Book of Mormon Commentary - Mosiah 15

How Christ is both the Father and the Son—He shall make intercession and bear the transgression of his people—They and all the holy prophets are his seed—He bringeth to pass the resurrection—Little children have eternal life. [About 148 B.C.]

Not having the spirit of truth by 4th century, in 325 A.D. the fallen priesthood Bishops at Nicea began the problematic task of identifying the 'Father,' 'Son,' and 'Holy Ghost.' And that evolved into the 'Doctrine of the Holy Trinity.' Which due to fallen understanding became a muddle of merging Elohim into being the same being as both Jehovah the ministering God of the Old Testament and Jesus Christ the Son of the New Testament. And the Spirit of God, the Holy Ghost was also through into that mix of the three being just one being — NOT joined by being one in faith and purpose, but one in bodily being.

Some of the Bishops of 325 A.D. still understood the three divided beings relationship to each other. As Bishop Eusepus of Ceasurea explained, they were not one as to corporal bodies! He explained that Elohim as the 'Supreme Father' directed Jehovah/Jesus to create the temporal heavens and earth under his direction. And Eusipus futher explained that relationship at the 325 Nicean council. But eventually the Alexandrian cult prevailed and the Doctrine of the Trinity three in one become established, though corrupted as it was.

 3^a The Father, because he was conceived by the power of God Often a statement by a prophet is understood clearly by that prophet who said it. Upon ocassion a prophet is the messenger who relays the message from God and whether that prophet fully comprehends what it is that he has said may not be the case. And then we who hear the words of the prophet either spoken with his full understanding or not, are left to make of them what we may. There are levels and depths of understanding which each of us possess and from our own perspectives and with the aid of the spirit of God, we are left to attempt our comprehension. Often it is best to start by setting forth what is known for sure.
First the Father of Spirits, God the Father of us all, our Heavenly Father is and was a Celestial being, a God in all perfection of attributes and fulness or power and glory. His Firstborn Son, Jehovah, in the spirit was and is the heir to the kingdom of His and our Heavenly Father. That the Son was anointed by the Father and given the fulness of the power of the Father to act in the stead of the Father in all things is one matter in which the Son does stand before us as though being the Father, since the Father hath placed him in that position before us.
Second, the Son is the Father of Heaven and Earth of the creation of this Second Estate, that is 'By Him were all things create'. Only those pertaining to the Second Estate may minister unto it (D&C 130:5), being a part of it. Our Celestial God the Father of Spirits IS NOT of this Second Mortal Estate, He being progressed beyond it as a Celestial being. It would be against the Law of Eternal Progression for the Celestial Father to 'fall back' in his progression to personally administer the affairs of a Second Estate of mortality and corruption. Thus it is that the Father has given His Firstborn son in the spirit, Jehovah, all power and authority over us to act in the stead of the Father in all things. In that the Son so acts as the Father in all things, and was the very God Jehovah of the Old Testament. And thus he is virtually the Father when he is in such a position to act for and in behalf of the Father.
Further, thrid, by our own acceptance of Jesus Christ as our Redeemer and Savior and in entering into the ordiance of baptism, and in taking upon us the name of Christ, He becomes our Father in the Gospel. And we become His sons and daughters. Thus there are a number of manners in which the Son is the Father though He IS NOT the same being as God the Father of our Spirits. They are two distinct beings and personages.
And now, fourth we come to the matter at hand, and that is just how this Jehovah, who is the same as Jesus Christ, becomes the Father in a fourth respect. And that is as stated, 'because he was "conceived" by the power of God'. That is he was conceived by the power of God the Father, Mary having been carried away in and by the Spirit, thus enabling her to endure the presence of the Celestial Father. That Christ is the ONLY BEGOTTEN SON of the Father in the flesh is the critical essence in this matter. The conception of Jesus is that he was literally conceived as the seed of the Father. Thus he obtained all of the attributes of the Celestial Father though still man on earth through Mary. So precisely was the Son to inherit all the heavenly attributes of the Father that he was in the express image of the Father. Like Father, like Son. And in this way Jesus Christ being the Son in the flesh did become AS the Father in every way. He now having the power over life and death, having the ability to die as son of Mary, but the attribute of eternal life and the power of the resurrection being of all the eternal and immortal attributes of the Father. Thus it is said that 'because he was conceived by the power of God the Father, he inheirited the attributes of the Father, becoming in one being both of the Father, being the same as the Father while still being the Son, thus being the Father and the Son. He was that unique being which combined both God and man, the Only Begotten Son of God in the flesh.
And yet there is one further one last fifth matter, as is true of us all in terms of our potential to be even as God is! And that even to have been 'conceived' even as the Father was — infinite and eternal! Now that conception of the spirit birth was that of our Heavenly Father, the spirit Father of us all. And that vastly contributes to our effectual potential to become like God. But there is one step further back that is not often spoken of as it is not as largely understood. And that is the very 'Eternal Nature' of us all. But because it is not largely understood, it is potentially carried away. But in short we, like Jehovah, Jesus Christ, are co-eternal with the Father. We are eternal beings. And in what of our attibutes that this rests? That is in the very 'eternal' matter, that same substance that is in all of us, and that is our 'intelligence.' Follow the scripture chain that speaks of that 'intelligence.' Listen to what the Prophet Joseph Smith has said about it. And in this we all are the same as the Father and have about ourselves the very 'eternal intelligence' which has made us, Jehovah and even the Celestial Father Himself that very eternal being that he is as the Father. I for one have to concluded that in this Jehovah did excel as the scriptures written by Abraham have somewhat explained. That Jehovah was the most intelligent of us all who were of his generation, even to that point of development that he held within himself the very nature of the Father in every way and in that was was also to be seen and relied upon not only 'as if' but also 'as though' because he was then even as the Father was, though yet but our Ministering God. I have come to feel and understand that through Jehovah was not the same corporal being as our Father of Spirits Elohim, Jehovah stood in the past preexistence even as the Father having all the attibutes of developed intelligence of the Father in advance of us all and thus from the 'beginnings of 'his generation' he was as Father of us though our elder brother as well. Lucifer did had not and did not pocess that stature as evidence by his own behavior and rebellion against Elohim and Jehovah, who at so attained unto the high level as also held by our Celestial Father. And this was that Father in Intelligence of which governed Jehovah as our Ministering and Acting God of the Old Testament. It was that same advanced intelligence, that under the direction and the priesthood power of the Father, Jehovah did perform the creation of heaven and earth. Only with that advance status was Jehovah able to so perform that temporal creation. And it is by that same advanced level of the Father in his Intelligence, that the Father in Jehovah did prevail over and control the Son of his birth by Mary to have been able to take upon himself the sins of us all and endure to over come them in that grand eteranl sacrifice for sin that was supreme and eternal even infinite (Alma 34:10-14) in its very nature, over coming all things! Perhaps enough said on that here.
Now, because of the false doctrine of the Trinity as taught by traditional Christianity that the members of the Godhead are but three in one and the same God, not being distinct and separate from each other as individuals, the comprehension of God the Father of Spirits, of His Only Begotten Son Jesus Christ who is the same as Jehovah, and the Holy Ghost as three separate and distinct individuals who work together in one common cause is lost. As to which asspect that Abinadi makes his statement from that the God of this world, this Second Estate is both the Father and Son, there are as just presented a number of such perspectives which would be acceptable. And to know the precise answer to which of these if any, you would have to ask Abinadi assuming he fully understood whereof he spoke and was not merely messager of the matter. I am not sure from which such perspective he speaks and he does not further clarify it beyond the statement of 'conception', at least in Mormon's abridgement.
That the conception was the cause of it is no more clarifying than to consider all ways in which the Son may be referenced as the Father. Certainly the Father conceived Jehovah both in Spirit and in the Flesh. That this combination of the Firstborn of the Spirit and Only Begotten of the Flesh constitutes Jehovah as being in all such positions as the Father, except that he was not the Father of our spirits, is equally true. He had to be so dually concieved to so qualify to them all. And the fact that He was indeed the Only Begotten Son in the flesh certainly does make Him the Son of God as well as possesor of all the traits and attributes of His Godly Father.
 4^a they are one God That the God of the Old Testament is Jehovah and that Jesus Christ of the New Testament is the same person as Jehovah makes the statement, 'they are one God' absolutely true from that perspective. That the God of creation of this Second Estate was Jehovah who is the same as Jesus Christ the God who redeems this Second estate is one and the same God makes the statement 'they are one God' true. That the Only True God of this Second Estate is Jehovah, the Firstborn in the Spirit of the Father of Spirits, that Heavenly Father of Spirits, who selected and anointed Jehovah from among us to be the God of this Estate, has given him the fulness of his power and glory to administer the affairs of this estate in his stead, acting for and in behalf of him in all things, even unto the final judgement and end of time wherein men may enter into that eternity of the presence of that Celestial Being, having being become and made like unto; that this Jehovah, Our God, stands as the Father, and also stands as the Redeeming son also makes the statement 'they are one God' true. That Jesus Christ was a 'God being Begotten of the Father' and of 'a mortal capacity being born of Mary, does in fact make the State of Christ as His Father and Son of both God the Father and Mary; thus making his a composite that 'they are one God', Father and Son. Thus there are a number of ways in which the Father Jehovah and the Son Jehovah are but one and the same God. There is also one perspective from which the Father, if we would be speaking of the Father of Spirits, and Jehovah who is Father and Son in may other respects, ARE NOT the same God. And in that respect, 'they are NOT one God'. God the our Father of our Spirits is not the same God the Father who is Jehovah and Jesus Christ. Though there is even one perspective from which even those two distinct and separate individuals are 'one God' and that is one in purpose and intent. Their one purpose and intent is summed up in what is given as the 'Work and the Glory of God', and that is to 'bring to pass the immortallity and eternal life of man'. In that purpose they are inseparable. In that purpose they are ONE. In that sense 'they are one God'. Also when Christ speaks in the New Testament about his becoming one with the Father, and that we too are to be made one with him in the Father. This speaks in terms of becoming such righteous and eternal beings even as they are, that we become one like unto them, a God also. Not that we loose our separate individual identities, but that we become a part of that ultimate state of righteousness and truth of which they are of. We become perfect in that even as they are perfect. And in that we become one with them just as a team intent upon the same goal and purpose becomes ONE, united together in that common cause. Just as we may all become Americans, so it is that we may all become ONE in unity and purpose with God, even AS GOD IS. And then we may say, 'We are one in and with them', even as they are one.