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FAQ # 174
QUESTION 174 : Why did Jesus differentiate between Himself and the
Father, for example John 8:26-27?
"I have many things to say and to
judge of you: but HE THAT SENT ME is true; and I speak to the world those
things which I have heard of him” (Jn 8:27). They understood not that
he spake to them of the Father.
I didn't say Jesus didn't differentiate.
The question is, what is the meaning or DEFINITION of the differences
AS SPECIFICALLY, EXPLICITLY SCRIPTURALLY STATED?
1 Corinthian 12:4 tells us this, "Now
there are diversities of gifts, but THE SAME Spirit. 5 And there are DIFFERENCES
OF ADMINISTRATIONS, but THE SAME Lord. 6 And there are DIVERSITIES
OF OPERATIONS, but it is THE SAME God which worketh all in all...
11 But ALL THESE WORKETH THAT ONE AND THE SELFSAME SPIRIT, dividing to
every man severally as he will."
If these differences are "separate
persons" why did not Paul say so? Why did not the church recognize
this until hundreds of years AFTER THE APOSTLES?
"When one does
speak of an unqualified Trinitarianism, one has moved from the period
of Christian origins to, say, the last quadrant of the 4th century...
From what has been seen thus far, the impression could arise that the
Trinitarian dogma is in the last analysis a late 4th century invention.
In a sense this is true... The formulation 'one God in three persons'
was not established, certainly not fully assimilated into Christian life
and its profession of faith, prior to the end of the 4th century. But
it is precisely this formulation that has first claim to the title 'the
Trinitarian dogma'"-The New Catholic Encyclopedia pgs. 295-305.
Like it or not, it was not with Jesus
or the apostles that the Trinity doctrine entered the church. It was by
pagan philosophers attempting to COMPROMISE their pagan beliefs with Christianity-
"The
Holy Trinity- the basis for the doctrine of the Trinity... The question
as to how to reconcile the encounter with God in this threefold figure
(The Father, Jesus Christ, and the Holy Spirit) with faith in THE ONENESS
OF GOD, which WAS THE JEWS' AND CHRISTIANS' CHARACTERISTIC MARK
OF DISTINCTION over against paganism, agitated the piety of ancient Christendom
in the deepest way... This question was ANSWERED IN THE NEOPLATONIC METAPHYSICS
of being... CHRISTIAN THEOLOGY TOOK THE NEOPLATONIC METAPHYSICS of substance
as well as its doctrine of hypostasis as THE DEPARTURE POINT for interpreting
the relationship of the 'Father' to the 'Son'..." -Encyclopedia Britannica,
1974, 15th edition, vol. 4, page 485.
{Source: Tom R.}
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