What Does the Bible Say About The Trinity?

Can You Please Explain About The Trinity Of God?

Question : Can you please explain about the Trinity of God?

Answer : Greetings to you in Jesus wonderful name! The Trinity means God is three persons, each person is divine in their make up and yet because of the unity in their essential attribute they are only one God. In Short, the Trinity is one God existing in three Persons. The word 'Trinity' cannot be found anywhere in the Bible. The word “trinity” is not found in Scripture because it is a term coined to contain the above concept expressed and therefore used by theologians to deny heretics from misrepresenting the God of the Bible who is fully revealed in the New Testament. It is a word used by Christians to express the doctrine of the unity of God as consisting of three distinct Persons. This word is derived from the Greek word trias, first used by Theophilus (A.D. 168-183), or from the Latin trinitas, first used by Tertullian (165-220 A. D), to express this doctrine. If we were to use math, it would be, 1+1+1=3 to represent the persons and to express the essence of their character it would be 1x1x1=1 which clearly points to one God who is a triune God.

"Tri" meaning three, and "Unity" meaning one, Tri+Unity = Trinity. It is a way of acknowledging what the Bible reveals to us about God as one in essence of the substance and character, yet three in "Persons" who have the same attributes of the deity. God the Son (Jesus) is fully, completely God. God the Father is fully, completely God. And God the Holy Spirit is fully, completely God. Yet they are one God based on the unity of their substance that they are in their make up. Each has a will, loves, and says "I", "We", "You" and "Us" when speaking (Gen 1:26; 11:7; 12:2; Heb 7:21; 10:5-7). The word "person" denotes individuality and self-awareness. Within the single divine essence are three individual subsistences [i.e. something that has a real existence] that we call persons according to our limited human understanding. This doctrine of the Trinity distinguishes Christianity from all other religions which professes both monotheism [belief in one God] and polytheism [belief in many gods]. Trinity is a strict monotheism which is the teaching that there exists in all the universe a single being known as God who is self-existent and unchangeable, and at the same time the being of God is said to be threesome unified in one (Isaiah 43:10; 44:6, 8; Deut 6:4; Isa 48:16).

Trinity Of Persons

Basis of the Doctrine of the Trinity - (1) Matt 3:13-17 (2) Matt 28:19 (3) 2 Cor 13:14 (4) Gen 1:26

There are three persons in the Godhead, the Father, Son and Holy Spirit and these three are one God, the same in substance, equal in power and glory. The doctrine of the Trinity is a matter of truth, which cannot be known except by Divine revelation. In this divine and infinite Being there are three subsistences [i.e. something that has a real existence], the Father, the Word (or Son) and the Holy Spirit, of one substance, power, and eternity, each having the whole divine essence, yet the essence undivided, 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. The Trinity is the foundation of all our communion with God, and our comfortable dependence of Him.

Trinity Explained By Comparison Of The Known

If we are to discuss trinity in the natural three-dimensional world, a person cannot actually be the same as another person in everything and yet are distinct individuals. God, however, lives without the limitations of a three-dimensional universe and is a spirit being who is infinitely more complex and yet complete in Himself than we are (John 4:24; Job 4:15-17). Certain illustrations may give us a picture of the Trinity, yet the picture is not entirely accurate. An infinite God cannot be fully described by a finite illustration. So the apple illustration of saying that the trinity are like the seed, flesh and skin of one apple yet three individual things contained in a single entity and egg illustration of trinity saying that it is like the shell, white and yoke are three different things of the same entity known as egg cannot hold for much good because Father, Son and the Holy Spirit are not parts of the same God but they are each God in themselves unlike an apple or an egg. Also giving illustration saying that trinity is like a human spirit, soul and body also cannot hold much good to explain to people because though they are three unique things that exist in humans relatively, yet they are seen as a single person collectively. The water illustration is many times compared to explain trinity is also not good enough though it is a little better than other illustrations definitely. Many would like to point out that Liquid, vapor, and ice are three different and unique things, but yet it is a forms of a single entity called water.

When it comes to trinity, they are not just forms of God, but each of them is God yet they are one God in their Characteristics. People also would like to compare and explain trinity using sun. They would say that sun is a single entity in it entirety, yet it expresses itself through being an object of fire, light and heat which are three different ways we come to experience it. In relation to it, the Scripture reveals that "God is light", and so light in being compared to the source essence of God, the red heat rays, yellow light rays and blue chemical rays are compared by many as the three expressions of the one God. In the same way, a three leaved Shamrock plant is also given by certain people as an example of trinity. Though this plant have three leaves branched out, yet they are one leaf that branch out with the same essence to the end of it. In the same way, though trinity is one God in three persons, the point is that they have branched out as three persons with the very same essence of God-ness in all of them.

Yet all these illustration is not good enough because Father, Son and the Holy Spirit are not just one person expressing themselves through three different characteristics of personhood, but three individual persons all having the equal divineness of essence, attributes and substance in their entirety, yet all the three work as one God in essence of their working of mind, purpose, agreement, desire and intent. This is the reason God the Father can be the same in essence of the Character of completeness and yet be a uniquely different person from God the Son and God the Holy Spirit. The same applies for both God the Son and God the Holy Spirit. The Bible says, "God is Love" (1 John 4:16), because there are three persons in trinity, they are able to share their love among themselves. Or else God cannot be love if He is just a person who cannot share it with others within Himself. Thus one God three in personhood is the trinity.

The Apostolic Belief In Trinity And Their Defence

In fact in the first century after the apostles began to spread the gospel after the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ, many heretics began to question about the validity of the divine origin of Jesus Christ as God the Son and began to spread false information saying that he was the creation of God the Father, and through the Divine power given to Him, he created the world. These people increased in strength even before the departure of the last apostle John which was at the very end of first century AD. He has clearly told in his epistle to those who denied the deity of Jesus Christ the Son of God saying, "22 Who is a liar but he who denies that Jesus is the Christ? He is antichrist who denies the Father and the Son. 23 Whoever denies the Son does not have the Father either; he who acknowledges the Son has the Father also." (1 John 2:22-23) and also to those who questioned that God cannot become man in Christ Jesus, apostle John replied saying, "2 By this you know the Spirit of God: Every spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is of God, 3 and every spirit that does not confess that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is not of God. And this is the spirit of the Antichrist, which you have heard was coming, and is now already in the world." (1 John 4:2-3).

Then for those heretics who denied the three personage of God, he said to them, "7 For there are three that bear witness in heaven: the Father, the Word, and the Holy Spirit; and these three are one. 8 And there are three that bear witness on earth: the Spirit, the water, and the blood; and these three agree as one." (1 John 5:7-8). In the above verses, John the apostle clearly have shown that there are three persons in heaven who bear witness to everything that the Bible reveals in both the Old and the New Testament. These three persons are one in essence and substance of their Character. The same divine essence or substance flows in all of trinity is a fact which means that they are as a person individually are equal in power, equal in eternity, equal in majesty as each person possesses the one divine essence. So when the apostle clarified the Trinity of God, the Church followed them with all their heart (Acts 2:32-33, 42-43).

We see from his epistles that Apostle John fitly replied to all the heresies by pointing to the truth God has revealed to him. These were the type of errors in doctrine that crept in to the theology of the Church to destroy the faith of the saints within it.

The people who followed apostles doctrine by tradition, once the original twelve apostles of Jesus and Paul along with a few others who wrote the New Testament by the revelation of God died, these Christians began to discuss how to make the people of faith not to shaken in their faith when such false doctrines came through deceiving spirits which operated in false prophets and deceivers who wanted to weaken the believers and the growth of the Church consistently.

By the first two and half century AD, theologians of the Church consistently spoke about the tri-unity of God and in these times Tertullian coined the word 'Trinity' to express the tri-unity of God. Respected theologians like Justin Martyr [who died about 165 A.D], Irenaeus [who died about 200 A.D], Clement of Alexandria [who died about 215 A.D], Tertullian [who died about 230 A.D], Hippolytus [who died about 235 A.D] and Origen [who died about 250 A.D], all spoke about the concept of belief in the trinity.

Thus apostles and their followers have clearly made distinction between Father, Son and the Holy Spirit (1 Cor 12:4-6; 2 Cor 13:14; 1 Pet 1:2; Eph 4:3-6) and affirmed the divinity of each person (1 Cor 8:6; John 1:1; 8:58; Tit 2:13; Matt 1:23; John 4:24; 2 Cor 3:17; Acts 5:3-4).

The orthodox doctrine of trinity was formulated in a series of debates and councils. It was the council of Constantinople (381 A. D) that there emerged a definitive statement of the doctrine of trinity based ont eh views of Athanasius (293-373 A. D). The formula which expresses the position of Constantinople is, "one 'ousia' [Gr. substance, essence and nature] in three 'hypostases' [Gr. person]". Athanasius said that "we worship one God in trinity and trinity in unity", neither confounding three persons nor dividing the substance. For the person of the Father is one, of the Son another, of the Holy Spirit another. But the divinity of the Father, and the Son and of the Holy Spirit is one, the glory equal, the mystery equal. Such is the father, such also is the Son and such also is the Holy Spirit. Thus the Father is God, Son is God and the Holy Spirit is God. And yet there are not three God's but one God only.

During the medieval [i.e. 6th to 14th century] and reformation period [i.e. 15th to the present time of 21st century] there was no significant development in the doctrine of trinity, the orthodox formulation of the doctrine was accepted as the official position of the Church.

Subordination Within The Trinity

There is, apparently, a subordination within the Trinity regarding order but not substance or essence (Matt 28:19; 1 Cor 11:3; 15:27-28; John 16:13-15). We can see that the Father is first, the Son is second, and the Holy Spirit is third. The Father is not begotten, but the Son is (John 3:16), but this is anthropomorphic [i.e. described or thought of as having a human form or human attributes (Php 2:6-8)] in its origin and it is in no way tells or conveys the essence of the divineness and its substance of Christ anything less than the Father. The Father sent the Son (1 John 4:10). The Son and the Father send the Holy Spirit (John 14:26; 15:26). Yet the Holy Spirit Himself is never proclaimed as anybody less than God in his essence by the apostles (Acts 5:3-4). So the order of the trinity is in relation to the position that they themselves have agreed to take for themselves in relation to His creation who are humans made in His own image. But the order of the trinity never changes the essence of God in them to become inferior or lessened in any way. For example, just because a woman is less in order of God in creation than man does not make them any less of a human being (1 Cor 11:3). In the same way the Son is equal to the Father in his divinity but inferior in his humanity which was the role order played by Him in relation to His own creation (Heb 2:9; John 1:11; Col 1:13, 15-18).

Another example to see is, a king and his servant both share human nature. When a king sends his servant to a far inhabited country to live for a while doesn't make him any lesser human being than the King Himself. This is what Jesus did when he made himself to become a servant of the Father being found in appearance as one among humans after his incarnation (Heb 5:8; Php 2:6-8), the Father God sent Him to earth on a mission to redeem His creation (John 6:38). But the difference from this example we have seen is, Jesus was already the prince and the King of Jews, and also of all creation, which He testified before all humans (Matt 27:11; John 8:58). Critics of the Trinity will see this subordination as proof that the Trinity is false, but what they say is not logical as they have not fully understood its concept. Just because a wife sends her husband to buy bread doesn't make him any lesser human than her. In the same way the fact that the Father sent his Son to the earth on a mission does not make Jesus any lesser in his essence of divineness as God. In Jesus who is nobody other than the Word [the Son of God and eternal God] (John 1:1-3), dwells all the fullness of the Godhead in bodily human form after His incarnation of becoming a human on earth (Col 2:9).

Unique Functional Role Of Each Person Of Trinity

The Father has taken the role of a CEO in the trinity by his willing choice, Jesus Christ the Son has taken the role of a MANAGER by his willing choice and the Holy Spirit have taken the role of an EXECUTIVE by his willing choice (John 10:29; 10:17-18; Rom 15:30). The persons of the trinity have different primary functions in relating to the world, IN CREATION - Father, Son (Word) and the Spirit are involved in three different ways in the act of creation (Gen 1:2-4; John 1:1-3). IN INCARNATION - God promised it, Holy Spirit empowered it and the Son fulfilled it. IN REDEMPTION - the Father planned it, Son accomplished it and the Spirit implements it. But all the persons of the trinity eternally existed as One in fellowship, love and purpose. Just because a person in the trinity does a subordinate role, it is in no way makes them inferior in any way to their God-ness of equality among themselves. All three are equally God and just their roles are different in relation to his creation.

Does Old Testament Teach About Trinity?

Some people say that Trinity was some pagan idea that came in to Christianity after the apostles left the Church by their demise. But it is a heresy to say like that when the Scripture clearly reveals the concept of trinity right from the Old Testament.

a. PLURALITY IN LANGUAGE

"Let us make man in our image - and God created man in His own image." (Gen 1:26; 3:22; 11:7). "Whom shall I send who will go for us" (Isa 6:8). Such a language points us to the interpersonal conversation within trinity, and it also reveals the combination of both singularity and plurality in God. In other words, it is the same one God referring to Himself in a plural form, which concretely points to the fact that God is one but plural in His being.

b. DISTINCTION MAINTAINED BETWEEN THE THREE PERSONS OF THE GODHEAD

For example, at the time of creation God being the Creator through the agency of the Word while the Spirit was moving over the surface of the water things proceeded into existence is clearly portrayed in the Scriptures (Gen 1:1-3; John 1:1-3; Psalm 45:6-7; 110:1; Hosea 1:7; Isa 48:16; Heb 1:8).

c. PRE-INCARNATE APPEARANCE

We see the appearance of the Angel of the Lord in the Old Testament that are nothing but the pre-incarnate appearances of Christ in human form [i.e. anthropomorphism]. In these appearances Christ is identified as the LORD and some times distinguished from the LORD as the head of the Angelic host or captain of the Army of the Lord God which points to the unity of Christ within Godhead as God and diversity in his role towards his creation in the Trinity as the servant of God (Gen 16:9, 13; 17:1, 15, 18, 22; 18:1, 13-14, 33; 22:11, 15; 26:24; 28:12-13; 32:24, 28-30; 35:9-11, 13-15; Exo 3:2, 4, 6; 6:2--5; 23:20-21; 33:11, 20; Num 11:25; Josh 5:13-15; Jud 2:1, 4-5; 6:11-16, 20-24; 13:16-21, 22). Personification of wisdom in the book of Proverbs is none other than Christ in his pre-incarnate state, because in that book we see the person of wisdom saying "...mY delight was with the sons of men" (v. 31). Wisdom in itself cannot express emotion of delight unless it is a personality who has will, and so this is a concealed identity of Christ in the Old Testament in which He is also proclaimed as the Son of God (Prov 8:12-31; 30:4-5; Psa 33:4, 6).

d. GOD IS IN INTERNAL RELATIONSHIP WITH HIMSELF

There are crystal clear indications of God having dialogue [i.e. trialogue] with Himself (Heb 1:8-9; Psa 45:6, 7). In other cases, when God is the speaker He mentions about the Messiah and the Spirit (Isa 11:1-2; 34:16; 42:1). And when the Messiah is the speaker He mentions about God and Spirit (Isa 48:16; 61:1; 63:9, 10).

Having seen the footprints of Christ in the Old Testament so clearly, we can also see in the New Testament an explicit picture of trinity at the birth of Jesus Christ where God sends His Son who is born in the power of the Holy Spirit (Luke 1:31-32, 35), at the time of Jesus' baptism where Jesus was baptized on earth, Father's voice came from heaven and the Holy Spirit of God descended like a dove and alighting upon Him (Matt 3:16-17), at the mount of transfiguration Father's voice was heard, Holy Spirit overshadowed them and Jesus was present with the disciples (Matt 17:1-2, 5-6, 7-8) and finally Jesus at the end of His earthly life commissioned His disciples in the name of the Father, Son and the Holy Spirit which is the clearest indication of trinity in the Godhead (Matt 28:19-20). 

In fact the trinity acting in unity can be seen in all parts of the Bible from creation to resurrection, without it Christian life can no more lived with real meaning behind the words we read in the Bible. We see trinity acting in unity in Creation (Gen 1:3; John 1:1; Gen 1:2; Job 26:12, 13), in the Incarnation (John 3:16; Luke 2:11; 1:35), in Redemption (Heb 9:14), in Salvation (Luke 15:22, 4; Eph 1:13), in Communion (Eph 2:18; 2 Cor 5:19), in Prayer (John 16:23; Rom 8:26), in Glory (1 Cor 15:24; Php 3:21; Rev 22:17), in Departure from earthly life (Acts 7:55-56) and in Regeneration (Luke 10:20; Eph 1:7; John 3:3-6).

Can We Fully Understand Or Fathom Trinity?

The story is told of St. Augustine that, on one occasion, when his mind was engaged in the contemplation of the doctrine of the Trinity, he was walking by the sea, and saw a child filling a shell with the water, which it then carried and poured in to a cavity in the sand. "What are you doing, my boy, with that water?" asked Augustine. "I am," replied the child, "going to put all the sea in to this hole." Augustine smiled and walked on when suddenly a voice seemed to say to him, "And thou too art doing the like, in thinking to comprehend the depths of God in the narrow limits of thy finite mind." This is also an answer from God to us who fully want to grasp and explain the truth of trinity, we know that the Bible does teach the unity of the Godhead by ascribing all if the divine attributes equally to the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. The bottom line is, though the Trinity cannot be fully understood or fathomed it can be affirmed by faith.

The Bible is the self-revelation of an infinite God, only when a human can fully comprehend and point out what is infinity in its numerical value, then he will be fully able to understand God. Until then maximum we can do is to understand the concept of infinity using a symbol which all mathematicians do to calculate and know the result. Until then let us learn what this great God has revealed about Himself in His word and serve this incomprehensible God who exists in all places at all times. The Trinity is, to a large extent, a mystery. After all, we are dealing with God Himself, so let us learn thoroughly what has been revealed to us and let go of what has been concealed from us by God (Deut 29:29). Never subject God's word to your own reasoning and end in error as a cultist.


Much Blessings....

Who Is To Be Blamed For All The Evil; God, Humans Or The Devil?

Did God Made Evil To Be A Result Of Sin Which Is Actually A Bad Choice Of Man?

Apostolic Quote : ""When God says, "I form the light, and create darkness: I make peace, and create evil: I the LORD do all these things." (Isa 45:7), he has clearly conveyed that He has made evil as a result of our sin showing that because of His love for us, He has valued our decisions and choices we take even above his liking and desires. Those who look at all the evils in the world and say if God is good why did he allow evil should ask themselves, why should God forgive me all my sins and also the world around me in spite of foreknowing that we are all sinners doomed for hell if only God doesn't show his mercy to all of us? It is because God is good and loves us always, He has forgiven our past, present and future sins in Christ Jesus and have thrown it as far as east is from the west which infinitely never meets, to help us all be friends with Him again for eternity ahead. Praise the Lord!" — Abraham Israel

Question : I have a slightly different opinion on this Brother. Before we answer people's question why there is so much of evil when God is good; the same people have the responsibility of helping us understand what evil is. If they claim there is evil, then there must be a standard for both good and evil. Then who is the absolute standard - which man? Surely no man is a standard - for all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God. God never allowed evil; for it says, He cannot behold iniquity, He is of purer eyes; evil is a choice we have inherited because of our free will. Any man who questions God of good and evil should define what they are and who are the absolute standards for the same. If they cannot, they rightfully don't have a right to ask this question. God is light in Him there is no darkness. We need to understand that we may not respect the free will we have, but God does respect it, because He made us in His own image and likeness; therefore, He expects us to use the same freewill to come to Him willingly not forcibly. It is said in Ezekiel, "I don't have pleasure in the death of the wicked, but the wicked should repent and change his ways." Even here God expresses His desire, His wish, His preference, but doesn't impose Himself. God is more gentlemanly than any gentleman ever born in this world. I beg to differ God didn't make evil as a result of sin. Correct me if I am wrong.

Answer : Greetings in Jesus name! You have clearly conveyed in your thoughts that evil came because of man's own free will and I absolutely agree with that statement. Also I agree that God respects man's free will more than he himself could fully understand about it. We know that Satan was at loose on earth before humans, he is the one who came with the evil intent of placing a snare to all humans and making them all his slave in sin (Rom 6:16). The Bible conveys that through one man our forefather Adam's sin, death came in to the world. Death is nothing but separation from God and His eternal life of friendship with Him. But in the area of God's foreknowledge, God was the one who knowingly allowed evil and His thought was, if Adam fails, his plan was to cover them by the blood of Jesus and again give them a opportunity of having friendship with Himself by their own free will (1 Peter1:20; Rev 13:8). This is the exact thing that He did after the fall of Adam in to sin which separated him from having friendship with Himself (Rom 6:23), God killed an animal as a sacrifice for their sins symbolically foreshadowing the death of Jesus who is to come, and based on that he covered them with tunics of skin, and clothed them as to cover their natural and as well as spiritual nakedness with His friendship again which was lost (Gen 3:21; John 1:36; Isa 61:10). God knows the end from the beginning itself because of his foreknowledge and therefore He is the one who claims to have created evil by allowing it in his plan and making redemption through Jesus as the highlight of his desire to save the world from death and to have friendship with Himself who is the Creator of all (Isa 46:9-11). In other words, God claims that He is the sole God the Creator and there is no one beside Him based on the things that happened and are happening without any change of what He had told beforehand insisting that all of it will happen. God is the movie director of the whole creation's past, present and future. The Bible agrees with the above point we have discussed and says, "Known to God from eternity are all His works." (Acts 15:18). This conveys the idea that God was not surprised when man had sinned, because God knew it beforehand and had the plan of sending Jesus Christ beforehand to die for their sins and giving them the eternal life of friendship to Himself back again.

The Bible says that "Sin is the transgression of the law." (1 John 3:4). In other words, sin is rejecting or disobeying God's laws. We sin any time we do not do what God wants us to do. If we disobey God's laws, then we sin. Sin is not just the external actions of evil like murder, adultery, getting drunk, or robbing a store, but also our attitudes and thoughts like pride, lust, selfishness, greed, and hatred are sinful too. The standard of sin is the devil Himself who is the one who first sinned in the beginning and also from the beginning (John 8:44). That is why God warned Adam not to eat the tree of the knowledge of good and evil to experientially know what evil is and become a sinner by his wrong choice forever and become a slave to it under the influence of Satan (Gen 2:16-17). Since that day of disobedience in the garden of Eden by Adam, the difference between good and evil has been blurred in the mind of all humans because unless the light of God shines in the heart of fallen human beings, they cannot understand the darkness that flees when light comes (John 1:5; 1 John 1:5; 2 Peter 1:19). But a believer will be able to understand and discern the difference between good and evil if they keep using the word of God with the help of the Holy Spirit to have their spiritual senses exercised (Heb 5:13-14; Eph 6:17).

So when the Bible says, God is "of purer eyes than to behold evil, and canst not look on iniquity." (Habakkuk 1:13; "iniquity" is another word for " being soaked in sin"), it means God never approves of or ignores evil just because it was done by a person who is a son made in his likeness (Gen 1:26; Luke 3:38). God is so holy that the Bible compares Him to a consuming fire who consumes all sinful, unholy and evil thoughts and behavior (Hebrews 12:28-29; Matt 3:11-12). But then he also has promised to all saints that he cannot see any of our sin when it is covered by the blood of the Lamb who is Jesus Christ the Son of God (Heb 9:13-14). Praise God for salvation that has come to all mankind through Jesus Christ our Lord (Luke 1:68-70, 77; 2:14).

The bottom line is, though God is the one who chose to let evil begin and continue in the story of creation of angels and men, yet He is not involved within it experientially unlike man and angels who have all sinned by their own choice and have come to be involved in the works of darkness and evil which is nothing but the absence of the light of God and His involvement in it. When the angels sinned, they were not influenced externally by anybody, but those angels who took conscious choice to rebel against God in believing the lies of Satan to form a rebellious kingdom against God will be given its desire to live without God and His Presence in hell fire which is made for them (Rev 12:3-4; John 8:44; Matt 25:41), but because humans were externally influenced and deceived by Satan initially in the garden of Eden (Gen 3:9-24; Rom 5:12), Jesus chose to help them be redeemed from sin and hell fire, and make a turnaround to be back in to friendship with God to live in heaven forever (Rom 5:19, 21; Heb 2:16-18). Yet all History is HIS-STORY and that we know God is the director of it, yet within the story line God took the risk to involve Himself and give the precious choice to choose good or evil independently to both angels and men. Thus in giving that choice to man, He had given Himself to redeem the humans to restore friendship with Himself and also judge angels at the end for all the evil they have done on earth by their wrong choice. So the question is not, 'Who Is To Be Blamed For All The Evil; God, Humans Or The Devil?', instead it should be said, "All things whether good or evil works together only for the good of all those who love God and are called according to his story line which He has predetermined for His own purpose, which gets fulfilled by the choice each one of us take, that is whether we are with God in Christ Jesus or against his purpose." (Rom 8:28, Paraphrased; Matt 12:30). So God didn't make evil as a result of sin but He made evil to be the result of sin. This is the fine difference....to catch with!         

Much Blessings....

The Parable Of The Talents

Will We Go To Hell If We Do Not Serve God After Salvation?

Question : I have heard some people say that if we do not use the God given gifts in our lives, we will be thrown out in to the outer darkness by God at the end. I want to know, if this is true, does it mean that a believer should be careful after salvation to use the gifts that come with salvation to be used for God or else go to hell fire because of not properly using the gifts of God? Even salvation itself is a gift of God, if we do not value it and put it to work, will we be thrown in to some kind of spiritual deception that might lead to hell fire? Thanks in advance for your answer.

Answer : Greetings to you in Jesus name!

A lot of people interpret parable just the way they would interpret a normal story in a folklore that is an earthly story that teaches us some good morals and a way of life to live a good life. But the reason Jesus spoke parables to people are not told to teach them some morality and how to live a good life as all the religions of the world teaches, but in His own words to His disciples who asked why He always speaks to all people in parables , "" 11 He answered and said to them, “Because it has been given to you to know the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven, but to them it has not been given. 12 For whoever has, to him more will be given, and he will have abundance; but whoever does not have, even what he has will be taken away from him. 13 Therefore I speak to them in parables, because seeing they do not see, and hearing they do not hear, nor do they understand. 14 And in them the prophecy of Isaiah is fulfilled, which says: ‘ Hearing you will hear and shall not understand, and seeing you will see and not perceive; 15 For the hearts of this people have grown dull. Their ears are hard of hearing, and their eyes they have closed, lest they should see with their eyes and hear with their ears, lest they should understand with their hearts and turn, so that I should heal them.’ 16 But blessed are your eyes for they see, and your ears for they hear; 17 for assuredly, I say to you that many prophets and righteous men desired to see what you see, and did not see it, and to hear what you hear, and did not hear it." (Matt 13:11-17).

In other words Jesus is saying to His disciples, "I speak to people in parables to hide the true spiritual meaning behind all that I speak so that they who are spiritually dull without any desire for heavenly things should not by chance receive heavenly blessings of healing to the spirit, soul and body, by understanding the spiritual message I am saying. But you who are my true followers, you are highly favored by God and that is the reason you are given an understanding of the parables and receive its heavenly blessing that follow it, even though the same privilege had not been given in the past to many prophets and righteous men who desired sincerely to understand heavenly things that I am speaking to you." So we know that parables are earthly stories told to make people understand about the heavenly realities that are present with God. These parables from Jesus are spiritual messages that can be understood by only sincere spiritual seekers of God even in our days, and so we need the help of God for our inner spiritual ears to be opened miraculously to hear it and our inner eyes to be opened supernaturally to see the realities of it.

“Parable” is a transliteration of the Greek ‘parabole’. It means “the placing of one thing beside another with a view to comparison”. It puts the known next to the unknown so that we may learn. May we try with the help of God to understand what we call as Parable of the Talents comparing Scripture with Scripture by the help of the Holy Spirit who is our spiritual teacher whom God has given to us personally to give us spiritual understanding of the Word of God and receive all the heavenly spiritual blessings.

Here is the Parable, " 14 “For the kingdom of heaven is like a man traveling to a far country, who called his own servants and delivered his goods to them. 15 And to one he gave five talents, to another two, and to another one, to each according to his own ability; and immediately he went on a journey. 16 Then he who had received the five talents went and traded with them, and made another five talents. 17 And likewise he who had received two gained two more also. 18 But he who had received one went and dug in the ground, and hid his lord’s money. 19 After a long time the lord of those servants came and settled accounts with them. 20 “So he who had received five talents came and brought five other talents, saying, ‘Lord, you delivered to me five talents; look, I have gained five more talents besides them.’ 21 His lord said to him, ‘Well done, good and faithful servant; you were faithful over a few things, I will make you ruler over many things. Enter into the joy of your lord.’ 22 He also who had received two talents came and said, ‘Lord, you delivered to me two talents; look, I have gained two more talents besides them.’ 23 His lord said to him, ‘Well done, good and faithful servant; you have been faithful over a few things, I will make you ruler over many things. Enter into the joy of your lord.’ 24 “Then he who had received the one talent came and said, ‘Lord, I knew you to be a hard man, reaping where you have not sown, and gathering where you have not scattered seed. 25 And I was afraid, and went and hid your talent in the ground. Look, there you have what is yours.’ 26 “But his lord answered and said to him, ‘You wicked and lazy servant, you knew that I reap where I have not sown, and gather where I have not scattered seed. 27 So you ought to have deposited my money with the bankers, and at my coming I would have received back my own with interest. 28 So take the talent from him, and give it to him who has ten talents. 29 ‘For to everyone who has, more will be given, and he will have abundance; but from him who does not have, even what he has will be taken away. 30 And cast the unprofitable servant into the outer darkness. There will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.’" (Matt 25:14-30).

The above parable is given after the Matt 24th Chapter in which Jesus spoke about the details of the sign of His coming and the end of the age (Matt 24:3), which clearly implies that the 25th Chapter is a continuation of the answer given for the questions asked by his disciples about Jesus' coming to earth to rule, and for a better understanding about His coming and the end of the age. Therefore this above parable should be seen in the apocalyptic context only and the direct meaning of it will mislead the reader in to false understanding of the truth hidden with in this parable. First we will take the people involved in it and give its meaningful identity. Who is the man traveling to a far country? We know that God created this earth and formed humans out of the dust of the earth, then gave them authority and instructions to subdue all the earth under Him and went to heaven which is His abode (Gen 1:26-2:3). Also we know Jesus who is our Lord and Master came to this earth and died for our sin , then rose again from the dead and went on to the far country of the Father's House in heaven to prepare a place for us (1 Cor 15:3-4; Rom 10:9; John 14:2-3). So the man traveling to a far country is God at creation and Jesus at the new creation. The whole point is that the owner has the rights over His subjects who serve Him and they are accountable to Him at the end of age when He has set a time for the end of the journey which is the end of the age in which God will start to rest from His work of redemption and recreation which is the Sabbath rest of eternity (John 5:17). To the world that is not saved, it will be judged by the owner God after the Millennial rule of Jesus Christ and His saints on earth (Rev 20:11-15; Acts 17:30-31). To the Church which is owned by Jesus who is the Creator of all the new creation (Matt 16:18; 2 Cor 5:17), because He has sacrificed Himself for the sins of all who are in it, all will be judged by Him after the Rapture for the good works done with right motives and will be rewarded according to it (Heb 10:10, 14; 1 Cor 3:13-15; 2 Cor 5:9-11).

The Creator God has given at least one natural talent which is the breath given to a individual human being and more than that to many (Acts 17:28; Isa 42:5; Job 12:10), Jesus has given his Church a minimum of two talents and more than that also to many. The two talents are a promise to all believers that they have eternal life of God and minimum one supernatural gifts to work spiritually for Him (John 6:47; Eph 4:11; 1 Cor 12:7; 1 Peter 4:10-11; Rom 12:3-8). The talents give by God and Jesus are not the same number to all humans, but each person have been given according to the design that He has done, that is they have been given more or less gifts according to one's ability to handle it.

When God creates a humans, he gives at least one natural gift of life as He has given to all the other human beings and expects them to multiply it which means He wants them to get saved and therefore find Him spiritually (Acts 17:25-27). The breath of man is the very Spirit of God who is put within their hearts to reveal God to them in His fullness (Eccl 3:11; Job 34:14; 32:8; Gen 2:7). To those in the Church will gain more talents and rewards based on their motive with which they do their service for God. So it is not how much they do that brings them reward, but faithfully doing whatever they do after their salvation, that earns them a pat on their back from God who will say "Well done, good and faithful servant; you have been faithful over a few things, I will make you ruler over many things. Enter into the joy of your lord." In this above parable how do we really know that the person who is given one talent by God was not a saved person? Because at the time of God's judgment over his life, he never came to realize the goodness of God instead accused God saying, "24...Lord, I knew you to be a hard man, reaping where you have not sown, and gathering where you have not scattered seed. 25 And I was afraid, and went and hid your talent in the ground. Look, there you have what is yours." Apostle Peter has clearly identified that only those who are saved and have therefore tasted that the Lord is gracious and good can be able to realize their inadequacy of sinful behavior and evil things they do, and therefore confess to God to desire for more of the pure milk of the word of God to thereby grow and avoid sinful behavior through transformation that comes by the renewing of the mind (1 Peter 2:2-3; Rom 12:2).

So the unsaved wicked man who does not even realize that the gift of life which had been given by God while on earth for him to get saved will be answered back by God saying, "You wicked and lazy servant, you knew that I reap where I have not sown, and gather where I have not scattered seed. 27 So you ought to have deposited my money with the bankers, and at my coming I would have received back my own with interest. 28 So take the talent from him, and give it to him who has ten talents. 29 ‘For to everyone who has, more will be given, and he will have abundance; but from him who does not have, even what he has will be taken away. 30 And cast the unprofitable servant into the outer darkness. There will be weeping and gnashing of teeth." In other words, God was telling the unsaved man at the time of the judgment that at least he should have used his talents to the profit of the wellness of others human beings by giving his money to the Church which is saving more people, taking their deposit for eternal profitability and increase of talents with minimal of two talents that are given to all saints once they are within the Church (Matt 6:19-21; 19:27-30). The unsaved one talented man is sent in to hell fire and therefore has no chance at all in the future to serve the Master God whom he had never taken the pains to know about, but will spend their eternity with Satan and his demons in whose nature they walked and loved to live when they were on earth (Matt 25:41, 46; Eph 2:1-2).

The phrase "(there shall be) weeping and gnashing of teeth" appears seven times in the New Testament as a description of the torments of the damned in Hell (Matt 8:12; 13:42, 50; 22:13; 24:51; 25:30; Luke 13:28). Bother Matthew 8:12 and Luke 13:28 are parallel passages which point to the faith and salvation question of believers against the unbelievers who has no faith and are outside the revelation of the kingdom of God. Outer darkness is the place of waiting of all unsaved people who have departed from earth through physical death and are are waiting for the white throne judgment which will happen after the end of the Millennial rule of Jesus Christ and his saints on earth (Rev 20:7-15; Heb 9:27; Luke 16:23; 2 Pet 2:4, 17; Jude 6, 13).

The man given the one talent of life to know God and make it a minimum of two talents with eternal salvation said, "...Lord, I knew you to be a hard man" which cannot be taken to mean that this man was saved, instead the phrases "24..Lord, I knew you to be a hard man, reaping where you have not sown, and gathering where you have not scattered seed. 25 And I was afraid, and went and hid your talent in the ground." shows that He had never come to know personally the good character of God through salvation, which is to know that the Lord is abundantly merciful to the undeserving sinners and forgives sins unconditionally for all humans who fear Him with awe, respect and faith (Mic 7:18-20; Psa 103:10-13; Eph 4:32). This unsaved man became afraid to go to God who is the light because of the unsaved condition of his fleshly heart as the son of Adam (1 John 1:5). Adam and Eve after they sinned and disobeyed God's commandment, they have become fallen short of the glory of God, and thus in the same way like this unsaved man we have seen above became afraid of the Presence of God and the just character of God in their sinful condition within the garden of Eden itself to withdraw themselves away from God (Gen 3:8-10; Rom 3:23). Even we see in Matt 7:15-23 where the false prophets also called Jesus at the white throne judgment as "Lord, Lord" and Jesus fitly replied to them who were unsaved "I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness". Thus just because a man calls Jesus as Lord at the time of the white throne judgment doesn't mean he is saved and is already a loyal servant of God. In others words the man given the one talent of life on earth came to know God as unjust looking through the dark and tainted glasses of sinful nature which was inside him and therefore came to the conclusion that God is favorable to some who serve Him religiously and to others he is not because of His partiality in his character (Acts 10:34-35). This unsaved man has thought God less enough than a human farmer who knows that He cannot reap without sowing. Then this unsaved man who thought that the gift of life is his, so he took and hid it in the ground thinking that he can rob God and still manage to get through with Him because He himself is more in evil because of his partiality in character. O how people still in nearly all pagan religions think the same way to serve a god of their imagination who will fit them and their sinful life styles (Rom 1:21-23; Psa 115:8). May God have mercy on them all!!!

When we hear at last in the Parable of the Talents, God saying to the unsaved man, "So you ought to have deposited my money with the bankers, and at my coming I would have received back my own with interest." (Matt 25:27), we come to understand that God wants all men on earth to use His talents and multiply on earth what he has given them to enjoy. No one should use His resources on earth as a hireling would use it carelessly in a lethargic and lazy way. God expects all men to be saved on earth and use their God given gifts to multiply it on earth and be ready for the heavenly service that he has planned after every one would leave this earth (1 Tim 2:3-4; 2 Tim 4:17, 18). God has planned at least the double blessing of reward in heaven for what ever has been multiplied on earth during their spiritual service to God and all humanity (Isa 61:7; Zec 9:12; Rom 12:1; Eph 2:10). All men on earth who are given any social, financial, physical, soulish and spiritual blessings, are expected by God to use it to bless people with the spiritual blessings that is the highest which God desires for all humanity to receive (Gal 6:6-10). Even the unsaved are expected to use their God given talent, treasure and time for the upliftment of all humanity. If they can't do it through receiving God's salvation through Jesus Christ for doing service to all, they are expected to deposit their resources to the bankers who are using them to multiply the God given resource to be supplied to all humanity. The bankers are the Churches, NGO's and all those who supply the good news of Jesus Christ and its goodness of change to all men on earth who are cursed by sin and its evil effect as the heaven desires (Matt 6:10; Luke 15:10; Acts 6:3). All humans who have ever been born on earth will one day give account for their life lived to God and if minimum they are with two least talent, they will receive a reward because they are saved and have done it all with good motives of their heart (John 12:48; Matt 12:36). Others who are unsaved will face judgment and condemnation for choosing sin instead of God even if they have done good works which is actually like a filthy rags before God and therefore cannot ever qualify them for a place in heaven, but definitely the intensity of pain and torment in hell will be less or more according to God's justice served for the good, bad and the ugly sinners in various degrees according to their works (Rev 20:11-15; Isa 64:6; Luke 12:44-46, 47-48). The reward for having done faithful service and multiplication to all God's servants are power in rulership and blissful glory in accumulation of more glory which is wisdom, beauty and intimacy with God (Rev 21:24; 1 Cor 6:2, 3; Matt 25:21, 23; Luke 19:17, 19; 1 Cor 15:40-41, 42, 49).

So from the above clear exposition, we know that salvation is a free gift and therefore God expects all the saved people to serve Him out of gratefulness for saving them freely, and have not threatened them to serve Him anytime (Eph 2:8-10). A truly saved person is on his way to heaven and therefore his salvation cannot be at stake anytime based on his behavior (Rom 8:33-39). Hell fire is only prepared for those who have rejected the salvation of Jesus and have chosen to stay in their pride and sinful ways of their fallen nature like their father the devil (Matt 25:41, 46; John 8:44, 47). As we have seen, if we interpret Scriptures with in the principles of the Scripture, we can easily come to understand by faith all the heavenly truths of Jesus which He has said to us through relating it through stories of earth because we are living an earthly life and have only earthly knowledge by our sight to relate and understand those heavenly realities of truth which we can never see with our physical sight unless it is shown by God in a open vision.

Much Blessings....

Can Your Name Be Removed From The Book Of Life?

Did The Lord Threaten The Believers Of Losing One's Salvation?

Question : I have read in the Book of Psalms Chapter 69 Verse 28 which says, "Let them be blotted out of the book of the living, And not be written with the righteous." Also related to this verse Rev 22:18-19 also says the same thing. To me this shows that the righteous person who is written in the book of life can suddenly removed from the Book of Life because of doing wickedness. What is the Book of Life in the New Testament and the Tree of Life? Is both the Old Testament Book of Life and the New Testament Book of Life the same? How can then we say that God saves us for life when in fact He is the one who has clearly warned that when we do not stop sinning or change Scripture by adding or subtracting it, He may remove our names from the Book of Life? What is your take on it?

Answer : We must first realize that no one can eat of the Tree of Life unless his or her name is written in the Book of Life (Rev 21:27; 22:1-5). The Tree of Life represents eternal life (Gen 3:22). Those whose names are written in the Book of Life are saved and thus live eternally with the LORD (John 10:27-30). This is the reason Jesus told His disciples who were overjoyed about exercising authority over the demons in the spirit world and healing the sick, that they should not rejoice for the work they do for Him which carries a reward from God (Rev 22:12), but really rejoice for their salvation because their names were written in heaven due to being saved by grace through faith which has qualified them for a eternal future life with God (Luke 10:20; Eph 2:8-9).

According to the clear views of the Scripture, Psa 69:28 which says, "Let them be blotted out of the book of the living, and not be written with the righteous" is something written by David in the Old Testament days asking God to punish the wicked people who will kill their Messiah through religious spirit, which the Pharisees and all the wicked people along with them did to fulfill these prophesies regarding the death of Jesus Christ two thousand years ago. These were unsaved people who acted as though they are holy saved people of God but finally killed the prince of life who came to save them from their sins (Acts 3:14-15), rightly did Jesus pronounce them to be a white washed tomb which is full of uncleanness inside their heart but externally very polished like a shrine (Matt 23:27). This above verse Psa 69:28, is a prophetic prayer of David the man after God's own heart, who prayed like this seeing the vision of his Messiah's death which God must have showed him, after which he wrote this verse as a prayer towards God to punish these sinners who killed his Messiah but acted as though they were righteous. We know that many who were part of the killing of Jesus were the ones who were saved because of God's grace and mercies that He showed to all the undeserving sinners who later repented and accepted Jesus as their Savior and Lord (Luke 23:34; Acts 3:14-15, 17). So we cannot use this above prayer verse to support the idea and make this prayer as a doctrine saying that a righteous person's name could be blotted out of the book of the living. After all this is David's prayer as a man done prophetically seeing the future, not a decree of God.

Yes right from the day God created humans and then they fell in to sin by disobedience, God has by His mercies kept the name of all the people who lived by faith as those who were righteous before Him in all generations till today (James 2:23-25).

Another solemn warning that God has given to the hearers of the prophecy of the Book of Revelation is the following, "18 For I testify to everyone who hears the words of the prophecy of this book: If anyone adds to these things, God will add to him the plagues that are written in this book; 19 and if anyone takes away from the words of the book of this prophecy, God shall take away his part from the Book of Life, from the holy city, and from the things which are written in this book." (Rev 22:18-19). The above warning is not to the believers who live by faith in the word of God and who believe that the last book of revelation from God is finished when He gave it through His bond servant apostle John in the first century itself and that no more Scripture could be added to the canonized Bible which has been already given to all humanity once and for all time, but it is for those who want to take away the Scriptures of the Book of Revelation and add their own words of deceit to turn people away from God and make them follow themselves (Acts 20:29-30). These are deceived unbeliever who want to deceive others by adding and taking away Scriptures according to their own fleshly desires of earthly religious making, and in context this above two verse speaks to their lives because Jesus testifies to the Churches and also to all the deceived unbelievers in all the 6 verses above it. Rev 22:11 says to both believers and unbelievers saying, "He who is unjust, let him be unjust still; he who is filthy, let him be filthy still; he who is righteous, let him be righteous still; he who is holy, let him be holy still.” Clearly Rev 22:12 is a encouragement to believers who are saved by faith but whose work will be rewarded. The next two verses continue to encourage the believers saying, "13 I am the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End, the First and the Last.” 14 Blessed are those who do His commandments, that they may have the right to the tree of life, and may enter through the gates into the city." These above two verse assures the beleivers that God who knows their end from the beginning of their saved lives will save them to the end to enter in to the city of God and have their right given to eat the Tree of Life by their faith which is a gift from Him (Php 1:6), because He knows them that they will be saved even before they were saved (Isa 46:10; Acts 15:18). No one who is truly saved will not commit the error of taking away the words of this prophecy out of context because their names are written in the Book of Life and also God has promised to sustain the patience and faith of the saints until the end of their lives on earth (Rev 13:8, 10). God's election is something that He does not decide one day based on the work or the spiritual condition of a person and then change it the next day if he turns up to ask sorry to God for his bad behavior (Rom 9:16, 18-24), actually humans are like what we have described, but God writes those who will be saved in the Book of Life from the foundation of the world (Mal 3:6-7; Num 23:19; Rev 13:8). In other words, God is like a movie director who knows what will be the end of the movie that he has directed because of his foreknowledge when he sees it. But unlike a director He does not influence the actors to act in any particular way. He knows the future but He does not influence the decision that people take. If the names of those who are saved and who will be saved are already written in the Book of Life from the foundation of the world according to the Scripture, then how come the statement "God shall take away his part from the Book of Life, from the holy city" (Rev 22:19) can be right contextually within the same Book of Revelation that apostle John wrote, which will again point to the fact that God does not even know the bad or evil behavior of those who are saved and will be saved by Him in the future? This shows that God does not write a persons name in the Book of Life and then takes it away based on their works. The right "to the tree of life" and to "enter through the gates in to the city" does not depend on the works of the believer but it is a gift of God to all believers who are actually overcomers because of their faith (1 John 5:4-5). God is never surprised when people enter in to heaven, because He knows them before time that they will enter in to the gates of the city of God because of what Jesus had done for them. The Scripture in Rev 22:15 is a warning to unbelievers to get saved from sin through believing in Christ Jesus or else they will never enter in to the blessing of the city of God or have the right to the Tree of Life, though they might have heard the gospel and might have even registered their names in the earthly expression of the Church of the living God. In Rev 22:16, 17, Jesus says that it is He who has sent this message to the churches so that all those who are still unsaved within and without by the deception of sin might come to realize that they are sinners in need of the Savior Jesus to save them for eternity from sins evil hold over their lives (John 6:39-40).

From the above clear exposition of the Scripture and its context, we know that Rev 22:18-19 cannot be taken as a message to the believers and a threat from Jesus that their names in the Book of life shall be taken away, instead it is a affirmation of God to them who are deceivers and are being deceived (2 Tim 3:13), that they need to get saved from the deception of wrongly dividing the word of God which they are doing for their own destruction of their soul which was marked before hand if they continue in the deceit that they have been practicing in order to turn people away from God and His word that has the power to save their lives and their hearers from sin to give eternal life (2 Tim 2:15; 1 Tim 4:16; Jude 1:4). In other words, God is saying to these deceivers that even if there is a little chance for them to get saved through His mercies and grace (Matt 19:23-26), it will be closed in the future because of their own deceitful ways of deception that are practiced by them so that it will be like their names are blotted out of the Book of Life forever (Matt 12:31-32).  

I believe that the Book of life has always been the same because from Adam to the last man who will come to live on this earth needs salvation from sin which is the same for all (Rom 3:23), and that which has been always promised by God through faith and faith only (Heb 11:39-40; Rom 1:17). We as believers may sin but we cannot continue in it infinitely without the chastisement of God to turn us away from it, because God's seed of righteousness which is His nature is within the core of our being (1 John 3:9; 1 Peter 4:17). Therefore the wicked are those who are not justified by faith and whose sins are not covered by God (Rom 4:5-8). As long as the wicked continue in their sin without receiving salvation from sin which God gives freely as a gift through Jesus Christ, their names will never be written in the Book of Life. So God has never threatened the believer of losing their salvation by being blotted out of the Book of Life because it is He who has saved them freely from sin and death through Jesus Christ (Rom 8:31-32).

Much Blessings.....