Is "God" a nature, an essence, a group or team, or a person???
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Trinitarians usually speak of "God" as if that term was describing or a word for "a nature", or an "essence", or also as if "God" were a group or team or something similar of "3 persons".
Scripture from the very first verse in the Bible declares "God" to be a single acting person
Gen 1:1 (NASB95)
In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.
"God" is a singular acting entity ... as becomes clear from other Scriptures, this God is an invisible SPIRIT Being with all characteristics of a person (in particular, He ACTS ... here: HE CREATED ... Nowhere is there a mention that the true God, the Creator of heavens and earth, is a group or team of "persons".
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I'm glad you brought up Genesis 1:1. It does not say a single person, it simply says God, singular, which is inline with the Trinity. In fact, later it says "let us make".
That being said, Christ was listed in Colossians 1:16 as having created all things.
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@Wolfgang said
Trinitarians usually speak of "God" as if that term was describing or a word for "a nature", or an "essence", or also as if "God" were a group or team or something similar of "3 persons".
Essence is defined as “the intrinsic nature“ or “indispensable quality“ of something; and nature as “the basic or inherent feature(s)“ of something – the two being somewhat interchangeable.
Perhaps this more complete theological definition of essence with regard to God will provide better understanding as to what is meant when essence/nature is used of God by Trinitarians.
"essence, essentia. Deriving from the Latin verb esse, literally “to be,” essence is the fundamental nature of something apart from which the thing would not be what it is. Essence, then, is the core of what makes something what it is without being something else. The Latin term essentia became important in reference to the nature of God, especially in the discussion surrounding the Trinity, where each person—Father, Son and Holy Spirit—is said to share the same essentia." (“essence, essentia,” Pocket Dictionary of Theological Terms, 46.)
So, in other words, essence – as in God’s essence – characterizes who God is in toto.
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@Wolfgang saids:
"God" is a singular acting entity ... as becomes clear from other Scriptures, this God is an invisible SPIRIT Being with all characteristics of a person (in particular, He ACTS ... here: HE CREATED ... Nowhere is there a mention that the true God, the Creator of heavens and earth, is a group or team of "persons".
Who can know God except He reveals himself? What does the Bible (all of it) says God is? Jesus came to show us the Father, etc.
29 “The hidden things ⌊belong to Yahweh⌋z our God, but the revealed things ⌊belong to us⌋a to know and to our children ⌊forever⌋,b in order to do all the words of this law.”
z Literally “are for Yahweh”
a Literally “are for us”
b Literally “until eternity”
-- Harris, W. H., III, Ritzema, E., Brannan, R., Mangum, D., Dunham, J., Reimer, J. A., & Wierenga, M. (Eds.). (2012). The Lexham English Bible (Dt 29:29). Bellingham, WA: Lexham Press.
CM
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He has been given the theological definition before, he rejects it.
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@reformed wrote
He has been given the theological definition before, he rejects it.
hmn ... another typical @reformed reply of not engaging a subject
@C_M_ wrote
Who can know God except He reveals himself? What does the Bible (all of it) says God is? Jesus came to show us the Father, etc.
The dilemma is that the Trinitarian ideas do not adhere to what God has revealed but instead turn fantasy into dogma and in doing so even flat out contradict what has been revealed in Scripture.
Note the last part of your quoted comment =>" Jesus came to show us the Father" Since the Father is God, Jesus came to show us God, in what Jesus said and did, he revealed and showed God (Who Himself is invisible and can not be seen by man). This statement of Scripture truth alone already proves the Trinity dogma about Jesus himself being God to be false. It was the man Jesus of Nazareth who always did what God, His Father, wanted done and who thereby made known God in a visible manner. Looking at Jesus' words and actions, one saw what God would have said and done in a situation ... in other words, due to his complete obedience to God, the man Jesus displayed and showed God by what he said and did.
Does this "showing forth God's will" make the man Jesus himself to be God? No. Does the fact that when someone saw Jesus they "saw God" in a figurative sense (they saw, what God wanted, what was God's will, etc.) mean that the man Jesus at whom they were looking was actually God standing in front of them? of course not.
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Considering I was not even addressing you but the post of another.....
