This is a letter inspired by Mischelle and her piece about the Trinity found here. First, let me start by saying I appreciate people who question and contemplate truth. Thank you for responding/caring to discuss what the Bible says about God or “the trinity”. Usually, I would respond to you individually, but since your letter was public/read on the podcast, I figured we could continue the conversation publicly, for all truth-seekers, who might be studying this topic, to participate.

In Mischelle’s email to George, she quoted from Isaiah 48:16 where it states:

Come near to Me, hear this:
I have not spoken in secret from the beginning;
From the time that it was, I was there.
And now the Lord God and His Spirit
Have sent Me.”

Isaiah 48:16 (NKJV)

The first point to be made here, is the verse states “His Spirit”. That shows ownership. God sent His Spirit with His Son. Also, throughout the Bible whenever a pronoun is used for God it is always He, Him, His, it is always singular, never they or them. Jesus throughout the New Testament tried to teach His followers how His Father’s Spirit lives in Him, and how Their (Father and Son) Spirit could live in them/us.

do you not believe that I am in the Father, and the Father in Me? The words that I speak to you I do not speak on My own authority; but the Father who dwells in Me does the works.

John 14:10 

The Father dwells in His Son through His Holy Spirit.

I would like to submit a few other versions of that that same scripture Isaiah 48:16 from different translations that make it more clear that the Spirit sent was the spirit of the Father.

“Come near me and listen to this: “From the first announcement I have not spoken in secret; at the time it happens, I am there.” And now the Sovereign Lord has sent me,
 endowed with his Spirit.

Isaiah 48:16 NIV

Come near to Me, listen to this:
From the first I have not spoken in secret,
From the time it took place, I was there.
And now the Lord God has sent Me, and His Spirit.”

Isaiah 48:16 NASV

However, it does not matter what version you use to try to make it more clear, the phase “His Spirit” in the Strong’s Concordance is #H7307, Pronounce: “roo-akh” meaning His breath, mind, spirit, can also mean His vigour, courage, or disposition.

Through my studies, I have found one can read the trinity into the Bible by distorting/changing God’s word. However, one can not draw the conclusion of a trinity from the Bible, without having first been taught to look for it with the lens of tradition. One study I would recommend is a word study on the word “spirit” and through careful discernment and prayerful guidance, attempt to take Scripture at its Word, without adding outside beliefs.

Do not add to His words, Lest He rebuke you, and you be found a liar.

Proverbs 30:6

Another point to be made is in 1 John 2:1 where John writes;

My little children, I am writing these things to you so that you may not sin. And if anyone sins, we have an Advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous;

The word “Advocate” in that verse is only used five times in the Bible, and every time it was used only by John. The other four times the word “Advocate” was translated “Comforter”, (except the NIV maintains the word advocate) as in John chapter 14. However in the Strong’s Concordance the word is listed as #G3875, Pronounced: “par-ak-lay-tos”. Meaning legal assistant, advocate, helper, or Holy Spirit. Therefore, if you take the verse as it reads, it comes right out and states that the Holy Spirit is Jesus Christ the righteous. John could not have made it more clear. He actually names who the comforter/advocate is; Jesus Christ, the righteous.

Also Galatians 4:4-6 adds to this belief.

4 But when the fullness of the time had come, God sent forth His Son, born of a woman, born under the law, 5 to redeem those who were under the law, that we might receive the adoption as sons.6 And because you are sons, God has sent forth the Spirit of His Son into your hearts, crying out, “Abba, Father!”

Galatians 4:4-6

It can not be made more clear than coming right out and proclaiming that the Holy Spirit we are to receive is the Spirit of Christ. That is taking God at His Word. Jesus teaches us in 1 John chapter 4, how we should test the spirits, whether they are of God verses 1-3. John writes in verse 4 that the Spirit that is in us is greater than the spirit of this world, and earlier he informed us that was the Spirit of Jesus Christ the righteous. In verses 5-8 John informs us that the people of God know and hear the truth. He continues by emphasizing that God is love and we should love one another because God loves us. In verses 9-16, 19, also 5:1,5 John corresponds and emphasizes that Jesus was begotten of the Father and the Spirit of the Father and His Son abide in us. We will read this portion in his own words.

9 In this the love of God was manifested toward us, that God has sent His only begotten Son into the world, that we might live through Him. 10 In this is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins. 11 Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. Seeing God Through Love12 No one has seen God at any time. If we love one another, God abides in us, and His love has been perfected in us. 13 By this we know that we abide in Him, and He in us, because He has given us of His Spirit. 14 And we have seen and testify that the Father has sent the Son as Savior of the world. 15 Whoever confesses that Jesus is the Son of God, God abides in him, and he in God. 16 And we have known and believed the love that God has for us. God is love, and he who abides in love abides in God, and God in him.The Consummation of Love 19 We love Him because He first loved us. 5 Whoever believes that Jesus is the Christ is born of God, and everyone who loves Him who begot also loves him who is begotten of Him.  5 Who is he who overcomes the world, but he who believes that Jesus is the Son of God? ”

1 John ch. 4:9-16, 19; 5:1,5 (NKJV) (emphasis added by me)

I pray this letter is received in love. I sincerely pray that as we search, we all may come to the TRUTH.

P.S. Like all of us the first time we heard about our stationary realm we came with a mindset to debunk. I was 60 years old when I heard the Father and Son message. I heard the concept and I came to the first Bible study to debunk. I also was a Trinitarian, with many years of Bible study/teaching under my belt. The trinity, 3 in 1 God was taught to me before I could understand anything. In fact, my mother always told me that my first word was God. Just like the lies of the globe, the Trinity is taught to us as a child before we have any sense of discernment. However, as I open my heart and came to the studies with the mind of a child, a mind of curiosity, along with fasting with earnest prayer, the Bible turned into a love story about how a Father, God and His Son made a covenant to save their creation (let us make man in our image…). From the one who planted tares. Matthew 13:24-30. When the the Bible states God sent His Son, He had to have a Son to send. The only way one can become a son of God is through creation or by the process of being begotten, as the Bible definitely states. And hear this loud and clear Jesus was not created. He was and is the literal “Son of God”, not a second person of a trinity, co-equal with God, taking on the “role” as the son of God. Jesus, Himself, proclaimed that the Father was greater than Him. John 14:28. Jesus is not metaphorically speaking the son of God. Jesus is not a metaphor. If He is, then your salvation might be a metaphor. Jesus is the literal, only begotten Son of God. And we, the sons go Adam, are ONLY grafted into the family through Jesus’ sacrifice, His resurrection, and ultimately, His Spirit living within us.

18 No one has seen God at any time. The only begotten Son, who is in the bosom of the Father, He has declared Him.

John 1:18

18 “He who believes in Him is not condemned; but he who does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God.

John 3:18

9 In this the love of God was manifested toward us, that God has sent His only begotten Son into the world, that we might live through Him.

1 John 4:9

3 And this is eternal life, that they may know You, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom You have sent. 8 For I have given to them the words which You have given Me; and they have received them, and have known surely that I came forth from You; and they have believed that You sent Me.

John 17: 3,8

The Grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you…

Sincerely,

Bud

For continued study on this topic…

Here, my daughter writes about how Jesus is both Begotten AND Eternal.

Here, I discuss Paul’s understanding of the Godhead in Scripture

Here, I discuss the importance of Jesus being the literal Son of God.

Here, I discuss the varied verses most often used to support the trinity.

Here, my daughter made a video about how the “trinity/God, the Holy Spirit” are not found in Scripture