CG7: Tilting Toward a Holy Spirit in a Trinity?

Contradictory Diagram Trying to Justify a Trinity

The current issue of CG7-Denver’s Bible Advocate has the following from its former president Calvin Burrell:

The Holy Spirit is the Spirit of God — the divine entity, reality, and personal presence who completes the chain of Deity, doublelinking earth with heaven. Just as Christ the Son came to reveal God the Father, so did the Holy Spirit come to speak of Jesus and remind us of all Christ said and did. Just as the Son made the Father known in human terms — bodily and locally — so the Spirit makes the Son known in heavenly terms — spiritually and universally. And just as the Father was one with, and fully present in, the Son, so the Holy Spirit came to provide the presence of the Son, not to replace the absent Son (Colossians 2:9; John 15:26b; 16:13-15). The divine chain is now complete: from God the spiritual Father in heaven to Christ the fleshly Son on earth and back again through the Holy Spirit — eternally blessed God. (Burrell C. All About the Spirit. Bible Advocate. May-June 2012, p. 6)

The above quote is how that article ends and somewhat reminds me of the old Tkach-WCG’s God Is… booklet. Not absolutely trinitarian, but not in conflict with trinitarian theology either.

While several accurate attributes of the Holy Spirit are mentioned in other parts of the article, the above suggests either a tilting towards the acceptance of the trinity in CG7 or at least getting more comfortable with concepts that are closer to it. Now this is not a surprise as Jesus warned that the Church of Sardis to “strengthen the things which remain, that are ready to die, for I have not found your works perfect before God” (Revelation 3:2). And this new article on the Holy Spirit seems to be another step in CG7 losing some of “the things which remain.”

Ten years ago, in the Jan-Feb 2002 Bible Advocate Calvin Burrell wrote:

Historically, we are a non-Trinitarian church, preferring other views of this complex subject. Some of us are comfortable with Trinitarian statements. Our statements on God the Father, Jesus Christ the Son, and the Holy Spirit indicate our belief that there is a kind of “three-ness” about the way God is revealed in Scripture, but the Church prefers to avoid the non-biblical term Trinity. No longer do we use much energy trying to show that the concept is borrowed from pagan religion. More of us now acknowledge that Trinity is one possible interpretation, or model, of the biblical material, but not the only one. Endorsement of Trinity is certainly not a requirement for salvation, as some would have you believe. – Elder Calvin Burrell

Now, while I actually have a certain respect for Calvin Burrell (as well as Robert Coulter, another former CG7 president), I really wish that he and others in CG7 would exercise greater caution in moving away from COG beliefs, as I believe Jesus has warned. Yet, moving away from the “things which remain” appears, to me at least, what the current issue of the Bible Advocate is doing.

Those interested in studying more about these subjects, should consider looking at the following documented articles:

Church of God, Seventh Day: History and Teachings Nearly all COG’s I am aware of trace their history through this group. Whaid Rose is the president of the largest CG7 group (Denver). Do you know much about them?
The Sardis Church Era was predominant circa 1600 A.D. to circa 1933 A.D. Discusses early history of the Seventh Day Baptists, Seventh-day Adventists, and COG-7th Day.
Binitarian View: One God, Two Beings Before the Beginning Is binitarianism the correct position? What about unitarianism or trinitarianism?
Is The Father God? What is the view of the Bible? What was the view of the early church?
Jesus is God, But Was Made Man Was Jesus fully human and fully God or what?
Did Early Christians Think the Holy Spirit Was A Separate Person in a Trinity? Or did they have a different view?
Did the True Church Ever Teach a Trinity? Most act like this is so, but is it?
Was Unitarianism the Teaching of the Bible or Early Church? Many, including Jehovah’s Witnesses, claim it was, but was it?
Binitarianism: One God, Two Beings Before the Beginning This is a shorter article than the Binitarian View article, but has a little more information on binitarianism.
Valentinus: The Gnostic Trinitarian Heretic He apparently was the first Christ-professing heretic to come up with the idea of three hypostases.