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| THE HOLY TRINITY. Image from oneyearbibleblog.com. |
"The Father and I are one."
The biggest case that the Jews lodged against the Lord Jesus Christ is His claim of being one or equal with God the Father. Being Son, Jesus made himself God, and in their understanding of God, Jesus claimed the dignity of God the Father himself.
The divinity of the Lord Jesus Christ is one of the issues which most non-Catholics claim to be a mere Catholic formulation with no clear Biblical bases. It was actually one of the most basic but equally most important questions which the First Ecumenical Council of Nicaea has to finally settle in the early years of the Church due to the teaching of Arius that the Lord Jesus Christ was not God like the Father. The Council declared,
"And whosoever shall say that there was a time when the Son of God was not, or that before he was begotten he was not, or that he was made of things that there were not, or that he is of a different substance or essence [from the father] or that he is a creature, or subject to change or conversion - all that so say, the Catholic and Apostolic Church anathematizes them."
The Biblical bases of this doctrine have been taken from the writings of the principal Apostles themselves. Under the topic of Christology, the online Catholic Encyclopedia shows how the Apostles, particularly Paul, Peter, James and John considered the divinity of the Lord Jesus Christ. More can be learned about this under the topic Most Holy Trinity, which now includes the Holy Spirit in the discussion. This same topic includes Scriptural [in a special way, the Old Testament] basis on the doctrine though it states that the New Testament revelation is necessary to fully understand Old Testament allusions to the doctrine especially with regards to the terms Messiah and Emmanuel. We may also consider God's Hebrew name, Elohim, plural of El, for a glimpse on how the Israelites tried to maintain their belief in a monotheistic God even if the name speaks of more than one God. More about the word here.
Why do we believe in the divinity of the Son? It is because such is one of the revealed truths and therefore we must adhere to. After we have stated above that there are Biblical bases for the doctrine, we must then refer to the promise of the Lord Jesus Christ himself that the Holy Spirit will remind His Apostles everything that He taught. Now, since the Apostles were the ones who received the Holy Spirit during Pentecost and have laid hands upon others to succeed them in their work, these successors eventually become the holders of the basic truths about our Faith through the working of the Holy Spirit. If we then believe in the Holy Spirit's guidance, we can be assured that when the early Church discussed and decided about God's revelation about the divinity of His only-begotten Son, He led them to the proper result: the declaration of the dogma about the Son's divinity. For if we deny one basic article of Faith such as the Holy Spirit's special role as advocate and guide of the Church, then we shall put everything else to question.
As Christians, this doctrine, dogma, of the Lord's divinity is something fundamental and which we cannot take for granted. We cannot sacrifice such an important article of Faith just to accommodate non-Catholics who cannot accept the Lord's divinity. It is true that we put emphasis on loving one another as our manner of letting the world know that we are the Lord's disciples and friends. But one basic question to answer would be: who is this Lord which we ought to proclaim by our love? We cannot just say, JESUS CHRIST for these words carry very important scriptural, doctrinal, moral, religious and pastoral meanings for the Jesus we know may not be the Jesus that others proclaim.
The Apostle John warns us about anti-christs who shall come to deceive us and tells us how to identify the real Christians [see 1 John 4: 2-3, 15] while the Apostle Paul tells us to be wary of those who would teach anything contradictory to what they have already taught [see Galatians 1: 8-9; 2 Corinthians 11:4; 1 Timothy 6:3]. If it is not necessary to clearly identify the Person of Christ, the Apostles would not be making any warning as long as we love.
The Lord said that He and the Father are one. We must not be like Philip who still asked Him to show them the Father and received the reply,
"Have I been with you all this time, Philip, and you still do not know me? Anyone who has seen me has seen the Father, so how can you say, 'Show us the Father'? Do you not believe that I am in the Father and the Father is in me? You must believe me when I say that I am in the Father and the Father is in me; or at least believe it on the evidence of these works." [John 14: 9-11]
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