True Christianity: The Portable New Century Edition, Volume 1

The Divine Trinity

163 We covered God the Creator and creation; then we covered the Lord
the Redeemer and redemption; lastly we covered the Holy Spirit and
the divine action. Because we have covered the triune God in this way,
we need to cover the divine Trinity as well. The Trinity is well known to
the Christian world, yet in other ways it is unknown. Only through
understanding the Trinity can we gain a just idea of God; and in the
church a just idea of God is like the sanctuary and the altar in a church
building. It is like the crown on the head and the scepter in the hand of
a monarch sitting on a throne. The entire body of theology depends on
it the way a chain hangs from its hook. Believe it or not, we are even
allotted our own place in heaven depending on our idea of God. It is
like a touchstone for testing the quality of gold and silver, that is, the
goodness and truth in us. There exists no goodness in us that brings sal-
vation except the goodness we have from God; and there exists no truth
in us whose quality does not come from that core of goodness.
For us to see the nature of the divine Trinity in full perspective, the
explanation of the Trinity needs to be divided into points as follows:

1. There is a divine Trinity, which is the Father, the Son, and the Holy
   Spirit.


2. These three, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, are three
   essential components of one God. They are one the way our soul,
   our body, and the things we do are one.


3. This Trinity did not exist before the world was created. It developed
   after the world was created, when God became flesh. It came into
   existence in the Lord God the Redeemer and Savior Jesus Christ.


4. At a conceptual level, the idea of a trinity of divine persons from eter-
   nity (meaning before the world was created) is a trinity of gods. This
   idea is impossible to wipe out just by orally confessing one God.


5. The apostolic church knew no trinity of persons. The idea was
   hatched by the Council of Nicaea. The council introduced the idea
   into the Roman Catholic church; and the Roman Catholic church
   introduced the idea into the churches that have since separated
   from it.


6. The Nicene and Athanasian views of the Trinity led to a faith that
   has perverted the whole Christian church.

236 TRUE CHRISTIANIT Y §163