To illustrate what we mean by separate and distinct beings or individuals, consider the various living intelligent beings that exist: * Angels are intelligent spirit beings or individuals - Heb. 1:13,14. * Satan and his servants (demons) are intelligent spirit beings or individuals -Matt. 4:1-11; 12:43-45; Mark 1:21-27. * Humans are intelligent beings or individuals (before death a human consists of a spirit inhabiting a physical body, but at death the spirit departs from the body) - Gen. 1:26,27; 2:7; James 2:26; etc. The Bible teaches that the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit are separate & distinct from one another as individual beings like these various other intelligent beings are separate and distinct from one another. We do not claim the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit are physical beings, like humans, though Jesus did have a body on earth. Nor do we claim they are like these other beings in character, authority, etc. We simply say that these other living beings illustrate the concept of separate and distinct individuals or personal beings. The Father, Son, and Holy Spirit are each an individual, distinct from one another like angels are distinct from one another, etc. So, the Father is not the same individual being as the Son, the Son is not the same being as the Spirit, etc. However, each possesses all the characteristics and privileges of Deity, so each is part of the Godhead. The one true God, then consists of three separate and distinct individual divine beings. We do not claim we understand all about God, nor can we answer all questions that can be raised about the subject of the number of individuals in the Godhead. Some things are simply not revealed; limited, finite humans simply cannot understand all about the infinite, unlimited God (Deut. 29:29; Job 26:14; 36:26; 37:5,23; Isa. 55:8,9). However, the Bible does reveal enough that it definitely teaches, by necessary implication, that there are three separate and distinct individuals in the Godhead. I. Evidence for Three Separate and Distinct Individuals in the Godhead A Father and His Son Must Be Separate Individuals Consider the following references: Hebrews 1:5 - I shall be to Him a Father and He shall be to Me a Son. Matthew 3:17 - This is My beloved Son. Matthew 16:16,17 - Thou art…the Son of God…My Father in heaven revealed this. Matthew 17:5 - This is My beloved Son (spoken by God the Father - 2 Pet. 1:16-18). John 3:16 - God gave His only-begotten Son. John 5:17 - My Father has been working, and I work. Romans 15:6 - Glorify God, even the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. 2 Corinthians 1:3 - Blessed be God, even the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. 1 John 1:3 - Have fellowship with the Father and with His Son Jesus Christ. 2 John 3 - Grace from God the Father and from Jesus Christ the Son of the Father. 2 John 9 - Abide in the teaching and have both the Father and the Son. A father and his son are necessarily two separate and distinct individuals. A single individual can be both a father and a son at the same time - a father to one person and a son to another person. But no one can be the same person as his own son, and no person can be the same individual as his own father! If Jesus and His Father are the same individual, as some claim, then Jesus is both His own Father and His own Son! Further, the passages describe both an I and a He (or me and him). Use of both these terms also necessarily implies plurality of individuals. And further note that 2 John 9 expressly mentions both the Father and the Son. The Father and the Son are a both - two individuals. Further, 1 John 1:3 and 2 John 3 clearly show that Jesus is the Son, as distinguished by the language from the Father. The Father is never called Jesus in the Bible. The Father Prepared a Body for the Son -Hebrews 10:5 When Jesus came into the world, He said, a body didst Thou prepare Me -Hebrews 10:5. Thou = God the Father (v7). Me = Jesus the Son (v10). The body = the body in which Jesus came into the world (v5,10). Again, thou and me necessarily refer to a plurality of individuals. Jesus was the me, not the thou (the Father). And Jesus is not just the body. The body was prepared for the Me (Jesus). Here are two separate and distinct individuals discussing the body. Did the Spirit that inhabited the body prepare the body for the body? Is Jesus talking to Himself, saying You (Jesus) prepared this body for me (Jesus)? Judgment Given by the Father to the Son - John 5:22 The Father does not judge any man, but has given all judgment to the Son. If the Father and Son are the same individual, then when Jesus judges someone, the Father IS judging them. But the Son judges and the Father does not judge. Therefore, they must be separate individuals. Jesus Prayed to the Father - John 17:1-26 (Matthew 26:39; John 11:41) Jesus lifted His eyes to Heaven and prayed to the Father (v1). He said, I have glorified Thee … I have finished the work Thou gavest Me to do (v4). I and Thee = plural individuals. But if the Father and Son are the same individual, then Jesus prayed to Himself! Jesus Was WITH the Father before the World Began - John 1:1-3,14; 17:5,24 The Word (1:1) is the only begotten Son of the Father (1:14,18). He was in the beginning with God and was God (v1). He (Jesus) said Father, glorify Thou Me with Thine own self with the glory I had with Thee before the world was (17:5). Further, the Father loved the Son before the foundation of the world (17:24). Even before Jesus had a fleshly body on earth, there was a Father (thou or thee) who was His own self - one individual. Sharing glory with Him was Me or I (Jesus) - a second individual who was with the Father and was loved by the Father before the world began. Thou and Me implies separate individuals. The Father was His own self, but Jesus was with Him. All this was before there ever was any fleshly body. Was Jesus with Himself before the world began? Did He love Himself and share glory with Himself?? Jesus Sent His Disciples as the Father Sent Him - John 17:18; 20:20,21 As the Father sent Jesus, even so Jesus sent His disciples. Does a person send himself elsewhere? When Jesus sent His disciples, He was one individual sending other separate individuals to do a job for Him (cf. John 1:6). Even so, when the Father sent the Son, the Father was one individual sending another individual to do a job. Note again that a Father and His Son are two distinct individuals. And Thou and Me are separate individuals. The Son Is on the Fathers Right Hand -Ephesians 1:17,20 The Father raised Jesus from the dead and made Him sit at His right hand. Clearly this describes a relationship between two separate individuals. If Jesus and the Father are the same individual, then Jesus is sitting at His own right hand! (See also Acts 2:33; 7:55,56; Rom. 8:34; Col. 3:1; 1 Pet. 3:22.) Jesus and the Father Had Independent Wills - Matthew 26:39 Jesus prayed, not My will but Thine be done. My will and Thy will make two distinct minds each capable of making its own decisions. The Fathers will and the Sons will agree and are united, but each has individual power to choose and to will. Each has His own mind and intelligence separate from the other. Two distinct wills necessarily imply two distinct intelligent beings. The Father and the Son Make TWO Witnesses - John 8:13,16-18,29 Jews accused Jesus of testifying of Him self (v13). Jesus said the law required two witnesses (v17; cf. Deut. 19:15). He claimed He was not alone because there was I and the Father that sent me (v16). Further, I am one that bears witness of Myself and the Father bears witness of Me (v18). This fulfills the requirements for two witnesses (v17). So, He that sent me is with Me; He left Me not alone (v29). Again, I and My Father make a plurality of individuals. If Jesus and the Father were the same individual, then Jesus would be alone and would have only one witness. But Jesus said He was not alone and He and His Father fulfilled the requirement of two witnesses. This can only be true if they constitute two separate and distinct individuals. Jesus and His Father are WE - John 14:23; 17:20-23 Jesus (me) and my Father love those who obey. We will come and dwell with them (14:23). The Father and Son are an Us and a We (17:21,22). How can we and us be one individual? Jesus Had a Spirit Separate & Distinct from that of His Father - Matthew 27:46,50; Luke 23:46 When Jesus was on the cross, the Father forsook Him (Matt. 27:46). Clearly the Fathers spirit was no longer with Jesus. Yet Jesus continued to live awhile, having His own spirit which then departed when He died (v50). When He died, He commended His spirit into His Fathers hands (Luke 23:46). So Jesus had His own Spirit separate from His Fathers spirit. Or did Jesus commend His own Spirit into the hands of His own Spirit, and then give up His spirit? Death is the spirit of a person leaving his body and returning to God (James 2:26; Ecc. 12:7; Acts 7:59). Just like any man, Jesus had His own spirit separate from the spirit of His Father. Jesus spirit remained in His body even after the Father forsook Him, then it left when Jesus died. The fact a man has his own spirit, separate from the spirit of other beings, is what makes him a separate individual. Since Jesus had his own spirit separate from the Fathers spirit, He must have been a separate and distinct individual from His Father. Note again that there is a Thy and a Me, each of whom had his own spirit. Clearly this is two separate individuals. Jesus & His Father Are One as His Disciples Are One - John 17:20-23 Jesus and His Father are one even as He wants His disciples to be one. How are disciples to be one? Do we all become one and the same individual - one living being? No, we remain separate individuals, but we are one in purpose, faith, goals, character, doctrine, practice, etc. (1 Co
Posted on: Sat, 01 Feb 2014 09:00:10 +0000
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