Posted on Monday, June 01, 2009 - 12:59 pm:

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From an official PowerPoints (ages 10-14) SDA quarterly in 2008: "The us He is referring to is what we call the Godhead: the Father, the Son, the Holy Spirit. Three Persons in one. And even though they work as a unit, they also have specific roles. It's like a shoe company. Each employee does a specific job: one makes the shoe soles, another makes the upper parts, another puts the parts together, another sells the shoes to shoe stores, but all are needed to make up the company. And they have one purpose—to work together to sell shoes.

"In the same way, the Godhead works together to guide us as we live and work and study with family, friends, and one another."

From a leading SDA scholar: "We noted that there are several OT texts indicating a plurality in God, as one God addresses another God."

From the book The Trinity by three SDA scholars: "We could illustrate Wallace's point this way: My wife and I have been spouses since 'the beginning' of our marriage. We share the very same essence of 'married humanity' (I have dubbed it 'human spousehood') while maintaining our personal distinction as male and female and husband and wife. While we are different in our gender and spousal roles, we still share the same essential 'human spousehood.' Thus the following illustrative paraphrase of John 1:1: 'In the beginning of our marriage the woman [my wife, the human spouse] was with the man [me, the husband, the human spouse] and the woman [my wife] was of the same 'human spousehood' essence as the man [me, the husband].'"

From the official NAD curriculum standards for SDA schools, in a brief overview of Grade 2 "Bible": "Godhead as creators"

From the same document: "Understand that the God family — 'God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit' - work in perfect unity, yet are separate and unique beings"

From a book by SDA scholar Dr. Arnold V. Wallenkampf: "God is a trinity. He is made up of three persons: The Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. GOD is the divine family name. As we as individuals belong to a certain family and carry a family name, so God has a family name. This name is GOD. As we as individuals in our respective families have individual or personal names, in addition to our family name, so each person in the Godhead, the Trinity, has an individual name. These are the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.

"Although God is made up of Three Persons, we say that God is one, and we call ourselves monotheists. We feel justified in doing this because the three persons in the Godhead are one in purpose, thought, will, plans and intentions. [...]

"Moses in speaking of God says 'our God.' In this text 'our God' could more correctly be translated by the plural 'our Gods.'"

From an SDA theology professor: "There should be no doubt from a close study of the book of Revelation that God is a single, united family, working as a team for the administration of the universe and the salvation of this fallen race."

From another SDA theology professor: "In fact, so accepted is the belief that God is creator that not all find it necessary to mention His name when talking about things created. [...]

"A slight problem arises with those New Testament texts that appear to deviate from the First Testament passages and attribute creation to the pre-existent Christ, who is a separate entity from God the Father (John 1:3; Col 1:16; Heb 1:2). The problem is bridged when it is recognized that nowhere is Christ referred to as the Creator. John, Paul, and Hebrews all state that the world was made 'through' (dia) the Logos/Son. This highlights the pre-existent Son as a sort of middle-man in the process. Hebrews is irrefutably clear that God is the chief actor in creation (Heb 1:1f). The pre-human Son appears to be a part of a Divine creation team that God repeatedly addresses with the hortatory command, 'Let us . . .' This is the same team God addresses in Genesis 3:22 when He implies that Adam would gain Divine status if he were to eat from the tree of life. In some mysterious way, the pre-existent Divine Son had an intermediary role in the creation process, but God is the ultimate Creator.

[...]

"'Let us make man in our image . . . (and) likeness . . .' (Gen 1:26-27). On the sixth day of creation, God led the creation team in the creation of humans who were to be made in the divine image. It is commonly accepted that image and likeness refer more to the spiritual image of the Divine council than to any physical manifestation."

From a couple of Doug Batchelor's radio program transcripts: "...you can find three distinct Individuals outlined in the Bible. [...] when Jesus was baptized is a good example where you can see they're three separate Entities."

"So it's like water. You know water can be ice, water can be steam and water can be liquid. It's one thing, but it's three different forms. Well that's actually not a good illustration because God is three separate people."

From Amazing Facts speaker Dennis Priebe: "If we want to defend the truth that there are three persons with the family name of God, it might be better to use the Biblical name Godhead, as Ellen White consistently did. [...] These are three gifts from three individual beings. [...] The Father even had to explain to angels the difference between Christ and Lucifer, since both had similar functions. If this could be misunderstood in heaven, it is easy to see why we have problems understanding the Godhead."

From SDA scholar and seminary professor Dr. Jerry Moon: "In her earliest writings she differed from some aspects of traditional trinitarianism and in her latest writings she still strongly opposed some aspects of the traditional doctrine of the Trinity. (4) It appears, therefore, that the trinitarian teaching of Ellen White's later writings is not the same doctrine that the early Adventists rejected.11 Rather, her writings describe two contrasting forms of trinitarian belief, one of which she always opposed, and another that she eventually endorsed."

From another SDA scholar: "What James and the other men were opposed to, we are just as opposed to as they were. Now, their solution to that, at that time, they didn't see any solution by retaining the Trinity concept, and getting rid of its distortions. But, in reality, we have been faithful to their commitment, and I know of nothing that they were objecting to, in objecting to Trinitarianism, that we have not also objected to."

(Quotes taken from: http://www.cultorchristian.com/)

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Posted on Wednesday, June 03, 2009 - 11:26 am:

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Chapter 2: Of God and of the Holy Trinity

1. The Lord our God is but one only living and true God; whose subsistence is in and of himself, infinite in being and perfection; whose essence cannot be comprehended by any but himself; a most pure spirit, invisible, without body, parts, or passions, who only hath immortality, dwelling in the light which no man can approach unto; who is immutable, immense, eternal, incomprehensible, almighty, every way infinite, most holy, most wise, most free, most absolute; working all things according to the counsel of his own immutable and most righteous will for his own glory; most loving, gracious, merciful, long-suffering, abundant in goodness and truth, forgiving iniquity, transgression, and sin; the rewarder of them that diligently seek him, and withal most just and terrible in his judgments, hating all sin, and who will by no means clear the guilty.
( 1 Corinthians 8:4, 6; Deuteronomy 6:4; Jeremiah 10:10; Isaiah 48:12; Exodus 3:14; John 4:24; 1 Timothy 1:17; Deuteronomy 4:15, 16; Malachi 3:6; 1 Kings 8:27; Jeremiah 23:23; Psalms 90:2; Genesis 17:1; Isaiah 6:3; Psalms 115:3; Isaiah 46:10; Proverbs 16:4; Romans 11:36; Exodus 34:6, 7; Hebrews 11:6; Nehemiah 9:32, 33; Psalms 5:5, 6; Exodus 34:7; Nahum 1:2, 3 )

2. God, having all life, glory, goodness, blessedness, in and of himself, is alone in and unto himself all-sufficient, not standing in need of any creature which he hath made, nor deriving any glory from them, but only manifesting his own glory in, by, unto, and upon them; he is the alone fountain of all being, of whom, through whom, and to whom are all things, and he hath most sovereign dominion over all creatures, to do by them, for them, or upon them, whatsoever himself pleaseth; in his sight all things are open and manifest, his knowledge is infinite, infallible, and independent upon the creature, so as nothing is to him contingent or uncertain; he is most holy in all his counsels, in all his works, and in all his commands; to him is due from angels and men, whatsoever worship, service, or obedience, as creatures they owe unto the Creator, and whatever he is further pleased to require of them.
( John 5:26; Psalms 148:13; Psalms 119:68; Job 22:2, 3; Romans 11:34-36; Daniel 4:25, 34, 35; Hebrews 4:13; Ezekiel 11:5; Acts 15:18; Psalms 145:17; Revelation 5:12-14 )

3. In this divine and infinite Being there are three subsistences, the Father, the Word or Son, and Holy Spirit, of one substance, power, and eternity, each having the whole divine essence, yet the essence undivided: the Father is of none, neither begotten nor proceeding; the Son is eternally begotten of the Father; the Holy Spirit proceeding from the Father and the Son; all infinite, without beginning, therefore but one God, who is not to be divided in nature and being, but distinguished by several peculiar relative properties and personal relations; which doctrine of the Trinity is the foundation of all our communion with God, and comfortable dependence on him.
( 1 John 5:7; Matthew 28:19; 2 Corinthians 13:14; Exodus 3:14; John 14:11; 1 Corinthians 8:6; John 1:14,18; John 15:26; Galatians 4:6 )

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"There is in the Divine Being but one indivisible essence. God is one in His essential being, or constitutional nature... In this one divine being there are three Persons or individual subsistences, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit... To denote these distinctions in the Godhead, Greek writers generally employed the term "hupostasis, while Latin authors used the term persona... The schoolmen employed the word subsistentia. The variety of the terms used points to the fact that their inadequacy was always felt. It is generally admitted that the word "person" is but an imperfect expression of the idea. In common parlance it denotes a separate rational and moral individual, possessed of self consciousness, and conscious of his identify amid all changes. Experience teaches that where you have a person, you also have a distinct individual essence. Every person is a distinct and separate individual, in whom human nature is individualized. But in God there are no three individuals alongside of and separate from, one another, but only personal self distinctions within the Divine essence which is not only generically, but also numerically one. Consequently many preferred to speak of three hypostaces in God, three different modes, not of manifestation, as Sabellius taught, but of existence or subsistence. Thus Calvin says: "By person, then, I mean a subsistence in the Divine essence..."

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"The three persons of the Trinity are distinct, yet not divided (distincti non divisi), different yet not separate or independent of each other (discreti non separati)."

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"The Christian Church confesses that there is one God, not three; that there are three distinct Persons in the Godhead, and that the Father is God, the Son is God, and the Holy Spirit is God. One God, three Persons.

"The Persons are distinct but not separate: God is One and undivided. There are not three 'parts' of God or a 'threefold' God. God is triune--three Persons in one God--not 'triplex' (made up of three gods). [...]"

--http://www.wels.net/cgi-bin/site.pl?1518&cuTopic_topicID=399&cuItem_itemID=22530

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Posted on Thursday, June 04, 2009 - 12:50 pm:

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the Father is of none, neither begotten nor proceeding; the Son is eternally begotten of the Father; the Holy Spirit proceeding from the Father and the Son; all infinite, without beginning, therefore but one God, who is not to be divided in nature and being, but distinguished by several peculiar relative properties and personal relations;

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1. Father is of none, neither begotten nor proceeding.
2. the Son is eternally begotten of the Father.
3. the Holy Spirit proceeding from the Father and the Son

Posted on Thursday, June 04, 2009 - 12:59 pm:

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# The Father is made of none, neither created nor begotten.

# The Son is of the Father alone; not made nor created, but begotten.

# The Holy Spirit is of the Father and of the Son; neither made, nor created, nor begotten, but proceeding.

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Posted on Friday, June 05, 2009 - 11:31 am:

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"We believe in one Lord, Jesus Christ, the only Son of God, eternally begotten of the Father, God from God, Light from Light, true God from true God, begotten, not made, of one Being with the Father."

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