sitting? You can say it’s the Father’s, but the Bible says numerous times that he is sitting on God’s right hand. Jesus is also referred to as God’s Son, not just the Father’s Son. To say that Jesus is God is to contradict these very clear statements that appear over and over again in the Bible.

Shouldn’t we be at least a little suspicious of a doctrine that emerged in an environment where people were tortured and killed for speaking out against orthodox doctrines, such as the Trinity?

When it comes right down to it, that’s my biggest problem with the notion of the trinity. It flies in the face of the clearest statements of scripture. I can see how a trinity could be inferred from the other scriptural data, but when we have opposition from the clearest statements, that should throw up a huge red flag.

Exactly. Another thing that is very important to remember is that the writers of the New Testament were writing to people who had never heard that God was three persons in one. So, if they were trying to convey a new concept of God as a three-in-one being, they were absolutely obligated to spell it out very clearly, and they would have always referred to Jesus as God the Son. Not only does this phrase never appear; Jesus is repeatedly referred to as the Son of God, who was raised from the dead by God, and who now sits at God’s right hand (not at his own right hand). How much plainer can this get, anyway?

Good points, boxer.

Unfortunately it seems that in the Christian church, the ‘truth’ is decided by majority opinion. Most Christian organizations have a statement of faith that includes a trinity, and their rules effectively (indirectly) state that if you do not accept that position, you are not a member of the faith and disqualified from participation. :angry:

In which case God must not be intrinsically Father, but only accidentally so (in the philosophical sense of ‘accident’).

That may not necessarily be a problem: God’s husbandship, even if God is trinitarian, is accidental that way, even though the husbandship is predicated on what God essentially is. But if we’re down to only talking about modal operations of God, we still have left over talking about what God essentially is. (Though there are some theologians, even inconsistently so among trinitarians :wink:, who say that we cannot possibly talk about what God essentially is in Himself. But without such a root then we have no ground for talking about God modally, either.)

The language apart from other contexts could only mean that, yes. (Or perhaps in context with other contexts!–not to salt the pizza too much on my side. :slight_smile: )

Mainly the trinitarian case (rigorously speaking) appeals to the sonship mentioned in scriptures for purposes of arguing exegetically for a distinction of the persons. Which has an obvious relation to the Virgin Birth as well: Jesus could be born of a virgin by the miracle of God and so be Son of God in that specially unique sense as well as in the sense you’re talking about without sharing a full Shema unity with the Father (thus being fully divine).

This does however lead to observing that the ESV and the NIV are not, in the places you mention, translating the Greek quite right. They’re leaving out the ‘genes’ of the ‘monogenes’: that’s an awfully strong term to be using in regard to a one and only son of God, when something like “one and only” would have sufficed. :wink: (But there are other contexts around that statement in GosJohn, too, which indicate John means something more than only one-and-only. :slight_smile: )

The only problem with this (which trinitarians certainly don’t deny) is that the characteristics of God ascribed personally to the Son (in the NT, and to the Angel of the Presence/Face/YHWH in the OT) are rather more than any merely created creature ought to have. And those characteristics are being ascribed to that person (and by that person sometimes), not merely to (and by) the person of the Father.

This has a bearing on the question of worship, too, which is ascribed personally to the Son as well as to the Father. The situation is not cut quite in the way you later suggest:

I will hazard some guesses as to why NT (and in their own way OT) authors focus more on worship of the Son than the Spirit (though not entirely neglecting the other).

1.) It wasn’t religiously problematic for a Jew to say they were worshiping the Spirit of God and to thus mean God fully God (not some mediator who wasn’t God but who somehow directed worship to God.) This would have made immediately sufficient enough sense to a Gentile, too, without much effort.

2.) On the contrary, while a religiously devout Jew might (or might not) accept that worship of a mere human king was tantamount to worshiping God, if the king was God’s Messiah (though by the 1st century this was certainly a huge problem for rabbis who typically tried to avoid it in order to avoid idolatry), worshiping a spirit who wasn’t God would have been obviously to worship an angel at best. Two spirits should not be worshiped but God alone.

3.) So what is the average Jew (or Gentile for that matter), or even the educated one, going to think if the Spirit is explicitly emphasized as being a distinct person? Two spirits!–which would lead back to polytheism for converted pagans, and would be rejected as polytheism by devout Jews.

4.) Yet it is blatantly obvious that Jesus Christ was (and still is) a distinct person. Moreover, a person who died a death traditionally (even scripturally) considered to be cursed by God.

5.) So the first (and later) preachers have a major tactical problem: the distinction of the personhood of Christ cannot be denied, yet (assuming for purposes of discussion that ortho-trin is true and that they had some sufficient knowledge of this now to even try to promote the idea religiously) they know they ought to be promoting the worship of a man who was and is also (somehow, in a way unique to him alone among all other men or angels) God Most High YHWH ADNY ELHM.

They have a tough row to hoe already (as we say in West Tennessee). So it would make sense for them to concentrate on the tougher issue that has to be directly faced and dealt with, and not so much on the issue of the Spirit which would naturally only bring in even more problems. (Though they don’t entirely ignore worship of the Spirit either.)

Something very similar certainly happened in the official theological disputes of the 4th century onward: the Christology was focused on first, and then later the Pneumatology. That hardly means trinitarians (or other Christians for that matter!) weren’t worshiping the Spirit before then; if they hadn’t been, there wouldn’t even have been a dispute.

Unless it isn’t contradictory for one Person of God to (metaphorically speaking) sit in/on the hand of another Person of God.

That’s a metaphysical complaint, not a scriptural one, since to say that Jesus is not God is also to contradict clear Biblical statements–even though the tendency for convenience sake is to refer to the Father as God and to Jesus as Lord. Which itself is a telling point in Jewish theology, especially when both persons are involved in a Shema religious proclamation. Simply referring to some non-YHWH non-ADNY entity as Lord in religious devotional language properly (or at least normally) reserved for YHWH ADNY, and especially in reference to scripture definitely talking about YHWH ADNY, would be idolatry at best. Yet Paul (for example) gives us just that Shema inclusion in a statement strongly rejecting religious worship of lesser-lords-or-gods, even though he’s willing to acknowledge such entities exist. (As well as making reference to OT scripture regarding YHWH ADNY ELHM when talking about Jesus as “the Lord”; which other scriptural authors and preachers also do.)

I sympathize with metaphysical (as well as scriptural) complaints, but that doesn’t change the fact that the scriptural testimony is far more detailed than the proponents of clear, simple statements are acknowledging. Trinitarians aren’t doing this out of some perverse desire to be clever; and there is less than nothing in ortho-trin theology that helps persecutors as such (even though trinitarians have been persecutors). We’re trying to resolve problems (arising both in the scriptural data and in metaphysics) in a way that does the best justice to the scriptural data and to theological coherency and to the practicality of religious worship.

Certainly!–though good luck finding a doctrinal set that wasn’t held at one time or another by persecutors. (It certainly won’t be high or neo-Arianism. And I don’t know that modalists ever had enough followers to be in power at all.)

Hey AllanS… you are welcome to believe anything you like, but this post hardly provides PROOF that the “trinity” exists.

Sorry, but all this amounts to, is a crock! :laughing:

This allusion to yourself does not in any way prove you are “trinitarian” in essence… for the teaching of the “trinity” professes GOD to be in 3 persons… NOT as your example suggests… three things which ONE PERSON is… :confused:

Portraying yourself as the Speaker, listener, and conversation, does NOT portray 3 persons as being YOU. :laughing: What it DOES note, is that you as ONE PERSON, …can be these three suggested things, …simultaneously.

My car is (1) a motor vehicle (2) a mode of transportation (3) an item owned by me … but such does not prove my car to be of “trinitarian” composition, …simply because it is all 3 of these things simultaneiously! :laughing:

Please… this is nothing but an illogical “conclusion” without ANY “conclusive” proof.

Resorting to comparing yourself to a ROCK? Come on… :laughing: On what basis do you determine a “rock” – to be “UNITARIAN”, as opposed to “TRINITARIAN”?

My Bible says, if GOD should so desire… that ROCKS (which you claim as “unitarian”), can “CRY OUT”! – Luke 19:40 – Does that make them therefore potentially (depending upon God’s decision), “DUAL-TARIAN”? Or maybe even “TRINITARIAN”, if GOD decides they shall also HEAR their own “cry”? Come on, bro! :laughing:

More emptiness. That the “trinity” is UNMENTIONED in Scripture… means within that ABSENCE, …that it is NOT a TOPIC of it.

Standing outside of a house (who’s interior you cannot view), does not mean that another completely SEPARATE “house” is inside of the outside! :laughing:

Peace… :wink:

…willieH :smiley:

I find this conversation very interesting… and immensely frustrating. I just wish trinitarians would provide a simple definition that actually makes sense and is consistent! I’m currently reading Boyd’s trinitarian critique of Oneness Pentacostalism and it just sounds like he is critiquing unitarianism with modalism! I don’t really consider myself a hopeless idiot, but I don’t think anyone should have to spend hours trying to decipher this stuff just to worship their creator/saviour. And this is from someone who would sweep all the scriptural contortions under the rug, just so he could be “orthodox” on this point. (Is this dishonest? Maybe. I’m just trying to serve and survive, you know? – via 1 Corinthians 9:20). It’s pretty tempting to go High-Arian because it actually complies with some semblance of Divine Simplicity.

It’s frustrating that, for all I know, I could be committing gross polytheistic-idolatry or any other blasphemy (by denying too much) in even my nuances of prayer and worship. I can generally keep up intellectually with the majority (when I have the time), but I am sorry for those who can’t even attempt to work out any of this at all. It would be pretty depressing. (Actually, they’re probably blissfully ignorant!)

I appreciate this. C.S Lewis said something similar too. But eternal love flowing between two persons, an act of observation, an act of love, or a conversation is not a person. I’m not necessarily opposed to denying the personhood of the Holy Spirit (he’s/it’s always the first to go for obvious reason), but I don’t think this is accurate to the position of ortho-trinitarianism. That said, I’m having difficulty trying to work out what that actually is! :laughing:

I read that Tertullian and Ephiphanius said that the sabellianists/modalists were the majority of believers. (This was according to Wikipedia:laughing: )

Speaking as one of the ortho-trin apologists here: me, too! :wink: But realistically a consistent account that makes sense of the most scriptural data and of all the metaphysical principles involved cannot be a simple definition.

We aren’t being obtuse and complex because we want to be (or anyway we shouldn’t be for that reason). We’re trying to do justice to a complex series of topics.

If you truly desire peace, a few less :laughing: would be a good way to start.

I cannot prove you exist. Even less can I prove God exists, let alone God as Trinity. I don’t know what I myself truly am, let alone what Mankind is, and even less what God is. Being finite, I must extrapolate from the little I do know to the much I don’t know. So I say God is like a Father who lives somewhere beyond the Sky. He’s a King, a Shepherd, a Rock, a Door, a Person. Since I know something of fathers, kings, rocks, doors and persons, these metaphors help.

Now I find within myself a very curious thing: an inner conversation, a self-awareness, a self-love. I (a person) love, talk to and look at myself (a person). Extrapolating this gives me, perhaps, a fleeting glimpse of the nature of God. Perhaps God also is aware of himself, loves himself and talks to himself.

When I speak a word, that word is part of me, meaningless apart from me, yet quite distinct from me. Perhaps this can help me understand the Word which God speaks in Christ. Again, my reflection in a mirror is inseparable from me, it is true to me, meaningless without me, but distinct from me also. Perhaps this can help me understand Christ, the perfect image of God. When I marry, my wife and child become one family, unified yet distinct. Perhaps this gives me some idea of the unity yet diversity of God the Son with God the Father.

Rocks are unitarian because (unlike trinitarians) they do not relate to themselves.

It’s after midnight in my part of the world. I think I’ll leave it there.

What do emoticons have to do with “peace”? If truly they were vehicles of turmoil, then the staff here should remove them, no? I think many complain of the use of emoticons, simply because they are not creative of mind, when it comes to their use.

To label use of emoticons by me indicates that I indeed am “unpeaceful” is unfounded.

Use the WORD and PROVE the existence of the “trinity” - GOD in 3 persons… and get off the strawman. I have already PROVEN my existence by challenging you, …and if you were at all observant, that would’ve likely occured to you.

More avoidance of the subject. I didn’t ask you to PROVE that God exists… If indeed you believe in the “trinity” it should be a matter of committment to know where it lies in the WORD

You begin with PHYSICAL parameters (“somewhere beyond the Sky”) when seeking to define a SPIRITUAL entity… so any conclusions you come to will be strangled by that false foundation.

Well, the “trinity” is much more than these… It is the claim that there are 3 separate and distinct PERSONS which consitute ONE GOD, which I see as a contradictory platform.

The Human being (which is made in the likeness and image of GOD) does NOT display the inclusion of 3 separate and distinctive PERSONS which =EQUATE= to ONE HUMAN. :confused:

Grabbing at straws, bro. The YOU which loves YOU is the SAME PERSON, not another separate and DISTINCT person. (that is unless you are a victim of mental disease)…

Trying to erect THREE separate persons, and then calling this collective ONE is double talk. In your Metaphors" you did not use US or WE, or OURSELVES… Let me take the quote and show the shortcomings…

I absolutely DISAGREE… your WORD spoken is an EXPRESSION of the YOU inside… not SEPARTE or DIFFERENT than that which is INSIDE (that is unless your word is DECEPTION, and inconsistent)

When YOU speak… YOU communicate OUTWARDLY to others, your views, opinions, which reside EXACTLY as they are WITHIN… The WORD of GOD comes from HIS MOUTH, and is reflective of that which is WITHIN Him… not a separate “person”, rather a communication (SPEECH) which is an AUDIBLE reflectin, from a source (HEART) which is INAUDIBLE or SILENT.

I disagree… your reflection is an INFORMATIVE visual duplicate of that which is REAL. CHRIST did and said NOTHING of Himself – John 5:19,30 – John 12:49 – WHY? Didn’t He have anything to say?

NO… it is because HE was the AUDIBLE and VISUAL expression of the ONE PERSON which is YHVH GOD… that is SILENT and INVISIBLE… The Scriptures are more than plain about this.

A football team is made of SEVERAL INDIVIDUALS, like your family… but MORE than ONE person is found within these, in SEPARATE bodies, and SEPARATE minds… To say that GOD is THREE distinct persons (all with minds) but ONE… is still contrary and illogical.

Why did YHVH say this…

Isaiah 44: 8Fear ye not, neither be afraid: have not …[size=150]I[/size]… told thee from that time and have declared it? Ye are even …[size=150]MY[/size]… witnesses. Is there …[size=150]A[/size]… …[size=150]GOD[/size]… BESIDE …[size=150]ME[/size]…? Yea, there …IS …NO …GOD, …[size=150]I[/size]… know not …[size=150]ANY[/size]!

There are several other verses (not to mention the continual almost INNUMERABLE usages of “I, me, mine, myself, Him, Himself, He,” etc, when reference is made by YHVH to Himself) which state the SINGULARITY of YHVH

But if His WORD is TRUTH… then it must be explained why “the Son” and “Holy Spirit”, were dismissed as existent in this verse, …as well as the other verses in the WORD which state the very same thing: Isaiah 43:10-11 – Isaiah 45:18, 21, 22 – Deut 4:35 – Hosea 13:4 – Deut 32:39

How do you know this, for a fact, Allan? :confused: How is it that INSECTS know exactly what to do, down to the individual, yet do not communicate in a way recognizeable or understandable to HUMANS… Just because we use words to communicate, does not mean that other things which do not use words as do we, …therefore do not communicate. :open_mouth:

It is silly and foundationless for any of us to conclude that which we cannot KNOW… You nor anyone else cannot say for SURE that one rock, does not communicate to another.

How can you say, being without ABSOLUTE PROOF that no “rock” relates to another. I think you shall be surprised one day, when you find that NOTHING which exists in the Creation of YHVH God (the LIVING GOD) is other than ALIVE. For ALL THINGS are** IN **HIM – **Acts 17:28 **-- and NO PART of HIM is “not alive”, for He IS the LIVING GOD.

Peace… (irregardless of emoticons, which are just irrelevant to peace) :wink:

Loveya in JESUS, bro… :wink:

…willieH :mrgreen:

Since you laugh at every second thing I say, and SHOUT quite a lot, why would I engage you in conversation? Clearly, your thinking is so far ahead of mine that my ramblings both amuse and irritate you. Eschewing the role of jester, I politely take my bow, and exit.

I think his point is that using them at the end of every paragraph doesn’t necessarily soften the tone of an discussion. Personally I rarely use the laughing emoticon with my own comments (only as a response to others), otherwise it can come across as either mocking or self indulgent. I assume neither are your intention.

Please watch your tone. i.e. “AllanS” is at least partially observant.

Please also try to avoid using CAPS as it generally comes across as shouting which is rude. I suggest simply using bold, italic or underlining for emphasise.

No complex exegesis here. This is more of a story. I was driving to work one morning (I have a long drive through beautiful rural hill/mountain country) and the sun was in my eyes. I was asking God about the Trinity. I’d heard many explanations which did not satisfy me: the egg (no, please don’t groan) comes to mind. The following is the picture I believe He gave me, and perhaps some of you will at least find it interesting.

The sun represents the Father. If you think about the nature of light and the nature of seeing with human eyes, you will realize that the sun (and all things, really) is invisible. We cannot see it. This seems to me particularly obvious regarding the sun, as it is the source of the light. We can only see the light that comes to us from the sun. We can feel its warmth, and it allows us to walk about without stumbling. Its light is the source of all our food, all our energy – our physical life, really. But we can’t see it. We can only see the light of the sun as it comes to us.

The light of the sun represents Jesus, who is eternally begotten of the Father. He is always coming forth from the Father. He gives us life because the Father has granted that He should have life within Himself. He is the light of every man, and He comes into the world. He particularly came in the Incarnation. He is not the sun, but in a sense, He is the sun. He is the Son.

The Holy Spirit doesn’t seem to me quite as clear, but He is the Spirit, after all. Light comes to us in such mysterious ways; as a particle; as a wave. It brings warmth and illumination, allows us to perceive colors, performs certain actions which are still cloaked in darkness (so to speak) such as becoming food to plants and destroying certain microorganisms and causing our skin to form vitamin D. The light, even as it comes, is still one with the sun. There is a dance between them, and that dance of love is the Holy Spirit.

Not dogma, not stunning exegesis, but as you are talking about the Trinity, I venture to share it. This picture speaks clearly to me. I love when God talks to me in pictures. :wink: Makes it so much easier for me to follow Him.

Blessings, Cindy

Thanks Cindy, I found your post helpful :sunglasses:

willieH: Hi AllanS… :wink:

Please read this… it is primarily an apology to you… :blush:

FIRST — If you will Allan, please allow me to apologize to you, and explain…

wherever red is used by me, it is a reference and respect to the Scriptures, God, and His Son…(CHRIST)
wherever blue is used by me, it is either in reference to Scripture, a quote, or other than the Divine… (Adam)
wherever CAPS, italics, boldings or underline is used by me, these are utilized strictly for EMPHASIS…

I mean no harm or shouting by the usage of any of these, and do offer my apology to you that you have recieved them in this way. :cry:

SECOND — Another apology… It appears to you that I intend to “belittle you”, or “exalt” myself above you concerning knowledge. I am no more or less than are you… just a guy seeking to learn… and to share. somtimes ineffectively… :blush:

I, in sincere humility toward you, :blush: …ask that you accept my apologies for not forewarning you somewhat of my method of posting… My bad. :cry: (in a first encounter, I try to notify those I am conversing with that I use these things as I have explained, but as a 66 year old man battling Cancer, and admittedly, sometimes forget to do so)…

THIRD — Another apology… I use emoticons, only for fun… and do not intend them to be flaming or provoking… If we ever converse again, please know these things… I mean you no harm… you are my brother in CHRIST… and that you are a son of the MOST HIGH, that in itself, …deserves my utmost respect, certainly not ridicule. :cry:

I have spent the lions share of my life in daily study of the WORD, as well as deeply in study of the LIFE (which is also CHRISTJohn 14:6)

Sometimes in the zeal to share… I can appear abrasive… and please know that it is not intended.

I do not accept or tolerate “opinion” of men, unless it has foundation in both REASON and the WORD. If anyone is projecting “possibilities”… especially when the WORD makes no mention of them, I firmly REJECT them.

All in All… My sincere apologies to you brother Allan… and if you should choose to abstain from any further conversation with me (which is your right) I understand… and please know that I wish you no ill whatsoever, and that I wish you “good seeking” of your Heavenly Father to you… :smiley:

Your embattled friend… willieH :wink:

Thanks willieH, I really appreciate your post. It’s always a good to explain your formatting/style, as written text is often ambiguos (e.g. no body language, facial expressions, tone of voice, etc. to add clarity) & therefore much more at risk of causing unintended offence.

I also highly respect the fact that you apologised for unintentionally offending, that’s a great example of love.

Ahhh this is awesome! I was just telling someone this exact analogy of the Trinity! I have recently been studying the merits of the Trinity and I think it is a very reasonable if purely Spiritual revelation of who God is. I mean who would truly think of God as a Trinity? For me it has to be supernatural.

You explanation of the Trinity is completely biblical (so biblical its shocking). Hebrews 1:3a says,

He(Jesus) is the sole expression of the glory of God [the Light-being, the out-raying or radiance of the divine], and He is the perfect imprint and very image of [God’s] nature…(Amplified Bible)

Jesus is the off-beam of God’s glory! Meaning he is the visible light of the invisible God. The Holy Spirit is connected with fire in the New Testament (he comes as tongues of fire on the day of Pentecost). I see him as the warmth and heat that comes from the Light (or as you said Sun), by him we are purified as silver in a furnace,

[We are]…chosen according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, through the sanctifying(purifying) work of the Spirit, to be obedient to Jesus Christ and sprinkled with his blood…(1 Peter 1:2)

It is the Holy Spirit who heats things up and cleans us up. I’m so glad God is speaking to you in the same way he has been to me, that’s exciting :slight_smile:

This “awesome” insight or revelation has its origin in the teaching of Tertullian, going back to about 200 A.D. Tertullian was probably the first Trinitarian, who taught the concept long before it became popularized in the church of the fourth century.

[The Word] is always with God, according to what is written, “And the Word was with God;” John 1:1 and never separate from the Father, or other than the Father, since “I and the Father are one.” John 10:30 This will be the prolation, taught by the truth, the guardian of the Unity, wherein we declare that the Son is a prolation from the Father, without being separated from Him. For God sent forth the Word, as the Paraclete also declares, just as the root puts forth the tree, and the fountain the river, and the sun the ray. For these are προβολαί, or emanations, of the substances from which they proceed. I should not hesitate, indeed, to call the tree the son or offspring of the root, and the river of the fountain, and the ray of the sun; because every original source is a parent, and everything which issues from the origin is an offspring. Much more is (this true of) the Word of God, who has actually received as His own peculiar designation the name of Son. But still the tree is not severed from the root, nor the river from the fountain, nor the ray from the sun; nor, indeed, is the Word separated from God. Following, therefore, the form of these analogies, I confess that I call God and His Word— the Father and His Son— two. For the root and the tree are distinctly two things, but correlatively joined; the fountain and the river are also two forms, but indivisible; so likewise the sun and the ray are two forms, but coherent ones. Everything which proceeds from something else must needs be second to that from which it proceeds, without being on that account separated. Where, however, there is a second, there must be two; and where there is a third, there must be three. Now the Spirit indeed is third from God and the Son; just as the fruit of the tree is third from the root, or as the stream out of the river is third from the fountain, or as the apex of the ray is third from the sun. Nothing, however, is alien from that original source whence it derives its own properties. In like manner the Trinity, flowing down from the Father through intertwined and connected steps, does not at all disturb the Monarchy, while it at the same time guards the state of the Economy.