“They Are One God, Yea the Very Eternal Father of Heaven and of Earth”

Bryan Richards

If the last verse wasn’t confusing enough, this one seems to teach the old sectarian notion of the Trinity—the three-in-one, one-in-three doctrine. Was Abinadi trying to teach that Elohim and Jehovah are indeed the same individual? Absolutely not! Elohim is God, and Jehovah is God. Should we then worship them as two separate Gods, with separate prayers, sacrifices, ordinances, sacraments, and commandments? Obviously not! And what of the Holy Ghost? Shouldn’t the Holy Ghost have his own ordinances, commandments, and teachings? As Paul would say, God forbid. Abinadi is teaching of the oneness of God. He is teaching that there is no need to be polytheistic just because there is a Father, Son, and Holy Ghost. The Sunday School answer is that they are “one in purpose,” and that concept encapsulates a portion of the doctrine. But they are also one in omniscience, omnipotence, wisdom, and grace. They teach the same doctrine and require the same ordinances of salvation. Though three separate individuals, they are to be worshipped as one God.

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