Questions about the Trinity

(Monotheism Versus Tritheism)

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There in One?

The Bible does not explicitly answer how the Godhead came about. However, it does contain insight on this topic and when the evidence is carefully put together, a wonderful story unfolds. The following scenario is supported by a variety of texts although some details are my own creation. For purposes of discussion, please consider the following:

The Bible indicates there was a time before anything was created that can be called “the beginning.” (John 1: 1) Let us assume that three separate, distinct, co-eternal Gods came together for a meeting. According to infinite wisdom and loving kindness, they agreed to unite and unify to create a family that would fill an ever expanding universe. As equal, co-eternal Gods, having the same powers and prerogatives, the other option was endless competition and warfare. There is not enough space in the universe for three equal, independent, free will infinite Gods to live if they have no interest in unity and cooperation! Therefore, if they could unite as one Godhead, they knew that all creation would get caught up in a conflict of loyalties between opposing deities. So, their first act as the Godhead was a solemn declaration of submission to each other (comparable to a marriage). This submission involved components and with each submission, each God accepted a specific power and a specific limitation. In other words, to live together as one, each God had to relinquish certain powers and prerogatives to the other two so that all three could function as one Deity-ONE in purpose, plan and action.

For example, two Gods (the Father and Holy Spirit) agreed that the other God (the God the angels called Michael and we call Jesus) should serve as the voice of the Godhead. They did this so that everything and anything the Godhead might say to their creation would come from one mouth. This submission on the part of two Gods explains why Jesus is called “The Word” in John 1 and “The Word of God” in Revelation 19:13. In today’s vernacular, we would say that Jesus was appointed, “The Speaker of the House.” Speaking for the Godhead was not the only submission that occurred. The Father and the Holy Spirit also relinquished their creative powers to Jesus and He was appointed as “The Creative Agent of the Godhead.” Jesus is the only God who creates and He alone created everything that exists in heaven, on Earth, and throughout the universe. (Colossians 1: 16, 17)

Because the Father and the Holy Spirit have no voice (that is, neither can speak for the Godhead) and because the Father and the Holy Spirit cannot create anything having substance, these two submissions are profoundly important to understand. Look again at John 1 and Colossians 1: 16, 17:

“In the beginning [before anything existed] was the Word [Jesus is called “The Word” because He speaks for the Godhead], and the Word was with God [Jesus was with the Father and the Holy Spirit], and the Word was God [Jesus is a distinct and separate deity just like the Father and the Holy Spirit are separate distinct deities]…. Through him [the Word] all things were made; without him nothing was made that had been made.” (John 1: 1, 3 insertions and emphasis mine)

“For by Him [Jesus] all things were created; things in Heaven [the angels were created by Him] and on Earth [mankind was created by Him], visible and invisible, whether thrones or rulers or authorities; all things were created by Him and for Him. He [Jesus] is before all things, and in Him all things [the whole universe] hold together.” (Colossians 1: 16, 17, insertions and emphasis mine)

This mutual submission of the Father and the Holy Spirit encompasses a some of issues we need to consider.  In another example, two God (Jesus and the Holy Spirit) relinquished their rights of sovereign authority to the Father so the Father rules over Jesus and the Holy Spirit unopposed. As King of kings and Lord of lords (until 1798), the Father was free to exercise His authority according to His infinite wisdom. Jesus and the Holy Spirit are not only supportive, they are 100% committed to whatever the will of the Father might be! This awesome faith cannot be described in words!

The encompassing issue of mutual submission between members of the Deity is important to understand because it explains elements which would otherwise be impossible to understand.  Another example of submission is when two of the Gods surrendered their ability to be omnipresent to the Holy Spirit. Prior to their union three separate Gods had the ability to be everywhere at once. However, the Father and Jesus relinquished this ability to the Holy Spirit so that the Godhead would have one set of universal eyes and ears. Because they must have complete faith in each other, God’s subjects are required to have faith in them. What a wonderful concept.

Since the Holy Spirit is the only God who can be everywhere at the same time, He serves as a two-way conduit between the Godhead and all creation. The Holy Spirit sees and hears everything as it happens in real time throughout the whole universe and He conveys this information to the Father and Jesus as it happens. On the other side of the coin, the Holy Spirit can immediately connect one or all of God’s saints with the Godhead without the necessity of an appointment. According to Apostle Paul, the Holy Spirit intercedes for God’s saints. He also reports to the Father the contents and the desires of every contrite sinner. (Romans 8: 26, 27)

Think this through: Because of their perfect union and submission to each other, we actually have three Gods. We have a God above us(the Father who served as the supreme Ruler of the Universe (until 1798) whose government is righteous and true). We also have a God beside us (Jesus, the Creative Agent of the Godhead, who lives among His creation as one of us, showing us what the Deity would do if the Father lived within our limitations). Finally, we have a God within us (the Holy Spirit is present within every heart nurturing us comforting us, and bringing God’s joy and presence to us).

Is the Holy Spirit a Separate God?

If you have managed to read this far, you know why I believe the Bible teaches polytheism (more than one Deity lives in Heaven). I believe the Father and Jesus are distinct, separate, co-eternal members of Deity. If the Father and Jesus separately exist, I believe it is safe to assume that the Holy Spirit exists separately. The Holy Spirit is not the Father or “an influence that emanates” from the Father (as Catholics believe), and the Holy Spirit is not Jesus. There are three factors that lead me to this conclusion:

The first factor in the universal presence of the unpardonable sin have you ever wondered why the unpardonable sin is blasphemy against the Holy Spirit and not blasphemy against the Father or Jesus? Jesus said that blasphemy against the holy Spirit is unpardonable in this age and in the age to come 9after we get to heaven and sin is no more)! (Matthew 12: 31, 32) How does blasphemy against the Holy Spirit occur and why is sinning against the Holy Spirit the one sin which Deity cannot forgive?

Blasphemy against the Holy Spirit occurs when a person repeatedly defies a conviction from the Holy Spirit.  Suppose the Father directs the Holy Spirit to convict a certain person about something which He wants that person to do. The Holy Spirit comes to that person and strongly impresses the person that he must do something which the Father wants him to do. (For example, do you remember the note that Pilate’s wife sent to her husband when Jesus was in the court? (See Matthew 27:19.  See King Agrippa’s comment in Acts 26:28.) Suppose the person rejects the conviction from the Holy Spirit, not just once, not just five times, but like Pharaoh, rejects the conviction many times and becomes more and more stubborn. Eventually, rebellion will mute the conviction and the internal struggle will end. Any desire to do what the Father wanted will simply evaporate.

The Holy Spirit is a God of love. He loves and respects the will of each sinner for whom Jesus died and He will only leave a person if that person insists on continued rebellion. When the Holy Spirit detects that defiance has taken a person beyond the point of repentance, his sin becomes unpardonable. After every effort had been made to bring Lucifer and his followers to repentance, God cast them out of Heaven because they blasphemed the Holy Spirit. What makes defiance against the Holy Spirit unpardonable? The only God who can enter our hearts and convey the will the Father with conviction is the God who is omnipresent, Jesus cannot do this. The Father cannot do this. Neither of them have omnipresence. If we shut out the Holy Spirit, we shut off all communication with God and this is unforgivable. (1 Corinthians 2:14; Romans 8: 6-9)

The second factor that indicates the Holy Spirit is a separate member of the Godhead is that when a sinner is baptized into Christ, he becomes a participant in God’s redemption. Therefore, Jesus commanded that such a person be baptized into three distinct, separate, co-eternal members of the Godhead, uniquely named and identified as the Father, The Son, and The Holy Spirit. (Matthew 28: 10-20) I believe that Jesus commanded this because redemption requires the efforts of all three Gods.

The final factor is that Jesus indicates the Holy Spirit is a separate, distinct God who has relinquished His authority to speak on His own! Carefully study the words of Jesus: “But when He, the Spirit of truth, comes, He will guide you into all truth. [Even though he can.] He will not speak on his own; He will speak only what He hears [from the Father and Me], and  He will tell you what is yet to come.” (John 16:13, insertions and emphasis mine) Why did Jesus say the Holy Spirit will not speak on His own? Why did Jesus say the Holy Spirit would speak only what He hears? Why did Jesus say the Holy Spirit will tell you what is yet to come? Jesus used this language to indicate that like Himself, the Holy Spirit is the God who hears and speaks. However, He only speaks what He hears from the Father and the Son. If we treat the Holy Spirit as a separate member of the Godhead, the bible will make sense-just as it reads. The next paragraph will demonstrate a sample of this.

In John 16:7 Jesus said to His disciples, “it is for your good that I am going away. Unless I go away, the Counselor will not come to you; but if I go, I will send him to you.” When Jesus spoke these words, He knew three things; First, Jesus knew that Jerusalem would be destroyed in A.D. 70and the disciples would be scattered throughout the world. (Matthew 24) Second, Jesus knew the Father’s original plan (Plan A) to implement the kingdom of God on Earth during the seventieth week would not be fulfilled. Third, Jesus knew that He would be leaving Earth and returning to Heaven within a few days. (John 14: 1-3) When we understand that Jesus does not have the ability to be omnipresent, His words concerning the Holy Spirit make perfect sense just as they read! In essence, Jesus told His disciples that through the ministry of the Holy Spirit, He would be closer and nearer to each of them, no matter where they went after Jerusalem was destroyed. This is why it was beneficial for them that He left Earth. The Holy Spirit would be sent to them and He would be able to be with all of them no matter where they went. (For a discussion on Plan A and Plan B and the relationship to the seventieth week, please see Appendices B & D in my book, Jesus’ Final Victory.)

Jesus also said, “Unless I go away, the Counselor will not come to you; but if I go, I will send him to you….” Jesus meant that on Resurrection Sunday, He would ascend to the Father. The Father was very pleased with all that Jesus had done for the redemption of mankind, but the Father was not pleased with the way Israel had treated Jesus. Because the kingdom of God could not be established on Earth as planned (plan A), the Father gave Jesus “all necessary authority” to establish His church on Earth. (Matthew 28)

Jesus knew that Lucifer and his demons would do everything possible to destroy His church. Therefore, a few days after ascending to Heaven, Jesus sent the Holy Spirit to Earth on a mission. Jesus knew the most convincing way to overcome the religious paradigms of the Jews and establish His church throughout the Roman Empire was through miracles and evidence of divine power. (See Acts 14:3.) Jesus also knew that His believers would not have sufficient wisdom and insight on managing and directing His church. Therefore, He promised to send “The Counselor” or “The Adviser” to them. Through the power and ministry of the Holy Spirit, a new religious body would not only begin, it would manage, against all odds and demonic assaults, to endure persecution and apostasy for centuries to come. The book of acts tells of a compelling story about how the power and ministry of the Holy Spirit enabled a few fishermen to change the course of history. The Holy Spirit could do things for the church that Jesus Himself could not do if He remained on Earth. This is why Jesus was taken from Earth and the Holy Spirit was sent!

Other people wonder, “If the Holy Spirit was always existed, why did God wait thousands of years to purr out the Holy Spirit at Pentecost?”  The outpouring of the Holy spirit during the first century A.D. was a special manifestation of divine power designed to achieve a special outcome. However, the work of the Holy Spirit on the individuals prior to Pentecost and the work of the Holy Spirit on individuals after Pentecost did not change.

Here is the story: Religion is a powerful paradigm (it controls what most people will consider about God). Remember, Jesus knew “the most convincing way to establish His church in Jerusalem and elsewhere in the Roman Empire was through a divine display of divine power.” People in the Bible times did not know much about Earth sciences and they did not have a thousand explanations which technology has provided for us today. Therefore, the ancients were prone to superstition and fear of “the unexplained.” When the Holy Spirit descended at Pentecost, there was a great wind (intimidation), tongues of fire appeared on the heads of the disciples (the anointing of chosen people), and the gospel was heard in many languages (the gift of tongues). This phenomenon was instantly deemed “an act of God” and 3,000 souls were baptized into Christ on the basis of what they saw and heard. This show of divine power gave the gospel of Jesus a huge dose of credibility and in turn, the church of Christ received a huge boost in membership. The rest of the story, recorded in Acts, is church history. Early Christians regarded Pentecost as the birthplace of Christ’s church. (See John 7:39)

Unfortunately, early Christians poorly understood their new religion. They knew just enough to abandon their former ways. Therefore, the first century A.D. was marked by Holy Spirit power much like the Great Tribulation will be marked by Holy Spirit power during 1,260 days. (Revelation 11:3) Through the ages, the Holy Spirit has been “poured out” on various people. For example, the Holy Spirit came upon Saul (1 Samuel 19:23), David (1 Samuel 16 & 17), Gideon, (judges 6:34) and Phillip (Acts 8:39). In each case Jesus wanted people to know that He had chosen certain people to do or say certain things. Do not forget, the Holy Spirit is omnipresent. He is at work at all times and in all places, edifying the body of Christ with gifts of all kinds. (1 Corinthians 12-14). He is also at work in every heart as long as we permit Him to dwell within.

Special events and manifestations of the Holy Spirit 9such as those at Pentecost) are not to be confused with this still small voice of the Holy Spirit calling us to walk with God. Look closely at this text. “Then the Lord said [to Noah], ‘My Spirit will not contend with man forever, for he is mortal; his days will be a hundred and twenty years.’” (Genesis 6:3, insertion and emphasis mine) The Lord indicated the Holy Spirit would not endlessly contend with the antediluvians. “The Lord saw how great man’s wickedness on the Earth had become, and that every inclination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil all the time. The Lord was grieved that he had made man on the Earth, and his heart was filled with pain.” (Genesis 6: 5, 6, emphasis mine) Corporately speaking, a majority of the people in Noah’s day committed the unpardonable sin. The Holy Spirit could not soften the rebellious hearts of the antediluvians. Therefore, God had to destroy the whole world for the benefit of oncoming generations. The same is true of the world today. All signs indicate we have passed the point of no return. Our world (corporately speaking) will not repent and reform. According to the books of Daniel and Revelation, God’s wrath will come just as He said it would.

I know this has been a lengthy article. I hope this study has been helpful. I hope you will read through it a couple of times and pray about it. At first, you may think this topic is ot very important and to be honest, understanding this topic is not required for salvation. However, if you wish to understand the Bible in general and apocalyptic prophecy in particular, you need to understand this topic. We have looked at monotheism 9one God), poly theism (more than one God) and tritheism (three Gods). The fullness of Deity is within Jesus just as the Father has the fullness of Deity within himself. (Colossians 2:9) Jesus is not the Father and the Father is not Jesus or the Holy Spirit. I believe three separate, distinct, co-eternal deities function as One, One in purpose, plan and action and they are forever committed to this arrangement. What an amazing demonstration of love!

Larry Wilson

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