Originally posted by checkbaiter
I agree wholeheartedly that this is much more important.
To be divine life to us God is triune. There is the Source of the Divine life - the Father. There is the course of the Divine life - the Son. And there is the flow, the transmission of that life - the Holy Spirit.
So what God does can never be disassociated with what God is. He is three-one for His operation to dispense from Himself into man His own eternal life and His own divine nature.
Since this is the eternal purpose of God it is indicted in the first pages of His revelation that He is mysteriously three-one.
However, having said that, if you are saying one must believe/receive the "Trinity, I will pass on this discussion.
I don't think one had to be well versed in the triunity of God to be saved. You confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and you believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved.
I think a disciple should want to grow in understanding. God desires all men to be saved. But not only to be saved but to come to the full knowledge of the truth as well.
" ... our Savior God, who desires all men to be saved and to come to the full knowledge of the truth." (1 Tim. 2:3b,4)
Being conversant on the Father - Son - Holy Spirit God may not be a requirement of salvation. It is desirable that we come to the full knowledge of the truth as we mature, as we grow. Right ?
The bible says believe on the Son of God, which I do.
Wonderful. Me too. There is no reason to
oppose that the one Name is really "Father - Son - Holy Spirit". For that is the one name into whom Jesus said we are to be immersed.
And I do not mean just a ceremony. We should be immersed into the Person - that is the Name of the three-one God. His [singular] name is really Father - Son - Holy Spirit (Matthew 28:20).
In early Genesis the seeds of this mysterious nature of God are sown. We see the plural of Elohim and the singular of the action create in the very first verse of the Bible.
And we see God saying
"Let Us make man in Our image ..." Yet God created man in
His image (singular). See Genesis 1:26,27.
The first day of salvation these truths may not be required to be comphrehended. As we grow in enlightenment they become important.
I believe Jesus is the Son of God, God is his Father, and God has given His Son all authority in heaven and earth and to be head over His church, of which I believe I am a part.
Amen. Me too. I believe these things too.
Nowhere does the bible state one must believe in a "Triune God" to be saved.
So just being "saved" is all you think is important ?
Is just getting your "ticket" that reads "Admit One" - that is all you ever care about ?
Doesn't it also depend upon how saved is saved ? You can be forgiven for eternity for eternal redemption - saved from the lake of fire. But God's purpose is to cause you to grow in life, be transformed into the image of Christ, sanctified and conformed to His image, and built up into oneness in His Body the church.
You can say "I don't need the Trinity for the bare minimum of being a Christian." Maybe. I am not sure that if you cannot see Jesus is God to you you can be saved. But if you touch Jesus and know you have touched God you have to wonder why God the Father is called God ? You have to soon realize that something mysterious is going on here.
You didn't know God until you touched JESUS. And JESUS speaks so much about the Father. So right away, without theological terminology, I think you begin to realize something rather mysterious about your experience with God.
I just want to get this out of the way right now.
Bless you brother. However we still have to say "Amen!" I think, when the Bible says for example -
"Now the Lord is the Spirit" (2 Cor. 3:17) [/b]
The Lord there is God. And the Lord there is the Lord Jesus Christ -
"For we do not preach ourselves but Christ Jesus as Lord ..." (2 Cor. 4:5)
But Paul has just told us in chapter 3 verse 17 that
"the Lord is the Spirit".
So the Holy Spirit is the Lord Jesus Christ in another form. So if we coin a phrase "Triune God" there is no reason to be alarmed.
The facts of the Bible are that the Father is God, the Son is God, and the Holy Spirit is God.
I submit to the Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of God, I am filled with holy spirit
Are you afraid to capitalize
"Holy Spirit" ? I don't know why you should be.
"Now the Lord is the Spirit" . The Lord is Jesus Christ, which we certainly do not shrink from capitalization. The Lord Jesus Christ is the Spirit
(2 Cor. 3:17).
It is rather mysterious. But the Lord Jesus Christ is also the Holy Spirit. He is the Spirit in His "pneumatic" form.
In resurrection - this Godman became a life giving Spirit -
"the last Adam became a life giving Spirit" (1 Cor. 15:45)
The seeds of these truths, I hope to show, are indeed in the book of Genesis.
(God's gift at the new birth) and I can operate some of the manifestations of holy spirit which is the power of God dwelling in His people. I do not believe it is a person, but pneuma God's gift.
You get the last word here. Maybe you'll read some of the things I will write about the dispensing of the Triune God in the book of Genesis.
But if not, I understand that you find them at this stage in your Christian life something of a distraction. Personally, I think you'll be benefited. But it is up to you brother.