Introduction to the Trinity

Introduction:

How do we think of God?

Do we see God on the same line as us, or the same scale as us, just better, perfect, a perfection of humankind.

Then we don’t understand God at all if we think like that. He is different than us, completely. He is distinct from us, He is Creator , we are creatures.

We are in His image, but we are not like Him in essence.

He is eternal, immutable, all powerful , all knowing, all present, outside of time and He is a Triune God.

The term used historically is Trinity.

Well , what is Trinity? Where did the term come from? Is it in the Bible?

Trinity, the word comes from the Latin word “ Trinitas “

It simply means “ threefold “ or “ threeness”

First use of the term was by Tertullian, an early church father, around the 3rd century.

When we consider the doctrine of the Trinity , we are trying to answer the question, “ Who are You, God? “

Well, there is no doubt that the doctrine of the Trinity involves some hard thinking.

I was travelling with my grandson a week or so ago, and he had asked me about the Trinity, “ How can you explain that ? “

Well I gave him classic Christian answer, One in essence , being, yet three persons.

The Father is God and Jesus is God and the Holy Spirit is God, yet they are not three Gods, but one God. Three persons.

I got silence, I asked him, “ this is hard to understand, isn’t it ? “ and of course he said yes. I then asked him, what kind of God would God be if He is easily understood? If I can wrap my mind around the being of God, then He is not much different than me. If He is a God that doesn’t astound me , or boggle my mind, He is pretty much like me. As a matter of fact, He is probably me, an idol .

It does take hard thinking to think about the Trinity.

We typically might ask 3 questions about the Trinity. ( I got this from Fred Sanders, and if I can recommend some books, if you are interested in the Trinity, would be “ The Deep Things of God” by Sanders and “ The Trinity “ A Short Introduction “ by Swain )

Back to the 3 questions we might ask

Is the doctrine of the Trinity Biblical ?

Does the doctrine of the Trinity make sense?

Does the doctrine of the Trinity matter?

Well, we are going to take these in reverse order.

Does the doctrine of the Trinity matter? Or is it just kind of side information, good to know but does not really matter in every day life. Being able to talk about the Trinity can really make you look smart in discussions about the Bible.

One guy said, “ Try to understand and lose your mind , try to deny and lose your soul” .

Deuteronomy 29:29 (ESV)

29 “The secret things belong to the Lord our God, but the things that are revealed belong to us and to our children forever, that we may do all the words of this law.

Mystery in the Bible is something that was once hidden but now revealed

1 Corinthians 15:51 (ESV)

51 Behold! I tell you a mystery. We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed,

Ephesians 3:6 (ESV)

6 This mystery is that the Gentiles are fellow heirs, members of the same body, and partakers of the promise in Christ Jesus through the gospel.

These are mysteries that are now revealed.

But the secret things of God belong to God alone

We tend to try and understand the “ being of God “ , His makeup. That is not given to us.

So we come up with analogies.

I have heard a lot of analogies about the being of God, but any analogy we come up with is greatly lacking.

For instance :

An apple , skin, flesh, core - do we really think God is like an apple

or an egg, shell, white , yolk

or water, steam and ice.

We try to understand “ Who are you God ? “ , but do these analogies help, do they really tell us anything about God.

Not really, granted they demonstrate “ threeness” but not much else.

So is the doctrine of the Trinity really important at all or is it just something that we can speculate about, a great discussion .

I have to believe it is vitally important, why ?

First of all , it is Biblical

Secondly, the Creation, God’s plan of redemption, our lives as children of God is Trinitarian. All of these things and more are shaped by the Trinity.

Thirdly , our worship is or should be shaped by the Trinity.

Our worship and praise of God the Trinity is self - involving. The God, Who is Father, Son and Holy Spirit, is the author and end of all things, the Father wills to be our Father, through the Son, in the Spirit. The blessed Trinity, who dwells in a high and holy place, who inhabits eternity, whose name is holy, wills also to dwell among us and to make us eternally blessed through union and communion with Him, to the praise of His glorious grace.

Leviticus 26:12 (ESV)

12 And I will walk among you and will be your God, and you shall be my people.

John 14:23 (ESV)

23 Jesus answered him, “If anyone loves me, he will keep my word, and my Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our home with him.

2 Corinthians 6:16 (ESV)

16 What agreement has the temple of God with idols? For we are the temple of the living God; as God said, “I will make my dwelling among them and walk among them, and I will be their God, and they shall be my people.

this doctrine should cause us to stand in awe, to cry out in worship, especially as we look at the relationships of the Trinity, Father, Son and Holy Spirit, and at their work in creation and for us as believers especially in their work in the plan of redemption and ultimately consummation of God’s kingdom.

Nehemiah 9:5 (ESV)

5 . . . Stand up and bless the Lord your God from everlasting to everlasting. Blessed be your glorious name, which is exalted above all blessing and praise.

Psalm 145:3 (ESV)

3 Great is the Lord, and greatly to be praised, and his greatness is unsearchable.

First let’s define the Trinity

Our church teaching

We believe in the Triune Godhead as eternally existing in three persons : Father , Son and Holy Spirit

I am convinced that we have deep Trinitarian roots, and those roots are deep. We understand not just from what we have been taught in the church, but we understand from our lives in Christ, from our personal salvation that we have been reconciled to the Father by the work of Jesus

2 Corinthians 5:18 (ESV)

18 All this is from God, who through Christ reconciled us to himself . . .

Let’s pause for just a second and look at this verse

the work of reconciliation through Christ to God, is from God.

And the work of Christ is applied to the believer through the Spirit of God.

We are born of the Spirit, live in the Spirit, walk in the Spirit.

We understand this , this is not new to us, but do we think of it in a Trintarian framework ?

We understand God , the Trinity through His works , His actions. This is how He has revealed Himself to us.

Creation

The work of the Trinity is evident in the work of Creation.

The Father speaks, the Son is the Father’s Word, and the Spirit is the breath that bears the Father’s divine utterance in the Son and causes the things that the Father has spoken into being through the Son

Look at Psalm 33:6

Psalm 33:6 (ESV)

6 By the word of the Lord the heavens were made, and by the breath of his mouth all their host.

Let’s look at Genesis 1:1-3

Genesis 1:1–3 (ESV)

1 In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. 2 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. 3 And God said, “Let there be light,” and there was light.

We know the word for God used here in the Hebrew is a plural noun, Elohim.

Why did the Hebrews not see the Trinity?

They interpreted this term as a term of intensity, or majesty. The Trinity is in the OT, but not as apparent .

When we read , we see it, but we read in light of the NT, where the Trinity is more clearly revealed.

Let’s look at John 1

John 1:3 (ESV)

3 All things were made through him, and without him was not any thing made that was made.

Colossians 1:16 (ESV)

16 For by him all things were created, 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.

So Who created the world ?

God did, The Father through the Son and by the Spirit. The Spirit’s role is closely linked to that of the Word of God.

Again we see the Trinity in the creation of mankind.

Genesis 1:26 (ESV)

26 Then God said, “Let us make man in our image, after our likeness.

Genesis 2:7 (ESV)

7 then the Lord God formed the man of dust from the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living creature.

He we see the life giving Spirit of God.

This is born out in the Book of Job

Job 33:4 (ESV)

4 The Spirit of God has made me, and the breath of the Almighty gives me life.

The Nicene Creed refers to the Holy Spirit as the “ Giver of life”

This life- giving role of the Spirit is not limited to humanity but to all of God’s creatures. In Psalm 104 , speaking of the creatures.

Psalm 104:30 (ESV)

30 When you send forth your Spirit, they are created, and you renew the face of the ground.

The Trinity is throughout the OT , not as clearly seen as in the New Testament.

I want to remind us that the Triune God is being revealed in His works. This is much more clear in the NT.

New Testament

B B Warfield said “ The OT is richly furnished but dimly lit, the NT are the times of fulfillment “

In the NT , the Triune God is mainly revealed to us in the “ sending “ of the Son and the Holy Spirit.

Jesus is sent by the Father

Romans 8:3 (ESV)

3 For God has done what the law, weakened by the flesh, could not do. By sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and for sin, he condemned sin in the flesh,

One of the first verses we learned as new believers or children is

John 3:16 (ESV)

16 “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.

The doctrine of the Trinity is not in a single verse , it is a large doctrine , comprehensive .

Looking at the Trinity is a full exploration of all that Good is and has done.

It is a whole Bible doctrine.

I want to look at a few key texts.

John 1:1–3 (ESV)

1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2 He was in the beginning with God. 3 All things were made through him, and without him was not any thing made that was made.

This verses are obviously referring back to the creation account in Genesis.

v1-2 This is already true in Gen. 1:1

The “ Word “ , who we know to be Christ , is before creation. He is on the God side of things. He is not a creature.

“ Word was with God “ - before anything existed, nothing but God, the Word was with God, in relationship with God. This also implies distinction from creation and created beings, He is before.

“ was “ - gives us identity, He was God.

Then in v 14 , we see the thought of sent, or gave, the idea of “ fromness” , He is from God.

John 1:14 (ESV)

14 And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth.

John 1:18 (ESV)

18 No one has ever seen God; the only God, who is at the Father’s side, he has made him known.

Here we see the idea of the Father being revealed through the Son.

Well , how about the Holy Spirit? Where is He ? Is He present in John’s prologue?

I have to think He is, although not by name. Much attention is given to the Father and the Son.

Let’s remember our discussion of the Spirit’s role in creation.

“ He was made flesh “ - How does that happen?

Luke 1:35 (ESV)

35 And the angel answered her, “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you; therefore the child to be born will be called holy—the Son of God.

Second key text

Matthew 28:18–20 (ESV)

18 And Jesus came and said to them, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. 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, 20 teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”

Here we see the threeness of God.

“ in the name “ - name is singular, with a definite article preceding. “ the name “ . What is the name ? YHWH

Here we have one what and three whos

The word Trinity is not in the Bible, but threeness is, assuming we are allowed to count.

Third Key Text - Ephesians 2:18

In Ephesians 2:11–22

Paul is talking about racial reconciliation between the Jews, “ the commonwealth of Israel “ and the Gentiles.

2: 12 alienated from the commonwealth of Israel and strangers to the covenants of promise

Christ has broken the wall of hostility that He might create in Himself one new man in the place of two, making peace, reconciling to God , killing the hostility.

Then

Ephesians 2:18 (ESV)

18 For through him we both have access in one Spirit to the Father.

How do we have access to God?

The way is Trinitarian. This is the Gospel

The shape of the Gospel is Trinitarian, the shape of our salvation is Trinitarian.

Does the doctrine of the Trinity matter? Absolutely, our redemption, salvation, sanctification, reconciliation to the Father, the everyday experience of living for God, is all Trinitarian in its shape.

I think this is the most foundational of a doctrines, it encompasses all of Scripture, all other doctrines arise out of the Trinity, all of the works of God are Trinitarian.