On the Christian
Doctrine of a Trinity
By Jonathan Mitchell
Invalidating the Word of God, Through Human Traditions (Mk. 7:13)
This study will investigate the validity of the Christian doctrine that God is a Trinity. A Google search gives this simple definition for this concept: "The doctrine of the Trinity means that there is one God who eternally exists as three distinct Persons - the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Stated differently, God is one in essence and three in person."
Paul addressed this issue of a philosophy that did not come to us from Christ, advising in Col. 2:8,
"Keep watching out for and beware that someone will not be the one progressively (or: repeatedly) carrying you off captive (after stripping you of arms and seizing your goods, proceed in kidnapping you as booty or a prey) through the philosophy and empty seduction
(or: a deceitful trick having no content) being handed down from and being in line with the tradition of the people
(or: corresponding to the thing handed along from humans), down from (or: in line with and corresponding to) the elementary principles
(or: rudimentary teachings and fundamental assumptions) of the organized System (the world of culture, religion, government, secular society or economy), and not down from Christ."
Now the handing down of traditions can be useful and important, and those who have done so most likely had good intentions, even if part of their intentions may have been to maintain control upon the thinking and speaking of those who lived under their assumed jurisdiction. In the early stages of Christianity, Paul instructed those in Corinth on how they should receive teachings or instructions from other members of the called-out community:
"Now let two or three prophets be speaking, one after another, and let the other folks continue thoroughly sifting and sorting so as to fully evaluate and reach a decision.... all continue able (constantly have power) to be repeatedly prophesying, one by one, to the end that everyone (all) can be learning" (1 Cor. 14:29, 31a).
Thus, the community was potentially composed of many voices, and the voices were to be evaluated.
As an opening picture of some central categories in this study, we again quote Paul, and then Peter:
"God was existing within Christ (or: God was and continued being centered in, and in union with [the] Anointed One) progressively and completely transforming [the] aggregate of humanity (or: world) to be other [than it is]..." (2 Cor. 5:19).
Then we read in 1 Pet. 1:23,
"being folks having been born again (been regenerated; been given birth back up again), not from out of a corruptible (or: perishable) seed that was sown, but rather from an incorruptible (imperishable; undecayable) one: through God's continually living and permanently remaining Logos
(or: through a message or expressed thought of [the] continuously living and constantly abiding God; or: through means of a living and dwelling Thought, Idea and Logically laid out Expression, Communication and Word, which is God)."
In this scenario, the Logos, which is God, is the Father of the New Being within us, giving us His new Life, when we are born again. Or, you might say, The Vine is the Father (Source) of the branches. The Son and the Father... are One. We need not separate them when we speak of Them. They are the "US" of Gen. 1:28, but God is best left as a Divine Paradox. So we have laid this all out to stimulate thought and questions - which should be directed to Them. Was Paul being purposely ambiguous with his construction? Maybe. And thus, without endeavoring to reach any firm conclusions, let us take some time and venture into considering what the Spirit brings to mind concerning the Paradox of God, and His expressions about Himself:
That said, let us begin this investigation into a "trinity" that arose with God's call of, and promise to, Abram. In Gen. 12:3, the LORD told him:
"And so, within the midst of you (or: in union with you), all the tribes of the earth will progressively be blessed (will continue being inwardly given the Logos of goodness, ease and well-being)" (LXX, JM).
The next progression of this promise is found in Gen. 22:18,
"And so within your Seed all the ethnic multitudes (or: nations; people groups) of the earth will progressively be blessed (will continue being inwardly given the Logos of goodness, etc.)" (LXX, JM).
Paul picks up this theme, in Gal. 3:29,
"Now since you folks belong to Christ (or: have [the] Anointing as your source and origin; or: So since you people have the qualities and character of Christ, and [are] that which is Christ), you are straightway and consequently Abraham's Seed: heirs (possessors and enjoyers of the distributed allotment), down from, corresponding to and in the sphere of Promise!"
In Gen. 26:1-5, the promise to Abraham was extended to Isaac, his son. This promise was then passed down to Jacob, by Yahweh, in Gen. 28:13-14. In Gen. 28:13,
"The LORD (= Yahweh)... said [to Jacob], I AM (or: I, Myself, continually exist being) the God of Abraham, your father, and the God of Isaac..." (LXX, JM).
We quote this last verse to point out how the concept of "father" reached back to Jacob's literal grandfather. Generations later (roughly 400 years), Yahweh called out to Moses, from out of the midst of the burning bush. He identified Himself, saying,
"I AM (I continuously exist being) the God of your father: [the] God of Abraham, [the] God of Isaac, and [the] God of Jacob" (Ex. 3:6, LXX, JM).In those three patriarchs we have a kind of "trinity" of fatherhood for Israel - and we find these three names grouped together down through the ages.
We have an enlightening statement made in Heb. 7:
9. And thus even Levi [Jacob's son], receiving tithes, has - if I may say it this way (or: = as it could be said) - been tithed (or: = regarded as part of that tithe) through Abraham.
10. For you see, he was still existing (or: he continued yet being) in the loins of the Father (or: this forefather) when Melchizedek met with him.
This gives us a clue to the Hebrew concept of fatherhood, in ancient times. Abraham's great-grandson was within Abraham's body. Do you see the idea of unbroken continuity, from generation to generation? Let us consider an illustration from nature. From the time its flower is pollenated and on through it maturity, the Apple is a part of the Apple Tree, and is produced (shall we say, "fathered"?) by the Apple Tree, matured by this Tree, and has within it seeds for more Apple Trees. When the Apple (or, humanity; Adam) falls to the earth, and dies (Jn. 12:24), its Seeds can produce more Apple Trees, ad infinitum.
So when does this first Apple, of our story, cease being a part of the Apple Tree? Do time or space separate or break the Apple's oneness (being a part of) with the Apple Tree, in successive generations descending from that Apple Trees? The DNA of the 4th generation Apple Tree was "in the loins" of the original Apple Tree.
From that picture, it is not a great leap to perceive that the Blueprint (Logos) and the DNA for all generations of humans originated in God, and was placed into Adam (the first Humanity - 1 Cor. 15:45), and this contained God's Image and Likeness. Adam, in Gen. 1-2, was a corporate Humanity (1 Cor. 15:47-49), a plural collective that was made in Elohim's Image by a corporate, or perhaps collective, God: the "US," in Gen. 1:28. We are what God is; we flowed from out of Him and return back into Him (Rom. 11:36). We are, as God is, "plurality in union; union of plurality." The Father, and the Son and the sons, are One. God is a Family: He has sons and daughters. In Jesus' prayer to the Father, in Jn. 17:21, He makes a remarkable statement:
"that all humans would (or: all people can and should) continuously exist being one, CORRESPONDINGLY as You, O Father [other MSS: Father], [are] within the midst of Me, and I [am] within the midst of You - so that they, themselves, may and would also continuously exist being within the midst of Us..."
To be one in the same way that the Son and the Father are One implies an ontology of "godness"; to continuously exist within the midst of THEM is simply mind-blowing. So here, let us consider Paul's quote, in Acts 17:
28. "For you see, within the midst of and in union with Him we continuously live (or, as a subjunctive: could be constantly living), and are constantly moved about and put into motion, and continue existing (experiencing Being). Even as certain of the poets down among you people have said, 'You see, we are also a family of the One (or: we even continuously exist being a race whose source is the One; or: we also are His species and offspring; we are even a family which is composed of the One and which is the One).' [a quote of Aratos, and of Keleanthes]
29. "Therefore, continuously and inherently subsisting from under a beginning, being God's family (a species of God; a race whose source is God; [the] kind of being having the qualities and characteristics of God; [the] offspring birthed from God)..."
Jesus' speaking of,
"My Father - even (or: and) the Father of you folks - and My God: even [the] God of you people [note: this God would be Yahweh],"
in Jn. 20:17, expressed a sense of both He and us standing on the same ground - an expression of solidarity. Paul echoes this same sense of common being/existing, in Rom. 8:29,
"those whom He foreknew (whom He knows from previous intimate experience), He also marked out beforehand (determined, defined and designed in advance) [as] copies (joint-forms) of the image (material likeness; portrait; form) of His Son (or: He previously divided, separated and bounded conformed patterns from the image/form of His Son) into the [situation for] Him to be (or: to continually exist being) the Firstborn among, within the center of, and in union with many BROTHERS (= a vast family from the same womb; Gal. 4:26)!"
Jesus' genealogies offer a picture of a continuous flow: from Abraham, in Mat. 1; from Adam and God, in Lu. 3:38. You see, Christ is the Beginning and the End (Rev. 1:8, "the Almighty" - a term applied to Yahweh, in the OT) and is also the First and the Last (Rev. 1:11, and identified as Yahweh, in Isa. 48:12; cf 1 Cor. 15:44-49). The bodies (and individuals) change, from generation to generation, for with each resurrection,
"God habitually gives a body to (or: for) it, according as He wills (intends; purposed), and to (or: for; with) each of the seeds its own body" (1 Cor. 15:38).
So, who is our Father? Well, we are instructed by Jesus to speak to God as, "Our Father..." (Mat. 6:9). And then Jn. 20:17, quoted above, informs us Jesus' Father is also OUR Father. Jn. 1:12-13 speaks of our being born of God (cf Jn. 3:3-8). In Rom. 8:14 we read that those who are led by God's Spirit are God's sons, and Gal. 3:26 instructs us that,
"you folks are all God's sons, through the faithfulness located and resident within Christ Jesus,"
which would, in this sense, make Jesus our Father. And yet we also hear Paul telling those in Corinth, "I myself fathered (gave birth to; generated) you people within and in union with Christ Jesus" (1 Cor. 4:15).
So we can, in union with Christ Jesus and in a union with the Jerusalem which is above (our mother; Gal. 4:26) be fathers to the next generation of God's Family. We suggest, again, that God is not just a "trinity," but is a Family, a Collective. It is in this way that we "humans" can have the Mind of Christ (1 Cor. 2:16). Jesus is the source (the Father) of the branches (Jn. 15:1ff). God is Spirit, and Jn. 3:5 tells us that we must be "born forth from out of water and spirit (or: - as well as Breath-effect)." We get further insight on this from Tit. 3:5,
"He delivered us (or: He saves, rescues and restores us to the wholeness and health of our original condition) through a bath of and from a birth-back-again (or: [the] bathing of a regeneration; a washing which is a return-birth) and a making back-up-new-again from a set-apart Breath-effect (or: Holy Spirit)."
So, here, the Spirit gives us "a birth-back-again" and a "making back-up-new-again." This sounds like the Spirit also being our Father.
1 Jn. 5:8 presents us with an enigmatic "trinity":
"the breath (or: Spirit; Breath-effect) and the water and the blood, and these three are [coming; proceeding] into the midst of the One (or: exist [leading] into one [reality]; are existing into the one thing; or: = are in unison; or: = are in agreement, or are for one thing)."
Still, this gives us a description of three aspects, or ingredients, of a single entity (or: Being).
In consideration of all of this information, our tentative conclusion is that God is Family; Family is composed of Male and Female that together produce sons and daughters, and is thus Multi-Generational. Therefore, God is Multi-generational. We suggest that God is also the Spirit of Reproduction. It was His Breath (spirit) that gave life to Adam. The Logos is God (Jn. 1:1), Who produces children (Jn. 1:13b), and we find in Jn. 1:3 that:
"All things suddenly happened and came to be (or: occur and come to be; were birthed) by means of It, or Him (or: He at some point gives birth to all humanity through It), and apart from It (or: Him) not even one thing comes into being (occurs; was birthed; came into being; happens) which has come into being (which has occurred; which has happened)."
All of this suggest concepts that far exceed the idea of just a "trinity," which is geometric and arithmetic simplicity. And then, in 1 Cor. 2:20b, Paul makes a remarkable statement:
"For you see, the Spirit (or: the Breath-effect; spirit) constantly and progressively searches, examines and investigates all humanity, and everything - even the depths of, from, which pertain to, and which are, God!"
The first part of that verse informs us that,
"God unveils [things] in us (reveals [them] to us; uncovers [them] for us; discloses [these] among us) through the spirit (or: the Spirit; the Breath-effect)."
From the options of S- or s-, we can see some ambiguity here, but still, either God's Spirit is omnipresent, or else our spirit has extreme capabilities! Maybe both are true. Perhaps instead of thinking in simple arithmetic about God, from more current mathematical perspectives, maybe we should start thinking about God in Quantum concepts. God is Love (1 Jn. 4:8, 16). Paul's desire was not that we should know a "trinity," but rather (in Eph. 3):
18. To this end, may you folks be fully powerful from strength to fully grasp (receive down for yourselves; take commensurate possession to comprehend), together (in collaboration) with all the set-apart folks (holy ones), what [is] the width and length and height and depth,
19. and thus to KNOW - and gain insight by intimate experience - the LOVE of, from, and which is, the Christ [that is] continuously transcending (overshooting; being thrown over and beyond; surpassing) personal experiential knowledge and insight, so that you folks would be filled unto all the effect of the fullness of God and the result of the filling from God
(or: could be filled up, unto the saturation point, with the result from the entire contents of God; or: into all God's full extent; or: unto all the effects pertaining to God's filling [you]).
The last clause of 1 Cor. 15:28 posits another almost unfathomable idea:
"that God can be all things within the midst of and in union with all humans (or: may be everything in all things; or: should exist being All in all; or: would exist being everything, within the midst of everyone)."
Is this expressing quantum entanglement - of God with all things and all people? Our rational minds normally think of this in terms of Jn. 4:24,
"God [is] spirit (or: [is the] Spirit; [gives] Breath; [is] a Breath-effect)."
And then, Paul instructs us,
"Now the Lord [= Christ or Yahweh] continuously exists being the Spirit (or: Yet the Breath-effect is the LORD)..." (2 Cor. 3:17).
Paul drops another bombshell in Eph. 4:6,
"ONE God and Father of all humans - the One upon all people and [moving] through all people, and within the midst of all humanity and in union with all people and all things."
But wait, there's more... In Col. 3:10b-11 we have this amazing disclosure concerning:
"... [a] full, accurate, added, intimate and experiential knowledge and insight which is down from and corresponds to the image (an exactly formed visible likeness) of its Creator (of the One framing and founding it from a state of wildness and disorder) wherein (or: in which place) there is no Greek [figure of the multitudes who are non-Jews, and of those who are cultured and civilized] and Jew [figure of a covenant people of God], circumcision and uncircumcision [figure for religious in-groups and out-groups; there is no longer a covenant people versus non-covenant people], barbarian [foreigner who speaks a different language], Scythian [figure or example of wild, uncivilized groups], slave, freeman, but to the contrary, Christ [is] all, and within all
(or: Christ [is] all humanity, and within all mankind;
or: Christ [is] everything or all things, and within everything and all things;
[note: the Greek is plural, and is either masculine, signifying "mankind," or neuter, signifying all creation, in these phrases])."
That, alone, is a lot to take in. But let us go back to the first chapter of this letter...
Col. 1:10 ends speaking of the "knowledge of God," then vs. 12 identifies God as "the Father," with vs. 13 bringing the subject to "the Son of His love." Then vs. 15 continues speaking of Him:
"Who is the Image (portrait; the Exact Formed Likeness; the Figure and Representation; visible likeness and manifestation) of the not-seen God (or: the unable to be seen God; the invisible God), the Firstborn of all creation."
Now, take a deep breath, for the next thing that Paul says (continuing in vs. 16) is,
"because within Him was created the whole
(or: in union with Him everything is founded and settled, is built and planted, is brought into being, is produced and established;
or: within the midst of Him all things were brought from chaos into order)... the whole has been created and all things continue founded, put in order and stand framed through means of Him, and [proceeds, or were placed] into Him (or: = He is the agent and goal of all creation)."
But vs. 17a gives us more, about the Son:
"And He is before (prior to; or: maintains precedence of) all things and all people, and the whole has (or: all things have) been placed together and now continues to jointly-stand (stands cohesively; is made to have a co-standing) within the midst of and in union with Him."
This is starting to sound a bit like Jn. 1:1, is it not? But Paul continues:
"He is the Head (or: Source) of the body - which is the called-out community (the ecclesia; the summoned congregation) - Who is the Beginning... (vs. 18), and, "WITHIN Him all - the entire contents (the result of that which fills everything; all the effect of the full measure [of things]) - delights to settle down and dwell as in a house" (vs. 19).
Now, before taking another breath, he finishes, in vs. 20:
"and THROUGH Him at once to transfer the all (the whole; = all of existential creation), away from a certain state to the level of another which is quite different
(or: to change all things, bringing movement away from being down; to reconcile all things; to change everything from estrangement and alienation to friendship and harmony and move all), INTO Him - making (constructing; forming; creating) Peace (harmonious Joining)..."
All we can say is, "Wow!" Now these passages in Colossians speak primarily about the Son, where 3:11 referred to Christ (the Son) being "all in all." But Eph. 4:6 speaks of God, the Father, being
"within the midst of all humanity and in union with all people and all thing."
So both the Father and the Son are within us. Then Eph. 5:18b instructs us to
"be continuously or repeatedly filled full in spirit (within [the] Spirit; within the midst of [the] Breath-effect; in the sphere of attitude; in union with [the] Breath)."
So, we have all three of these designations of God within us.
But the question remains: Are these three "Persons" - as most of Christianity maintains? The term persona is of Latin origin, and originally referred to an actor's mask, indicating to the audience the character of the play that was being presented. This is not what our modern term, "person," means.
The idea of a "role" in a play has morphed into a reference to the actor, rather than to the part which the actor was playing in the story. But a man (a person) becomes a father only when he has (or, adopts) a child. So father and son/daughter are functional and relational terms. Also, a man might impregnate his wife and yet not function as a father to the child/children. These are human terms that indicate relationships and functions between humans, and, by extension, relationships and functions between humans and God.
The literal rendering of Rev. 21:7 reads,
"I will continue being a God for him (to him) and he will continue being a son for (or: to) Me."
A classic example of God's Fatherhood is found in Ex. 4:22,
"Thus says Yahweh, 'Israel [is] My Son - My Firstborn."
Then, in Ps. 2:7, we read,
"Yahweh has said unto me, 'You [are] My son; this day I have given birth to you."
That was spoken to an adult human being. Now turning to Paul, in Rom. 1:3-4 we read,
(or: birthing Himself) from out of David's sperm
(or: Davidic seed; = David's descendant), down from and in the line of succession of flesh
(or: = in the sphere of the natural realm); the One being bounded (marked off, thus defined; separated, and so designated; divided away, and so determined;
or: appointed) God's Son (or: a Son Who is God;
or: a Son from, or having the character and qualities of, God; = God's Regent, cf Ps. 2; 2 Sam. 7:14) immersed within the midst of power and in union with ability, down from
(or: corresponding to and on a level with; in the sphere of) a Breath-effect of set-apartness
(or: an attitude of holiness and sacredness; a spirit pertaining to being set apart) forth from out of a resurrection (a standing back up again) of (or: from among) dead folks - Jesus Christ, our Lord,"
Then, in Rom. 8:3, he offers this:
"You see, [because of] the powerlessness and inability of the Law - within which it kept on making [folks] weak and feeble through the flesh - in sending His own Son
(or: by sending the Son, Who is Himself) within a result of a likeness of flesh that is connected with sin and concerning sin
(or: encircling failure and error; to address a missed target; surrounding deviation)."
This implies His Son coming from Him, in the Incarnation (cf Jn. 3:16). Then, at Jesus' immersion in the Jordan River, by John, we find:
16. Now upon being immersed (baptized), Jesus, set for goodness (placed for well-being), immediately stepped back up from the water - and now look and consider! - the heavens at once opened back up again!
[or, with other MSS: the atmospheres were opened up to Him!] Then He saw God's Spirit (Breath-effect, which is God; a Breath from God) - as if it were a dove steadily descending - progressively coming upon Him. [cf Gen. 1:2]
17. And then - look and consider! - a Voice (or: sound) from out of the midst of the atmospheres
(or: the skies and the heavens), repeatedly saying, "This is My Son, the Beloved One in Whom I take pleasure and imagine thoughts of well-being
(or: This One exists being My dearly loved and esteemed Son, in Whom I approve)!"
At the annunciation to Mary, Gabriel said,
"This One will proceed in being great (or: a great One), and He will continue being called 'Son of [the] Most High'
(or: a son of [the] Highest One), and [the] LORD [= Yahweh] will proceed giving to Him the throne of David, His father (= ancestor).... A set-apart breath-effect
(or: [The] Holy Spirit) will continue coming upon you, and a power from (or: which is) [the] Most High will continue casting a shadow upon you. For that reason, also, the Set-apart One
(or: holy thing) being progressively generated and born will continue being called God's Son
(or: a son of God; 'Son of God'; a son from God)" (Lu. 1:32, 35).
This seems to indicate that the Holy Spirit is the divine Father of Jesus. This is a description of how the Incarnation will come about - how the Logos becomes flesh (Jn. 1:14). There are other passages that indicate that Jesus is the Son of God, and even suggest that He is God. And from reading these passages through a trinitarian lens, we get the idea of God being at least two "Persons." But is this a correct conclusion? We began this investigation by quoting Col. 2:8. That verse ends speaking of Christ. The next verse begins a beautiful passage, saying:
"because within Him all the effect of the fullness of the Deity (the result of the filling from the Godship and feminine aspect of the Divine Nature) is repeatedly corporeally
(or: bodily, as a whole; embodied; as a body) settling down and progressively taking up permanent residence
(or: is continuously dwelling in person), and you folks, being ones having been filled up
(or: made full, complete), are (or: exist) continuously within, and in union with, Him, Who is the Head..." (Col. 2:9-10a).
Paul continues on, and in vs. 12 he explains:
"within the midst of Whom you folks were awakened and caused to rise up together through the faithfulness which is the inward operation of God: the One awakening and raising Him up, from out of the midst of dead folks."
Notice the connection of us to Christ, and the operation of God, in these verses. Paul makes another striking statement in vs. 19, speaking of Christ again, as:
"the Head (or: the Source), from out of Whom all the body (or: the entire body) - being constantly fully furnished and supplied to excess with funds and nourishment, and progressively joined cohesively (welded together; knitted and compacted together) through the instrumentality of the joints and links (things bound together, as by ligaments) - goes on growing and increasing God's growth."
Observe:
"out of Whom all the body... goes on growing and increasing God's growth."
Remember, He is the Vine; we are His branches. Luke made a similar observation:
"And so the Logos of God (or: God's idea, message; the Word from God, which was God) kept on progressively growing and increasing..." (Acts 6:7a).
We suggest that what is indicated here is that the Logos continues becoming incarnated in people. The term Christ means "the Anointed," and this indicates God (in the sphere of His Spirit, which the oil represented) has been joined to humanity. Being a branch that is joined to the Vine, and is thus a PART of the Vine, is a parallel metaphor to the metaphor of the Anointing. With God impregnating Mary, His Seed (or, Sperm) entered into her as a gush-effect (rhèma) which transferred His Logos into union with her flesh; the Logos contained the genes and the DNA of God and effected the conception of the Second Humanity, the eschatos Adam (1 Cor. 15:45-47), which was birthed
"a continuously life-making (life-producing; life-creating; life-forming) Spirit (or: Breath-effect)."Jesus informed us,
"The declarations (rhèma;gush-effects; spoken words; sayings; results of the Flow) which I, Myself, have spoken to you folks are (or: continue to be) Spirit (or: spirit; Breath-effect; attitude) and they are (or: continue being) Life" (Jn. 6:63).Jesus came blowing the Breath of God into earthen vessels, once again, and the result is
"a new creation" (2 Cor. 5:17).
The Logos was multiplying Himself into the quantum entanglement.
But what specific Scripture might have helped to spawn this lens and doctrine? Most likely, Mat. 28:19 may have been one source, which in later times became a formula for the rite of baptism:
(or: one-after-another [B & D read: at some point] baptizing them to the point of infusion and saturation) into the Name which has reference to, belongs to, has its origin and character in, and which represents, the Father and the Son, as well as the Set-apart Breath-effect
(or: the Name from the Father, as well as from the Son, and even which is the Holy Spirit;
or: the Name of the Father and of the Son - even of the Holy Spirit;
or: the Father's Name, even the Son's, and which pertains to the Sacred Breath;
or: the Name belonging to the Father and the Son, and which is the Sacred Attitude;
or: the Name of the Father, and then of the Son, and which comes from the set-apart Spirit;
or: the Name which represents the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit;
or: the Name which comes from the Father, belongs to the Son, and corresponds to the Holy result of the Breath),"
[note: Eusebius gives this as "Go and make disciples of all the nations in my name." - Eusebius: The History of the Church from Christ to Constantine, translated by G. A. Williamson, Barnes & Noble Books, 1995, p 111. Williamson footnotes: "Matt. 28:19, in a simpler, perhaps a more primitive form."
Comment: this may have been a paraphrase; it may come from a lost MS tradition; it may represent an interpretation of this verse in the early AD 300's; cf Acts 2:38; 8:16; 10:48; 19:5]Notice that it does not say, "into the Names." We do not find this "formula" used anywhere in the book of Acts where they baptize folks (cf references in note, above). They did so in "the Name of Jesus." Now let us consider what the risen Christ said in Rev. 3:12,
"The one habitually conquering (repeatedly overcoming so as to be the victor) - I will continue making (forming; constructing; creating; producing) him [to be] a pillar (or: column) in the Temple that is My God, and he (or: it) may nevermore (by no means any more) come (or: go) out (outside), and I will proceed to write upon him My God's Name, and the name of the City of My God: 'The New and different Jerusalem' - the one habitually descending from out of the atmosphere (or: heaven), from God - and My Name, the one new in character and quality [other MSS: and the new name]."
So, we are given multiple names. These seem to represent different relationships and/or realms within which we are involved.
Furthermore, consider this, from Phil. 2:
9. For this reason, God also lifts Him up above (or: highly exalted Him; elevates Him over) and by grace gives to Him (or: joyously favors on Him) the Name - the one over and above every name! -
10. to the end that within The Name: Jesus! (or: in union with the name of Jesus; in the midst of the Name belonging to [Yahweh-the-Savior]), every knee (= person) - of the folks upon the heaven (of those belonging to an imposed heaven, or [situated] upon the atmosphere) and of the people existing upon the earth and of the folks dwelling down under the ground (or: on the level of or pertaining to subterranean ones;
[comment: note the ancient science of the day - a three-tiered universe]) - may bend (or: would bow) in prayer, submission and allegiance.
In summation, we should remember that from both the OT and the NT,
"our God [is] a continuously all-consuming Fire" (Heb. 12:29; cf Acts 2:3).
And then there is a picture of the resurrected Christ in the vision given to John, in Rev. 1:
14. Now His head and hairs [are] white, as white wool - as snow - and His eyes as a flame of fire,
15. and His feet [are] like white brass (or: bronze; fine copper) as having been set on fire in a furnace, and His Voice [is] as a roar (or: sound; voice) of many [rushing or crashing] waters. [cf Ezk. 1:24, "the Voice of the Almighty"; 43:2, 4, "glory of Yahweh"]
16. Furthermore, [He is] constantly holding (or: having; possessing) seven stars centered in (or: within the midst of; in union with; centered in) His right hand, and a sharp two-mouthed (= double-edged) broadsword is continuously (or: repeatedly) proceeding (issuing forth) from out of His mouth. And His appearance (countenance; sight) continually shines as the sun, in its power.
This was a very striking image, and likeness, of God - was it not? Verse 13, there, describes Him as,
"One like a Son of Man."
What a fascinating, complex God! In Eph. 3:10, we read of,
"God's greatly diversified wisdom (the exceedingly varied in colors [as in a tapestry or the Veil] wisdom which is God; or: the many-phased wisdom from God)..."
Jonathan
Additional note from John Gavazzoni:
I like your comparing the kind of thinking that is involved in the trinitarian concept of God as arithmetic rather than relational. Without using the word,"arithmetic",that was what I tried to convey in one of my own articles. If the wisdom of God is multi-faceted, then that wisdom comes from a multi-faceted God. More than one time I discovered that, as it seemed, brother Eby and I had come to not only identical thoughts on a subject, but we both were given identical words to express those thoughts.
Very shortly after coming to understand God as Family rather than trinity, at a conference many years ago, Preston declared the same quite explicitly. I could tell it had been a conclusion he'd reached very recently as I had. It seems clear that God, as His creation reflects, gives birth and creates after His own kind. All that is "born of God," has Godness as its true nature.
We,the kin of God, along with all His creation,are subject to the futility of bearing about in the body that which is "against nature," so that in overcoming that contrariety, who we truly are will be seen coming forth in a full display of glory, as in, "....when Christ, who is our (true) life shall appear, we shall appear also with Him in glory." This equates to "the manifestation of the sons of God."
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