els
Puritan Board Freshman
Hi all, I'm new to the board. I spent a good part of last night going through threads and using the search feature to see if I could find this question already answered, but didn't.
I've been talking with a Messianic Jew, who wants to know if one has to believe in the Trinity to be a Christian. I've shown him the Scriptures that most clearly show Jesus' Godship (John 1:1-18, Phil 2:6, etc.) I talked about how in the OT God revealed Himself to be a jealous God and would not share worship with any creature.
Now he's going at it from the Greek (this is usually what happens to me when witnessing to Jewish aquaintances- they go back to the original language and because I have VERY little Greek and absolutely no Hebrew, they can yank stuff all out of context, disregard how words modify each other, and "prove" whatever point they want because I'm unable to see where they've performed this feat of verbal sleight of hand. It takes me forever to find the resources I need to realize what they've done, and by then they've moved on and don't want to talk about it anymore. And I understand that may very well be God hardening their hearts. I just wish I could be a better witness for Christ.)
So now with the John 1 passage, he's saying that the Greek always says ho theos in referring to God, and in the passage above it merely says theos, and so he doesn't think that means Christ is God. I just thought theos meant God.
He has this idea that Christ is something far greater than men or angels, but something not God. Which has no Scriptural backing, of course. The idea of avowing the Trinity bothers him because he doesn't like to see something "unnecessary for salvation" being put up as a stumbling block for those of other religions who would believe otherwise. I did say, in essence, that just because we want something to be true doesn't mean it is true, and we have to trust God's revelation about Himself and not add our wishes into our beliefs.
I'm also getting to the uncomfortable point where I feel like I'm close to overstepping bounds as a woman witnessing to a man. Are there any resources on this that I could point him to so that he can see the truth presented?
I've been talking with a Messianic Jew, who wants to know if one has to believe in the Trinity to be a Christian. I've shown him the Scriptures that most clearly show Jesus' Godship (John 1:1-18, Phil 2:6, etc.) I talked about how in the OT God revealed Himself to be a jealous God and would not share worship with any creature.
Now he's going at it from the Greek (this is usually what happens to me when witnessing to Jewish aquaintances- they go back to the original language and because I have VERY little Greek and absolutely no Hebrew, they can yank stuff all out of context, disregard how words modify each other, and "prove" whatever point they want because I'm unable to see where they've performed this feat of verbal sleight of hand. It takes me forever to find the resources I need to realize what they've done, and by then they've moved on and don't want to talk about it anymore. And I understand that may very well be God hardening their hearts. I just wish I could be a better witness for Christ.)
So now with the John 1 passage, he's saying that the Greek always says ho theos in referring to God, and in the passage above it merely says theos, and so he doesn't think that means Christ is God. I just thought theos meant God.
He has this idea that Christ is something far greater than men or angels, but something not God. Which has no Scriptural backing, of course. The idea of avowing the Trinity bothers him because he doesn't like to see something "unnecessary for salvation" being put up as a stumbling block for those of other religions who would believe otherwise. I did say, in essence, that just because we want something to be true doesn't mean it is true, and we have to trust God's revelation about Himself and not add our wishes into our beliefs.
I'm also getting to the uncomfortable point where I feel like I'm close to overstepping bounds as a woman witnessing to a man. Are there any resources on this that I could point him to so that he can see the truth presented?