T. A. Bosse. The Mystery of the Trinity Revealed. Union KY: Dove and Word, 2017. Print.
A friend who is a Jewish believer in Jesus once had a polite discussion with a rabbi about the Trinity. My friend simply read from the first two verses in the Bible:
In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. The earth was without form and void, and darkness was over the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God was hovering over the face of the waters. (Genesis 1:1-2)
He then asked the rabbi, “Is the Holy Spirit God?”
The rabbi understood. If the Holy Spirit were not God, then He must have been a creation like an angel, but He is clearly not that. He also moves and speaks and has a personality. My friend noted that even the Hebrew Scriptures portray a God of at least two persons. The real question dividing Christians and Jews (and others) is whether or not Jesus is God.
That is the focus of The Mystery of the Trinity Revealed.
It uses many well-known Bible verses and logical arguments. To those familiar with the Bible or orthodox Christian teaching, these are not new.
Bosse’s main contribution to the discussion focuses on the incarnation—God becoming human and being born from the Virgin Mary.
Orthodox teachers tell us that the sin nature of people is passed on through the father. Adam had been in charge, not Eve. God, in fact, said that the seed or offspring of woman—not man—would defeat the serpent. (See Genesis 3:15)
Nowadays we know more about fetal growth. The child in its mother’s womb is a completely separate entity. While the child is fed by the mother internally, it does not share any of its mother’s organs including her blood. Yes, half of the child’s genes come from the mother, but from her egg. The child has its own nature, its own blood, and its own genetic identity.
As God’s son, Jesus gets His humanity from His mother, but that does not include her inherited sin nature because that comes from the father’s side. Mary received that from her father. Jesus did not have that because God was His father and He was conceived by the Holy Spirit.
The life is in the blood, and Jesus’ blood was His own and not tainted by sin. In that sense He was a Second Adam. Thankfully for mankind’s sake, He did not succumb to the devil’s temptations like the first Adam, so He remained without sin. His blood could be shed to establish the New Covenant for the remission of sin.
Because His Father was the eternal, infinite God, Jesus is God, too, eternal and infinite. But because His mother was human, He was human and his finite body was capable of dying.
Bosse is careful. At times he seems a little repetitious or is explaining an objection that itself sounds unusual or esoteric. Nevertheless, he makes a pretty direct and clear case presenting evidence that Jesus is God. It should get any reader thinking.
Disclosure of Material: I received a complimentary copy of this book from the publisher through the BookCrash book review program, which requires an honest, though not necessarily positive, review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s CFR Title 16, Part 255: “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”