The Baptist Press reports that Bishop T. D. Jakes says he now embraces the doctrine of the Trinity. This revelation came last week at the second annual Elephant Room, an event involving Christians from different backgrounds. For those of you that did not know, Bishop Jakes came up in the Oneness Pentecostal Church. Members of this movement deny the Trinity. They don’t believe God is three distinct persons but one.
I knew as much as 20 years ago that Bishop Jakes embraced the doctrine of Oneness, but I was not aware until now that he still held on to that teaching. And since he is such a prominent leader in the Christian community and has embraced the errant doctrine of Oneness so long, it is highly probable that some of you who read this post may be unclear on the truth of this matter.
First of all, the word Trinity is not found in the Bible. But by that term we mean there is one God but that He manifests Himself in three distinct persons: God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit. As evidence, consider this passage: “And Jesus, when he was baptized, went up straightway out of the water: and, lo, the heavens were opened unto him, and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove, and lighting upon him: And lo a voice from heaven, saying, This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased” (Matthew 1:16-17).
From this passage, we see all three persons of the Godhead involved—the Son being baptized, the Holy Spirit descending upon Him, and the Father speaking from heaven. Those who embrace Oneness believe in the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost, but they do not believe the three are distinct persons as the passage above indicates.
Moreover, in a number of places, the Bible teaches that in the person of Jesus, “God was manifested in the flesh” (see 1 Timothy 3:16). “In Him dwells all the fullness of the Godhead bodily” (Colossians 2:9).
I am glad the Bishop Jakes now embraces the doctrine of the Trinity. What amazes me is that the doctrine of the Trinity is not an advanced Christian doctrine but a fundamental Christian doctrine. For any of us, no matter what religious background we are from and no matter how long we have believed what we have, when we study the Bible and God opens our eyes to the truth, we must be willing to abandon error and embrace the truth.
Copyright ©2012 by Frank King. All rights reserved.
3 comments:
Greetings Frank King
Yes. In many ways, Oneness doctrine is indeed wrong.
But sadly, the trinity doctrine is also equally wrong in this regard:
that both oneness and trinity doctrines try to make
Jesus of Nazareth, the Messiah our Lord,
into Almighty GOD!!
And both doctrines state that you must believe that the Lord Jesus
is Almighty GOD to be saved!
In this regard, both doctrines do err and are scripturally wrong.
IMHO!
Both doctrines appeared hundreds of years after the ascension of Christ.
Both doctrines try to explain how Jesus can be both God and man at the same time!! The Godman!!
But the original faith which was once delivered unto the saints [Jude 3] did not suffer from this problem.
The original faith has always been:
That there is solely ONE GOD,
the Father.
And Jesus of Nazareth, is the one man, the one human being, whom Almighty GOD raised from the dead, made him, both Lord and Christ, and exalted him to His own right hand.
Hence, Jesus of Nazareth is
the Lord Jesus Christ,
a man approved of Almighty GOD,
who is currently at the right of the ONE GOD in the heavens. Whom we await for his return.
(1 Cor 8:4) ... there is none other God but one.
(1 Cor 8:6) But to us there is but one God, the Father, of whom are all things, and we in him;
and one Lord, Jesus Christ, by whom are all things, and we by him.
(1 Tim 2:5) For there is one God, and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus;
(1 Th 1:9-10) For they themselves show of us what manner of entering in we had unto you, and how ye turned to God from idols to serve the living and true God; 10 And to wait for his Son from heaven, whom he raised from the dead, even Jesus, which delivered us from the wrath to come.
Hundreds of years after the pure, true, apostolic faith was propagated;
Greek, Hellenistic and pagan philosophy/doctrines changed the human Jesus into a demigod then into a godman.
And in response, both the doctrines of the trinity and oneness tried to solve this self-inflicted problem.
The solution then, is to return to the pure faith and doctrine as taught in the Scriptures:
That there is solely ONE GOD, the Father.
And there is solely one man, one human, whom the ONE GOD has made
"Lord of all", the man Messiah Jesus.
(1 Tim 2:5) For there is one God, and one mediator between God and men,
the man Christ Jesus;
And indeed the day is coming where ...
(Phil 2:11) And that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.
May I suggest that one can prayerfully begin this journey of recovery by viewing a helpful video at
The Human Jesus
Yours In Messiah
Adam Pastor
Thanks for reading and for your comment. I agree with all the verses you have quoted. But we must accept all of the Scriptures that pertain to the person of Christ. And there are a number of them that clearly ascribe deity to the person of Christ.
The person of Christ is very complex. The mere fact that He was born of a virgin through an act of the Holy Spirit sets Him apart from mere mortals. I won't try to explain the complexity of Christ because I can't. I can only proclaim what the Scriptures say. And even the Bible agrees that the person of Christ is a great mystery:
"And without controversy great is the mystery of godliness: God was manifested in the flesh, justified in the Spirit, seen of angels, preached unto the Gentiles, believed on in the world, received up into glory" (1 Timothy 3:16).
"Adam Pastor"..hmmmm
Jesus said "I AM the Way, The Truth, and The Life", no one can come to the Father except that they believe in me."....many other verses AS YOU WELL KNOW that support JESUS as being GOD incarnate.>>>Your unbelief in Jesus for who he is is flawed, its heresy really. Do your homework, because people will perish for lack of knowledge, I pray that you do learn the truth
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