zondag 24 augustus 2008

E.W.Bullinger and the trinity doctrine

As a unitarian and a student of the bible, the reading of the Companion Bible by E.W.Bullinger brings with it a degree of frustration. E.W.Bullinger (Biography by Juanita Carey, copyright 1988, all right reserved, Published 1988. Printed in West Germany) was one of the foremost biblical scholars in the past few hundred years. Born 15th December 1837, he went on to write and publish some of the finset scholarly books on the bible ever.
Dr. V.P.Wierwille (founder and now deceased president of the biblical research and fellowship organisation, The Way International) once uttered at a meeting I attended that he understood that E.W.Bullinger though he wrote prolifically about the "trinity" in his writings, made the discovery in the latter part of his life that the trinity was not a biblically based truth. I have never been able to find any corroborating source for this statement until last week.
Below I copy some text from a web site (source reference is noted) which does just that. The statement of belief in the piece on the Bereans below is not shared by the author of this blog.

“About two months ago I received a small booklet in the mail from a friend who thought that I might be interested in what it had to say. I was. The booklet is titled Christ and Deity and was authored by a man named A. E. Knoch. He wrote it toward the end of the 19th century, and shows the clear distinctions between the Father and the Son. Now using Scripture only, and letting the Scriptures speak what they clearly have to say, it shows the roles in which they perfectly cooperate within their relationship in the unfolding drama of God's ongoing creation.
So persuasive was this booklet that E. W. Bullinger, the man who authored The Companion Bible, fell out of favor with nominal Christianity late in his life partly because he rejected the Trinity doctrine on the basis of Knoch's writings on this subject.”

From the Bereans web site.

http://cgg.org/index.cfm/fuseaction/Audio.details/ID/1508/Father-Son-Relationship-Part-1.htm

Our (the Bereans) Beliefs: God the Son



Jesus of Nazareth is the God of the Old Testament, the Christ, God incarnate, the prophesied Messiah, the Savior of mankind. He exists eternally with the Father, and all things were created through Him and for Him. Before His human birth, He revealed Himself to the patriarchs as "the Eternal" (YHWH) and by a variety of other names. He divested Himself of the majesty of His office to become human by means of birth to the virgin Mary. Though tempted in all points like other men, He lived sinlessly throughout His life, giving Himself to be crucified as the perfect atonement for mankind's transgressions of God's laws. after three days and three nights in the grave, He was resurrected as a divine spirit Being and ascended to the Father's right hand in heaven, becoming our High Priest, Advocate and Mediator before the Father. As such, He is technically the Dispenser of the Holy Spirit. He is now Head of the church, and shall return soon as King of kings and Lord of lords to establish the Kingdom of God on earth, sharing His rule with His resurrected brothers and sisters.

Scripture References:
John 1:1-3, 10, 14, 29-36; John 8:53-58; Colossians 1:13-20; John 3:16; Romans 5:8-9; Acts 2:33-35; John 15:26; John 16:7; Ephesians 4:7-8; I John 2:1-2; Hebrews 1:1-4; Hebrews 2:9-14; Hebrews 4:14-16; Hebrews 9:11-15; Ephesians 1:19-23; Philippians 2:5-7; Matthew 12:40; I Thessalonians 4:16; Revelation 5:9-10; Revelation 11:15; Revelation 19:11-16;

http://cgg.org/index.cfm/fuseaction/About.belief/ID/3/God-Son.htm

5 opmerkingen:

Research333 zei

Bullinger did not believe in life after death but in a form of soul sleep until the resurrection.He also did not believe in a literal hell Hades Sheol as given in the Old Testament or New Testament. So having contrary beliefs to historic Christian beliefs was not new including his rejection of the trinity. ‘Great people make great mistakes -small people make small mistakes and uses people make no mistakes at all.’ An old saying with some truth.

His own great book on figures of speech in the Bible he ignored as to the trinity. The synecdoche is a great example in depicting the trinity.
This figure of speech as in John 1:1 means ‘ a portion for the whole’ when it says and “...Word was [ always existed no beginning Gk.] God...” The Word or Jesus is Theos or God but not all of God as we have the Father and the Holy Spirit. Yes,Jesus or the Word was fully God John says so but in his books he speaks of the Father and the Spirit too. but so is the Father and the Spirit.
We illustrate. Man was made in the image and likeness of God. Gen.1:26-7. Paul,says man is body,soul and spirit.
Man is soul synecdoche some for the total or all man
Man is spirit same
Man is body same
Not three men but one man in number or being composed of three persons. So man is one or a compound unity and upon further analysis he is body,soul and spirt but there are three distinct persons of one and the same nature.
We can see unfalled man before sin in Gen.1:26-7 was a good example of the trinity:

God is Spirit synecdoche some for the total or all or God
God is Father
God is Son
God is a compound trinity or unity or one Being ( echad in Hebrew Det.6:4)but in number He is also one.

Research333 zei

Uses is useless
Unfalled is unfalled
No place to edit...

Research333 zei

Unfallen at work sorry

Research333 zei

Unfallen at work sorry

Research333 zei

But in number he is also three