Trinity
Bible Doctrines • Sermon • Submitted • Presented
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Trinity Quiz - Are you a heretic? ;)
Trinity Quiz - Are you a heretic? ;)
Question: Where in the Bible do we find the word “Trinity”?
True or False: The Trinity means that there are three Gods.
True or False: The Trinity means that God exists in three Persons.
True or False: There is only one God.
True or False: God is One Person Who Appears to Us in Three Different Forms
True or False: God is Jesus
Definition: God eternally exists as three persons, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, and each person is fully God, and there is one God. (Wayne Grudem, Systematic Theology)
The word trinity means “tri-unity” or “three-in-oneness.”
Progressive Revelation
Progressive Revelation
The doctrine of the Trinity is not revealed all at once, but it is gradually revealed here and there in the OT and made more explicit in the NT.
Old Testament Hints
Old Testament Hints
1 In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. 2 Now the earth was formless and void, and darkness was over the surface of the deep. And the Spirit of God was hovering over the surface of the waters. 3 And God said, “Let there be light,” and there was light.
“Us” or “We”
“Us” or “We”
26 Then God said, “Let Us make man in Our image, after Our likeness, to rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air, over the livestock, and over all the earth itself and every creature that crawls upon it.”
22 Then the LORD God said, “Behold, the man has become like one of Us, knowing good and evil. And now, lest he reach out his hand and take also from the tree of life, and eat, and live forever...”
7 Come, let Us go down and confuse their language, so that they will not understand one another’s speech.”
8 Then I heard the voice of the Lord saying: “Whom shall I send? Who will go for Us?” And I said: “Here am I. Send me!”
Separate Persons Referred to as God
Separate Persons Referred to as God
Psalm 45:6-7 (Quoted in Hebrews 1)
6 Your throne, O God, endures forever and ever, and justice is the scepter of Your kingdom. 7 You have loved righteousness and hated wickedness; therefore God, your God, has anointed you above your companions with the oil of joy.
Psalm 110:1 (See Matthew 22:41-46)
1 The LORD said to my Lord: “Sit at My right hand until I make Your enemies a footstool for Your feet.”
16 Come near to Me and listen to this: From the beginning I have not spoken in secret; from the time it happened, I was there.” And now the Lord GOD has sent me, accompanied by His Spirit.
1 The Spirit of the Lord GOD is on Me, because the LORD has anointed Me to preach good news to the poor. He has sent Me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives and freedom to the prisoners,
10 But they rebelled and grieved His Holy Spirit. So He turned and became their enemy, and He Himself fought against them.
1 “Behold, I will send My messenger, who will prepare the way before Me. Then the Lord whom you seek will suddenly come to His temple—the Messenger of the covenant, in whom you delight—see, He is coming,” says the LORD of Hosts. 2 But who can endure the day of His coming? And who can stand when He appears? For He will be like a refiner’s fire, like a launderer’s soap.
7 Yet I will have compassion on the house of Judah, and I will save them—not by bow or sword or war, not by horses and cavalry, but by the LORD their God.”
The Angel of the LORD
The Angel of the LORD
13 So Hagar gave this name to the LORD who had spoken to her: “You are the God who sees me,” for she said, “Here I have seen the One who sees me!”
2 There the angel of the LORD appeared to him in a blazing fire from within a bush. Moses saw the bush ablaze with fire, but it was not consumed. 3 So Moses thought, “I must go over and see this marvelous sight. Why is the bush not burning up?” 4 When the LORD saw that he had gone over to look, God called out to him from within the bush, “Moses, Moses!” “Here I am,” he answered. 5 “Do not come any closer,” God said. “Take off your sandals, for the place where you are standing is holy ground.” 6 Then He said, “I am the God of your father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.” At this, Moses hid his face, for he was afraid to look at God.
20 Behold, I am sending an angel before you to protect you along the way and to bring you to the place I have prepared. 21 Pay attention to him and listen to his voice; do not defy him, for he will not forgive rebellion, since My Name is in him. 22 But if you will listen carefully to his voice and do everything I say, I will be an enemy to your enemies and a foe to your foes.
35 But the angel of the LORD said to Balaam, “Go with the men, but you are to speak only what I tell you.” So Balaam went with the princes of Balak.
38 “See, I have come to you,” Balaam replied, “but can I say just anything? I must speak only the word that God puts in my mouth.”
11 Then the angel of the LORD came and sat down under the oak in Ophrah that belonged to Joash the Abiezrite, where his son Gideon was threshing wheat in a winepress to hide it from the Midianites.
14 The LORD turned to him and said, “Go in the strength you have and save Israel from the hand of Midian. Am I not sending you?”
New Testament Revelation
New Testament Revelation
16 As soon as Jesus was baptized, He went up out of the water. Suddenly the heavens were opened, and He saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and resting on Him. 17 And a voice from heaven said, “This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased!”
19 Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, 20 and teaching them to obey all that I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, even to the end of the age.”
26 But the Advocate, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in My name, will teach you all things and will remind you of everything I have told you.
In the NT, “God” usually = Father; “Lord” usually = Son
4 There are different gifts, but the same Spirit. 5 There are different ministries, but the same Lord. 6 There are different ways of working, but the same God works all things in all people.
14 The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with all of you.
4 There is one body and one Spirit, just as you were called to one hope when you were called; 5 one Lord, one faith, one baptism; 6 one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all.
2 according to the foreknowledge of God the Father and sanctified by the Spirit for obedience to Jesus Christ and sprinkling by His blood: Grace and peace be yours in abundance.
20 But you, beloved, by building yourselves up in your most holy faith and praying in the Holy Spirit, 21 keep yourselves in the love of God as you await the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ to bring you eternal life.
Three Statements Summarize the Biblical Teaching
1. God is three persons.
2. Each person is fully God.
3. There is one God.
God the Father is a Person
God the Son (Jesus) is a Person
God the Spirit is a Person
The Father is not the Son
The Father is not the Spirit
The Son is not the Spirit
Each person is distinct. And each person is God.
This is why we can say “Jesus is God” but it’s not quite right to say “God is Jesus”
There is one God (not three)
4 Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God, the LORD is One. 5 And you shall love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength.
5 I am the LORD, and there is no other; there is no God but Me. I will equip you for battle, though you have not known Me, 6 so that all may know, from where the sun rises to where it sets, that there is none but Me; I am the LORD, and there is no other.
21 Speak up and present your case— yes, let them take counsel together. Who foretold this long ago? Who announced it from ancient times? Was it not I, the LORD? There is no other God but Me, a righteous God and Savior; there is none but Me. 22 Turn to Me and be saved, all the ends of the earth; for I am God, and there is no other.
5 For there is one God, and there is one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus,
6 yet for us there is but one God, the Father, from whom all things came and for whom we exist. And there is but one Lord, Jesus Christ, through whom all things came and through whom we exist.
19 You believe that God is one. Good for you! Even the demons believe that—and shudder.
All analogies fall short of explaining the Trinity
Water – solid, liquid, gas
Three-leaf clover
Tree – roots, trunk, branches
The Trinity is Eternal
1 In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. 2 Now the earth was formless and void, and darkness was over the surface of the deep. And the Spirit of God was hovering over the surface of the waters.
3 Through Him all things were made, and without Him nothing was made that has been made.
6 yet for us there is but one God, the Father, from whom all things came and for whom we exist. And there is but one Lord, Jesus Christ, through whom all things came and through whom we exist.
16 For in Him all things were created, things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities. All things were created through Him and for Him.
2 But in these last days He has spoken to us by His Son, whom He appointed heir of all things, and through whom He made the universe.
5 And now, Father, glorify Me in Your presence with the glory I had with You before the world existed.
24 Father, I want those You have given Me to be with Me where I am, that they may see the glory You gave Me because You loved Me before the foundation of the world.
14 how much more will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered Himself unblemished to God, purify our consciences from works of death, so that we may serve the living God!
Watch Out for False Teaching on the Trinity!
1. Modalism (or Sabellianism) Claims That There Is One Person Who Appears to Us in Three Different Forms (or “Modes”)
2. Arianism and Other Ancient Heresies Deny the Full Deity of the Son and the Holy Spirit
3. Tritheism Denies That There Is Only One God