Many assume that the Holy Spirit, along with God the Father and Jesus Christ the Son, form what is commonly known as the Trinity. Did this doctrine originate in the BibleThe books (Greek, "biblia" ) that are acknowledged as canonical (authoritative) by the early Christian Church. It includes both the books of the ancient Hebrew prophets and those of the apostolic witnesses to Jesus Christ. or in the early Church?
Many assume that the Holy Spirit, along with God the Father and Jesus Christ the Son, form what is commonly known as the Trinity. This traditional doctrine expresses a belief in one God who exists in three distinct but equal persons.
Did this doctrine originate in the BibleThe books (Greek, "biblia" ) that are acknowledged as canonical (authoritative) by the early Christian Church. It includes both the books of the ancient Hebrew prophets and those of the apostolic witnesses to Jesus Christ. or in the early Church? The New BibleThe books (Greek, "biblia" ) that are acknowledged as canonical (authoritative) by the early Christian Church. It includes both the books of the ancient Hebrew prophets and those of the apostolic witnesses to Jesus Christ. Dictionary answers: "The term 'Trinity' is not itself found in the BibleThe books (Greek, "biblia" ) that are acknowledged as canonical (authoritative) by the early Christian Church. It includes both the books of the ancient Hebrew prophets and those of the apostolic witnesses to Jesus Christ.. It was first used by Tertullian at the close of the 2nd century, but received wide currency and formal elucidation only in the 4th and 5th centuries" (Inter-varsity Press, Downers Grove, Ill., 1996, p. 1209, emphasis added). The word Trinity didn't come into common use until several centuries after the last books of the BibleThe books (Greek, "biblia" ) that are acknowledged as canonical (authoritative) by the early Christian Church. It includes both the books of the ancient Hebrew prophets and those of the apostolic witnesses to Jesus Christ. were completed.
But do people understand what the Trinity means or what it is? Obviously not.
A.W. Tozer, in his book The KnowledgeThe broad range of information held by a person; an attribute of God (Romans 11:33); what we need to know about God (Hosea 4:6). of the Holy, writes that the Trinity is an "incomprehensible mystery" and that attempts to understand it "must remain forever futile." He even states, "The fact that it [the Trinity] cannot be satisfactorily explained, instead of being against it, is in its favor" (Harper & Row, New York, 1961, pp. 17, 23).
Unger's BibleThe books (Greek, "biblia" ) that are acknowledged as canonical (authoritative) by the early Christian Church. It includes both the books of the ancient Hebrew prophets and those of the apostolic witnesses to Jesus Christ. Dictionary, in its article on the Trinity, concedes that the Trinitarian concept is humanly inexplicable: "It is admitted by all who thoughtfully deal with this subject that the ScriptureThe divinely inspired writings of both the Old and New Testaments. The term Scripture is used in the New Testament to refer to both the Hebrew Bible (Luke 24:44-45) and the new apostolic writings accepted as inspired (2 Peter 3:16; 1 Timothy 5:18). revelation here leads us into the presence of a deep mystery; and that all human attempts at expression are of necessity imperfect" (Moody Press, Chicago, 1966, p. 1118).
Charles Hodge, a Protestant thinker who trained thousands of ministers in the 1800s, described the Trinity as "mysterious" and "out of analogy with all other objects of human knowledge." In other words, the doctrine of the Trinity is totally unlike anything else God created or unlike anything else we humans can understand. While promoting belief in the Trinity, Hodge admits that "no such doctrine as that of the Trinity can be adequately proved by any citation of Scriptural passages" ( Systematic Theology , abridged edition, Baker Book House, Grand Rapids, 1988, pp. 166, 168).
Why is the concept of the Holy Spirit as a third person of a supposedly triune Godhead so difficult to grasp or explain? Because the BibleThe books (Greek, "biblia" ) that are acknowledged as canonical (authoritative) by the early Christian Church. It includes both the books of the ancient Hebrew prophets and those of the apostolic witnesses to Jesus Christ. does not teach it! One cannot prove something from the BibleThe books (Greek, "biblia" ) that are acknowledged as canonical (authoritative) by the early Christian Church. It includes both the books of the ancient Hebrew prophets and those of the apostolic witnesses to Jesus Christ. that is not biblical. GN
