The Trinity: The Classic Study of Biblical Trinitarianism

Rating:
Summary: answered my questions
Review: I had a lot of questions about the Godhead. The Lord used this book to answer everyone of them.

Rating:
Summary: One of THE Definitive Books on the Trinity
Review: This book is about 100 years old now, but the many truths expressed in this book are truly timeless. I found much of the material in this book to be just as relevant today as it has ever been, with almost none of the material being dated at all. This is truly one of the preeminent books on the truth of Trinitarianism.

In this book, Bickersteth attempts to demonstrate the truth of the Trinity by showing the personhood and deity, as articulated in Scripture, of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. In this book, Bickersteth brutally refutes various objections to Trinitarianism, mainly voiced by the Unitarians of his day. In the end, the reader is left with a comprehensive sense that to deny Trinitarianism is to make a mockery of Scripture, since the Bible exhaustively demonstrates the truth of the Trinity.

Among many highlights in this book, the biggest is clearly Bickersteth's exhaustive Scripture examination and comparison. In the chapters where he attempts to establish the coequal deity of the Son with the Father, Bickersteth analyzes and compares over 100 Scripture passages to show that the same phraseology that is used in Scripture to establish the divinity of the Father is also used to establish the divinity of the Son. Bickersteth goes on to conduct a similar Scripture comparison in demonstrating the divinity of the Holy Spirit. Bickersteth, in addition to establishing the divinity of the three persons of the Godhead, also effectively demonstrates that each Person is unique, personal, and in possession of an individual will, though the wills of all three are in perfect unison. This effectively heads off the assertion that Father, Son, and Spirit are merely three manifestations of the same person, rather than "three who's of one what". Oneness pentecostalism is one of the many movements that argues in favor of the three manifestations concept, but this book effectively shows that in order to truly embrace this idea, one has to conduct major spiritual gymnastics in order to get away from what Scripture clearly teaches on this point.

The only area of this book that I thought could have been improved concerned the functional subordination aspect of Trinitarianism seen in Scripture. Bickersteth does touch on this in a couple of places, but not exhaustively. The coequality aspect of Trinitarianism is a difficult concept to understand in light of the offices each Person appears to hold. But what should be clear from Bickersteth's book is that without regard to roles, each Person of the Godhead is equally divine and equally due our worship as a matter of ontology.

But with the exception of this one regret where I wish Bickersteth had been more thorough, this book is truly a classic on Trinitarianism that has stood the test of time, mainly because the truths it depicts are timeless and eternal. This is a must read for anyone who wants to gain a better understanding of the truth of Trinitarianism and how to combat objections with massive amounts of Scriptural support.

Rating:
Summary: One of THE Definitive Books on the Trinity
Review: This book is about 100 years old now, but the many truths expressed in this book are truly timeless. I found much of the material in this book to be just as relevant today as it has ever been, with almost none of the material being dated at all. This is truly one of the preeminent books on the truth of Trinitarianism.

In this book, Bickersteth attempts to demonstrate the truth of the Trinity by showing the personhood and deity, as articulated in Scripture, of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. In this book, Bickersteth brutally refutes various objections to Trinitarianism, mainly voiced by the Unitarians of his day. In the end, the reader is left with a comprehensive sense that to deny Trinitarianism is to make a mockery of Scripture, since the Bible exhaustively demonstrates the truth of the Trinity.

Among many highlights in this book, the biggest is clearly Bickersteth's exhaustive Scripture examination and comparison. In the chapters where he attempts to establish the coequal deity of the Son with the Father, Bickersteth analyzes and compares over 100 Scripture passages to show that the same phraseology that is used in Scripture to establish the divinity of the Father is also used to establish the divinity of the Son. Bickersteth goes on to conduct a similar Scripture comparison in demonstrating the divinity of the Holy Spirit. Bickersteth, in addition to establishing the divinity of the three persons of the Godhead, also effectively demonstrates that each Person is unique, personal, and in possession of an individual will, though the wills of all three are in perfect unison. This effectively heads off the assertion that Father, Son, and Spirit are merely three manifestations of the same person, rather than "three who's of one what". Oneness pentecostalism is one of the many movements that argues in favor of the three manifestations concept, but this book effectively shows that in order to truly embrace this idea, one has to conduct major spiritual gymnastics in order to get away from what Scripture clearly teaches on this point.

The only area of this book that I thought could have been improved concerned the functional subordination aspect of Trinitarianism seen in Scripture. Bickersteth does touch on this in a couple of places, but not exhaustively. The coequality aspect of Trinitarianism is a difficult concept to understand in light of the offices each Person appears to hold. But what should be clear from Bickersteth's book is that without regard to roles, each Person of the Godhead is equally divine and equally due our worship as a matter of ontology.

But with the exception of this one regret where I wish Bickersteth had been more thorough, this book is truly a classic on Trinitarianism that has stood the test of time, mainly because the truths it depicts are timeless and eternal. This is a must read for anyone who wants to gain a better understanding of the truth of Trinitarianism and how to combat objections with massive amounts of Scriptural support.

Rating:
Summary: Outstanding book in support of the Doctrine of the Trinity
Review: This was my textbook in a seminary course on Doctrine of the Trinity. I have never seen such a clear point by point proof of the Doctrine of the Trinity. Bickersteth was writing about a hundred years ago in response to Unitarian opposition to the doctrine in England. Just Bickersteth's writing style makes this book a joy to read. He goes overboard in with politeness in dealing with a sensitive issue addressing his opponents with genuine love and concern in his words. He very adequately proves that the doctrine is a biblical doctrine. After reading this book with an open mind and an honest heart, the only way to get around accepting that the bible teaches the Doctrine of the Trinity is to refuse to accept what is written as authoritative. Many other excellent books deal with the subject of Textual Criticism. If after reading Bickersteth's book you still oppose the Doctrine of the Trinity, read some books on Textual Criticism. It's amazing how much evidence there is to support being able to trust the accuracy of the biblical texts. At there very least, if this book doesn't change your mind you'll have no doubts whatsoever about why adherents to the doctrine believe what they do.