This article is written to the Seventh-day Adventist Church, so there are quotes from Ellen White but if you don’t agree with Ellen White, there are enough Bible verses to maintain my point.
What started me on this whole page is a video I seen on the official Seventh-day Adventist website (located here) about the trinity, where the church claims that there is one God with three attributes. This is calling Jesus just an “attribute” or “personality”, this belittles who Jesus is. This is just a clip of the video, you can see the entire video – No record found. .
One being with 3 attributes or personalities, no! Not right! This is not what the founding members believed.
The theory of God the Father, God the Son, and God the H.S. was created by the Catholic Church.
What I have found in researching is that it’s hard to find the truth. I pray as I research, in fact since I was a child my main prayer, something I pray everyday, is that I won’t be deceived. What I’ve found repeatedly is just that, adding “God the Spirit” is the catholic trinity and it’s found it’s way into most churches, including the SDA church.
I don’t deny there are 3 in the Godhead, but not the trinity most churches teach. There is the Father, the Son, and Holy Spirit but not one being in 3 persons. I can say this because it’s easy to show that the Father and Son are 2 separate beings.
Matthew 24:36
But of that day and hour no one knows, not even the angels of heaven, nor the Son, but the Father alone.
So, how can they be one being if the Son doesn’t know something the Father knows?
“From eternity there was a complete unity between the Father and the Son. They were two, yet little short of being identical; two in individuality, yet one in spirit, and heart, and character.” — (Ellen G. White, Youth’s Instructor, December 16, 1897) http://tinyurl.com/y7dthgol
If they are not exactly identical, how can they be one being in two persons?
1 Corinthians 8:6
But to us there is but one God, the Father, of whom are all things, and we in him; and one Lord Jesus Christ, by whom are all things, and we by him.
(Clearly this shows 2 individuals)
1 Corinthians 11:3
But I want you to understand that the head of every man is Christ, and the head of the woman is man, and the head of Christ is God.
(How can God be the head of Christ is they are one being with separate personalities?)
1 Timothy 2:5
For there is one God and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus
Philippians 2:5-11
Have this attitude in yourselves which was also in Christ Jesus, who, although He existed in the form of God, did not regard equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied Himself, taking the form of a bond-servant, and being made in the likeness of men. Being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. For this reason also, God highly exalted Him, and bestowed on Him the name which is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus EVERY KNEE WILL BOW, of those who are in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and that every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.
Here we see that even after Jesus died and rose, and even in his divine nature, when he’s no longer flesh, he says this:
John 20:17
Touch me not; for I am not yet ascended to my Father: but go to my brethren, and say unto them, I ascend unto my Father, and your Father; and to my God, and your God.’
So…. after Jesus rose from the dead and was no longer in flesh, he still calls the Father, His GOD, doesn’t sound like one God…
Here is a few verses that show proof they are not one being, there are two:
Philippians 2:5-8 http://tinyurl.com/ycads4yr
Romans 8:3 http://tinyurl.com/y73nwctl
1 Corinthians 8:6 http://tinyurl.com/y92ddggq
1 Corinthians 11:3 http://tinyurl.com/ybsmz475
1 Timothy 2:5 http://tinyurl.com/ycc8sdou
Matthew 11:27 http://tinyurl.com/y7e6nysg
John 7:16-18 http://tinyurl.com/y7dt2ua4
John 14:28 http://tinyurl.com/y93rur9m
And I have so many more that show there are 2…
If you read all those, it’s clear there the Father and Son are separate, but here Jesus is called God:
John 20:28 – Thomas said to him, “My Lord and my God (Theos plural not Theon)!”
Romans 9:5 – …Christ, who is God (Theos plural not Theon) over all, forever praised! Amen.
Titus 2:13-15 – …our great God (Theou plural not Theon) and Savior, Jesus Christ,
Hebrews 1:8 – But about the Son he says, “Your throne, O God, will last for ever and ever…
2 Peter 1:1 – …the righteousness of our God and Savior Jesus Christ…
For this we go back to Philippians 2:5 & 6 “Christ Jesus, who, although He existed in the form of God“. He was everything the Father was, until he came to earth as a human.
So the Father is called God, and the Son is called God. They are almost equal, so the word we use for God can be used for both. That doesn’t make them one being, just one in purpose, spirit, heart, and character. The Bible uses the same reference for a husband and wife, the Bible says they are one, does that mean one being, no, my wife and I are still separate beings, just one in purpose, one in love.
The Holy Spirit
Then there is the Holy Spirit, but that I can’t define. What I do know is that I have not found anywhere in the Bible where the Holy Spirit is called God. I’ve brought that up to many trinitarians and they claim it’s mentioned once, but not one has been able to show me the verse. I also have not found anywhere that the Holy Spirit is mention being in heaven. I’m not going anywhere with that, but it’s something to take notice of.
The Holy Spirit is called the Spirit of God in the Bible.
Matthew 12:28
But if it is by the Spirit of God that I drive out demons, then the kingdom of God has come upon you.
Here the word God is singular in the Greek, so it means the Spirit of the Father. I know of at least 15 more verses in my notes that say this, but I’ll just use this one for now.
John 16:7
Nevertheless I tell you the truth; It is expedient for you that I go away: for if I go not away, the Comforter will not come unto you; but if I depart, I will send him unto you.
This to me sounds like the Holy Spirit is separate from Jesus.
“Christ declared that after his ascension, he would send to his church, as his crowning gift, the Comforter, who was to take his place. This Comforter is the Holy Spirit,- the soul of his life, the efficacy of his church, the light and life of the world. With his Spirit Christ sends a reconciling influence and a power that takes away sin.” (E.White, The Review and Herald, May 19, 1904 par. 1)
http://tinyurl.com/yd2esx7v
That doesn’t clarify things, but helps give a better picture. The Holy Spirit takes the place of Christ…
So here the Holy Spirit is the life of Christ in the soul:
“The influence of the Holy Spirit is the life of Christ in the soul. We do not now see Christ and speak to Him, but His Holy Spirit is just as near us in one place as another. It works in and through every one who receives Christ. Those who know the indwelling of the Spirit reveal the fruits of the Spirit,-‘love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith.” (E.White, Bible Echo, June 17, 1901 par. 6)
http://tinyurl.com/ya8xbpkl
Here the Holy Spirit is the presence of Christ:
“The holy Spirit is the comforter, as the personal presence of Christ to the soul.” (Ellen G. White, Review and Herald, November 29, 1892)
http://tinyurl.com/y6vquuco
Here we are back to the Spirit being the Spirit of God:
“The Father gave his Spirit without measure to his Son, and we also may partake of its fulness.” — (Ellen G. White, Review and Herald, November 5, 1908)
http://tinyurl.com/ycynzyau
Here the Holy Spirit IS Christ:
“We want the HOLY SPIRIT, which is JESUS CHRIST.” — (Ellen G. White, Lt66, April 10, 1894)
https://m.egwwritings.org/en/book/6785.2000001
Here the Spirit comes from Christ:
“The Holy Spirit, which proceeds from the only begotten Son of God, binds the human agent, body, soul, and spirit, to the perfect, divine-human nature of Christ.” — (Ellen G. White, Review and Herald, April 5, 1906)
http://tinyurl.com/y97jcnk5
I’m not going to sum this up with a conclusion, this is article is to show what I’ve found and up to the reader to make up their own minds. What I have learned is that when you ask Jesus to come in to you, he’ll send the Holy Spirit. Once you’ve lived with the Holy Spirit in you, you’ll know, but you will not have words for it.
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SDA and the Trinity — No Comments
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