How do you reconcile the first Commandment with the trinity?

  • Christian Chat is a moderated online Christian community allowing Christians around the world to fellowship with each other in real time chat via webcam, voice, and text, with the Christian Chat app. You can also start or participate in a Bible-based discussion here in the Christian Chat Forums, where members can also share with each other their own videos, pictures, or favorite Christian music.

    If you are a Christian and need encouragement and fellowship, we're here for you! If you are not a Christian but interested in knowing more about Jesus our Lord, you're also welcome! Want to know what the Bible says, and how you can apply it to your life? Join us!

    To make new Christian friends now around the world, click here to join Christian Chat.
Aug 4, 2023
5
2
3
#1
Do you believe they are not contradictory? Why?
Do you rely on faith to believe they are consistent with each other? Is that an excuse or a reason?

Inquiring minds want to know! Leave your answers below, eh.
 

bluto

Senior Member
Aug 4, 2016
2,103
531
113
#2
The Bible is clear, (but not so clear to others) that there is only one God period. This one God chose to reveal Himself in Scripture as three distinct persons, not three gods, not three beings of god, not three separate beings of god either. Furthermore, the doctrine of the trinity is not an "assumption." It is the normative systematic theology of God in Christianity and is based on the fact that the Bible is explicit in telling us there is, was and forever will be only ONE God AND the fact that the Bible identifies three (and only three) persons as God. Do you understand?

IN GOD THE SON,
bluto
 

seekingthemindofChrist

Casting down imaginations
Jul 10, 2023
1,178
573
113
#3
Exodus 20:1-3

"And God spake all these words, saying, I am the LORD thy God, which have brought thee out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage. Thou shalt have no other gods before me."

The Hebrew word which is here twice translated into English as "God" is 'ĕlōhîm.

https://www.blueletterbible.org/lexicon/h430/kjv/wlc/0-1/

'ĕlōhîm is the plural form of 'ĕlôha.

https://www.blueletterbible.org/lexicon/h433/kjv/wlc/0-1/

From the very first verse of scripture, "God" or the Godhead is revealed as a plurality.

Genesis 1:1

"In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth."

Again, the Hebrew word which is here translated into English as "God" is ĕlōhîm.

There is the plural Godhead or Trinity which is more clearly revealed throughout scripture.
 

Nehemiah6

Senior Member
Jul 18, 2017
26,074
13,771
113
#4
Inquiring minds want to know! Leave your answers below, eh.
This matter is not for "inquiring minds" but "believing hearts" like Thomas, who said "My Lord and My God", and went on to establish a great missionary work in India.

The Hebrew word Elohim is a uni-plural word for God. But this is purely a a matter of faith. Unless we believe that Jesus is God we will die in our sins. That's the real issue.
 

studentoftheword

Well-known member
Nov 12, 2021
1,701
594
113
#5
Thread topic ---

How do you reconcile the first Commandment with the trinity?

This reconciles the trinity -----

Genesis 1:26

Amplified Bible
Then God said, “Let Us (Father, Son, Holy Spirit) make man in Our image, according to Our likeness [not physical, but a spiritual personality and moral likeness]; and let them have complete authority over the fish of the sea, the birds of the air, the cattle, and over the entire earth, and over everything that creeps and crawls on the earth.”


The First Commandment is AGAPE GOD ---who is Father Son and Holy Spirit -----if you Agape God --then you Agape the Trinity ------

Matthew 22:37

AMP
And Jesus replied to him, “‘You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind.’
 

Radius

Senior Member
Feb 11, 2013
1,171
181
63
#10
Because we dont have any other Gods but God.

Jesus was God in human flesh...but He is the same God. Representing yourself in more than one way doesn't make you two or three separate Gods.

It's the same thing as if you have a lump of clay and make three equal balls with it. If you chemically test each smaller ball of clay you would be able to trace it back to that original 1 lump of clay and prove it to be the source.

There are no 2 or 3 "different lumps" of clay involved. The smaller balls was and forever will be that "one lump of clay" just represented differently.

So it is with the Trinity.
 

Radius

Senior Member
Feb 11, 2013
1,171
181
63
#11
Why does God have to be three persons? Why can't He only be one?
Because He chose each person of the Trinity to carry out specific tasks.

God the Father authored the plan of salvation.
The son carried it out.
The Holy Spirit applies the Word to your heart.
 

bluto

Senior Member
Aug 4, 2016
2,103
531
113
#12
Why does God have to be three persons? Why can't He only be one?
It's called love. Look at it this way? The Bible is extremely clear that all human beings are sinners without one exception. Man was born with a sin nature we inherited from Adam and was passed down to every human being that has lived.

To remedy this situation God became a human being to bring us back to Him in the Person of His Son Jesus Christ. Since God is righteous He took it upon Himself to pay the penalty for our
sins (which is death or separation from God) by dying on the cross in our place.

So by doing this God wants us to acknowledge/repent that we are sinners and believe or put are faith in Jesus Christ inheriting eternal life.

Let that sink in your head that God Almighty loves us so much that He chose to redeem mankind Himself. Does that make sense to you?

IN GOD THE SON,
bluto
 

Webers.Home

Well-known member
May 28, 2018
5,791
1,069
113
Oregon
cfbac.org
#13
.
Now, the curious thing is: God's speech, viz: His actual personal utterances,
were never heard even once by human beings in the Old Testament-- not
one human being, not one time: not ever. He has, in fact, communicated
with human beings via the speech of a mysterious being in the Old
Testament known as Jehovah, a.k.a. Yahweh.

There is a cult at large busy making a big deal out of "Jehovah" as God's
personal identity. But God's personal identity isn't Jehovah, rather, that
name is Jehovah's personal identity: God's personal identity is currently
unknown, i.e. the Father spoken of in the New Testament has yet to give
humanity a personal name by which He may be addressed.

Now if what I'm saying here is true, then the Jehovah of the first of the Ten
Commandments isn't the ultimate supreme being that many of us have been
led to believe he is. The Jehovah of the Ten Commandments kind of gives
me the creeps because he is so mysterious; and is to be obeyed, and to be
worshipped, as a divine being.
_
 

JaumeJ

Senior Member
Jul 2, 2011
21,423
6,702
113
#14
Our Maker speaks to us without words, although once spoken to the individuals understand in words.

I would imagine, guess or deduce that it is the language to be given all as prophesied in Zephaniah, that pure tongue to be given us all so that we all understand each other Zephaniah goes on to say that it is to facilitate our calling upon God with One Name.
 
Aug 5, 2023
195
31
18
50
Cyprus
#15
Do you believe they are not contradictory? Why?
Do you rely on faith to believe they are consistent with each other? Is that an excuse or a reason?

Inquiring minds want to know! Leave your answers below, eh.
Because I interpret scripture with scripture, and don’t believe God contradicts himself.

Some verses say one God, others reference three distinct persons. Both are true at the same time. It’s our western worldview that says two apparent contradictions can’t be true. The Eastern worldview has no problem with dualities existing together and both being true.
 

Everlasting-Grace

Well-known member
Dec 18, 2021
5,850
1,860
113
#17
the trinity in the OT

Isaiah 48: 12 “Listen to Me, O Jacob, and Israel, My called: I am He, I am the First, I am also the Last. 13 Indeed My hand has laid the foundation of the earth, And My right hand has stretched out the heavens; When I call to them, They stand up together. 14 '"All of you, assemble yourselves, and hear! Who among them has declared these things? The LORD loves him; He shall do His pleasure on Babylon, And His arm shall be against the Chaldeans. 15 I, even I, have spoken; Yes, I have called him, I have brought him, and his way will prosper. 16 Come ye near unto me, Hear ye this; I have not spoken in secret from the beginning; from the time that it was, there am I, and now the Lord God, and his Spirit, hath sent me.
 

Bob-Carabbio

Well-known member
Jun 24, 2020
1,602
801
113
#18
Do you believe they are not contradictory? Why?
Do you rely on faith to believe they are consistent with each other? Is that an excuse or a reason?

Inquiring minds want to know! Leave your answers below, eh.
You have absolutely NO CONCEPT of the totality of GOD. Which is O.K. since nobody else does either - but everybody has "Precious Theologies" that they attach "religious significance" to.

The first commandment states that there's only ONE GOD, and so there's no other GOD. Simple as that.

Jesus specifically speaks of the FATHER, The SON, and the HOLY SPIRIT, so there's a "FATHER", a "Son", and a "Holy Spirit". Simple as that.

How that all works together, and whether or not "Trinitarian doctrine" actually means anything or not is unknown, and totally unimportant.

So "the trinity" is definitely contradictory to this or that "theology", which is of no importance, and means nothing - it's only "Theology" after all. All God's Chilluns gots "Theologies".
 

bluto

Senior Member
Aug 4, 2016
2,103
531
113
#19
.
Now, the curious thing is: God's speech, viz: His actual personal utterances,
were never heard even once by human beings in the Old Testament-- not
one human being, not one time: not ever. He has, in fact, communicated
with human beings via the speech of a mysterious being in the Old
Testament known as Jehovah, a.k.a. Yahweh.


There is a cult at large busy making a big deal out of "Jehovah" as God's
personal identity. But God's personal identity isn't Jehovah, rather, that
name is Jehovah's personal identity: God's personal identity is currently
unknown, i.e. the Father spoken of in the New Testament has yet to give
humanity a personal name by which He may be addressed.


Now if what I'm saying here is true, then the Jehovah of the first of the Ten
Commandments isn't the ultimate supreme being that many of us have been
led to believe he is. The Jehovah of the Ten Commandments kind of gives
me the creeps because he is so mysterious; and is to be obeyed, and to be
worshipped, as a divine being.
_
Could you please explain who the speaker was at Exodus 20:22? "Then the Lord said to Moses, "Thus you shall say to the sons of Israel, "You yourselves have seen that I have spoken to you from heaven." Also, who is the speaker in the New Testament at Mark 1:11? "and a voice came out of the heavens; "Thou art My beloved Son, in Thee I am well-pleased."

Lastly, you said, "
He has, in fact, communicated
with human beings via the speech of a mysterious being in the Old
Testament known as Jehovah, a.k.a. Yahweh." Who do you think is the "mysterious" being in the Old Testament known as Jehovah, a.k.a. Yahweh" is? Any idea's?


In Him,
bluto