A Thank You For Emphasizing the Trinity

Dr. Couch, thank you for emphasizing the doctrine of the Trinity. I've noticed in the past that you explain the doctrine clearly. You need to write a book on the subject! ANSWER: Thank you for your comments. In graduate school I had an advanced course on the subject. The professor, Dr. John Witmer, did an outstanding job with all the verses in Scripture that explained the nature of our Lord!    There are several ways to confirm and explain the doctrine of the Trinity. One has to do with the fact that the persons in the Godhead do the same thing. For example, in Isaiah 51:12, God the Father says He is the One who comforts. Christ told His disciples He would send them "another" Comforter (or Helper) (John 14:16 ) who would be the Holy Spirit (v. 17). Christ is saying that He is a Comforter but would send another Comforter, the Spirit. So each person in the Godhead comforts believers! They are doing the same work!    John 3:6 speaks of being born of the Spirit, but 5:4 speaks of being born of God. Paul says that Christ performs signs and wonders by the power of the Holy Spirit (Rom. 15:19 ) but Psalm 136:1-4 says that God the Father also performs great wonders. Thus, all three persons of the Godhead are performing such work!    Satan can fill the heart to lie to the Holy Spirit (Acts 5:3) but also God the Father can be lied to (v. 4). It is possible to try (or tempt) the Holy Spirit (Acts 5:9) but also the Lord God can be tried (or tempted) (Matt. 4:7). The Father, Son, and the Holy Spirit, all three separate persons, are abiding within the believer (John 14:16 -23). Those who are anti-Trinitarian say, "Well, yes, God dwells within, but this idea is not supporting the doctrine of the Trinity!" But it is, because the indwelling is done distinctly be the three persons of the Trinity—Father, Son, and Spirit!    In creating us, all three persons were involved specifically. The Father "has made us" (Psa. 100:3), Christ the Word created all things, including us! ( Col. 1:16) and the Spirit of God made us (Job 33:4). God stills the waves (Psa. 107:29) and so does the Son (Matt. 8:26 ). God the Father can send His Spirit (Isa. 48:16) and so the Son (John 16:7). We are to serve God the Father (Deut. 10:20 ) and also the Son (Col. 3:24).    We could go on and refer to hundreds of additional verses but the passages above make clear what the Bible is saying about the persons in the Trinity.    Early in American history, on the East coast, there was a revolt against the doctrine of the Trinity in many of the congregations. They denied the Trinity and turned to the cult of Universalism. This brought down many of the churches, and even some of the colleges, in the eastern states. Spiritually, many of the churches in that part of the country never fully recovered. That is why the East coast remained so spiritually dead even up until the present time. Transcendentalism filled the gap in many congregations. Spiritual deadness followed.    To fully understand the nature and attributes of our God is extremely important. This becomes a bulwark against a belief in other religions! One cannot say Islam, or Hinduism, are equal to Christianity, if one is fully aware of the biblical revelation of who our God is! If you have not heard recently a full doctrinal teaching on the Trinity, you must see that this happens in your Sunday schools or from the pulpit by your pastor! This issue is extremely important!    Thanks for your comments.    Dr. Mal Couch

Is Jesus Just Another 'god'?

Dr. Couch, John 1:1 is one of the strongest verses about the deity of Christ and yet the Jehovah Witnesses use it to say that Christ was just another "god." How do we answer?

ANSWER: doctrine without knowing the biblical languages. A lady phoned in who did not know what she was saying, and castigated me terribly. Her ignorance and woman's emotionalism came through loud and clear! She was screaming into the telephone!

But it is true— - doctrine is really only proven and made clear in the grammar of the Old Testament Hebrew, and the New Testament Greek. We are moving into a spiritual dark age because young "theologes" are not taking the time to study out thoroughly, with discipline, the biblical languages.

But back to your question, the clause in question (John 1:1c) reads this way in the English: "and the Word was God." (The Word (logos) of course in this context is Christ.)

In the Greek text it reads this way: "And God was the Word." The English translations are correct because of what is happening in the Greek. The Greek reader in biblical days understood what John was saying but we need just a little clarification and explanation.

In the Greek there is no article with God. The JWs say that without the article you should translate this as "a God" as if Jesus is a God but one of many Gods! However, they are wrong! Quite often there is no article before God in the New Testament and yet the many passages without it are still discussing the true God of Scripture as if He is the only One, and there is no other!

But there is more here grammatically!

The "is" is the "to be" verb and that verb has the subject case (the nominative) on both sides in the verse. But another rule comes into place. The noun that has an article is the SUBJECT, with the one without an article being what is called the PREDICATE. "The Word" then is the subject and "God" is the predicate. In my AMG Commentary series, in his work on the book of John, Elmer Towns correctly writes:

John very carefully concludes the first verse of this gospel with a statement declaring the deity of the Word—"the Word was God." In this expression the World Translation (Jehovah Witnesses) has erroneously translated this phrase "the Word was a god," violating both the context of the phrase and the rules of Greek grammar but making it fit as well with the Jehovah's Witness denial of Christ's deity. Theos without the article emphasizes quality rather than individuality. Had John included the article, this phrase would tend to support the error of Sabellianism, which taught one God manifested in three different modes.

I am looking for students who have had one year of Greek to study the deity passages with me. They can get a scholarship for seminary credit. Those interested should email me.

Thanks for asking.

Dr. Mal Couch