Bible Study Let's get this straight...

[JohnD]

The is was and always will be only one God:

Isaiah 43:10-11 (KJV)
10 Ye are my witnesses, saith the LORD, and my servant whom I have chosen: that ye may know and believe me, and understand that I am he: before me there was no God formed, neither shall there be after me.
11 I, even I, am the LORD; and beside me there is no saviour.

This is one individual in the Godhead speaking for the Godhead as one. This is the conclusion considering all the texts throughout scripture regarding the plurality of individuals in the Godhead. Were it not for those texts Oneness types would be correct in identifying this as a proof text for their doctrine. But... the texts do exist so we must understand this passage as the preincarnate Jesus (verse 11b above) speaking for the Godhead.

Trinitarian theology is supported and proven by the texts throughout scripture (like John 1:1, 1 John 1:1-2, Genesis 1:1-2, etc). There are many more, but this is not a Trinity study per se.

I recently came back across proof texts the Mormons claim speak to multiple Gods and in fact some of us will become Gods (according to these texts). But they are completely wrong citing among several other texts the passage in Isaiah at the beginning of this study.

I do this study to head off errant theology most here will be exposed to at one time or other (specially if we are doing our jobs:

Matthew 28:19 (KJV)
19 Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost:

1 Peter 3:15 (KJV)
15 But sanctify the Lord God in your hearts: and be ready always to give an answer to every man that asketh you a reason of the hope that is in you with meekness and fear:

Continued...

 

[JohnD]

1 John 3:2 (KJV)
2 Beloved, now are we the sons of God, and it doth not yet appear what we shall be: but we know that, when he shall appear, we shall be like him; for we shall see him as he is.

This tells us several things. One of them being Jesus did not return to his preincarnate state nor will he ever. While never ceasing to be God the Word (Philippians 2:6 in the Greek morphe theos huparchon):

John 1:1 (KJV)
1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.

John 1:14 (KJV)
14 And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth.

The permanency of the incarnation is found in other texts like:

Hebrews 10:5-7 (KJV)
5 Wherefore when he cometh into the world, he saith, Sacrifice and offering thou wouldest not, but a body hast thou prepared me:
6 In burnt offerings and sacrifices for sin thou hast had no pleasure.
7 Then said I, Lo, I come (in the volume of the book it is written of me,) to do thy will, O God.

Harkening back to the prophetic passage:

Psalm 40:6-8 (KJV)
6 Sacrifice and offering thou didst not desire; mine ears hast thou opened: burnt offering and sin offering hast thou not required.
7 Then said I, Lo, I come: in the volume of the book it is written of me,
8 I delight to do thy will, O my God: yea, thy law is within my heart.

literally "my ears hast thou digged" harkening to the ritual of a temporary slave becoming a permanent one and thus becoming the property / member of a family forever.

Exodus 21:5-6 (KJV)
5 And if the servant shall plainly say, I love my master, my wife, and my children; I will not go out free:
6 Then his master shall bring him unto the judges; he shall also bring him to the door, or unto the door post; and his master shall bore his ear through with an aul; and he shall serve him for ever.

Deuteronomy 15:16-17 (KJV)
16 And it shall be, if he say unto thee, I will not go away from thee; because he loveth thee and thine house, because he is well with thee;
17 Then thou shalt take an aul, and thrust it through his ear unto the door, and he shall be thy servant for ever. And also unto thy maidservant thou shalt do likewise.

Interesting the prophetic uses of the doorpost.

Applying the blood of the first Passover lamb to the door post and lintel...

And the prophetic fulfillment of what could very likely be the recycled for execution use temple doorpost and lintel (during the 40 year remodeling of Herod's Temple):

But interlaced with the prophecies of Jesus the Messiah are hints, clues to the permanent nature of his dual nature (God the Word in sinless human flesh [the last Adam of 1 Corinthians 15:45 = the adamic state before the fall] now resurrected... forever).

And we will be like him... in his resurrected humanity (since Isaiah 43:10-11 assures us no other God beside God will be formed).