Subj: THE TRINITY

 

UNIDENTIFIED PERSON: I have read some of the discussions on "Trinity" and quite frankly I am not a Biblical scholar. I am not a scholar of Hebrew or Greek. In fact, I probably view things in a much more simplistic manner than many of you (not that I am totally simple, grin). Therefore, I will just add my simple two cents worth, with a few questions that I hope will be answered. My understanding of God and the Trinity became easily understood for me with the following:

 

If we liken an egg to the being of God we understand that the egg is composed of a shell, yoke and white. We understand that together they make the complete egg. We also understand that each one can be totally separated from the other, having a different name and function, but we know that we still hold a portion of the egg if we hold individually the shell, yoke and white. Each has a different role in the makeup of the egg. I believe the parallels to the Trinity are there. Just as we as human beings can be defined as soul, body and mind (love the lord with all thine heart, mind, soul, etc.). Those also can be considered as separate and yet united as one. I am not suggesting that we be viewed the same as the Trinity. It is just a parallel. I also understood the Father, Son and Holy Spirit as being God when I read:

 

Jn 1:1-14

¹ In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.

² The same was in the beginning with God

³ All things were made by Him; and without Him was not anything made that was made.

⁴ In Him was life; and the life was the light of men.

⁶ There was man sent from God, whose name was John.

⁷ The same came for a witness of the Light, that all men through Him might believe.

⁸ He was not that Light, but was sent to bear witness of that Light.

⁹ That was the true Light, which lighteth every man that cometh into the world.

¹⁰ He was in the world, and the world was made by Him, and the world knew Him not.

¹¹ He came unto his own, and his own received him not.

¹² But as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name:

¹³ Which were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God.

¹⁴ 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.  KJV

 

QUESTIONS BEGIN HERE:

 

Here are my questions:

 

QUESTION (1)(a): John 1:1-14, IS THE "WORD" REFERRING TO CHRIST?

 

PASTOR SHEILA: No.

 

The Word of God

 

The Greek word logos, translated Word, means the thought [God’s Will], and the manifestation of his thought.

 

God had a thought, to bring a creature into existence that would benefit and appreciate his magnanimity. The process of creation would begin with a revelation of himself, as a means of communication with the creature.

 

God’s Name is a revelation of his nature, which is infinite. Understanding God’s nature (to whatever degree we can understand it) helps us to recognize God when he speaks from behind the veil of humanity.

 

The Word of God is a specific revelation of God’s nature – a specific thought – one of many thoughts of an infinite God, and its manifestation.

 

The thought is, let us make man… and the manifestation of the thought is the Torah, or the Word of God, the spiritual substance out of which man is being made, as well as the vehicle of communication between the creator and his creation.

 

God’s Name is God, and his appearance in this world is the Word, the Scripture. He is the spiritual reality of the message of the Scripture. In other words, the Scripture is a word picture of who God and his Name (and the two are one and the same).

 

The Image of God

 

Adam, mankind, is the image of God’s Name. He is the one who is made to think God’s thoughts and speak God’s words always. He is a spiritual man that is not Homo sapiens, not man as we know a man today. The First Adam sinned and died, but the Second Adam, the Lord from heaven cannot die. He is invincible.

 

1 Cor 15:47

⁴⁷ The first man is of the earth, earthy: the second man (Adam) is the Lord from heaven.  KJV

 

If you can receive it, this spiritual man, the Second Adam, who is replacing the First Adam who died because of sin, was inside of the human being called, Jesus of Nazareth. He was Jesus of Nazareth’s inner man…

 

Eph 3:16

¹⁶ That he would grant you, according to the riches of his glory, to be strengthened with might by his Spirit in the inner man;  KJV

 

…just like Christ is our inner man today.

 

Col 1:27

²⁷ To whom God would make known what is the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles; which is Christ in you, the hope of glory:  KJV

 

Indeed, it is Christ who is the image of God.

 

Adam, called Christ, which means, anointed, is the spiritual man, or the image, that thinks God’s thoughts and speaks God’s words always.

 

God’s Shape

 

God is so great, that he has a shape that talks

 

Jn 5:37

³⁷ And the Father himself, which hath sent me, hath borne witness of me. Ye have neither heard his voice at any time, nor seen his shape.  KJV

 

God’s shape is God’s invisible image inside of a form. The form is a human being and the shape is the mind of God, which is a blend of Christ, the image of God, and the soul (personality) of that man.

 

Sometimes the people of this world think that the human form that the shape of God appears in, is God!

 

Acts 14:11-12

¹¹ And when the people saw what Paul had done, they lifted up their voices, saying in the speech of Lycaonia, The gods are come down to us in the likeness of men.

¹² And they called Barnabas, Jupiter; and Paul, Mercurius, because he was the chief speaker.  KJV

 

God is invisible and cannot be seen or comprehended by mortal man, but the image of God in a man, can be seen and investigated by those mortal men who can recognize the mind of God, God’s shape, in this world.

 

1 Cor 11:29-30

²⁹ For he that eateth and drinketh unworthily, eateth and drinketh damnation to himself, not discerning the Lord's body.

³⁰ For this cause many are weak and sickly among you, and many sleep.  KJV

 

Song 2:9

⁹ My beloved is like a roe or a young hart: behold, he standeth behind our wall, he looketh forth at the windows, shewing himself through the lattice.  KJV

 

The Son of God

 

The Lord Jesus Christ above joined to the mind of Christ in the earth of a human, is called the Son of God.

 

The Son of God is the nature of God, born in a human being.

 

Jn 3:3

³ Jesus answered and said unto him, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.  KJV

 

1 Jn 3:9

⁹ Whosoever is born of God doth not commit sin; for his seed remaineth in him: and he cannot sin, because he is born of God.  KJV

 

The Son of God pleases God always, BUT IS NOT GOD. He is THE SON OF GOD

 

Jn 8:29

²⁹ And he that sent me is with me: the Father hath not left me alone; for I do always those things that please him.  KJV

 

Matt 17:5

⁵ While he yet spake, behold, a bright cloud overshadowed them: and behold a voice out of the cloud, which said, This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased; hear ye him.  KJV

 

QUESTION (1)(b): DOES THIS MEAN THAT JESUS IS GOD, ALTHOUGH SEPARATE?

 

PASTOR SHEILA: No.

 

When Jesus said, the Father and I are one, it was the Son of God, the Second Adam, speaking through the man, Jesus.

 

QUESTION (2): GENESIS 1:26 SAYS

 

And God said, Let Us make man in OUR image, after OUR likeness....

 

WHO IS GOD REFERRING TO AS BEING "US" AND "OUR" IF NOT JESUS AND THE HOLY SPIRIT? NOT THE ANGELS I THINK, ANOTHER GOD?? I'M CONFIDENT THERE'S ONLY ONE GOD SO I HAVE TO DISCOUNT THAT, SO WHO?

 

PASTOR SHEILA: God is speaking to his Name, the manifestation of his Will to produce an image of himself. In other words, God was speaking to the very foundation upon which Adam, the image he willed to appear, would be built.

 

QUESTION (3)(a):

 

John 14:26 - But the Comforter, which is the Holy Ghost, whom the Father will send in my name, he shall teach you all things, and bring all things to your remembrance, whatsoever I have said unto you.

 

John 15:26 But when the Comforter is come, whom I will send unto you from the Father, even the Spirit of truth, which proceedeth from the Father, he shall testify of me.

 

Are the Spirit of truth, the Comforter, and the Holy Ghost, one and the same?

 

PASTOR SHEILA:  No.

 

The Holy Ghost is called the Spirit of Promise, because it carries the seed by which God’s promise can be fulfilled.

 

Eph 1:13

¹³ In whom ye also trusted, after that ye heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation: in whom also after that ye believed, ye were sealed with that holy Spirit of promise,  KJV

 

This seed is the female side of Adam, who is male and female.

 

Gen 1:27

²⁷ So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them.  KJV

 

The Holy Spirit of Promise is called the Comforter because the promise of salvation comforts God’s people who are spiritually female.

 

The Spirit of Truth is the Spirit of the Glorified Jesus Christ, which carries Adam’s male seed. He is also called, the Comforter, because hearing the Truth about God and his plans for us, comfort us as we experience the trials and tribulation of this world. This Truth is in the form of esoteric doctrine, the mysteries of the Scripture.

 

QUESTION (3)(b): IF THEY ARE, JESUS SAID HE WOULD SEND THEM FROM THE FATHER, BUT THAT THEY PROCEED OUT OF THE FATHER. IF WHAT I AM SAYING IS CORRECT THEN, DOES THAT MAKE THE HOLY GHOST AS BEING A PART OF GOD, BUT SEPARATE?

 

PASTOR SHEILA: No.

 

Jesus said that the father would send the Comforter, which is the Holy Ghost, in his name, but that he would send the Holly Spirit that comes from the Father. These are two different impartations of the Spirit of God, each of which has a different function.

 

The Holy Spirit of Promise will bring to memory all the things that Jesus said and taught.

 

The Spirit of Truth will testify of Jesus. In other words, the person who has the Spirit of Truth will have Jesus’ testimony. The word, testimony, means, martyr. The fallen nature of the man that receives the Spirit of Truth will be martyred by the Second Adam when he appears as that man’s new, righteous nature.

 

QUESTION (3)(c): DOES JESUS, IF HE IS NOT PART OF THE TRIUNE GOD...

 

PASTOR SHEILA: There is only one God, and he is not triune. 

 

Deut 6:4

⁴ Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God is one Lord:  KJV

 

QUESTION(3)(d): ...HAVE AUTHORITY TO TELL GOD THE FATHER WHAT TO DO?

 

Jn 12:49

⁴⁹ For I have not spoken of myself; but the Father which sent me, he gave me a commandment, what I should say, and what I should speak.   KJV

 

PASTOR SHEILA: No.

 

No one has the authority to tell God what to do.

 

QUESTION (4)(a): IN LIGHT OF WHAT IS SAID IN THE ABOVE VERSES, HOW DOES THAT APPLY TO:

 

Matthew 11:27? - All things are delivered unto me of my Father

 

PASTOR SHEILA:

 

Jesus clearly said that we cannot be greater than the one who gave us power:

 

John 15:20

²⁰ Remember the word that I said unto you, The servant is not greater than his lord. If they have persecuted me, they will also persecute you; if they have kept my saying, they will keep yours also.  KJV

 

1 Cor 15:27

²⁷ For he hath put all things under his feet. But when he saith, all things are put under him, it is manifest that he is excepted, which did put all things under him.  KJV

 

The word, things, is not in the Greek. It was added by the King James translators. The word, whole, signifies the Whole Adam. The Whole Adam consists of:

 

(1)  Adam, the image of God who is in heaven (the Lord Jesus Christ), and

 

(2) The Son of God born into a human being in the earth of a human being, 

 

Jesus was declaring that the Whole Adam, the Second Man who is the Lord from Heaven, was being revealed through his earthen personality. This reality made Jesus a supernatural man with miracle-working power. He was also declaring that the same experience would be available to all of humanity after he was glorified.

 

QUESTION (4)(b): AND TO

 

...and no man knoweth the Son, but the Father(Acts 3:21)

 

PASTOR SHEILA: This Scripture is translated incorrectly.

 

 

Jesus was saying that it is impossible for mortal man to recognize or have intimacy with the Father, unless the Son of God is born in him.

 

 

Acts 4:30

³⁰ By stretching forth thine hand to heal; and that signs and wonders may be done by the name of thy holy child Jesus.  KJV

 

The apostle is asking that miracles be done by the spiritual child who is the offspring of the Name of [God] that was born in Jesus of Nazareth, by whose holiness Jesus overcame the power of death and became invincible (glorified) and can never die again.

 

No mortal man can recognize the Father or the Son when either is hidden behind human flesh. Only the Son of God in one man can recognize the Son of God, or the Father, in another man.

 

2 Cor 5:16

¹⁶ Wherefore henceforth know we no man after the flesh: yea, though we have known Christ after the flesh, yet now henceforth know we him no more.  KJV

 

The apostle is saying that, from now on, we should not relate to any man by his fallen nature, meaning, who he is as a natural man, which includes his physical appearance, formal education and financial status. We should always be looking for the mind of Christ, who is the foundation of the Son of God that is being born in a man.

 

In addition, Paul is saying that, if Christ is not found, that man is reprobate, meaning, lacking the righteousness of God. We should relate to him accordingly.

 

Tit 1:16

¹⁶ They profess that they know God; but in works they deny him, being abominable, and disobedient, and unto every good work reprobate.  KJV

 

Jer 6:27-30

²⁷ I have set thee for a tower and a fortress among my people, that thou mayest know and try their way.

²⁸ They are all grievous revolters, walking with slanders: they are brass and iron; they are all corrupters.

²⁹ The bellows are burned, the lead is consumed of the fire; the founder melteth in vain: for the wicked are not plucked away.

³⁰ Reprobate silver shall men call them, because the Lord hath rejected them.  KJV

 

God bless you.

 

In Christ,

Sheila R. Vitale,
Pastor, Teacher & Founder
Living Epistles Ministries
P.O. Box 562
Port Jefferson Station, NY 11776-0562
Phone: 631-331-1493
Fax: 631-536-2089