Welcome to our exploration of the Godhead! In this video, we dive into the fundamental concepts and terminology surrounding the Godhead, a key theological idea in many Christian traditions. We will cover what the term “Godhead” means, discuss how it differs from related concepts, and explore various interpretations within Christianity.
Whether you’re new to theology or looking to deepen your understanding, this video offers a clear and concise introduction to one of the most profound aspects of Christian belief. So join us as we learn the God Honest Truth about the Godhead.
Series Playlist:
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLZk643l4iAPVUacpvZpG50QocAoXHSxnD
Transcript
Have you ever heard the word Godhead? Do you know anything about the concept? Maybe you have, maybe you haven’t. Well, this series we’re going to be exploring all the different concepts of the Godhead and aspects to the Godhead that we can. It’s going to be about a 17-part episode. And in this episode, the introductory one, we’re going to be covering some basic terminology that will be used throughout this series. So stay tuned for this teaching on the Godhead.
So this teaching is going to be all about the Godhead and starting a series on the subject of the Godhead. Now, for those of you who don’t know what Godhead actually means, the Godhead is the makeup or the essence or the nature of God himself. And in this particular context, it’s really going to relate to who is God, how many is God, that kind of thing. And we’re going to present to you as much information as we can so that you can make your own informed decision.
But more about that in a moment. If you would like the notes that we took for this subject, there is a convenient link located for you down in the description. Just go down there, click on the link, and that will take you to the post on GodHonestTruth.com. And on that post, you’ll be able to find the on-demand video, the slides that you see here on your screen if you’re watching on video, and also the notes that we took for this particular episode and the transcript if that is of any benefit to you.
All conveniently located for you on one page on our website. And if you want to go there directly, that’s fine. Or like we said before, there is a link located for you conveniently down there in the description, whether you’re watching on video platform or an audio podcasting platform, it should be there all the same. So the purpose of this series is so that you can start from a basis of not knowing anything about the Godhead or anything regarding the subject of the Godhead, learn what scripture says about the Godhead, as well as some historical references, et cetera, et cetera, and then decide for yourself which concept of the Godhead that you most agree with.
Now tonight in our terminology, we’re going to go over the various concepts that are proposed for the makeup of the Godhead. But it’s just an intro. We’ll get more into that later. Hopefully by the end of this series, you’ll be able to decide for yourself, after knowing all this information, which concept of the Godhead that you most agree with according to scripture. Now if you already do know something and you’ve already made a decision as to which concept you most align with, this series can still be a benefit to you.
It’s presented in a way that is unlike any other series I have seen. And there’s going to definitely be some information in there that you probably don’t know. So it could be some help to you also, even if you do know something about the Godhead. Another concept to this series is to get you to rethink your beliefs and your doctrines and at least perhaps see it from another angle that you don’t already see it from. Here’s an example I got from Dr.
Leighton Flowers of Soteriology 101. Now if you look at this picture right here, think to yourself, what are you seeing in this picture? I’ll give you just a moment to look at that. Now some of you might say that you see a rabbit. Others may think that you see a duck. But whatever you initially thought, now that I brought up both options, can you see both options? And if you can’t, look at it some more and see if you can’t see both the duck and the rabbit.
And that is the concept of looking at things from a different perspective and seeing it from a different light to at least understand why someone would see something in a different way. That is both what we want for the person who knows nothing about the Godhead to see it from all the angles, as many as possible, and also for those of you out there who do know something and are already aligned with a particular concept so that you can at least understand and see it how other people may see it and understand why they come to the conclusion that they have.
Now during this series, we’re going to be covering scripture. We’ll be covering a lot of scripture, a massive amount. Like I said earlier, this is going to be somewhere around the area of 17 different episodes going all the way through the beginning of next year. We’re going to be going over a vast amount of terminology that’s used during the discussion on this subject. We’re going to be incorporating some phrases, explaining some of those to you. We went over some history behind this because the subject of Godhead has a long history, almost since the very beginning right after the apostolic times.
We’re going to be going over a few quotes that we have collected regarding this subject and also a few of the creeds because more than one of the creeds developed at the ecumenical councils have to do with the Godhead. We’ll also cover a few objections to some of the concepts of the Godhead but not every objection. So on that subject, some of the things that we will not be discussing is every single objection. There’s way too many to cover in just a short 17-episode series.
We’re not going to be covering every historical reference because like I said, it has a very long history on this subject, almost 2,000 years worth. We’re not going to be going over every creed because there are a lot of creeds. We’re going to be trying to go over just the most relevant creeds to the subject that we’re discussing at the moment. We’re also not going to be employing anything like fear-mongering. And if you don’t know what fear-mongering is, we’re going to cover that in just a minute.
When we get into covering various terminology that will be used during this series. So to start off our discussion and introduction of the terminology that will be used, we’ll actually start off with that phrase, fear-mongering. So what is fear-mongering? Well, from CISNO.com, which is a psychology website, for those of you who don’t know, they define fear-mongering as the use of fear to influence the opinions and actions of others towards some specific end. The feared object or subject is sometimes exaggerated and the pattern of fear-mongering is usually one of repetition in order to continuously reinforce the intended effects of this tactic, sometimes in the form of a vicious circle.
And from the Cambridge Dictionary, they define fear-mongering as the action of intentionally trying to make people afraid of something when this is not necessary or reasonable. From Wikipedia.org, fear-mongering or scare-mongering is a form of manipulation that causes fear by using exaggerated rumors of impending danger. Fear-mongering can have strong psychological effects, which may be intended or unintended. Fear-mongering can make people fear the wrong things and use too many resources to avoid rare and unlikely dangers while more probable dangers are ignored.
And fear-mongering is something that definitely does get used in the discussion of this subject of the Godhead. It’s also used in other areas as well. For those of you in the United States, if you know anything about politics, fear-mongering is used all the time and by all sides. I mean, let’s be fair about it. Fear-mongering is used by all sides all the time in politics, but it’s definitely used in the religious context, especially with this subject of the Godhead.
Now, with fear-mongering, it’s also, according to Wikipedia.org, they go on to state that fear-mongering, an appeal to fear, also called argumentum admetum or argumentum interrorum, is a fallacy in which a person attempts to create support for an idea by attempting to increase fear towards an alternative. And this fallacy of fear-mongering has the following argument form. Either P or Q is true. Q is frightening, therefore, P is true. Think of it like this. In the realm of politics, we’ll use that for an example.
Say that Candidate A and Candidate B are running for the President of the United States. Candidate A gets up and says, Candidate B will destroy this country. They will eat your children and burn down your hospitals and schools, so vote for me. They’re trying to scare you into voting for them, because if you don’t vote for them, their suggestion is that Candidate B will do all these bad things in order to make you afraid. In the religious context, especially with this subject, someone will come up to you and say, This is my opinion on the Godhead.
If you don’t agree with my opinion, bad things are going to happen. And usually the bad things they tell you are going to happen is that you’re going to lose your salvation or you’re not really saved or you’re going to burn in hell if you don’t agree with their concept of the Godhead. That is a real example on this subject of fear-mongering. Now with fear-mongering, if a person doesn’t agree with the presenter’s opinion, then the resulting consequences will be dire.
That’s what’s put forth when people use fear-mongering. Fear-mongering reframes your thinking before you’re even able to form your own thoughts, regardless of how rational and intelligent you normally are. It’s a form of manipulation and it’s used to exert influence and control. They’re trying to control your decision-making outside and in spite of the evidence at hand. Fear-mongering is a device used to stop you from thinking for yourself, to stop you from thinking critically, and to stop you from otherwise using logic.
It commonly ramps up and uses emotions as a weapon. Now we’re going to be referring to this phrase fear-mongering throughout the series, probably rarely actually, but we did want you to know this concept because it is commonly employed when people discuss the subject of the Godhead. So once you get done with the series or if you go out and you talk to someone at your church or your neighbors or your family or your friends and the subject comes up, know that there is a likelihood that fear-mongering could be used against you to try to persuade you to agree with the other person’s opinion.
Don’t let it happen. Don’t let yourself be fear-mongered into a decision or into acquiescence. Stand your ground and go by the evidence. Go by scripture. Do not go by fear-mongering. Do not allow yourself to be bullied in such a way. And as such, we will not be employing fear-mongering during this series to get you to come to a specific conclusion. We do not care which conclusion you come to. You can come to any one of the four different concepts of the Godhead or you say, hey, this is, I don’t see the point in it, so I’m not going to make a decision.
And that’s fine too. We still support you as brothers and sisters in Christ. A similar but not completely exact term are the terms exegesis and eisegesis. Exegesis, starting now, from Edemon line, it means an explanatory note comes from the Greek exegesis, meaning explanation or interpretation, from exegesti, explain or interpret, that’s a compound from the word meaning ex or out, and tegesti, meaning to lead or guide. So exegesis means to lead out or guide out. According to Britannica, the Encyclopedia Britannica, exegesis, the critical interpretation of the biblical text to discover its intended meaning.
From Wikipedia.org, exegesis is a critical explanation or interpretation of a text. Exegesis may include the study of the historical and cultural backgrounds of the author, text, and original audience. So exegesis means getting something out of the text that’s already there. And that’s an important distinction for when we discuss the term eisegesis. But one more thing on exegesis. And I thought this was really good from the Anchor Yale Bible Dictionary. Exegesis, the process of careful analytical study of biblical passages undertaken in order to produce useful interpretations of those passages.
Ideally, exegesis involves the analysis of the biblical text in the language of its original or earliest available form, since any translation presents at least a slight barrier to precise definition of the intent of the passages’ words. The goal of exegesis is to know neither less nor more than the information actually contained in the passage. Exegesis, in other words, places no premium on speculation or inventiveness. Novelty in interpretation is not prized. In most circles, exegesis is also part of the theological enterprise, functioning as a basic means of achieving accuracy in interpreting the Word of God.
Notice right there, it says, this is very important, novelty in interpretation is not prized. Exegesis is not about novelty in interpretation. It’s also, another important part here, says that exegesis places no premium on speculation or inventiveness. If you’re speculating about what the text says or inventing what the text says, you’re probably not doing exegesis. That would actually be another term, our next one, called eisegesis. Now, eisegesis, from Edem Online, states the reading of one’s own ideas into scripture.
From Greek, eis, meaning into, plus the ending from exegesis, which is hegesai, to lead, which put together means to lead or guide in or into. From Logos.com, ex means to take out of, while eis means into. So, quite simply, exegesis means digging into the text to pull out the meaning, while its opposite, eisegesis, reads meaning into a text that isn’t there. From Wikipedia.org, exegesis is drawing out text meaning in accordance with the author’s context and discoverable meaning.
Eisegesis is when a reader imposes their interpretation of the text. Thus, exegesis tends to be objective and eisegesis highly subjective. So, this is a basic wrap-up between exegesis and eisegesis. Exegesis is when you read the text and you draw out the meaning of what the text of scripture actually says in context. It may take you reading a whole chapter or a whole book to get the context. But you want to draw out the meaning. That is exegesis.
Eisegesis, on the other hand, is taking your own beliefs, your own doctrines, your own way of thinking, your own interpretation, and reading it back into the text. And that is something that we should not do. Because if we read something into the text, we’re making the text say what we want it to say. We should not be changing scripture. Scripture should be changing us. Now, an example of exegesis versus eisegesis, and this is an example I stole from someone else.
So, it’s not original, but I did think it was a very good illustration. But anyways, think of it like this. Your church that you go to, your denomination, has this doctrine, this belief, that the apostle Peter had a time machine. Yep. Peter, himself, follower of Jesus, had a time machine. Don’t believe me? Well, we’ve got scriptures to prove it. For instance, take a look at Matthew chapter 16, verse 23. But he, meaning Yeshua, turned to Kepha, or Peter, and said, Get behind me, Satan! You are a stumbling block to me, for your thoughts are not those of Elohim, but those of men.
So, right here you can see, and take special note, that Jesus calls Peter Satan. Now, take a look at this. Revelation chapter 12, verse 9. And the great dragon was thrown out, that serpent of old, called the devil and Satan, who leads all the world astray. He was thrown to the earth, and his messengers were thrown out with him. Well, now here we can see the passages referencing Satan, and it’s referring to Satan as both the devil and the serpent of old.
Serpent of old is very specific, and referring to something we’ll get to in just a moment. So, so far we’ve already seen that Jesus calls Peter Satan, and that Satan is the serpent of old. So, we look back at Genesis chapter 3, verse 13. And Yahweh Elohim said to the woman, What is this you have done? And the woman said, The Nehosh, or serpent, deceived me, and I ate. So, right there you can see from the text that Peter clearly had a time machine, because he went back and he deceived Eve.
Hopefully you can understand the ridiculousness of doing such an exercise. This is a form of eisegesis, taking your own presuppositions, your own interpretations, your own doctrines, and trying to read them back into scripture to get scripture to say what you want it to say. If we instead performed eisegesis, it would be easy to show that Peter did not have a time machine, through various avenues of approach. One of those avenues of approach is taking everything into context, and especially the entire book of the Bible into context.
So, no, just to be clear, this was just an example of eisegesis and exegesis, and Peter did not have a time machine. Hopefully that illustrates the point of exegesis and eisegesis, and why we should not do eisegesis. Because eisegesis can make scripture say whatever we want it to. Instead, we have to perform exegesis and learn what scripture is actually telling us, not what we want scripture to say. So, moving on, the next term we’re going to discuss real quick is the term Yahweh.
Now, if you follow God on his truth, or if you are of the messianic mindset, or even some of those in mainstream Christianity now are using this term Yahweh. But just in case you’re watching this and you do not know what the word Yahweh means, well, in a nutshell, it’s the name of the almighty creator of heaven and earth. The name of the father of our messiah. From blueletterbible.org, the outline of biblical usage states that Strong’s H3068 Yahweh, it means Jehovah, the existing one, the proper name of the one true God.
Strong’s definition states the self-existent or eternal. Jehovah, Jewish national name of God, Jehovah the Lord. Browndriver Briggs pretty much states the same thing. Proper name of deity, Yahweh, the proper name of the God of Israel. From Klein’s dictionary, the proper name of God in the Bible, Tetragrammaton. That’s something to point out too. If you’ve never heard the name Yahweh, it’s composed of four Hebrew letters, Yod, Hay, Vav, or Wav, and Hay. Yod, Hay, Wav, Hay. Yahweh.
Those four letters are commonly referred to as the Tetragrammaton. And then I like this from the Anchor Bible Dictionary. Yahweh, deity, the name of God in the Old Testament. When it stands alone, the name is always written with the four Hebrew letters, Yod, Hay, Vav, and Hay. And it’s for that reason called the Tetragrammaton. In this form, the name appears more than 6,000 times in the Old Testament. Shorter forms of the divine name occur in personal names.
At the beginning of names, the form is Yeho, or the contracted form, Yo. At the end of names, Yahu, or Yah. Such as Eli-Yah, or El-Yahu. Elijah, that we say nowadays. You can also hear it in the word Hallelujah, which is a Hebrew word meaning praise Yah. Zechariah, meaning remember Yah, or remember God. But some scriptural examples, Psalms 83, 18. And let them know that you, whose name is Yahweh, Shem-cha-Yahweh. I am Yahweh, that is my name, from Isaiah 42, verse 8.
Ani Yahweh Hu Shemi. In Jeremiah, chapter 46, verse 18. As I live, declares the sovereign, whose name is Yahweh of hosts. Yahweh Sebaot Shemot. So, more than one time, this is just a few examples. We clearly see that his name, the almighty creator of heaven and earth, the eternal one, the self-existent Ase one. His name is Yahweh. So, when we say Yahweh, that’s who we are referring to. Our next term, sort of related, is Yeshua. And, once again, if you’ve been watching the God Honest Truth episodes, Messianic Mindset, you’ve probably heard the word Yeshua before.
But, if you haven’t, here is who Yeshua is. From the Anchor Yale Bible Dictionary. Yeshua, meaning Jesus. Several persons mentioned in the Bible bear this name, which is a Greek form of Joshua, or the Hebrew Yehoshua. Jesus Christ is a composite name made up of the personal name Jesus, meaning from the Greek Iesous, which translates, Hebrew or Aramaic, Yeshua. A late form of Hebrew Yehoshua, the meaning of which is, Yahweh is salvation or Yahweh saves or has saved.
This is Strong’s number H3091 in the Hebrew. Strong’s definition for this entry states that it’s Yehoshua, Jehovah saves, meaning Yahweh is salvation or Yahweh saves. It’s also the same name for Joshua, the successor to Moses. From the Brown Driver Briggs, Yeshua and Yeshua sound similar, but they’re spelled differently. We’ll get to that in just a moment. But the proper name, masculine, is salvation, Yahweh is salvation, or Yahweh has saved, is opulence. And like we said, it’s the same name of Moses’ successor and a couple other people in the Tanakh.
From Justinian’s Hebrew lexicon, Yeshua means, whose help, salvation, is Jehovah or Yahweh, Yehoshua or Joshua, the son of Nun, et cetera, et cetera. From Jastrow’s Dictionary of the Targums, this is interesting, and there’s another one we’ll bring up in just a minute. But it states that Yehoshua or Yeshua means Joshua, the successor of Moses, high priest, returning Babylonian exiles, name of several Tanaim, name of several Amoraim. But going on, a different spelling, which you’ll see in other Messianic congregations, is the spelling Yeshua.
Now how we spell it and pronounce it is with Yod-Heh-Vav-Shin-Ayin. With this spelling, it’s actually Yod-Shin-Wau-Ayin. And this is the Hebrew word Strong’s H3442, Yeshua. Strong’s definition has it as pretty much the same thing as what he’s already covered, meaning he will save or Yahweh will save Yeshua, the name of ten Israelites, also of a place in Palestine, ground driver Briggs, high priest after the Restoration, head of one of the classes of priests, a little local family name, a frequent occurrence.
In the Justinian’s Hebrew lexicon, Yeshua or Jeshua, the contracted form of the name Yeshua, like we normally pronounce it and use it, used in the later Hebrew, Yeshus, of Joshua, the leader of the Israelites, of a high priest. Jastral Dictionary of the Targums, this is the one I really want you to look at. But for the Yeshua, Yod-Shin-Wau-Ayin, Jastral Dictionary of the Targums states it as Jesus of Nazareth, represented as a disciple of Rabbi Joshua Ben-Rahia, with whom he fled to Egypt.
They have it spelled a little bit differently too. Their entry there is for Yeshu, for Yeshu, but they’ve also got it in parentheses as Yeshua, Yod-Shin-Wau-Ayin. So that was very interesting, but it does connect it with the Messiah that we’re talking about. So when we say Yeshua or Yeshua, we’re talking about the son of Yahweh who died for our sins. Here’s the one that you’re most likely familiar with, and that’s the Strong’s word G2424, Yesus, Yesus.
And through various successes of transliteration, it’s come down to us as Jesus. But anyways, Strong’s entry for G2424, Yesus, defines it as of Hebrew origin, Jesus or Jehoshua, the name of our Lord and two, three other Israelites. Thayer’s Greek lexicon states Yesus as Jesus, whose help is Jehovah, like we just stated with Yeshua. It also defines it as Joshua, the famous captain of the Israelites, Moses’ successor, Jesus, son of Eleazar, Jesus, son of God, savior of mankind, Jesus Barabbas.
Jesus is surnamed Jesus and associated with Paul in preaching the gospel. So there’s more than one Yesus, but there’s only one Messiah. Greek-English lexicon of the New Testament for Yesus. Jesus Christ of Nazareth, an additional name assigned to Barabbas, the son of Eleazar, mentioned in the genealogy of Jesus. An additional name assigned to Justice, a companion of Paul. Joshua, the successor of Moses. Jesus is a Greek transliteration for the Hebrew name Joshua or Yehoshua or Yeshua.
Now, some scriptural examples from Matthew chapter 1, verse 21. And she shall give birth to a son, and you shall call his name Yeshua, for he shall save his people from their sins. So you don’t see this in a lot of translations, but the translation we use is the Scriptures 2009. And one of the reasons we really like this is because it has Yeshua’s name in the Hebrew letters. It doesn’t even try to translate or transliterate.
And it also does that for the name of Yahweh. It has the Tetragrammaton. It doesn’t try to translate it, transliterate it, anything like that. But this is a good example for your viewing, too, because here you can see, even in the Barak Ha-Dashav, that his name is Yeshua. Known in Greek as Iesus and to us nowadays as Jesus. So just to recap, when we say the name Yeshua, who we’re referring to is the son of Yahweh, the Messiah, who you commonly know as Jesus.
But we prefer and use the word Yeshua. Moving on, this is going to be a short entry, and this is the word Elohim. We’re going to have an entire episode, in fact, the very next episode, dedicated to this word. This word Elohim means something like God or gods. Elohim is actually a title, not a name. Just so you know, you probably haven’t thought of this before, but the word God is actually a title as well. Growing up through the traditional Baptist church, we always used the word God.
We never said Yahweh. And we always thought that God’s name was God. And that made things really confusing when we talked about the God of those people and the gods of those people. Because it’s the same word. And some people, I guess, would come to the conclusion that everyone’s God is actually the same God. And that is not true. But anyways, Elohim means God or gods. And we’ll get into that in just a moment. But just to reiterate, this is very important to understand and know.
Elohim and God, the word God, is a title and not a name. Elohim comes from the Hebrew word, well, it is the Hebrew word Elohim, but Strong’s entry H430. From a comprehensive etymological dictionary of the Hebrew language, Elohim means gods or God in the singular. Supernatural beings, judges, according to some scholars, and also angels in other instances. The outline of biblical usage from blueletterbible.org. In the plural, it can mean rulers or judges, divine ones, angels or gods.
In the singular, which would indicate something like the plural of majesty or the plural of intensity. Elohim can mean something like God or goddess, God-like one, works or special possessions of God, the true God, God. Strong’s definition states it as gods in the ordinary sense, but specifically used in the plural of the supreme God, occasionally applied by way of deference to magistrates and sometimes as a superlative also to angels, gods and goddesses, great judges or mighty.
Think of Elohim as mighty one or mighty ones. Jastrow’s Dictionary of the Targums defines Elohim as God, plural of majesty, and also goes on to say it’s adopted in order to avoid uttering the divine name when going back to the concept of not pronouncing Yahweh. Brown-Driver-Briggs has Elohim as a noun, masculine and plural, plural and number, meaning rulers, judges, others, divine representatives, divine ones, superhuman beings, something like angels, other gods, meaning false gods. Then we get into the singular.
Brown-Driver-Briggs has it as God or goddesses, or I’m sorry, God or goddess, God-like one, works of God, God, the actual God himself, and the true God or angels. Decenius’ Hebrew Lexicon defines Elohim in a plural sense meaning of gods or deities in general, once applied to kings, in a singular sense of the one God or any one God of any divinity, of an idol, a God of the Gentiles, the God of anyone is the God of whom anyone worships.
And it’s used for a divine God-like appearance or form, and et cetera, et cetera. So Elohim is a descriptive title that’s not only used for the one true God, Yahweh, but it’s also used for the false gods. It’s used for angels, it’s used for kings, it’s used for judges. Elohim is a title applied to lots of beings. Here’s an example from Genesis, from the Scriptures 2009, Genesis chapter 1, verse 1. In the beginning Elohim created the heavens and the earth.
Most translations is like the LSB when it states, in the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. So there we can see that Elohim in this instance is referring to the one true God. Exodus chapter 18, verse 11. Now I know that Yahweh is greater than all the mighty ones, or Elohim, meaning gods. That Yahweh is greater than all the Elohim, than all the gods, indeed in the matter in which they acted proudly above them.
So here we’ve got Elohim referring to other false gods, in a plural sense. Whereas in Genesis 1.1 it was in a singular sense. And with Exodus 18.11 most translations are like the LSB that read, now I know that Yahweh, or God, is greater than all the gods. Where in the Hebrew it would actually have the word Elohim for the word gods. So now let’s go into some concepts of the Godhead. We mentioned this earlier in the episode, but there are basically four main concepts of the Godhead.
There is Trinitarianism, which is also referred to an adherent as a Trinitarian, and referred to as the Trinity. There’s also Benetarianism, Unitarianism, specifically Biblical Unitarianism. There is another denomination in today’s day and age called Unitarian Universalism. And that’s a whole string of crazy that we don’t even want to get into. That’s a different set of people than the concept of Unitarianism, commonly referred to as Biblical Unitarianism. And to make that distinction we’re going to be using, as much as we can remember to, the term Biblical Unitarianism.
And the fourth concept is Oneness or Modalism. Now each of these different concepts we’re going to dedicate an entire episode to just that one concept. So later on in the series we’ll have an entire episode on just Trinitarianism. We’ll have an entire episode on just Benetarianism, one on Unitarianism, and one on Oneness or Modalism. But just to give you a short definition of each of these. Trinitarianism, from Wiktionary.org, the monotheistic Christian doctrine that defines God as three divine persons or hypostases, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.
From TheFreeDictionary.com, the Orthodox Christian belief that God exists as the Trinity of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. So basically Trinitarianism defines God, or the Godhead, as comprised of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Each of these are three persons that make up one essence, which is God. Like I said, we’ll get more into detail as we do that specific episode on Trinitarianism. On to Benetarianism, from Wikipedia.org. Benetarianism is a Christian theology of two persons, personas, or aspects in one substance or divinity.
Classically, Benetarianism is understood as a form of monotheism, that is, that God is absolutely one being. And yet, with Benetarianism, there is a two-ness in God, which means one God family. From AnswerTheBible.com, Benetarianism is a Christian theology that believes God exists as two persons, the Father and the Son, Jesus Christ. So, comparing it to Trinitarianism, where the concept is the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost existing as three persons in one essence, with Benetarianism, notice the difference between try and by, Benetarianism puts forth the proposition that God exists as two persons, the Father and Son, existing as two persons in one essence.
So, hopefully you can understand the differences and the nuance between those two positions. Going on to Unitarianism, or Biblical Unitarianism, from Wikipedia.org. Within Christianity, Unitarianism is the view that God consists of only one person, the Father, instead of three persons, as Trinitarianism states. From Christianity.com, Unitarianism is a Christian belief that God is a single entity and not three forms as expressed in the Trinity. So, as with the Trinity, you’ve got God existing in three persons that make up the one essence, and Benetarianism, which puts forth the idea that God exists as two persons in one essence.
Unitarianism posits the position that God is just one person, the Father, and Jesus is the Son of that God, Son of the Father. Then we go on to Oneness, or Modalism, from Wikipedia.org. Oneness theology specifically maintains that God is a singular spirit who is absolutely and indivisibly one, not three persons, individuals, or minds. They contend that the terms Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, or Holy Spirit, are merely titles reflecting the different personal manifestations of God in the universe.
When Oneness believers speak of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, they see these as three personal manifestations of one being, one personal God. From Merriam-Webster.com, Oneness is the theological doctrine that the members of the Trinity are not three distinct persons, but rather three modes or forms of activity, the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, under which God manifests himself. So, in contrast to the previous three concepts that we just examined, Oneness, or Modalism, puts forth the proposition that God is pretty much one being, one person, but exists in three different modes or three different manifestations.
He could be in the mode or manifestation of the Father, then at another time he could present himself as the mode or manifestation of the Son, and then at another time he could present himself as the mode or manifestation of the Holy Spirit. I know sometimes these concepts do get very nuanced and confusing, but try to stick with me and go back over the episode if you need to re-examine some of the evidence. And, like always, take the evidence that we present to you here in these episodes and go farther than that.
Do some additional research, do some additional learning on whatever we’re covering during that particular episode, so that you may know even more than what we cover here on the video. So, two more terms that we’re going to discuss real quick, and those are the terms heresy and orthodoxy. And these are some terms that commonly come up in discussions on the subject of the Godhead. From Wiktionary.org, orthodoxy comes from the ancient Greek word orthodoxos, equivalent to ortho, meaning correct, and doxa, meaning glory or opinion.
So, in other words, orthodoxy from the Greek word means correct opinion. From the Encyclopedia Britannica, orthodox from Greek orthodoxos, meaning of the right opinion, orthodoxy means true doctrine and its adherence as opposed to heterodox or heretical doctrines and their adherence. From EtymOnline, from Greek orthodoxos, meaning having the right opinion, from orthos, meaning right, true, or straight, and doxa, meaning opinion or praise. So, once again, just to recap, orthodoxy literally means correct opinion, and in its common usage, also has that same meaning, meaning correct opinion.
The flip side of that is the word heresy. From the website karm.org, that’s c-a-r-m dot o-r-g, heresy is defined as false teaching, is a belief or idea that is in contradiction to orthodoxy. In the context of Christianity, heresy is that which deviates from standard biblical teaching. From EtymOnline, from Greek heresis, a taking or choosing for oneself, a choice, a means of taking, a deliberate plan, purpose, philosophical sect, or school. From Liquisearch.com, the term heresy is from Greek, originally meant choice, but also referred to that process whereby a young person would examine various philosophies to determine how to live one’s life.
So, in a nutshell, originally, heresy meant of a different choice or a different opinion. In fact, the apostle Paul is even referred to as a heretic in scripture. Nowadays, heresy has come to mean something like, definitely means, they use it in the context of meaning wrong. So, if they refer to you as a heretic, they’re referring to you as someone who is wrong, but that’s a very vanilla way of describing that. A lot of times when people use the word heresy, it comes along with the implication of something like satanic or evil or hellbound.
So, if they’re referring to you as a heretic, they’re commonly meaning something along those lines. That if they’re calling you a heretic, they’re referring to you as evil or satanic or a false teacher or something like that. In reality, let’s understand what orthodoxy and heresy actually is. When it comes to doctrines that are accepted and rejected in churchianity, orthodoxy really comes down to what has been voted on and got voted in a lot of times. And heresy means a doctrine or belief that is against what has been voted in, the opposite of what has been voted in.
Do not let these terms fool you and do not let these terms fear monger you. Don’t believe something just because someone refers to it as orthodox. Instead, base your beliefs on scripture itself, not what someone labels a certain doctrine. Likewise, don’t disbelieve something just because someone calls it heretical or refers to it as a heresy. Because again, that’s their opinion. If they can show you the scriptures, that’s great, but base your beliefs on the scriptures and the evidence.
Don’t reject something unless you can find reason from scripture to reject it. Likewise, don’t accept something unless you can find reason from scripture to accept it. But going back to the beginning there when we covered fear mongering, these terms heresy and orthodoxy are commonly used in the practice of fear mongering. They might call you a heretic if you don’t agree with them trying to scare you into believing their personal opinion. Don’t give in. Stand strong and base your beliefs on scripture and the evidence.
Something else that we want to discuss in this very first introductory episode is what is salvation? And believe it or not, this falls right into what we covered at the very beginning, the subject of fear mongering. So what is salvation from scripture? How do you get salvation? Romans chapter 10 verses 8 through 11. But what does it say? The word is near you in your mouth and in your heart. That is the word of belief which we are proclaiming.
That if you confess with your mouth the master Yeshua and believe in your heart that Elohim has raised him from the dead, you shall be saved. For with the heart one believes unto righteousness and one confesses with the mouth and so is saved. Because the scripture says, whoever puts his trust in him shall not be put to shame. Again with Acts chapter 16 verses 30 and 31. And having led them outside he said, masters what do I have to do to be saved? And they said, believe on the master Yeshua Messiah and you shall be saved, you and your household.
Romans chapter 10 verses 12 through 13. Because there is no distinction between Yehudi and Greek for the same master of all is rich to all those calling upon him. For everyone who calls on the name of Yahweh shall be saved. Ephesians chapter 2 verses 4 through 5. The Elohim who is rich in compassion because of his great love with which he loved us even when we were dead in trespasses made us alive together with Messiah. By his favor you have been saved.
Titus chapter 3 verses 5 through 7. He saved us not by works of righteousness which we have done but according to his compassion. Through the washing of rebirth and renewal by the set apart spirit which he poured out on us richly through Yeshua Messiah our Savior. Having been declared right by his favor we should become heirs according to the expectation of everlasting life. And the point I want to make here is that salvation is not dependent on your acceptance of a particular concept of the Godhead.
What we just presented here are just a few verses on salvation. We could go into an entire episode on just salvation itself. In fact it would probably take more than one episode. But as you look and do look for yourself throughout scripture regarding the subject of salvation. Not one single time does salvation require you to accept a particular view or concept of the Godhead. However there are some out there who would hold your salvation or try to hold your salvation as hostage in order to get you to accept their opinion of the Godhead.
Again this is a use of fear mongering. They will come across in the form of you have to accept my opinion of the Godhead or you aren’t saved. Don’t believe it. Believe your scriptures. Again look throughout scripture and nowhere do you find that a particular acceptance of a specific concept of the Godhead is required for salvation. You don’t find that in scripture. That’s why at the very beginning we said whichever concept that you decide that you most align with we’re good.
If you disagree with whichever concept that we hold to that’s fine. We can disagree on this concept. We can talk about it. We can share scripture. But forth our point at the end of the day we’re still brothers and sisters in Messiah. Let’s sit down. Let’s break bread and let’s fellowship. Because we can disagree on this subject and still be saved. Because not one particular or specific concept of the Godhead is required in order to have salvation.
So in summary. Covered a lot. Let’s just sum this up real quick to end this teaching. Fear mongering is the use of scare tactics in order to scare someone into believing a certain proposition. Exegesis is the practice of drawing the meaning out of the text. It’s inverse is eisegesis. The practice of reading meaning back into the text. Yahweh is the name of the almighty creator of heaven and earth. Commonly referred to today in churchianity as God.
Yeshua is the son of Yahweh. The Messiah and commonly called Jesus and or Christ nowadays. Elohim is a title not a name. That means God or gods or mighty ones etc. Like I said we’ll get into a lot more depth in that in the next episode dedicated to this word. There are four main concepts of the Godhead. Which is Trinitarianism, Sinitarianism, Unitarianism or Oneness and Modalism. Orthodoxy generally refers to right opinion when people say that. And heresy generally refers to wrong opinion.
And most importantly salvation is by grace alone through faith alone and not by works or any propositional acceptance. And that’s just the God honest truth.
