Sermon Tone Analysis

John Shadlow – X08048

 

 

*Master of Arts*

*Christian Worldview – TH189X*

 

Lecturer: Dr Shane Clifton

 

 

Southern Cross College

Chester Hill Campus – Distance Education

 

 

Word Count: 3255 (with scripture excluding headings & Abstract)

 

 

Date Due: September 19, 2008

Handed in: September 19, 2008

 

 

 

 

 

* *

*Essay Question:*

*Discuss the reasoning and development (including heresies) behind the affirmation of the Tri-unity of God despite such belief developing from a strong monotheistic tradition.

What relevance does an affirmation of the trinity have for us?*

 

 

 

*Declaration of Authorship*

I hereby declare that this submission is my own work and that, to be best of my knowledge and belief, it contains no material previously published or written by another person nor material which to a substantial extent has been accepted for the award of any other degree or diploma of a university or other institution of higher learning, except where due acknowledgement is made in the acknowledgements.

\\ Signed: __John Shadlow_________           Date: September 19, 2008

 

INDEX                                                                                                          Page

 

Abstract 3

Essay.

4

Introduction.

4

God Revealed – Old Testament 5

God Revealed – New Testament 7

Development of Trinitarian Doctrine in Response to Heresies.

8

Relevance of Trinity for Us Today.

15

Conclusion.

17

Bibliography.

18

\\ * *

!

Abstract

 

God is revealed and worshipped in a strictly monotheistic manner within the Old Testament and yet there are subtle hints in the Old Testament that God is more than just God the Father and Creator.

The Spirit was not unknown within the Old Testament but there is no evidence that the Jews saw any conflict with their monotheistic tradition.

However, it is when we encounter the person of Jesus Christ that we are forced to examine the concept of Trinity.

The questions leap to mind; is Jesus God?

Is He partially God?

Is He not God? or alternatively, Is there not One God but three Gods?

These questions were gradually resolved by the Church over the first four centuries as theologians put forward views that were then adopted or rejected as heresies by the Church.

Finally we shall examine what this concept of One God yet Three persons has to do with us and the effect it should have on our daily walk with our God; Father, Son and Holy Spirit.

We can conclude that the examination of the triune God is not just a useless academic exercise that will extend our knowledge but a revelation that will enrich and enhance our relationship with the Almighty Three in One.

\\ !

Essay

!! Introduction

A belief in Jesus Christ as God will inevitably force our attention towards the study of God as Three in One (or Trinity).

The doctrine is neatly summarised for us in the first part of the Athanasian Creed,

“/That we worship one God in Trinity and Trinity in Unity; //neither confounding the persons nor dividing the substance”//*[1]*//.

/

However, the question remains, how do we reconcile this apparent dichotomy of One God yet Three Persons?

We shall begin by examining the Scriptures; even though this is like looking at the subject matter through a veil as there are only two verses in the whole Bible capable of direct Trinitarian interpretation (Matthew 28:19 and 2 Corinthians 13:14).

Despite this apparent lack of Biblical support the patterns of Trinity are pervasive throughout the Scriptures.[2]

The knowledge we have of the Trinity today has been gained only via Christian revelation together with the application of pure induction to Scriptures appertaining to the Godhead.[3]

We will therefore next view the development of the doctrine through the heresies and finally, what does this mean for us?

\\ !! God Revealed – Old Testament

The Old Testament witness is fundamentally to the /oneness/ of God.

In their daily prayer, Jews repeated the (Heb.)

/Shema/ of Deuteronomy 6:4, “/The Lord our God, the Lord is one”/.

In this they confessed the God of Israel to be the transcendent creator, without peer or rival.[4]

Some early commentators up until recent times, such as for example, Hammond[5] and Horton[6] has sought proof of Trinity from the Old Testament in the fact that in the (Heb.)

/Shema/ the plural (Heb.)

/Elohim/ is used of God.

They also reference the plural form in Genesis 1:26,”Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness” (and similar verses Genesis 3:22, 11:7 and Isaiah 6:8).

However, more recent commentators such as Berkhof[7] discount the use of plural as being poetical.

Still other commentators such as Wainwright explain the plural form as a relic of polytheism or idiomatic speech common of the day when referring to a deity.[8]

Further examination of the Hebrew text of Genesis 1:27 also reveals that the use of the singular verb “create” (rather than the plural to match (Heb.)/

Elohim/) in 1:26, does in fact, suggest that God worked alone in the creation of mankind[9]

 

Although the Old Testament portrays a monotheistic God there are veiled references that can only be correctly understood in light of a New Testament Trinitarian doctrine.

Isaiah 48:16 “The/ Lord God and His Spirit/”; Isaiah 61:1 “/T//he Spirit of the Lord God is upon Me, Because the LORD has anointed Me/”; The clearest indication of Trinity in the Old Testament is to be found in Zech 12:10”/And I will pour on the house of David and on the inhabitants of Jerusalem the Spirit of grace and supplication; then they will look on Me whom they pierced/.”

In this verse we see God speaking in first person “/I”/ with reference to pouring out the “/Spirit/” and talking about people looking on “/Me/” (Himself) who they pierced.

This leads us to consider the person of the Holy Spirit.

In the Old Testament the Spirit is described anthropomorphically as being “/grieved/” (Isaiah 63:10), having “/guided men/” (Psalm 143:10), “/instructed men/” (Nehemiah 9:20), and “/caused them to rest/” (Isaiah 63:14).

Within the Wisdom literature the wisdom and word of God are also portrayed personified.

The attribute of Godly wisdom is treated as if it were a person (female); Wisdom is active within creation and fashioning the world with her imprint.

(Proverbs 1:20-23; 9:1-6; Job 28; Ecclesiastes 24).

The Word of God also is sometimes treated as an entity with an existence independent of God yet emanating from God.

The Word is portrayed as going forth from God to confront people with the will and purpose of God bringing guidance, judgement and salvation (Psalm 119.89; 147:15-20; Isaiah 55:10-11).[10]

Even though the Jews described the Spirit, Wisdom and the Word with human characteristics there is no evidence that they thought of the Spirit in such persona terms as would compromise their monotheism.[11]

\\ !! God Revealed – New Testament

A search of the New Testament for direct quotations that support the notion of Trinity will disappoint the enquirer as only the following two verses will be found; Matthew 28:19,

/“Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit”.

/

 

And 2 Corinthians 13:14;

/ “T//he grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the /

/communion of the Holy Spirit be with you all.

Amen.”/

The main issue in this discussion is the divinity of Jesus Christ; if He is God then we are confronted with the problem of reconciling the nature of Trinity.

It is quite evident from scripture that Jesus Christ is;

 

a) Spoken of as the Son of God from a pre-incarnation viewpoint (John 1:14),

                   b) Called the “only begotten” Son of the Father, something that could not be said of Him if He were not the Son of God (John3:16),

c)  Called Himself Son of God which was taken by the Jews as being equal to God (John 5:18),

d) Addresses God as “/Father/” or “/My Father/” whereas He teaches the disciples to pray “/Our Father/” (Matthew 7:21, 6:9);

e) Claims unique knowledge of God (Matthew 11:27); and

f) The Jews understood the claim to be Son of God in a Messianic sense (Matthew 26:63).

[12]

 

\\ !! Development of Trinitarian Doctrine in Response to Heresies

Early Christians were aware of the triune nature of God “implicitly through their faith in Jesus, the closeness of the Father and the activity of the Holy Spirit in the world were revealed by Jesus”[13], However, as the early Christians personal memories of the experiences faded this implicit understanding needed explanation to defend against heresy and define beliefs.

This led to the intense debate among theologians as to the nature of the Trinity which continues to this day.

!!  

The development of the doctrine of the Trinity initially started with patriarchs writing to dispute various heresies that arose over time.

There followed a series of Church Councils meeting to determine the position of the Church in relation to heresies.

We will now examine each of these heresies and responses in turn.

!!!  

!!! Docetism~/ Apollinarism

!!!! Docetism                                                                                                                              

 Docetism is the view that the body of Christ was not real but only seeming (Gk.

/dokein/, ‘to seem’) to be real, and therefore either the sufferings were only apparent, or else the redeemer who could not suffer was separate from the man in whom he appeared.

The premise of this syllogism was a tendency in the church from the start; the conclusion was a theory of most of the Gnostic sects of the second century.

John’s reference to the ‘flesh’ and ‘blood’ (1 John.

4:2; 5:6) suggests that the view appeared early and is given apostolic repudiation.[14]

!!!!  

\\ !!!! Apollinarism

Apollinarianism is the heresy of the mingled natures of the one Christ, called after Apollinarius, Bishop of Laodicea in Syria (361–90 C.E.)

The mingled natures consisted of a human body and soul mingled with a Godly Spirit.