Brakelite
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- Feb 6, 2020
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Anyone can understand the doctrine. Understanding man's teaching on any topic merely takes an education and time and a willingness to learn. But of what purpose is it to understand the doctrine? Ought we aspire more to understand God? It is the actual doctrine, the attempt to reduce the nature of God to a formula, that has been the catalyst for persecution for centuries. Demands and declarations that "you aren't a real Christian unless you understand God the way we do".
The Scripture says, "this is life eternal. That they may know thee, the only true God, and Jesus Christ Whom Thou did send".
The apostle John never suggested in all his writing against heresies regarding the nature of God, that the Trinity doctrine was the alternative. What John did repeatedly uplift and stress,
“23 Whosoever denieth the Son, the same hath not the Father: (but) he that acknowledgeth the Son hath the Father also. 24 Let that therefore abide in you, which ye have heard from the beginning. If that which ye have heard from the beginning shall remain in you, ye also shall continue in the Son, and in the Father. 25 And this is the promise that he hath promised us, even eternal life. ”
1 John 2:23-25 KJV
....echoing what Jesus said in John 17:3.
“9 In this was manifested the love of God toward us, because that God sent his only begotten Son into the world, that we might live through him. 10 Herein is love, not that we loved God, but that he loved us, and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins. ”
“9 In this was manifested the love of God toward us, because that God sent his only begotten Son into the world, that we might live through him. 10 Herein is love, not that we loved God, but that he loved us, and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins. ”
1 John 4:9-10 KJV
“13 Hereby know we that we dwell in him, and he in us, because he hath given us of his Spirit. 14 And we have seen and do testify that the Father sent the Son to be the Saviour of the world. 15 Whosoever shall confess that Jesus is the Son of God, God dwelleth in him, and he in God. ”
1 John 4:13-15 KJV
“1 Whosoever believeth that Jesus is the Christ is born of God: and every one that loveth him that begat loveth him also that is begotten of him. 5 Who is he that overcometh the world, but he that believeth that Jesus is the Son of God? 10 He that believeth on the Son of God hath the witness in himself: he that believeth not God hath made him a liar; because he believeth not the record that God gave of his Son. 11 And this is the record, that God hath given to us eternal life, and this life is in his Son. 12 He that hath the Son hath life; and he that hath not the Son of God hath not life. 13 These things have I written unto you that believe on the name of the Son of God; that ye may know that ye have eternal life, and that ye may believe on the name of the Son of God. ”
1 John 5:1, 5, 10-13 KJV
I was leaving the obvious to you.
Wow. You turn the obvious into a Bible trivia quiz? Never mind. I'm sure you have a nice neatly packaged response that pretends the devil referred to in that text is a figment of everyone's imagination, that the devil referred to in Revelation 12 is a Chinese astronaut, and the one in the wilderness during Jesus temptation was a rock lizard and Jesus took Himself to the pinnacle of the temple and tried to tempt Himself into creating bread out of rocks. In other words Jesus was hallucinating because of the fasting.
Rejecting the true meaning of the chapter? No-one is denying that Ezekiel is writing to a literal king. What you are denying is the power and spiritual breadth and nature of God's word in its ability to address numerous people and apply itself equally powerfully to different times and contexts yet remaining true to each.
Take for example Jesus's address to the disciples in Matthew 24. While he was speaking in the immediate context of the soon destruction of Jerusalem, He was also speaking directly to events ushering in His second coming in the near future.
Take for example the letters to the 7 churches in Revelation 2 and 3. While these letters were real literal counsels to literal local churches, they apply equally and powerfully to different prophetic time periods in church history.
Ezekiel was writing under the inspiration of the holy Spirit of God, Who was not revealing truth solely about a random king of Tyre who no doubt deserved the rebuke, but was revealing to all of God's people who in the future would read these words, and discern that as with many prophetic words, they had immediate literal application, but also applied to other entities, times, contexts and events in the future. To deny that reality is both short sighted and narrow minded.
