A Personal Reflection on the Trinity and Salvation

[mikesw]

Here's what the scriptures say about the antichrist?

I have not written unto you because ye know not the truth, but because ye know it, and that no lie is of the truth. Who is a liar but he that denieth that Jesus is the Christ? He is antichrist, that denieth the Father and the Son. [1 John 2:21-23]

Hereby know ye the Spirit of God: Every spirit that confesseth that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is of God: And every spirit that confesseth not that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is not of God: and this is that spirit of antichrist, whereof ye have heard that it should come; and even now already is it in the world. [1 John 4:2,3]

For many deceivers are entered into the world, who confess not that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh. This is a deceiver and an antichrist. [2 John 1:7]

I don't see where being an antichrist has any bearing on whether one believes in the Trinity, a Triune God, or Jesus is deity.

I could only guess why you saw this as a reflection of your situation. No. What I was saying is that false messiahs would actually be pretentious in claiming to be the Messiah in defiance of the divine Son. So they would demonstrate the deceiving spirit and show the highest arrogance and self-exaltation. They would be exalting themselves against the divine Son who is of the Godhead. They would hardly be distinguished from Jesus if Jesus were just a man.

 

[Runningman]

I sure I'm a Christian and in line with all that Gods word tell us.

This is something I said to someone else, but it seemed like it was received well and I hope you, and anyone else who reads it, does as well.

This isn't a jab at all and I hope you all don't continue to take it this way. I really want you all to be better. However, as difficult as it is to hear, I don't mind letting you know because you need to be told. The doctrine of the trinity is a textbook example of eisegesis. That's not good.

Why? Because the Trinity is neither explicitly defined or directly stated in any single Biblical passage. Instead, various verses are collected from different books from a variety of unrelated contexts, put together and interpreted to to mean God is three persons when the Bible never actually describes God as three persons to begin with.

So what is eisegesis? Eisegesis is reading one's own ideas into a text instead of drawing meaning from the text. For example, if you start with the idea that "God is triune" (something the Bible doesn't say) and then you search for verses to support that belief, then you are engaging in the dictionary definition of eisegesis.

Exegesis is drawing out the intended meaning from a text based on its context, language, audience, and purpose. This is why we study the Bible so that we can accurately explain what it says, oftentimes not even needing to do anything more than simply quote a verse where the author represented an idea the way they wanted it represented in plain language.

So Unitarians practice exegesis because we take Biblical statements in their plain, direct sense without interpreting what they say. See the difference between what you all do and what Unitarians do?

The Bible clearly declares the Father is the only true God (John 17:3, 1 Corinthians 8:6, Ephesians 4:6) and we are quoting this directly from the Bible, not a later commentator like you do for your beliefs. The Bible is also consistent about the Father being the only true God (Deut. 6:4, John 20:17, 1 Timothy 2:5)

So the difference between the way you explain your god and the way we explain God is that we actually use the words and language the authors of the Bible used by simply quoting what they said. I hope that helps.

 

[Runningman]

So in reality your saying Unitarians misinterpret the bible. Thanks for the heads up.

Actual fact, that even the expressions that Jesus used indicate His deity. One of the most important of these was, “But I say to you.”

This was introduced in connection with a quotation from the Old Testament Scriptures. In effect, He was saying, “Moses said that, but I say this to you.” He was implicitly claiming the right or authority to supplement what they had learned from Moses, the one they regarded as having been God’s special spokesperson.

Take a look at the way Jesus reported these statements. He did not use the customary prophetic introduction, “The Word of the Lord came to me, saying …” Rather, he simply said, “I say to you.” He did not claim to be reporting the message God had revealed to him. He was claiming that his words were God’s words.

That's Right...Jesus is God.

Sorry, this made me chuckle. You think Jesus saying “I say to you..." means he is God? Sometimes I like to let the egg sit on peoples' faces for a bit before I tell them that others in the Bibles said the exact same thing.

 

[Runningman]

So you study Scientologists and Mormons and Unitarians then give advice on how to study the Bible? Good luck with that.

Read this...
In Genesis 1:1, the plural noun “Elohim” (“God”) is joined with the singular verb “created”: “In the beginning, [Elohim] created the heavens and the earth.” The pattern is repeated in Genesis 1:27: “So [Elohim] created man in his own image, in the image of [Elohim] he created him; male and female he created them.”

It's in the video by Nabeel Qureshi above. Genesis 1:1 provides the first and fundamental building block of trinitarian theology.

Hebrew grammar rejects the idea of numerical plurality in elohim (whenever it denotes one God) and is proved especially by its being almost invariably joined with a singular attribute, i.e., elohim refers to a singular individual (a He, or Him, or His). Keep reading past Genesis 1. God is a singular He, Him, His, I, and never a they or them in all of scripture. Elohim isn't about numerical plurality, but rather intensity and amplification when it refers to God. It's a bit like saying God with a lot of extra intensity behind it, it's used of individual humans as well. What's your workaround for that?

Genesis 1
27So God created man in His own image;
in the image of God He created him;
male and female He created them.