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Him who is the Word of God incarnate. As the. rays of the sun do not need the
light of a torch to aid them, so also the teaching and doctrines of God's holy
word stand in no need of confirmation through the theories of philosophers. Our
only reason for adducing these passages from the writing of such men, therefore,
is to show that they have felt that it is contrary to reason to conceive of the
Deity as a barren unit, and that hence they have been compelled to admit that
some kind of plurality
(كثرة) exists in the divine nature. This fact may enable some
of our readers to understand that what the New Testament teaches on this subject
is not contrary to right reason, but is an answer to its demands for
information.
Finally, in the mind of every believer who prayerfully and without
prejudice studies the holy Scriptures, and especially the New Testament, no
doubt whatever can remain with regard to the truth of the doctrine of the
Trinity, though every man of understanding admits that this doctrine, like
every other revealed in holy writ, contains depths which he cannot fathom with
the short plumbline of his finite human intellect. He sees clearly that the
word of God makes it evident that God is One, and also that in the unity of
the divine nature there exist three most Holy Hypostases, of one and the same
Nature, Power and Eternity; possessed of one will, the Father, the Son, and
the Holy Spirit. Accepting this revealed teaching, the Christian is |
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DOCTRINE OF THE HOLY TRINITY
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able to believe in the truth of the Lord Jesus Christ's claim to be the Son
of God, one with His Father, the only Saviour and the one Mediator. He can also
accept the teaching of the Prophets, and Apostles, who spoke as they were moved
by God the Holy Spirit.1 He is thus enabled to know God, to love,
worship and serve Him, and to shun agnosticism and pantheism. He escapes from
the despair which darkens the hearts and lives of those who believe in a
relentless fate, for he is able to trust the Heavenly Father revealed in Christ
Jesus. Such a man admits that he has still much to learn regarding God Most High
and the nature of the Causer of causes. But he is content to wait in faith and
hope during his brief life here on earth, for he can say with the Apostle: 'We
2 know in part. . . . For now we see in a mirror, darkly; but then
face to face: now I know in part; but then shall I know even as also I have been
known.'
The doctrine of the Most Holy Trinity in Unity enables us to believe in the
incarnation of the Word of God, who is one with the Father. 3 Were it
not for the incarnation of the Son of. God it would seem as if God Most High had
left us alone to suffer pain, sorrow and death, like the gods spoken of by the
heathen philosopher Epicurus. Islam shows a tendency in this direction, as the
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