ipl-logo

Misconceptions Of The Trinity

1783 Words8 Pages

January 2018 marked a new season for West Hills Church in the San Fernando Valley of California. The calling of a new Pastor. With the calling of a new pastor comes many changes in style of ministry, sermon delivery and leadership development. During this time there was the opportunity to research where the congregation stood in its understanding of the doctrine of the Trinity. Over 25% of the congregation participated in the 10 question survey. The survey revealed that there was a serious lack of understanding in the basics of the Trinity and also a belief in common misconceptions of the Trinity; such as 40% of the respondents believing the God the Father created God the Son. This research paper in conjunction with a 3 part sermon series …show more content…

This is not to suggest, of course, that the Bible presents three different gods. Rather, God is three Persons in one essence; the Divine essence subsists wholly and indivisibly, simultaneously and eternally, in the three members of the one Godhead—the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. The Scriptures are clear that these three Persons together are one and only one God. As Deuteronomy 6:4 says, "Hear, O Israel! The LORD is our God, the LORD is one!” John 10:30 and 33 explain that the Father and the Son are one and First Corinthians 3:16 shows that the Father and the Spirit are one. Romans 8:9 makes clear that the Son and the Spirit are one. “However, you are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God dwells in you. But if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he does not belong to Him.” As the Expositor’s Commentary explains that being one with the Father, “here he is “the Spirit of God” and “the Spirit of Christ,” indicating that he carries out the purposes of God and applies the fruits of Christ’s redemptive mission to the lives of believers (cf. Gal 4:6).” We also see that John 14:16, 18, and 23 demonstrate that the Father, Son, and Spirit are …show more content…

'Ask of Me, and I will surely give the nations as Your inheritance, And the very ends of the earth as Your possession. 'You shall break them with a rod of iron, You shall shatter them like earthenware.'" The statement I have begotten You, which is directed from God the Father to God the Son, signifies not the production of Sonship (since all three persons of the Godhead are uncreated and eternal), but rather the Father's declaration of the Messiah's Sonship as announced later by Gabriel (Luke 1:32), reiterated at Jesus' baptism (Luke 3:22), and confirmed by His resurrection (Acts 13:33; Rom

Show More
Related
375 Words | 2 Pages

In Mark Jarman’s “Unholy Sonnet 1” the Trinity is represented though vivid images and language to illustrate that comprehending the Trinity is something out of a person understanding. Jarman, to provide the reader with the knowledge that he is talking about the Trinity refers to God in three ways in a single line, “Dear God, Heavenly Father, Gracious Lord” (1). This line shows the use of language to describe the Trinity which is made up of The Father, Son, and The Holy Spirit. Then the author goes on throughout the first half of the poem capitalizing words that relate to God to show each word as a pronoun, “Mother Love and Maker, Light Divine… Oasis That All Sands Are Running Toward” (1,8)

Read More
905 Words | 4 Pages

This does indicate that the Holy Spirit is important and should receive praise, although not once does it say that the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit together compose the trinity. This is slightly confusing; they believe the Holy Spirit is from the Father but he proceeds the Father, indicating that they are not all together

Read More
1828 Words | 8 Pages

Little Book for New Theologians: Summary The book, A Little Book for New Theologians, written by Kelly Kapic, begins by underlying the importance of good theology, but also warns of bad theology. Bad theology can have a catastrophic effect on those it reaches. Kapic’s worry is that there will be a detachment between spirituality and theology. His hopes in writing this book is so that it can help new theologians avoid theological detachment.

Read More
1320 Words | 6 Pages

Athanasius defended the Trinity, which is one of the biggest beliefs and a core element in Christian faith. The Trinity is the Father, Son, and the Holy Spirit, all three united as one. During the fourth century, Arius went around teaching that Jesus the Son was different in divinity to God the Father. He points out many Scriptures proving that Jesus is saying that the Father and Son are clearly different, showing that they

Read More
1608 Words | 7 Pages

In Christian theology, God is understood to exist beyond the confines of physicality. John 1:18 further demonstrates a third distinction in the view of God as seen in Mormonism and Christianity. The Church believes in God, the Eternal Father, and in His Son, Jesus Christ, and in the Holy Ghost who make up the Godhead. However, they view the members of the Godhead drastically from the views of others in the Christian

Read More
238 Words | 1 Pages

As we look and understand the Trinity, we should never remove

Read More
1671 Words | 7 Pages

Vanhoozer, Kevin, Charles Ansderson, Michael Sleasman, eds. Ordinary Theology: How to Perused Cultural Texts and Interpret Trends. Terrific Rapids, Mich.: Baker Academic, 2007. Ordinary Theology offers the conversation starter, "How would we decipher society?" Seminary understudies and ministers work to see how to peruse Biblical writings.

Read More
2669 Words | 11 Pages

Date Introduction Differing opinion on the fundamental issues surrounding Jesus should evoke examination of essential questions that revolves around the true identity of Jesus. In essence, if we were to premise our quest on the Holy scripture as is required, it will be apparent that our understanding of the Bible showcases the tie between Jesus and the Father. The scripture according to 2nd Corinthians 11: 4 warns believers of falling into the trap of believing that there could be another Jesus other than the one who was revealed as the Messiah as promised by the prophets of the old testament (Kostenberger, and O'Brien

Read More
1255 Words | 6 Pages

Thus, a defense of the Trinity against Arianism begins with an understanding that the Bible adheres to the monotheistic belief (Deuteronomy 6:4) that there is only one God (Giles, 2015). Additionally, the Bible also infers that Jesus Christ pre-existed in Genesis (11:7), the Proverbs (8:23-26), and the Gospel of John, in particular, verses 1:1-3 (Witchger, 2007). Arianism also declares separation and a hierarchy between the three persons of the Trinity, but Jesus Himself disputes separation and a hierarchy when He says in John 16:15, “All things that the Father has are mine, and in John 14:9, “Whoever has seen Son has seen the Father” (Witchger, 2007). Lastly, Arianism fails at misunderstanding the Incarnation and the hypostatic union of the Son (Murray & Rea, 2012). According to Philippians 2:6-8, Jesus was in the form of God, but He emptied Himself to become man and a servant; however, Scripture also confirms in Colossians 2:9 that the second person of the Trinity, although in bodily form, maintained the fullness of the Deity (Murray & Rea, 2012).

Read More
1843 Words | 8 Pages

Methodology The Four Theological Voices Model The Four Theological Voices Model was developed by the Action Research: Church and Society team (ARCS), consisting of Helen Cameron, Deborah Bhatti, Catherine Duce, James Sweeney and Clare Watkins. In the book Talking about God in Practice, the ARCS team explains four theological voices which they discovered as they examined the practice of the Church. The four voices are: (i) normative theology, (ii) formal theology, (iii) espoused theology and (iv) operant theology.3 Cameron et al argue that these voices are intertwined, and that together they express the whole of Christian theology.4 The team 's main thesis is that practice is essentially theology, and that theology subsequently is embodied throughout the life of the Church and expressed in the lived practice of the Church through these four theological voices.5 Cameron et al is clear that this model should not be seen a complete description, but rather serve as a interpretative working tool for theological reflection upon how practice and theology are connected.6 Critique of the method While Cameron et al do not explicitly describe any specific direction of movement in the communication between the four voices, they argue that there may be a rather significant relationship between the normative and formal theology on the one hand, and the espoused and operant theology on the other.7 They also suggest that the model enables a challenging of formal and normative

Read More
449 Words | 2 Pages

As my research compares and contrasts the beliefs, worshiping and tales of Roman mythology, my goal is to pinpoint some of the most influential Roman and Greek God’s of early civilization. The depth of this paper will cover questions such as: • What is Mythology? • How do we differentiate the beliefs of what the Romans believed and the Greeks believed? • Who were the important God’s and Goddesses?

Read More
708 Words | 3 Pages

Throughout the passages of the book, the observer encounters Jesus speaking in the first person when related to Divine encounters. An example in "John and the Woman of Samaria" when speaking of water. " But those who drink of the water I will give them will never be thirsty. The water that I will give will become in them a spring of water gushing up to eternal life (John 4:14). Consequently, there are two major signs of power in the Gospel of John which attest to Jesus Christ 's power.

Read More
1434 Words | 6 Pages

This brings us to the third aspect of Paul’s pnuematology. Paul is truly Trinitarian in that he understands that God is truly one and personal, that the Spirit is the Spirit of God and the Spirit of Christ and that they are both personal and divine. In spite of this, the Spirit is distinct from the Father and from the Son. Fee also observes that Paul’s interest in Christ and the Spirit is “not with the nature of their being God, but with their role in salvation and Christian experience” (Fee, 33). Christ and his work help define the Spirit and his work in the Christian life (Fee, 32).

Read More
1407 Words | 6 Pages

For the majority of Christians through ages, God has been understood to be a living communion of Three-in-One. Christian identity is grounded in this divine reality. The vast majority of Christians worldwide have literally been baptized into the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit as they entered the Christian community, the Church. In worship the vast majority of Christians pray to the father, Son, and Holy Spirit, or to the Father through the son in the Holy Spirit. Christian worship not only gives expression to the Trinitarian mystery.

Read More
1084 Words | 5 Pages

While the other gospels emphasize the Kingdom of God and the Kingdom of Heaven, John instead emphasizes new life found in Jesus. It’s from John that we get Christ’s famous claim “I am the way the truth and the life. No one comes to the father except through me” -John 14:6. Jesus frequently uses metaphors to hint at his identity. John records more of these analogies than any other gospel, giving us some of the most famous word pictures for Christ.

Read More

More about Misconceptions Of The Trinity

Related Topics

Open Document