Quote:
Originally Posted by Brother Price
This is a good question.
Jesus said in John 8:24, "That is why I told you that you will die in (under the curse of) your sins; for if you do not believe that I am He [Whom I claim to be--if you do not adhere to, trust in, and rely on Me], you will die in your sins." He said that unless one believes that He is God, they shall die in their sins.
In Mark 2:5-7, we see even the Pharisees knew that only God could forgive sins, "And when Jesus saw their faith [their confidence in God through Him], He said to the paralyzed man, Son, your sins are forgiven Unregistered and put away [that is, the penalty is remitted, the sense of guilt removed, and you are made upright and in right standing with God]. Now some of the scribes were sitting there, holding a dialogue with themselves as they questioned in their hearts, Why does this Man talk like this? He is blaspheming! Who can forgive sins [remove guilt, remit the penalty, and bestow righteousness instead] except God alone?"
Thus, the belief that Jesus is the only one who can forgive sins, meaning also that He is God, is paramount to salvation.
Let's look at Isaiah 43:10-11, "You are My witnesses, says the Lord, and My servant whom I have chosen, that you may know Me, believe Me and remain steadfast to Me, and understand that I am He. Before Me there was no God formed, neither shall there be after Me. I, even I, am the Lord, and besides Me there is no Savior." God Himself says that there is none beside Him, none before Him, and no other Savior but Him. From time and eternity, God has always been one, and will always be only one.
Is it salvational? Yes. Why? Because the belief in the trintiy is a belief in a false god, and not making Jesus Christ, as the scriptures declared, the fullness of the Godhead bodily. |
The trouble is in the term "person", of course. If trinitarians say God is three persons, and you say no, God is just one person, you both are using the term "person" in a symbolic way. The usual use of the word is for a human individual, which God is not, of course. One might say Jesus of Nazareth, the Man, God in human form, was a person, in that sense. But God in His eternal, infinite being is not a person (not just one
literal person and not three
literal persons)
in that sense.
Now, trinitarians use the term "person" in a different sense. They don't mean that God is just three guys who hold meetings and shoot the breeze now and then, like three buddies down at the pub. Of course they don't. God is not three human beings! They are referring to the three "somethings" that are clearly written about in many places in the Bible. Oneness folks call the three somethings "offices" or "manifestations". Trinitarians call them "persons".
Trinitarians use "person" because that term seems to fit well, in many of the Biblical accounts of the three somethings. These somethings often speak to each other, they have different knowledge and different wills, they interact in ways that are very much like the ways persons interact. They (these offices, manifestations, or persons, or make up a new word!) are not human individuals. But they have many attributes of individuals. Two of them are Father and Son, for crying out loud! One sends another one (the Father sent the Son, and the Son sends the Comforter). One raised another from the dead. One now sits at the right hand of another!
But using the word "person" for these somethings will send a trinny to hell. Oooookaaaay.
And a baptizer quoting Jesus instead of Peter will send the baptizee to hell. Uh huh.
FourthTrumpet, I'm with you. What's the big deal, fighting over one simple word, used figuratively?