God Manifested in The Flesh

The Word of Truth Ministries

-God Made Known in the Flesh-
--A beginning discussion of the Divinity of Christ--
___________________________

In many Apostolic Churches, some hold that the divinity of Christ (the Godhead, as labeled by some) is the most complex aspect of the doctrine of Christ. This is an overstatement of that subject's complexities. The Godhead is not complex at all, but to some all things are complex.

The Godhead is quite plainly laid out in scripture--there is nothing really complex about the Divinity of Christ since the Apostle Paul said great is the mystery of Godliness, and then delineated it for us. Hence, the mystery is no longer a mystery; however, for those who want tradition more than the word of God it is complex.

The real complexity is the vast web of confusion that has been placed in scripture and in church tradition by a culture that is alien to the correct teaching of God's word--the truth. A culture has clouded many saints' understanding of what God is saying to His people, even regarding His entry into the world to redeem us.

For example, the Trinity is not a biblical or apostolic teaching. It is a teaching that predates the church but never a part of Old Testament teaching. It was brought into the church in 325 AD [well after the death of the apostles] and accepted by major thinkers on church doctrine during that time. And since it is introduction, this teaching overlays the mindset/perspective of many previous churched believers who come to a study of God's word. That mindset causes many believers to see the Trinity in God's word where it really is not present or even implied. This revisionist way of viewing scripture, based on a pagan teaching that overlays many Christians' minds, has become the norm rather than the exception. And since it is the norm, clear teachers of truth must deal with this mindset and explain how it has intruded into the word of God.

Furthermore, what is complex is the ability to divide the word of God so that confusion is swept from the minds of untutored believers and the clarity of God shines through. To do that is to bring seemingly discordant scriptures together into a synthesis of meaning that is correct. That is the complexity of the Godhead, not the coupling of several scriptures together to show that Jesus is God--anyone who can read and think a little can do that.

But since many have declared the Godhead to be so hard to understand, many have tackled it and butchered many saints' understanding with their confused teaching of the Divinity of Christ. Yes, many unprepared and poorly taught ministers love to go into the godhead, as they aptly put it, but most of those who love to go into the Godhead go into it and become butchers of scripture because they are utterly confused and don't know what they are doing or saying.

I seldom discuss this teaching because it has almost become a red herring to get saints passionate about a minister's supposed scriptural abilities when those abilities are not really cultivated but they want to pretend they are. Furthermore, to be saved, one need only know that the messiah [Jesus] has come and died for our sins; we need to accept his actions and repent of our sins, being baptized in Jesus name, and God gives the baptism of the Holy Spirit. Thereafter, one must walk on unto perfection. [Mat. 5:48; John 3:1-16; Acts 2:38; Eph. 4:11-16;Heb. 6:1-5]

The knowledge of who Jesus is beyond the messiah is something one learns as he grows in grace and in the knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ. It is not essential for salvation or perfection. Indeed, many who think they know who Jesus is have not grown at all in Christ; many of them are still babes in Christ after 10-50 years of preaching and supposedly living the life of Christ! That is flawed Christianity.

After reading the above words, many unlearned will go immediately to the scripture that says, "Except ye believe that I am he, you shall die in your sins." The question they should ask of themselves is this, "Who is the 'HE' in that statement?" Jesus is not saying except you believe that I am the God of gods, Lord of Lords, but except you believe that I am the door, the redeemer, the son of God you will die in your sins. Because only the son of God is the portal to God, the door!

Neither the word nor the concept of the Trinity exists in the word of God. The very concept is alien to the historical teaching about God--in the Old Testament and in the New Testament. It is a concept that has been borrowed from pagan origins and placed in the culture of the church's liturgy through the Roman Empire when that empire took the reigns of the church by Emperor Constantine in 321-25 AD. [See Professor S.C. McClain's Student's Handbook of Facts in Church History.]

Not only did the Roman Church bring a Trinitarian culture into the church, it also placed in the Bible words that never appeared in the earliest manuscripts of John's letter to the church--"For there are three that bear record in heaven, the Father, the Word, and the Holy Spirit; and these three are one." [1 John 5:7] This insertion of words into the Bible seems geared only to make students of the Bible think the Trinity was a teaching with a foundation in the understanding of John or other apostles.

The last thing that occurred was that the Roman Emperor led church slanted interpretations of the word toward a triune godhead. Since that culture was brought in and the ministers of the Roman church were to follow it, it has been an overarching stance and mindset for Bible interpretation, when dealing with the divinity of Christ. But that does not make it true.

The divinity of Christ can be understood Paul's way: "Great is the mystery of Godliness; God was manifested in the flesh, justified in the spirit, seen of angels, preached unto the Gentiles, believed on in the world, received up into glory." [1 Tim. 3:16] Few will dispute that God, whom Paul is referring to, is none other than Jesus the Christ.

It is fiction to try to misinterpret this passage to read, the third person in the godhead was manifested.... Such an attempted analysis demonstrates the mindset that overlays an over-churched Christian's approach to God's word.

There is only one God who is creator of all things, who inhabits eternity alone. [Deu. 6:4; Isa. 57:15] That God was the one whom Paul wrote of. When God came into the world to do this specific work of redemption, He came not as God but as the son of God---that was God's identity while here on the earth as messiah. [John 1:14] God is still with us, but not in the flesh; not as messiah. He is with us in spirit, that is the Holy Spirit. Paul did not say these are three spirits or three gods; just one God.

In short, God was and is father in His creation of all things; He was son in manifestation to the world; [John 1] He is the Holy Spirit now inhabiting the church. [John 14] That, simply said, is the godhead--not three persons in a corporate godhead. A tri-part god is a Roman fiction that has become a mindset of many Christians even though it has no Bible basic.

God has made himself known to the world in three major ways. Said differently, God has conducted his major works in three administrative ways. There are differences of administration, but the self same spirit. And there is only one spirit--not three!

[This discussion will continue, as we debunk this Roman mindset that harms the understanding of God's word by many Christians and as we explain, simply, the word of God on this non-complex subject.]

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			The Word of Truth Ministries -God Made Known in the Flesh- --A beginning discussion of the Divinity of Christ-- ___________________________ In many Apostolic Churches, some hold that the divinity of Christ (the Godhead, as labeled by some) is the most complex aspect of the doctrine of Christ. This is an overstatement of that subject's complexities. The Godhead is not complex at all, but to some all things are complex. The Godhead is quite plainly laid out in scripture--there is nothing really complex about the Divinity of Christ since the Apostle Paul said great is the mystery of Godliness, and then delineated it for us. Hence, the mystery is no longer a mystery; however, for those who want tradition more than the word of God it is complex. The real complexity is the vast web of confusion that has been placed in scripture and in church tradition by a culture that is alien to the correct teaching of God's word--the truth. A culture has clouded many saints' understanding of what God is saying to His people, even regarding His entry into the world to redeem us. For example, the Trinity is not a biblical or apostolic teaching. It is a teaching that predates the church but never a part of Old Testament teaching. It was brought into the church in 325 AD [well after the death of the apostles] and accepted by major thinkers on church doctrine during that time. And since it is introduction, this teaching overlays the mindset/perspective of many previous churched believers who come to a study of God's word. That mindset causes many believers to see the Trinity in God's word where it really is not present or even implied. This revisionist way of viewing scripture, based on a pagan teaching that overlays many Christians' minds, has become the norm rather than the exception. And since it is the norm, clear teachers of truth must deal with this mindset and explain how it has intruded into the word of God. Furthermore, what is complex is the ability to divide the word of God so that confusion is swept from the minds of untutored believers and the clarity of God shines through. To do that is to bring seemingly discordant scriptures together into a synthesis of meaning that is correct. That is the complexity of the Godhead, not the coupling of several scriptures together to show that Jesus is God--anyone who can read and think a little can do that. But since many have declared the Godhead to be so hard to understand, many have tackled it and butchered many saints' understanding with their confused teaching of the Divinity of Christ. Yes, many unprepared and poorly taught ministers love to go into the godhead, as they aptly put it, but most of those who love to go into the Godhead go into it and become butchers of scripture because they are utterly confused and don't know what they are doing or saying. I seldom discuss this teaching because it has almost become a red herring to get saints passionate about a minister's supposed scriptural abilities when those abilities are not really cultivated but they want to pretend they are. Furthermore, to be saved, one need only know that the messiah [Jesus] has come and died for our sins; we need to accept his actions and repent of our sins, being baptized in Jesus name, and God gives the baptism of the Holy Spirit. Thereafter, one must walk on unto perfection. [Mat. 5:48; John 3:1-16; Acts 2:38; Eph. 4:11-16;Heb. 6:1-5] The knowledge of who Jesus is beyond the messiah is something one learns as he grows in grace and in the knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ. It is not essential for salvation or perfection. Indeed, many who think they know who Jesus is have not grown at all in Christ; many of them are still babes in Christ after 10-50 years of preaching and supposedly living the life of Christ! That is flawed Christianity. After reading the above words, many unlearned will go immediately to the scripture that says, "Except ye believe that I am he, you shall die in your sins." The question they should ask of themselves is this, "Who is the 'HE' in that statement?" Jesus is not saying except you believe that I am the God of gods, Lord of Lords, but except you believe that I am the door, the redeemer, the son of God you will die in your sins. Because only the son of God is the portal to God, the door! Neither the word nor the concept of the Trinity exists in the word of God. The very concept is alien to the historical teaching about God--in the Old Testament and in the New Testament. It is a concept that has been borrowed from pagan origins and placed in the culture of the church's liturgy through the Roman Empire when that empire took the reigns of the church by Emperor Constantine in 321-25 AD. [See Professor S.C. McClain's Student's Handbook of Facts in Church History.] Not only did the Roman Church bring a Trinitarian culture into the church, it also placed in the Bible words that never appeared in the earliest manuscripts of John's letter to the church--"For there are three that bear record in heaven, the Father, the Word, and the Holy Spirit; and these three are one." [1 John 5:7] This insertion of words into the Bible seems geared only to make students of the Bible think the Trinity was a teaching with a foundation in the understanding of John or other apostles. The last thing that occurred was that the Roman Emperor led church slanted interpretations of the word toward a triune godhead. Since that culture was brought in and the ministers of the Roman church were to follow it, it has been an overarching stance and mindset for Bible interpretation, when dealing with the divinity of Christ. But that does not make it true. The divinity of Christ can be understood Paul's way: "Great is the mystery of Godliness; God was manifested in the flesh, justified in the spirit, seen of angels, preached unto the Gentiles, believed on in the world, received up into glory." [1 Tim. 3:16] Few will dispute that God, whom Paul is referring to, is none other than Jesus the Christ. It is fiction to try to misinterpret this passage to read, the third person in the godhead was manifested.... Such an attempted analysis demonstrates the mindset that overlays an over-churched Christian's approach to God's word. There is only one God who is creator of all things, who inhabits eternity alone. [Deu. 6:4; Isa. 57:15] That God was the one whom Paul wrote of. When God came into the world to do this specific work of redemption, He came not as God but as the son of God---that was God's identity while here on the earth as messiah. [John 1:14] God is still with us, but not in the flesh; not as messiah. He is with us in spirit, that is the Holy Spirit. Paul did not say these are three spirits or three gods; just one God. In short, God was and is father in His creation of all things; He was son in manifestation to the world; [John 1] He is the Holy Spirit now inhabiting the church. [John 14] That, simply said, is the godhead--not three persons in a corporate godhead. A tri-part god is a Roman fiction that has become a mindset of many Christians even though it has no Bible basic. God has made himself known to the world in three major ways. Said differently, God has conducted his major works in three administrative ways. There are differences of administration, but the self same spirit. And there is only one spirit--not three! [This discussion will continue, as we debunk this Roman mindset that harms the understanding of God's word by many Christians and as we explain, simply, the word of God on this non-complex subject.] Home