This past Sabbath we sang a song, hymnal 073. Holy, Holy, Holy
The first stanza goes like this:
- Holy, holy, holy! Lord God Almighty!
Early in the morning our song shall rise to Thee;
Holy, holy, holy, merciful and mighty!
God in three persons, blessed Trinity!
I bolded the Trinity word. Does the Bible and Spirit of Prophecy teach the doctrine of the Trinity? Is there a difference between the doctrine of the Trinity and the doctrine of the Divinity?
Here the Catholics name Ellen G. White an heretic because of her teachings. One of them mentioned is this: “three separate Divine Persons rather than the orthodox doctrine of Trinity.”
So the catholic doctrine of the Trinity is NOT “three seperate Divine Persons” as Ellen G. White and the Bible teach. It is so close though that most people think it is the same thing, when it is completely different!
What is the doctrine of the Trinity?
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trinity
Wikipedia defines the doctrine of the Trinity thus:
“God the Father, God the Son (Jesus Christ) and God the Holy Spirit, three distinct persons (hypostases) sharing one essence/substance/nature (homoousion)[4] As the Fourth Lateran Council declared, it is the Father who begets, the Son who is begotten, and the Holy Spirit who proceeds.[5][6][7] In this context, one essence/nature defines what God is, while the three persons define who God is.[8][9] This expresses at once their distinction and their indissoluble unity.”
So this means that there is one essence, one being, which manifests itself in three different persons. One being with three manifestations.
This is what the image shown in the link above and in the Wikipedia page shows. God is in the middle, one being, from which proceed the other 3 persons. If this would take place in a person, it would be called a Personality Disorder or Bipolar or things like that!
What is the Doctrine of the Divinity?
In the same article they mention the other idea of the Biblical explanation: “While the developed doctrine of the Trinity is not explicit in the books that constitute the New Testament, the New Testament possesses a triadic understanding of God”.
They define the word “Triadic” thus: “A triad, in a religious context, refers to a grouping of three gods, usually by importance or similar roles. A triad of gods were usually not considered to be one in the same being, or different aspects of a single deity as in a Trinity.” Thus they show that the Bible talks of three separate beings, each one being a person in Himself, which are united. This is what the Bible and E G White refers to as the Divinity, the Godhead, the Heavenly Trio, etc.
Is it Just the Definition of Terms?
Someone told me that it just depends how you define terms, because the Adventist Church uses this term yet seems to difine it slightly different.
This term has been added just recently in our doctrine. You will never find it in the writings of Ellen White, except this: “But beware of that which the old writers called the world’s trinity—the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes and the pride of life.” 13LtMs, Lt 43, 1898, par. 25
By mixing the teachings of the church with those of the Catholics it produces confusion and the error is slowly blended with the truth. This is what I see and I cannot accept a pagan teaching of the trinity.
Will it hold water to use the same term defined by the Roman Catholic Church as I please? Is it correct to redefine a word as one pleases once it was already defined by an authority? When we will be challenged by the ones who defined it why we have changed the meaning of their word, what will we say? I cannot use the terms defined in one way by someone who has authority in this world as I please. I will be forced to either accept their definition or to forsake it completely. I would thus rather stick to the terms of the Bible and Spirit of Prophecy.
But each is free to choose what he believes. I would rather be termed as an heretic as E. G. White was by holding to what the Lord has revealed in the Bible and Spirit of Prophecy.
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