The Republican. [volume] (Oakland, Md.) 1877-current, 1913-10-02
THE REPUBLICAN, OAKLAND, MD.

evidently confused, as is everybody who
has ever tried to prove that three can
be one or that one can be three.
The Bible presentation is quite
satisfactory and no mystery at all. The
Mystery comes with the error. The
Bible declares that Jehovah is the one
Almighty God, and that all other might
power and influence emanate from Hin
and is subordinate to Him. The one
ness between the Father and Son is the
oneness Of spirit or purpose or will, for
as Jesus said, | came not to do Mine
own will, but the will of the Father
He urged all of His followers to let thi!
same mind be in them which was also II
Him, namely, to have no will of theil
own, but to do the Fathers will HI
assured them that thus they would have
the same Holy Spirit that He had. L
was for this that He prayed, 81 pray
for those whom Thou hast given Me
that they all may be one, as Thou
Father, and | are one. :" If the Fathel
and Son were one in person, the prayer
would mean that the Church should b,
one inperson, which would benonsensical
But it does mean that the Father anC
Son are one in purpose and that all fol
lowers of Jesus were likewise to be one
with each other and with Him and will
the Father actuated by the same Di
vine purpose, guided by the will of the
Father as revealed to them.
THE LoGos WAS A GOD.
Ham" throws dust into the menta
eyes of your readers, whether inten
tionally or not. When discussing st
John /: l he says: THE Word wa.
God" the Greek verb which is transla
ted 70aS implies uncreated being, in dis
tinction from created" This is false
statement, as we are sure that every
Greek scholar and every authority viii
agree. We charge Ham" with either
not being a Greek scholar or being dis
honest in this statement.
The word god in the Bible signifies {
mighty one; as we read, There be
lords many and gods many, but to u:
there IS one God-the Father" | Cor
8: 6. According to Jesus own word;
He was the beginning of the creation Of
God. Who is Ham," that he SHOULD
contradict Jesus? Which shall we be-
lieve? If we believe Ham" we con
tinue in the confusion in which we have
been so long. If we accept Jesus
words, all the mystery of Trinity speed
lily dissolves before the sunlight OF
Truth. Jesus declared that He was not
only the first or beginning of Gods ere
alton, but that He was Jehovah's per.
sonal creation. 81 am the Alpha and the
Omega, the beginning and the end, the
first and the last. Rev l: II; 2I:6.
This is in full accord with John l: |,
which should read, I'm the beginning
tot Gods creation) was the Logos
Gods mouth-piece or messenger, His
Word and the Logos was with the Goo
and the Logos was a god. The same
was in the beginning with the God. AL
things were made by Him and without
Him was not one thing made that was
made. John IL 8.
1t is quite true that the little is not
in the Greek, but it is equally true that
the difference between the Greek Ian
guage and the English language is such
as to require in the English that the d
be added, in order to give the thought
of the Greek text.
In the Greek no article would have
been necessary had not two gods beer
discussed. The one word hhc0S, god,
would have been quite sufficient. But
since two gods were discussed and since
it was intended to show that there was
difference between them and that one
of them was superior, therefore the
Greek article was used when referring
to Jehovah, net IHeOS, and no article
at all before the word He0S when refer.
ring to the LOgos. But we repeat that
this distinction, which is clear enough
in the Greek can only be understood by
the English reader when the God is useC
for Jehovah, and god is used for the
LOgos.
Ham" relies upon John / | to prove
the Trinity, and it has failed him. Ii
proves that the one God was superior tC
the other god and so indicated by the
Greek artice-and it says not one word
about Hams third god. Why should
he be ignored if equal in power anC
glory and uncreated? WHY does st.
Paul similarly ignore the personality OF
the Holy Spirit and declare, IAN things
are of the Father and all things are by
the SOM" There is but one way to I'M
derstand the Bible and that is to accept
all of its statements and not to read
into them the fog and error of the dark
ages. With thanks, sincerely yonrs.
G. T. RUSSELL.