"The TRINITY"...?
or "The Quarternity" ?

( "Fragmenting" God into 3 [or 4] entities )

(This discussion was "borrowed" from another "tablet" of this website: God the Holy Spirit (link). (Revised slightly, as shown on this page.)


Selected from the on-going INTERNET BOOK, "The Doctor's Terrific Tablets"
( http://www.terrific-tabs.com )
by John N. Todd III, M. D. (link)


The web-link to this "tablet" is: http://www.terrific-tabs.com/print_trinity.htm
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SEE closely related subject: JESUS is GOD; GOD is JESUS (link)
And: Why God Came into the World, as Jesus (link)

Posted here 11/03; 12/03; 1/04; 2/04; 3/04; 7/04; 8/04; 9/04; 2/05; 3/05; 5/05; 8/05; 9/06; 1/18/07

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"FRAGMENTATIONS" of God….

Of course, I am aware of the "traditional" concept of what has been passed down and taught as "THE TRINITY". That concept states, succinctly: God the Father (God, our one God, and Creator); God the Son (God, Incarnate in man); God the Holy Spirit (God, the Spirit of God). This widely accepted and to-the-point definition should be enough "explanation" for all "Christian" churches -- but several different "constructions" (and concoctions) have evolved.... and each variation has been promulgated, by various adherents.... as "the truth".... the one-and-only truth.... the ultimate truth -- from God, about God.

My point is this: "God the Father; God the Man (the Son); God the Holy Spirit", means precisely what it says: "God is God", "God is Jesus", and "God is the Holy Spirit". How can it be more clearly stated? "Things equal to the same thing, are equal to each other."

And yet.... various other befuddling "fragmentations" of God have been conceived by a number of sects and "denominations". One of the most puzzling, to me, is what I like to call "Jesusanity"-- not "Christianity". In some "Christian" denominations, there seems to be an inordinate emphasis on "worshipping" Jesus, as if Jesus, in some way, represents an "essence", or a "personage", or a "being", or a "deity".... that is different from God (the One God) -- and different from the "Spirit of God". It seems almost as though these denominations have decided not that God came into the world, incarnate, as Jesus; but that Jesus-the-Man, in some unexplained way, became another "god" -- and that this new Jesus-Deity displaced the supremacy of Almighty God, the Supreme Creator of all things. I cannot find Biblical justification for that denominational invention of separating Jesus from God. One need only be reminded of the following words of Jesus, to refute that concept:

John 12: 44 (NRSV) Then JESUS cried aloud: "Whoever believes in me believes NOT IN ME.... but in HIM who sent me. 45 And, whoever SEES me, sees HIM who sent me.

Mark 9: 37 (JESUS speaking): "Whoever receives me, receives NOT me.... but the ONE who sent me."

(After you read this chapter, read also the chapter: (linked) "Jesus is God; God is Jesus".)

Now consider another "fragmentation" of God that certain denominations teach. In the doctrinal variation of these "Christian" churches, "The Holy Spirit" is given special prominence, as if "The Holy Spirit" were, in some confusional way, different from God (and different from Jesus). In these denominational "branches", for example, reference is sometimes made to the "gifts of The Holy Spirit", as if certain "gifts" come -- not from God -- but from some mystical and unfathomable essence, or "spirit", that is separate and distinct from our One God.

Some interpretations have concluded that the "Holy Spirit" is, in fact, the resurrected Christ (as implied in the KJV term "The Holy Ghost"). But.... we must remember, there are several "Old Testament" references to the Holy Spirit, and to the "Holy Spirit of God", and to the "Spirit of God" -- long before the coming of God-Incarnate (Jesus). (See Biblical quotations, below.) That is, God has "existed" as Spirit, living within God's accepted people, all along -- and not just in some new and different and mysterious way that began with the advent of God as Jesus -- or God "in" Jesus.

Jesus, Himself, makes reference to the "existence" of the Holy Spirit in the days of David, in this reference:

Mark 12: 35 (NRSV) While Jesus was teaching in the temple, he said, "How can the scribes say that the Messiah is the son of David? 36 David himself, by the Holy Spirit, declared, 'The Lord said to my Lord, "Sit at my right hand, until I put your enemies under your feet."
And Paul refers to the Holy Spirit's speaking through Isaiah:
Acts 28: 25 (NRSV) So they disagreed with each other; and as they were leaving, Paul made one further statement: "The Holy Spirit was right in saying to your ancestors through the prophet Isaiah, 26 'Go to this people and say, You will indeed listen, but never understand, and you will indeed look, but never perceive."

Note, also, these following references to the "existence" of the Holy Spirit, before the earthly time of Jesus, and before the "New Testament":

1 Peter 1: 10 (NRSV) Concerning this salvation, the prophets who prophesied of the grace that was to be yours, made careful search and inquiry, 11 inquiring about the person or time that the Spirit of Christ within them indicated when it testified, in advance, to the sufferings destined for Christ --- and the subsequent glory. 12 It was revealed to them that they were serving not themselves, but you......

Psalm 51: 11 (KJV) Cast me not away from thy presence; and take not thy Holy Spirit from me.

2 Peter 1: 20 (KJV) .... no prophecy of the scripture is of any private interpretation. 21 For the prophecy came not in old time by the will of man: but holy men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost.

Isaiah 63: 10 (KJV) But they rebelled, and vexed His Holy Spirit: therefore He was turned to be their enemy, and He fought against them. 11 Then He remembered the days of old, Moses, and His people, saying, Where is He that brought them up out of the sea with the shepherd of His flock? Where is He that put His Holy Spirit within him?

Isaiah 59: 21 (NRSV) (God speaking) And as for me, this is my covenant with them, says the LORD: my Spirit that is upon you, and my words that I have put in your mouth, shall not depart out of your mouth, or out of the mouths of your children, or out of the mouths of your children's children -- from now on, and forever.

Ezekiel 36: 26 (NRSV) (God speaking) A new heart I will give you, and a new spirit I will put within you; and I will remove from your body the heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh. 27 I will put My Spirit within you, and make you follow my statutes, and be careful to observe my ordinances. 28 Then you shall live in the land that I gave to your ancestors; and you shall be my people -- and I will be your God.

Acts 4: 24 (NRSV) When they heard it, they raised their voices together to God, and said (quoting Psalm 2: 1-2), "Sovereign Lord, who made the heaven and the earth, the sea, and everything in them, 25 it is you who said by the Holy Spirit through our ancestor David, your servant: 'Why did the Gentiles rage, and the peoples imagine vain things...."

Perhaps there are those who would prefer to "fragment" God into four parts -- a "QUARTERNITY" -- by counting (1.) God the Supreme Being; (2.) Jesus (God incarnate); (3.) God the Holy Spirit before the coming of Jesus; (4.) and God the Holy Spirit (the "Advocate", the "Conforter", the "Spirit of Truth") that Jesus said would come after His crucifixion. This dividing-into-four is more-than-implied in the following quotation from Romans, in KJV, in which both the "Spirit of God", and the "Spirit of Christ" are designated in one verse:

Romans 8: 9 (KJV) (NRSV also quoted above): But ye are not in the flesh, but in the Spirit -- if so be that the Spirit of God dwell in you. Now if any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of His.

(Isn't it true, interestingly, that one of the reasons the "Orthodox" Catholic church split from the Roman Catholic Church, was because of this very point; namely, that one group claimed that the "Holy Spirit" was of God -- and the other group averred that the "Holy Spirit" was derived from the Christ?)

So.... if there are those who insist upon "dividing" God into three or four parts, perhaps they could indeed alternatively use the term "The Quarternity" -- as well as "The Trinity".

Now...... remember the following references from Mark, and Isaiah, and from Ephesians, concerning the singularity of God -- the oneness of God:

Mark 12: 28 (NIV) Of all the commandments, which is the most important? 29 "The most important one," answered JESUS, "is this: `Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is one. 30 Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.' 31 The second is this: `Love your neighbor as yourself.' There is no commandment greater than these." 32 "Well said, teacher," the man replied. "You are right in saying that God is ONE; and there is NO OTHER but Him."

Isaiah 43: 10 (KJV) Ye are my witnesses, saith the LORD, and my servant whom I have chosen: that ye may know and believe me, and understand that I am He. Before me, there was no God formed; neither shall there be after me. 11 I, even I, am the LORD; and beside me, there is no saviour.

Ephesians 4: 5-6 (NIV) One Lord, one faith, one baptism; one God and Father of all -- who is over all, and through all -- and in all.


My understanding is that the effects of God, and the works of God, and the indwelling power of God, and the bestowing of the "gifts" of God, are ALL of the SAME "ORIGIN".... the SAME "CAUSE".... the SAME "SOURCE" -- whether one refers to this "source" as "God", or "Lord", or "Lord God", or "God of Abraham", or "God-Incarnate"; or "Yahweh", or "Lord Jesus", or "Jesus", or "Christ", or "Christ Jesus", or "Jehovah", or "Savior", or "God-the-Father", or "Messiah", or "Spirit of God", or "God-the-Son"; or "Creator", or "Holy Spirit of God", or "Comforter", or "Advocate", or "The Eternal", or "Holy Spirit", or "Holy Ghost", or "Spirit of Truth".... or "Allah".

Try -- as some may try.... there is no true way (and no need) to "divide" God.... or to fragment the power and the effects and the name of the one Almighty God.

The Sovereign God of Heaven and Earth is the same -- yesterday. today. and forever -- regardless of the "name" or "title" by which we of various "doctrines" may choose to address Him -- and seek Him -- and call to Him -- and serve Him. There is but one God.

Yes, the "Holy Spirit of God" is God; and Jesus is "God-in-man".
1/18/07