Hey Andy, what does “begotten” mean in John 3:16? I promise, I’m not trying to be antagonistic, I really want to understand your point of view. I come from an LDS/Mormon background, and while I don’t believe in a lot of what I believe in, the idea of the Trinity still confuses me. It doesn’t make sense to me that God, Jesus and the Holy Spirit are really one personage. If Jesus is God, then doesn’t that mean He wasn’t watching over the rest of the earth when He was man? Please take me seriously, for I really want to understand your point of view and to know what it means for you in the concept of trinity. Anyone could look up a definition of something, what I’m looking for is how you interpret it.
Hi, first off, I wasn’t taking you as being antagonistic. Also, these are really good questions! The Trinity can be difficult to understand, and has been for a really long time to a lot of people, both believers and non.
I was actually reading the beliefs of a Messianic Jewish site other day, and I think their translation of the Trinity makes the best sense to somebody who’s confused about it. They said that God revealed Himself throughout the Gospel in 3 ways, “Father, Son, and Holy Spirit”.
One way I’ve explained this to youth (and adults) is that God being a Trinitarian being is completely beyond our comprehension because we only know of singular beings, and our comprehension can only go as far as we can know. So I use the example:
God is 3 parts: God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit. But all 3 parts are 1 God:
God the Father
Jesus continued to point to Him…remember, Christianity is about a relationship with God through His Son (God the Son), Jesus Christ. And when we enter into this relationship, we receive the Holy Spirit.
God the Son
God the Son is Jesus, which is God in the flesh. But John also tells us in his first chapter that Jesus was the one who created everything that exists. This isn’t to say that the other 2 parts didn’t create, but insists that Jesus is in fact, God.
God the Holy Spirit
We know that the Holy Spirit dwells in God’s people, both in the New and Old Testaments. Genesis tells us that the Spirit of the Lord hovered over the waters, and Jesus talks of the Holy Spirit as being the mediator that’s needed in order for us to communicate with God, who also supplies us with spiritual gifts.
And all 3 persons are 1 God. That’s how God was able to be here in the flesh, while also watching over the rest of the earth.
Only Begotten Son
If we look at John 3:16, when Jesus is called God’s “only begotten Son”, the actual translation from the Greek is “God’s one and only Son.” John made this point because some off-religions and false teachers at the time said that God had other children, and that Jesus was just one of them. Being from the LDS, I’m sure you’re familiar with such teaching that Jesus and Satan were brothers. But John contradicts this teaching by making it a point to say that Jesus is the One and ONLY Son of God.
Regarding Jesus being God, and not being able to watch over the world while He was man. Yes, Jesus was not watching over the world while He was both God and man. God the Father and the Holy Spirit were watching over the world at that time, as they always do. Just as Jesus did before he came to the earth as both man and God, and has been doing since being resurrected from the grave. Any three of the trinity can be doing something different from the other personages at any given time. Yet they are one God. This is a concept that is beyond human comprehension, just as God is beyond human comprehension. However, it is a clear teaching of the bible. God is so much greater than us, that He cannot fully know His being, but we can clearly know of His love, His grace, and His care for each individual person.