The Trinity

Article 2 - The Trinity

2-1 There are three persons in the Godhead: the Father, the Son,1 and the Holy Spirit.2 These three are one God,3 the same in substance, eternally equal in power and glory.

Is the Trinity a Biblical Concept?

Is it important that I believe the doctrine of the Trinity?

The Athanasian Creed

This creed is named after Athanasius (A.D. 293-373), the champion of orthodoxy against Arian attacks (taught that Jesus was created by God… denied that Jesus is deity) on the doctrine of the trinity.

Although Athanasius did not write this creed (we don’t know who wrote it, but it originated in 5th century France), the name persists because until the seventeenth century it was commonly ascribed to him.

Apart from the opening and closing sentences, this creed consists of two parts, the first setting forth the orthodox doctrine of the trinity, and the second dealing chiefly with the incarnation and the two-natures doctrine.

Whoever desires to be saved should above all hold to the catholic faith.

Anyone who does not keep it whole and unbroken will doubtless perish eternally.

Now this is the catholic faith:

That we worship one God in trinity and the trinity in unity, neither blending their persons nor dividing their essence. For the person of the Father is a distinct person, the person of the Son is another, and that of the Holy Spirit still another. But the divinity of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit is one, their glory equal, their majesty coeternal.

If the Father is not God

He would not have been able to elect sinners to be saved (Eph. 1:4)

He would not have been able to send the Son to be the Savior of the world (1 John 4:14)

He would not have been in the position to give the Son anyone to be saved (John 6:37-40)

If the Son is not God

His death would not have atoned for the sins of those whom the Father elected (Mark 10:45; Rev. 5:9; Eph. 5:25; John 10:11; John 3:16)

He would not have been able to purchase the elect from their slavery to sin (Eph. 1:7)

If the Spirit is not God

He would not be able to apply the benefits if the atoning work of the Son to those for whom His substitutionary atonement was made. (Ezekiel 36:25-27; John 3:5)

He would not be able to preserve the elect in their salvation. (Eph. 1:13-14)

Where does the Bible teach the deity of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit?

Plurality

Genesis 1:26 ESV

Then God said, “Let us make man in our image, after our likeness. And let them have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over the livestock and over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.”

Salvation

1 Thessalonians 1:2–5 ESV

We give thanks to God always for all of you, constantly mentioning you in our prayers, remembering before our God and Father your work of faith and labor of love and steadfastness of hope in our Lord Jesus Christ. For we know, brothers loved by God, that he has chosen you, because our gospel came to you not only in word, but also in power and in the Holy Spirit and with full conviction. You know what kind of men we proved to be among you for your sake.

1 Peter 1:1–2 ESV

Peter, an apostle of Jesus Christ, To those who are elect exiles of the Dispersion in Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, and Bithynia, according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, in the sanctification of the Spirit, for obedience to Jesus Christ and for sprinkling with his blood: May grace and peace be multiplied to you.

Persons

Matthew 3:16–17 ESV

And when Jesus was baptized, immediately he went up from the water, and behold, the heavens were opened to him, and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and coming to rest on him; and behold, a voice from heaven said, “This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased.”

How are we to distinguish and relate the persons of the God-head?

Distinguish

Not by essential properties (characteristics related to essence)

By their properties (incommunicable properties)

The Father exists of Himself

The Son is begotten from the Father

The Spirit proceeds eternally from the Father and the Son

This is not to suggest that the Son and the Spirit became God.

Relate

Economic

The Father sends the Son

The Son works through the Spirit

TULIP

Total Depravity: A unified response from the Trinity

Unconditional Election: The Father’s work of election

Limited (Particular) Atonement: the Spirit applies the atonement of Jesus to the elect

Irresistible Grace: Those to whom the Spirit applies Christ’s redemptive work respond to the grace of the triune God by faith

Perseverance of the Saints: The Spirit sustains (preserves) the elect in the salvation that He applies to them.