Welcome back to Defenders Voice. This is Dr.Paul. Thank you for joining us today. Our channel is all about answering your questions. Send your questions to info@doctorpaul.org. Visit our website to subscribe to our podcast. Today’s question is T.D.Jake’s view of God. Is it correct ? Excellent question.
T.D.Jakes believes that One God took 3 different manifestations at different times to reveal to us. In the Old Testament, he appeared as the Father, in the New Testament he appeared as the Son and now in the Church Age, he appeared as the Holy Spirit. So, there is one person appearing in 3 forms in 3 different ages.
I wish he were true because it makes my life easy when I introduce God to people. We take a lot of heat from Jews and Muslims for talking about the trinity. They say trinity came from pagan religions and Christians are polytheists, they are not monotheists.
Then, why are we believing in trinity even though it is a pain in the neck to explain it to skeptics? Because the Bible teaches it. If the Bible teaches it, we must accept it. We have no choice. The first objection I often hear is that the word ‘trinity’ is not in the Bible. But it is a logical flaw. The word ‘scientist’ was coined by William Whewell in 1833. Does that mean there were no scientists in the world before 1833? Science and scientist : those words were born long after the scientific method was invented. In the same way we coined the word ‘trinity’ after thoroughly establishing the truth of trinity in the Bible.
Jesus Christ our Lord clearly taught the trinity. In the Great Commission, he told his disciples,
“Go ye therefore, and teach all nations,
baptizing them in the name of the Father,
and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost.”
(Matthew 28:19).
We should baptize in the name of the Father, and of the Son , and of the Holy Ghost. It is not ‘in the names’. It is in the name. One name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost. Jesus spoke of 3 distinct individuals who exist independently and simultaneously.
When Jesus got baptized the Holy Spirit descended on Him like a dove. The Father spoke from heaven saying, ‘this is my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased’ (Matthew 3:17). Father in heaven, Son on the earth and the Holy Spirit in between – the three persons of the triune God are seen independently and simultaneously in one event.
In the Second Psalm, we read
“The LORD hath said unto me,
Thou art my Son; this day have I begotten thee”
(Psalm 2:7).
Here God the Father speaks about His Son.
Jesus said, “I and the Father are one” (John 10:30). He clearly says that there are two distinct individuals : Father and the Son, who are one. Trinity is one God in three persons. It is not three gods.
We are so used to the idea that there should be only one soul in one body. We anthropomorphize God. ‘Only one soul is allowed in each body. Only one person is allowed in God’. In a conjoined twin, two souls inhabit one body. In the triune God, three souls inhabit one divinity.
Lord Jesus Christ was a great man of prayer. We often find him praying intensely.
He can’t pray to himself. That is absurd, right?
He was praying to the Father. Before he left this world, Lord Jesus promised us his Holy Spirit. We read in John chapter 14,
“the Comforter, which is the Holy Ghost,
whom the Father will send in my name,
he shall teach you all things, and bring
all things to your remembrance,
whatsoever I have said unto you” (John 14:26).
The Comforter is the Holy Spirit. He is not Muhammad, the founder of Islam. Jesus said, ‘soon I will leave, the Father in heaven will send you the Holy Spirit.
While on the Cross, as he was dying, Jesus said, ‘Father, I commend my spirit into thy hands’ He can not commend his spirit into his own hands. So, Father and Son are two distinct individuals.
Jesus clearly taught us the trinity of God. One God in three persons. Three eternal persons. They loved each other. They respected each other. They served each other. They are in fellowship with each other. Without trinity, there would be just one person in God. That would make a very lonely God for an eternity. That would make God insufficient within Himself because He would need angels or human beings to have a relationship or fellowship with someone. The self sufficiency of God makes more sense if we believe that God exists in three independent, simultaneously existing individuals- Father, Son and the Holy Spirit.
So, T.D.Jakes is clearly false on the trinity of God.