Featured Doctrine of the Trinity - Stated or Implied?

No worries, we all make mistakes! Apologies for anything I said that offended you. have a great Christmas yourself. See you around on here. God bless you brother!

 

The Bible clearly says that Jesus Christ is YAHWEH. For example, in John 8:58, Jesus says, "Before Abraham came into existence, I AM", which the Jews clearly understood to refer to Exodus 3:14, where Moses asks God, what Name should he use to say Who sent him. To which God replied, "I AM THAT I AM", which is the basis for the Hebrew Name of God, YAHWEH (YHWH), which means, "the eternal, uncreated, self-existent One". Now, Jesus as YAHWEH cannot be "created", as He is ETERNAL! There are other passages that also clearly teach that Jesus is YAHWEH!

 

Did God reply, speak the Word, "I Am that I Am," or did God reply, speak the Word, I Will Be who I Will Be," And did the spoken Word made flesh, born of woman, Jesus, say, "before Abraham was, I Am" ?

God, who at sundry times and in divers manners spake in time past unto the fathers by the prophets, Hath in these last days spoken unto us by his Son, whom he hath appointed heir of all things, by whom also he made the worlds;

 

"πρὶν Ἀβραὰμ γενέσθαι ἐγὼ εἰμί", literally, "before Abraham came into existence, I AM". The contrast between, " γενέσθαι" (was), that is, "began to be" of Abraham; and " ἐγὼ εἰμί" the "timeless existence" of Jesus, is very important. The Jews in had accused Jesus of making Himself to be "greater" than Abraham, and that Abraham actually rejoiced to "see" Jesus, which the Jews could not fathom. Abraham, says Jesus, had a "beginning" as he was born in time; whereas He did not have any "beginning", as He has always existed, which is seen in the force of the words ἐγὼ εἰμί", which is in the present, continuance

Exodus 3:14, as translated from the Dead Sea Scrolls, into English, reads: "And God said to [Moses, “I] am that I am.” And he said, “Thus you shall say to the children of Israel, ‘I am has sent me to you.’ ” (Martin Abegg Jr., Peter Flint, Eugene Ulrich; The Dead Sea Scrolls Bible). The Jews also recognise this to be the best rendering of the Hebrew text, "Te true pronunciation of the name YHWH was never lost. Several early Greek writers of the Christian Church testify that the name was pronounced “Yahweh.” This is confirmed, at least for the vowel of the first syllable of the name, by the shorter form Yah, which is sometimes used in poetry (e.g., Ex. 15:2) and the -yahu or -yah that serves as the final syllable in very many Hebrew names. In the opinion of many scholars, YHWH is a verbal form of the root hwh, which is an older variant of the root hyh “to be.” Te vowel of the first syllable shows that the verb is used in the form of a future-present causative hiphʿil, and must therefore mean “He causes to be, He brings into existence.” The explanation of the name as given in Exodus 3:14, Eheyeh-Asher-Eheyeh, “I-Am-Who-I Am,” (Encyclopaedia Judaica). And, " And God said unto Moses: ‘I AM THAT I AM’; and He said: ‘Thus shalt thou say unto the children of Israel: I AM hath sent me unto you.’" (The Jewish Publication Society of America, The Holy Scriptures according to the Masoretic Text ). The Hebrew verb, “’ehyeh” is in the first person singular, “to exist, to be”. It is quite wrong to conclude, as some do, that this verb is always used in the “future tense”. We have examples like Jeremiah 31:9, “They shall come with weeping, and with supplications will I lead them: I will cause them to walk by the rivers of waters in a straight way, wherein they shall not stumble: for I am (ehyeh) a father to Israel, and Ephraim is my firstborn.”, and Micah 7:1, “Woe is me! for I am (ehyeh) as when they have gathered the summer fruits, as the grape gleanings of the vintage: there is no cluster to eat: my soul desired the first ripe fruit.”, and, Job 11:4, “For thou hast said, My doctrine is pure, and I am (ehyeh) clean in thine eyes.”. In each case the verb “’ehyeh” is in the “present tense”.

The Greek version of the Old Testament, the Septuagint (LXX), which was completed some 150 years before the Birth of Jesus Christ, and carried out by the best Jewish scholars, who would have been experts in both Hebrew and Greek, render the Hebrew of Exodus 3:14, by "Ἐγώ εἰμι ὁ ὤν", which literally has the meaning, "I am He Who Exists", or "I am the Eternal One". Which is the basis of the Name of God in Hebrew, "YHWH".

 

The early church was compelled to accept as doctrine truth that the scriptures teach to us that there are 3 distinct Persons called Father/Jesus/Holy Spirit, who are also all at same time the Being called God, yet that was not explicit , but they collected all saying regarding the three and formulated doctrine of trinity.

 

Is anyone else aware that one Pope was an Arian?

 

More importantly, how many were really saved?

 

JWs believe that the Spirit is God's 'active force' and without personality.

That is absolutely correct, but it does not teach the doctrine of the Trinity because it says nothing of the Spirit.
The Trinity can certainly be shown quite easily from Scripture, but not in a single verse or periscope. It is 'necessarily contained' in Scripture, but not directly stated.

Just like Penal Substitution.

 

Oops! Before someone else points it out, I should have written 'pericope' not 'periscope.'

 

But that does not explicitly give us the Trinity.

 

If it doesn't say "This is the Trinity" then its not explicit. Cant redefine terms.;

 

I disagree.

Explicit does not have to state "This is the Trinity." Rather, by presenting the three individually as God, that is being explicit.

Explicit can mean that stated specifically, but it also means that which is plain, clear, understandable, and evidenced.

For example:

The Scriptures do not say Elijah did not die.

The evidence is explicit within the context of the scene that Elijah did not die. Same with Methuselah.

 

I did not say any of those things

 

This is where these conversations break down for me. I didn't say those things, you do not get to impose your version of what is consistent on me. Good luck