Parts stolen from:
wolpub.org/blog/?p=208
Praise God everyone, Brother Mike here with no spell checker, AWK!!! Bare with me. I am going to talk about the Trinity Doctrine today, Yesterday and beyond if you read this after the day posted.
No single doctrine has caused such a division in churches from the time of the Trinity's conception, and even today. OSAS (Once Saved Always Saved) doctrine comes as runner up somewhere, but not near as strong as the Trinity Doctrine.
Most believers say they believe in the Trinity doctrine. That's fine, the issue is they don't exactly know what they believe in, but only things they have picked up and heard. To make matters worse, there is another doctrine that is close to the Trinity doctrine, but not the Trinity doctrine, so both doctrines often get mixed together and called Trinity. It's actually called Modelism.
So, I'll break it down, just for fun. It's not a essential doctrine or all that important anyway. It's good to know what your actually debating though, and believe.
Now, I am not going to talk about all the Wannabe Trinity doctrines. There are many of them, all worded differently. We are going back to the original, where it all started.
It all came about when a guy named Arius contended that Jesus was a created being. He had a pretty large following, and was only going by the scriptures he read. Jesus was begotten, Jesus is not the Father, and Jesus and the father are listed together in many scriptures making two of them. Jesus being the lesser of them.
Folks, this is way back past 325ad, there were no bible programs and you did well to even get parts of the scripture together in one place. I think Arius did OK, for what He had to work with.
The Roman Cathloic church saw things a bit differently. They contended that Jesus was not a created being, or a lesser being.
There was a lot more to this, go google it to find all the arguements. The main thing is that Rome did not care much for what Arius was teaching.
So, in 325ad the council of Nicena came together to define Jesus. For you Anti-Trinitarians out there, the council did not make up the trinity out of the triune pagan gods that Anti-Trinitarians claim. That is nonesense. The original Trinity Doctine did not include a Triune anything, as you will see.
Original True Trinity Doctrine:
We believe in one God, the Father Almighty, Maker of all things visible and invisible.And in one Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of God, begotten of the Father the only-begotten; that is, of the essence of the Father, God of God, Light of Light, very God of very God, begotten, not made, being of one substance (ὁμοούσιον) (homoousion) with the Father; by whom all things were made both in heaven and on earth; who for us men, and for our salvation, came down and was incarnate and was made man; he suffered, and the third day he rose again, ascended into heaven; from thence he shall come to judge the quick and the dead.And in the Holy Ghost.But those who say: ‘There was a time when he was not;’ and ‘He was not before he was made;’ and ‘He was made out of nothing,’ or ‘He is of another substance’ or ‘essence,’ or ‘The Son of God is created,’ or ‘changeable,’ or ‘alterable’—they are condemned by the holy catholic and apostolic Church
Lets examine this. Jesus is not the Father, but came from this same God substance as the FAther. Jesus was Begotten, not created. (ummmm, no, Jesus has always been here, begotten as human through Mary though by the spoken Word) The church sort of corrects this by saying, "If anyone says there was a time when he was not" then they are burned at the stake of course, or however Rome handled those type of things back in the day.
So, Jesus is God, Not the Father, Not the Holy Spirit, Not the creator, but of the same substance as God the Father. There is your Trinity Doctrine.
Modern pure Trinity believers have changed it to say Jesus is the same Nature as God the Father, or same God classs as the Father. I found many different versions of the doctrine, some leaning toward Oneness, others keeping pure Trinity Doctrine the best possible.
Much, Much, Much later the Holy Spirit was added in the Mix in 381ad. Later still these 3 are One God. The God substance was removed, and they just become one. 3 are 1.
Purist did not like the conversion to just being one God, but still of the same substance or nature. Hence small wars break out. Many debates on the interpetation of the original doctrine.
IN 1914 a new Doctrine comes to men. It's called Oneness. This Website believers in Oneness.
Oneness doctrine states that there 1 God that manifest himself as 3, or whatever is needed. 1 is 3, not 3 is 1.
This doctrine split the Assymblies of God church in 1928. A Major split of a major denomination based on a Roman Cathloic doctrine. Real dumb if you ask me.
Later, Different camps added their own spin. You will often hear phrases like the "Eternal Godhead" or Jesus, the 2nd Person in the Trinity. Jesus is the King of Kings He is not a 2nd person of anything, the Lord of Lords.
Keep in mind that the Johannine Comma was not around when the Trinity was formed. (1 John 5:7) The first record of it was not around until much, much later, it was added because of the pressure Rome was giving around 1522.
Modelist attempt to prove Trinity in scripture and end up in the Oneness camp. Trinity can't be proven or is found in scripture. Rome wrote that, the folks that made the doctrine, but is a mystery of the Christian faith. If the folks that made the doctrine says it's not there, then I just take their word for it.
What do I believe? Jesus is the son of God, not his Father, is God like His father and has always been ther the great I am. There are two, God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ as mentioned together in over 52 scriptures. I can count folks, there are 2. Trinity never tried to defend monotheism (Belief in one God) They were defending Jesus not being a created being or less then God the Father. Modern man came along later and used the doctrine from Rome to defend the One God stance.
Don't take my word for anything, go look this up on your own. I hope you had fun reading this.
Blessings.
But it is promised by the prophets!
