The Athanasian creed gives a summary of the early Church's
teaching on the Trinity :
We worship one God in Trinity and Trinity in Unity,
neither confounding the Persons nor dividing the substance. For
there is one Person of the Father, another of the Son, and another
of the Holy Ghost; but the Godhead of the Father, of the Son, and
of the Holy Ghost, is all one, the glory equal, the majesty
co-eternal. The Father is made of none, neither created nor
begotten; the Son is of the Father alone, not made, nor created,
but begotten; the Holy Ghost is of the Father and of the Son,
neither made, nor created, nor begotten, but
proceeding.
God is without equal simply because there is no other God that
can match His power. The Trinity is not of three Gods. Far from it.
The Trinity is One Ultimate God in three Persons: Father, Son and
Holy Spirit. Now, the Father is not the Son, nor is the Son the
Holy Spirit, but the three Persons are God. (I realize this is
already very difficult for many to understand; I do not pretend to
understand it fully.) Know that removing even one Person from the
equation ceases for God to exist as each Person is not a God in
itself.
At this point you may argue that God could not exist in Three
Persons. Well, what is to stop Him from doing that?
What could be plainer than Isaiah 40:18: "To whom, then, will
you compare God? What image will you compare him to?"
and Isaiah 46.5: "To whom will you compare me or count me equal?
To whom will you liken me that we may be compared?"
Moreover, we know Jesus as the Word of God, and nothing in the
Bible states His identity clearer than the opening sentences of the
Gospel of John: "The Word was WITH God and the Word was GOD"
Jesus subjects himself to the Father for He is the perfect Son.
This does not make Him in any way inferior to the Father in terms
of power or ability; it is simply that He follows the Will of the
Father. The regional concept of a good son is stricter than today:
a son is a representative of his father. Perfect sonship is one in
which the son can be considered as the full image of his father and
what his father stands for. A perfect son would not rebel nor
question his father. In that sense, a perfect son is one with his
father, thus John 10:30 says, "Jesus said: "I and the Father
are one." and John 14:9: "He who has seen Me has seen the
Father." and John 12:45: "He who beholds Me beholds the
One who sent Me."
Again, the fact that the Lord admits that He has no knowledge of
when the End of Days will arrive is not a sign of inferiority. When
God became man in Christ Jesus, God the Son did not "give up" His
divine attributes, but simply took on a human nature and denied His
human mind access to His divine mind.
Consequently, when He said He did not know something, He was
speaking truly since in the incarnation He willingly gave up access
to omniscience, though He remained omniscient, since God cannot
give up any of His attributes and still remain God (God is
unchanging). Therefore, when Jesus said "the Father is Greater than
I" (John 14:28), He was referring to His current incarnate position
in relation to the first Person of the Trinity.
How is God able to send Himself down to the Earth? In fact,
contrary to your assertion, if God is a Trinity, this will answer
the question perfectly. God as the Son in the form of Jesus Christ
descended upon the Earth and was born of a virgin. The Holy Spirit,
who proceeds from the Father and the Son, also roams the Earth to
strengthen those of faith.
"Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations,
baptizing them in the name of the Father and the
Son and the Holy Spirit." (Matt. 28:19) [Note the use of the
singular.]
My friend, in fact, the last few questions can be perfectly
understood with the Trinity: Three Persons in whom there is One
ultimate God.
my friend, pretty good explanation..in fact the verses u quoted
serve even more to pronouce trinity as null.its admirable that u
admit u do not fully understand the trinity scope as i believe no
man can explain it. now back to jesus day,he n his disciples were
preaching to masses usually made up of lowly educated people.and
words used to convey messages were simple yet
effective.however,none of the messages said anything to relate
jesus as being part of a mystical Godhead.rather, in all verses
found,jesus is always subjecting himself to God(in order not to
confuse anyone,i will use the name Jehovah,jesus n HS) being the
perfect son he is.
the 2 ish verss u quote are perfect to..to whom can u compare
God to???none..not jesus,not HS,noone..for Jehovah alone is God and
to him only shall one render sacred services.
John 1:1 stated the Word was God..should we look at the original
words in greek, ho lo'gos) and the context of the verse, we will
see great diff..1st,someone who is with another person cant be the
same person..eg, i went to the movies with u,can people see u n i
are the same person?as of the journal of biblical literature,
edited by jesuit joseph a.fitzmyer,he notes that if the latter part
of john 1:1 to b interpreted as "the" God,it will contadict the
preceding clause reading the Word was with God.
in 1808 new testament in an improved version bible reads as the
word was a god(with the small g)
1864 the emphatic diaglott,interlinear reading by benjamin
wilson is as "n a god was the word..there r 6 more translation of
the same verses that support the word as a god only but not the
God.
the greek noun the-os(god) appeared twice in john1:1.1st
occurance refers to almighty God was preceded by the word
ton(the) to distinct the 2 identities being addressed.
if we understand the meaning of subjecting oneself to another,
we will know that for God to subject himself to any other, is very
humiliating(ref Ish verses above). also,only lesser beings will
subject themselves to another.surely the representative u mentioned
means the son is the represenatation of the father,now can u as a
son represent yourself as a father to meet somebody else?jus as
jesus said i n the father are one,he later also says people who put
faith in him are also one with him so in turn one with the father,
does the r/s now spans to more den 3 in 1?
though jesus mentioned he who seen him has seen the father, we
must not forget that earlier,God also said none can see me yet
lives.so is God contradictin himself?NO..but it all makes sense if
the son is a very good representative of the father..jus like how
humans sometimes says u remind me of ur father..
God sending himself down in a trinity concept will mess things
up..read God send God down to b born by a virgin so tat later
people will say God has a beginning by being born by a sinful
mortal girl.humiliating isnt it? if we read it without trinity
involved, God sent his only be gotten son(begotten means already
has a beginning,someone must beget the begotten) down to be born by
a virgin so tat people will know that God loved the world so much
to send his only son to save them.the holy spirit comes from the
God in the form of dove upon jesus' baptism.people hear God's
approval of jesus.now does almighty God needs an approval from
anyone?
matt 28:19 mentions the father,son n hs..its jus as good as
grouping tom dick harry together.eg, go make disciples in the name
of the abbot,the vice abbot and their pa.does this in anyway
support trinity?also, old days did not preach about trinity nor was
the idea found throughout the bible.church yes,but not bible..
so the few qns i asked if answered with trinity will only make a
mockery.but thanks for the informative reply and sorry for the wall
of text n use of short forms.
i have more info of trinity that might interest u in ur quest to
gain accurate knowledge of God n form a better r/s with him =)