Side Quest: The Trinity
Every day I go to the same Coffee Shop and most days I see Jehovah Witnesses on the sidewalk with their stands, looking to convert people to their understanding of the faith.
Now, this post won’t go into their faith at all, maybe I will do that later, but something they obviously deny is the Trinity. I will be the first to admit, that I’ve struggled with it, but thankfully what I struggled with, turned out to be orthodox.
Let me explain,
John 10:30-39 has always been a rather difficult passage for me to grasp (even with my extensive Jewish education). It reads as follows:
30 I and the Father are one.”
31 Once again the Judeans picked up rocks in order to stone him. 32 Yeshua answered them, “You have seen me do many good deeds that reflect the Father’s power; for which one of these deeds are you stoning me?” 33 The Judeans replied, “We are not stoning you for any good deed, but for blasphemy — because you, who are only a man, are making yourself out to be God [a].” 34 Yeshua answered them, “Isn’t it written in your Torah, ‘I have said, “You people are Elohim’ ”?[b] 35 If he called ‘elohim’ the people to whom the word of Elohim was addressed (and the Tanakh cannot be broken), 36 then are you telling the one whom the Father set apart as holy and sent into the world, ‘You are committing blasphemy,’ just because I said, ‘I am a son of Elohim’?
37 “If I am not doing deeds that reflect my Father’s power, don’t trust me. 38 But if I am, then, even if you don’t trust me, trust the deeds; so that you may understand once and for all that the Father is united with me, and I am united with the Father.” 39 One more time they tried to arrest him, but he slipped out of their hands.
In this exchange, Jesus (Yeshua) is speaking with Judeans who are about to stone him. They accuse him of blasphemy for claiming to be God, which they interpret as a man making himself out to be divine.
In response, Jesus refers to a verse from the Torah (Psalm 82:6) where God calls human judges "elohim" (gods) because they represent Him in their role of administering justice. Jesus argues that if human judges can be called gods in a metaphorical sense, then it should not be considered blasphemy for him to say he is the Son of God, as he is sent by the Father and shares in the divine nature.
So, Jesus isn’t denying divinity here at all, but rather affirming His divine nature while using the “how much more” argument. He is saying — “How much more should I be called a son of God? Because I do the Father’s perfect will”.
In referring to himself as the one sanctified by the Father, Jesus used the word that described the festival they were celebrating – the sanctification (consecration) of the temple. Jesus was not only the good shepherd; he was also the new Temple where God would be especially present and accessible to all. Though the leadership would soon desecrate the personal “temple” by their killing of Jesus, the Father would re-consecrate (sanctify) him by raising him to new life.
Now, in this and among other verses, we see Jesus signify that He and the Father are unified but separate. In 254 CC (catechism) we read: The divine persons are really distinct from one another. "God is one but not solitary." "Father", "Son", "Holy Spirit" are not simply names designating modalities of the divine being, for they are really distinct from one another: "He is not the Father who is the Son, nor is the Son he who is the Father, nor is the Holy Spirit he who is the Father or the Son." They are distinct from one another in their relations of origin: "It is the Father who generates, the Son who is begotten, and the Holy Spirit who proceeds." The divine Unity is Triune.
In this, we gather a really well-defined understanding of the Triune God we serve. In that, Jesus being monogenesis of the Father (of the same kind, directly from) we get our Son of God, and through that, we receive the Holy Spirit.
All is of the Father, all is from the Father, all is by the Father, even His very Word (Jesus).