Trinity? An unprejudiced independent view.
I know this is going to find some opposition from Trinitarians and none Trinitarians alike, but please consider my humble efforts because I do believe this is the truth.
Please consider this carefully…
The Father is the mind from where the Word is spoken.. The breath is the Holy Spirit and by the Word all things were created. (John 1:3)
Psalm 33:6 (NKJ) "By the word of the Lord the heavens were made, And all the hosts of them by the breath of his mouth." See also Psalm 33:9 (there may be others somewhere).
This is not the Trinity (Nicene creed). Is a word equal to the breath? Is the breath equal to the mind? Obviously not, but for there to be a word there has to be breath and a mind. The above bible verse uses this fact to explain how God created everything.
God is spirit so the Father does not have a body, though sometimes describes himself in that way to explain things to us. He is the invisible God and no-one can be in his very presence literally, where the laws of physics do not apply, because he is beyond space and time, matter and energy, which are all His creation. (Therefore, the Father has never literally been on this earth but the angels represented Him.) Gal 3:19, Gen 21:17, Gen 22:15,16, Ex 3:2,16, Deut 4:11,12, Judges 6:12,15,16,20,23, John 1:18, John 6:46, 1John 4:12, 1Tim 1:17, Rom 1:20, Heb 11:27.
We cannot see this by looking at things in a physical way, like you are you and I am me. Those concepts of 'you' and 'me' are of this universe.. but the Father does not dwell in such. If we can get away from seeing things like that, then God is a spirit (not a spirit creature)... then the Word and the Holy Spirit (called “he” because of carrying the personality) are in a spiritual sense God.. but not three tangible beings, like you, me and someone else.. nor are they equal. Words carry the meaning of what is in the mind but they are not the total of the mind.. it’s the same with God who is spirit, not a creature.
God is the living God and has "breath" (Holy Spirit) and the Word to speak… they are all of God who is spirit, having the same divine nature. The Logos became flesh by being born in Jesus, "the only begotten Son".. by Holy Spirit, as was signified by what the angel said to Mary at his conception and by the name Emmanuel… (something that JWs tend to skip around).
These are not equal as Jesus plainly said, and God is not the Nicene Trinity but they took the truth and mixed in a Pagan corruption of it. The result of that mix with the Pagan, was is doctrine that’s claimed as a mystery that no-one can understand.
Contrary to the Trinity, Jesus said that his father is greater than he is and that he cannot do anything but what the Father wants him to do. ( John 14:28 John 8:28,29,42 ) There cannot be any words without the breath or the mind to cause it: likewise with God, the Word can only do what the Father wants him to do.
In times past, God spoke through angels but now speaks to us through the Son, who has experienced human life on earth. The angels represented God who is invisible (compare Ex 3:2-4) and spoke on behalf of the invisible God, but in the case of Jesus, the Word was not in an angelic creature because the Logos was "made flesh" or better translated, dwelt in flesh.. in the perfect human called Jesus.. the last Adam.
The lack of a definite article at John 1:1 does not indicate that the Word was “a god” because the Word is not a tangible being like the angels are. Note John 1:2 repeats again that the Word "was with God in the beginning."
The “beginning” was ‘before’ (for want of a better word) time began, because time itself is part of the creation God created by the Word. There is/was eternity ‘before’ time began.. so the Word has always been with the invisible God and is also spirit. Even Jesus’ own words are spirit, for they are the same Word that dwelt in Jesus as a man. John 6:63 "The Spirit gives life; the flesh counts for nothing. The words I have spoken to you are spirit and they are life."
Both the Holy Spirit and the Word represent the Father, and if you have seen the Son you have seen the Father ( John 14:9), but they are not the whole of the invisible God who is beyond the universe, yet extends Himself into it. So the Son is the very (spiritual) representation of his father but not Him entirely, and the Word was in Jesus by the Holy Spirit, the breath of God. (compare John 20:21,22 for “breath”)
I know people like JWs don't see it this way, nor do hardened Trinitarians but I do believe this is the truth. The Word was the "firstborn of all creation" (Col 1:15,16).. because the Logos is born from the Father.. like your words originate from your mind (and usually have a consequence); likewise when God created, it was by the Word that he did it.. "God said, “let there be light" and there was light.
All things came into existence by the Word, it does not say all other things apart from the Word, but all things. The Word was with the Father "in the beginning" and always has been, because God dwells in eternity. If God were mute there would be no creation but because God can speak, there is the creation.
The problem with religious pride and dogma is that as a defense, the objections are there well in advance of taking the time to look at the whole. Making this worse is the fact that the bible has been translated by religious slant and even added to, making it appear to teach the Trinity. Yet in the above, I cannot find any genuine contradiction in the bible (without taking bible verses out of context).
Please consider this with a fresh mind, not one that stops with this or that before you have seen it. Then it all falls into place. Of course I could be wrong about some things.. and will appreciate a greater mind than mine to look at it.
(This is a re-edit and with emphasis codes put in.)
John.