By John Thiel, Removing Delusions and Fallacies Series, mp3

Scripture reading: Ephesians 4:4 [There is] one body, and one Spirit, even as ye are called in one hope of your calling; 5 One Lord, one faith, one baptism, 6 One God and Father of all, who [is] above all, and through all, and in you all. 

The light that comes from the Bible will diffuse and disperse darkness. This is what the meditation of this new series will be – we will be looking to the Bible to diffuse the delusions and take away the fallacies. The following inspired words will follow us all throughout this series:

When errors come into our ranks, we are not to enter into controversy over them. We are to present the message of reproof and then lead the minds of the people away from fanciful, erroneous ideas, presenting the truth in contrast with error. Presenting heavenly scenes will open up principles that rest upon a foundation as enduring as eternity. {20MR 307.3} 

We want a foundation that is enduring as eternity, based upon the pure truth, in contrast to fanciful and erroneous ideas.

The truth of God is found in His Word, and those who feel that they must seek elsewhere for present truth need to be converted anew. They have habits to mend, evil ways to be abandoned. They need to seek anew the truth as it is in Jesus, that their character building may be in harmony with the lessons of Christ. As they abandon their human ideas and take up their duties, beholding Christ and becoming conformed to Him, they say, “Nearer, my God, to Thee, nearer to Thee, e’en though it be a cross that leadeth me.” {20MR 307.4} 

There are many people who believe in something so strongly that when it is proven out of Scripture that they are in error, it is a cross for them to come nearer to God in the truth.

With the Word of God in hand, we may draw nearer, step by step, in consecrated love to Jesus Christ. Let those who have been deluded give up all their fallacies. The love of Jesus will not endure such rivals. {20MR 307.5}

If I hold to my delusions and fallacies the love of Jesus cannot rival that. We need to give up those delusions and fallacies; and to give them up we have to go by the directions of God’s word, and not our own mind fabrications. A plain “Thus saith the Lord” is our only safety. The purpose of this series is to remove the delusions that we may hold to, by looking at plain and simple Bible readings on the subjects of these delusions. Our first subject is the Trinity Doctrine, a delusion that needs to be cleared by a plain “Thus saith the Lord”. If we have any delusions on that subject and we hold any fallacies, they need to be given up, even if it is a cross we have to bear to give them up.

Many delusions are being circulated in the ranks of professed Seventh-day Adventists today. The Seventh-day Adventist church has splintered up into many different beliefs; but those beliefs cannot all be true. There is a pure truth that we are to embrace. To deal with these delusions we are counselled in the Spirit of Prophecy not to enter into controversy.

Speak the truth, and let Him carry forward the reformatory power and principle. Make no reference to what opponents say; but let the truth alone be advanced. The truth can cut to the quick. Plainly unfold the word in all its impressiveness. {CW 73.1}

Here is the instruction which I need to practise as I share this subject with you and all the other subjects to come. If people hold error on the subject of the Godhead and the Trinitarian doctrine, I am not going to have controversy with them; I will make no reference to what opponents say, but will let the truth alone be advanced. And those who have error will find that the truth will cut them to the quick, if they will only listen to a “Thus saith the Lord”. We will therefore practise what is written – leading the minds of the people away from fanciful, erroneous ideas, presenting the truth in contrast with error, letting the contrast be made vivid.

Steering Away from Babylon

There are many delusions and fallacies that have taken root even among Adventist people today. The early Adventists had steered away from the delusion of the Trinitarian doctrine. God led His people in regards to dealing with this doctrine; but in labouring in a certain direction, even there they later discovered that they had some error that had to be corrected. In seeing how the truth corrected their error as they were themselves trying to correct the error of the Trinitarian doctrine, we will see the truth brought to perfection in the minds of the pioneers of Adventism and in our own minds.

JN Loughborough

To commence with, we are looking at the fallacy that the pioneers dealt with. This is what J.N. Loughborough, one the pioneers of original Adventism, said to identify the error that the people at that time were addressing and clarifying:

QUESTION 1. What serious objection is there to the doctrine of the Trinity?

ANSWER. There are many objections which we might urge, but on account of our limited space we shall reduce them to the three following: 1. It is contrary to common sense. 2. It is contrary to scripture. 3. Its origin is Pagan and fabulous.

These positions we will remark upon briefly … It is not very consonant with common sense to talk of three being one, and one being three. … There is a sense in which they are one, but not one person, as claimed by Trinitarians. {November 5, 1861 UrSe, ARSH 184.2-4}

What error were they unveiling in the Trinitarian teachings? Although in the Godhead there are three that are one, in a sense, yet they are “not one person, as claimed by Trinitarians.” This is what they were attacking – the idea that God is three beings in one person. This is the Trinitarian doctrine that they wanted to correct.

The Spirit of Prophecy qualifies what Loughborough was identifying in his own words. And it is important that we read from the Spirit of Prophecy, because there are many other statements that I could bring up from the pioneers, but we want to worship God and to hear what He is saying.

I am instructed to say, The sentiments of those who are searching for advanced scientific ideas are not to be trusted. Such representations as the following are made: “The Father is as the light invisible: the Son is as the light embodied; the Spirit is the light shed abroad.” “The Father is like the dew, invisible vapor; the Son is like the dew gathered in beauteous form; the Spirit is like the dew fallen to the seat of life.” Another representation: “The Father is like the invisible vapor; the Son is like the leaden cloud; the Spirit is rain fallen and working in refreshing power.” {Ev 614.1} 

Nice statements, aren’t they? But what are they really?

All these spiritualistic representations are simply nothingness. They are imperfect, untrue. They weaken and diminish the Majesty which no earthly likeness can be compared to. God cannot be compared with the things His hands have made. These are mere earthly things, suffering under the curse of God because of the sins of man. The Father cannot be described by the things of earth. The Father is all the fullness of the Godhead bodily, and is invisible to mortal sight. {Ev 614.2}

Do you understand what these spiritualistic ideas are according to the Spirit of Prophecy? They teach that the Father is vapour, and that the Son is like the leaden cloud. When the cloud begins to gather together the vapour becomes visible. At first it is invisible, and then it becomes visible in a cloud. Then the idea goes that the Holy Spirit is as rain fallen. Can you see here one person segregated into three, just as Loughborough pointed out? The Spirit of Prophecy identifies this false teaching as representing God as one substance – water – in its state of vapour, cloud, and rain. But that is untrue as a representation of the Godhead. The Trinitarian expression is based on this idea, but it is false and spiritualistic.

EJ Waggoner

At the turn of the century E.J. Waggoner made a point in reference to the word Trinity and what the church of the early believers had established.

You ask what we teach about the Trinity. Inasmuch as we find no such expression in the Scriptures, we do not teach anything about it. {February 6, 1902 EJW, PTUK 83.12}

Because there is no doctrinal teaching in the Bible called “Trinity”, therefore we don’t teach anything about the “Trinity”, he said.

But as to the Being of God,-the Godhead,-Divinity as revealed in the Father, the Word (the Son), and the Holy Spirit, we believe and teach just what the Bible says, and nothing else. No man can by searching find out God. No creature can understand the Almighty to perfection. The finite mind cannot comprehend infinity. Therefore, in discussions about the Trinity, about the nature of God, Christ, and the Holy Spirit, are manifestations of gross presumption. {February 6, 1902 EJW, PTUK 83.12}

As we seek to get a clear understanding of the Godhead, we must have it erased out of our mind as a Trinitarian doctrine, a doctrine in which one is three and three are one. The pioneers of the Adventist faith clearly refuted the Trinitarian doctrine. However, as you examine their progressive discovery of truth in carefully rejecting error, you find that they had to discover that some of the material they were handling was also to be corrected. Because they rejected the Trinitarian doctrine they now harboured an error, and God lovingly and slowly guided them to give it up; because it was a delusion and that had to be given up.

An Error

Very early in their experience, in 1854, a man named J. M. Stephenson, in his work The Atonement, expressed an error which a great number of the pioneers in the early years did harbour:

I will conclude the evidence upon this point by quoting one more passage. Paul says, “And again, when he bringeth the first-begotten into the world, he saith, And let all the angels of God worship him.” Heb. i, 6. He must have been his Son before he could send him into the world. In verse 2, the Father declares that he made the worlds by the same Son he is here represented as sending into the world. His Son must have existed before he created the worlds; and he must have been begotten before he existed; hence the begetting here spoken of, must refer to his Divine nature, and in reference to his order, he is the first-begotten; hence as a matter of necessity he must have been “the first born of every creature.” Col. i, 15. “The first born of every creature.” Creature signifies creation; hence to be the first born of every creature, (creation) he must be a created being; and as such, his life and immortality must depend upon the Father’s will, just as much as angels, or redeemed men: and as the Father has given his Son to have life in himself, so his Son will give this life to all his children. {1854 JMS, ATO 132.2}

This is what they believed: —There is only one God, and then there is the Son of God who was created, born as the first of all creatures. “Creature signifies creation; hence to be the first born of every creature, (creation) he must be a created being” – a being that the Father gave life to. It wasn’t His; it was the Father’s, and He gave it to the Word, the Son of God—

There are many quotes we could read from Uriah Smith, Waggoner, and others like them. Even James White expressed these sorts of things in the early years, that sometime in the distant past of eternity the Word of God (the Son) was budded off from the Father.

Fundamental Beliefs of SDAs (1872)

As a consequence of what they believed, by the time we came to 1872 they made their first declaration of fundamental principles. Notice what they say in their book Fundamental Principles; they believed

-I- That there is one God, a personal, spiritual being, the creator of all things, omnipotent, omniscient, and eternal, infinite in wisdom, holiness, justice, goodness, truth, and mercy; unchangeable, and everywhere present by his representative, the Holy Spirit. Ps. 139:7.

-II- That there is one Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of the Eternal Father, the one by whom God created all things, and by whom they do consist; {1872, FP1872 4.2-3}

This was their declaration of faith in 1872. So by the time they came to that year they still held that there was one God, the Father, and that the Word (the Son of God) was someone different, but not God. He was the Son of God, they said. And many people have picked this up again today. But we won’t refer to what people are teaching today, we will refer to the truth of how God patiently and lovingly led His people out of this error.

The error was that God is the Father, and that the Word (Christ) is the Son of God (not God, just the Son of God), and that the Holy Spirit is an effluence from the Father and the Son; because they rejected that there is three persons as being God.

They rejected the decision which had been taken by the papal church in the First Council of Constantinople, in A.D. 381, where the relationship between the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit was stated as “one substance”. This was the Catholic doctrine. The pioneers rejected that doctrine, but in rejecting it they held on to the idea that there was only God the Father, that Jesus was the Son of God, and that the Holy Spirit was an effluence from the Father and the Son. This they held until, under the guidance of the Spirit of Prophecy, this subject was made clear. God came to lead them out of this falsehood through the Testimony of Jesus.

Clarifications on the Godhead

Sister White here identifies the Godhead. Take the words as they read, and don’t read them from any perspective of personal interpretation.

The Father is all the fullness of the Godhead bodily, and is invisible to mortal sight. {Ev 614.2}

The Son is all the fullness of the Godhead manifested. The Word of God declares Him to be “the express image of His person.” “God so loved the world, that He gave His only-begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life.” Here is shown the personality of the Father. {Ev 614.3}

The Father is the fullness of the Godhead bodily, and the Son is the fullness of the Godhead manifested, revealed. When the Godhead is to be revealed to you, you look at the Son. That is God.

The Comforter that Christ promised to send after He ascended to heaven, is the Spirit in all the fullness of the Godhead, making manifest the power of divine grace to all who receive and believe in Christ as a personal Saviour. {Ev 615.1}

Now comes the summary in plain language:

There are three living persons of the heavenly trio; in the name of these three great powers –the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit–those who receive Christ by living faith are baptized, and these powers will co-operate with the obedient subjects of heaven in their efforts to live the new life in Christ.– Special Testimonies, Series B, No. 7, pp. 62, 63. (1905) {Ev 615.1}

This is a beautiful comfort – we have three living persons who are part of the Godhead, three separate, living persons. This is the way it is written. And to make it abundantly clear that the Word, Jesus Christ before He came to this earth, the Son of God, had a pre-existence within Himself and did not depend upon the existence of the Father for His own existence, we read the following:

Christ is the pre-existent, self-existent Son of God…. In speaking of his pre-existence, Christ carries the mind back through dateless ages. He assures us that there never was a time when He was not in close fellowship with the eternal God. He to whose voice the Jews were then listening had been with God as one brought up with Him.–Signs of the Times, Aug. 29, 1900. {Ev 615.2}

There was never a time in past, eternal ages “when He was not in close fellowship with the eternal God.”

He was equal with God, infinite and omnipotent. . . . He is the eternal, self-existent Son.–Manuscript 101, 1897. {Ev 615.3}

The Word existed as a divine being, even as the eternal Son of God, in union and oneness with His Father. From everlasting He was the Mediator of the covenant, the one in whom all nations of the earth, both Jews and Gentiles, if they accepted Him, were to be blessed. “The Word was with God, and the Word was God.” Before men or angels were created, the Word was with God, and was God.–Review and Herald, April 5, 1906. {Ev 615.4}

So Jesus, the Son of God, was God.

Christ shows them [the Pharisees] that, although they might reckon His life to be less than fifty years, yet His divine life could not be reckoned by human computation. The existence of Christ before His incarnation is not measured by figures.–Signs of the Times, May 3, 1899. {Ev 616.1}

Did He get His life from the Father?

Jesus declared, “I am the resurrection, and the life.” In Christ is life, original, unborrowed, underived. {Ev 616.2}

What does that mean? It simply means that He had it and it was not given to Him from anyone else. It was His – underived. This is plain wording.

The Third Person

As we now come to the Holy Spirit, the pioneers had the understanding that it was only an effluence, that which came from the Father and the Son as a dismembered influence. But the Spirit of Prophecy came in to help them see their mistake:

We need to realize that the Holy Spirit, who is as much a person as God is a person, is walking through these grounds.–Manuscript 66, 1899. (From a talk to the students at the Avondale School.) {Ev 616.5}

The Holy Spirit is a person, for He beareth witness with our spirits that we are the children of God. When this witness is borne, it carries with it its own evidence. At such times we believe and are sure that we are the children of God. {Ev 616.6} 

The Holy Spirit has a personality, else He could not bear witness to our spirits and with our spirits that we are the children of God. He must also be a divine person, else He could not search out the secrets which lie hidden in the mind of God. …–Manuscript 20, 1906. {Ev 617.1}

The Spirit searches the deep things of God, we are told. He is a person who is part of God and searches out the deep things of the mind of God.

The prince of the power of evil can only be held in check by the power of God in the third person of the Godhead, the Holy Spirit.–Special Testimonies, Series A, No. 10, p. 37. (1897) {Ev 617.2}

The earliest of these revelations came in 1897. The pioneers accepted E. G. White as being the servant of God who, under inspiration, was giving the truth to His people, and they were aroused to the knowledge that they had been holding an error.

Former Difficulties

To verify that they did indeed have this error, we read an article from the Review and Herald of May 17, 1898, written by R. A. Underwood. This man described the revelation that they had received through the Spirit of Prophecy that they had made a mistake in viewing the Holy Spirit as simply an influence:

There is an influence and a power, it is true; but we should not make the mistake of believing in an influence simply, when we so much need the One who carries the influence and power. The Holy Spirit is Christ’s personal representative in the field; and he is charged with the work of meeting Satan, and defeating this personal enemy of God and his government. It seems strange to me, now, that I ever believed that the Holy Spirit was only an influence, in view of the work he does. R.A. Underwood, “The Holy Spirit A Person”, Review and Herald, May 17, 1898.

What is he saying? He was one of those people among the pioneers who believed that the Holy Spirit was the influence that came from the Father and the Son. But now he was saying, “It seems strange to me, now, that I ever believed that the Holy Spirit was only an influence;” because there in 1897 the Spirit of Prophecy had clarified the subject.

But we want the truth because it is truth, and we reject error because it is error, regardless of any views we may formerly have held, or any difficulty we may have had, or may now have, when we view the Holy Spirit as a person. Light is sown for the righteous. R.A. Underwood, “The Holy Spirit A Person”, Review and Herald, May 17, 1898.

So the righteous had been lightened. This is what he was talking about. “We had ideas about the Holy Spirit which have now been clarified,” he said. “It is more than an influence; it’s a person.” The Spirit of Prophecy had helped them to see this.

It was once hard for me to see how a spirit could be a person; but when I saw “that God is a spirit ” (John 4: 24), and that he is no less a person; when I saw that the last Adam (Christ) ” was made a quickening spirit” (1 Cor. 15:45), and that he is a person; when I saw that the angels are ” spirits” (Heb. 1:7, 14), and even that the fallen angels, called “devils,” are said to be “unclean spirits” (Luke 8:26, 29; Acts 19:15, 16); and knowing that all these are persons, I could understand better how the Holy Spirit can be a person. R.A. Underwood, “The Holy Spirit A Person”, Review and Herald, May 17, 1898.

A separate person from the Father. I’m so glad I found this article, because with all the efforts I had to try and convince people out of the error of what the pioneers once taught, when I read this I thought, Hallelujah! He is actually dealing with it – their past mistake that had now been revealed. While their earlier beliefs appeared to be substantiated by Scripture, it was in fact an error, although they did read Scripture and did use Scripture to try and prove their idea.

False Readings

Here is where Scripture, if not correctly perceived, can actually be misinterpreted. What follows are the kind of scriptures the pioneers used to prove their false idea about the Godhead. We are now going through an exercise of reading the Scriptures with a false premise and then with a right one.

1 Timothy 2:5 For [there is] one God, and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus;

Can you see here a text that says there is one God and that besides that there is only a mediator, the Son of God? This is how people can read it, and this is how you can read it if you are not careful. You can get the idea that there is no more than one person who is God. In fact, some of these people have said, “You are telling us that there are three Gods!” No, there is one God. We will see this shortly. The pioneers used these kinds of texts.

The following text in John can also be read to mean that there is only God the Father and that’s all:

John 17:3 And this is life eternal, that they might know thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent.

“The only true God is the Father; that’s all.” This is the way they read it.

1 Corinthians 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.

“So there is one God, and then there is Jesus Christ, the Son of God.” Can you see how these Bible texts can be used to prove that there is only one God, not three in the Godhead, and that Jesus is the Son of God and the Holy Spirit is only an influence? This is how you can use scriptures to come to that kind of conclusion.

Enlightened by Inspiration

But we are told that we must compare scripture with scripture. And as under the influence of the Spirit of Prophecy the pioneers were beginning to realise that the Spirit of Prophecy was saying that there are three persons in the Godhead, they said, We must examine the word, because it must agree with the word. So they did find what is written in John 1:1.

John 1:1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.

This is a text that says that in the beginning there was God and there was the Word of God, who also is God. This is the way it plainly reads.

And there are also other scriptures which they were able to use to compare scripture with scripture. We see here God the Father speaking to the Son:

Hebrews 1:8 But unto the Son [he saith], Thy throne, O God, [is] for ever and ever: a sceptre of righteousness [is] the sceptre of thy kingdom.

What did the Father call His Son? O God. He is speaking to His Son and addressing Him as God.

Hebrews 1:9 Thou hast loved righteousness, and hated iniquity; therefore God, [even] thy God, hath anointed thee with the oil of gladness above thy fellows.

Here is God speaking to God.

Why Is He Called the Son?

If He is pre-existent and has no borrowed life, if He didn’t get life from the Father but He had it in Himself, why then is He called the Son of God? The Son of God is speaking here:

Psalm 2:7 I will declare the decree: the LORD hath said unto me, Thou [art] my Son; this day have I begotten thee.

Was He literally born? According to that scripture, it was by decree that He was called God’s Son. God made a decree upon the second Person of the Godhead. I am going to call You My Son, He said. When God decided that He was going to create the universe He knew that if He was going to create other living creatures there was the possibility that sin would arise, so the Father, the Word, and the Holy Spirit decided that They would establish a picture of Themselves to the creatures they created. They counselled among Themselves that if sin should arise They would place Themselves in certain positions before the beings They created, to work a plan of salvation. And God the Father said to the Word, “I shall declare a decree: You are My Son; this day have I begotten Thee.” So ever since that decree the Word, which was God, was called the Son of God. When God decrees something it becomes a reality.

So although He was not born, and He had life unborrowed within Himself because He was part of the Godhead, yet He was declared by decree to be the Son. This is what the pioneers of the Advent faith gradually discovered under the guidance of God in the Spirit of Prophecy.

A Correct Understanding

Why then are those texts of 1 Timothy 2:5, John 17:3 and 1 Corinthians 8:6 worded that way? How come those things were written and people are given occasion to use these texts as a foundation for their wrong beliefs? Let the Bible explain itself.

Philippians 2:5 Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus: 6 Who, being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God:

Who was He? He was in the form of God;

Philippians 2:7 But made himself of no reputation, and took upon him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men: 8 And being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross.

Can we now see what those three texts (above referred to) are saying? “There is one God, and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus.” This man Christ Jesus was actually God, but He made Himself of no reputation. Do you follow? Therefore the scriptures that people read to say that there is only God the Father, and not God the Son or God the Holy Spirit, are actually written that way because to help us to have God very close to us Jesus made Himself of no reputation; and therefore Jesus, as a man, would cry, My God, My God, why hast Thou forsaken Me? He had relinquished His position as God, and He cried unto the Father, saying, My God! This is correctly comparing scripture with scripture. So in reality, all those scriptures that people use to say that Jesus is not one of God, are actually expressing those things because He made Himself of no reputation. He was subordinate to God.

Therefore, if we misread the Scriptures we will be deluded, and we will hold fallacies as truth. But when we compare scripture with scripture and carefully let the Scriptures explain themselves, we will put away our delusions. We must let the Bible unravel our delusions and fill us with pure truth. We are called upon to correctly interpret the Scriptures by correctly reading and dividing the word in its own explanations.

2 Timothy 2:15 Study to show thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.

There are scriptures that can be misread if you are not correctly dividing them. But there are also scriptures that say plainly that God is one God in three persons. And in the light of these Bible texts we then get a clear understanding of other Bible texts.

The Benefit

What is the benefit of understanding how these delusions are clarified by correctly reading the Bible?

Deuteronomy 6:4 Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God [is] one LORD: 

How does that fit in? This word “one” comes from the Hebrew word “achad”, and it means “one in unity”. Our Lord is one in unity. So God is one in unity of three. This is spelt out in the words of John, where the unity that existed between the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit is identified. Jesus here addresses the position that He had with God before He gave it up to come down to earth; He prayed for His followers,

John 17:21 That they all may be one; as thou, Father, [art] in me, and I in thee, that they also may be one in us: that the world may believe that thou hast sent me.

As the Father and the Son are one in unity, so He is praying that we, His disciples, would be one.

John 17:23 I in them, and thou in me, that they may be made perfect in one; and that the world may know that thou hast sent me, and hast loved them, as thou hast loved me.

The oneness of the perfect unity of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit is so that we could have that unity as well – to be one together with God. We may be as united as the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit are. They are so close to one another that they can be called one God in unity.

Romans 8:15 For ye have not received the spirit of bondage again to fear; but ye have received the Spirit of adoption, whereby we cry, Abba, Father. 16 The Spirit itself beareth witness with our spirit, that we are the children of God: 17 And if children, then heirs; heirs of God, and joint-heirs with Christ; if so be that we suffer with [him], that we may be also glorified together.

Jesus was God. He became a human being but He was an heir of God. He was part of the Godhead. And He is lifting us in unity with the Godhead. We can be heirs of God, part of the unity that exists in the Godhead. What a privilege.

The church is to be the body of Christ; it is to be one church – one body, but many people; just like there is one God, but three. One church, one faith. This is the true appreciation of that “one God” that we may be part of:

Ephesians 4:3 Endeavouring to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. 4 [There is] one body, and one Spirit, even as ye are called in one hope of your calling;

One body, but many members; one God, but three persons.

Ephesians 4:5 One Lord, one faith, one baptism, 6 One God and Father of all, who [is] above all, and through all, and in you all.

Can we grasp the precious privilege that is ours if we can believe that three comprise the Godhead, so that many can comprise one unit, even though they are many? This is a beautiful picture. And as we submit ourselves to this subject in its truth, our befogged and deluded mind begins to appreciate what is our privilege – one body, one in unity.

Amen.