The Trinity

Scriptures

John 15:26–27 “But when the Helper comes, whom I will send to you from the Father, the Spirit of truth, who proceeds from the Father, he will bear witness about me. And you also will bear witness, because you have been with me from the beginning.”

Intro

Trying to understand the Trinity is like trying to understand a car 500 years ago

“It’s like…but in a different way.”

Athanasian Creed

“Whosoever will be saved, before all things it is necessary that he hold the catholic faith; Which faith except every one do keep whole and undefiled, without doubt he shall perish everlastingly.

And the catholic faith is this: That we worship one God in Trinity, and Trinity in Unity; Neither confounding the persons nor dividing the substance. For there is one person of the Father, another of the Son, and another of the Holy Spirit.

But the Godhead of the Father, of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit is all one, the glory equal, the majesty coeternal.”

“For lack of better words…”

Sometimes people attempt to explain things that cannot be explained. All analogies of the Trinity fall short, words we use don’t fully grasp what’s at hand, and our minds will not have clarity this side of eternity, maybe not even the other side of eternity. My objective is to point out what the Bible says about the Trinity and make no more or less claims than Scripture. This is an important topic and worth the discussion.

If God were able to be fully grasped then He would not be God.

“In all our meditations upon the qualities of the attributes and content of God, we pass beyond our powers of fit conception, nor can human eloquence put forth a power commensurate with His greatness. At the contemplation and utterance of His majesty, all eloquence is rightly dumb, all mental effort is feeble. For God is greater than mind itself. His greatness cannot be conceived. Nay, if we could conceive of His greatness, He would be less than the human mind which could form the conception. He is greater than all language, and no statement can express Him. Indeed, if any statement could express Him, He would be less than human speech, which could by such statement comprehend and gather up all that He is.” ~ Novatian 3rd Century (hat tip to Tozer)

Heresies

Modalism

One person of God acting in different modes

Places like the baptism of Jesus shows us distinction

Arianism

Jesus was the first creation of God

John 1 soundly refutes this

Jesus became God after being born

Not originating from but displayed in Jesus Christ Superstar

Again, John 1 refutes this, furthermore, the “I am” statements in John clearly show Jesus knew who He was

Tritheism

Three gods

Deuteronomy 6:4–5 ““Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might.”

Semi-heresy

Some try to refer to the Trinity as Creator, Redeemer, and Sustainer

Many do this to avoid using masculine language for God, to be inclusive, except they don’t include the truth

Father, Son, and Holy Spirit are all involved in creating, redeeming, and sustaining

The Trinity: According to Scripture

Three working together from the very beginning

Genesis 1:1–3 “In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. The earth was without form and void, and darkness was over the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God was hovering over the face of the waters. And God said, “Let there be light,” and there was light.”

John 1:1–3 “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things were made through him, and without him was not any thing made that was made.”

The LORD is one

Deuteronomy 6:4–9 ““Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God, the LORD is one. You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might. And these words that I command you today shall be on your heart. You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, and when you walk by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise. You shall bind them as a sign on your hand, and they shall be as frontlets between your eyes. You shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates.”

This is known as the Shema

LORD = Yahweh, also translated as, Jehovah, the proper name of God

God = Elohim, a generic term for God, even false gods, and is plural

While in many places God is referred to as Elohim it should not be taken that Israel believed in multiple Gods, this verse very specifically tells us there is only one God

Jesus, the Messiah, the Son of Man

Daniel 7:13–14 ““I saw in the night visions, and behold, with the clouds of heaven there came one like a son of man, and he came to the Ancient of Days and was presented before him. And to him was given dominion and glory and a kingdom, that all peoples, nations, and languages should serve him; his dominion is an everlasting dominion, which shall not pass away, and his kingdom one that shall not be destroyed.”

Matthew 9:6 “But that you may know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins”—he then said to the paralytic—“Rise, pick up your bed and go home.””

The relationship of Father and Son

Psalm 110:1 “The LORD says to my Lord: “Sit at my right hand, until I make your enemies your footstool.””

LORD = Yahweh

Tetragrammaton, yodh he waw he, יהוה

Exodus 3:15 “God also said to Moses, “Say this to the people of Israel: ‘The LORD, the God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, has sent me to you.’ This is my name forever, and thus I am to be remembered throughout all generations.”

This was the first time God had given this name to His people

The Tetragrammaton is all consonants, they took the vowels out so they could not take God’s name in vain

Lord = Adoni

In essence, “The Father says to the Son”

Matthew 22:43–44 “He said to them, “How is it then that David, in the Spirit, calls him Lord, saying, “ ‘The Lord said to my Lord, “Sit at my right hand, until I put your enemies under your feet” ’?”

The Pharisees believed the Christ, Messiah, would be the son of David. Here, Jesus points out that the Christ is the Son of God.

Jesus said David was writing according to the Spirit, which means, here we see the Trinity

The Spirit of God

Joel 2:28–29 ““And it shall come to pass afterward, that I will pour out my Spirit on all flesh; your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, your old men shall dream dreams, and your young men shall see visions. Even on the male and female servants in those days I will pour out my Spirit.”

When the Spirit comes

John 14:16–17 “And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Helper, to be with you forever, even the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees him nor knows him. You know him, for he dwells with you and will be in you.”

“Another Helper” means one like Jesus, it would be great to have Jesus by our side, and He is.

John 14:26 “But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, he will teach you all things and bring to your remembrance all that I have said to you.”

The Helper is the Holy Spirit

John 15:26–27 “But when the Helper comes, whom I will send to you from the Father, the Spirit of truth, who proceeds from the Father, he will bear witness about me. And you also will bear witness, because you have been with me from the beginning.”

The Helper, the Holy Spirit, the Spirit of Truth, is sent by Jesus from the Father, and is the Spirit of God

John 16:7–15 “Nevertheless, I tell you the truth: it is to your advantage that I go away, for if I do not go away, the Helper will not come to you. But if I go, I will send him to you. And when he comes, he will convict the world concerning sin and righteousness and judgment: concerning sin, because they do not believe in me; concerning righteousness, because I go to the Father, and you will see me no longer; concerning judgment, because the ruler of this world is judged. I still have many things to say to you, but you cannot bear them now. When the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all the truth, for he will not speak on his own authority, but whatever he hears he will speak, and he will declare to you the things that are to come. He will glorify me, for he will take what is mine and declare it to you. All that the Father has is mine; therefore I said that he will take what is mine and declare it to you.”

The unity of the Trinity is seen here as the Spirit speaks on behalf of the Father and glorifies the Son whom the Father has given all things

To conclude, we can see the Trinity and the working of the Godhead throughout Scripture. Some will say the word, “Trinity” is not found in the Bible. While the word is not there the idea most certainly is. There are even more places we could mention, but what’s the fun in that? Allow the Helper, the Spirit of Truth, to reveal to you where we can see the wonderful relationship and workings of God.

Practical Implications

“The practical importance of the doctrine of the Trinity is that it requires us to pay equal attention, and give equal honor, to all three persons in the unity of their gracious ministry to us.” ~ J.I. Packer

Understanding the workings of the Godhead allow us to worship Him more fully

Proverbs 9:10 “The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom, and the knowledge of the Holy One is insight.”

2 Peter 1:3–4 “His divine power has granted to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of him who called us to his own glory and excellence, by which he has granted to us his precious and very great promises, so that through them you may become partakers of the divine nature, having escaped from the corruption that is in the world because of sinful desire.”

We get to partake in this amazing relationship and working of the Godhead

John 17:20–23 ““I do not ask for these only, but also for those who will believe in me through their word, that they may all be one, just as you, Father, are in me, and I in you, that they also may be in us, so that the world may believe that you have sent me. The glory that you have given me I have given to them, that they may be one even as we are one, I in them and you in me, that they may become perfectly one, so that the world may know that you sent me and loved them even as you loved me.”

God is a relational God and a God of unity. He pulls us into that unity, somewhat like a child enjoying the unity of their parents. We also have the full power of the Godhead working on our behalf. We are conquerors by the power of the Father, the blood of Jesus, and His Spirit that dwells in us.

Romans 8:31–32 “What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us? He who did not spare his own Son but gave him up for us all, how will he not also with him graciously give us all things?”

Romans 8:37 “No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us.”

Benediction

2 Corinthians 13:14 “The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ and the love of God and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all.”