STATEMENT OF FUNDAMENTAL TRUTHS

**  THE ADORABLE GODHEAD

(a) Terms Defined

The terms trinity and persons, as related to the Godhead, while not found in the Scriptures, are words in harmony with Scripture, whereby we may convey to others our immediate understanding of the doctrine of Christ respecting that being of God as distinguished from God's many and lords many. We therefore may speak with propriety of the Lord our God who is one Lord, as a Trinity or as one being of three persons and still be absolutely scriptural (examples Matthew 28: 19, Corinthians 13: 14, John 14: 16 – 17).

(b) Distinction and relationship in the Godhead

Christ taught a distinction of persons in the Godhead which he expressed in specific terms of relationship, as Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, but that this distinction and relationship as to its mode is inscrutable and in incomprehensible, because unexplained (Luke 1:35, 1 Corinthians 1:24, Matthew 11: 25 - 27, 28: 19, to Corinthians 13: 14, 1 John: 3 – 4)

(c) Unity of the one being of Father, Son and Holy Ghost

Accordingly, therefore, there is that in the Father which constitutes him the Father and not the Son: there is that in the Son which constitutes him the Son and not the Father: and there is that in the Holy Ghost which constitutes him the Holy Ghost and not either the Father or the Son. Wherefore the Father is the begetter, the Son is that a begotten; and the Holy Ghost if the one proceeding from the Father and the Son. Therefore, because these three persons in the Godhead are in a state of unity, there is but one Lord God almighty and His name is one (John 1:18, 15: 26, 17:11, 21, Zechariah 14: 9).

(d) Identity and Cooperation in the Godhead

The Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost are never identical as to person: nor confused as to relation: nor divided in respect to the Godhead: nor opposed as to cooperation. This Son is in the Father and the Father is in the Son as to relationship. The Son is with the Father and the Father is with the Son, as to fellowship. The Father is not from the Son, and the Son is not from the Father, as to authority. The Holy Ghost is from the Father and the Son, as to nature, relationship, co-operation and authority. Hence no person is the Godhead that exists or works separately or independently of the others (John 5:17 - 30, 32, 37; 8:17, 18).

(e) The title, Lord Jesus Christ

The appellation Lord Jesus Christ is a proper name. It is never applied in the New Testament either to the Father or to the Holy Ghost. It therefore belongs exclusively to the Son of God (Romans 1:1-3, 7:2 John 3).

(f) The Lord Jesus Christ, God with us

The Lord Jesus Christ, as to His divine and eternal nature, is the proper and only begotten of the Father, but as to his human nature, He is a proper Son of Man. He is, therefore, acknowledged to be both God and man; who because he is God and man, is” Immanuel,” God with us. (Matthew 1:23; 1 John 4: 2, 10, 14; Revelation 1:13, 17).

(g) The title, Son of God

Since the name Immanuel embraces both God and man, in the one person, our Lord Jesus Christ, it follows that the title Son of God describes his proper deity, and the title Son of Man, his proper humanity. Therefore, the title Son of God belongs to the order of eternity, and the title Son of Man to the order of time (Matthew 1:21-23; 2 John 3:1; John 3:8; Hebrews 7:3, 1:1-13).

(h) Transgression of the doctrine of Christ

Wherefore, it is a transgression of the doctrine of Christ to say that Jesus Christ derived the title son of God solely from the fact of the incarnation, or because of his relation to the economy of redemption. Therefore, to deny that the Father is a real and eternal Father, and that the Son is a real and eternal Son, is a denial of the distinction and relationship in the being of God; a denial of the Father and the Son; and a displacement of the truth that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh (2 John 9; John 1:1, 2, 14, 18, 29, 49; 1 John 2:22, 23; 4: 1-5: Hebrews 12: 2).

(i) Exaltation of Jesus Christ as Lord

The Son of God, our Lord Jesus Christ, having by himself purged our sins, sat down on the right hand of the Majesty on high, angels and principalities and powers having been made subject onto him. And having been made both Lord and Christ, he sent the Holy Ghost, that we in the name of Jesus, might bow our knees and confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the Father until the end, when this Son shall become subject to the Father that God may be all in all (Hebrews 1:3; 1Peter 3:22, Acts 2:32-36; Romans 14: 11; 1 Corinthians 15: 24-28).

(j) Equal honor to the Father and to the Son

Wherefore, since the Father has delivered all judgment onto the Son, it is not only the express duty of all in heaven and earth to bow the knee, but an unspeakable joy in the Holy Ghost to ascribe unto the Son all the attributes of deity, and to give him all the honor and the glory contained in all the names and titles of the Godhead except those which express relationship (see paragraphs b, c, and d), and thus honor the Son even as we honor the Father (John 5:22, 23,; 1 Peter 1: 8; Revelation 5: 6-14; Phil. 2:8, 9; Revelation 7:9, 10 4:8-11).