Marietta, Ohio, November 17, 2010. This study of Colossians takes the doctrine of the Trinity seriously and applies it broadly. This means that it is assumed it to be true of God, and therefore true of God’s people because people are created in the image of God. People are not trinitarian in the same way that God is, but in a similar way. God’s trinitarian character is the “image” in which we have been created us because God’s trinitarian character is the way that He has revealed Himself to us. It is the “image” of Him that we are to “see” in Scripture.
The assumption of the reality of the Trinity adds a depth and texture to the biblical text that is not available apart from it. There is both unity and multiplicity, individuality and corporality, in the Godhead and in reality because of the divine role that God plays in reality. God’s identity is, then, both individual and corporate at the same time and without any loss of identity regarding the integrity of His wholeness or the individuals involved.
From the Foreword:
Ross raises the standard of the uniqueness of Jesus the Christ, the Messiah in this work. He points out that this uniqueness, the “singularity of Christ,” is enwrapped in the mind-boggling concept of the Trinity. Ross helps us struggle with this one-in-three and three-in-one contra human logic concept. Ross tells us, “The word singularity is defined as a trait marking a thing or person as distinct from others; a peculiarity.”(pg. 12) Christ is unique in all the world, in all the cosmos.
This work again and again highlights the “singularity” of the Trinity. God is not only distinct in His unreasonable three-in-one person, but also in being fully man, Jesus acts in many ways distinct from humanity. He stands out as the distinct beacon of what humans should be—loving, compassionate, merciful, righteous, immovably standing on principle, declaring sin wherever He finds it, calling for absolute justice, and having no reluctance to call to account those in authority. —Ted Bradshaw, B.A., M.Div.
The book is available through your favorite local or online bookstore, or from www.Pilgrim-Platform.org.
Thoughts? All of which can be found at:
http://www.earstohear.net/Kingdom/trinity.html
1 Thessalonians 5:18-23
Job 32:8-10
Proverbs 20:27
James 2:26
1 Corinthians 3:16-17
1 Corinthians 6:19
1 Corinthians 15:49-55
John 4:24
John 6:63
John 7:37-39
John 14:16-26
John 16:7-14
Genesis 2:7 & John 20:22
I admit I haven’t read the book but question the comment: “People are not trinitarian in the same way that God is, but in a similar way.”
Merry Chrsitmas
God Bless
Gary,
It seems that your question is not about whether people are trinitarian, but whether our trinitarianism comes from the same Spirit as God’s. Of course, it does. But we don’t have it in the same measure as God does. So, there are both similarities and differences.