I'm not trying to start a debate or to alienate anyone, but I just had to post this.
I don't really like either label of "trinity" or "oneness" and I some times use the words "Triune" and "triunity" to describe God. Because of this, some call me "trinity" and sorta use it like an epithet or pejorative or naughty word.
I received the regular newsletter from the Jack Van Impe ministry today and in it he discussed the incarnation. I just want to post some of the article here. If this describes trinity doctrine, I have some problems with it:
Why did God come through the channel of a virgin's womb? Why was it necessary for God, in spirit form, to take upon himself a body?
Philippians 2:5-8 explicitly explains this great theological truth. Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus: Who, being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God: but made himself of no reputation, and took upon him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men: And being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross.
The phrase, He humbled himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross is the focal point of this discussion. God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit held a meeting in eternity past and planned the entire program of redemption. All three were, at that time, in spirit form. God the Father was and still is a spirit (see
John 4:24). The Holy Spirit was and still is a spirit (see
John 16:13). Christ was a spirit because He was (past tense) in the form of God, which we have already proven to be a spirit form (see
Philippians 2:6).
However, at this meeting of the Trinity in ages past, it was agreed that one of the three would eventually become a human with a covering of flesh, and Christ was the elected member to fulfill salvation's plan. This can all be proven from the Holy Scriptures.
First Peter 1:20: Who verily...was manifest in these last times for you. Messiah means "sent one." If He is the sent One, He did not originate at Bethlehem's manger. Instead,
Galatians 4:4,5 pictures the facts as they occurred. But when the fulness of the time was come, God sent forth his Son, made of a woman, made under the law, to redeem them that were under the law.
Does this simplistic doctrinal truth penetrate your reasoning processes? Hear it again. God sent forth his Son, made of a woman. There it is-Christ's deity and humanity. His eternity and birth. God sent the Son who was in His presence, meaning that Christ existed as God before coming to earth. However, He was made of a woman when He was sent. This is, of course, the virgin birth which took place in the manger centuries ago when God became man.
When the Trinity outlined the plan, all the events of future history were foreknown. Remember, God knows everything. The plan progressed according to the omniscience of the Godhead....
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