How do trinity believers make sense of this?

Question

Revelation 1:1

"A revelation by Jesus Christ, which God gave him, to show his slaves the things that must shortly take place. And he sent forth his angel and presented it in signs through him to his slave John,"  

God gave Jesus a revelation? But Jesus is supposed to be God right? So how did God give himself a revelation to himself to give to John?
Did God personality No.1 give a revelation to God personality No.2 who would of not known as it was a revelation so that God personality No.2 could give it to the apostle John through an angel. And what was God personality No.3 the holy ghost doing all this time?

What a muddle.

Please don't say this is a mystery that we are not supposed to understand that is avoiding an answer.
God is logic and truth and not of confusion.
1 Corinthians 14:33

Jay Z you are only repeating what I put and if Rev 1:1 is trash then that's on you.

3 persons in one and yet are one sounds illogical and being a mystery is doesn't cut it. Take the trinity out and suddenly everything makes sense.

Don't do the triangle or ice water thing show me scriptures that support that triangle thing else it is just from humans not from God.

Maureen P just because others tell you not to question and search for what is truthful and fine doesn't mean you shouldn't also. That is doing exactly what they are telling you to do. (Matt 6:33)

I do go to theocratic class and bible study douglawrence, and sorry where is the sense that the one personality "The Father" begot his other personality "the Son" was the Father and Holy Spirit only the original personalities of God before the Son? was God a dual personalities before? Confusing as Isaiah 43:10 reads: "Before me there was no God formed, and after me there continued to be none"
And the 3rd personality of God the holy spirit as the angel?
You may call this elementary theology but it is mind boggling to the common sense.
Why don't you just come clean about this?

Answer 1

They don't. What many people don't seem to know is that there are numerous Catholic and Protestant sources that openly admit that the trinity is not part of the Bible. For instance:

A Protestant publication states: "The word Trinity is not found in the Bible . . . It did not find a place formally in the theology of the church till the 4th century." (The Illustrated Bible Dictionary) And a Catholic authority says that the Trinity "is not . . . directly and immediately [the] word of God."—New Catholic Encyclopedia.

The Catholic Encyclopedia also comments: "In Scripture there is as yet no single term by which the Three Divine Persons are denoted together. The word [tri'as] (of which the Latin trinitas is a translation) is first found in Theophilus of Antioch about A. D. 180. . . . Shortly afterwards it appears in its Latin form of trinitas in Tertullian."

WHILE the word "Trinity" is not found in the Bible, is at least the idea of the Trinity taught clearly in it? For instance, what do the Hebrew Scriptures ("Old Testament") reveal?

The Encyclopedia of Religion admits: "Theologians today are in agreement that the Hebrew Bible does not contain a doctrine of the Trinity." And the New Catholic Encyclopedia also says: "The doctrine of the Holy Trinity is not taught in the O[ld] T[estament]."

Similarly, in his book The Triune God, Jesuit Edmund Fortman admits: "The Old Testament . . . tells us nothing explicitly or by necessary implication of a Triune God who is Father, Son and Holy Spirit. . . . There is no evidence that any sacred writer even suspected the existence of a [Trinity] within the Godhead. . . . Even to see in [the "Old Testament"] suggestions or foreshadowings or 'veiled signs' of the trinity of persons, is to go beyond the words and intent of the sacred writers."—Italics ours.

An examination of the Hebrew Scriptures themselves will bear out these comments. Thus, there is no clear teaching of a Trinity in the first 39 books of the Bible that make up the true canon of the inspired Hebrew Scriptures.

WELL, then, do the Christian Greek Scriptures ("New Testament") speak clearly of a Trinity?

The Encyclopedia of Religion says: "Theologians agree that the New Testament also does not contain an explicit doctrine of the Trinity."

Jesuit Fortman states: "The New Testament writers . . . give us no formal or formulated doctrine of the Trinity, no explicit teaching that in one God there are three co-equal divine persons. . . . Nowhere do we find any trinitarian doctrine of three distinct subjects of divine life and activity in the same Godhead."

The New Encyclopædia Britannica observes: "Neither the word Trinity nor the explicit doctrine appears in the New Testament."

Bernhard Lohse says in A Short History of Christian Doctrine: "As far as the New Testament is concerned, one does not find in it an actual doctrine of the Trinity."

The New International Dictionary of New Testament Theology similarly states: "The N[ew] T[estament] does not contain the developed doctrine of the Trinity. 'The Bible lacks the express declaration that the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit are of equal essence' [said Protestant theologian Karl Barth]."

Yale University professor E. Washburn Hopkins affirmed: "To Jesus and Paul the doctrine of the trinity was apparently unknown; . . . they say nothing about it."—Origin and Evolution of Religion.

Historian Arthur Weigall notes: "Jesus Christ never mentioned such a phenomenon, and nowhere in the New Testament does the word 'Trinity' appear. The idea was only adopted by the Church three hundred years after the death of our Lord."—The Paganism in Our Christianity.

Thus, neither the 39 books of the Hebrew Scriptures nor the canon of 27 inspired books of the Christian Greek Scriptures provide any clear teaching of the Trinity.

If only people would rea these reference books for themselves, they would see that their churches have been misleading them all along. The trinity is a false doctrine.

Answer 2

Ninja mock translation is not considered a valid translation of scriptures.

This is a revelation from Jesus Christ, which God gave him concerning the events that will happen soon. An angel was sent to God's servant John so that John could share the revelation with God's other servants. John faithfully reported the word of God and the testimony of Jesus Christ-everything he saw.
Revelation 1:1,2

Quit reading such trash and study the real bible!

Answer 3

Rev 1:1-2 The Revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave unto him, to make known to his servants the things which must shortly come to pass: and signified, sending by his angel to his servant John, who hath given testimony to the word of God and the testimony of Jesus Christ, what things soever he hath seen.

"God" here refers to God the Father, the "senior" person of the Trinity, who did not preceed, but who personally begot his son "Jesus" the 2nd person of the God-head, and the one known to St. John, personally.

The "Holy Spirit" was the one (the angel) transmitting the message and coordinating the conversation between Jesus in heaven, and St. John, down here on earth.

This is common knowledge to most first year theology students.

If you have a problem understanding concepts as basic as these, and you're truly interested in the truth, why not save yourself a lot of mental anguish by signing up for some classes, or a bible study?

Answer 4

Think of a triangle. 3 sides=1 triangle. Father, Son, and Holy Spirit=God. We are made in the image of God, no we are not gods ,but we have His likeness. Body ,soul, and spirit=man.

Answer 5

*sigh*

Christianity's form of monotheism is hypostasic - one divine substance, but three divine persons. Each has their own role, and they can even interact.

So, yes, it is entirely possible within the trinitarian formulation for the Father to give things to the Son. In fact, the gifts of the Father to the Son are a prefiguration of God's abundant gifts to mankind.

Answer 6

deerslr_71, that is a typical answer from someone who is afraid to search for the truth. That is one of the reasons I am so turned off by the bible. "Don't question it, it's God's word." This attitude is EXACTLY what keeps us from searching for the truth.

Answer 7

Proverbs 15:7; The lips of the wise disperse knowledge; but the heart of the foolish doeth not so.

Answer 8

The Father, Son and Holy Spirit are three separate entities, but all the same. It requires faith, not to understand it, but to accept it. If you pondered your question for the rest of your life, you would never understand it. But you can accept it based on faith.

Answer 9

www.bbc.uk.co

They have a section on religion and a pretty cool article on the Trinitarian doctrine.

Answer 10

Perhaps god is Schizophrenic thus it is perfectly acceptable that he is three entities.