T HE K I N G ’ S B U S I N E S S
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At the outset it should be clearly understood that whilst this is a doctrine of revelation alone, it is arrived at by induction from the totality of Scripture evidence, and not stated in so many words. The word “ trinity” does not occur in Scripture, and yet the doctrine of the Trinity is clearly witnessed to. But no finite mind can ever comprehend fully the mystery of the Godhead. It is not a subject for intellectual speculation or theorizing; it is to be accepted on the evidence of the Word and acted upon. Scripture assumes by its whole language the existence of One God, manifested in three Persons, a Trinity in Unity. How this can be is to us impossible to under stand, but the fact remains. “ Hear, O Israel: Jehovah our God is one Jehovah” (Deut. 6:4; Mark 12:29). Nothing could be plainer than that. At the same time, we see evidence for three Persons in the Godhead: The Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. In the^ words of the late Bishop of Durham: “ Each has His nature, the entire Divine nature, which is quality, not quantity. Each is truly God. Each is necessarily and eternally one in Being with the Others: there are not three Gods. Each is not the Oth ers: there are three Persons.” In proof of this we get such texts as 2 Cor. 13:14; 1 Cor. 12:4-6; 1 Pet. 1:2; Rev. 1;4, 5; and finally the “ cardinal text” , as Professor Orr calls it, “ Baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost” . Here we have one name, not three names. In the 014 Testament there is at least the suggestion of the Trinity in Unity. (1) In the plural noun Elohim, God, which is always used with a singular verb. (2) Again, in a large range of passages a Being appears whose char acter is at once that of Messenger and Master, Angel of Jehovah and Jehovah. See e. g. Gen. 16:10; 22:11; 31:11-13; Num. 22:32; Josh. 5:13-6:-2; Mai. Mai. 3:1.
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By J. R. CALDWELL
UDGE nothing before the time until the Lord come." It is important to _■ascertain the meaning of such a Scripture as this. It is often quoted, as well as Matthew 7:1, “ Judge not, that ye be not judged,” to
support the idea that a Christian has no right to discern between believer and unbeliever; or, again, that we have no right to condemn that which we per ceive to be contrary to the Word of God. But that this cannot be the mean ing of these Scriptures is evident from chapter 6:3-12, where the apostle forms his own judgment concerning the evil-doer, and then calls upon' the as sembly to judge, showing that the Church is a sphere of'judgment within which the saints are called to judge: “ Do not ye judge those that are within? But those that are without God judg- eth.” A believer is commanded to marry “ only in the Lord” (1 Cor. 7:39) — then in such a case he must judge. The evident meaning of such Scrip ture is, that we have not the power or the right to Judge hearts or motives. Actions and ways we can compare with the Word of God, and so form our judg ment concerning them— but man can not see the heart, man cannot discern the motives, therefore the final judg ment of all must be left till the Lord come—He searches tne hearts. To be sitting, perpetually in judgment upon others, attributing always the worst of motives, and at the same time to fail entirely in judging ourselves, is what the Word of God so uniformly declares to be evil: “ Let us not therefore judge one another any more: but judge this
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