Quote:
Originally Posted by OBW
I question whether mixing the discussion of God’s unity/oneness with the discussion of the three personas He used to speak of His attributes is to muddy our understanding of God. God had a reason for introducing Himself as Father, Son and Spirit. Each has specific meaning. How fully independent these are, as in the presumption of separate human individuals is not clearly stated. Yet we clearly see evidence of their separateness in certain passages. On the other hand, our God is One.
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Orthodox theology says that Gos is one in nature (essence, substance), but not in number.
This really blows my brain away and "muddies my understanding".
One thing I am trying to show is that theology proper is something mysterious and complex. We have some things we are clear about, like God is one, but He is the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit; the deity and humanity of Christ, etc. But if we go deeper, we get lost - are Father, the Son and the Spirit persons or manifestations, for example? And what is person and how is it different from nature? This is just beyond our understanding. Therefore, we can hardly insist on our view and deny the salvation of those who disagree with us (like they did at Bereans). Hence, my main purpose is not to give ready answers (I just cannot), but to shatter some "traditional" notions and bow before the Greatness of our God!
PS. And I am somehow afraid to say that our God is not one in number. It kinda sounds like polytheism to me.
