The Theology of Russell Earl Kelly, PHD
Baptist, Conservative, Dispensational
July 12, 2008
God is personal (Heb 11:6) and God is love (1 Jn 4:8, 16).
“God” is often a uni-plural word in the Hebrew Old Testament. The common form of “God,” Elohim, may be a plural of majesty but has the plural Hebrew ending of “-im.”
Gen 1:26 And God said, Let us make man in our image , after our likeness …
Gen 1:27 So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them.
The Christian doctrine is: (1) That there is only one God, one divine nature and being. (2) This one divine Being is tri-personal, involving the distinctions of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. (3) These three are joint partakers of the same nature and majesty of God. Unger’s Bible Dictionary
The doctrine of the Trinity (or at the very least a Duality of God) is implicit rather than explicit in the OT. It seems apparent that God the Son left Heaven in many pre-incarnate manifestations of Himself. He walked among the cut covenant while Abraham slept (Gen 15:17-18); he appeared to Hagar as an Angel (Gen 16:7-11); he appeared to Abraham as an Angel to rescue Lot (Gen 18:1); he appeared as an Angel to rescue Isaac (Gen 22:11-16); he wrestled with Jacob (Gen 32:30; 33:10); he appeared face to face with Moses and gave Moses the Law (Ex 3:14; 33:11); he walked in the fiery furnace in Daniel (3:25).
Matt 3:16 And Jesus, when he was baptized, went up straightway out of the water: and, lo, the heavens were opened unto him, and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove, and lighting upon him:
Matt 3:17 And lo a voice from heaven, saying, This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.
Matt 28:19 Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost. [one name; one authority]
1 Cor 12:4 Now there are diversities of gifts, but the same Spirit.
1 Cor 12:5 And there are differences of administrations, but the same Lord.
1 Cor 12:6 And there are diversities of operations, but it is the same God which worketh all in all.
2 Cor 13:14 The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the communion of the Holy Ghost, be with you all. Amen.
Eph 4:4 There is one body, and one Spirit, even as ye are called in one hope of your calling;
Eph 4:5 One Lord, one faith, one baptism,
Eph 4:6 One God and Father of all, who is above all, and through all, and in you all.
1 Peter 1:2 Elect according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, through sanctification of the Spirit, unto obedience and sprinkling of the blood of Jesus Christ: Grace unto you, and peace, be multiplied.
Rev 1:4 John to the seven churches which are in Asia: Grace be unto you, and peace, from him which is, and which was, and which is to come; and from the seven Spirits which are before his throne.
(1) See section on the Deity of Christ: The same worship is paid and the same works are ascribed to each of these three Persons, and in such a way as to indicate that these three are united in the fullness of the one living God.
(2) It is often argued that many pagan religions have their own concept of the Trinity and therefore Christianity is merely mimicking other older religions. Trinities are found in the religions of ancient Egypt, Canaan, Assyria, Babylon, Persia, Greece and Rome. This could, on the other hand, prove that Satan knew about the Trinity of God before the Christian era and was offering his substitute religion to mimic the truth.
(3) The Trinity does not oppose reason. In fact nature and reason almost demand a Trinity in God because it reveals a Trinity in almost every other aspect of reality. There is no such thing as one or two dimensional reality. The following is a small but personal unscientific example:
Atoms: electrons, protons and neutrons
Matter: length, width and height
Mass: liquid, solid and gas states
Electricity: Positive, negative, neutral
Life: Animal, vegetable and mineral
Time: past, present and future
Psychology: id, ego and super-ego
Politics: Conservative, Moderate and Liberal.
Travel: Air, land and water.
Energy food: carbon, hydrogen and oxygen.
Inertia: Stopped, moving, potential (kinetic).
Senses: See, feel, taste, hear
(4) Whether we understand it or not, the Bible teaches that there is One God who manifests Himself in Three Persons. We cannot explain the Virgin birth or how God can become a man either. It is a matter of believing the special revelation of God’s Word. God has somehow chosen to reveal Himself in three different ways to mankind and each of those revelations is still God. It is His way of reaching out to a sinful fallen man in a way that does not immediately destroy the sinner by His holiness. In the Person of Jesus Christ God had to put aside that glory to dwell among us.
(5) God is love. Love does not exist in a vacuum. Love must be both given and received; it must be reciprocal or it cannot be survive, especially eternally. For me “God is love” is also a statement of either the Trinity or at least a Duality. Love is also freewill. God created mankind with freewill in order to enlarge the capacity and quantity of love.
(6) For those who might be interested, the word “God” in the English version of the Muslim Koran is “we.”
(7) While Jehovah’s Witness criticize the doctrine of the Trinity, they actualy teach a doctrine of the Duality of God when that teach that Jesus is the creator of all things except Himselfr.
