The Son
of God:
Not everyone believes on him. Not everyone
believes that there is a Son of God. Of those who
believe that there is a Son of God, most of them
do not believe the same things about him.
First,
there are those who don’t believe that Jesus is
the Son of God:
Atheists & Agnostics: To them there is no God, so
for them, there cannot be a Son of God.
Muslims: They say that “Allah had no
Son”, that’s true, Allah is not the God of the
Bible.
They violently oppose the Son
of God, even someone else believing on him. If
their god Allah ever does have a son, he will
probably be the antichrist.
Hindu, Buddhist: The mind altering religions,
lots of different kinds, all over the world.
To them the Son of God is just
an enlightened teacher, with knowledge,
compassion, and was a good morale example.
Israel: They rejected their Messiah
over this very issue:
John 10:31 Then the Jews took up
stones again to stone him.
32 Jesus answered them,
Many good works have I shewed you from my Father;
for which of those works do ye stone me?
33 The Jews answered him,
saying, For a good work we stone thee not; but for
blasphemy; and because that thou, being a man,
makest thyself God.
36 Say ye of him, whom the
Father hath sanctified, and sent into the world,
Thou blasphemest; because I said, I am the Son of
God?
At his trial:
Matthew 26:63 But Jesus held his
peace. And the high priest answered and said unto
him, I adjure thee by the living God, that thou
tell us whether thou be the Christ, the Son of
God.
64 Jesus saith unto him,
Thou hast said: nevertheless I say unto you,
Hereafter shall ye see the Son of man sitting on
the right hand of power, and coming in the clouds
of heaven.
65 Then the high priest
rent his clothes, saying, He hath spoken
blasphemy; what further need have we of witnesses?
behold, now ye have heard his blasphemy.
66 What think ye? They
answered and said, He is guilty of death.
Then on the cross:
Matthew 27:39 And they that passed by
reviled him, wagging their heads,
40 And saying, Thou that
destroyest the temple, and buildest it in
three days, save thyself. If thou be the Son of
God, come down from the cross.
41 Likewise also the chief
priests mocking him, with the scribes and
elders, said,
42 He saved others;
himself he cannot save. If he be the King of
Israel, let him now come down from the cross, and
we will believe him.
43 He trusted in God; let
him deliver him now, if he will have him: for he
said, I am the Son of God.
But when he died, the testimony
for Jesus, against Israel, came from an heathen
Roman:
Matthew 27:54 Now when the centurion,
and they that were with him, watching Jesus, saw
the earthquake, and those things that were done,
they feared greatly, saying, Truly this was the
Son of God.
Next,
what about those who believe that Jesus is the Son
of God?
JW’s: To them Jesus was the first
and highest creation of God, Michael the Archangel
– made in the image of God, so hence the Son of
God.
They believe that the Son of
God then created the other sons of God – the
angels and then Adam. Obvious Heresy
Mormons: They believe that God had two
sons, like Isaac had Esau & Jacob.
They believe that God had Jesus
and Lucifer, with Lucifer being the younger
brother. Obvious Heresy
Now the
JW’s say that there is no Trinity and the Mormons
say that there is.
You see,
the key issue is not whether some say they believe
the Trinity, but rather who are they believing in,
when they believe in the Son of God.
For both
of these, whether Pro-Trinity or Anti-Trinity
–they are heretics.
What
about those who believe in the Son of God, and
believe closer to what we believe, and yet don’t
believe the Trinity?
These
are the Apostolic, the United Pentecostals -
basically all the Oneness people. Most are
Pentecostals, but not all - some are very close to
Baptists.
Now
since, they say that there is no Trinity, we
automatically lump them with the JW’s, and all the
non-Trinitarians together - that is a very, very
big mistake.
Unitarians say no Trinity, but they
consider Jesus at most a “deified man”.
JW’s say no Trinity, but they
consider Jesus a god with a small “g”, a created
god.
Oneness say no Trinity, but they
consider that Jesus, the Father, and the Holy
Ghost are really the same person.
The
Oneness are different from all the other
anti-Trinity people, because they believe that
Jesus is God, the Almighty himself.
All the
other anti-Trinity people deny the Deity of
Christ.
The
Oneness believe strongly in the Deity of Christ,
since they believe that Jesus is the Father.
Heresy,
but not so obvious But what to them is the Son of
God?
Oneness: They believe that the Spirit is
the Father, and the flesh is the Son.
They believe that the Son had a
beginning, at the incarnation.
They would quote one of the
four passages that say, “Thou art my Son, this day
have I begotten thee”.
Like the JW’s and Mormons, they
ascribe the Son of God as less than Almighty, and
different from the Almighty.
They all believe that the Son
of God had a beginning. They deny Eternal Sonship.
Catholics: In creed they believe the
Trinity. In creed they believe in the Deity of the
Son of God.
But in practice, their Trinity,
as demonstrated by their art, or convictions of an
average Catholic, differs from the Trinity of
their creed.
Their paintings have an old man God, a young man
God, and a bird.
Their painting the Father as an old man and the
Son as a young man, implies that the Father was
around before the Son.
This is Semi-Arian, and also tri-theistic.
Trinity
comes from a Latin conjunction for “Tri-Unity”.
It means
more than simply “three-in-one”, in fact it
equally stands for “one-in-three”.
This
aspect, the vast majority of Trinitarians do not
believe.
To the
Jews, “one-in-three” is a stumbling block, as they
cannot accept that the LORD is three anything, but
only one.
To the
Gentiles, “three-in-one” is a stumbling block, as
they cannot accept that three anything can
actually be only thing.
For the
Gentiles, “one-in-three” is no problem, since they
already conceived of their false gods in the
plural.
Tertullian
is considered the first person to craft this term
Trinity, to codify, or encapsulate, the doctrine
of the Godhead in a single, theological word.
It was a
great idea, and we should be glad that he did, as
for centuries, it made it possible for us to have
a rational concept for the nature of the Godhead.
Trinity
means, then, that the Almighty has a nature more
complex than men or angels have.
The
Almighty is a single Being:
Deuteronomy 6:4 ¶ Hear, O Israel: The
LORD our God is one LORD:
John 4:24 God is a
Spirit: and they that worship him must worship him
in spirit and in truth.
However,
this single Being exists simultaneously as three
distinct persons.
Now the
vast majority of people who say that they believe
the Trinity equate person with being.
So that
though they say they believe in a single Being,
they actually believe that the Trinity is three
distinct beings,
which is tritheism.
This is
because on earth, a person and a being are one and
the same.
There is
nothing in nature for us to relate to - to us, all occurrences in
creation, a person is a being and a being is a
person.
Even the
tri-partite nature of man (body, soul, &
spirit) is not three persons.
What is
a person?
A
person, specifically when talking about the LORD,
is the existence, or presence, of three things: intellect,
emotion, and will.
Intellect:
Matthew 11:27 All things are
delivered unto me of my Father: and no man knoweth
the Son, but the Father; neither knoweth any man
the Father, save the Son, and he to
whomsoever the Son will reveal him.
The Father
John 7:29 But I know him: for I
am from him, and he hath sent me.
The Son
I Corinthians 2:11 For what man knoweth the
things of a man, save the spirit of man which is
in him? even so the things of God knoweth no man,
but the Spirit of God.
The Holy Ghost
Emotion:
John 5:20 For the Father loveth
the Son, and sheweth him all things that himself
doeth: and he will shew him greater works than
these, that ye may marvel.
The Father
John 14:31 But that the world may
know that I love the Father; and as the Father
gave me commandment, even so I do. Arise, let us
go hence.
The Son
Ephesians 4:30 And grieve not the holy
Spirit of God, whereby ye are sealed unto the day
of redemption.
The Holy Ghost
Will:
John 6:39 And this is the
Father’s will which hath sent me, that of all
which he hath given me I should lose nothing, but
should raise it up again at the last day.
40 And this is the will of
him that sent me, that every one which seeth the
Son, and believeth on him, may have everlasting
life: and I will raise him up at the last day.
The Father
Matthew 26:39 And he went a little
further, and fell on his face, and prayed, saying,
O my Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass
from me: nevertheless not as I will, but as thou wilt.
The Son
I Corinthians 12:11 But all these worketh
that one and the selfsame Spirit, dividing to
every man severally as he will.
The Holy Ghost