Did Jesus' Apostles believe in One God or God as a Triune?

Question

In other words, did the Apostles believe Jesus was God? or that Jesus was separate from the Holy Spirit and separate from the Father, the Almighty God?

Great answers everyone! This truly helps. I appreciate the intelligent feedback. =^D

FYI: I believe in giving thumbs up, for honest effort, even if the opinion is unpopular. I think the thumbs down is an unnecessary option. Scripture truly helps buy-in. =)

What a minute .... is that you? Email me for verification ... then I can tie your shoes, silly!

{{{{RAMJET HUG}}}} I need closure on this Q also dear friend, hence the necessity for asking the smart folk of R&S. I am lost without y'all!

Answer 1

yes, the apostles understood Jesus was God.

some verses you may not have considered:

1. Isa. 9:6 - "For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given: and the government shall be upon his shoulder: and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace."

who was the child referred to?? ... JESUS CHRIST.
He name shall be...
"the mighty GOD",
"the everlasting FATHER".

2. Acts 9:1-5 ... when God struck Saul (paul) down on the
on the road to demascus, Saul asked the LORD who He was?? GOD answered, "I AM JESUS whom thou persecutest."

3. John 20:28 - the apostle thomas finally realized that JESUS = God... he said to Jesus, "My Lord and my God."

in other words, thomas said that Jesus & God are one & the same.

4. Colossians 2:9 - (referring to JESUS...)
"For in him dwelleth all the fulness of the Godhead bodily."

this disputes Jesus being the "2nd person in the Godhead".
this scriptures clearly says all the Godhead (Father, Son & Holy Ghost) is IN JESUS.

if you believe in a Trinity, you can't believe Col. 2:9.

5. Matt. 1:23 - "Behold, a virgin shall be with child, and shall bring forth a son, and they shall call his name Emmanuel, which being interpreted is, GOD with us."

who was the child?? JESUS
what does Emmanuel mean? GOD with us
JESUS = GOD

GOD wrapped in flesh (Jesus) does not create another diety.

catholics who believe in a Trinity believe there are 3 dieties.
protestant churches also believe in the Trinity.
a couple of years ago, the pope tried to make Mary the 4th diety.

there is ONE GOD... not divided up into 3 ... you can't divide God.
even Jesus Himself said He was GOD.

the false doctrine of the Trinity was made up in the 300's. just b/c people have believed & taught a false doctrine doesn't make it right.

why argue with scripture??

Answer 2

Since we know Gods word never changes, we can assume then that they knew full truth then, and knew that Jesus was part of the Godhead. JEsus doesnt preach in half truths. Half truths are a lie
The triune God consists of three, three of the Godhead operating as One , specific in purpose and ministry. God tells us JEsus is also God and so is the Holy Spirit.
and of course Father God is God Many say the trinity word isnt used. Of course not. that word wasnt used then. But the words to describe it were. Triune God is pretty clear. THREE.
and scripture tells us Jesus is God and the Holy Spirit is God. So when ppl wont accept that, its becasue they dont want to. for whatever the reason. Its just there folks.

Answer 3

Here is a quote from an article I just found that I found interesting. Keep in mind that the author is a staunch Trinitarian: From Jesus as Θεός [God]: A Textual Examination By Brian James Wright "From Aland to Zuntz, every major NT scholar has explored the canon of the NT for texts that call Jesus θεός [God]. While this may seem like a painless pursuit with plenty of “proof-passages,” several stumbling blocks quickly emerge. "No author of a synoptic gospel explicitly ascribes the title θεός to Jesus. Jesus never uses the term θεός for himself. No sermon in the Book of Acts attributes the title θεός [God] to Jesus. No extant Christian confession(s) of Jesus as θεός [God] exists earlier than the late 50s. Prior to the fourth-century Arian controversy, noticeably few Greek MSS attest to such “Jesus-θεός” passages. And possibly the biggest problem for NT Christology regarding this topic is that textual variants exist in every potential passage where Jesus is explicitly referred to as θεός [God]. This plethora of issues may provoke one to repeat, for different reasons, what a Gnostic document once confessed about Jesus, “Whether a god or an angel or what I should call him, I do not know.” " Actually, every verse involving Christ's Godship has ambiguities. The author concludes with a chart of verses, of which on John 1:1; 20:28; Titus 2:13; and 2 Peter 1:1 are categorized as "certain" in calling Jesus God. John 1:1 - the "God" of John 1:1c is considered qualitative by most scholars. It is not pointing at an identity, but at qualities that the word has. John 20:28 - lacks a verb, hence it is ambiguous. It could very well be in the "Nominative of Exclamation." It fits the requirements. Titus 2:13 - this involves the "Granville Sharp Rule," which most evangelical scholars accept. However it is not accepted in all quarters. 2 Peter 1:1 - also involves the "Granville Sharp Rule." However, there are textual variants found in early manuscripts that disqualify it.

Answer 4

They like many did not understand the true nature of the God head until after Jesus had died on the cross. After that he came back and spent 40 days teaching them. God is the one and true God. Jesus is his oldest son that has been given all Gods power. He after death sits at Gods Right hand having all that God has. The holy Ghost is also a member of the God head who resides in spirit form to help all that will come to God. They are all three seperate individuals, who through perfection think alike and have the same goals. The god head is something that is hard to underastand with our limited knowlege. The apostles tryed to explain it by showing several different instances where the three were seperate but had one mind and goal. The babtism of Jesus is the best example I think.

Answer 5

One God.
The trinity didn't come about until the 4th century A.D.
The triune godhead comes from the Greek.
Jesus Never made himself equal to his God and Father...NEVER.
He was God's masterworker, before the founding of the universe,the angels and the earth.
Jesus is the only spirit-begotten Son of God.
Son of God, a god, not thee Almighty God,
not thee Alpha and Omega.
Judaism is a Monotheism based faith, they always, and only worshipped One God.
Except of course, when they turned away from the true God.

Answer 6

John 1:1 " In the beginning was the word and the word was with God and the word WAS God" John 1:14 "And the word was made flesh and dwelt among us" Jesus is the word of God and that friends means he is God! 3 roles 1 Diety. I am a father to my parents son to my children I have a spirit in me but I only see 1 of me in the mirror. We are all Body soul and spirit that is we have our fleshly body our soul which is our eternal being and the spirit which giveth life which is from God BUT we are only one entity. God Bless

Answer 7

wow good question!
The apostles were called by Jesus Himself, so I suppose Jesus knew that their spirits were open to the Spirit of God. There is vast amounts of time that are unaccounted for during the 3 year ministry of Jesus - the gospel only accounts for those events that are important to furthering the gospel. We don't know what the group talked about in private, or how Jesus taught them, or how they responded.... all we know is that by the end of His ministry, they believed with all their hearts that He was Who He said He was.
Peter had to be convinced, but He loved Jesus enough to forget that he was on the water when He jumped off the boat to run into Jesus' arms. Thomas didn't fully believe until he put his hand into Jesus' side (ew)
I think at the time of the baptism of fire, they all came to a perfectly pure understanding of Who the trinity was. How could they not? standing there speaking in foreign languages and understanding each other.... man the laughter alone must have been incredible, but the movement of the Spirit was so overwhelming that I'm sure there were hundreds who were prostrate with worship.

Jesus must have taught them the mysteries of His divinity while they were together. They might not have got it then (except maybe John, who, in my opinion, was probably much like a child in his belief - not immature, but with great faith), Peter "got it" when Jesus asked him "who do YOU think that I am?"
So I suppose, I hope..... (now that my head hurts) I've answered your question??
have i? please say yes cause I'll be thinking of this all day now LOL

Love and blessings ((((((( Dr.G))))))) :)

Answer 8

Good question. My best take on it is, that obviously they believed in Jesus, and He told them that if they had seen him they had seen the father, (rather vague though for them to understand it in those times), and He told them that after He left them, He would send them a comforter. Clear as mud, right? My guess is that they kinda sorta maybe understood the God the father and God the Son, but the Third party is a mystery, even now...

Answer 9

God is God, Jesus is God, and the Holy Spirit is God; All separate yet all God at the same time.

Answer 10

Very good question. I believe that the disciples of Jesus believed in the Triune God, with Jesus being the Son of God. Believing in the Trinity did not mean that they considered God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit as 3 separate entitities, but rather that all 3 were aspects of ONE God. The apostles recognized Jesus as the Son of God, therefore, they did not say, "here is God". They also recognized the presence of the Holy Spirit when it came upon them as tongues of fire during Pentecost. They recognized the separateness of each aspect of God, but considered them all as part of one God.