Examining the Doctrine of the Trinity

John chapter 14 really reveals some powerful truth about the Father, the Son, and the holy Ghost. Now a lot of folks who may not be real familiar with my writing just said something like this to themselves: "Oh, he's going to write about 'the Trinity' today." Well, bear with me here,; though there is a Father, a Son, and holy Ghost; there IS NO 'Trinity,' at least not in the Bible. But let's look at a few things that Jesus said that clearly gives us the answer about who IS in the 'God Family' in heaven. "Philip saith unto him, Lord, show us the Father, and it sufficeth us. Jesus saith unto him, Have I been so long time with you, and yet hast thou not known me, Philip? he that hath seen me hath seen the Father; and how sayest thou then, Show us the Father? Believest thou not that I am in the Father, and the Father in me? the words that I speak unto you I speak not of myself: but the Father that dwelleth in me, he doeth the works. Believe me that I am in the Father, and the Father in me" (Jn. 14:8-11). NOW I've got the 'Oneness,' or 'Jesus Only' brethren thinking that I'm going in THAT direction; but I'm not going there either. Funny how the 'Oneness' and 'Trinity' adherents both know that the other is in wrong, but what they do NOT realize is that their doctrine is in error too. I believe Jesus is right about it, so let's go forward here and look at what he said. Yes, it's true that he said if you have seen him that you've seen the Father, but he did NOT say that meant that he IS the Father. It's what he said AFTER he said that which really tells the story. He plainly said he and the Father are 'in' one another, and he said it two times in a row, so it must be important. But he didn't say exactly how that is, so let's move on to some more of what he had to say in this chapter and find the answer to that mystery: "If ye love me, keep my commandments. And I will pray the Father, and he shall give you another Comforter, that he may abide with you for ever; Even the Spirit of truth; [which] the world cannot receive, because it seeth [it] not, neither knoweth [it]: but ye know [it]; for [it] dwelleth with you, and shall be in you" (Jn. 14:15-17). So Jesus is telling his disciples here that he is going to give them the holy Ghost at a later time. You may note that I have bracketed the words 'which' and 'it' in substitution of the words 'whom' and 'him,' in reference to the Spirit of God. You may also note that I did NOT substitute any word for the word 'him' when Jesus referred to the holy Ghost as the 'Comforter.' The reason for these things is this: The word 'Comforter' is from the Greek word 'Parakletos' which is a masculine noun in the Greek language, so 'he' is the right word to use in reference to that word. But 'Comforter' is just a word that Jesus used in reference to God's Spirit to show that the Spirit is 'an aid' to us, which is what the word means. On the other hand, the word 'Spirit' and the word 'Ghost' come from the Greek word 'Pneuma,' which is a NEUTER noun in Greek, meaning that it CANNOT be used as a masculine or a feminine word.

So the real issue is with the word 'Spirit' because that is what the holy Ghost is; meaning IT IS SPIRIT. God's Spirit CANNOT be a person because for one thing the word 'pneuma' cannot grammatically be used as a 'personal' word. The word 'he' is only used in reference to the holy Spirit a few times, and those few times are WRONG TRANSLATIONS because in the Greek language the word 'pneuma' can ONLY be referred to as 'it.' With that understanding in mind, let's hear more of what Jesus said about the holy Ghost. After telling them that he was going to give them the holy Spirit at some point, Jesus told his disciples this: "I will not leave you comfortless: I will come to you. Yet a little while, and the world seeth me no more; but ye see me: because I live , ye shall live also. At that day ye shall know that I am in my Father, and ye in me, and I in you." (Jn. 14:18-20). So he now speaks of HIMSELF in terms of the Comforter, and tells them that HE is going to come to them. He also tells them how this will take place, saying that in THAT DAY, meaning when they would receive the holy Ghost, they would "know that I am IN my Father, and ye IN me, and I IN you." Once again he repeats that he and the Father are 'in' one another, but now he includes his disciples in that order of things as well; saying that they also would be 'in' him and he 'in' them. Let's consider also that if he and his Father are 'in' one another, that whoever is 'in' him will also be 'in' the Father, and vice-versa. And that is exactly what we will now see stated by Jesus in this passage: "Jesus answered and said unto him, If a man love me, he will keep my words: and my Father will love him, and WE will come unto him, and make OUR abode with him" (Jn. 14:23). Friend, both God and his Son Jesus Christ are in heaven, and NOBODY has come back from heaven since Jesus went away, and taken up their abode with ANYBODY! And that is where the goods are at! Like Jesus said more completely in John 16:7, he was going send back the holy Ghost to them AFTER HE WENT AWAY! I hope you are seeing now that when Jesus sent the holy Ghost back to his waiting disciples on the day of Pentecost, that WAS HE AND HIS FATHER "taking up their abode" with and in them! He said "IN THAT DAY" he would be IN them and they IN him. So it is just a matter of HOW ANYONE GETS 'INTO' CHRIST. You can look it up for yourself but there are three scriptures that tell us how we can and must get into Christ, and they all say that we are 'baptized into Christ' (Rom. 6:3; I Cor. 12:13; Gal. 3:27). 1 Corinthians 12:13 leaves no doubt that it is the HOLY GHOST BAPTISM that puts us into Christ, which makes perfect sense because the Bible also tells us, "Now the Lord IS that Spirit" (II Cor. 3:17). So we are 'in' Christ by means of his Spirit being in us, which means that he is in us in Spirit, and so is the Father. The "Spirit of life" is what makes the Father and the Son 'one,' because it is the Spirit of GOD'S LIFE. It is also what makes believers 'one' WITH the Father and the Son, because it is the DIVINE LIFE that indwells both the Father and the Son, as the scriptures declare (Rom. 8:2; Jn. 5:26; Jn. 10:10). We also see here that God's Spirit is NOT in us UNTIL we are BAPTIZED WITH THE SPIRIT, with the same sign that was given in the beginning, which is "speaking with other tongues as the Spirit gives the utterance" (Act 2:4).

Jesus prayed that we would be 'one' in the same manner that he and the Father are 'one.' (Jn. 17:22). He did NOT pray that we would be 'one' as he, the Father, and the holy Ghost are 'one.' He didn't mention the Spirit in that prayer, but he DID immediately describe to the Father what he meant by that prayer: "I in them, and thou in me, that they may be made perfect in one" (Jn. 17:23). And in John 10:30 Jesus said "I and my Father are one," and again there was no mention of the holy Ghost. He also went on to explain what he meant there: "But if I do, though ye believe not me, believe the works: that ye may know, and believe, that the Father is IN me, and I IN him" (Jn. 10:38). He made no mention of the holy Ghost here for the same reason he made no mention of it when he requested that believers be made 'one' the same way he and the Father are 'one.' It is simply because the Spirit IS the 'oneness' between he and his Father, and between believers and he and the Father; as well as between believers themselves. The Spirit of God is exactly that - SPIRIT! My spirit and yours are not persons on their own, not without the remainder of the person. Neither is God's Spirit a person, but rather it is the LIFE that is in God, that he gave to be in his Son, and that the Son came to make a way for it to be in us (Jn. 10:10). Even as the scriptures tell us that our spirit is the life of our body, so it is with God the Father and his Son (Jas. 2:26). God has a body of his own, and the Son has a separate body of his own (Exd. 33:20-23; Jn. 1:18; Jn. 5:37; Mat. 18:10; Rev. 1:12-16). Otherwise the Son could not be "the express image of his [the Father's] PERSON," and neither could man be made in the image of God; even as God instructed the Son to do: "And God said, Let US make man in OUR image, after OUR likeness" (Heb. 1:3; Gen. 1:26). The 'oneness' between God and his Son is one of understanding, feeling, and intent. This is also the way that the scriptures declare and exhort believers to be 'one:' (Acts 4:32; Rom. 5:6; I Cor. 1:10; II Cor. 12:18; Philip. 1:27). It is the Spirit of God alone which can impart this oneness to us, for it alone IS the the love, the truth, the wisdom and the power of God unto us (Rom. 5:5; Jn. 16:13; I Cor. 2:13; Lk. 4:14; Rom. 15:19). Well, that should do it for now, but I highly recommend looking up all of the scriptures that are referenced in parentheses, in order to get a fuller picture of this powerful and little known truth. The unifying of God's people is largely dependent upon understanding the unity that exists between the Father and the Son. Both 'the Trinity' and the 'Oneness' [Jesus Only] teachings are giant stumbling blocks in the path of God's people to come to that unity. May God help us to remove ALL stumbling blocks that impede the forward progress of his love and power in his people collectively. God bless.