Biblical Evidence for the Godhead By David J. Stewart For there are three that bear record in heaven, the Father, the Word, and the Holy Ghost: and THESE THREE ARE ONE. —1st John 5:7 The Bible, God’s Word, proclaims that there is ONE God (Deuteronomy 6:4), Who has revealed Himself to mankind in three distinct Persons; namely, God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit. Although the term “Trinity” is not found in the Scriptures, the word “Godhead” most certainly is — in 3 places! Romans 1:19, 20 states… “Because that which may be known of God is manifest in them; for God hath shewed it unto them. For the invisible things of him from the creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even his eternal power and GODHEAD; so that they are without excuse.” Some people (such as Muslims) foolishly claim that belief in a Godhead (aka, Trinity) means worship of three gods (polytheism). This simply reflects their woeful ignorance of the Word of God. The LORD our God is ONE Lord (Deuteronomy 6:4); but He does exist in three Persons, i.e., a Trinity. Acts 17:29 states… “Forasmuch then as we are the offspring of God, we ought not to think that the GODHEAD is like unto gold, or silver, or stone, graven by art and mans device.” Colossians 2:9… “For in him dwelleth all the fulness of the GODHEAD bodily.” 1st John 5:7 is in the Original Greek. If there were no other verse of the King James Bible testifying of the Godhead, 1st John 5:7 would be enough for any Bible-believer to know that God exists in three Persons — the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit… “For there are three that bear record in heaven, the Father, the Word, and the Holy Ghost: and THESE THREE ARE ONE.” —1st John 5:7 Now if you have a modern corrupt bible, then you won’t find 1st John 5:7 correctly rendered. I went out and bought a literal translation of the Bible in Greek and Hebrew, based on the “Textus Receptus” (or Received Text). It contains 1st John 5:7 just as the King James Bible faithfully renders. The translators of the King James Bible rejected certain manuscripts as heretical. The manuscripts which they did accept became know as the “Received Text.” How Can One God Exist in Three Persons? Some people feel like they have to provide an answer for every question. Well, that’s not true. Doctors are still perplexed as to what causes the human body to sneeze; but it’s an obvious fact. Mankind’s brightest secular scientists cannot with any certainty tell us how life began, nor can they tell us how big the universe is, nor can they create even the simplest of life forms in a laboratory. It makes infinite more sense to accept the Bible’s claim that God spoke the universe into existence by the Word of His mouth (2nd Peter 3:5). Ironically, the same people who refuse to believe the Bible without proof; readily believe the bogus tales of unsaved scientists, even without as much as a single shred of credible evidence to support their claims. This clearly evidences the wickedness of man’s heart against his divine Creator. Colossians 2:2, 9 acknowledges the Godhead as a “mystery” … “…to the acknowledgement of the mystery of God, and of the Father, and of Christ… For in him dwelleth all the fulness of the Godhead bodily.” Colossians 2:9 plainly teaches that the Godhead became incarnate in the fleshly body of the Lord Jesus Christ. 1st Timothy 3:16 declare the same truth… “And without controversy great is the mystery of godliness: God was manifest in the flesh…” Someone has said that BIBLE in acronym forms means: B = Basic I = Instructions B = Before L = Leaving E = Earth I like that. Too many people refuse to accept God at His Word and continually put God on trial in their mind. Can anyone really explain how ONE individual can exist in three Persons? I don’t see how. Some Bible-teachers like to use the fact that humans are composed of body, soul and spirit; but we are still one person; not three. This is not a good example of the Godhead. I can’t give you a good example, and won’t try. God is God and we don’t have to figure out how to describe Him to an unsaved world of Christ-rejecters. To those who believe, no explanation is necessary; to those who believe not, no explanation is possible. Let us just accept God as the Bible portrays Him. The Scriptures identify each Person of the Godhead as “God.” The word Godhead is a Bible word (Acts 17:29, Romans 1:20, Colossians 2:9). The Father is called God. Romans 15:6, “That ye may with one mind and one mouth glorify God, even the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.” Jesus is called God. “And without controversy great is the mystery of godliness: GOD WAS MANIFEST IN THE FLESH, justified in the Spirit, seen of angels, preached unto the Gentiles, believed on in the world, received up into glory.” 1st Timothy 3:16 Hebrews 1:8, “But unto the Son he [God] saith, Thy throne, O God, is for ever and ever: a sceptre of righteousness is the sceptre of thy kingdom.” Colossians 2:9, “For in him [Jesus] dwelleth ALL the fulness of the Godhead bodily.” The Holy Ghost is called God. Acts 5:3-4, “But Peter said, Ananias, why hath Satan filled thine heart to lie to the Holy Ghost, and to keep back part of the price of the land? ...thou hast not lied unto men, but unto God.” 1st Timothy 3:16, “And without controversy great is the mystery of godliness: GOD WAS manifest in the flesh, JUSTIFIED IN THE SPIRIT, seen of angels, preached unto the Gentiles, believed on in the world, received up into glory.” The Godhead and Our Salvation God the Father sent His only begotten Son (John 3:16). John 5:36, “But I have greater witness than that of John: for the works which the Father hath given me to finish, the same works that I do, bear witness of me, that the Father hath sent me.” The Son was sent to be the propitiation (to appease the wrath of God) for our sins. 1st John 4:10, “Herein is love, not that we loved God, but that he loved us, and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins.” The Holy Spirit reproves us, teaches us, guides us and testifies of Jesus Christ. John 14:26, “But the Comforter, which is the Holy Ghost, whom the Father will send in my name, he shall teach you all things, and bring all things to your remembrance, whatsoever I have said unto you.” John 15:26, “But when the Comforter is come, whom I will send unto you from the Father, even the Spirit of truth, which proceedeth from the Father, he shall testify of me.” More Scriptures Testifying of the Godhead Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost. —Matthew 28:19,20 And the Holy Ghost descended in a bodily shape like a dove upon him [Jesus], and a voice came from heaven [God the Father], which said, Thou art my beloved Son; in thee I am well pleased. —Luke 3:22 Each Person of the Godhead SPEAKS AUDIBLY in the Bible. God the Father SAID of Jesus in Matthew 3:17... This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased. Jesus SAID in John 10:30, I and my Father are one. The Holy Ghost SAID in Acts 13:2... Separate me Barnabas and Saul for the work whereunto I have called them. Each Person of the Godhead was Operative in the Old Testament. The Father — Isaiah 64:8, “But now, O LORD, thou art our father; we are the clay, and thou our potter; and we all are the work of thy hand.” Jesus — 1st Corinthians 10:1-4, 9, “Moreover, brethren, I would not that ye should be ignorant, how that all our fathers were under the cloud, and all passed through the sea; And were all baptized unto Moses in the cloud and in the sea; And did all eat the same spiritual meat; And did all drink the same spiritual drink: for they drank of that spiritual Rock that followed them: AND THAT ROCK WAS CHRIST. Neither let us tempt Christ, as some of them also tempted, and were destroyed of serpents.” The Holy Ghost — Hebrews 3:7-11, “Wherefore (as the Holy Ghost saith, To day if ye will hear his voice, Harden not your hearts, as in the provocation, in the day of temptation in the wilderness: When your fathers tempted me, proved ME, and saw MY WORKS forty years. Wherefore I was grieved with that generation, and said, They do alway err in their heart; and they have not known my ways. So I sware in my wrath, they shall not enter into my rest.)” From the very first chapter in the Bible, God makes it known that He consists of more than one Person-- Genesis 1:26-27, “And God said, LET US make man in OUR image, after OUR likeness...So God created man in his own image, in the image of God [not angels. the us can only refer to God.] created he him.” Genesis 3:22, “And the LORD God said, Behold, the man is become as one of us, to know good and evil...” When Isaiah had a vision of the Lord sitting upon a throne, the Lord asked him a question… Isaiah 6:8, “Also I heard the voice of the Lord, saying, Whom shall I send, and who will go for US? Then said I, Here am I; send me.” In the Old Testament, we find that God has a Son (Proverbs 30:4, Psalm 2:7-12) and a Spirit (Isaiah 40:13, 2nd Samuel 23:2, Judges 3:10, et cetera). We also find that the LORD [Jesus] said that the LORD [God the Father] would send Him to the earth (Zechariah 2:10,11). Didn’t the Trinity Teaching Originate in Pagan Religion? Some false teachers today are claiming that the Biblical doctrine of the Godhead (Trinity) has it’s origin in pagan religion. This is not true at all. The fact of the matter is that Christianity predates ALL known religions. We read in Genesis 15:6 that Abram (Abraham) “believed in the LORD; and he [Jesus] counted it to him for righteousness.” Abraham lived around 2,000 B.C. It was the heathens who tried to imitate and corrupt genuine Christianity. This has always been Satan’s dirty game. John 8:44 and John 10:10 tell us that the Devil is a big liar who comes only to kill, steal and destroy lives. Only a woefully ignorant person would dare claim that Christianity didn’t exist before the time Christ was born into the world. History and archaeology document that Old Testament Israel very much awaited and centered their religious beliefs around the coming Messiah. It was because of earlier prophecies that the 3-wise men journeyed from the east (likely from Babylon) to witness the birth of the Savior, Jesus, in Bethlehem (Micah 5:2). Is the Trinity Pagan? Conclusion The modern Bible perversions take out the word, Godhead and they attack the deity of Jesus Christ. One man told me that it was difficult for him to understand the deity of Jesus Christ while he read the New International Version (NIV). Once he changed over to the King James Bible, it was abundantly clear. This is no surprise to me. To no surprise, the NIV oftentimes agrees with the Jehovahs (false) Witness’ New World Translation (NWT) in the verses it deletes. In fact, EVERY complete verse that the NIV deletes is deleted in the NWT. It also deletes many of the same words and phrases including 1st John 5:7. The precious and trustworthy King James Bible teaches that there is ONE God, Who exists as a Godhead. It may not make good math; but it makes good Bible. We don’t need to comprehend or even partially understand the mystery of the Godhead to be saved, we simply need to come as a guilty sinner to the cross of Calvary and trust upon the blessed Son of God to wash away our sins with His redeeming blood (1st Peter 1:18,19). Did Ellen White believe in a Three person Godhead? The Holy Spirit is a person, for He beareth witness with our spirits that we are the children of God. When this witness is borne, it carries with it its own evidence. At such times we believe and are sure that we are the children of God. . . . Ms 20, 1906. (Ev 616.6) How many living persons are there in the Heavenly Trio or Godhead? There are three living persons of the heavenly trio; in the name of these three great powers—the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit—those who receive Christ by living faith are baptized, and these powers will co-operate with the obedient subjects of heaven in their efforts to live the new life in Christ.—Special Testimonies, Series B, No. 7, pp. 62, 63. (1905)” Evangelism, 615. When you gave yourself to Christ, you made a pledge in the presence of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit – the three great personal dignitaries of heaven. Ms 92, 1901 (7BC 959). The work is laid out before every soul that has acknowledged his faith in Jesus Christ by baptism and has become a receiver of the pledge from three persons – the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Ms 57, 1900 (6 BC 959). After the believing soul has received the ordinance of baptism, he is to bear in mind that he is dedicated to God, to Christ, and to the Holy Spirit. These three all cooperate in the great work of the covenant made by baptism in the sight of the heavenly universe. The Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit receive the believing soul into covenant relationship with God. Ms 56, 1900 (6MR 163). Here is where the work of the Holy Ghost comes in, after your baptism. You are baptized in the name of the Father, of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost. You are raised up out of the water to live henceforth in newness of life. You are born unto God, and you stand under the sanction and the power of the three holiest beings in heaven, who are able to keep you from falling…. When I feel oppressed, and hardly know how to relate myself toward the work that God has given me to do, I just call upon the three great worthies and say: You know I cannot do this work in my own strength, You must work in me, and by me, and through me, sanctifying my tongue, sanctifying my spirit, sanctifying my words… Ms 95, 1906 (7 MR 267). After we have formed a union with the great threefold power, we shall regard our duty toward the members of Gods family with a much more sacred awe than we have ever done before. Ms 11, 1901 (6BC 1102). The Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, the three holy dignitaries of heaven, have declared that they will strengthen men to overcome the powers of darkness. Ms 92, 1901 (5BC 1110). Notice the following few New Testament and Old Testament texts: Ephesians 4:4-6 (4) There is one body, and one Spirit, even as ye are called in one hope of your calling; (5) One Lord, one faith, one baptism, (6) One God and Father of all, who is above all, and through all, and in you all. Note carefully that there be no misunderstanding. These three text show very clearly that there is “one” of each… there is one Spirit, one Lord which we know is Jesus Christ, and one God the Father. Already, without going to 1 John 5:7, a text our opponents claim was added to the canon of scripture, we here confirm that there are three, one of each. Isaiah 48:16 (16) Come ye near unto me, hear ye this; I have not spoken in secret from the beginning; from the time that it was, there am I: and now the Lord GOD, and his Spirit, hath sent me. In this text we have three individuals… the Lord God, the Spirit, and Jesus Christ (sent me). The construction of this sentence shows that each one of these are separate (the Lord God and… sent…). There is no doubt, therefore, that there are three in the heavenly Godhead. Is the Holy Spirit the First person of the Godhead or is He the Second person of the Godhead or is He the Third person of the Godhead? “Sin could be resisted and overcome only through the mighty agency of the third person of the Godhead.” The Desire of Ages, 671. “Evil ..could only be restrained ..by the mighty power of the Holy Spirit, the third person of the Godhead.” Testimonies to Ministers and Gospel Workers, 392 He [Christ] determined to give His representative, the third person of the Godhead. This gift could not be excelled - My Life Today, p. 36. https://facebook/groups/1455897377989176/
Posted on: Sat, 18 Oct 2014 12:50:34 +0000
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