ARTICLE 1
WE ARE TRINITARIANS


The Evangelical Methodist Church is a Church standing for those truths believed and taught by the founder of the Methodist Societies, the Rev. John Wesley, fellow of Lincoln. They believe that the Twenty-Five Articles of Religion as established by Wesley are true to the Bible, the inspired Word of God, and that these Articles best explain what the Bible teaches to be the truth as it is in Christ.

Article One - "Of Faith In The Holy Trinity" states, "There is but one living and true God everlasting, without body or parts; of infinite power, wisdom, and goodness; the Maker and Preserver of all things, both visible and invisible. And in unity of this godhead, there are three persons of one substance, power and eternity; the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost."

Evangelical Methodists do not believe in many gods nor in many ways to God. There is one God and one way to God-the Lord Jesus Christ, God manifest in flesh (Deuteronomy 6:4; John 1:14) who is alone the Way (John 14:6). No man can come to the Father but through the Son.

Evangelical Methodists believe in the Trinity: God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit (Holy Ghost).

They are co-eternal in existence, co-equal in power, wisdom, and goodness. God the Father to whom all power belongs has seen fit to designate that power to God the Son and that this power should be expressed through him (Matthew 28:18-20). In Him also dwells all wisdom, for in Him is all the fullness of the Godhead bodily.

Evangelical Methodists are not evolutionists. They believe that in the beginning God created. Again, God the Father expressed His creative power through God the Son for we read in John 1:1-2, "In the beginning was the Word and the Word was with God and the Word was God. All things were made by Him and without Him was not anything made that was made." The Son. in turn, used God the Holy Spirit as the agent of action and operation. In Genesis I it is the Holy Spirit that moves over the chaos and out of it brings form and order.

Not only is He the Maker of all things but He is also the Preserver of all things. Paul in Colossians states that Christ is not only Creator, but that through Him all things consist or hold together. No Christian who knows his Bible is alarmed by the wolf cries of "scientists, falsely so-called" who are crying a false alarm that the world is about to disintegrate, explode, or meet with some other dire fate. He still holds the world in the hollow of His hand, the winds and waves still obey His will and the stars that fought against Sisera are guided by His voice. The baby in the crib and the king on his throne live because He gives the breath of life. The sun that shines in its glory in the heavens and the unseen atom in a drop of water are the creatures of His plan and purpose.

In the Triune Godhead is perfect unity. God the Son speaks only the words the Father gives and lives to do the Fathers will. The Holy Spirits office is to take the things of Christ and make them known to us, thus working out in us the words and will of the Father expressed by the Son.

The following Scripture references will prove beneficial in the study of the first Article or Doctrine of The Evangelical Methodist faith: Genesis 1:1, 17:1; Exodus 3:13-15, 33:20;

Deuteronomy 6:4; Psalm 9:2, 104:24; Isaiah 9:6; Jeremiah 10:10; John 1:1-2, 4:24, 5:18, 10:30,16:13, 17:3; Acts 5:3-4; Romans 16:27; I Corinthians 8:4. 6; II Corinthians 13:14; Ephesians 2:18;Philippians 2:6; Colossians 1:16; 1 Timothy 1:17; 1 John 5:7,20; and Revelation 19:13.

The words in the Article, "one substance, three persons", are simply chosen to express as accurately as possible what is believed to be the true meaning of the statements of the Holy Scriptures, in which our Lord revealed all that can be known by man about the divine nature. As we study the language in which our Lord speaks of Himself, and His relation to the Father and the Holy Spirit, it becomes clear that there are two principal dangers to be guarded against (1) exaggerating the distinctions and thus separating the "Persons" and (2) explaining away the distinctions to the extent that ultimately their reality is denied.

While it is taught in Scriptures that the Persons are eternally distinct, it is implied with equal clearness that though distinct, they are not "separate," (John 10:30). The Father is the sole Fount of Deity from which the Son and the Holy Spirit from all eternity derive their divine being (See John 5:26and John 6:57). The Father is rightly said to be the First Person of the Holy Trinity, by a priority, not of time, but of order.

Godhead was communicated from the the Father to the son. Godhead was communicated by the Father and the Son unto the Holy Spirit. Again, it is not a priority of time, but of order. So the Spirit receiving the Godhead from the Father, who is the First Person, cannot be the First; receiving the same from the Son who is the Second cannot be the Second, but, being from the First and the Second must be of the Three the Third.

Bishop Bull states it thus, "The Father is the principle, of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and both are propagated from Him. This is by an internal and not an external production, from which it results that they are not only of the Father, but in the Father, and the Father in them. In the Holy Trinity one Person cannot be separated from the other."

Thus, there is perfect unity in the Godhead. This unity is assumed throughout both the OldTestament and the New Testament. We would refer you to the discourses in Matthew 3:13-17 andJohn, chapters 13 through 16. Paul links them together in closing benediction in II Corinthians13:14, "The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ and the love of God, and the communion of the HolySpirit be with you all." He links them together in Romans 15:30 and when writing to the Ephesians, chapter 4:4-6.