One God, One Lord
The Biblical Basis
for a Doctrine of God

The Bible picture of God.
The loving Father. The obedient Son. One in Spirit.

God the Father
The Son of God
The Son Receives
They are One
The Only Begotten Son
The Eternal Son
The Son's Sacrifice
The Son is Raised
The Spirit of God
The Trinity
Adventists
History

Formation of the Heavenly Trio

The Father is Spirit. He is eternal. His Spirit is eternal (John 4:24; Heb 9:14).
His Spirit is life (His Spirit gives us life- Job 33:4; John 6:63)
As the Father has life in Himself, so has He given to the Son to have life in himself (John 5:26)
The Father has given all things to His Son (Matt 11:27; 28:18; John 3:35; Heb 1:2; 1Cor 15:24,27)
The Father's life dwells within His Son (John 6:57; 14:10)
The Father begets the Son (both have the same divine Spirit, from the Father to the Son). They are one.
God and the Son of God are a heavenly duo


In order to save us from sin and restore in us the image of God,
God must both take upon himself the consequences of sin (eternal death and separation)
and remove sin from our lives so we can live in His presence. So...

The Son lays aside his divine immortal-omnipotent-omnipresent life (the form of God - Phil 2:6)
but keeps his holy "mind of Christ" (Phil 2:5) which is one with his Father
and empties Himself (Phil 2:7) to become flesh (John 1:14), in order to live and die for us.

The Son sacrifices his purely divine form in order to become one with fallen humanity.
The Son's sacrifice was made "before the foundation of the world" Eph 1:4
But in the fullness of time (Gal 4:4)
The Son of God becomes a unique human being, the Son of man.
The Family in heaven (Eph 3:14,15) now has a new person who never existed before.
The Son becomes the third "person" of the heavenly trio.



The Spirit (power of the most High - Luke 1:35) comes upon Mary and conceives Jesus.
Son retains his original mind/character/soul (psuche life) and now a human (bios) life.
Son receives the Spirit from the Father (without measure).
The indwelling of his Father's Spirit is how he could live a perfect life without sin.
The indwelling of Christ's Spirit is how we can overcome sin as Jesus overcame.
Father is in the Son (Father's Spirit, omnipotence, omniscience)
Father speaks (omniscience), and works (omnipotence) through the Son (Matt 10:20)
Son performs mighty miracles by power (omnipotence) of the Father's Spirit (Acts 2:22)
Son offers his holy, sinless Spirit (commends it into his Father's hands) on the cross (Luke 23:46)
Son pours out his soul (psuche) unto death. Without the Spirit, the Son dies (human bios life)
Son sacrifices his purely divine form irrevocably, an eternal sacrifice for us



Father raises his Son giving back his immortal (zoe) life (Gal 1:1; Acts 13:37)
and divine powers (Matt 28:18)
Son ascends to the Heavenly Sanctuary to pray for the Gift of his divine soul (psuche life - Acts 2:32,33)

This is represented by the living bird of Leviticus 14:4-8.
Two birds are presented in the sacrifice for the cleansing of leprosy, the symbol of sin.
One bird is slain and one bird is set free to live on.
The Son (slain bird) brings his blood, that the soul of his life, the living bird, may be given to us.
Father sends the Son's divine Self, his soul/character, the Spirit of His Son to dwell in us (Gal 4:6)

The original Holy Spirit-living bird life of Christ bearing his blood is set free.
His Spirit, the Comforter, is Christ's soul (psuche life), the mind of Christ, dwelling in us.
Father and Son come and abide in us through in Spirit form (omnipresence of Christ and God - John 14:23)
Son's Spirit empowers us to overcome sin (omnipotence of Christ)
Because only the Son has been touched with the feeling of our infirmaties (Heb 4:15)
Son will be re-united with his Spirit in us at the marriage supper of the Lamb.
"They have one God and one Saviour, and one Spirit--the Spirit of Christ"
9T p. 189
The Son returns to receive us unto himself and give us his eternal life (zoe immortality)
Christ who is "our life" appears and we "also appear with him in glory" Col. 3:4
Lamb forever divested of his original divine self is made whole in his Bride.
Lamb again has omnipotence (7 horns), omniscience (7 eyes - Rev 5:6).
Bride has the omnipresence of his Spirit in them.
Lamb and the Bride are one flesh, and sit together on the throne. (Rev 3:21)
Father and Son (God and the Lamb) are restored to the original heavenly duo.
But now, Christ has brought "many sons into glory" with him.

Eternal Sacrifice of the Everlasting Covenant

Christ was born twice:
1. once in eternity, coming forth from the Father as the Son of God, and
2. at the incarnation when he was born in human flesh as the Son of man.

So also Christ died twice:
1. once at the incarnation when he died to his former purely divine existence, laying aside his own personal Holy Spirit life into the hands of his Father;
2. and again on the cross when he accepted the cup of eternal separation from his original purely divine existence, a second death from which there was no return.

The Trinity doctrine only acknowledges a single atonement: Christ's death on the cross. There is no appreciation of the sacrifice made before the foundation of the world when Christ laid aside his Holy Spirit life, so that the Word could become flesh, God with us, and then make his second sacrifice, to die for us.

The Two Birds
Leviticus 14 describes the offering for the cleansing of Leprosy, the symbol of sin. It involves two birds.
Christ indeed died on the cross to atone for our sins, but he lived a perfect life through the indwelling of his Father's Spirit to overcome sin "to condemn sin in the flesh" (Rom 8:3) that we may be cleansed by his blood sacrificed for us as typified by the slain bird of Leviticus 14.

Jesus returned to heaven to present his blood (life) "who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without spot to God" his Father (Heb 9:14). It was only through the indwelling of his Father's eternal Spirit that Jesus could live a life "without spot" This spotless life he offered to God his Father, so that the Father can give it to us.

This is typified by dipping the live bird in the blood of the slain bird.
The living bird is then set free, bearing the blood, the life of the slain bird.
So also, the Spirit life powers which Christ agreed to lay aside in the counsel of peace (Zech 6:12,13)
while his Spirit life mind learned obedience by depending on the power of his Father (Heb 5:8,9)
he commended again into the hand of his Father at his death on the cross,
and was then sent from the Father bearing the overcoming life, the character and soul, of the Lamb,
empowered (the Lamb's 7 horns) and enabled (the Lamb's 7 eyes)
to "transform" our minds, and cleanse our soul temples
because the Father "has sent forth the Spirit of his Son into our hearts" Gal 4:6.

"In the twelfth chapter of Romans we read, 'I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service. And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God.' Much is comprehended in this." E.G. White, Review and Herald, 01-07-1902, par. 2.

Jesus presented himself a living sacrifice. Before his death on the cross, before his coming to this world, he gave up his divine body for us. His sacrifice began in heaven long before his death.

"Here the apostle beseeches us to reach the high standard that it is possible to attain. Christ made it possible when He laid aside His royal robes, His royal crown, stepped down from His royal throne, clothed His divinity with humanity that humanity might touch humanity. He could not with His glory and majesty take His position among men." Ibid.

Jesus made our redemption possible when he laid aside his royalty: robes, crown and throne, so that he could be clothed with humanity and take his position among men. He laid aside his omnipresence, omniscience, and omnipotence.

"The glory must be laid aside. He must take the rude garments of humanity that He might be afflicted with all the afflictions of humanity, that He might understand their temptations. He would become a faithful judge of how much they had to contend with in the conflict with satanic agencies. Through this experience Christ was enabled to give power to His people, for to 'as many as received Him, to them gave He power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on His name.' See where our power is. It is not in ourselves." Ibid.

Jesus volunteered to lay aside his glory. But it was necessary in order to save us. God had to become one of us in order to understand and experience the human condition. This experience enabled him to give power to us so that we might become sons of God. The power that he gives is his very own life, his Spirit, his soul.

"The Holy Spirit is the breath of spiritual life in the soul. The impartation of the Spirit is the impartation of the life of Christ. It imbues the receiver with the attributes of Christ. Only those who are thus taught of God, those who possess the inward working of the Spirit, and in whose life the Christ-life is manifested, are to stand as representative men, to minister in behalf of the church." Desire of Ages, p. 805.

"Christ gives them the breath of His own Spirit, the life of His own life. The Holy Spirit puts forth its highest energies to work in the heart and mind." Desire of Ages, 827.

"Christ declared that after his ascension, he would send to his church, as his crowning gift, the Comforter, who was to take his place. This Comforter is the Holy Spirit,--the soul of his life, the efficacy of his church, the light and life of the world. With his Spirit Christ sends a reconciling influence and a power that takes away [cleanses] sin. In the gift of the Spirit [the soul of his life], Jesus gave to man the highest good that heaven could bestow." E.G. White, Review and Herald, May 19, 1904, vol. 5, p. 42.

Jesus overcame sin in human flesh (Rom 8:3). He "learned obedience by the things that he suffered" (Heb 5:8). He was "in all points tempted like as we are" so that he can give us "mercy and grace to help in time of need" Heb 4:15,16. He gives us his life, his Holy Spirit, because only he knows how to live a perfect life as a human being.

"The Spirit was given as a regenerating [cleansing] agency, and without this the sacrifice of Christ would have been of no avail." Ibid.

Jesus' death on the cross was not enough; he must also give up his divine life, and give it to us, to dwell in us, to transform our minds, to change us into his image. Without receiving this power from him, we can never become the sons of God. His death on Calvary would have been of no avail, of no benefit to us. It was, however, the manifestation of God's love that secured forever the affections of all heavenly beings who had never sinned. But we, sinners, need more.

"It is by the Spirit that the heart is made pure. Through the Spirit the believer becomes a partaker of the divine nature. Christ has given his Spirit as a divine power to overcome all hereditary and cultivated tendencies to evil, and to impress his own character upon the church." Ibid. (Desire of Ages p. 671)

Jesus cleansed the temple in Jerusalem twice. Only he could restore it. He demonstrated a clean temple within his own human body; and he will demonstrate a clean temple within his people "that he might present it [the church he loved] to himself a glorious church, not having spot, or wrinkle, or any such thing; but that it should be holy and without blemish." Eph 5:27.

Only Christ can cleanse our temples. While he is still cumbered with our humanity in heaven serving before his Father, the "one God" as the "one Mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus" 1Tim 2:5, he is also dwelling in us "in the person of his Holy Spirit" to be the Source of our power to overcome sin.

"Christ is the source of every right impulse. He is the only one who can arouse in the natural heart, enmity against sin. He is the source of our power if we would be saved." E.G. White, Review and Herald, April 1, 1890.

"The prince of the power of evil can only be held in check by the power of God in the third person of the Godhead, the Holy Spirit.--E.G. White, Evangelism, p. 617.


His first "death" is like our "dying" to sin. It was dying to a way of life. He gave up his omnipresence, his omnipotence, his omniscience to become a man. "Cumbered with humanity" he no longer had these attributes of divinity. He gave these powers, his former way of life, into the hands of his Father for safe keeping. He "laid down" his life as a commandment which he received from his Father (John 10).

And like our first death, he could have returned to his first life.
But like the Hebrew slave, he found a wife and children, and chose to be a slave forever.
To save us from sin, the wages of which is eternal death, Christ forfeited his Spirit life forever.
Jesus said the Comforter that his Father would give will "abide with you forever" John 14:16
His sacrifice is an eternal sacrifice. He will forever remain the Lamb of God.
Since divinity cannot die, the Son of God became the Son of man in order to die.
He didn't just die for three days after living 33½ years as a human being.
Being dead for only three days in a tomb was not the penalty for sin.
He chose to forever die to his first life as Michael the Archangel, the purely divine Son of God
uncumbered by the limitations of humanity.

He was able to die for us because of what he was: the human Son of man;
He made an infinite sacrifice because of who he was: the divine Son of God.

He then later was able to give this life, the breath of his soul, to us.
In the upper room after his resurrection, he breathed on the disciples his own Holy Spirit.
This is the fulfillment of the New Covenant which is tied inseparably to the Everlasting Covenant and the Ten Commandment Law of God. As Christ wrote the Ten Commandment Law with his own finger of tables of stone, So he writes his law, his character on the tables of our hearts with his own finger, and the finger of God is the Spirit of God.

2Cor 3:3 We are the epistle of Christ, written with the Spirit of the living God.
2Cor 3:17 Now the Lord is that Spirit.

Scripture and inspiration clearly identify who the Holy Spirit, the Comforter is.
John 14:18 I will not leave you comfortless: I will come to you.
John 14:23 My Father (and I) we will come and make our abode with you.

The issue at the end will be over worship.
To misidentify the Holy Spirit, the life and soul of Christ, as someone different from Christ is to worship another god, different from the Son of God. Satan's aspiration is to be worshiped as God. Isa 14. He tried to get Christ to bow and worship before him in his third and final temptation.

The last church, Laodicea, cannot see its condition. It is blind and poor and naked.
Satan, "the god of this world, has blinded the minds of them which believe not" 2Cor 4:4
He has transformed himself into an angel of light (2Cor 11:14), a heavenly imposter, masquerading as another third person of the Godhead, so that "he as God sits in the temple of God, showing himself that he is God." 2Thes 2:4 "Don't you know that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit in you?" 1Cor 6:"19

When we open the door of our heart, we must be extremely careful.
Do we know who it is we are inviting in?
Jesus says he stands at the door and knocks.
If we open the door for him, Jesus says he will come in. Rev 3:20
Jesus said he would not leave us comfortless orphans, "I will come to you" John 14:18