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Ask The Pastor
Mon, 21 Mar 2005
> Question: I am having a lot of trouble with my faith. I was raised to
> believe that the Bible was God's Will but that Jesus was the Son of
> God, not God incarnate. Can you please explain to me the truth from
> the Bible? I really need to know whether or not the trinity is true.
> If you do post this please do so anonymously. Thanks in advance for
> your help!
Dear (name withheld),
You've asked a good question. I'll try to simplify my
response. The Bible says that God was in Christ, reconciling
the world to Himself. Jesus more than once spoke of Himself in
terms of being the "I AM" of the Old Testament. So,
whether we understand it, yes, Jesus really is God incarnate.
On the issue of the trinity, it needs to be understood that
the doctrine of the trinity is not simply Father, Son and Holy
Spirit. The trinity doctrine is a result of developing creedal
or confessional religion. Part of its purpose was to protect
the deity of Jesus. But trinity language reaches beyond the
Scriptures in defining itself. Many people do not realize
this. So when someone asks if you believe in the trinity, you
should ask them to explain what they mean by trinity.
The point at hand is that Father, Son, and Holy Spirit are
certainly Biblical expressions. These three words speak to how
God has chosen to manifest Himself. But the Son of God is the
divine reflection or the image of the invisible God. Thus
Jesus really is God revealed.
Let me know if this helps a bit. We can carry the
discussion further. There is something else you may wish to
do. On our web site I have a number of studies that will help
you. These studies are available to the public. Go to:
http://www.christianchallenge.org/hebraic-foundations/index.html
Blessings,
Buddy
Bro. Buddy
Martin - Ask the Pastor
-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-
Lawrence "Buddy" Martin
email:
Bro.Buddy@ChristianChallenge.org
Web: http://www.ChristianChallenge.org
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