Trinity

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TRINITY & OTHER DOCTRINES OF GOD: PROF. M. M. NINAN familiar to us from the Nicene Creed. This exemplifies development of doctrine at its best. The Bible may not use the word '<strong>Trinity</strong>', but trinitarian theology does not go against the Bible. On the contrary, Catholics believe that trinitarianism has carefully developed a biblical teaching for later generations." Nontrinitarians such as Jehovah's Witnesses point to several occurrences in the Scriptures. where Jesus is purportedly shown to be lesser, or subordinate to God the Father. For example, at John 14:28, Jesus stated that "the Father is greater" than he (John 14:28). Jesus claimed that his teachings were not his own, but had originated from his Father (John 8:28); Jesus disavowed knowledge of God's appointed time, stating that only the Father knows the day and the hour (Mark 13:32); Apostle Paul wrote that Jesus "learned obedience" from his Father while in heaven (Hebrews 5:8); Jesus questioned being given the title of "Good Teacher" says they should give credit and honor to his Father (Mark 10:17,18); The Scriptures identify the "one God out of whom all things are" as being separate from the "one Lord, Jesus Christ" (1 Corinthians 8:6); Christ the Son is called the "firstborn of all creation" (Colossians 1:15); Christ the Son, the Amen, is called "the beginning of God's creation" (Revelation 3:14); Jesus says he is ascending to "my Father, and to your Father; and to my God, and to your God" (John 20:17); Jesus Christ refers to Father as "the only true God." (John 17:3) Jesus quoted Deuteronomy 6:4 when saying in Mark 12:29 "'The most important [commandment] is this: Hear, O Israel, the LORD our God is one LORD.'" In Deuteronomy 6:4, the plural form of the Hebrew word "God" (Elohim) is used, which even if interpreted to denote majesty, excellence and the superlative. The oneness Echad -One - used here means unity of many. Additionally, the Tetragrammaton name for God (YHWH, Yahweh, or Jehovah) appears twice in this verse, leading to the rendering: "The LORD [YHWH] our Gods (Elohim) is one LORD [YHWH]."Therefore, nontrinitarian Christians such as Jehovah's Witnesses, as well as certain Jewish scholars, point to Deuteronomy 6:4 (Shema) as essentially an assertion of strict monotheism, it can also be interpreted a unity of many within Elohim and YHWH. Texts “that seem to imply that the title God was not used for Jesus" are: Mark 10:18, Matthew 27:46, John 20:17, Ephesians 1:17, 2 Corinthians 1:3, 1 Peter 1:3, John 17:3, 1 Corinthians 8:6, Ephesians 4:4-6, 1 Corinthians 12:4-6, 2 Corinthians 13:14, 1 Timothy 2:5, John 14:28, Mark 13:32, Philippians 2:5-10, and 1 Corinthians 15:24-28 Texts where, “by reason of textual variants or syntax, the use of 'God' for Jesus is dubious" are: 163
TRINITY & OTHER DOCTRINES OF GOD: PROF. M. M. NINAN Gal 2:20, Acts 20:28, John 1:18, Colossians 2:2, 2 Thessalonians 1:12, 1John 5:20, Romans 9:5, and 2 Peter 1:1 Texts “where clearly Jesus is called God” are Hebrews 1:8-9, John 1:1, and John 20:28. Trinitarians (who hold that Jesus Christ is distinct from God the Father ), and nontrinitarians who hold Jesus Christ as Almighty God (such as the Modalists), say that these statements are based on Jesus' existence as the Son of God in human flesh; that he is therefore both God and man, who became "lower than the angels, for our sake," (Hebrews 2:6-8) and that he was tempted as humans are tempted, but did not sin (Hebrews 4:14-16). Hence in these descriptions Jesus is given as a subordinate Elohim, both to the Father and even to angels Some nontrinitarians counter the belief that the Son was limited only during his earthly life by citing "the head of Christ is God" (1 Corinthians 11:3), placing Jesus in an inferior position to the Father even after his resurrection and exaltation. They also cite Acts 5:31 and Philippians 2:9, indicating that Jesus became glorified and exalted after ascension to heaven, and to Hebrews 9:24, Acts 7:55, and 1 Corinthians 15:24, 28, regarding Jesus as a distinct personality in heaven, still with a lesser position than the Father, all after Christ's ascension. John 1:1 John 1:1 – was God. In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word The contention with this verse is that there is a distinction between God and the Logos (or "the Word"). Trinitarians contend that the third part of the verse (John 1:1c) translates as "and the Word was God", pointing to a distinction as subjects between God and the Logos but an equivalence in nature. Some nontrinitarians (Jehovah's Witnesses, specifically) contend that the Koine Greek ("kai theos ên ho logos") should instead be translated as "and the Word was a god", or as what they see as the more literal word-for-word translation from the Greek as "and a God was the Word", basing this on the contention that the section is an example of an anarthrous, that is, "theos" lacks the definite article, meaning its use was indefinite - "a god", which could denote either Almighty God or a divine being in general. Nontrinitarians also contend that had the author of John's gospel wished to say "and the Word was God" that he could have easily written "kai ho theos ên ho logos", but he did not. In this way, nontrinitarians contend that the Logos would be considered to be the pre-existent Jesus, who is actually distinct from God. The argument being that the distinction between the Logos and the Father was not just in terms of "person", but also in terms of "theos” Meaning that not only were they distinct persons, but also distinct "Gods", given the fact that the second occurrence of "theos" was an indefinite noun; and that only the Father was treated as the absolute "Theos" in John 1:1. The argument 164
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Trinity

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