THE PERSONALITY OF GOD by Dudley Marvin Canright

Seventh-day Adventist Publishing Association · Battle Creek, Mich. · Aug 29, 1878

THE PERSONALITY OF GOD.

By Dudley Marvin Canright

BY ELDER D. M. CANRIGHT.

TEXT: “But to us there is but one God, the Father, of whom are all things.” 1 Cor. 8:6.

THERE is but one true and living God. He is eternal, omnipotent, omniscient, omnipresent, just, holy, and worthy of all praise and worship. He is the Creator of all things, visible and invisible, of the heavens and of the earth. No one who reads the Old Testament can fail to notice that this is the great burden of those writings; viz., to set forth and enforce in every possible manner, and on every occasion, the great fact that there is but one true God, and that he is a living, conscious, intelligent Being, possessed of feeling, affection, and sympathy.

At the time when the Bible was written, nearly the whole world had adopted either Polytheism or Pantheism. Polytheism taught that there were many gods, even thousands of them. Athens is said to have had thirty thousand gods. Rome had its gods, Greece had its gods, Egypt had its gods. Each was willing to allow that the others’ gods were just as good as its own. Every nation, every city, and even every household, had its peculiar god. In opposition to this, Moses and the prophets set forth the grand fact that this doctrine of many gods was a lie, and that there was but one God, Jehovah, the living God.

The doctrine of Pantheism at that time also prevailed largely. It teaches that everything is God,—the sun, the stars, the earth, water, fire,—everything. Put them all together and you have God. But this monstrous error the Bible denounces, and sets forth in its stead the truth,—that all these material things were created by a living, intelligent, personal Being, who is infinitely above them all. This doctrine is so plainly taught in the Bible that it is scarcely necessary to argue it at length. We will quote a few of the plainest scriptures upon this point, asking the reader to notice them particularly:

“Thou shalt have no other gods before me.” Ex. 20:3. All others were false.

“Unto thee it was showed, that thou mightest know that the Lord he is God; there is none else beside him.” Deut. 4:35. This declaration is emphatic. There is no God beside the Lord.

“Hear, O Israel! The Lord our God is one Lord.” Deut. 6:4. Here we strike the key-note of the doctrine of the Deity. “The Lord our God is ONE Lord.” Not many, not a thousand, not a hundred, not ten, not three, but only ONE,—one God.

“See now that I, even I, am he, and there is no god with me.” Deut. 32:39.

“Thou art great, O Lord God; for there is none like thee, neither is there any God beside thee.” 2 Sam. 7:22.

“Thou art the God, even thou alone, of all the kingdoms of the earth; thou hast made heaven and earth.” 2 Kings 19:15. This one God is the Creator of the heavens and the earth.

“Thou, even thou, art Lord alone; thou hast made heaven, the heaven of heavens, with all their host, the earth, and all things that are therein, the seas, and all that is therein, and thou preservest them all.” Neh. 9:6.

“For thou art great, and doest wondrous things; thou art God alone.” Ps. 86:10.

“Before me there was no God formed; neither shall there be after me.” Isa. 43:10. This is very strong language. “Before me there was no God formed, neither shall there be after me.”

“I am the first, and I am the last; and beside me there is no God. . . . Is there a God beside me? yea, there is no God; I know not any.” Isa. 44:6, 8.

“I am the Lord, and there is none else, there is no God beside me.” Isa. 45:5. “I am God, and there is none else.” Verse 22. No comments of ours can make these declarations plainer. There is just one eternal God and no more,—one who is the Author and Father of all things.

Turning to the New Testament, we find the same doctrine taught just as plainly as in the Old. Neither Moses nor the prophets ever set forth the unity of God more strongly than Jesus himself. He taught it and reiterated it many times. Thus he says: “The first of all the commandments is, Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God is one Lord; and thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul. . . . And the scribe said unto him, Well, Master, thou hast said the truth; for there is one God; and there is none other but he.” Mark 12:29–32.

The scribe said, “There is one God, and there is none other but he.” To this declaration Jesus assented. “And this is life eternal, that they might know thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent.” John 17:3. Jesus says his Father is the only true God. “But Trinitarians contradict this by saying that the Son and Holy Ghost are just as much the true God as the Father is. Now were I, on going into a place, to inquire for a minister of the gospel, and one were to inform me that Roger Roe was the only minister of the gospel in the place, and another were to tell me that two other persons were just as truly ministers of the gospel as Elder Roe, surely the latter would contradict the former. And precisely so do Trinitarians contradict the Saviour in this text.”

“There is none other God but one. For though there be that are called gods, whether in heaven or in earth (as there be gods many, and lords many); but to us there is but one God, the Father, of whom are all things, and we in him; and one Lord Jesus Christ, by whom are all things, and we by him.” 1 Cor. 8:4–6.

Says the great apostle, “There is none other God but one,” and “there is but one God, the Father, of whom are all things.” He tells us who this one God is. It is not the Holy Ghost; it is not Jesus Christ, but it is the Father. Gal. 3:20; 1 Tim. 1:17. There is, then, only one wise God. 1 Tim. 2:5; Deut. 6:4. Those who are familiar with the Bible will see that I have selected only a few of the plainest texts upon this doctrine. How the doctrine of the trinity, of three Gods, can be reconciled with these positive statements I do not know. It seems to me that nothing can be framed which more clearly denies the doctrine of the trinity, than do the scriptures above quoted.

And then the Bible never uses the phrases, “trinity,” “triune God,” “three in one,” “the holy three,” “God the Holy Ghost,” etc. But it does emphatically say there is only one God, the Father. And every argument of the Trinitarian to prove three Gods in one person, God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Ghost, all of them of one substance, and every way equal to each other, and all three forming but one, contradicts itself, contradicts reason, and contradicts the Bible. Any one who is familiar with the teachings of Trinitarians will readily see that we do not at all misrepresent them in the following statements:—

They place the Father first in the trinity, and the Son second, and the Holy Spirit third. If they are all equal, why do this?
They have a mediator between men and the Father, but not between men and the Son or the Holy Spirit. Then they do not themselves regard them as equals.
The Son prays, but the Father does not.
The Son has a body, but neither the Father nor Spirit has, according to them.
The Son died, but neither the Father nor the Spirit have seen death.
They do not pray to the Son in the name of the Father, as they do to the Father in the name of the Son.
The Father does not plead with the Son, as the Son does with the Father.
They do not offer any sacrifice to the Holy Ghost, as they do to the Father.
Their continual effort to prove the Son equal with the Father is virtually proof that he is not. They never try to prove the Father equal with the Son.

According to Trinitarians,—

Greater and less imply perfect equality. “My Father is greater than I.” John 14:28.
The Sender and Sent are both one. “Thou didst send me.” John 17:8.
The self-existent God has a Father. John 20:17.
The expressions one and three mean the same. Eph. 4:6.
The Father and Son are the same. Matt. 3:17.
Christ prayed to himself.
Jesus was that Father who sent him.
He was that God who gave him.
They teach that God sent himself, came out from himself, prayed to himself, thanked himself, bore witness of himself, went back to himself, sits at the right hand of himself, is his own Father and his own Son, pleads with himself, left Heaven, and was there all the time.
Jesus is very God and very man.
He is the invisible God, but was often seen.
He is the immortal God, but he died.
He is the omnipotent God, but an angel strengthened him.
He is the omniscient God, but did not know the day and hour of his appearing. Mark 13:32.
He is equal with the Father, and yet is the Father.
He is the Son, but is as old as the Father.
He is as great as his Father, though his Father is greater than he. John 14:28.
He is the begotten Son, and the unbegotten God.
He has a Father, and is the God who has no Father.
Divinity and humanity were united, never to be divided (so say the creeds), yet the divinity forsook the humanity on the cross.
They are never to be divided; yet one was dead, the other living.
God has no body, yet “he took again his body.”—Creeds.
God is eternal, but was “begotten before all worlds.”
The Son has a Father, but the Father has no Father.
The Father has a Son, but the Son has no Son.
God never gives thanks, but the Son does.
The Father is never second, but the Son always is.
God does not receive his power from another, but the Son does.
The Father was never crucified, never forsaken by his God, and did not receive his life from another, but all this is true of the Son.

Trinitarian creeds contradict the word of God thus:—

CREEDS SAY:　　　　　　　　　　　 BIBLE SAYS:

Trinity.
Triune.
God is three.
God is three Lords.
His name is three.
Holy three.
God the Spirit.
God died for us.
Worship the Trinity.
When we pray say, “Holy Trinity.”—Ep. Pr. Book.
The Son and Holy Ghost are as much the true God as the Father.
Christ is equal with God.

God. Gen. 1:1. One. God is one. Gal. 3:20. God is one Lord. Deut. 6:4. His name is one. Zech. 14:9. Holy one. Isa. 12:6. The Spirit of God. Gen. 1:2. The Son of God died. Matt. 27:54. Worship God. Rev. 22:9. When ye pray say, “Our Father.” Luke 11:2. “Our Father,” that they might know thee, the ONLY true God. John 17:3. “My Father is greater than I.” John 14:28.

The Bible says nothing about the trinity. God never mentions it, Jesus never named it, the apostles never did. Now men dare to call God, Trinity, Triune, etc. It is a great thing to name our God. We may name our horse, our child; but who presumes to name God? The child should not name its father. We should not name God.

God is self-existent, and the source and author of all things,—of angels, of men, of all the worlds,—of everything. Thus Paul says, “For of him, and through him, and to him, are all things; to whom be glory forever. Amen.” Rom. 11:36.

He is the source of all life and immortality. Thus, speaking of the Father, Paul says, “Who only hath immortality, dwelling in the light which no man can approach unto.” 1 Tim. 6:16. Notice that this glorious God is the only one who, in himself, possesses immortality. That is, he is the fountain-head, the source of all life and immortality. Even Jesus Christ, the Son of God, derives his existence and his life from the Father, for so he himself says, “As the living Father hath sent me, and I live by the Father, so he that eateth me, even he shall live by me.” John 6:57. “For as the Father hath life in himself; so hath he given to the Son to have life in himself.” John 5:26. This statement is unequivocal. The Father has life in himself, and in his great love for his Son he bestows the same gift upon him; but it will be noticed that the Father is the one from whom the gift came.

In harmony with this, the apostle says, “But to us there is but one God, the Father, of whom are all things, and we in him; and one Lord Jesus Christ, by whom are all things, and we by him.” 1 Cor. 8:6. How carefully Paul distinguishes between the Father and the Son. He says, “The Father, of whom are all things,” and “Jesus Christ, by whom are all things.” The Father is the source of everything. Jesus is the one through whom all things are done. All the authority, the glory, and the power of Christ he received from his Father. It was given to him, he had it not in himself. “And Jesus came and spake

unto them, saying, All power is given unto me in Heaven and in earth.” Matt. 28:18.

A belief in this doctrine is very important. Indeed, it cannot be too strongly insisted upon. Jesus even declares that the knowledge of this truth is necessary to eternal life. “And this is life eternal, that they might know thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent.” John 17:3.

We must know the Father as the only true God. Then there is no true God besides the Father. But we must also know his Son Jesus Christ, whom he has sent. How simple and plain is this doctrine, and how abundantly sustained by the Holy Bible.

(To be continued.)