The Council of Trent and Trinitarianism

Meriam-Webster dictionary reads:

BEING

be·​ing | \ ˈbē(-i)ŋ  \

Definition of being

1a: the quality or state of having existence,

b(1): something that is conceivable and hence capable of existing,

(2): something that actually exists,

(3): the totality of existing things,

c: conscious existence : LIFE,

2: the qualities that constitute an existent thing : ESSENCE my being. especially : PERSONALITY,

3: a living thing, sentient beings, a mythical being especially : PERSON.

Is the Trinity god a being Or three beings? If the trinity God is one being, is He one person? The person believing in the Trinity god says, “No, being doesn’t mean person. God is three in persons, but one in being.” But “being”, as with “one in being”, is not “being” as in “a being”. “One in being” means in perfect agreement, or of the same “qualities” or “essence”.

The Father and Son qualify as one in perfect agreement and of the same divine nature, which is why Christ always dwelled in His Father’s bosom. And Adam and Eve also were one because they were of the same nature, essence, as well as one in heart and soul. Therefore it was said referring to them, “they two shall be one”, which could also have been said of the King and His precious only begotten Prince. And what of the Spirit? Adam was made a living soul when Jesus breathed into his nostrils. The soul of Adam pervaded his entire being, and even beyond. The glory clothing both Adam and Eve was the result of their souls. And the human soul is the human spirit. Isaiah makes this connection,

“With my soul have I desired Thee in the night; yea, with my spirit within me will I seek Thee early.” (Isa. 26:9). And Job, “Therefore I will not refrain my mouth; I will speak in the anguish of my spirit; I will complain in the bitterness of my soul.” (Job 7:11). and Hannah, “I am a woman of a sorrowful spirit: I have ... poured out my soul before the LORD.” (1Sam. 1:15). Our spirit within us is our soul.

“This is the book of the generations of Adam. In the day that God created man, in the likeness of God made He him; male and female created He them; and blessed them, and called their name Adam,” (Gen. 5:1,2). Since our spirit is our soul, and Father and Son made us in Their image, then Their Spirit is Their soul, and it is within each of Them. Romans 8:9 shows that each of Them has a Spirit. By an infinite union, the souls of “the LORD” and “my Lord” comes “the one Spirit” (Eph, 4:4), a synergy from Their union results in omnipotent and omniscient, creative power. And God used Adam and Eve, joined into one flesh to beget their own human race, doing by the oneness of human spirit and body the same image of process as Their one divine nature begat the progenitors of the human race.

In scripture, God is seen as one of two persons, real persons that can be quantified by normal mathematics. The doctrine of God is understandable to children. It need not be a mystery that covers over pagan philosophy. The doctrine of God was perfectly clear and plain to the old covenant Israel.

“I, even I, am the LORD; and beside Me there is no saviour.” (Isa. 43:11).

“Thus saith the LORD the King of Israel, and his Redeemer the LORD of hosts; I am the first, and I am the last; and beside Me there is no God.” (Isa. 44:6).

“Fear ye not, neither be afraid: have not I told thee from that time, and have declared it? Ye are even My witnesses. Is there a God beside Me? Yea, there is no God; I know not any.” (Isa. 44:8).

“I am the LORD, and there is none else, there is no God beside Me: I girded thee, though thou hast not known Me:” (Isa. 45:5).

“That they may know from the rising of the sun, and from the west, that there is none beside Me. I am the LORD, and there is none else.” (Isa. 45:6).

“Tell ye, and bring them near; yea, let them take counsel together: who hath declared this from ancient time? Who hath told it from that time? Have not I the LORD? And there is no God else; a just God and a Saviour; there is none beside Me.” (Isa. 45:21).

“Therefore hear now this, thou that art given to pleasures, that dwellest carelessly, that sayest in thine heart, I am, and none else beside Me; I shall not sit as a widow, neither shall I know the loss of children.” (Isa. 47:8).

“For thou hast trusted in thy wickedness: thou hast said, None seeth me. Thy wisdom and thy knowledge, it hath perverted thee; and thou hast said in thine heart, I am, and none else beside Me.” (Isa. 47:10).

Were we to ask a Hebrew proficient rabbi if Jehovah is one person or three, we would be insulting him, and, in an effort to make us go away, he would emphatically state, “One person!” And were we to dare to follow that with, “Is Yehovah one being or three?” we would hear his painful annoyance, “What are you trying to say? There is no difference between ‘person’ and ‘being’!” To a rabbi who knows the Old Testament Hebrew, Yehovah is a real person and a real being. So when we read the Old and New Testament testimonies of God, He is God the Father, “the only true God...O Father, glorify Thou Me...Holy Father, keep through Thine own name...I come to Thee”, “Him that sat on the throne, who liveth for ever and ever”. He is given all the singular pronouns He, Him, Thou, and the possessive pronouns, Thine, Thy.

“... surely I know that it shall be well with them that fear God, which fear before Him.” (Ecc. 8:12).

“Fear God, and keep His commandments.” (Ecc. 12:13). Shouldn’t this also refer to the Son of God who represented God the Father from the fall of man to the incarnation of the Son of man? Yes, this was the mystery that for ages had been hidden from human conception. “We speak the wisdom of God in a mystery, even the hidden wisdom, which God ordained before the world unto our glory: which none of the princes of this world knew: for had they known it, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory.” (1Cor. 2:7,8). But this hidden knowledge was revealed. “God hath revealed them unto us.” (1Cor. 2:10). And that left no more mysteries of God.

So Elohim and Jehovah of the Old Testament were actually Michael. The only begotten Representative of Jehovah alone could “reveal Him” (Matt. 11:27). Therefore, the Deity revealed throughout the whole Bible has never been three persons or beings. During the great controversy until its central focus of Christ’s cross, the Father set Himself aside lest He break forth upon them. During those extended ages of His absence, His only begotten Son accepted the reigns of the eternal government, with all of its punishment and heartache and painful presence of rebellion. He managed the sin problem under the authority resulting from His Father’s covenant that would be confirmed at the infinite offering up of Their one Spirit. On Calvary, at the Son’s “It is finished!” trumpet blast, the divine defendant became the divine plaintiff, and He could now legally redeem mankind because His Father had been reconciled to humanity through His offering up the dearly Beloved of His soul.

Now, there was a new force of attraction to present before fallen mankind that had existed in a lesser force—the greater attraction of beloved children over beloved animals. With His Father having been reconciled to fallen man, and having come back out of seclusion and present before Him, Jesus could mediate between weakened man and his omnipotent God, mediating in behalf of His tempted and accused children for the gift of His Father’s reconciled Spirit. The holy Child was the new connecting link. The true God had come out of hiding. And now it became known that, at the side of the Lord God Almighty, who had heretofore been a doubtful God of love(?), there was a beautiful son. Now beside the omnipotent God there was also an omnipotent Advocate, God’s dear Child. “Thy holy child Jesus” (Acts 4:27), “The Spirit of His Son” “whereby we cry, Abba Father.” (Gal. 4:6; Rom. 8:15).

And hearts began to open to the God of love who provided for such reconciliation with corrupted mankind. And out of such love came perfect victory over the corruption. Not two Gods. Not two gods. One divine Father of holy love, and His one divine holy beloved Child.

“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.” (1Cor. 8:5,6). (Paul here holds Jesus in a distinctly different status from the one God, His Father and ours.) Any paradigm that adds to this scriptural truth is a relic of tradition. Paradigms can be good and useful. However, many paradigms are founded upon error and must be overthrown.

An article on the Council of Trent:

“The Reformers had constantly charged ... that the Catholic Church had apostatized from the truth as contained in the written word. ‘The written word,’ ‘The Bible and the Bible only,’ ‘Thus saith the Lord,’ these were their constant watchwords; and ‘The Scripture, as in the written word, the sole standard of appeal,’ this was the proclaimed platform of the Reformation and of Protestantism.​

Scripture alone or Scripture and tradition?

‘The Scripture and tradition.’ ‘The Bible as interpreted by the Church and according to the unanimous consent of the Father,’ this was the position and claim of the Catholic Church. This was the main issue in the Council of Trent, which was called especially to consider the questions that had been raised and forced upon the attention of Europe by the Reformers. The very first question concerning faith that was considered by the council was the question involved in this issue.

There was a strong party even of the Catholics within the council who were in favor of abandoning tradition and adopting the Scriptures only, as the standard of authority. This view was so decidedly held in the debates in the council that the pope’s legates actually wrote to him that there was ‘a strong tendency to set aside tradition altogether and to make Scripture the sole standard of appeal.’ But to do this would manifestly be to go a long way toward justifying the claims of the Protestants. By this crisis there was developed upon the ultra-Catholic portion of the council the task of convincing the others that ‘Scripture and tradition’ were the only sure ground to stand upon. If this could be done, the council could be carried to issue a decree condemning the Reformation, otherwise not. The question was debated day after day, until the council was fairly brought to a standstill.

The Archbishop of Reggio

Finally, after a long and intensive mental strain, the Archbishop of Reggio came into the council with substantially the following argument to the party who held for Scripture alone: ‘The Protestants claim to stand upon the written word only. They profess to hold the Scripture alone as the standard of faith. They justify their revolt by the plea that the Church has apostatized from the written word and follows tradition. Now the Protestants’ claim, that they stand upon the written word only, is not true. Their profession of holding the Scripture alone as the standard of faith, is false.

PROOF: The written word explicitly enjoins the observance of the seventh day as the Sabbath. They do not observe the seventh day, but reject it. If they do truly hold the Scripture alone as their standard, they would be observing the seventh day as is enjoined in the Scripture throughout. Yet they not only reject the observance of the Sabbath enjoined in the written word, but they have adopted and do practice the observance of Sunday, for which they have only the tradition of the Church. Consequently the claim of “Scripture alone as the standard,” fails; and the doctrine of 'Scripture and tradition' as essential, is fully established, the Protestants themselves being judges.’

There was no getting around this, for the Protestants’ own statement of faith -- the Augsburg Confession, 1530 -- had clearly admitted that ‘the observation of the Lord’s day’ had been appointed by ‘the Church’ only.

The argument was hailed in the council as of Inspiration only; the party for ‘Scripture alone,’ surrendered; and the council at once unanimously condemned Protestantism and the whole Reformation as only an unwarranted revolt from the communion and authority of the Catholic Church; and proceeded, April 8, 1546, ‘to the promulgation of two decrees, the first of which enacts, under anathema, that Scripture and tradition are to be received and venerated equally, and that the deutero-canonical [the apocryphal] books are part of the canon of Scripture. …’

Inconsistency brings defeat

Thus it was the inconsistency of the Protestant practice with the Protestant profession that gave to the Catholic Church her long-sought and anxiously desired ground upon which to condemn Protestantism and the whole Reformation movement as only a selfishly ambitious rebellion against church authority. And in this vital controversy the key, the chiefest, and culminative expression, of the Protestant inconsistency was in the rejection of the Sabbath of the Lord, the seventh day, enjoined in the Scriptures, and the adoption and observance of the Sunday as enjoined by the Catholic Church.” Excerpeted from website The Council of Trent | Sabbath Truth

Doesn’t the principle of uniting biblical Sabbath truth + tradition’s Sunday keeping, that the article speaks of, bear a striking resemblance to the principle biblical Father and Son + tradition’s Trinitarianism. The Council of Trent was lost to the Reformation and the great persecution of Counter-Reformation commenced. Couldn’t the Trinitarianism in Adventism be the avenue to future persecutions of against their brethren in times of great catastrophies, non-Trinitarian Adventists under attack by fellow Trinitarian Adventists? This happened during the ancient, early Dark Ages, when the Church harnessed the power of the group by turning non-Sabbathkeeping multitudes to blame Sabbathkeepers for natural disasters. The comparisons of the past and the present are astounding and alarming.

Didn’t we seen this principle used concerning the mask-wearing crowds being turned against the non-mask-wearing individuals, blamed for the Covid-19 spikes? And aren’t we already seeing this phenomenon happening again between Covid-19 vaccinated 50% being turned against the 50% non-vaccinated? As the NIH-media alliance continues to exaggerate the statistics of Covid-19 deaths, and the government vaccine mandate takes effect, soon the vaccinated will be in the majority, and the un-vaccinated will come under tremendous fire, and probably fines. But this is only a practice model for the Trinitarianism-Sunday force that will sweep the world in order for the papal wound to be fully healed.