Sermon Tone Analysis

Introduction

The Christian God is unique from the gods worshipped by any other religion.

God is best described as a Trinity, or Tri-Unity.

God is a unity of three co-eternal persons, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.

The Plurality and Oneness of God

We see several examples in both the Old and New Testaments of God being presented as a Being having both qualities of plurality and oneness.

We struggle with this concept, because from our limited human perspective, the qualities of plurality and oneness are mutually exclusive.

However, the Bible gives evidence that God can fit into both categories at the same time.

There may be no sufficient way to explain how this can be.

However, we can accept the Bible’s testimony to this fact.

Old Testament

The doctrine of the Trinity is never fully spelled out in the Old Testament.

However, the Old Testament clearly teaches the oneness of God and gives several examples of there being at least two, and even three Divine Persons.

26 And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness: and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth.

27 So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them.

Notice here that the writer refers to God in the singular, but God refers to Himself in the plural.

“God [singular] said, Let us [plural] make man in our [plural] image, after our [plural] likeness… So God [singular] created man in His [singular] own image.”

6 And the Lord said, Behold, the people is one, and they have all one language; and this they begin to do: and now nothing will be restrained from them, which they have imagined to do.

7 Go to, let us go down, and there confound their language, that they may not understand one another’s speech.

8 So the Lord scattered them abroad from thence upon the face of all the earth: and they left off to build the city.

Here we see the same pattern of the writer referring to “the Lord” as singular while the Lord refers to Himself as plural.

“The Lord [singular] said… ‘Let us [plural] go down’… So the Lord [singular] scattered them abroad.”

20 And the Lord said, Because the cry of Sodom and Gomorrah is great, and because their sin is very grievous;

21 I will go down now, and see whether they have done altogether according to the cry of it, which is come unto me; and if not, I will know.

22 And the men turned their faces from thence, and went toward Sodom: but Abraham stood yet before the Lord.

Notice that the Lord came down to visit Abraham to notify him that he was going to judge the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah with fire and brimstone.

Notice that the Lord personally came down, because “Abraham stood yet before the Lord.”

24 Then the Lord rained upon Sodom and upon Gomorrah brimstone and fire from the Lord out of heaven;

The text of Scripture says nothing about the Lord who visited Abraham returning to heaven.

So we have one LORD standing on the earth raining down fire and brimstone from another LORD in heaven.

This passage clearly reveals at least two Divine persons.

4 Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God is one Lord:

Notice the usage of the word “one.”

It’s the same word as when Adam says that a married man and woman “shall be one flesh” ().

It’s the same word used to describe the builders of the tower of Babel: “the people is one” ().

It’s the same word as when Nehemiah records that 42,360 people () “gathered themselves together as one man” ().

God once told Ezekiel to take two sticks and join them together in his hand.

God said “they shall become one in thine hand” ().

This word is often used to mean unity, not singularity.

In the above examples we see unity in plurality, or multiple entities coming together to form one unit.

6 Thy throne, O God, is for ever and ever: The sceptre of thy kingdom is a right sceptre.

7 Thou lovest righteousness, and hatest wickedness: Therefore God, thy God, hath anointed thee With the oil of gladness above thy fellows.

Here we have God anointing God with the oil of gladness.

So, again we see two Divine persons.

Also, if you understand the oil of gladness as a symbol for the Holy Spirit, you have three Divine persons in this text.

This is not absolutely necessary, but it is worth taking note of.

8 Also I heard the voice of the Lord, saying, Whom shall I send, and who will go for us?

Then said I, Here am I; send me.

Here we have God referring to Himself in both the singular and the plural.

“Whom shall I [singular] send, and who will go for us [plural].”

12 Hearken unto me, O Jacob and Israel, my called; I am he; I am the first, I also am the last.

13 Mine hand also hath laid the foundation of the earth, And my right hand hath spanned the heavens: When I call unto them, they stand up together.

14 All ye, assemble yourselves, and hear; Which among them hath declared these things?

The Lord hath loved him: He will do his pleasure on Babylon, And his arm shall be on the Chaldeans.

15 I, even I, have spoken; yea, I have called him: I have brought him, and he shall make his way prosperous.

16 Come ye near unto me, hear ye this; I have not spoken in secret from the beginning; From the time that it was, there am I: And now the Lord God, and his Spirit, hath sent me.

Here it is undeniable that we see clearly three Divine persons.

The One who “laid the foundations of the earth” speaks of “the Lord” in the third person.

The One who “laid the foundations of the earth” says that he was sent by “the Lord God, and His Spirit.”

4 And the Lord said…

5 And it shall come to pass at that day, that I will break the bow of Israel in the valley of Jezreel.

7 But I will have mercy upon the house of Judah, and will save them by the Lord their God, and will not save them by bow, nor by sword, nor by battle, by horses, nor by horsemen.

6 And she conceived again, and bare a daughter.

And God said unto him, Call her name Lo-ruhamah: for I will no more have mercy upon the house of Israel; but I will utterly take them away.

7 … I will have mercy upon the house of Judah, and will save them by the Lord their God, and will not save them by bow, nor by sword, nor by battle, by horses, nor by horsemen.

Here we see the Lord saying that He will save His people by “the Lord their God.”

Another example of at least two Divine persons.

8 For thus saith the Lord of hosts; After the glory hath he sent me unto the nations which spoiled you: For he that toucheth you toucheth the apple of his eye.

9 For, behold, I will shake mine hand upon them, And they shall be a spoil to their servants: And ye shall know that the Lord of hosts hath sent me.

Here we see the “Lord of Hosts” being sent by “the Lord of Hosts.”

Another example of at least two Divine persons in the Old Testament.

New Testament

16 And Jesus, when he was baptized, went up straightway out of the water: and, lo, the heavens were opened unto him, and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove, and lighting upon him:

17 And lo a voice from heaven, saying, This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.

We see three divine persons present at the baptism of Jesus.

This is a significant moment in redemptive history.

Jesus is beginning His public ministry for the salvation of mankind.

The Son was baptized, the Spirit descended upon Him, and the Father spoke from heaven.

19 Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost:

Notice that the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit all share a singular name.

The Eternal Divinity of The Son of God

Throughout time, the idea has been taught that Jesus was created by the Father, or somehow had a beginning.

Therefore, some people have believed Him to be a lesser God.

But is this true?

The Word of God

1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.

1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.

2 The same was in the beginning with God.

3 All things were made by him; and without him was not any thing made that was made.

2 The same was in the beginning with God.

14 And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth.

3 All things were made by him; and without him was not any thing made that was made.

The Word was in the beginning.

It may be hard to pinpoint exactly what beginning this refers to, however it’s the same beginning that God existed in.

John is saying that as long as God has existed, the Word (the Son of God) has existed.

This is clearly the beginning before anything else existed, because “all things were mad by Him.”

The Word is equal with God in nature: “The Word was God.”

This is not saying that the Word is the same person as God.

God and the Word are clearly two different persons because the Word was with God.

This text is saying that the Word shared the same Divine nature as God.