What is the Trinity

Intro

The essentials of the faith, that is what we are going through for the next little bit. What are some of the things we need to stand firm on, hills we need to be willing to die on and never waver.

Last week we went through the word of God. How it is the divinely inspired word of God. We have people saying that the Bible is allegorical, How it is not relevant today. But what the Bible teaches is that it is God-breathed, it has not changed over time and it can still speak int our lives today.

Next we are going to look into the Trinity. The word Trinity is not in the Bible, but it is a word we use to describe a Biblical concept. As I was thinking about this I was listening to something online that said theology is us trying to put God in a box. When going through theological studies, we are sometimes accused of hindering God, or even putting God in a little box to help understand Him better. Can we actually know who God is and His character through reading the Bible? can we put limits on who God is and what He has done? Are we doing a dis service to God when we do stuff like this?

God himself puts limits on Himself as we see in the bible, there are boundaries and aspects of God’s Character that are defined. For example though God is all powerful there are some things that God can not do like lie, God cant go against his own character. well either cant or wont, but you get the point. Though our sense of who God is grows as we learn more, in a sense our box grows bigger as our understanding grows.

So then it is with that understanding that we delve a little into some theological issues to help us understand what are things we need to stand firm on. The Trinity is a difficult idea to grasp. Yes a man made word to describe a Godly concept there have been things used to describe the trinity, like an egg for example. But nothing ever really comes close.

This is a concept that could take many months to delve into, but again we are just going to go through broad strokes. In this sermon we will be jumping around a little bit so bear with me.

There is only one God

Wayne Grudem defines the concept of the trinity as follows: God eternally exists as three persons, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, and each person is fully God, and there is one God. The word trinity means “tri-unity” or “three-in-oneness” The word has roots in 11th century french and Latin. But why is this important that we know what the Trinity is?

There are 3 aspects that form the idea of what the trinity is. There is only one God, God is three persons and each person is fully God. confused yet? Lots of this we need to take by faith but the idea that God is 3 and yet one is something that is pivotal to our faith. If Jesus was not God in the flesh, He would not have fulfilled prophecy and our faith be a sham. and that is just one aspect of what we are going to learn about today.

The first thing that we are going to go through today is the teaching that we have only one God.

Deuteronomy 6:4–8 CSB

4 “Listen, Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. 5 Love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your strength. 6 These words that I am giving you today are to be in your heart. 7 Repeat them to your children. Talk about them when you sit in your house and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up. 8 Bind them as a sign on your hand and let them be a symbol on your forehead.

It is verse 4 that I want to point out which is the Shema prayer of Judaism. The central affirmation of our faith as well, that the Lord God is one. There is but one God, God of Heaven and earth. Going forward this is important. We believe in Jesus, the son of God and the HS, the spirit of God and yet here we read that there is only one true God. There is no God like the Lord God.

The Israelites figured this out when the gods of the Egyptians could do nothing to stop all the signs and wonders that the one true God did in their midst to show them all His glory and power. They could do nothing to stop the Israelite's from leaving the land of Egypt.

There are other implications to this statement as well. He is the one and only God, the eternal all powerful God who is deserving of our love and devotion.

Because of who God is, all powerful, the one true God our response is to love Him with all of our hearts, What God has commanded us in his word we are to write on our hearts, we are to tattoo them on our heads (not literally), we are to repeat them to our children so they to know who God is. There is only one God, the all powerful creator who is One and is deserving of our praise.

we are called to know, to believe to understand the Lord God is the one true God as it also reminds us in Isaiah 43:10

Isaiah 43:10 CSB

10 “You are my witnesses”— this is the Lord’s declaration— “and my servant whom I have chosen, so that you may know and believe me and understand that I am he. No god was formed before me, and there will be none after me.

There is no God that has come before and no god will come after. We are called to know God and we can know Him more and more as we read His word given to us here in the Bible. We come to understand who God is and what He has done and believe He is who he says He is.

lastly I want to go to the NT in Eph 4:6

Ephesians 4:6 CSB

6 one God and Father of all, who is above all and through all and in all.

All throughout the scriptures we read that there is only one God, this may seem like a basic concept, but it is vital to our faith. The point of this is that we may know the Lord God. The all powerful creator God invites us to come to Him and to know Him and serve Him. We go through this so that we might know the God and know that there is none besides Him.

God is Three Persons

There is only One God, this is important to know as we go into the next aspect of what the trinity means. God is three persons. The egg metaphor is one way to help our finite brains comprehend what this could possibly look like. There are 3 distinct persons in the triune Godhead. God is one and there is no other yet we read in the scripture that God exists in three persons.

we first read this is true, in the book of Genesis 1:26

Genesis 1:26 CSB

26 Then God said, “Let us make man in our image, according to our likeness. They will rule the fish of the sea, the birds of the sky, the livestock, the whole earth, and the creatures that crawl on the earth.”

Let us make man in our image it says. This is one of the first references to the trinity. Throughout the scriptures we read this as well, the fact that Jesus is God, and the HS is God yet they are distinct. Throughout the Bible we see instances of the Father, the son and the HS> It is clearly communicated in scripture that they are distinct beings.

Jesus needed to become man to interceded for us on our behalf to God, it was necessary for Jesus to become man yet still remain fully God. We will get into this a bit more in a minute. The HS also intercedes for us or prays for us. There are a few passage of scripture to remember when learning that God exists in three distinct persons.

Luke 1:35 CSB

35 The angel replied to her, “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you. Therefore, the holy one to be born will be called the Son of God.

we see here mention of three distinct persons in the Godhead. the HS, the Most High (which is Gd) and the Son of God. just evidence within the Bible that though God is one and there is only one God He also exists in three distinct persons.

Luke 3:22 CSB

22 and the Holy Spirit descended on him in a physical appearance like a dove. And a voice came from heaven: “You are my beloved Son; with you I am well-pleased.”

Matthew 28:19 CSB

19 Go, therefore, and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit,

between the Baptism of Jesus and the great commission we see more evidence that this is true. If you truly believe that the Bible is the divinely inspired word of the Lord God, alive and active then you must believe what it says about This as well.

In the name of the Father, Son and HS we are to go out and make disciples of all nations. Through the power of God for the Glory of the Lord God we are to do this. These are just a few verses to explain that though God is one and there is only one true God He also exists in three persons. God, the HS, and our Lord Jesus exist to equip us to fulfill the commands of God for the Glory of God. It is amazing to think that we can be equipped to fulfill the will of God.

Each person is fully God

I know this sermon has been a little heavier than most, no fancy illustrations because mainly I couldn't think of any to go with this, but that is okay. This is vital to our faith. God has to be one, there is only one true God, the all powerful creator. The Bible speaks of God being three persons we must believe that they each exist for they each have there own diverse roles. Lastly we are going to look at the fact that the Father, the Son and the HS are each fully God. Unity and diversity. All one yet at the same time distinct. this is the part that is a bit of a head scratcher.

we know that God the father is God, we have already gone through that part. How can it be though that the others are God as well? The passage in the bible that comes to mind when I think of How Jesus can be God is in the book of John.

John 1:1–3 CSB

1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2 He was with God in the beginning. 3 All things were created through him, and apart from him not one thing was created that has been created.

pretty straight forward. someone named “the word” was in the beginning with God and the world was created through Him. Then later on in verse 14-15 it goes on to expand on who this is. John 1:14-15

John 1:14–15 CSB

14 The Word became flesh and dwelt among us. We observed his glory, the glory as the one and only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth. 15 (John testified concerning him and exclaimed, “This was the one of whom I said, ‘The one coming after me ranks ahead of me, because he existed before me.’ ”)

Jesus is God, who came down in the flesh and made His dwelling among us. 100% God and 100% man. There is a growing trend right now to focus on the humanity of Jesus and then leave out His divinity, we can not do this. Jesus Himself through the gospels proclaimed to the people that He was divine, He was God, the great I am. And when the religious leaders at the time heard this they hated Him The prophecy in the scriptures is clear, the messiah had to be divine in order to die for our sin. this has great significance for our faith and our lives.

lastley we read in the book of Acts in the story of Annanias and Saphira that the HS is God as well.

Acts 5:1–4 CSB

1 But a man named Ananias, with his wife Sapphira, sold a piece of property. 2 However, he kept back part of the proceeds with his wife’s knowledge, and brought a portion of it and laid it at the apostles’ feet. 3 “Ananias,” Peter asked, “why has Satan filled your heart to lie to the Holy Spirit and keep back part of the proceeds of the land? 4 Wasn’t it yours while you possessed it? And after it was sold, wasn’t it at your disposal? Why is it that you planned this thing in your heart? You have not lied to people but to God.”

Conclusion

There is one general theme running through the concept of the trinity, There are many ways in which this could change our lives. One I want to leave you with is the idea of unity and diversity. Like God is one yet diverse in persons we as the body of Christ are to reflect that. The image of the body of Christ, the church is to be a reflection of the relationship of the Trinity. This should affect our lives, they we we act, everything that we do needs to be dictated by the Fact of who God is and what He has done.

As the body of Christ though we to are one, we are to be unified under the essentials of the gospel. Not just anyone who calls themselves Christians are so, the Bible tells us this. As the body of Christ we are to be unified. But as the body of Christ we are also diverse. We are each given gifts to be used for the glory of God doing the will of God. We are all unique and divers yet one under Christ for the Glory of God.

This looks forward to a day when all followers of Jesus will be all be united in worship of the one true God. Though we will never fully comprehend the mystery of the Trinity, we can worship God for who he is both in our songs of praise, and in our words and actions as they reflect something of his excellent character.