"The Bible's teaching about Christ", by Viktor Rydberg (1862) (Part 6)
-Can you be surprised that we insist on our ancient faith, that we do not abandon a church, radiating
millennial glory, established by so many centuries of strong spirits, so consequential in its system by so many families' pious faith in it, so coherent in itself, to convert to a church, which is comparatively new, which, scarcely sprung up, denied its origin and added a contradiction to its foundation?
These questions by the Catholics to the Protestants are as many cheap reproaches. More than one conscientious Protestant has asked himself the same question and answered those with - converting to the Roman Church. Of all ways out, that can be chosen, this is admittedly the worst. It is converting from an imperfect of a higher kind to one more perfect of a lower kind. There is another way out, which is not regression and hopelessness, without progress and salvation. It is to contradict the contradiction, put down the paper pope and in his place to exalt free research: to dare to believe, also in the religious, as well as the scientific, the political, the social, in the blessing of freedom. To in science believe in freedom is to believe in human reason; to in the political and social believe in freedom is to believe in a moral world order; to in the religious believe in freedom is to believe in God. Without this faith, Protestantism will run towards its own self-dissolution. With her rekindling he shall begin again his for centuries broken course of victory and at last win a world triumph.
II. The doctrine of the Trinity and Scripture.
Is the Church's doctrine of the Trinity biblical? - A note on the difference
between a divine mystery and false mysticism. –
A remarkable page from the history of the biblical text. Neander
and Luther on 1 John. 5: 7. Testimony about the same
passage from the Greek manuscripts, from the translations,
the church fathers, the textual context.
In the previous chapter, there has been pointed out the necessity of freeing oneself from dogmatic pre-conditions, when one goes to research the Holy Scriptures. The foremost of these dogmatic pre-conditions, when one wants to review the doctrine of the New Testament about the person of Christ, is the doctrine of the Trinity. It should therefore be in order, that the biblical basis for this dogma is here submitted to a closer examination, especially as we. in context therewith. thus are in opportunity to present an instructive side of the history of the biblical text.
