Since my blog has a tendency to attract the apostolic order, and that many non-trinitarians are centered around the “apostolic” order (though perhaps falsely), some of these in the past have come here to preach their heresy.
The history of the church has deemed non-trinitarian belief as heresy. That is those who follow the Bible, God, or Jesus but do not believe in the trinity are following a teaching that is demonic or unscriptural and worthy of judgment.
Now just because the church makes a statement or creed does not necessarily make it true! The church made such a wrong error before scripture was even done being written:
Acts 15:
1: And certain men which came down from Judaea taught the brethren, and said, Except ye be circumcised after the manner of Moses, ye cannot be saved.
2: When therefore Paul and Barnabas had no small dissension and disputation with them, they determined that Paul and Barnabas, and certain other of them, should go up to Jerusalem unto the apostles and elders about this question.
5: But there rose up certain of the sect of the Pharisees which believed, saying, That it was needful to circumcise them, and to command them to keep the law of Moses.
6: And the apostles and elders came together for to consider of this matter.
7: And when there had been much disputing, Peter rose up, and said unto them, Men and brethren, ye know how that a good while ago God made choice among us, that the Gentiles by my mouth should hear the word of the gospel, and believe..
12: Then all the multitude kept silence, and gave audience to Barnabas and Paul…
13: And after they had held their peace, James answered, saying, Men and brethren, hearken unto me:
14: Simeon hath declared how God at the first did visit the Gentiles, to take out of them a people for his name.
19: Wherefore my sentence is, that we trouble not them, which from among the Gentiles are turned to God:
20: But that we write unto them, that they abstain from pollutions of idols, and from fornication, and from things strangled, and from blood.
In the verses I just listed, we see a doctrinal argument within the church. One may claim, well, they came up with a solution and agreed to it. Yes, but for how long? How many churches do you know, still claim this small list as being the only forbidden things? And did Paul ever preach this creed? If this was from God, I dare say, every church has failed, or almost all, for I know of no such churches following that list. Therefore church doctrine or creeds may be in error.
One must determine if a doctrine or creed is Biblical. Then the church’s stance on it is true. The Bible outweighs all matters on all issues.
God made it so that we need the church and ministers to teach us doctrine. The Bible is not meant to be a handi-book of easy to read doctrines. The doctrines must be dug out and taught. For this reason, ministers will receive a stricter judgment.
James 3: 1: My brethren, be not many masters, knowing that we shall receive the greater condemnation.
James continues on in the term “master”. James also speaks about the leaders having a stricter judgment as Paul does in 1 Cor 3:13-17.
But here is where we learn the reason for the need of ministers:
Eph 4:
8: Wherefore he saith, When he ascended up on high, he led captivity captive, and gave gifts unto men.
11: And he gave some, apostles; and some, prophets; and some, evangelists; and some, pastors and teachers;
12: For the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ:
13: Till we all come in the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ:
14: That we henceforth be no more children, tossed to and fro, and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the sleight of men, and cunning craftiness, whereby they lie in wait to deceive;
But we aren’t supposed to just swallow everything ministers teach either:
Acts:17:11: These were more noble than those in Thessalonica, in that they received the word with all readiness of mind, and searched the scriptures daily, whether those things were so.
Therefore reading the Bible, you will not find direct teachings about Trinity, the rapture, Jesus’ deity, and many other matters. These things must be dug out.
Isa 28:10: For precept must be upon precept, precept upon precept; line upon line, line upon line; here a little, and there a little:
1 Cor 13:12: For now we see through a glass, darkly; but then face to face: now I know in part; but then shall I know even as also I am known.
The doctrine of the trinity has been a difficult mystery to explain. However I have found the best revelation or understanding on the trinity of God is to understand the trinity of man.
1 Thes 5:
23: …I pray God your whole spirit and soul and body…
We have 3 parts; spirit, soul, and body. Unfortunately the lack of this revelation causes even most churches to not understand the difference between the soul and spirit, and thus a hindrance to also understanding the trinity of God.
I am not going to do an elaborate teaching here on the distinction, you can read more here:
http://www.kingdom-gospel.com/soul.html
But suffice it to say, it is the spirit that communes with God, and that part of man that died with Adam’s sin. The soul is our personality, tastes, mind, will, and emotion.
Now I have hypothesized a long time ago, which I wrote a blog entry upon listed below, how the trinity of God came about:
http://kingdomgospel.wordpress.com/2008/02/01/a-theory-or-revelation-on-the-trinity/
I do not count such ideas a doctrine, but a possibility of understanding how the triune nature of God came to exist. This based on understanding the trinity of man.
I will repost it here:
Solomon said that nothing under the sun is new:
Ecl 1:9 … and there is no new thing under the sun.
Therefore anything on earth is just a duplication of what God has done elsewhere, in heaven. Jesus also spoke about this when He said He has not done anything unless He has seen His Father do it:
John 5:19 …The Son can do nothing of himself, but what he seeth the Father do: for what things soever he doeth, these also doeth the Son likewise.
This means that when Jesus was creating the world and took Adam’s rib out to make Eve, Jesus had seen the Father do something similar…
…Now if we are triune, then God must be as well:
Gen:1:26: And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness…
Now imagine God having 3 parts within Himself like man, but decided to give each part His own life:
John 5: 26: For as the Father hath life in himself; so hath he given to the Son to have life in himself;
And thus God separated Jesus from Himself physically apart, as an example to Jesus to remove a rib from Adam, this would make Jesus the 1st born.
Col 1: 15: Who is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of every creature: 16: For by him were all things created, that are in heaven, and that are in earth, visible and invisible, whether they be thrones, or dominions, or principalities, or powers: all things were created by him, and for him
Thus before Jesus was taken out of God to have His own person, He was in God. Now imagine if all 3 parts of you were separated and had their own life. Yet all 3 would still be you!
This theory does not take away from Jesus divinity, in any of the time frame of the theory, nor does it take away from His eternal nature as He existed in unity in God before the separation.
This is a theory only, and if true would explain the trinity of God. But even if it is not true, the trinity of man greatly reveals the nature of the trinity of God.
Many of the non-trinitarians (but not all) also do not believe in the divine nature of Jesus (that Jesus is not God). This also is heresy, and one of the doctrines not easily seen in scripture but is indeed there.
Jesus is treated like He is God:
He is worshiped by humans and angels (Matt 14:33; 28:9; John 9:38; Heb 1:6; Rev 5:8-14; when wrong worship takes place it is stopped: Acts 12:20-23; Rev 19:10). He receives the kind of “service” that is only allowed to God (Rev 22:3f Greek–latreuo; example where wrong is stopped: Matt 4:10). People even pray to Jesus (Acts 7:59f; 2 Cor 12:8; 1 John 5:13-15).
So if Jesus is not God, why did He allow people to worship Him and pray to Him? Especially when forbidden worship is stopped and has been decreed a sin. Why would He tolerate that sin?
And I found a scripture which among many others use (which are good), I believe shows pretty direct that Jesus is indeed God:
Acts 20:28: Take heed therefore unto yourselves, and to all the flock, over the which the Holy Ghost hath made you overseers, to feed the church of God, which he hath purchased with his own blood.
Did you notice it was God who had purchased with His own blood? Who was it that shed His blood? It was none other than Jesus, this scripture said it was God. So Jesus is God!!!
Some non-trinitarians, though not all, believe Jesus and the Father are the same person and being. Other very direct scriptures I like showing that God and Jesus are 2 beings.
One can read accounts in the gospels where the Father spoke out of heaven while Jesus was in the earth:
1. Math 3:13-17, Mark 1:9-11, Luke 3:21-22
2. John 12:24-30
3. Math 17:1-9, Luke 9:28-36
Some will contend Jesus threw His voice in heaven. But why would God deceive us? God is not a deceptive trickster God!
I have many other scriptures showing the divinity of Jesus and the trinity of God here:
http://www.kingdom-gospel.com/jesus.html
Many of those are not new, and have been used for years, and most are less direct. Remember the Bible is not a handy book of doctrines, and truths must be dug out.
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It has been attempted to show that Jesus wasn’t God because scripture says that God was with him. This is a backwards analysis, and while backwards thinking can often reveal a truth, it can also come to the wrong conclusion. For example I can be with my son and in him as well. Thus both are true. There is no reason to deny that God is not in Jesus because God is WITH Him! And folks remember if someone uses foul language and name calling their mouth reveals their nature. Pray for the heretics that they may learn who Christ really is.
Without knowing who Jesus is, one may not have salvation. Thus why Mormons and Jehovah Witnesses may not be saved nor counted as christians because they follow a false Christ. I use the word “may” because only God knows:
Rom 10:6 But the righteousness which is of faith speaketh on this wise, Say not in thine heart, Who shall ascend into heaven? (that is, to bring Christ down from above:) 7 Or, Who shall descend into the deep? (that is, to bring up Christ again from the dead.)
It is wise to have correct doctrine on these issues, but its always hazardous to announce someone else’s salvation. One does not cancel out the other. Truth is always truth, but sometimes we don’t always know someone’s heart or history. A person can disbelieve in Jesus at point B, but earlier at point A they may have believed, thus we get into the doctrine of losing one’s salvation. And while I believe salvation can be lost, I don’t believe it is lost willy nilly, but is extremely hard to lose. I discuss more about this here:
http://www.kingdom-gospel.com/osas.html
