EARLY theologians were driven by the need to explain the appearance
of Jesus Christ. Some found their explanation by fabricating the
Trinity doctrine. But since God is not a Trinity and since Jesus
Christ is God, what is the relationship in the Godhead? Is God one,
or are there two separate Gods and is Christianity, therefore,
polytheistic?
In Chapter Two we found that the Bible teaches that Jesus Christ is
the God of the Old Testament, and that He became flesh and came to
this earth to die for mankind. He is called the Son of God and He
calls God His Father. By now the relationship should becoming clear
— God is a family.
We found in Chapter Three that we also can become begotten sons of
God by the impregnation of God's Spirit — again a family
relationship. When we understand that God is a family — that God
is reproducing after His kind — we are no longer confronted with
the problems inherent in the Trinity doctrine, nor are we faced with
the problem of worshiping many gods.
There is only one God family, yet there are presently two members,
and in the future there will be many more. Jesus was called “the
firstborn of many brethren” (Rom. 8:29).
Look at yourself. Whether married or single, you are part of a
family. You have parents and maybe even children or grandchildren of
your own. Yet, you are still one family.
It was God who created man and put him on the earth. He created
marriage and the family relationship as a type of His divine family.
(For further information on this vitally important subject, write for
the free booklet titled Why Marriage!)
The Hebrew word for “God” used in Genesis 1:1 and 26 is
Elohim. Elohim is plural in form. Though this word taken by itself
does not prove that there are two beings in the Godhead, it does
allow for the plurality that is clearly indicated in other parts of
the Bible.
By what we can understand from the rest of the Bible, this word
Elohim can act like our English words “family,”
“group,” “church,” or “crowd.” These
words are often regarded as singular and take a singular verb form,
but they all contain more than one member.
The Apostle Paul exemplifies this for us in I Corinthians 12:20.
Speaking about the Church he says: “But now are they many
members, yet but one body.”
God is a family. There presently are two members in that God family,
God the Father — the Head of the family, the Lawgiver — and
Jesus Christ the Son — the Spokesman, the Creator. But the word
Elohim is not just dual. There is a dual number in Hebrew, but this
would have to be Elohaim. The God family, however, is destined to be
truly plural — to have many members. And this is what the word
Elohim describes and allows for.
Belief in a Trinity clouds the real purpose that God has in store for
mankind. If we are taught that God is a closed Trinity of three
persons, we lose sight of the fact that God's real purpose is to
create many more members of the God family.
Look at the creation account in Genesis 1: God created fish after the
fish kind, birds after the bird kind, and animals after the animal
kind. But in verse 26 God made man — not after any of the animal
kinds, but after the God kind — in God's image and God's
likeness. “And God [Hebrew, Elohim] said, Let us make
man in our image, after our likeness: and let them have dominion over
the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the
cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that
creepeth upon the earth.”
God created man in His own image. Man is greater than the rest of the
creation, because God gave him mind power. He has dominion over all
the creatures. Man is not an animal. He was created in the image of
God — after the God kind.
The Apostle John understood God's plans for mankind. Notice what
he wrote in I John 3:1:
“Behold, what manner of love the Father [here is the family
relationship — not a closed trinity] hath bestowed upon us,
that we should be called the sons of God: therefore the world knoweth
us not, because it knew him not. Beloved, now are we
[already] the [begotten] sons of God, and it doth not
yet appear what we shall be: but we know that when he shall appear,
we shall be like him; for we shall see him as he is.”
Jesus Christ, the One who was the God of the Old Testament, the
Creator God, became flesh, died and was resurrected as a part of
God's plan to make man God. Jesus Christ is not to be the only son of
God. He is the only born Son now, but as John wrote, “when he
shall appear, we shall be like him.” We are begotten sons now,
and will be born sons of God at the resurrection.
It is clearly God's plan to bring many sons into His family.
“For it became him [God the Father], for whom are all
things, and by whom are all things, in bringing many sons unto glory,
to make the captain of their salvation [Jesus Christ] perfect
through sufferings” (Heb. 2:10).
The pages of the Bible are filled with this — God's great
purpose for man. And yet the majority of this world's Christians are
blinded to this central biblical truth. Why? Because Satan has
deceived the whole world (Rev. 12:9). God is not a closed Trinity, He
is a family — a family in which you can become a member.
Why has Satan palmed off the doctrine of the Trinity on the world?
Because he doesn't want you to rule in his place! Satan was
originally created to carry out God's rule on earth. But, he refused
to serve the Creator and even fomented a rebellion to dislodge God
from His position as Ruler over the whole universe (Ezek. 28:11-19;
Isa. 14:12-14). A third of the angels united with Lucifer in that
rebellion and were cast back down to this earth with him (Rev.
12:3-4) — having forever disqualified themselves and Satan from
ruling in the government of God. However, Satan and his demonic
cohorts remain in office until Christ actually returns.
Yet being disqualified, they do not want anyone else ever to take
their place. For that reason, during nearly 6000 years of man, they
have tried to hide from all the world the breathtaking truth of God.
If they can make you believe in the Trinity, you will be deceived
into thinking that the Godhead consists of only three persons. You
would then never in your wildest dreams ever imagine that you were
created to be born into the God family — to actually have a part
in ruling this earth!
Satan wants you to think that God is a limited Trinity — not a
growing family or Kingdom into which we may, through the grace of
God, enter.
There you have it. That is the truth about the Trinity. God's family
isn't closed to mankind as Satan would have you believe.
It's wide open to you, your family and all mankind. You can be made
in the exact likeness of God at Christ's return!