THE FATHER IS THE ONE TRUE GOD!!

And Yet ….

By Derrick Gillespie (August 2011)

There is a certain language method of communication that the Bible uses in communicating

certain deep spiritual truths about God, yet it is usually missed by very many well thinking

people, and, as such, explains why so many are in confusion today about who God really is. This

language method was established from the very beginning of the Bible, and is its method right

throughout, to the very last book of Revelation. In fact, it is used so very often, and applies to

several things of like nature to the Godhead (if even inadequately so) that one wonders why it

is missed by so many. No wonder the Bible declares that “spiritual things are spiritually

discerned”. 1 Cor. 2:14. And let no one think that this writer is about to reveal any new thinking

or revolutionary viewpoint on the subject of God, but what I am about to do is to reveal how

the Bible itself already had its own God-given tools for us to understand certain deep spiritual

things about God. So without any further ado let launch into this adventure of discovery.

WHO IS THE ONE TRUE GOD?

There’s no need to beat around the bush with this one. The Bible is consistent from Genesis to

Revelation that the “one true God” is the Father, Jehovah by name, who’s a singular personal

being, or a numerically singular and absolutely non-composite person, who is simply the Father

of our Lord Jesus Christ. Over and over, in the overwhelming cases, when the Bible uses the

term God it simply is referring to the Father of Jesus. The texts are so abundant that there is no

need to even explore the very many, such as Deut. 6:4, Is. 43:10, Is. 42:8, Is. 44:24, John 17:3, 1

Cor. 8:6, Eph. 4:6…just to highlight a few. They speak clearly.

WHY THE JEWISH OPPOSITION TO & THE CONFUSION IN CHRISTIANITY?

There is however an understandable problem and difficulty when the above quoted texts (and

ones similar in nature) are brought alongside other texts which make it plain that, for instance,

God spoke from the very first book of the Bible in collective language when speaking of the

creation of man. Gen. 1:26,27 introduces the very first ‘problem text’, and to this very day the

non-Christian Jews who are avowed monotheists, but who are honest and open, admit that it

creates much difficulty for them when it is considered that only God can create man; not angels

or any other created beings. Thus to whom, or of whom was God speaking when he said “let us

(collective, plural) make man (collective, plural) in our (collective, plural) own image” (singular;

not “images”) and then proceeded to create man or “Adam” to be more than one person (Gen.

5:2)? This passage creates seeming difficulty that has never been adequately resolved by the

orthodox Jew. So too has Gen. 3:22-24, Gen. 11:6,7, and Is. 6:8 continued to be those texts the

orthodox non-Christian Jew gives no adequate explanation for.

Furthermore, the scholarly but honest Jews make it plain that Proverbs 30:4, speaking of the

Creator God having a “Son” whose mysterious name is like unto his own mysterious name,

create difficulty for them to ascertain who this “son” is. It could not be earthly Israel, as either a

singular or collective “son” in imagery, nor could it be any normal king or normal human figure

in Israel, since it seems illogical that any such person could be said to have a mysterious name

akin to that of Jehovah. Angels are usually referred to in collective, as the “sons of God”, and no

one angel (at least none the Jews cold think of) could be said to have such a mysterious name.

And of course, to the Jews and Old Testament culture, one’s name is indicative of one’s nature

and character, and hence this “son” that Jehovah challenges the reader of Proverbs 30:4 to

identify must also have a name comparatively mysterious as that of Jehovah Himself, since he

himself compares the two through the writer of Proverbs. To the orthodox Jew, God could

never have a “son” of his very own nature, otherwise that would fly in the face of He already

declaring that his glory he would not share with another, and that no God was formed after

Him. If at least a divine Son was present in the picture (as Proverbs 30:4 and Gen. 1:26, 27

would seem to suggest very strongly, as Christians argue) then to their Jewish minds God would

indeed be sharing His glory, he would have a person of like ‘God-hood’ formed from Him and

after Him (since that is what a son normally is), that Son would be equal in nature with Him,

polytheism would be the result, and their monotheistic faith would be obliterated. Or so they

thought. So they maintain to this day that all these are impossible realities, and hence no need

to be bothered. That could not be the explanation they argue.

All of this explains why the unconverted/orthodox Jews rejected any notion that Jesus was

God’s Son in the highest sense, and the main reason why they accused him of blasphemy and

rejected his claims (John 5:18 and John 10:33). However, the first Christians were enlightened

Jews themselves who felt that the claims of Jesus was a new phase in the progressive revelation

of the Godhead as connected to the plan for human redemption (Rom. 16:25,26; Eph. 3:3-11),

and thereafter the New Testament Scriptures of Christianity abound with Jewish Christian

writers simply accepting the later revelation…. that Jesus pre-existed in Heaven alongside the

Father; that from the foundation of the world the Father loved Him but still sent him to earth to

save us (John 1:1,14,18 and John 17:5, 24-26); that he is truly God’s Son from eternity past

(Heb. 1:1-4); that he was God by nature and “in the form of God” before emptying himself as a

man (Phill. 2:5-11); that he is worthy of worship like the Father (Heb. 1:6; John 5:23) to be even

called “my Lord and my God” (John 20:28, 29); that he inherited his Father’s title of “God” (Heb.

1:8) and even His very own name of “LORD” or “Jehovah” (as sons naturally do; Heb. 1:4, 8-12);

that he did the actual creating of the universe on his Father’s behalf (Heb. 1:2,3); that he rules

supremely alongside him (Rev. 3:21), that he will be the final Judge, Resurrector, and Giver of

rewards/justice on His behalf (John 5:22, 25; Rev. 22:12), and will forever be both divine and

human as our Savior since his incarnation.

To the orthodox Jew all these new Christian teachings are the greatest blasphemies that could

be conceived, and hence explains why they reject not just Jesus as the ultimate Messiah, but

also the New Testament Scriptures as being inspired by the same Jehovah God they believe in

by way of the Old Testament. What is of interest to note, however, is that Jesus and the

disciples only used the Old Testament Scriptures to prove both his divinity and Son-ship (along

with the eyewitness accounts of his miraculous life, death and resurrection). The New

Testament is largely a commentary on the Old Testament itself, and or a compilation of the

later written version of the eyewitness accounts of the marvelous new revelations these first

disciples acquired. Ancient Judaism that refused to accept unfolding truth and new Christian

thought was naturally going to be in tension.

However, the problem was not only with the Jews rejecting Jesus as divine and their true and

long awaited Messiah, but the issues became even more complex when the New Testament

teachings and accounts, and all the newly introduced matters related to the Godhead (or divine

nature) are considered as a whole. Not only were Christians now presenting more than one

person with divine qualities, who should be worshipped to the same degree, but along with this

came the newly emerging thought that the Holy Spirit has distinct personal qualities and acts

on behalf of both Jesus Christ and the Father as if they themselves are present. Christians

became pressed more and more (mostly by way of heretical teachers leading the flock astray)

to be precise and definitive when speaking of the one God, the Father in light of these new and

revolutionary teachings, and to show why they were not polytheists. As a result of this, over

time, very many differing viewpoints have arisen as to how to resolve the seeming tension

between the ideas of one God the Father, and yet in the picture too is a divinely equal Son, and

a seemingly personal Holy Spirit acting on their behalf.

This issue, more than any other matter in Christianity, has historically created the most division,

controversy, uncertainty, and outright confusion among some…and continues so to do even to

this very day. Why? Firstly because it is natural that the things of God would be the most

challenging to man, otherwise he would not be God in the first place (Job 11:7-9). Secondly,

because the Biblical method of presenting the Father of Jesus as the one God (yet never

denying His divinely equal Son, nor denying the Holy Spirit’s distinct and personal operation

on their behalf) has been largely overlooked, oftentimes missed completely, or vehemently

resisted, and in its place human inventions, inadequate illustrations and speculative

approaches have been used. This writer contends that if people accept all that the Bible says

about God, His Son, and His Holy Spirit, if they use the Biblical methods of illustrating the

Godhead, if they accept that no one can fully explain the things of God to satisfy all questions

and all critics (Job 11:7-9), and if they accept that we should leave the unexplainable alone,

then much of the confusion and difficulties would be avoided.

THE BIBLE’S METHOD OF PRESENTING GOD WHILE AVOIDING POLYTHEISM

I would have thought that if God made man in “his own image” (Gen. 1:26, 27), then the best

method or approach to expressing the nature of God is to look at man’s nature. After all,

nothing else in known creation was ever paralleled with God’s “image”. Thus when we look at

how God uses imagery in relation to humans to present truths about humans themselves, and

about themselves in relation to God, then we can have a faint idea as to how best to look at the

things of God. God admittedly uses other things in nature to illustrate the things of God (not

just human related things), but it is prudent to realize that only man himself, and the things

related to human relationships, can best illustrate (however inadequate) the things of God.

Here now is a summary of the main things am about to address in detail about the much

overlooked language of the Bible.

1. God the Father acts in unison with those who share His glory, his fullness, and even his

divine name (Matt. 28:19), simply because they are are of/from Him, i.e. His Son and

Spirit in the one Godhead. Apparently the Father does not consider this reality as

polytheism, even when, for instance, he orders/endorses worship for His Son, and in

equal measure to that offered to Himself, mind you (Heb. 1:6; John 5:23). And he clearly

considers whatever is accomplished by the Son and Holy Spirit as if it was/is he himself

who did/does it. He pictures the whole operational unity of the Godhead of the Father,

the Son, and the Spirit as if it is the one and the same doing it (e.g. 1 Cor. 12:4-6). The

Father is the one spiritual Head of Jesus, operating through the medium of the one

visible and tangible Christ, and both are present everywhere by way of the one personal

Spirit. Jehovah God is biblically said to, for instance, create by himself (see Is. 44:24; Is.

45:11,12), is Judge himself (Ps. 50:2-6), is called the First and Last and only Savior (Is.

43:11;Is. 44:6) , is called the only Supreme King (1 Tim. 6:13-16; John 1:18), and yet

Jesus, often times through the power from the Spirit, either did it all on His behalf, or

represents him in the office in question, or is called the same thing he is called. How can

this be and yet God the Father is still called the one true God?

2. God the Father is called the one true God, the Head of Christ, and is a separate

individual being, and yet Jesus, despite a separate being himself (said to be “sent” by

the Father to us), is depicted as God’s divine right arm (Is. 53:1, 2), his Wisdom and

Power (1 Cor. 1:14), his Reason, or Logos (John 1:1), etc.; just as the Holy Spirit, despite

having his own mind and will (Rom. 8:27;1 Cor.12:11), despite being distinct enough to

be “sent”, despite distinct enough to intercede to the Father on behalf of praying

Christians (Rom. 8:26), despite manifested at times even in human form (Ez. 8:1-4) and

despite exhibiting his own distinct personal characteristics (e.g. Eph. 4:30), yet is

depicted as “the hand of the Lord God” (Ez. 8:1-4) or “the finger of God” (Lk.

11:20;Matt. 12:28), while at other times depicted as the inseparable mind of God (1 Cor.

2:11). Why is God using all these images of all three (i.e. Father, Son, and Spirit who

shares the same name; Matt. 28:19) to picture them as if they are a single divine being

in operation; a single being who has one head, one body, one spirit, and one name? And

remember no part of a being can be considered inferior to him, or not be considered

equally a member of that being himself. And why is it that the sum total of a human

being, made in the “image of God”, just happens to be biblically presented as a

threefold union of body, soul, and spirit (1 Thess. 5:23)?

3. Why does God focus on the head of a human group as being representative of the

whole group? For instance, why was Adam and Eve together called “the man” or “him”

and “he” in Gen. 3:22-24, and yet more than one individual was driven out of the

Garden of Eden? Why did Eve take the name of her husband, the head (Gen. 5:2), and

why does God see them spiritually as one flesh/substance, and the wife today is to be

loved as if a man is loving himself, his own body (Eph. 5:22-30)? Why does Jesus, like in

a marriage union, see the Church so much a part of himself, his body, that when Paul

(out of ignorance) initially persecuted the Church, he was charged with persecuting

Christ himself? Why has death passed on all men because of the failings of Adam, the

head of the race? Why are families, wives, sons, and daughters alike, given the same

name the father has? Why are families and genealogy in the Bible traced through the

father as head of the family, despite a male alone cannot procreate? Why does the

story of Israel (Jacob) mean that salvation, blessings and curses in the Old Testament

were passed down to his whole family through the head ancestor? Why do prophecies

of kingdoms and powers (in 2 Thess. 2, Daniel 2, 7, 8, and Revelation 13, for instance)

focus on the head of those kingdoms or powers as representative of the whole nation,

kingdom or power? Why is eternal life and future glory of humanity assured through

one person (e.g. Ps. 8:4-6; Heb. 2:6-11), Jesus the human forerunner, the human ‘first

fruits’ and second Adam, the head of the body he is one with? And why does the Bible

say there are many members of Christ, and yet there is still one Christ (1 Cor. 12:12-14),

the head? Could it be that COMPOSITE UNITY of a closely related group or unit of

humans is best represented by, and is centered in THE HEAD of that group?

4. Why in everyday life is the head and face of an individual of prime importance and often

represents the whole person, but cannot be excluded/separated from the body, since

one’s body is considered very much a part of whom one is, just like the head?

All of the foregoing relate to a deep spiritual principle found all over the Bible that many people

have missed, or ignored, and hence why the nature of the Godhead, as faintly “imaged” in the

family and in man himself from the very beginning, is not properly understood. Let’s now

explore these vital truths in the Bible, and it will be quickly seen how certain difficulties about the

Godhead is easily cleared up.

THE BIBLICAL METHOD OF PRESENTING GOD EXPLAINED

Let’s start at the very beginning. God made Man (Gen. 1:26, 27) *"in his image" (i.e. patterned

after him). This naturally means that:

(a) At the individual level, Adam was a *threefold being (i.e. body, soul, and spirit) which cannot

be separated from his constituent parts (1 Thess. 5:23).

(b) At the generic level, a family of Man is considered as still one in essence (Gen.2:24), despite

made up of (i) a father, as head (ii) a mother, as a help-meet, and (iii) the later arriving offspring

resulting from their unity (thus *completing the family); with all bearing the same family name

from the father, and all still forming part of whom is called Man (Gen. 5:2). Notice that even in

the wider sense, even the collective masculine pronoun "him"/"he" is still applicable when all

the individual beings of humanity are being spoken about as in Gen. 6:3, and in Psalm 8:4-8

(compare Gen.1:26-28).

It becomes interesting that in the same way a single human is a threefold being, and a compete

family is a threefold entity of father, mother, and offspring, all in a closely knit a group, with all

sharing the same family name of the father, there exist the very same principle of a threefold

Godhead union of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit; with all sharing the name of the Father

(Matt. 28:19) the Head of that group. No wonder the Bible declared “And God said let us make

man in our own image”.

Thus it becomes apparent why THE WORD TRIAD, TRINITY OR TRIO IS VERY APPLICABLE TO THE

GODHEAD!! Why? Because the very nature of the Godhead has the one true God, the Father,

united with His Son, and present everywhere through the distinct Holy Spirit who results from

their mysterious union. This is a triadic or threefold union indeed. Will come back to that issue

later, and clear up a few misconceptions.

Some may ask, if Adam made first in time, then Eve, and then came the offspring from their

union much later, then how would this relate to the Godhead of three persons whom

Trinitarians, like me, contend are equally eternal? Well, the parallelism with how man was

created may simply relate to the fact that the revelation of the Godhead persons to man was

to be progressive (despite all three existed in eternity), with the eternal Father clearly

revealed first, then much later the eternal Son (Micah 5:2; 1 John 1:1-3) was revealed more

fully, and then the eternal Holy Spirit (Heb. 9:14), of whom we know much less about today

than Father and Son, was to be revealed last, and probably more fully revealed later, but at this

time it is not necessary. The parallelism may also relate to the fact that we are to always see (by

way of the way man was created) that both the Son and the Spirit are of or from the Father, the

head of divinity, despite all three operated together to create all things, including time itself

(and that’s why all three are eternal because they existed before time was brought into being

at the beginning).

LET’S NOTE A KEY CONSIDERATION HERE. *THE BIBLE SAYS SATAN, THROUGH HIS HUMAN

AGENTS (“THE MAN OF SIN”) WILL DO WHATEVER IT TAKES TO OPPOSE *"ALL" THAT IS CALLED

"GOD", OR "THAT IS WORSHIPPED" (2 THESS. 2:4). THIS IS CLEARLY INDICATING THAT "GOD" IS

A COLLECTIVE GROUP (SINCE THE PLURAL/COLLECTIVE WORD *"ALL" FURTHER PROVES THAT

TO BE SO, MEANING *EVERYONE IN THE CLASS OR GROUP). IT CAN BE SEEN CLEARLY WHY

JEHOVAH OUR GOD IS ACTUALLY THE FATHER, AN INIVIDUAL (1 Cor. 8:6), A "HE", YET IN THE

SAME WAY THE GENERIC LABEL “MAN” AND THE FAMILY NAME “ADAM” EXTENDED TO

OTHERS, SO TOO THE NAME JEHOVAH AND THE GENERIC LABEL “GOD” APPLIES TO THOSE

WHO SHARE HIS NAME (MATT. 28:19), OR THOSE HE IS DISTINCTLY UNITED WITH IN THE

GODHEAD, OR THOSE WHOM HE CANNOT BE SEPARATED FROM, THAT IS, HIS SON, WHO IS

*ALSO OUR GOD (JOHN 20:28,29), AND THE HOLY SPIRIT WHOM IS THE RESULT OF THEIR

UNITY; THE PRESENCE OF WHOM (PS. 139:7) REPRESENTS BOTH FATHER AND SON (ACTS 5:3,4;

ROM. 8:9,10). BOTH FATHER AND SON ARE BIBLICALLY PROVEN TO BE OUR GOD, THUS THE

HOLY SPIRIT, WHO IS THE REPRESENTATIVE PRESENCE OF THEM BOTH, MUST ALSO BE OUR

GOD, SINCE THE BIBLE SAYS “JEHOVAH” OR “THE LORD” IS THE SPIRIT (2 COR. 3:17, 18). SINCE

ALL THREE HAVE THE SAME “NAME”, OR LABEL, NATURE AND CHARACTER (SINCE "NAME"

DENOTE ALL OF THESE) AS SEEN IN MATTHEW 28:19, THEN NO WONDER MAN WAS MADE IN

GOD'S IMAGE!!

Now let’s delve deeper into the issues.

If the word Man or the name "Adam" is both an identifying term for an individual as well as a

generic term to denote the collective specie (Gen. 5:1-3), then it can be easily seen why Man

was made in God's image. Likewise, the word “God” is both an identifying term for an

individual, the Father himself, as well as a generic term to denote the collective specie of

beings, AND distinct manifestations of divinity who all share the attributes of divinity, or the

divine attributes of the Father (see John 1:1 and Matthew 28:19). Is it then proper to

collectively refer to all three in the Godhead with singular pronouns like “he” or “him”?

Here are helpful quotes illustrating the collective nature of Man:

Genesis 6:3 And the LORD said, My spirit shall not always strive with man, for that he also is flesh: yet his days shall be an hundred and twenty years.

Job 7:1 Is there not an appointed time to man upon earth? are not his days also like

the days of an hireling? Job 7:17 What is man, that thou shouldest magnify him? and that thou shouldest set

thine heart upon him? Job 7:18 And that thou shouldest visit him every morning, and try him every

moment?

“Man [collective] came from the hands of the Creator, perfect in organization and beautiful in

form. The fact that HE [collective] has for six thousand years withstood the ever increasing

weight of disease and crime is conclusive proof of the power and endurance with which HE

[collective] was first endowed.”

– E.G. White, S.D.A Bible Comm., Vol. 1, pg. 1082

Language wise it is no strange thing for a group to be the intended focus but the pronoun

"he" is used to represent the group, even if the head of that group is targeted primarily. The

Bible is replete with examples of the singular pronoun "he" used to mean a collection of

individuals united by a common feature or a set of attributes, but are represented by the head

of that group. See for proof:

(a) Gen. 3:22-24

(b) Dan. 2, 7, and 8 with Rev. 13

(c) Dan. 7:13, 14, 26, 27 with Rev. 12:1-5 and 1 Cor. 12:12

(d) Psalm 8:4-8

This reality seems likewise applicable to God who spoke from the very beginning as*"US", since

the Father (an individual "he") is the head of divinity or is the primary focus of divinity, and thus

is used to represent the whole specie, just as Christ (an individual "him") is the head of

humanity or the primary focus of humanity, and thus is used to represent the whole specie!!

We see this imagery clearly in Daniel 7:13, 14 having Christ as the representative “the son of

man” receiving a kingdom, and thereafter ruling, and yet verse 27 of the same chapter shows

how the application/interpretation applies it to all “the people of the saints of the most High”.

Compare Eph. 2:4-6 with Rev. 3:21 and this truth become even clearer. Interesting indeed.

If Man, i.e. human beings united, can still be called one (Gen.2:24; Gen. 11:1-8), and

represented as speaking and acting as one, or represented together as "him" or "he" (Gen.3:22-

24; Gen. 6:3;Psalm 8:4-8; Job 7;1,17,18) then God, speaking just like Man did – e.g. "Go to, let

us" (Gen. 11:3-8)—can be pictured as also a unity of beings speaking and acting as one (Gen.

3:22), even if they are *NOT one individual being literally, but are one spiritually and one in

essence, as man himself is (Acts 17:28). And note that God saying "Let us make man" can

never be blasphemously applied to the Father speaking in unison with angels, since man was

never made in the image of angels and God, but only in the image of divinity. Thus the term

“God” is collective in Gen. 1; 26, 27 because of the corresponding realities that took place right

there and then. Man came from God as a collective group bearing the same family name (Gen.

5:2), therefore man was made “in the image” of God speaking in a group as “us”, even as those

of divinity spoke with one voice about “our image” (singular); not “our images”. Period. End of

story and all protestations to the contrary!!

Now, God even went as far as using the imagery of one individual being to represent the

members of the Godhead, to illustrate the unity, despite the separateness of beings involved

(just like the Church headed by Christ is similarly represented- 1 Cor. 11:3; 1 Cor. 12:12):

The Father is pictured in imagery as the Head, working through and controlling the man Christ

Jesus, who’s called the arm of the Lord, the wisdom and power of God. In addition he is

pictured as working through the Spirit, who is called the hand of the Lord God, or the finger of

God, and at other times his mind, his power, etc. All these are simply imageries to show the

inseparable unity of all three, operating as if they are one being, despite they are not.

Here’s a helpful illustration from a writer I greatly respect, one who consistently saw the Father

as the one true God, and yet equally wrote about the Godhead:

“Have you been born again? Have you become a new being in Christ Jesus? Then co-operate with the three great powers of heaven *who *all three called “who”+ are working in your behalf. Doing this you will reveal to the world the principles of righteousness…God says, [notice after this whom she means says this] "Come out from among them, and be ye separate, . . . and touch not the unclean thing; and I will receive you, and will be a Father unto you, and ye shall be my sons and daughters, saith the Lord Almighty." This is the pledge of [not one person, but] the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit [i.e. the *pledge to receive and be a Father to you]; made to you if you will keep your baptismal vow, and touch not the unclean thing… In order to deal righteously with the world, as members of the royal family, children of the heavenly King, Christians must feel their need of a power, which comes only from the [three] heavenly agencies that have pledged themselves to work in man's behalf. After we have formed a union with the great THREEFOLD POWER [singular; collective], we shall regard our duty toward the members of God's family with a sacred awe.”

-E.G. White, Signs of the Times, June 19, 1901

WHY I AM NOT THE USUAL TRINITARIAN

This leads me now to make it clear that despite this writer accepts, for the convenience of

communication, the application of the word trio/trinity/triad when considering the Godhead,

yet I am not a traditional or orthodox Trinitarian, since I do not believe that Father, Son and

Spirit are literally one being united indivisibly as one substance literally. I believe simply what

the Bible teaches; that the Father and Son are “one” as the members of the Church and Christ

himself are “one”…as SEPARATE BEINGS. Anything else is futile speculation. I also don’t

believe that the Godhead (as seen below) is best represented with three heads or faces of

Jesus on one neck, because the biblical imagery God uses nowhere supports that principle.

Only the Father is the Head of divinity, despite their equality of nature; not Jesus. Period.

This principle too is seen “imaged” in the family, where the members of the human family are

all equally human, but only the father is the head of the family (remember, his headship does

not imply that his wife or children are inferior in nature to him).

The spiritual unity of the Godhead, pictured IN IMAGERY, operating as a human body is very

apt indeed, but only as it applies as a metaphor; *not in literal terms as Roman Catholics

believe God to be, i.e. in terms of *1 literal numeric indivisible substance, and depicted with

three heads fused around one brain (as seen in foregoing Roman Catholic pictorial)!

No human body has more than one head. Period!! And that's why only the Father is the

"head" of Christ (1 Cor. 11:3), with Christ pictured in biblical imagery as the "arm of the Lord"

(Isaiah 53:1), and the Holy Spirit pictured as the "hand of the Lord" or "the finger of God" (Ez.

8:1-5 with Lk. 11:20/Matt.12:28). All of this biblical imagery indicates the spiritual unity of the

Godhead in the same terms as Christ and the Church is!! It clearly indicates that it is OK to

picture the Godhead operating *LIKE a human body with several united members acting in

perfect unison!! And while all members of that unit/body are equal in nature, all exist together

or started to exist together (i.e. they are coeval, since that's how members of a human body

exist) and all members are just as important as the other, despite they function in different

roles, yet the equality of nature does not mean that all members are the head!! That's how the

Godhead has chosen to be seen in imagery when God simply said from the beginning, *"LET US

MAKE MAN IN OUR OWN IMAGE!!

Thus we need look no further, or strive to use man-made illustrations. God has already given us

the illustrative pattern he himself invented, i.e. man as an individual, and man as a family--- all

made in God's image!!

GROUP UNITY IN THE GODHEAD DOES NOT DESTROY MONOTHEISM

Let me now quote several Trinitarian writers who, from as early as the first century, and long

before the arrival of the Roman Catholic religion in the 4th century, spoke of God and the

Godhead in the way the Bible supports (at least in the quoted portions):

100 A.D. Ignatius of Antioch

"There is then one God and Father, and not two or three; One who is; and there is no other besides Him, the only true [God]. For "the Lord thy God," saith [the Scripture], "is one Lord." And again, "Hath not one God created us? Have we not all one Father? And there is also one Son, God the Word. For "the only-begotten Son," saith [the Scripture], "who is in the bosom of the Father." And again, "One Lord Jesus Christ." And in another place, "What is His name, or what His Son's name, that we may know?” And there is also one Paraclete. For "there is also," saith [the Scripture], "one Spirit," since "we have been called in one hope of our calling." And again, "We have drunk of one Spirit," with what follows. And it is manifest that all these gifts [possessed by believers] "worketh one and the self-same Spirit." … Wherefore also the Lord, when He sent forth the apostles to make disciples of all nations, commanded them to "baptize

in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost," not unto one [person] having three names, nor into three [persons] who became incarnate, but into three possessed of equal honour."

(Letter to the Philadelphians, chapter 2).

150 A.D. Justin Martyr

"But our Physician is the only true God, the unbegotten and unapproachable, the Lord

of all, the Father and Begetter of the only begotten Son. We have also as a Physician

the Lord our God, Jesus the Christ, the only begotten Son and Word, before time

began, but who afterwards became also man, of Mary the virgin. For "the Word was

made flesh." … He became subject to corruption, that He might free our souls from

death and corruption, and heal them, and might restore them to health, when they

were diseased with ungodliness and wicked lusts.

(The Epistle of Ignatius to the Ephesians, Chap. 7.)

“…with respect to the most true God, the Father of righteousness and temperance and the other virtues, who is free from all impurity... both Him [the Father], and the Son …and the prophetic Spirit, we worship and adore, knowing *them in reason and truth, and declaring without grudging to every one who wishes to learn, as we have been taught.” (Justin Martyr- First Apology, Chapter 6)

200 A.D. Hippolytus

"For who will not say that there is one God? Yet he will not on that account deny the economy, the number and disposition of persons in the Trinity… As far as regards the power, therefore, God is one. But as far as regards the economy there is a threefold manifestation, as shall be proved afterwards when we give account of the true doctrine" (Against The Heresy Of One Noetus)

There are so may like quotes I could furnish, but the point is already well established. Early

Christians saw no problem in accepting the Father as the one true God, and yet equally

accepting both the Son and Spirit as divine like himself, united with Him, and deserving of like

honor. Notice carefully that they commonly recognized the Father as the one true God, but

then sought to balance that truth by presenting the Biblical truths about the equally divine Son

and Spirit in relation to this one true God. I find no problem there at all. It is indeed Biblical

through and through. Only one God created (Mal.2:10) and also only one God rules the

universe (1 Tim. 6:14-16) yet the Father created and rules through and united with Jesus His

Son and through His Spirit!! See again Heb. 1:2, 3; John 1:1-3; Psalm 104:30; Job 33:4. Jesus

(now a materialized human being, a man) shares the throne of the universe in heaven as

supreme ruler or “King of Kings” (Rev. 3:21; Rev. 17:14; Rev. 19:11-16), while the Spirit rules in

our hearts on God's behalf (1 Cor. 6:19; Rom. 8:9, 10)!!

In addition, one God redeemed us (Is. 43:11) yet the Father redeemed us through Jesus, by way

of the Spirit's involvement as well. Remember that it was the Spirit who overshadowed Mary on

the Father's behalf and begot the human Jesus (but the Father gets the credit), and it was the

Holy Spirit who empowered Jesus as a man to accomplish all he did. Yet the Father (as "Head")

ultimately gets the credit for what was done on his behalf. That is how the Godhead works in

unity of operation, just as a human family operates (with the head being credited with a

begetting, despite the mother’s key involvement), just like how a human body operates in

unison led by the head, and just as Christ and his church is depicted!! See 2 Cor. 5:18, 19 with

Heb. 9:14. And remember, a body is nothing without the head, and a being is not just the

head!!

The unity of operation of all Three of the Godhead is so much so that even in death Jesus is

represented as if he himself was 'participating' in his own resurrection, though it was literally

His Father through the Spirit whom resurrected him. Remember Jesus distinctly said "I have

power to lay down my life and power to *take it up again"! And speaking of his body after

death he said "In three days *I will raise it up"!! See John 2:19-22; John 10:17-21; 1 Cor.6:14;

2 Cor. 4:14; Rom.8:11 and ponder the mind-blowing implications of the operational unity of

Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, even in Jesus' death, when we are assured that Jesus truly and fully

died!! "Great is the mystery of godliness" (1 Tim. 3:16), is all I can say here!!

Notice too that *heavenly greetings to the Church only comes from divinity (most times from

the Father and Son), and yet we see at times that equally coming from Father, Son, and the

Holy Spirit (depicted symbolically as a “sevenfold Spirit”, as seen in Rev. 1:4-5). Greetings didn’t

always come from the Father and Son, as some would have us believe from other scriptures.

And notice that the greetings from the "sevenfold Spirit" (accepted by many scholars and Bible

Commentaries to be the Holy Spirit in symbol) is not only placed on par with that from the

Father, but is mentioned even before that of Jesus' own greeting. Who would really be so

blasphemous to think that angelic spirits would be placed on par with the Father, and even

given place of mention before Jesus Himself; an honor only a being of Deity could ever rightfully

own!! If greetings can only be logically deemed as coming from persons, then we have but one

conclusion:

CONCLUSION:

THE ONE TRUE GOD IS INDEED THE FATHER, BUT THE GODHEAD CONSIST OF THE PERSONS OF

FATHER, SON, AND HOLY SPIRIT, AND EVEN A YOUNG A CHILD WHO JUST KNOWS HOW TO

COUNT FROM 1-10 WILL EASILY RECOGNIZE WHAT IT MEANS TO COUNT "1,2 3", WHEN

CONFRONTED WITH THE FATHER, SON AND HOLY SPIRIT ALL SENDING US GREETINGS, WHO ALL

TOGETHER CREATED THE WORLD, WHO TOGETHER RULES THE UNIVERSE AND IN OUR HEARTS,

AFTER HAVING ACTED TOGETHER TO SAVE US FROM SIN AND UNBELIEF!! HALLELUJAH TO THE

"NAME" OF THE FATHER, AND OF THE SON, AND OF THE HOLY SPIRIT; THE VERY SAME "NAME"

JESUS COMMISSIONED ALL TRUE FOLLOWERS TO BE BAPTIZED IN. AMEN!!