The Trinitarian Doctrine Of God

But, that’s not exactly what Paul means by the word mystery here in this text. Paul, uses this word to express something beyond natural knowledge, but has been opened to us by divine revelation through the Holy Spirit. This means that we could not understand it on our own, until God revealed it to us. Colossians 1: 24-27(Now I rejoice in my sufferings for your sake, and in my flesh I am filling up what is lacking in Christ’s afflictions for the sake

Only those who remained blameless and free of sin would reach God’s presence. Salvation in the Old Testament is viewed primarily as a means of going to heaven, which calls for obedience of Gods commandments to be worth before Him. Although this is similar to the New Testament, the New Testament mainly emphasizes on deliverance from sin through Jesus Christ, the son of God, who died to redeem his people from sin and its consequences. Salvation in the Old Testament was mainly based on faith in God (Kärkkäinen 63). For instance, God considered Abraham, who was faithful to him, as a man through whom he would raise a great generation that would please and obey Him.

Christian ideology might have been shaped by years of creeds and confessions as it tried to make sense of this incomprehensible Being, yet the basics of these creeds remain fairly faithful to the portrait given by the Bible. God is one (Deuteronomy 6:4) yet speaks of a second person (Exodus 23:20-21) who is equal with God (Philippians 2:6). The Bible also speaks of a third person (Psalm 33:6) who is also equal with God (Job 33:4). Christianity thus believes in the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit who are separate but equal aspects of the same God. Christians cannot explain the full nature of this Being but will not limit God by saying it is not possible.

Question #1: What does biblical inspiration mean? Does God speak to us directly through the bible, or is the word of God always open to interpretation? How does one best defend his or her interpretation? Biblical Inspiration is that extraordinary or supernatural divine influence vouchsafed to those who wrote the Holy Scriptures, rendering their writings infallible.(Web Bible Encyclopedia) Likewise, biblical inspiration is the doctrine in Christian theology that credits the authors and editors of the Bible as ordained or influenced by God thus rendering their writings the word of God.

As stated before, within Catholic Christianity, Jesus Christ is known to be the Son of God. The Catechism of the Catholic Church teaches that, “The name "Jesus" signifies that the very name of God is present in the person of his Son, made man for the universal and definitive redemption from sins” (5). This proves that Jesus Christ is God himself in the form of his Son, who was born to save

Universalism teaches that a change of heart is not necessary, when the Bible clearly states, “Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new” (II Corinthians 5:17). Yes, indeed, salvation extends to all humanity, but sin still separates, and sin must be judged. “Behold, the Lord’s hand is not shortened, that it cannot save; neither his ear heavy, that it cannot hear. But your iniquities have separated between you and your God, and your sins have hid his face from you, that he will not hear” (Isaiah 59:1-2).

In the New Testament, there is an accomplishment of the realities prefigured in the Old Testament. Those realities are accomplished in Christ, where Christ becomes the Antitypos. We are considering the history of Christian marriage, this means we are meditating upon the mysterious interaction of divine grace and human activity by which the Holy Spirit moves the Church through the centuries towards a complete recapitulation of all things in Christ so beautifully asserted by Paul in the letter to the Ephesians and initially developed by the genius of St. Irenaeus. Therefore, the divine Wedding in the New Testament fulfils the Old Testament typology, taking up the analogy “from minor to major,” and becoming the “Great Mystery” (Eph 5:32) in order

Saint Anselm of Canterbury was one of the foremost important Christian theologians and philosophers. In the Proslogion two and three, Anselm attempts to prove the existence of God in his so-called ontological argument. He brings forth two arguments, which are quickly criticized by Gaunilo and many others. In this essay we will look at the soundness of Anselm’s argument and whether it is right to truly disregard them.

The significance or effect of this sacrament is fellowship of all the saints. Hence it is that Christ and all saints are one spiritual body, just as the inhabitants of a city are one community and body, each citizen being a member of the other and of the entire city. All the saints, therefore, are members of Christ and of the church, which is a spiritual and eternal city of God. It also fails to realize that Jesus is speaking of a spiritual reality. But other protestant Christians view it as a symbolic of the real elements, “… did not change into … nor did they somehow contain the body and blood of Christ… symbolized … and they gave a visible sign of the fact that Christ himself was truly present.”

This brings us to the third aspect of Paul’s pnuematology. Paul is truly Trinitarian in that he understands that God is truly one and personal, that the Spirit is the Spirit of God and the Spirit of Christ and that they are both personal and divine. In spite of this, the Spirit is distinct from the Father and from the Son. Fee also observes that Paul’s interest in Christ and the Spirit is “not with the nature of their being God, but with their role in salvation and Christian experience” (Fee, 33). Christ and his work help define the Spirit and his work in the Christian life (Fee, 32).

In part II of Lewis book he describes several different scenarios of Christians beliefs. He first talked about the difference between Christian Pantheism and the Christian idea of God. (pp.36). I myself as a Christian believe that God is beyond good and evil, that he is good and righteous, he loves love and hates hatred. Whereas, in Pantheism, one believes that God is part of the universe, without the universe God would not exist.

The textbook says, “This coming deliverer was referred to as the Messiah, which means "anointed one." Messiah is the Hebrew term that is the basis for the term Christ, as in Jesus Christ. In the Old Testament, kings were anointed. When the New Testament refers to Jesus as Christ, it is not referring to Jesus’ surname but to Jesus’ title as messiah, as king.” (Diffey, 2015)Jesus was believed to be the Son within the Holy Trinity: The Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit.

But how many of us struggle with it and don’t realize it? Sometimes, we go through the bible or we attend service, and pick and choose what exactly we desire. If the apostle Paul wasn’t afraid to proclaim the “whole counsel of God...”(Acts 20:27), then does that mean we are only expected to observe some of it and some of the time? Peter in 2 Peter 1:3 informs us as Christians we have been given by God “All things pertaining to life and godliness.” There’s nothing that God has instructed his Body, his bride, the Church, that is okay to not apply to your life.

The scripture texts mention Jesus as one who breaks all walls that divide humans under certain categories or label them with captions. In other words, if we are able to see God’s love manifest in the love of Christ, we would be able to understand the love of God too. On the other hand, Burton Z. Cooper states that “God has acted in Christ to redeem us.” This satisfies Jesus’ claim that our faith in Christ will help us be one in Christ as he is one in the Father, as mentioned in John 14:20.

To relate this theory to the Bible, Apollinarius’ interpretation could be related to the Bible verse found in Galatians 5:17 which states, “For the desires of the flesh are against the Spirit, and the desires of the Spirit are against the flesh, for these are opposed to each other, to keep you from doing the things you want to do.” He relates to this verse, but twists it to say that Jesus could not have had a human mind/spirit because it was corrupt and against the divine nature. What he missed though is that Jesus is not just partly human and partly divine, but He is one hundred percent God and one hundred percent man. The Christian belief of the incarnation of Jesus is quite different from what Apollinarius believed. Christians believe that Jesus in the flesh was not only fully man but also fully God; not half and half, not a mixed nature, not a divine mind with a human mind and soul, but all God and all man!