Sermon Tone Analysis

The Doctrine of the Trinity

God’s three in oneness

Judaism and Christianity are both monotheistic.

(There is only one God)

Monotheism - the belief there is only one God.

bi-theism - two gods

tri-theism - three gods

Is the Trinity Tri-theism?

I hold the precepts of Jesus, as delivered by Himself, to be the most pure, benevolent, and sublime which have ever been preached to man.

I adhere to the principles of the first age; and consider all subsequent innovations as corruptions of His religion, having no foundation in what came from Him. the metaphysical insanities of Athanasius of Loyola, and of Calvin, are, to my understanding, mere relapses into polytheism, differing from paganism only by being more unintelligible.”

This doctrine is taken from Special Revelation alone.

This is not revealed through general revelation.

This doctrine is taken from Special Revelation alone.

This is not revealed through general revelation.

Is the doctrine of the Trinity a relapse into paganism and polytheism?

If we reject the doctrine of the Trinity we will be rejecting the very text we derive our doctrine from.

We must approach this subject carefully as Augustine says,

There is no subject where error is more dangerous, research more laborious, and discovery more fruitful than the oneness of the Trinity of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.

To answer this we must turn to God’s self revelation of Himself.

What does God tell about himself?

This doctrine is taken from Special Revelation alone (Scripture).

This is not revealed through general revelation.

If you remember we can deduce that God exists from Natural Revelation but thats about it.

the Trinity comes directly from scripture.

God is One

Scriptural Support for God’s Oneness

Old Testament

Isaiah

New Testament

,

1 timothy

The Deity of the Three

God the Father (see Above verses)

The Deity of Jesus

Php 2:5-11

“form/nature” = morphe = the genuine nature; “the expression of something that reflects of manifests fully and truly (and permanently) the essence of what something is.”

This is a quote from

Other Verses: 1. ; ; ; ; ; ;

Scripture shows that Jesus is deity but he also performs acts that only God can do.

Scripture shows that Jesus is deity but he also performs acts that only God can do.

Jesus has a self-awareness that he was God

a. Angels – ; (Angels belong to God); (Jesus has control over angels)

b.

The Kingdom of God was His own – ; , ; ,

c.

The Elect of God was his –

d.

Jesus forgave sins –

e.

Power to judge the world –

f.

Reign over the world – ;

f.

Reign over the world – ;

g.

Jesus allowed followers to worship him.

The Deity of the Holy Spirit

Lying to the Holy Spirit is lying to God.

Acts 5:

The Holy Spirit plays a primary role in Redemption

The Holy Spirit receives honor and glory

The Holy Spirit is on equal footing with God.

Your body is the temple of God and the Holy Spirit

1 Cor

:

The 3 in 1ness

Scriptural Support

Matthew 28:

This formula is also found in the Didache 7:1-4

Justin Martyr quotes this formula in Apology 1:61

“Name” is singular but there are 3 names

2 Cor

Mt 1

The Baptism of Jesus

Mark 1:

Mark 1

The structure of Romans

The Judgment of God - 1:18-3:20

Justification through Faith in Christ - 3:21-8:1

Life in the Spirit - 8:2-30

How are we to understand this paradox?

With a doctrine so important we must press forward ever so carefully so we don’t fall into the same mistakes others have made before us.

This is the importance of Historical Theology, we can see how the early church handled this touchy subject.

There was a theological war raged over the doctrine of the Trinity.

how are we to know if we are Orthodox or not?

Modalism

Most trinitarian debates revolved around the relationship of the Son to the Father, you don’t see the Holy Spirit brought up much until after Christs relationship is figured out.

Once you understood the Sons relationship then the Spirit’s relationship logically followed.

There were not actually a plurality in the Godhead.

It appeared that God was 3 persons but in reality he was only one.

He appeared at different times throughout history.

OT - YHWH, Gospels, Jesus Christ and then came as the Holy Spirit.

They overemphasized the oneness of God and eliminated the personhood of each member of the trinity.

Tertullian

Tertullian was the 2nd Century defender of the Faith.

He invented many theological words (over 700) and one very important one was the word trinitos or trinity.

He was the first we know of to use this word in relation to God.

the major problem for Tertullian is seen in his response to Praxeas, who was a modalist.

“He says [Praxeas] that the Father Himself came down into the Virgin, was Himself born of her, Himself suffered, indeed was Himself Jesus Christ.”

He says that the Father Himself came down into the Virgin, was Himself born of her, Himself suffered, indeed was Himself Jesus Christ.

Tertullian.

(1885).

Against Praxeas.