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When we
speak of the Trinity, we must do so with caution and
modesty, for, as St. Augustine saith, "Nowhere else
are more dangerous errors made, or is research more
difficult, or discovery more fruitful.’" (St. Thomas
Aquinas, Summa Theologica, ia q. xxi, 1272)
The biblical doctrine of the Trinity is
vital to understand because it concerns who God
is, i.e., a proper realization of the nature of God as
Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. To understand the Trinity
is to understand God as He has revealed Himself to be.
Why is this important? Because if we are
to worship God "in spirit and truth" (John 4:24), as
Jesus commanded, we must know and worship the one true
God as He really is. To fail to do this is to fail to
know and worship God—and this cannot bring Him glory.
Thus, those who reject the Trinity invariably deny the
nature of God.
Consider several examples of professedly
Christian religions that forcefully reject what the
Bible teaches. By denying the biblical teaching on the
Trinity, Jehovah’s Witnesses make Jesus merely a
creation of Jehovah and the Holy Spirit Jehovah’s
impersonal force. Thus, Jesus "was actually a creature
of God" who earned his own salvation and immortality1
and the Holy Spirit "is not a person at all but is God’s
invisible active force by means of which God carries out
his holy will and work."2
In rejecting the Trinity, Jehovah’s
Witnesses founder C. T. Russell blasphemously stated
that the God of Christianity "is plainly not Jehovah but
the ancient deity, hoary with the iniquity of the
ages—Baal, the Devil Himself."3 Second
Watchtower President Judge Rutherford declared in a
similar fashion, "The doctrine of the Trinity is a false
doctrine and is promulgated by Satan for the purpose of
defaming Jehovah’s name"—and for keeping others from
"learning the truth of Jehovah and his Son, Jesus
Christ." Indeed, "God-fearing persons…find it a bit
difficult to love and worship a complicated,
freakish-looking three-headed God."4 Surely,
teachings that caricature God in this manner do not
bring to Him honor and glory.
In a similar fashion, Mormons maintain
that the Father, Son and Holy Spirit are not immortal,
but were individual spirit-men created by the sexual
union of their parent deities, each of whom then later
evolved into Godhood.5 Mormonism thus rejects
the ontological unity of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit
in teaching tritheism, or a belief in three separate
Gods.
Indeed, Mormons are ultimately
polytheists who reject the concept of one true God.
As a standard text on Mormon doctrine declares:
As
pertaining to this universe, there are three Gods: the
Father, Son, and Holy Ghost…. To us, speaking in the
proper finite sense, these three are the only Gods we
worship. But in addition there is an infinite number
of holy personages, drawn from worlds without number,
who have passed on to exaltation [i.e., Godhood] and
are thus gods.6
Mary Baker Eddy was the founder of
Christian Science, another group that claims to be truly
Christian. Yet in her Science and Health with Key to
the Scriptures, the Bible of Christian Science, she
writes:
The theory
of three persons in one God (that is, a personal
Trinity or Tri-unity) suggests polytheism, rather than
the one ever-present I Am…. The name Elohim is in the
plural, but this plurality of Spirit does not imply
more than one God, nor does it imply three persons in
one.7
Victor Paul Wierwille, founder of The Way
International, reveals additional common consequences of
rejection of the Trinity—a denial not only of the Person
of Jesus Christ but also of His atoning Work on the
cross. Wierwille argues as follows:
Through the
years, the more and more I carefully researched God’s
Word for knowledge, the less and less I found to
substantiate a trinity. Even though I had always
accepted the idea of a three-in-one-God, I continually
found evidence in the Word of God which undermined a
Christian trinity…. [Further] If Jesus Christ is
God…we have not yet been redeemed…. Our very
redemption…is dependent on Jesus Christ’s being a man
and not God…. So how then did a trinitarian doctrine
come about? It gradually evolved and gained momentum
in late 1st, 2nd, and 3rd centuries as pagans, who had
converted to Christianity, brought to Christianity
some of their pagan beliefs and practices.
Trinitarianism then was confirmed at Nicaea in 325 by
Church bishops out of political expediency.8
In essence, the reason the Trinity is
important to understand according to its biblical and
theological formulation is that failure to do so can
lead to heretical views about who God is. This in turn
can lead to rejection of the one true God and worship of
a false God. But if the Bible is clear on anything, it
is clear that faith in and worship of a false God is
powerless to save people from their sins. Jesus Himself
emphasized the importance of having an accurate
knowledge of God when he said, "And this is eternal
life, that they may know Thee, the only true God, and
Jesus Christ whom Thou hast sent" (John 17:3).
God warned Israel through the prophet
Hosea, "My people are destroyed from lack of knowledge"
and "You shall acknowledge no God but me, no Savior
except me" (Hosea 4:6; 13:4). As their history so amply
demonstrates, the Israelites were spiritually ruined
because they had rejected true knowledge of God and had
turned to false gods and idols. Unfortunately, in a
similar manner, those who deliberately reject the
Trinity, knowing in advance what the Bible teaches about
it, only reveal their own lack of salvation (1
Corinthians 2:14). In other words, no one can
consistently dishonor what the Holy Spirit has revealed
in Scripture as to the true nature of God and logically
claim to be a Christian.
Of course, prior knowledge of the
Trinity, especially in its theological formulation, is
not necessary for a person to be saved. But once saved,
it is vital for Christians to know the true nature of
the God who has so graciously pardoned them. This
explains why the Church has always recognized the
importance of a proper understanding of God and
maintained that those who reject the scriptural view of
God, as long as they do so, cannot be saved.
For example, in discussing the placing of
a divine curse or anathema on those who reject
God, the Athanasian Creed
…begins and
ends with the solemn declaration that the catholic
[i.e., universal] faith in the Trinity and the
Incarnation is the indispensable condition of
salvation, and that those who reject it will be lost
forever…. This anathema, in its natural historical
sense, is not merely a solemn warning against the
great danger of heresy, nor, on the other hand, does
it demand, as a condition of salvation, a full
knowledge, and assent to, the logical statement of the
doctrines set forth, (this would condemn the great
mass even of Christian believers); but it does mean to
exclude from heaven all who reject the divine truth
therein taught. It requires everyone who would be
saved to believe in the only true and living God,
Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, one in essence, three in
persons, and in one Jesus Christ, very God and very
man in one person.9
As Vladimir Lossky once put boldly in
The Mystical Theology of the Eastern Church (1957,
p. 66), "Between the Trinity and Hell there lies no
other choice."
Thus, an examination of religions
claiming to be Christian, who yet deny the Trinity,
invariably reveals that other key Christian doctrines,
such as salvation by grace through faith alone, are also
rejected. In other words, if one does not start with a
proper respect for Scripture and its understanding of
God, it is unlikely one will get much else correct
biblically. This is exactly what we find in the world of
the cults.
However, before we discuss what the Bible
does teach about the Trinity, we must also remember that
this doctrine is something finite minds can never fully
comprehend. The Trinity may be logically defined, but
this is partly the problem because "the infinite truth
of the Godhead lies far beyond the boundaries of logic,
which deals only with finite truths and categories."10
In other words, as an infinite being, God can never be
fully understood by any finite person. If we can’t
understand something as basic as particle physics, who
would argue we should be able to rationally comprehend
all that the infinite God is?
As Dorothy L. Sayers once stated in
Current Religious Thought (1957),
Why do you
complain that the proposition God is three in one is
obscure and mystical and yet acquiesce meekly in the
physicist’s fundamental formula, ‘two P minus PQ
equals IH over two Pi where I equals the square root
of minus one’ when you know quite well that the square
root of minus one is paradoxical and Pi is
incalculable?
Consider that an ant could never
comprehend all that a human being is, even if it tried.
Yet, if a human being could somehow become an ant, it
might be able to explain enough about what a human is so
that the ant could gain something of an understanding as
to what a human is.
When we consider that God is, quite
literally, infinitely removed from men, the parallel
suffers immeasurably. All we can truly understand about
God is what He has revealed to us in the Bible. And
while this does give us a great deal of accurate
information, it obviously does not give us exhaustive
information that plumbs the depths of His infinity.
Indeed, one of the glories of eternal salvation (John
5:24; 6:47) will be that finite creatures will forever
learn wondrous things about the exhaustless glories and
perfections of an infinite God. This heavenly knowledge
will make the things learned on earth pale in contrast.
Regardless, what Christians can do is
accept what God has revealed and what the Church has
formulated historically that is in accordance with
biblical teaching. So just what does it mean that God is
a Trinity?
God has revealed that He is three persons
or centers of consciousness within one Godhead. Again,
because the concept cannot be fully comprehended does
not mean the doctrine cannot be accurately described or
defined. One good definition of the Trinity is provided
by noted church historian Philip Schaff:
God is one
in three persons or hypostases [i.e., distinct persons
of the same nature], each person expressing the whole
fullness of the Godhead, with all his attributes. The
term persona is taken neither in the old sense
of a mere personation or form of manifestation (prosopon,
face, mask), nor in the modern sense of an
independent, separate being or individual, but in a
sense which lies between these two conceptions, and
thus avoids Sabellianism on the one hand, and
Tritheism on the other. [Sabellianism taught that God
was one person only who existed in three different
forms or manifestations; tritheism refers to a belief
in three separate gods.] The divine persons are in one
another, and form a perpetual intercommunication and
motion within the divine essence. Each person has all
the divine attributes which are inherent in the divine
essence, but each has also a characteristic
individuality or property, which is peculiar to the
person, and can not be communicated; the Father is
unbegotten, the Son begotten, the Holy Ghost is
proceeding. In this Trinity there is no priority or
posteriority of time, no superiority or inferiority of
rank, but the three persons are coeternal and coequal.111
It is important to note here that the
Bible teaches both monotheism and trinitarianism. It
teaches a monotheistic view—that there is only
one true God—and a trinitarian view—that this one
true God exists eternally as three persons. This
triunity of God was defended from earliest times as
Christian theologians and apologists were careful to
safeguard both the unity of God against tritheism and to
also maintain the respective deity of the three persons.
As Gregory of Nyssa stated in his letter to Ablabius,
To say that
there are three gods…is wicked…not to bear witness to
the deity of the Son and the Spirit…is ungodly and
absurd. …therefore one God must be confessed by us
according to the witness of Scripture, "Hear Israel,
the Lord your God is one Lord" (Deut. 6:4), even if
the word "deity" extends through the holy trinity.12
So, how do we know that the doctrine of
the Trinity is biblical? That the Trinity is a biblical
doctrine can be seen from five simple statements
supported by the Bible. And, since the Jehovah’s
Witnesses are one group so adamantly opposed to the
doctrine as being something "pagan," "unreasonable" and
"of the devil," we thought it might be instructive to
them to cite their own Bible, The New World
Translation (NWT; 1970 edition), in support of the
doctrine. (In the scriptures below, the term "Holy
Spirit" is not capitalized because Jehovah’s Witnesses
believe that "holy spirit" is merely God’s active,
impersonal force, not a true Person.) Thus, even the
New World Translation teaches the doctrine of the
Trinity.
1. There is
only one true God: "For there is one God,
and one mediator between God and men…" (1 Timothy 2:5
NWT, emphasis added; cf. Deuteronomy 4:35, 6:4; Isaiah
43:10).
2. The
Father is God: "There is actually to us one God
the Father…(1 Corinthians 8:6, NWT, emphasis
added; cf. John 17:1–3; 2 Corinthians 1:3; Philippians
2:11; Colossians 1:3; 1 Peter 1:2).
3. Jesus
Christ, the Son, is God: "…but he [Jesus] was also
calling God his own Father, making himself equal to
God": (John 5:18 NWT, emphasis added); "In answer,
Thomas said to him [Jesus]: ‘My Lord and my God!’"
(John 20:28 NWT, emphasis added, cf. Isaiah 9:6; John
1:1 Romans 9:5; Titus 2:13; 2 Peter 1:1).
4. The Holy
Spirit is a Person, is eternal, and is therefore God:
"However, when that one arrives, the spirit of the
truth, he will guide you into all the truth,
for he will not speak of his own
impulse, but what things he hears he will speak
and he will declare to you the things coming"
(John 14:13 NWT, emphasis added). The Holy Spirit is
also eternal: "the Father…will give you another helper
to be with you forever, the spirit of the
truth" (John 14:16-17) "How much more will the blood
of the Christ, who through an everlasting
spirit offered himself without blemish to God…"
(Hebrews 9:14, NWT, emphasis added). The Holy Spirit
is therefore God: "But Peter said: ‘Ananias, why has
Satan emboldened you to play false to the holy
spirit….’ You have played false, not to men, but to
God" (Acts 5:3, 4 NWT, emphasis added).
5. The
Father, Son and Holy Spirit are distinct Persons
with equal authority: "…Baptizing them in the name
of the Father and the Son and of the Holy Spirit";
"Now I exhort you, brothers, through our Lord
Jesus Christ and through the love of the
spirit, that you exert yourselves with me in prayers
to God for me"; "The undeserved kindness of the
Lord Jesus Christ and the love of God
and the sharing in the holy spirit be with all
of you" (Matthew 28:19; Romans 15:30; 2 Corinthians
13:14 NWT, emphasis added).
In Scripture, the Father, the Son, and
the Holy Spirit are clearly distinguished, yet there is
only one God. Thus, "There is… one Spirit… one Lord
[Jesus]… one God and Father of all…" (Ephesians 4:4-6;
cf., 1 Corinthians 12:4-11). Further, the Father, Son
and Holy Spirit are never identified as one Person only,
as modern modalists teach, such as the United
Pentecostal Church/"Jesus Only" groups. For example, in
John 6:38 Jesus says, "I came down from heaven, not to
do my own will, but the will of Him that sent me." In
that the will is the essence of personality, we
certainly have two personalities here.
For 1,900 years the historic Christian
Church has found in the Bible the doctrine of the
Trinity. This can be seen by anyone who reads the Church
Fathers and studies the historic creeds. The creeds
declared faith in only one God, yet clearly taught that
both the Son and the Holy Spirit were God. For example,
the Creed of Nicaea in 325 A.D. was the creed of 318
church fathers. It reads, "We believe…in one Lord Jesus
Christ, the Son of God, begotten of the Father as only
begotten,… Light from Light, true God from true
God, begotten not created."13
The Constantinopolitan Creed of 381 A.D.,
a creed of 150 church fathers, reads, "[We believe] in
the Holy Spirit, the Lord and Life-giver, Who
proceeds from the Father, Who is worshiped and
glorified together with the Father and Son,…"14
Although the official, precise definition
and explanation of the Trinity codified at Nicaea (351
A.D.) and Constantinople (381 A.D.) is lacking in the
New Testament and writings of the early church leaders,
the fact of the Trinity was clearly recognized by both
the apostles and post-apostolic fathers. Scholars of
historical theology could be cited in abundant
confirmation, e.g., "The second-century Fathers were
convinced that the Godhead is a triad."15
And,
From the
Old Testament and the Judaism of the intertestamental
period, the early church accepted the conviction that
God, the maker of heaven and earth, is one…. In
addition, even before the canonization of the
New Testament books, the apostolic traditions and
popular faith of the church were indelibly marked
by the notion of a plurality of divine persons…the
idea of the triadic manifestation of the Godhead was
present from the earliest period as part of
Christian piety and thinking. But no steps were
taken to work through the implications of this idea
and to arrive at a cohesive doctrine of God. The
triadic pattern supplies the raw data from which the
more developed descriptions of the Christian doctrine
of God will come.16
Thus, in his book on the Trinity, God
in Three Persons, E. Calvin Beisner has provided an
in- depth study of the historic development of the
Trinity from apostolic times through the final form of
the Nicene Creed which was adopted at the Council of
Constantinople in A.D. 381. He includes a line-by-line
comparison of the Creed with New Testament teaching,
proving that the doctrine of the Trinity as thus
formulated is biblical.17
Indeed, the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit
are so effortlessly and consistently linked in Scripture
that to assume God is not three Persons makes it
impossible to understand some passages. For example,
consider the following Scriptures:
Therefore
go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them
in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the
Holy Spirit (Matthew 28:19).
May 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).
For through
him [Jesus] we both have access to the Father by one
Spirit (Ephesians 2:18; cf., 3:11-16).
But you,
dear friends, build yourselves up in your most holy
faith and pray in the Holy Spirit. Keep yourselves in
God’s love as you wait for the mercy of our Lord Jesus
Christ to bring you to eternal life (Jude 20, 21).
To further illustrate, try answering the
following questions without concluding that the Bible
teaches the doctrine of the Trinity:
1. Who raised Jesus from the dead? The
Father (Romans 6:4; Acts 3:26; 1 Thessalonians 1:10)?
The Son (John 2:19-21; 10:17, 18)? The Holy Spirit
(Romans 8:11)? Or God (Hebrews 13:20; Acts
13:30; 17:31)?
2. Who does the Bible say is God? The
Father (Ephesians 4:6)? The Son (Titus 2:13; John 1:1;
20:28)? The Holy Spirit (Acts 5:3, 4)? Or God
(Deuteronomy 4:35; Isaiah, 45:18)?
3. Who created the world? The Father
(Ephesians 3:9-14; 4:6)? The Son (Colossians 1:16, 17;
John 1:1-3)? The Holy Spirit (Genesis 1:2; Psalm
104:30)? Or God (Genesis 1:1; Hebrews 11:3)?
4. Who saves and regenerates man? The
Father (1 Peter 1:3)? The Son (John 5:21, 4:14)? The
Holy Spirit (John 3:6, Titus 3:5)? Or God (1
John 3:9)?
5. Who justifies man? The Father
(Jeremiah 23:6, cf. 2 Corinthians 5:19)? The Son
(Romans 5:9; 10:4; 2 Corinthians 5:19, 21)? The Holy
Spirit (1 Corinthians 6:11; Galatians 5:5)? Or God
(Romans 4:6; 9:33)?
6. Who sanctifies man? The Father (Jude
1)? The Son (Titus 2:14)? The Holy Spirit (1 Peter
1:2)? Or God (Exodus 31:13)?
7. Who propitiated God’s just anger
against man for his sins? The Father (1 John 4:14;
John 3:16; 17:5; 18:11)? The Son (Matthew 26:28; John
1:29; 1 John 2:2)? The Holy Spirit (Hebrews 9:14)? Or
God (2 Corinthians 5:19, 21; Acts 20:28; 1 John
4:10)?
Thus, although one member of the Trinity
may have a more prominent part in a specific action or
role such as creating, redeeming, etc., all three
Persons are still involved. What this means is that it
is proper for purposes of illustration to substitute (or
include) any specific Person of the Trinity in any event
in the Old Testament or New Testament where the term
"God" is used. In fact, Scripture itself does this. In
Acts 28:25-26 the Holy Spirit is said to speak to
Isaiah, but in Isaiah 6:8-9 the speaker of the same
words is said to be God.
In his Christian Theology, Millard
J. Erickson offers six points that must be included in a
proper understanding of the doctrine of the Trinity:
1. There is
only one God.
2. Each
Person in the Godhead is equally deity.
3. The
threeness and oneness of God constitute a paradox or
an antinomy—merely an apparent contradiction, not a
genuine one. This is because God’s threeness and
oneness do not exist in the same respect—i.e., they
are not simultaneously affirming and denying the same
thing at the same time and in the same manner. God’s
oneness refers to the divine essence; His threeness to
the plurality of persons.
4. The
Trinity is eternal—there have always been three
persons, each of whom is eternally divine. One or more
of the Persons did not come into being at a point in
time or at some point in time became divine. There has
never been any change in the essential divine nature
of the triune God. He is and will be what He has
always been forever.
5. The
function of one member in the Trinity may for a time
be subordinate to one or both of the other members,
although this does not mean He is in anyway inferior
in essence. Each Person of the Trinity has had, for a
period of time, a particular function unique to
Himself. In other words, the particular function that
is sometimes unique to a given Person in the Trinity
is only a temporary role exercised for a given
purpose. It does not represent a change in His status
or essence. When the second Person of the Trinity
incarnated and became Jesus Christ, He did not become
less than the Father, although He did become
subordinate to the Father functionally. In like
manner, the Holy Spirit is now subordinated to the
ministry of the Son (John Chs. 14-16), as well as to
the will of the Father, but He is not less than they
are.
Certain
examples may illustrate this. A wife may have a
subordinate role to a husband, but she is also his
equal. Equals in some business enterprise may elect
one of their number to serve as head or a chairperson
for a period, without any change in rank. During World
War II, the highest ranking member of an aircraft, the
pilot, would nevertheless carefully subordinate his
decisions to the bombardier, a lower ranking officer.
6. Finally,
as noted, the Trinity is incomprehensible. Even when
we are in heaven and fully redeemed, we will still not
totally comprehend God because it is impossible that a
finite creature could ever comprehend an infinite
being: Thus, "Those aspects of God which we never
fully comprehend should be regarded as mysteries that
go beyond our reason rather than as paradoxes which
conflict with reason."18
Indeed, the problems inherent in fully
comprehending the doctrine of the Trinity are also
inherent in the Person of Jesus Christ. Thus, the
doctrine known as the hypostatic union assimilates all
the biblical data in order to accurately describe the
nature of the Incarnation. It declares that Jesus is
undiminished deity and full humanity in one person.
Jesus Christ is both God and man. Jesus is not part
human and part divine—he is fully man and fully God.
Because of this He has two natures, one
divine and one human. But He is not two persons i.e., He
is not schizophrenic. Further, He is one person with two
different kinds of consciousness (a divine consciousness
and also a human consciousness). Also, He is one person
with two wills (if He truly has two natures, then He
must have two wills, one human and one divine), however,
Jesus Christ never had a conflict of wills.
Christ’s two natures were not altered by
their union within the one person of Christ; both divine
and human characteristics and deeds may be attributed to
the Person of Christ under any of His names whether they
are divine or human titles. Also, both the human and
divine natures of Christ may be manifested during a
single event. Finally, the union of Christ’s two natures
was not altered by His death, burial, resurrection or
ascension but will remain throughout eternity.19
The above material illustrates the
importance of precision for accurately formulating the
biblical data—and also how easily misconceptions might
arise concerning the nature of God. This is why God
encourages and commands us to "Be diligent to present
yourself approved to God as a workman who does not need
to be ashamed, handling accurately the word of
truth" (2 Timothy 2:15). Christians should therefore
study the doctrine of the Trinity in order to know how
to effectively deal with the biblical data and answer
the arguments of those in opposition:
And the
Lord’s servant must not quarrel; instead, he must be
kind to everyone, able to teach, not resentful. Those
who oppose him he must gently instruct, in the hope
that God will grant them repentance leading them to a
knowledge of the truth, and that they will come to
their senses and escape from the trap of the devil,
who has taken them captive to do his will (2 Timothy
2:24-26).
Thomas a Kempis once stated Christian
priorities eloquently when he wrote what is also a
fitting conclusion to this article:
Grant to
us, O Lord, to know that which is worth knowing, to
love that which is worth loving, to praise that which
pleaseth Thee most, to esteem that which is most
precious unto Thee, and to dislike whatsoever is evil
in Thy eyes. Grant us with true judgment to
distinguish things that differ, and above all to
search out and to do what is well pleasing unto Thee,
through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
Notes
1 q.v.,
"Jesus Christ," Watchtower Bible and Tract Society,
Aid to Bible Understanding (Brooklyn, NY:
Watchtower Bible and Tract Society, 1971), p. 918, p.
437; Anthony A. Hoekema, The Four Major Cults
(Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans, 1970), p. 295 citing
Let God Be True (1952), p. 74.
2
Watchtower Bible and Tract Society, Things in Which
It Is Impossible for God to Lie (Brooklyn, NY:
Watchtower Bible and Tract Society, 1965), p. 269.
3 C. T.
Russell, Studies in the Scriptures - Vol. 7: The
Finished Mystery, p. 410 cited by Wilton M. Nelson
and Richard K. Smith, "Jehovah’s Witnesses" in David
J. Hesselgrave, ed., Dynamic Religious Movements:
Case Studies of Rapidly Growing Religious Movements
Around the World (Grand Rapids: Baker, 1978), p.
181.
4 Cited by
Charles S. Braden, These Also Believe: A Study of
Modern American Cults and Minority Religious Movements
(New York: Macmillan, 1970), p. 371 quoting Judge
Rutherford’s Uncovered (Brooklyn, NY: WBTS,
1937), pp. 48-49; Let God Be True (1946), pp.
82-83, 93.
5 See John
Ankerberg, John Weldon, Everything You Ever Wanted
to Know About Mormonism (Eugene, OR: Harvest
House, 1992), ch. 10.
6 Bruce R.
McConkie, Mormon Doctrine (Salt Lake City:
Bookcraft, 1977), pp. 270, 576-77.
7 Mary
Baker Eddy, Science and Health with Key to the
Scriptures (Boston, MA: The First Church of
Christ, Scientist, 1971), pp. 256, 515.
8 Victor
Paul Wierwille, Jesus Christ Is Not God (New
Knoxville, OH: American Christian Press, 1975), pp.
2-3, 6-7, 25.
9 Philip
Schaff, ed., rev. by David S. Schaff, The Creeds of
Christendom: With a History and Critical Notes - Vol.
1: The History of the Creeds (Grand Rapids: Baker
Book House, 1983), pp. 39-40.
10 Ibid.,
p. 38.
11 Ibid.,
the Greek term was transliterated.
12 "Gregory
of Nyssa…to Ablabius," in William G. Rusch, trans. and
ed., The Trinitarian Controversy (Philadelphia:
Fortress Press, 1980), pp. 149, 151-52.
13 John H.
Leith, Creeds of the Churches: A Reader in
Christian Doctrine from the Bible to the Present
3rd ed., (Atlanta: John Knox Press, 1982), pp. 30-31.
14 Ibid.,
p. 33, emphasis added.
15 J. G.
Davies, The Early Christian Church: A History of
Its First Five Centuries (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker,
1980), 97.
16 Rusch,
2, emphasis added.
17 E.
Calvin Beisner, God in Three Persons (Wheaton,
IL: Tyndale, 1984).
18 Millard
J. Erickson, Christian Theology (Grand Rapids,
MI: Baker, 1986, one vol. edition), pp. 337-338.
19 For a
good discussion see Robert Glenn Gromacki, The
Virgin Birth: Doctrine of Deity (New York: Thomas
Nelson, 1974), chs. 9, 11-13.
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