The Trinity: Love Like God
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We’re going to continue the rooted series by talking about the Trinity. Usually, in order to talk about something we must first fully understand what we’re talking about.
And I would love to tell you that that is the case here. But the truth is I don’t fully understand the Trinity nor does anyone else.
I love what Augustine says about the Trinity. He says, “Try to deny the Trinity, you lose your soul; try to understand the Trinity, you lose your mind.”
If someone tells you they do run the other way, fast, because they have truly lost their minds!!
Our finite minds can’t comprehend the Trinity. And while the word Trinity is not used anywhere in the Bible we can clearly see the Trinity at work in the Bible.
We’re going to bounce from verse to verse like a rubber super ball bouncing around a tiny room to see what the Bible says about the Trinity.
But first, we have to define the Trinity, so we know what we’re looking for.
A short and as simple as possible definition of the Trinity is this: “There is one God eternally existing in three co-equal persons, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.”
There is one God. This God has always been and always will be. This one God is three persons Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.
So the Father is God, the Son is God and the Holy Spirit is God. But there’s only one God.
Pretty simple, right? Have you Got it?
Great! Let’s take a look at what the Bible tells us about the Trinity.
There is One God
There is One God
The bible is clear there is one God.
Look at Deut. 6:4
4 “Listen, Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one.
and 1 Cor 8:4
4 About eating food sacrificed to idols, then, we know that “an idol is nothing in the world,” and that “there is no God but one.”
and Is 45:5
5 I am the Lord, and there is no other, besides me there is no God; I equip you, though you do not know me,
and 1 Tim 2:5
5 For there is one God and one mediator between God and mankind, the man Christ Jesus,
There is only one true God, the God of Israel, the God of Christianity, are one and the same. There is no other.
There are other gods but they are false gods. It’s important to understand this point. False gods are not imaginary gods that don’t exist.
False gods are demons portraying themselves as God. They have limited power to enact various supernatural things in the current broken world.
There is only one true God, the God who reveals Himself in the Bible. The Bible makes this very clear.
Can we all agree on that?
It’s settled there’s only one God.
So how can one God be three distinct people?
I don’t know! I can’t answer that question for you because I don’t understand how this can be. I don’t fully understand how one God can be three distinct persons.
People might ask then why do you say it at all? How can you so emphatically say one God exists in three distinct persons without knowing how it’s even possible?
Because I believe the Bible is the Truth and the Bible tells me that’s the way it is.
The Bible says that God the Father is God.
God the Father is God
God the Father is God
27 Don’t work for the food that perishes but for the food that lasts for eternal life, which the Son of Man will give you, because God the Father has set his seal of approval on him.”
Jesus tells us the Father is God. Paul makes it clear that the Father is God in 1 Cor 8:6
6 yet for us there is one God, the Father. All things are from him, and we exist for him. And there is one Lord, Jesus Christ. All things are through him, and we exist through him.
The Bible tells us God the Father is God. And the Bible tells us God the Son, Jesus, is God.
God the Son, Jesus, is God
God the Son, Jesus, is God
There are some that say the Bible never says Jesus is God. But the Bible makes it clear that Jesus is God.
We’ll start with Jn 1:1-2 and Jn 1:14
1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2 He was with God in the beginning.
14 The Word became flesh and dwelt among us. We observed his glory, the glory as the one and only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth.
The Word was with God and the Word was God. The Word who is God became human as Jesus Christ.
Jesus declared Himself to be God in several places let’s start with Jn 8:58
58 Jesus said to them, “Truly I tell you, before Abraham was, I am.”
Jesus is referencing what God said to Moses in Ex 3:14
14 God replied to Moses, “I AM WHO I AM. This is what you are to say to the Israelites: I AM has sent me to you.”
It made the people so furious that they picked up stones and were going to stone Him to death for claiming to be God.
Also look at Jn 20:28-29
28 Thomas responded to him, “My Lord and my God!” 29 Jesus said, “Because you have seen me, you have believed. Blessed are those who have not seen and yet believe.”
This verse in church history has given Thomas the nickname doubting Thomas. He had to literally see and touch the resurrected Jesus to believe He is God and Savior.
But there are other verses that declare Jesus is God. Let’s look at a few Rom 9:5, Col 2:9, Titus 2:13, and 1 Jn 5:20
5 The ancestors are theirs, and from them, by physical descent, came the Christ, who is God over all, praised forever. Amen.
9 For in him the whole fullness of deity dwells bodily,
13 while we wait for the blessed hope, the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ.
20 And we know that the Son of God has come and has given us understanding so that we may know the true one. We are in the true one—that is, in his Son, Jesus Christ. He is the true God and eternal life.
We can say and believe Jesus is God because the Bible clearly says He is God.
But what about the Holy Spirit? Does the Bible say the Holy Spirit is God?
God the Holy Spirit is God
God the Holy Spirit is God
First off the Holy Spirit is a person not a mere force or some electrical energy.
The Holy Spirit is a He not an it. Jn 15:26 and Jn 16:13-14
26 “When the Counselor comes, the one I will send to you from the Father—the Spirit of truth who proceeds from the Father—he will testify about me.
13 When the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all the truth. For he will not speak on his own, but he will speak whatever he hears. He will also declare to you what is to come. 14 He will glorify me, because he will take from what is mine and declare it to you.
The Holy Spirit IS NOT some impersonal force. He is a person with the characteristics of a person.
The Holy Spirit teaches and guides which require a person not a force.
30 And don’t grieve God’s Holy Spirit. You were sealed by him for the day of redemption.
The Holy Spirit can be grieved (gravity can’t).
3 “Ananias,” Peter asked, “why has Satan filled your heart to lie to the Holy Spirit and keep back part of the proceeds of the land?
and He 10:29
29 How much worse punishment do you think one will deserve who has trampled on the Son of God, who has regarded as profane the blood of the covenant by which he was sanctified, and who has insulted the Spirit of grace?
The Holy Spirit can be lied to and insulted (can’t lie to and insult electricity).
So, first of all the Holy Spirit is a person.
and the Holy Spirit is God.
3 “Ananias,” Peter asked, “why has Satan filled your heart to lie to the Holy Spirit and keep back part of the proceeds of the land? 4 Wasn’t it yours while you possessed it? And after it was sold, wasn’t it at your disposal? Why is it that you planned this thing in your heart? You have not lied to people but to God.”
Peter makes it clear the Holy Spirit is God.
19 Don’t you know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God? You are not your own,
17 Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom. 18 We all, with unveiled faces, are looking as in a mirror at the glory of the Lord and are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory; this is from the Lord who is the Spirit.
The Lord is the Spirit. We can say and believe the Holy Spirit is God because the Bible says He is God.
The Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit are not just one God playing different roles. We see in several places where all three are present at the same time.
One being cannot portray different roles in the same place at the exact same time. Look at Gen 1:1-2 and Jn 1:1-2
1 In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. 2 Now the earth was formless and empty, darkness covered the surface of the watery depths, and the Spirit of God was hovering over the surface of the waters.
1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2 He was with God in the beginning.
All three persons were present at the same time at creation.
26 Then God said, “Let us make man in our image, according to our likeness. They will rule the fish of the sea, the birds of the sky, the livestock, the whole earth, and the creatures that crawl on the earth.”
22 The Lord God said, “Since the man has become like one of us, knowing good and evil, he must not reach out, take from the tree of life, eat, and live forever.”
God speaks in plurality and He’s not speaking to the angels about making humans in our image.
16 When Jesus was baptized, he went up immediately from the water. The heavens suddenly opened for him, and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and coming down on him. 17 And a voice from heaven said, “This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well-pleased.”
We see all three persons present at the exact same time. “There is one God eternally existing in three co-equal persons, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.”
Why is it so important to believe in the Trinity?
I read this quote from Augustine earlier:
“Try to deny the Trinity, you lose your soul; try to understand the Trinity, you lose your mind.”
If we deny the Trinity we are denying the very nature of God Himself. We are denying that we are created in the image of God. We are denying the very thing we seek the most.
The very thing that completely fills the void we all have in our souls. Without the Trinity God cannot be love.
8 The one who does not love does not know God, because God is love.
The very nature of God is love. The Trinity is where infinite perfect love exists in infinite harmony, unity, peace, and community
We are created in this triune image to be relational beings. The void we all have and seek to fill with all kinds of temporary worldly things can only be filled in a relationship with each person in the Trinity.
I can’t fully understand the Trinity nor can I fully explain how the Trinity works. Every time I study or preach about the Trinity it makes my head hurt.
All I can say is that the Bible clearly states there’s only one God and clearly defines three distinct persons within that one God.
And the Bible clearly discusses all three persons being present at the same exact time. So, no matter how much it makes my head hurt I believe in the Trinity clearly seen in the Bible.
In the Trinity we find community, transparency (meaning: nothing is hidden between the Father, Son, and the Holy Spirit), humility, and Happiness.
In other words the communal relationship is all joy: no sin, no jealousy, no conflict, no hiding, and no blaming.
Isn’t that exactly what people long for?
Maybe you might know someone, but I don’t know anyone that says they want misery, conflict, being blamed or want to be hated in their relationships with others.
In-fact people are so desperate for unity, love, harmony, and peace in their relationships that they seek out relationships and communities through social media and other internet sources.
We are created to be in loving relationships. To love and to be loved. We can’t truly know love unless we know God.
And we can’t know how to exercise that love without believing in and seeing the Trinity. It’s in the Trinity that we can see and understand how we are supposed to exercise the love of Christ in our lives.
When we see and believe in the Trinity we also see and know how we are supposed to apply what Jesus said in Matt 22:37-40
37 He said to him, “Love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind. 38 This is the greatest and most important command. 39 The second is like it: Love your neighbor as yourself. 40 All the Law and the Prophets depend on these two commands.”
My entire life, everything I do, is in service to and for God. That means my love for Him and for everyone else is to be as harmonious, humble, and transparent as possible.
I can’t control what another person says or does, but I can control how I respond or react to them.
If another believer holds all the core tenets of our faith, but holds some different tertiary beliefs from me I’m not going to argue or have conflict with that person.
We can discuss our different beliefs, but if neither one of us are willing to budge on our beliefs we can’t let that cause conflict in our relationship.
If a person has bazaar spiritual beliefs I’m not going to let that bring conflict into our relationship. I’m going to allow them the freedom to explore their spiritual beliefs wherever they may lead.
I am going to try and see if the person is truly seeking in their hearts. If they are I will allow them the freedom to explore and give them biblical truths to think about.
As they seek and weigh various views I trust Jesus when He says if you seek Him you will find Him.
Jesus makes it clear in Matthew 22:37-40 that our obedience to Him is fulfilled if we perfectly love Him and perfectly love others.
I’m not perfect, but the more I allow the Holy Spirit to transform my character the more I am able to love others closer to perfection. When we build a community of believers that exhibit this kind of behavior, we have a community that draws others to itself.
People will be drawn to a community that lives out the community relationship we see within the Trinity. Because we are all created to be a part of that loving community.
You see, believing in and seeing the Trinity is God’s perfect example of how we are supposed to love Him and the world.
It’s the example of how we are supposed to go make disciples of all nations.
