How Do Oneness Pentecostals Explain Paul's Greetings? by David K. Bernard Podcast recording (no venue stated in the delivered transcript) Kind: teaching Scripture: Romans 1:7, 1 Corinthians 1:3, Titus 2:13, Isaiah 44, Isaiah 45, Numbers 6:22-27, 1 Corinthians 1:2, Acts 2:21, Joel 2, Acts 4:12, Acts 22:16 Source: https://acts238.life/repository/sermons/david-k-bernard--how-do-oneness-pentecostals-explain-pauls-greetings Published by Acts 2:38 Life from the sermon transcript on that page. Free to copy and share with attribution. ------------------------------------------------------------ they do demonstrate a distinction between God and the son but that is one of deity and humanity and of the Incarnation and the atonement they do not prove the Trinity by any means for several reasons first of all if you're trying to prove the Trinity why would there be a mention of two and not three second of all it's not uh you know the the Trinity the doctrine says there are three co-equal persons Father Son and Holy Spirit but in these references there isn't as I've already said there's not three but even when it talks about Jesus Christ they're not really identifying Jesus Christ strictly as the son uh but it's Grace and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ and typically there is no extra thee or definite article in the Greek so uh and and some would even point out the word and is Kai which can mean and or even so it doesn't have to mean a different person we see this very clearly in the passage like Titus 2 13 looking for the appearing of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ so it's not God and then another person's savior but God and savior God even our savior so some point to that but I do believe the word and there can and should be interpreted as an in that there is a genuine distinction of being made but it's not a distinction of two Divine per persons so here's the overall concept Paul is a Jew and of course the early Christians were Jews originally and they wrote and understood from the Old Testament from a Jewish context so they knew that salvation comes from the one true God there's only one God he's the only source of Salvation in fact Isaiah is emphatic Yahweh Jehovah of the Old Testament says I'm the only savior you see this in Isaiah 44 Isaiah 45 I'm the only one I'm the only savior if you want to be saved you have to look to me so Paul's Jewish background and of course in writing to the Romans and Corinthians most of them were probably Gentiles where they were still Jewish Christians there and many of them their only scripture was the Old Testament so they still had the the background of a Jewish concept they knew salvation is only from God grace is from God peace which is more is wholeness reconciliation a relation comes from God but Paul wanted to emphasize it's not enough to believe in the one God and worship God and then ignore Jesus under the New Covenant you're not saved if you just worship the one God because the Jewish people who rejected Christ they still worship the one God they still went to the temple and offered sacrifices and Paul is saying no they're not saved why because Grace and peace come not only from God as the Creator The Giver of the law but more specifically also from Jesus Christ in other words you must recognize Jesus Christ as the Incarnation of God as God manifests in the flesh you must recognize that Jesus is the savior that the way God has chosen to save us is in and through Jesus Christ so I think he's emphasizing You Must Believe not only in the work of God but more specifically in the work of Jesus Christ the son of God you must believe in the Incarnation and the atonement but it's still the work of one God so he's reminding the early church you're saved you have Grace and peace because it comes from God but it's given to you through the sacrifice of Jesus Christ on the cross and as you have obeyed the Gospel of Jesus Christ you've been born again and now you have Grace and peace from God and Jesus Christ now you might say well that still sounds a little strange this sounds Jewish but that's only because we're reading it from our perspective of centuries of trinitarian teaching but you're you can't that's not the right way to read the New Testament you must read it from the perspective of the people there the doctrine of the Trinity had not been invented until the it would not even though even the word Trinity even the phrase three persons was never even used in the Bible or for the next couple hundred years it was A.D 200 and later when these doctrines and terms were actually used and so from our perspective we think of those terms when we hear God and Jesus but from the first century they wouldn't have even thought of of those terms they would have thought as much as I've said well we believe in God so why is he saying God and Jesus well he's saying God in Jesus to say You must not only believe in God you must specifically believe that he came in flesh as Jesus Christ the son of God to die for your sin as a human you must believe in God specifically and Jesus but not as two persons as the manifestation of the one God for your salvation and we see this clearly when we go back to the Old Testament so I want to point this out and maybe this will put it in biblical perspective so it doesn't sound strange at all it sounds very biblical so in ancient Israel the priest would pronounce a blessing over the people they would gather the people together pray over them and they would actually call the name of Yahweh over them and here we see it in number 6 22-27 number 6 22 and the Lord spoke to Moses saying Speak to Aaron and his son saying this is the way you shall bless the children of Israel say to them the Lord and that's in all capitals literally meaning Jehovah or Yahweh so Yahweh bless you and keep you the Lord Yahweh make his face shine upon you and be gracious to you the Lord lift up his countenance upon you and give you peace so they shall put my name on the children of Israel I will bless them so when they when they prayed the blessing may the name of Yahweh be on you may Yahweh bless you may Yahweh be gracious to you may Yahweh give you peace Grace and peace so Paul's Jewish audience and even his Gentile Christian audience that was trained in the Old Testament when he said Grace and peace from God our Father Lord Jesus Christ they would have thought wait a minute the way the priests pronounce God's grace and peace is May Yahweh give you Grace May Yahweh give you peace so the same Grace and peace is not from three persons in the Old Testament but from one Yahweh but now it's from God and Jesus in other words you must not only believe in Yahweh as your creator you must believe that Yahweh came in flesh and of course the name Jesus literally means Yahweh Savior and that gives to a further interesting study because in numbers they were calling the name Yahweh to put it over the people to bless them well how do we do that in the New Testament we don't call Yahweh but if you go to one of the passages you mentioned First Corinthians before he before Paul says Grace and peace from God our Father and Lord Jesus Christ he said I'm writing to the church at Corinth and to all in every place that call on the name of the Lord Jesus Christ for their lord and ours so they're identified as the people who call not on Yahweh but on the name of the Lord Jesus Christ you can also connect that acts 2 21 Peter is preaching on the day of Pentecost he says whoever calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved he's quoting from Joel 2 where the Lord is Yahweh Peter quotes that but then he applies that to Jesus Christ so in the Old Testament if you call in the name of Yahweh you be saved in the New Testament how do you call the name of Yahweh Jesus whoever calls in the name of Jesus and of course we have acts 4 12 speaking of Jesus Christ of Nazareth it says neither is there salvation in any other for there's none other name under Heaven given among men whereby we must be saved so the interesting study is in the Old Testament the way to be saved was to call the name of Yahweh in the Old Testament the way to be blessed the way to have Grace and peace was to have the name of Yahweh called Earth in the New Testament the way to be saved to have Grace and peace is to have the name of Jesus called over you more specifically in water baptism ISM but also when you receive the Holy Spirit you're calling on the name of Jesus we could also link acts 22 16 where Paul is converted God strikes him with the light from Heaven speaks the voice Paul says who are you Lord the Lord says I'm Jesus and the Lord says go find a man named ananias he'll tell you how to be saved and so Paul comes to ananias anemones preaches Jesus to him and then in verse Acts 22 16 and why do you wait why tear yourself why do you wait any longer arise and be baptized and call on the name of the Lord which is Jesus so I really think it's a Oneness text if you come from the Old Testament background we the Old Testament background says you are the people of Yahweh the name of Yahweh has been called over you to give you Grace and peace and Paul writes Grace and peace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ today it's not calling on God as father or Yahweh it's calling on the Lord Jesus Christ so the culmination is Jesus Christ it's not a trinitarian reference at all it is an emphasis you must acknowledge God as your father but you must also acknowledge God as your savior specifically you must acknowledge Jesus Christ as Lord and savior