A
Biblical Answer
to "60
Questions on the Godhead"
by Mike Bugal
Founder, Heartland Christian Ministries
Part 2
20.Whom do some designate as the first person in the trinity? God the Father. 21. Whom do some designate as the last person in the trinity? The Holy Ghost. But Jesus said that He was the first and last. Revelation 1:17-18 23.If Jesus is the first and the last, why did God say in Isaiah 44:6 that He was the first and the last? Because Jesus is the God of the Old Testament incarnate.
This argument is what is known as a "Strawman Argument". They set up a false statement (strawman) about what the doctrine of the Trinity teaches and then proceed to knock it down. To the best of my knowledge, no one has ever established a "batting order" within the Godhead. But if you wanted to it would be based on Who defers to Whom. Jesus deferred to the Father: "Jesus saith unto them, My meat is to do the will of him that sent me, and to finish his work." (John 4:34). The Holy Spirit defers to Jesus: "Howbeit when he, the Spirit of truth, is come, he will guide you into all truth: for he shall not speak of himself; but whatsoever he shall hear, that shall he speak: and he will show you things to come. He shall glorify me: for he shall receive of mine, and shall show it unto you. All things that the Father hath are mine: therefore said I, that he shall take of mine, and shall show it unto you." (John 16:13-15). So there is no question of Who is first and who is last within the Godhead, for there is One God in Three Persons... Co-Equal, Co-Eternal... Who defer to One Another.
But let's say that someone at sometime had established a "batting order". Even if that were the case the appropriation of the scriptures used as proof texts here are a classic example of taking scriptures out of context to prove a false doctrine. In the context that those texts appear no one is talking about the Godhead, so the question then becomes "first and last WHAT?". Jesus makes it clear in Revelation 22:13 "I am the Alpha and the Omega, the first and the last, the beginning and the end." Jesus was the "Alpha" or "beginning cause" of creation... the Creator. He will be the "Omega", or "ending cause" of creation when He returns to rule and reign.
We have no problem with the statement that Jesus is the God of the Old Testament... YAHWEH. John clearly states this in verses 1-4 of his Gospel and it is repeated many times throughout the New Testament. For more on this see the article "The Eternal Son".
22. How many persons did John see sitting on the throne in heaven? One. Revelation 4:2. 48. When Stephen was dying, did he call God Jesus? Yes. Acts 7:59.
Stephen called Jesus God because, as part of the Godhead, He is God. This doesn't mean that Jesus is the Father or that He is the Holy Spirit. Neither does the fact that John saw Jesus sitting on the Throne of Judgement in heaven. But let's examine what Stephen actually said as he was dying:
"But he, being full of the Holy Ghost, looked up stedfastly into heaven, and saw the glory of God, and Jesus standing on the right hand of God, And said, Behold, I see the heavens opened, and the Son of man standing on the right hand of God." (Acts 7:55-56)
The fact that Stephen saw Jesus standing to the right side of Someone else means that there had to be Someone to the left of Him. I've heard Oneness pastors mock this scripture by making fun of the phrase "standing on the right hand of God", but I've never heard one explain it. Note from a legal standpoint: this is a man's dying testimony. In a court of law, this would be admitted as evidence.
26. Does the Bible say that God, who is the Word, was made flesh? Yes John 1:1, 14. 27. For what purpose was God manifested in the flesh? To save sinners. Hebrews 2:9, 14 28. Was Jesus God manifested in the flesh? Yes. I Timothy 3:16 59. Does the Bible say that God shed His blood and that God laid down His life for us? Yes. Acts 20:28; I John 3:16. God was able to do this because He had taken upon Himself a human body. 50. How could Jesus be the Savior, when God the Father said in Isaiah 43:11, "Beside me there is no Savior?" Because "God was in Christ, reconciling the world unto himself." II Corinthians 5:19. 33. How could the church belong to Jesus (Matthew 16:18) and yet be the church of God (I Corthians 10:32)? Because Jesus is God in the flesh.
"In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. The same was in the beginning with God." (John 1:1-2)
"And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth." (John 1:14)
John was very careful in the wording of these verses. He went out of his way in the Koine Greek to make sure that we understood both that Jesus is God and that He is not ALL there is of God. That's why he uses the term "with God" in both verses 1 and 2. He uses the verb "en" to convey a meaning of face-to-face relationship. So, there is a difference between "God" and "the Word". Verse 14 then goes on to say that ONLY the Word was made flesh, not the whole Godhead.
An interesting "flip-flop" occurs in Question 50 above. You'll note that in the answer to Question 23 that the UPCI says that Jesus is the God of the Old Testament incarnate. Yet in Question 50 they want to identify the speaker in Isaiah 43:11 as "God the Father". Which One is the the God of the Old Testament, Jesus or the Father? If it is Jesus, then He said that He would be the Savior for obvious reasons.
As for how the church could belong to Jesus and yet be the "church of God", all that is the Father's is also the Son's and all that is the Son's is also the Father's. Read John 17.
30.Does the Bible say that there is but one Lord? Yes. Isaiah 45:18; Ephesians 4:5. 31.Does the Bible say that Christ is the Lord? Yes. Luke 2:11. 32.Does the Bible say that the Lord is God? Yes. I kings 18:39; Zechariah 14:5; Acts 2:39; Revelation 19:1. 47.When Paul asked the Lord who He was, what was the answer? "I am Jesus." Acts 9:5. 45.Is Jesus the true God? Yes. I John 5:20 41. Does the Bible say that God alone treads upon the waves of the sea? Yes. Job 9:8 42.Why, then, was Jesus able to walk upon the Sea of Galilee (Matthew 14:25)? Because He is God the Creator. Colossians 1:16. 43. Is God the only one who can forgive sin? Yes. Isiah 43:25; Mark 2:7. 44. Why, then, could Jesus forgive sin in Mark 2:5-11? Because He is God the Savior. 49.Did Thomas ever call Jesus God? Yes. John 20:28 51.Does the Bible say that Jesus was God with us? Yes. Matthew 1:23. 60.The Bible says that God is coming back with all his saints (Zechariah 14:5) and also that Jesus is coming back with all his saints (I Thessalonians 3:13). Are two coming back? No. Only one is coming back--our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ. Titus 2:13.
The Bible says that God is not the author of confusion. If the Trinitarians deny the Deity of Jesus Christ these questions would be a valid challenge. But it doesn't, and these questions are here to merely create confusion in the mind of the reader. They (and we) have already established the fact that Jesus is the God of the Old Testament, so why ask questions like #60? No one has said that "two are coming back"... another Strawman Argument. These do nothing to disprove the Personhood of either the Father or the Holy Spirit.
46. If God and the Holy Ghost are two separate persons, which was the Father of Christ? Matthew 1:20 says that the Holy Ghost was the Father, while Romans 15:6, II Corinthians 11:31, and Ephesians 1:3 say that God was the Father. There is no contradiction when we realize that God the Father and the Holy Ghost are one and the same Spirit. Matthew 10:20; Ephesians 4:4; I Corinthians 3:16. 55. Does the Bible call the Holy Ghost a second or third person in the Godhead? No. The Holy Ghost is the one Spirit of God, the one God Himself at work in our lives. John 4:24; I Corinthians 3:16-17; 6:19; 12:13.
The attempt is made here, once again, to muddle the issue by the use of terms and a "Strawman Argument". The Trinitarian doesn't say that "God" and the Holy Spirit are two separate Persons. The Holy Spirit is God, just as the Father is God and the Son is God. One God in three Persons (One what, three Who). To deny His Personhood is to say that Jesus didn't know what He was talking about when He referred to the Holy Spirit as "He", rather than "I" in John 16.
As for the discussion of who the father of Jesus was, this is the one time when the UPCI fails to observe a "role" and "relationship" that actually exists. The Father is Jesus' Father by relationship within the Godhead... as is witnessed all through the Gospels. The Holy Spirit was the father of Jesus' physical body, as witnessed in Matthew 1. That was His "role".
Finally, once again they bring up the "batting order" question that was dealt with earlier. Please see the answer in that paragraph above.
34. Will God give His glory to another? No. Isaiah 42:8. 35. Was there a God formed before Jehovah, or will there be one formed after? No. Isaiah 43:10. 36. What is one thing that God does not know? Another God. Isaiah 44:8.
The Trinitarian doesn't say that God's glory should be given to another. They do, however, seek to prevent God being reduced to Modalistic terms. Anything less robs the Father and the Holy Spirit of the Personhood the scriptures plainly teach that they possess. Remember the analogy of the egg: a white, a shell and a yolk. We call them by the overall name of "egg". It takes all three for the egg to function as an egg. Take away any one component and it's no longer an egg. But the white is not the shell or the yolk, and so on. So it is with the Godhead: remove the Personhood of any member of the Godhead and They ceases to function as "God".
39. How many names has the Lord? One. Zechariah 14:9. 40.Is it good to think upon the name of the Lord? Yes. Malachi 3:16.
"And the LORD shall be king over all the earth: in that day shall there be one LORD, and his name one." (Zechariah 14:9)
This is a prophesy about the Second Coming and Jesus' rule over the earth after that time. It says nothing about the Godhead, except for one very important word... "one". The Hebrew word is "echad", which is also used in Deuteronomy 6:4 and Genesis 2:24 as discussed before. It is not a "one" of singularity, but of unity (as with a man and wife becoming one flesh).
56. Can Trinitarians show that three divine persons were present when Jesus was baptized by John? Absolutely not. The one, omnipresent God used three simultaneous manifestations. Only one divine person was present--Jesus Christ the Lord. 57.Then what were the other two of whom Trinitarians speak? One was a voice from heaven; the other was the Spirit of God in the form of a dove. Matthew 3:16-17. 58. What did the voice say at Jesus' baptism? "Thou art my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased." Mark 1:11. As the Son of God, Jesus was the one God incarnate.
Let's say that the UPCI is right here. God used three "simultaneous manifestations" at Jesus' baptism by John: The disembodied "voice" with no Person behind it, Jesus in the water throwing his voice, and the dove. The question then arises: for what purpose? To create confusion? Who, standing by the banks of the Jordan that day would have not thought that Someone besides Jesus was speaking? Why show the Holy Spirit descending in the form of a dove when the whole Godhead was already present within Jesus as the UPCI teaches? Did He just want to throw people off the trail of the "truth" as taught by the UPCI?
No! God is NOT the author of confusion. It was a clear demonstration of the Tri-Unity: the Father who Jesus said had sent Him and the Holy Spirit Who Jesus said, when HE had come, would guide us into all truth.
No debate:
12. Is the mystery of the Deity hidden from some people? Yes. Luke 10:21-22.
24. Did Jesus tell Satan that God alone should be worshipped? Yes. Matthew 4:10
25. Does the devil believe in more than one God? No. James 2:19
37. What is one thing that God Cannot do? Lie. Titus 1:2.
Yes, but man can and does. Therefore the scriptures say "Let God be true, and every man a liar." (Romans 3:4). Take God at His Word, be a "Berean" and search the Word daily to see if what someone is saying or teaching is so. I pray that the Lord Jesus will use this simple work, and the work of others along similar lines, to help you see the truth.
Some links to additional information
The Trinity, the Definition of Chalcedon, and Oneness Theology
The Gospel According to Oneness Pentecostalism
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