In the name of the Father...(03/25/2024)

Matthew 28:18–20 NKJV

18 And Jesus came and spoke to them, saying, “All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth. 19 Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20 teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.” Amen.

This series will cover the Trinity, which has many paths to go down and we will try to go down every single one of them.

But first we will start with the three Persons of the Trinity, the first of which we will cover being the Father.

We will not go in depth in this passage from Matthew yet, but we will get to it.

What everyone believes about God:

The three “premises” of the Trinity are the following:

There is only one God.

The Father is fully God, the Son is fully God, and the Holy Spirit is fully God.

The Father, Son, and Holy Spirit are three distinct Persons.

But many of these are in question, and if any of them are unsound, the whole doctrine of the Trinity falls apart. And because this is a doctrine that answers such important questions as “Is Jesus God?” or “Is the Holy Spirit God?”, any group that calls itself Christian has to make a decision. Either the Trinity is a necessary doctrine to be a Christian or it is a heresy that no Christian can believe in. You might ask, why so serious? Sure, these are important questions, but to the point that it determines whether someone is Christian or not? Most doctrines don’t have to be this serious, so why does this have to be? If you believe Paul wrote Hebrews, and I don’t, we can both still be Christians. So what’s different here?

You have to see the dilemma here, and I’ll show it by using one of these example questions: “Is Jesus God?” We won’t answer it today, and we’ll spend a long while on that question, maybe a few weeks, but here’s the problem: this question leads to only two scenarios, where you will see the reason why this issue is so serious.

Scenario 1: I say Jesus is God, and Jesus is not God. Because God has said in His Word that you will have no other gods before Him, you have just committed idolatry and have essentially renounced God.

Scenario 2: I say Jesus is not God, and Jesus is God. Jesus has said in His Word that anyone who denies Him, He will also deny before the Father. If Jesus is God, which He happens to be in this specific scenario, Jesus is going to deny your salvation.

So, now that we’ve realized how important each of these three points is, let’s start looking at all three of them (which will likely take us the rest of the school year…) Because of this, it’s crucial that you listen to every part of this series, so what I recommend for those who aren’t in a construction trade is to grab the recording that I send at the end of these studies, and listen to it sometime before the next recording. For example, if I give a study on Friday, you have Friday evening, Saturday, Sunday, or Monday during lunch if you want to hear it with your friends who attend these studies. Obviously, I’m trusting that you’ll be able to do this, more for your own understanding than for any benefit of my own. Though I do hope these studies are as helpful as they can be!

Let’s look at the first point:

There is only one God?

Look up Deuteronomy 6:4 on your phones if you can.

Deuteronomy 6:4 NKJV

4 “Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one!

A very simple verse here, but surely not enough to answer this complex question. Looking at the Trinity, doesn’t it seem like there are three gods rather than one God? We won’t be answering this yet; it’ll take a month or two to get there. First, let’s hear all these points out, and once we find just one point that can’t be reasonably defended, then we need to reject the Trinity immediately.

So let’s look at more verses (look these up on your phones, too, since they’re all near each other):

Isaiah 43:10 NKJV

10 “You are My witnesses,” says the Lord, “And My servant whom I have chosen, That you may know and believe Me, And understand that I am He. Before Me there was no God formed, Nor shall there be after Me.

Isaiah 44:8–10 NKJV

8 Do not fear, nor be afraid; Have I not told you from that time, and declared it? You are My witnesses. Is there a God besides Me? Indeed there is no other Rock; I know not one.’ ” 9 Those who make an image, all of them are useless, And their precious things shall not profit; They are their own witnesses; They neither see nor know, that they may be ashamed. 10 Who would form a god or mold an image That profits him nothing?

Isaiah 45:5 NKJV

5 I am the Lord, and there is no other; There is no God besides Me. I will gird you, though you have not known Me,

Isaiah 45:22 NKJV

22 “Look to Me, and be saved, All you ends of the earth! For I am God, and there is no other.

Isaiah makes it clear that God never shares glory with anything else, and He doesn’t even regard anything else as a true god.

Is the Father God?

Let’s look again at some more passages:

John 17:1–3 NKJV

1 Jesus spoke these words, lifted up His eyes to heaven, and said: “Father, the hour has come. Glorify Your Son, that Your Son also may glorify You, 2 as You have given Him authority over all flesh, that He should give eternal life to as many as You have given Him. 3 And this is eternal life, that they may know You, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom You have sent.

We’ll talk more about this verse later when we get to the Son, but for now, we’re sticking to the Father. And He is called “the only true God” in v. iii.

1 Corinthians 8:6 NKJV

6 yet for us there is one God, the Father, of whom are all things, and we for Him; and one Lord Jesus Christ, through whom are all things, and through whom we live.

Ephesians 4:4–6 NKJV

4 There is one body and one Spirit, just as you were called in one hope of your calling; 5 one Lord, one faith, one baptism; 6 one God and Father of all, who is above all, and through all, and in you all.

The Father isn’t known as “the Father” by most non-trinitarian groups, but what Trinitarians mean by the Father is what non-trinitarians usually mean by God.

There’s not much to say today, because these first two points are pretty straightforward. But the last three points will take a while, so prepare to possibly be confused in the future, but I promise I will explain it all.

For now, let’s pray.