Doug Shaver

It seems to me that orthodox Christians historically have taken one of two approaches.

1. There is nothing to reconcile. The trinity is a coherent doctrine and contradicts nothing in scripture. Anyone who cannot understand or accept the apologists' explanations is just being stubborn like all skeptics. He or she is probably just looking for an excuse not to live according to the Bible's divinely inspired teachings.

2. It is a mystery. We don't have to understand it, but we do have to believe notwithstanding our failure to understand. Anyone who will not believe without understanding is just being stubborn like all skeptics. He or she is probably just looking for an excuse not to live according to the Bible's divinely inspired teachings.

Rycke Brown

Quite right, TomboyMom, Jesus does not directly claim to be God, though in the gospel of John, he comes close, saying several times that he and the Father are one. But then, the Gospel of John is one big fat lie. (See my new thread.) In the other three gospels, he only calls himself the Son of Man, evoking Ezekial.

However, not all Christian sects believe that Jesus is even a piece of God, Jehovah's Witnesses for instance.

Soul Invictus

To me this means nothing - it could very well be figurative language, which is what I took it to mean - just like in the OT when it states that the husband and wife are one. I don't think either passages are meant to imply a literal "one"ness.

RUmike

I find it interesting that Jesus says in John 14:28 that the Father is greater than he. No wonder it took centuries for people to come to anything resembling a consensus as to Jesus' nature and identity when even inside one gospel there is such conflicting information.