6 Q. How many persons are there in the Godhead?
A. There are three persons in the Godhead, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, and these three are one God, the same in essence, equal in power and glory (1 Jn. 5:7; Matt. 28:19).
According to Rex Rogers, several casinos in Las Vegas market to seniors. These include: Sam’s Town, The Gold Coast, Arizona Charlie’s, The Santa Fe. As Rogers states, “Casinos rob the poor-and the retired older generation-to give to the rich.”[Seducing America, Rogers, 122]
During the last couple of weeks I have been reading through the first two volumes of the Ante-Nicene Fathers. My goal has been to find clear and concise statements, from the fathers, on the Trinity. We have added many of their statements about the Godhead to the blog.
One thing we have not done is show all the statements regarding the Trinity. Specifically, we have not added every reference to the Father, Son or Holy Ghost. The volume of statements on each member would be overwhelming. Of course, as you would expect, much is said about the Son and His relationship to the Father. The Holy Ghost is normally mentioned in regards to the Son.
What I have found to be astounding is the volume of the early church fathers statements about the Trinity. I am amazed that anyone could possibly think the earliest Church had a non-Trinitarian understanding of God (they certainly are not familiar with the early writtings of the Church). Many of these fathers in the Ante-Nicene volumes knew the Apostles or were only a generation removed from the Apostles. Their view of God came from those who were friends of Jesus, or part of the first fruits of the Gospel. From their lips came a constant praise of the Father, Son and Holy Ghost.
As I begin reading volume 3 in the series, I have noticed a change in the understanding of the Theologians. We begin to see an explanation of the relationships with in the Godhead. We are treated to the beginnings of arguments about the Ontological and the Economical Trinity. And as we delve further, questions regarding Christ’s nature will begin to be developed.
But there is no doubt regarding the early church fathers, they believed in God as a Trinity, Father, Son and Holy Ghost. Is it any wonder that all Christians, past, present and future, have believed in the Trinity. It is with a great heavenly host that we worship our Trinitarian God.
Steve Johnson
“They are the children of gamblers. They’re left in hallways, hotel rooms, and along the walls of casino lobbies. Some are as young as six months. A security worker at Atlantic City’s Taj Mahal says, “On a scale of 1 to 10, the problem is a 10″.[Seducing America, Rex Rogers, 123]
“And the address (of Plato) in the Timaeus calls the creator, Father, speaking thus; “Ye gods of gods, of whom I am Father; and the Creator of your works.†So that when he says, “Around the king of all, all things are, and because of Him are all things; and he [or that] is the cause of all good things; and around the second are the things second in order; and around the third, the third,†I understand nothing else that the Holy Trinity to be meant; for the third is the Holy Spirit, and the Son is the second, by whom all things were made according to the will of the Fatherâ€.
Clement of Alexandria (AD 153 –217), The Stromata, or Miscellanies, book V, chpt 14, ANF vol. 2, Hendrickson Pub, 1999, pg 468
COMMENTS on the text.
Though we would not support Clements use of the texts of Plato, in regards to Plato’s formulation of the Trinity, we would hold that Clement had a clear understanding of the Trinitarian view of God’s nature. It is clear that early in the Church documents the doctrine of the Trinity was expounded and used as an apologetic, and philosophical defense for the faith. Clement was a Trinitarian.
Is Clement a primative Trinitarian? There are no primative Trinitarians, as this has been the biblical view from the very beginning. “Let Us make man in Our own image.” Steve Johnson
Robert Goodman wrote, “In 1991, a research survey reported in the Journal of Research in Crime and Delinquency indicated that as casino development expanded in Atlantic City, home buyers in nearby communities, sensing more crime in the area, offered lower prices.”
III. In the unity of the Godhead there be three Persons of one substance, power, and eternity: God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Ghost. The Father is of none, neither begotten nor proceeding; the Son is eternall begotten of the Father; the Holy Ghost eternally proceeding from the Father and the Son.
“Between 1990 and 1993 when the number of American households playing at casinos doubled from 46 million to 92 million, more than three-quarters of the increase..were located in economically decling communities, such as impoverished rural areas in Mississippi or the older industrial cities of Iowa, Illinois, Indiana, and Louisiana, and those which were being contemplated in such states as Ohio, Pennsylvania, and West Virginia.”[The Luck Business, Robert Goodman, p. 25, 26]
“…and giving thanks may praise, and praising thank the Alone Father and Son, Son and Father, the Son, Instructor and Teacher, with the Holy Spirit, all in One, in whom is all, for whom all is One…To whom be glory both now and for ever. Amenâ€.
ANF, Vol 2, Clement of Alexandria, The Instructor III, chpt xii, pg 295, Hendrickson Pub., 1999
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