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The Nature of God

The central message or teaching of the Bible is the revelation of who God is, how He relates to us, and how we are to relate to Him. Unfortunately, there is no unanimity among Christians on the nature of God. The three competing views are as follows:

 
The Nature of God
Topics One Person Two Persons Three Persons
  Unitarian Binitarian Trinitarian
Defined

Judaism and Islam hold to the one God view (Yahweh and Allah, respectively) and no literal Son. (In the Quran, 112:1-4 it says, "He is God, the One...He begets not, nor was He begotten, and there is none like Him.") Jehovah Witnesses may be considered Unitarian in that they believe Christ is a created being.

The Father is God and He has a (divine) Son - There is one God, the Father and one Lord, Jesus Christ (1 Corinthians 8:6). The "Holy Spirit" is not a person but the Father's and Son's spirit (Romans 8:9-11).

 The Father, Son, and Holy Spirit are three distinct yet coequal, coeternal persons. This is the central doctrine of Catholic faith and the belief of most Protestants today including Seventh-day Adventists.

Vocabulary

  • Arianism. The teaching of Arius (AD. 250 or 256 - 336) regarding the nature of God..
  • Divine Names. Father, Son and Holy Spirit are titles for the "persons" of the Christian deity. What are their names?
  • Elohim. The Hebrew word for "God".
  • Godhead. What does "Godhead" mean? The term "Godhead" coined by John Wycliffe (AD 1390) is often used by binitarian and trinitarian believers without understanding its original and true meaning. A better term to use is "divinity" (Greek, theotes) as found in Colossians 2:9.
  • homoiousios in Wikipedia. homoi ("similar") - ousios ("substance"). The term associated with Arius who was reputed to teach that Christ was of a different nature to the Father.
  • homoousios in Wikipedia. homo ("same") - ousios ("substance"). This term was first used by the Gnostics about two centuries before it was adopted by Athanasius in the Nicene Creed (325 AD) to explain the Trinity, particularly the nature of Christ in relation to the Father. This term is essential and a required condition for trinitarians when declaring themselves to be monotheistic. That is, if the nature of God is not homoousios then they are merely proclaiming tritheism (i.e. belief in three Gods), which is considered a heresy.
  • Personality. The Personality of God. Is God a person or an essence? How did EGW and the SDA Pioneers understand God's personality?
  • Trinitarianism. The belief that God is three-in-one and one-in-three. It is doublespeak: It assigns two different meanings to the word "God," and then switches back and forth between them, usually to evade logical dilemmas.
  • Tritheism. The belief in three Gods. Trinitarianism is described as tritheism that claims to be monotheistic (i.e. the belief in one God) by virtue of homoousios.
  • Unitarianism in Wikipedia. The belief that the Christian God is one singular entity. "Unitarian Christians believe that Jesus was inspired by God in his moral teachings, and he is a savior, but he was not a deity or God incarnate." Arians are often wrongly classified as Unitarian.

Central doctrine of Catholics and most Protestants

  • What Is The Truth About the Trinity? 'A major teaching of Catholic and Protestant Churches is that the Trinity is the central doctrine of Christianity. In its “Handbook for Today’s Catholics”, the Catholic Church says: “The Trinity” is the central doctrine of the Catholic faith. Upon it are based all the other teachings of the Church.” The Seventh Day Adventists, also lists the Trinity as one of its 27 [now 28] Fundamental Beliefs and “The World Council of Churches (WCC), the largest association of Christian denominations in the world, stipulates that “for a church to become a member of the (WCC), it must first embrace the doctrine of the Trinity”. This doctrine is so important it is suggested that those who do not accept it are not true Christians.'
  • Catholic Doctrine of the Holy Trinity. "The mystery of the Holy Trinity is the most fundamental of our faith. On it everything else depends and from it everything else derives."
  • The Blessed Trinity. The Trinity is "the foundation of her whole dogmatic system." It is based on the baptismal formula of Matthew 28:18-20 in which "Christ only made the great truth known to the Twelve step by step."
  • See Matthew 28:18-20 - The Great Commission for a counter view.

Miscellaneous

  • EllenWhite.info. Ellen G. White information website with abundant information and material. However, it does not deal with the trinitarian controversy.
  • Further study notes.
  • GW92 127.1: Truth is eternal, and conflict with error will only make manifest its strength. We should never refuse to examine the Scriptures with those who, we have reason to believe, desire to know what is truth. Suppose a brother held a view that differed from yours, and he should come to you, proposing that you sit down with him and make an investigation of that point in the Scriptures; should you rise up, filled with prejudice, and condemn his ideas, while refusing to give him a candid hearing? The only right way would be to sit down as Christians, and investigate the position presented, in the light of God's work, which will reveal truth and unmask error. To ridicule his ideas would not weaken his position in the least if it were false, or strengthen your position if it were true. If the pillars of our faith will not stand the test of investigation, it is time that we knew it. There must be no spirit of Phariseeism cherished among us.
  • 3SM 406.3: This false sabbath is to be enforced by an oppressive law. Satan and his angels are wide awake and intensely active, working with energy and perseverance through human instrumentalities to bring about his purpose of obliterating the knowledge of God.
  • Review & Herald, Nov 20, 1894. Sunday enforcement together with Trinity doctrine enforcement is not a new idea. There is history behind it. Quoted in the video: Who is that God? Duration 1:26:46. The "time" of worship will not be the issue at the end of time, but it will be the "God" who is to be worshipped. The Time points to the Person of God.
  • wo powers in Judaism. The video, Why is the Godhead FORBIDDEN KNOWLEDGE In Modern JUDAISM? (duration 7:11), discusses the two powers in Genesis 19:24, Exodus 15:3 and Daniel 7:9-10.