How ONEBecame Two

We are told plainly in Scripture that the divine Son of God is the only begotten of the Father (John 1:18), One begotten in the express image of His Father's person, and in all the brightness of His Father's glory (Hebrews 1:3). Also, In the Son dwells all the fulness of the godhead (divinity) bodily (Colossians 2:9). So, how is it that the Son, being little short of identical with His Father, was also the only begotten of the Father?

While the video on the left is a mere human illustration and falls infinitely short of a true divine explanation of this amazing subject, it does give us a tiny glimpse into the reality of how one living object (God) became two practically identical living objects (God the Father and His divine only begotten Son). There are in the universe two divine beings with physical form: God and His only begotten Son. Father and Son created all things, including the earth and mankind. God and His Son gave the Law on Mount Sinai. In Revelation it is God and the Lamb that sit upon the throne of the universe.

Thus, by looking at nature, which was created by God and His Son, we can get a shadowy glimpse of how it can be that while the Son of God is practically identical to His Father, yet He is also a separate individual personality, an infinite divine being, who is OF the Father and who lives BY the Father and is also all that the Father is in nature, character and purpose, in divine attributes. It is God who sent to our world His beloved, only begotten Son. It is God who created all things by and for His beloved Son. The divine Son is truly God in infinity, but not in personality. In personality He is the Son OF GOD. God became God the Father when He brought forth, of Himself, an exact image of His own divine person, when He brought forth or begat His divine only begotten Son. In the late 1800's and early 1900's a lady, named Ellen G. White, stated the following:

"The Lord Jesus Christ, the only begotten Son of the Father, is truly God in infinity, but not in personality." — 20LtMs, Ms 116, 1905, par. 19 - EGW

"As the disciples comprehended it, as their perception took hold of God's divine compassion, they realized that there is a sense in which the sufferings of the Son were the sufferings of the Father. From eternity there was a complete unity between the Father and the Son. They were two, yet little short of being identical; two in individuality, yet one in spirit, and heart, and character." — Youth's Instructor, December 16, 1897, par. 5 - EGW

We know that God, Jehovah (Yahweh), the great I AM, always has been and that He is the great Source of all being, the God and Father of all, He who is above all, the Most High God. This is a vital point to remember: God became a divine Father, in the beginning, when He brought forth of His own self, of His own divine substance, a part of Himself—His divine only begotten Son, One who was made in the express image of His own divine person, and in all the brightness of His own glory. The Son, who was, prior to His being brought forth, a part of God Himself, now had His own individual divine personality, His own divine form, His own mind and personality. He was now an individual divine being called, the Son of God, Micha'el—He who is like God. Thus, God became a Father and the one deity was now two divine beings; God the Father and the divine Son of God. This is why Scripture never uses the term "God the Son" but rather, the Son OF GOD. So, while the divine nature of the Son, His divine substance, always has been, His individual divine personality, as the Son, is from the beginning, from the point when He was begotten of God. Before the Son was brought forth there was only God. Thus, Scripture states:

Proverbs 8:22 (KJV) "The LORD *possessed [*qanah: of God as originating] me in the beginning of his way, before his works of old."

John 1:1-2 (KJV) "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. The same was in the beginning with God."

Sadly, the trinity doctrine and the idea of tritheism are both false concepts that deny the truth about God and His only begotten Son and the true identity of the Holy Spirit. God is the Father of Christ and Christ is the Son of God. The Holy Spirit is the divine spiritual omnipresent representative presence of God and His Son. The Holy Spirit proceeds from God and from His Son. The last Adam was made a quickening spirit and God sends forth the spirit of His Son into our hearts, crying Abba, Father. The Lord is that spirit and where the spirit of the Lord is there is liberty. Ellen White had this to say:

"The Lord is soon to come. We want that complete and perfect understanding which the Lord alone can give. It is not safe to catch the spirit from another. We want the Holy Spirit, which is Jesus Christ." — 9LtMs, Lt 66, 1894, par. 18 - EGW

John 15:26 (KJV) "But when the Comforter is come, whom I will send unto you from the Father, even the Spirit of truth, which proceedeth from the Father, he shall testify of me: ..."

NOTE: God Himself is the ultimate Source of all being, the ultimate Source of all life, all divinity, for He alone is the one true and living God, the original "always has been" substance that composes all that is truly divine. This divine life or substance, the very life of God Himself, is "original, unborrowed, underived" and this eternal life is found in God's only begotten Son, for Scripture states that God gave to His Son to have life in Himself. See John 5:26; 1 John 5:11-12; Romans 6:23. Thus in Christ is life eternal, life that is original, unborrowed, underived, and thus Christ Himself is a self-existent divine Being having God's original life in Himself without measure. In Christ we find the unmeasured presence of God, the divine+human presence of Christ (Son of God and Son of man), and the fulness of divinity, the Holy Spirit—the one living Spirit of God and of Christ—the Eternal Spirit. Thus, Christ breathed upon His disciples and said, "Receive ye the Holy Spirit." See John 20:22. This Spirit was the very life of Christ, His own divine Spirit, for Scripture states that the last Adam was "made a quickening spirit" [1 Corinthians 15:45], and Ellen White states regarding Christ that "a divine Spirit dwelt in a temple of flesh." See also Desire of Ages, p. 21, par. 2. Therefore when a person is baptized into the name of Jesus [Ye'shua: Ye'hovah Saves or Delivers] they are baptized into the threefold name of divinity: The name, character and authority of God Most High, God's only begotten Son, and God's Spirit of Life, called the Holy Spirit. Scripture states, "the Lord is that Spirit and where the Spirit of the Lord is there is liberty."  See 2 Corinthians 3:17. God is the Great Source and His only begotten Son is the Great Channel, and the Holy Spirit is the very life of God in Christ which proceeds from God, through Christ, to all who believe and are true children of God, trusting fully in Christ (the Anointed One, the Lamb of God) and His spotless righteousness (obedience).

"But turning from all lesser representations, we behold God in Jesus. Looking unto Jesus we see that it is the glory of our God to give. “I do nothing of Myself,” said Christ; “the living Father hath sent Me, and I live by the Father.” “I seek not Mine own glory,” but the glory of Him that sent Me. John 8:28; 6:57; 8:50; 7:18. In these words is set forth the great principle which is the law of life for the universe. All things Christ received from God, but He took to give. So in the heavenly courts, in His ministry for all created beings: through the beloved Son, the Father’s life flows out to all; through the Son it returns, in praise and joyous service, a tide of love, to the great Source of all. And thus through Christ the circuit of beneficence is complete, representing the character of the great Giver, the law of life." — Desire of Ages, p. 21.2 • Ellen G. White