Where wast thou when I laid
the foundations of the earth?
Declare, if thou hast understanding.
Who hath laid the measures thereof,
if thou knowest? Or who hath stretched
the line upon it? Whereupon are the
foundations thereof fastened? Or who
laid the corner stone thereof;
when the morning stars sang
together, and all the sons of God
shouted for joy?
Job 38:4-7
As Authentic Christians we are to add to our virtue knowledge so then by taking time to study and understand this most important doctrine of the Christian Faith, the Trinity, and how faith is necessary to believe, a faith that has as its foundation the true word of God so we continue to understand the truth of the faith.
To admit that God is a being of a different sort nothing like man is to admit that for God to be God He must be outside the creation. God must be eternal, without beginning or end and have all the eternal power that exists. God must be a Spirit if He is to not be as a man is who has a body. God operates in Three Persons, the Father, the Wisdom of God, and the Holy Spirit, and furthermore, the Wisdom of God who by the will of God created all things, through the power of the Holy Spirit's operation and who came to earth to live and be a man is hard to understand, yet God reveals all that there is of Him to us in His word. The Wisdom of God became the Only Begotten Son of God, not a creation, as in Adam and Eve, as in all other creations, no, as a man the Only Begotten Son sent to earth by the will of the Father came to do what man cannot do for himself: pay the debt owed to God to justify His Justice. Man by the fall of Adam inherited sin, and this sin destroyed the will of man to desire God, for God to be the leader in life, the disposition was changed so that man wanted to be autonomous, even to have antinomy, to rule himself. Therefore this inherited sin which man has not control over for it corrupted the soul of man needed that corruption to be healed and only this could be done by God Himself, so He sent Jesus Christ, the Only Begotten Son to do just that, now, when this is accepted, by faith, then a man can work on his disposition to sin and stop sinning. Man will not in this life become perfect, but man can by his own volition decide to not sin willingly. But, a person must have faith in the Trinity the very foundation of Authentic Christian Faith.
Once again: what the Son is the Father is, and what the Father and the Spirit are the Son is, a genuine Trinity. Furthermore, neither the power nor the will of the Father preceded the birth of the Son, so then, there was nothing to precede the procession of the Holy Spirit. The Three Persons of the Trinity were not separately conceived or brought into existence, they are all One, existing eternally as One. Authentic Christian accept and acknowledge the Son as the Only Begotten of the Father, as maker of heaven and earth and of all things visible and invisible, begotten of the Father, not made, light of light, very God of very God homoousios with the Father, that is the very substance as the Father. This Greek word homoousios caused great consternation for some would only admit homousios as being what Jesus is: this word homousios means similar, where the word homoousion means the same substance. If God could create Jesus Christ as His Only Begotten Son the question that arises is: Why? If He could create one thing would need a creator for another? As God He would not need to create a creator. Jesus Christ the Wisdom of God: "but unto them which are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God, and the wisdom of God" (1Corinthians 1:24).
Authentic Christians acknowledge that the Holy Spirit is the lifegiver, proceeding from the Father and the Son, with the Father and Son together to be worshiped and glorified, who spoke through the prophets.
All angels in the heights of heaven, all virtues, sun and moon, and stars and light, the heavens of heavens and the waters which are above the heavens praise this true Trinity, this true Unity, this One God. Since therefore all these creatures, rational and irrational ceaselessly praise God, how should men, made in the image and the likeness of God and called to praise of His glory, how can we then be slow or dull or indifferent? Should we not then at least frequently, even if we cannot always do so, praise Him, we who by the Apostle states: "But ye are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, an holy nation, a peculiar people; that ye should show forth the praises of Him who hath called you out of darkness into His marvelous light: which in time past were not a people, but are now the people of God; which had not obtained mercy, but now have obtained mercy" (1Peter 2:9-10).
The truth of Authentic Christian Faith, a faith in the unseen, the invisible, enables a person who has come to believe in Jesus Christ who is the Savior of man, and who themselves are now by this belief and conversion to Jesus Christ are a chosen people, receiving mercy that they before this belief and conversion did not have but now have obtained it, a person who is royal priesthood of God, how then can we not live our lives in accordance to what God has made you to believe, who has called you, enabled you, and saved you from eternal damnation?
Some people, people who are of this world, will mock you, even persecute you for your faith. When you demonstrate Authentic Christian Faith you will be separate from this world with all its pleasures that lead you to sin and people will hate you. Do not shrink back for you are a priest, the temple of God and nothing can take this away from you. You have eternal life now, not due to any work you do, but by the will of God you have been saved to live eternally with Him and man cannot destroy what God has established. Therefore, your faith based upon the truth of God's word is not blind, it is with wide-opened eyes that the truth of your faith is established.
Thine eyes did see my substance,
yet being unperfect; and in
Thy book all my members were written,
which in continuance were fashioned,
when as yet there was none of them.
Psalm 139: 16
Remember: you are the temple of God
Richard L. Crumb
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