The Nature of God

So lately I have been reading (and studying in a way) a book called The Inevitable Apostasy by Tad Callister (he also wrote The Infinite Atonement, which is brilliant). I have been learning so much!

One thing he talked about was how after the apostles died there was confusion regarding the nature of God (among other things). There are several verses in the New Testament that created this confusion. Among them are John 10:30 "I and my Father are one." and 1 John 5:7 "For there are three that bear record in heaven, the Father, the Word, and the Holy Ghost: and these three are one."

Other verses (using the King James Version of the Bible) which counter this notion of three beings in one are:

• Matthew 27:46 (Jesus prays to the Father - if they were one person, why would He be praying to Himself?)
• John 14:28 (Jesus told his Apostles that He would be going to His Father when He died - if they were one person, how could He go to His Father?)
• John 5:30-31 (Jesus says he does not seek His will, but His Father's will - if they were one person, surely it would be silly to distinguish between the will of the Son and the will of the Father?)
• Matthew 12:32 (Blasphemy against the Son can be forgiven, but blasphemy against the Holy Ghost will not be forgiven - if they were one person, how can you make this distinction?)
• Matthew 3:16-17 (When Jesus was baptized, the Spirit descended like a dove and the voice of the Father was heard - if they were one person, how could this be possible?)
• Acts 7:55-56 (Stephen was full of the Holy Ghost and the Heavens opened and he saw Jesus standing on the right hand of God - if they were one person, how could Jesus be on the right hand of God?)

So while there are many, many verses which imply the Father, Jesus, and the Holy Ghost being three distinct people, many people get hung up on the scriptures that say that they are one. What does "one" mean then in these verses?

• Genesis 2:24 says "Therefore shall a man leave his father and his mother, and shall cleave unto his wife: and they shall be one flesh." When a couple get married, they don't become one person, but they become united in purpose and united in the way they think, and so on.
• 1 Corinthians 3:8-9 says "Now he that planteth and he that watereth are one: and every man shall receive his own reward according to his own labour. For we are labourers together with God: ye are God’s husbandry, ye are God’s building." So is Paul saying that he who plants and he who waters are one person? No, he is saying those who plant and those who water are all doing God's work and we all have the same end purpose.
• In John 17 Jesus offers his great Intercessory Prayer in the Garden of Gethsemane. Verses 20-22 are particularly interesting: "Neither pray I for these alone, but for them also which shall believe on me through their word; That they all may be one; as thou, Father, art in me, and I in thee, that they also may be one And the glory which thou gavest me I have given them; that they may be one, even as we are one in us: that the world may believe that thou hast sent me." Jesus was praying to His Father for those who believe asking that they may be one with Him and His Father, just like they are one. Would we all become one person? No, we'd become one or united in our purpose and the way we think and act and so on.

So surely the meaning of "one" in John 10:30 and 1 John 5:7 (mentioned above) is the same?

Early Christian writers (such as Origen, Hippolytus, Dionysius, and Justin Martyr) knew there were three distinct Gods, being one in purpose, not person. Callister quotes them and they very clearly state this. For instance, Hippolytus said, "Understand that He [Jesus] did not say 'I and the Father am one, but are one. For the word are is not said of one person, but refers to two persons, and one power." Origen stated, "We worship, therefore, the Father of truth, and the Son, who is the truth; and these, while they are two, considered as persons or subsistences, are one in unity of thought in harmony and in identity of will." It is very clear from their many writings that that early Christian writers knew that there were three separate gods who were one in purpose.

However, Greek philosophers claimed one god. The Nicene Creed (AD 325) integrated the scriptures with Greek philosophy to create the idea of the Trinity, where both ideas were supposedly true, because Constantine wanted peace in the empire and wanted everyone to be satisfied. But in the end, the true understanding of the nature of God was lost and people believed in the false doctrine of the Trinity.