Jesus does not have the power to forgive sins? Or, Jesus is not one with God?
1. The Trinity is an eternal truth about who God is.
2. The Trinity means that God exists as three personsthe Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit.
3. The Trinity also means that these three persons eternally exist as one God.
4. Since the three persons of the Trinity share precisely the same attributes, whatever may be said of one member of the Trinity may be said of the other two.
5. The members of the Trinity are equal in every respect.
6. All three members of the Trinity have always existed.
All of that may be boiled down to two statements:
1. God exists in Three Persons.
The Father who is the Creator
The Son who is the Redeemer
The Holy Spirit who is the Sanctifier.
2. These three are One God.
United in substance
Never any disagreement
Never any conflict
Never any division
It is also interesting how it is that Jesus teaches his followers to pray:
He Does Gives Good Instruction.
MATHEW 6:5-15
5 "When you pray, you are not to be like the hypocrites ; for they love to stand and pray in the synagogues and on the street corners so that they may be seen by men. Truly I say to you, they have their reward in full.
6 "But you, when you pray, go into your inner room, close your door and pray to your Father who is in secret, and your Father who sees what is done in secret will reward you.
7 "And when you are praying, do not use meaningless repetition as the Gentiles do, for they suppose that they will be heard for their many words.
8 "So do not be like them; for your Father knows what you need before you ask Him.
9 "Pray, then, in this way : 'Our Father who is in heaven, Hallowed be Your name.
10 'Your kingdom come. Your will be done, On earth as it is in heaven.
11 'Give us this day our daily bread.
12 'And forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors.
13 'And do not lead us into temptation, but deliver us from evil. [For Yours is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever. Amen.']
14 "For if you forgive others for their transgressions, your heavenly Father will also forgive you.
15 "But if you do not forgive others, then your Father will not forgive your transgressions
Do we take Jesus's advice as to how to prayer (no mention of Jesus or faith, simply the acknowledgment that there is a great God in heaven, the acknowledgement that we have transgressions, and the request that we be forgiven with the same standard that we forgive others), or do we take the advice of later "Christians" and pray to Jesus and put our faith in Faith?
1 Timothy 2:5
For there is one God, and one mediator also between God and men, the man Christ Jesus,
Further, Jesus states very clearly:
Here, one cannot argue that this is "intercession"; rather, Jesus clearly states one will be forgiven for blasphemy against Jesus (i.e., not believing in Jesus) and, more than that, for every single sin that one would commit. The only unforgivable sin, according to this statement, is acting against the dictates of one's own conscience (which is exactly what Aquinas says circa 1256).
Blaspheming the Holy Spirit is a clear and consistent rejection of the Saviour, Jesus
and you cant be saved and reject Jesus at the same time.
How can one be saved if they do not believe in Christ?
Even those who do not believe can hear the gospel, realize they are a sinner and repent, they will be forgiven. No one can be forgiven if they do not believe there is a God to forgive them. It's simple.
How I understand the message of Jesus in the Gospels is:
God is Truth
Jesus is Reason
Nobody can reach Truth without Reason
The Holy Spirit is Conscience
Conscience guides actions
Reason, aimed at Truth, can serve to inform and influence one's Conscience.
If you ever act against your Conscience, you are certainly committing a sin; acting in accord with your Conscience, you might commit a sin, but that sin is forgivable because you were acting according to your Conscience.
