Sermon Tone Analysis

What Is the Trinity?

What Is the Trinity?

Sometimes people use three different names when referring to God: God or Father, Jesus Christ, and the Holy Spirit.

But these are more than simply different names for one person; they are, in fact, the names of three very distinct persons.

But even though God the Father, God the Son (Jesus), and God the Holy Spirit have eternally existed as three distinct persons, there is only one God.

This is called the doctrine of the Trinity.

The idea of three persons and only one God is difficult to understand completely.

Even so, it is one of the most important ideas of the Christian faith.

The Bible’s View of the Trinity

The word “trinity” is never found in the Bible, but the idea represented by the word is affirmed in many places.

Look at : At this moment, all three members of the Trinity were performing three distinct activities: God the Father was speaking, God the Son was being baptized, and God the Holy Spirit was resting on the Son.

Similarly, when Jesus sent his disciples out to do their work, he commanded them to “make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit” ().

In saying this, Jesus is affirming that all three members of the Trinity are distinct in their personhood (the Father can’t be the Son, for example).

also affirms the three distinct persons in the Trinity: “Pray in the Holy Spirit; keep yourselves in the love of God, waiting for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ.”

The Meaning of the Trinity

Because God is three distinct persons, the Father is not the Son or the Holy Spirit, the Son is not the Father or the Holy Spirit, and the Holy Spirit is not the Father or the Son.

This was demonstrated through a number of passages above.

Each of the persons of the Trinity is fully God.

God the Father’s deity is shown from the first verse of the Bible—“In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth” (Gen.

1:1)—and throughout the pages of Scripture.

When the Bible refers simply to God, more often than not it is referring to God the Father.

But God the Son, who came to earth as Jesus Christ, is also fully God.

As Paul writes of Jesus in , “In him the whole fullness of deity dwells bodily.”

Therefore, Jesus’ disciple Thomas was correct when he said to Jesus, “My Lord and my God!” ().

In fact, John said he wrote his gospel so that people would “believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God” ().

Finally, God the Holy Spirit is also fully God.

Peter confirms this view when he accuses someone of lying “to the Holy Spirit” () and then further explains that this man has “not lied to men but to God” ().

The Spirit, Paul says, is omniscient like God the Father when he writes, “No one comprehends the thoughts of God except the Spirit of God” ().

Finally, God the Holy Spirit is also fully God.

Peter confirms this view when he accuses someone of lying “to the Holy Spirit” () and then further explains that this man has “not lied to men but to God” ().

The Spirit, Paul says, is omniscient like God the Father when he writes, “No one comprehends the thoughts of God except the Spirit of God” ().

But the Bible is also clear that there is only one God and not three.

The Bible says that God is only one essence or one being.

Look at ; ; ; ; and

Paul affirms this in Romans 3:30 when he writes, “God is one” and again in 1 Timothy 2:5 when he writes, “There is one God.”

In James 2:19 we find that even the demons acknowledge this: “You believe that God is one; you do well.

Even the demons believe—and shudder!”

The Trinity is one of those mysteries we can only describe in part.

Nothing in creation is exactly like God’s being.

Attempts to simplify or fully explain this mystery all fail and often lead to beliefs that are contrary to the Bible’s teachings.

In short, the doctrine of the Trinity is something we will never fully understand, for parts of it are beyond our comprehension.

The Distinct Roles of the Trinity

All three members of the Trinity have different roles.

For example, in creation we know that God spoke the earth into being ().

But tells us that God the Son carried out those words.

And, as tells us, the Spirit of God was hovering over the face of the waters, sustaining and manifesting God’s presence in creation.

Different roles within the Trinity can also be seen in our salvation.

God the Father sent His Son in order that the world might be saved through him through His death, burial, and resurrection ().

It was the Father’s will that Jesus die for our sins so that we didn’t have to ().

When Jesus rose from the dead and ascended into heaven, he and the Father sent the Holy Spirit to bring completion to the work the Father and the Son had started ( and ).

These different functions and roles are simply the outworking of the eternal relationship between the Father, Son, and Spirit.

They do not diminish the deity, attributes, or essential nature of the Father, Son, or Spirit.

The distinction is simply in the ways they relate to each other and to the creation.

This is far different from our own experience where every person is a different being as well.

But somehow God’s being is so different from ours that it can be both undivided and can unfold itself into interpersonal relationships among three distinct persons.

This is far different from anything we have ever experienced, will experience, or can fully understand.

Yet the unity and diversity within the Trinity provide a wonderful basis for the unity and diversity we experience in everyday life.

In marriage, for example, two distinct persons come together, and through marriage they become “one flesh” (Eph.

5:31).

As husband and wife they have equal standing, value, and personhood before God, but they also have distinct roles.

Just as the Father has authority over the Son, so in marriage the husband has authority over the wife.

As Paul says in 1 Corinthians 11:3, “The head of every man is Christ, the head of a wife is her husband, and the head of Christ is God.”

Even though it may be difficult at times to figure out just how the roles of husband and wife are to be specifically defined, the Bible makes it clear that the relationship within the Trinity provides the model for the relationship of marriage.

Another example of unity and diversity is seen in the church, which has “many members” all with different skills but “one body” with one purpose (1 Cor.

12:12).

It is also seen in the ethnic makeup of the church—which includes members “from every nation, from all tribes and peoples and languages” (Rev.

7:9).

This diversity adds a complexity that shows us the wisdom of God in allowing both unity and diversity to exist within his world.

The unity and diversity that exists in this world is simply a reflection of the unity and diversity that exists within the Trinity.

Questions for Review and Application

1. Can you name three or four key passages of Scripture that tell us about the Trinity?

What exactly do these passages tell us about the Trinity?

2. Why do all analogies fail in their ability to fully explain the Trinity?

Does this mean we should try to come up with an analogy that works?

Why or why not?

3. How do the different ways the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit relate to each other provide us with a model for the ways we are to relate to each other?

What Is God Like?

What Is God Like?

Just as Scripture is the highest source of information about itself, God is the highest source of information about himself.

That makes sense, for if there was a higher source of information about God, then God wouldn’t be God.

Scripture simply assumes God exists.

The first verse of the Bible—“In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth” (Gen.

1:1)—matter-of-factly presents God as Creator without any proof for his existence or actions.

Scripture also tells us that all persons everywhere have a deep, inner sense that God exists, that they are his creatures and that he is their Creator.

In Romans 1:19, Paul writes that even for the wicked, this sense is “plain to them, because God has shown it to them.”

Although many today do not acknowledge that God exists, Paul says this is because “they exchanged the truth about God for a lie” (Rom.

1:25), therefore actively or willingly rejecting some truth about God’s character and existence that they originally knew.

In essence, they convince themselves that “there is no God” (Ps.

10:4).

The knowledge of God that Paul refers to can be “clearly perceived … in the things that have been made” (Rom.

1:20).

Every created thing gives evidence of God and his character.

But human beings—created in the image of God—give the most evidence of God’s existence and character.

Therefore, belief in God is not some “blind faith”; it is based on evidence found both in the Bible and in the natural world.

God Is Knowable

We will never fully know God.

He is infinite and we are finite.

“His greatness is unsearchable,” too great to ever be fully known ().

“His understanding is beyond measure” ().

God’s knowledge is “too wonderful” for us; it is so high, we “cannot attain it” (), and if we could count God’s thoughts, we would find them greater in number than the sands of the earth ().