The God of our Lord Jesus Christ

I received an email from a fellow who is witnessing to a Latter-day Saint friend. His friend is making the case for Tritheism from Ephesians 1:17: "...the God of our Lord Jesus Christ..." Of course, this Mormon believes the text proves that the Father is a separate God from Jesus Christ. Here's my email, which will hopefully assist this brother in his evangelistic opportunity:

Hello Dean,

Firstly, I am glad God has provided you with this opportunity to speak to your LDS friend.

Your friend seems to agree with the LDS Church's teaching that the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit are three distinct beings, and therefore three gods.

Before I continue, I want to briefly define the Christian doctrine of the Trinity: Within the one being that is God, there exists three co-equal and co-eternal Persons; namely, the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. Now there is a lot of information crammed into this definition. The wording was carefully selected so as to clearly explain what we mean. Monotheism, the belief that only one true God exists, is the foundation of the Trinity. Next, I need to define the difference between "being" and "person." Here is a helpful illustration: my cell phone has being, but has no personality. However, I, the owner of the cell phone, also have being. But unlike my cell phone, I also possess personality - that is, I possess all the attributes attributed to personhood: the ability to communicate, love, reason etc.

Now, when we talk about God, His being is shared by three distinct Persons: the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. The reason this appears to be contradictory is because oftentimes we, as human beings have only experienced other human beings. And human beings only have one personality sharing their one being. But God, who is spirit, and not made of flesh of bones, shares His being with three distinct Persons. Thus, God is tri-personal.

These three distinct Persons, are also co-equal as to their nature (the divine nature). This simply means that the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit are each fully deity. Another way of putting it is that each of the three Persons are fully God.

Finally, each of the divine Persons are co-eternal. The three Persons pre-existed together, and will forever remain in this fashion.

Now onto your question. If I understand your friend's argument, he appears to interpret "That the God of our Lord Jesus Christ" to mean that the Father must be a separate God ontologically (as to his being) from Jesus Christ. For starters, the only reason he believes this is because he presupposes Tritheism - that the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit are three beings. Let's consider the entirety of the passage:

Ephesians 1:1-17: Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God, To the saints who are at Ephesus and who are faithful in Christ Jesus: 2 Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. 3 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ, 4 just as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we would be holy and blameless before Him. In love 5 He predestined us to adoption as sons through Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the kind intention of His will, 6 to the praise of the glory of His grace, which He freely bestowed on us in the Beloved. 7 In Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of His grace 8 which He lavished on us. In all wisdom and insight 9 He made known to us the mystery of His will, according to His kind intention which He purposed in Him 10 with a view to an administration suitable to the fullness of the times, that is, the summing up of all things in Christ, things in the heavens and things on the earth. In Him 11 also we have obtained an inheritance, having been predestined according to His purpose who works all things after the counsel of His will, 12 to the end that we who were the first to hope in Christ would be to the praise of His glory. 13 In Him, you also, after listening to the message of truth, the gospel of your salvation-- having also believed, you were sealed in Him with the Holy Spirit of promise, 14 who is given as a pledge of our inheritance, with a view to the redemption of God's own possession, to the praise of His glory. 15 For this reason I too, having heard of the faith in the Lord Jesus which exists among you and your love for all the saints, 16 do not cease giving thanks for you, while making mention of you in my prayers; 17 that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give to you a spirit of wisdom and of revelation in the knowledge of Him. (Bold Emphasis Mine).

You might already see what I'm getting at =). The Apostle Paul here refers to the Father as "God our Father" (verses 2 and 3) twice before we reach verse 17. Then as we get to verse 17, Paul describes the Father as "God" once more. This is unmistakeable, for Paul continues his description of "God" as "the Father of glory." Therefore, it is exegetically defensible to argue that "the God of our Lord Jesus Christ" means that He ("God") is the heavenly Father of Christ, which is something Trinitarians believe. There is no reason whatsoever in this text to support the idea that the Father is a distinct being from Christ. Certainly one can demonstrate they are distinct Persons. But the burden of proof is entirely on your friend to prove from the text how the Father is ontologically (referring to His being) distinct from Christ.

If you have any other questions, or if I can be of any further assistance, please let me know.

In Christ,
Casey Ryan
AOMin