When one comes to the sign post; choosing the way marked FAITH is the SURE way to arrive at the destination wished.
Posted on 02/05/2017 3:05:14 PM PST by metmom
“The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit, be with you all” (2 Corinthians 13:14).
Though there is only one God, He exists in three Persons: God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit.
God is one, but He exists in three distinct Persons. We call this the Trinity, a contraction of “tri-unity,” meaning “three in one.” The word Trinity doesn’t appear in the Bible, but God’s existence as three Persons in one God is clear from Scripture.
Old Testament evidence of God’s plurality can be found in the very first verse: “In the beginning God . . .” (Gen. 1:1). The Hebrew word used for God is Elohim, which is a plural noun. Isaiah 42:1 speaks of the Messiah: “Behold, My Servant, whom I uphold; My chosen one in whom My soul delights. I have put My Spirit upon Him; He will bring forth justice to the nations.” The Messiah says in Isaiah 48:16, “The Lord God has sent Me, and His Spirit.”
The New Testament is more explicit about God’s triune nature. After Jesus’ baptism, the Spirit of God descended upon Him as a dove, and the Father said, “This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well-pleased” (Matt. 3:17). The Father, Son, and Holy Spirit are together in the same scene.
Jesus says, “And I will ask the Father, and He will give you another Helper, that He may be with you forever; that is the Spirit of truth” (John 14:16-17). Paul closes 2 Corinthians by saying, “The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit, be with you all” (13:14). Peter declares that believers are chosen “according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, by the sanctifying work of the Spirit, that you may obey Jesus Christ” (1 Peter 1:2).
So God is one, but God is three. This is a profound mystery that no human illustration can adequately describe and no scientific explanation can prove. The Trinity is something we have to take on faith, because God has taught it in Scripture.
Suggestions for Prayer
Praise God that He is so far above our finite understanding, yet has chosen to reveal Himself to us.
For Further Study
Read John 14—16.
What does Jesus teach about His relationship with the Father and the Spirit? What do you learn here about the different functions or ministries of each member of the Trinity?
Makes a Prot wonder about Rome's Mary and her many titles.
“Tell them WE ARE sent you” doesn’t ring so true.
Where, specifically, is THIS written down?
Just because there is NO evidence of this 'unbelief'; doesn't mean you can claim there was NONE!
Interesting. I’ve often argued that the “rock” in that verse is Christ (or specifically Peter’s confession of Christ’s divine nature), but many Catholic apologists have tried to argue otherwise to me.
By man's reasoning perhaps, since as you say, "We really are impotent with fallible minds trying to comprehend the infinite God.", which I'm in total agreement with you on, BTW.
However many parts one believes makes up the Spirit of God, it is that Spirit we follow in allowing others room to believe differently.
JESUS, God with us, said that He is the only way to God. There are not multiple paths, Just Jesus.
He guards the door, but there is certainly more than one path, according to scripture.
John 13:6 Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me.
At best you simply lack knowledge of what the scriptures say of those who've gone before and of resurrections yet to come.
Good day.
Accusing me of ignorance doesn’t even answer the question in post #148.
Then they have to go AGAINST what a LOT of ECFs taught; back in the day!!
When one comes to the sign post; choosing the way marked FAITH is the SURE way to arrive at the destination wished.
Chapter and verse.
John 14, of course. Pick any verse you like.
That's one way, but since the word "Faith" has lost it's meaning in this day and time, a better/safer way is to travel with the Holy Spirit inside you!
Of course the door is guarded.
What are the other paths.
To be “in Christ” and to have the Holy Spirit. Of course you can’t have the former without the latter. The first gets you a ticket on the first rocket ship off the planet. The latter, a pass through the gate, regardless of your mode of transportation.
Love is the way, the truth and the life. It is the greatest commandment that fulfills the law. So simple, yet so elusive when doctrinal battles are king. Derech David, the way of David. The tender mercies of David. The experts couldn't answer the question, "If David called him lord, how then is he his son? Like father, like son: full of love and mercy. David perfected.
The paradigm shift back to proper order is going to be hard for a lot of people to embrace. They will be shocked, offended, and outraged. The current status quo is 180 to the way things are supposed to work.
It's the Golden Rule. Even the Hebrew wiki page for the Golden Rule is called "but you shall love your neighbor as yourself: as per
Lev 19.18. You shall not avenge, nor bear any grudge against the children of your people, but you shall love your neighbor as yourself; I am the Lord:
Romans 13
8 Owe no man any thing, but to love one another: for he that loveth another hath fulfilled the law.
9 For this, Thou shalt not commit adultery, Thou shalt not kill, Thou shalt not steal, Thou shalt not bear false witness, Thou shalt not covet; and if there be any other commandment, it is briefly comprehended in this saying, namely, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself.
10 Love worketh no ill to his neighbour: therefore love is the fulfilling of the law.
Galatians 5
13 For, brethren, ye have been called unto liberty; only use not liberty for an occasion to the flesh, but by love serve one another.
14 For all the law is fulfilled in one word, even in this; Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself.
15 But if ye bite and devour one another, take heed that ye be not consumed one of another.
The Messiah is love, personified. Love is one:
echad, one (אחד) = ahavah, love (אהבה) = 13
ahavah + echad = 26 = YHVH (יהוה)
The letter hei is composed of a dalet + yud. If you look past the "little yuds" and focus on the dalets, you can see David in YHVH:
יהוה
דוד
Also, the word for way, derech, "way" (דרך), is visually similar to the name David (דוד), but who is paying attention:
דרך
דוד
And as far as dumb puns go, the way is a direction of the heart, the mirror image of a person's master:
yaw-way (Jahweh). yaw-way.
Proverbs 4
26 Ponder the path of thy feet, and let all thy ways be established.
27 Turn not to the right hand nor to the left: remove thy foot from evil.
How much time could be spent just in contemplating the name David, instead of people bickering and insulting one another? David is a palindrome, a perfectly balanced scale of justice.
"Son of David, have mercy on us." Not, "Son of religious experts, have mercy on us". Heh, that would be like believing that the government is here to help..
Amen!
1 Peter 4, The end of all things is near. Therefore be clear-minded and sober, so you can pray. Above all, love one another deeply, because love covers over a multitude of sins.
Matt. 12, Anyone who speaks a word against the Son of Man, it will be forgiven him; but whoever speaks against the Holy Spirit, it will not be forgiven him, either in this age or in the age to come.
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