The Trinity Series: Introduction

Please turn in your Bible to Matthew 28:19.

The word, “Trinity” does not appear in Scripture, however, the word is used by theologians to describe what the Scriptures reveal about who and what God is, namely, it describes God as being three co-equal, co-infinite and co-eternal persons with each sharing the same divine essence.

It means that in the one God (1 Corinthians 8:4) there are three persons-Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.

So there is one God and in God there are three persons.

They describe themselves in Scripture as Father, Son and Spirit and each of whom is identified in Scripture as God.

The Father, Son and Spirit are identical in being with no one person having a higher or lesser status than the other.

All have the same divine nature with specific attributes or characteristics, which can be described.

Each member of the Trinity, God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit are three distinct persons who each possess these divine attributes individually.

There is no member of the Trinity who is lower in rank to another member.

Each member of the Trinity has a specific purpose related to the plan of God.

The Trinity is explicitly taught in Matthew 28:19.

Matthew 28:19 “Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit.” (NASB95)

Notice that Jesus did not command His disciples to baptize in the “names” (plural) but in the “name” (singular) as if He were speaking of three different Beings.

Rather, He “asserts the unity of the three by combining them all within the bounds of the single Name; and then throws up into emphasis the distinctness of each by introducing them in turn with the repeated article: “Into the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.” (Warfield, The Biblical Doctrine of the Trinity).

David MacLeod writes “When the Lord Jesus commanded His disciples to baptize new converts ‘into the name,’ He was using language charged with profound meaning. He was obviously substituting for the great Name of Yahweh this other Name, ‘of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.’ This could not mean anything else to the disciples than that Yahweh was now to be known to them by the new great Name of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit. The only alternative explanation was that Jesus was supplanting Yahweh by a new god; and this alternative would be ‘monstrous.’ For His church there would be a new great Name for Yahweh, and that new Name was to be the threefold Name of ‘Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.’”[1]

Then, there is Matthew 3:16-17.

Matthew 3:16 After being baptized, Jesus came up immediately from the water; and behold, the heavens were opened, and he saw the Spirit of God descending as a dove and lighting on Him, 17 and behold, a voice out of the heavens said, “This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well-pleased.” (NASB95)

Notice the Spirit descends upon Jesus whom the Father identifies to Jesus’ disciples that He, Jesus is His beloved Son.

In Romans 8:11, the apostle Paul explicitly teaches that God is three persons.

Romans 8:11 But if the Spirit of Him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, He who raised Christ Jesus from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through His Spirit who dwells in you. (NASB95)

Paul teaches the Roman believers that the Spirit of the Father who raised Jesus, the Son of God from the dead will also raise them from the dead by the Spirit who indwells them.

Another explicit reference to the Trinity appears in 2 Corinthians 13:14.

2 Corinthians 13:14 The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit, be with you all. (NASB)

In this benediction, Paul attaches grace, love, and fellowship in a distributive sense to the three Persons of the Trinity.

This makes clear that the apostle Paul thought of God as being triune or a trinity.

He does not say they are three persons, “one essence,” which appears later in the creeds of the church.

However, Paul does provide the church with a starting point for thinking in such a way about God.

Robert Letham writes “God is three irreducibly distinct persons in indivisible union, and he is one God in three inexpressibly different ways. If we were to stress the three irreducibly distinct or different persons, we would veer toward tritheism. If we were to stress the one indivisible union, we would be in imminent danger of modalism. Both must be equally weighted.”[2]

The Scriptures teach that there is an order among the persons in the Trinity with respect to human relations.

With regards to eternal salvation, the Scriptures teach that it proceeds from the Father and is provided through the Son by the Holy Spirit or we could say this in reverse in that in response to God’s grace, salvation is by the Holy Spirit through the Son to the Father.

In Scripture, we see that the Father sends the Son but the Son never sends the Father.

The Holy Spirit is described as proceeding from the Father but the Father never proceeds from the Holy Spirit or the Son.

The Bible teaches us that each member of the Trinity has their own specific role that is not shared by the others.

God the Father’s role in the Trinity is as the source and planner of all things, God the Son’s role in the Trinity is to carry out the plan of God and God the Holy Spirit reveals the Father’s plan and provides the power to carry it out.

Now, if it is true that the term “Trinity” is not found in the Scripture, then how do we know that the Bible teaches that God is three Persons but one in essence?

The Trinity is clearly taught throughout the Bible when we combine all passages that are related to God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit.

The Bible doesn’t always state in one single passage a complex doctrine, especially the Trinity.

Remember, we are talking about God who is infinite, we are finite.

This study is an exercise in biblical doctrine, i.e., it is a study of what was taught by the writers of the books of the Bible.

It is necessary that I state at this point in my discussion that I believe that the Bible (Old and New Testaments) is a collection of inspired, authoritative books.

The writers of Scripture were guided by the Holy Spirit as they wrote so that what is written is the Word of God.

The methodological approach to this doctrine of the Trinity is both inductive and deductive.

It is inductive in that I will point out what the New Testament says about the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit and thus I will then lay out before you what I have found in a logical manner but also, I will use a deductive approach.

When we study theology we must not simply use only induction but also deduction.

The deductive approach to theology is also found with regards to the nature of inerrancy, the hypostatic union of Christ, the chronology of end-time events, the moment when the church came into existence.

It is a methodology encouraged by apostolic exegesis, used by our Lord in His teaching.

An example of the deductive method is given to us in Matthew 22:23-33 with the Lord Jesus Christ’s confrontation with the Sadducees, who demanded inductive evidence of the doctrine of the resurrection of the dead.

The Sadducees questioned the Lord about a hypothetical woman who had married seven brothers successively in this life and they wanted to know whose wife she would be in the resurrection but the Lord rejected their conclusion.

He then replied to them saying “But regarding the resurrection of the dead, have you not read that which was spoken to you by God saying, ‘I am the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob?’ He is not the God of the dead but of the living.”

Notice that the Lord did not point to a verse and say, “The doctrine of the resurrection is specifically stated in this verse.”

Instead, He used an argument that demanded deduction or inference.

The precise nature of the argument as to how Exodus 3:6 proves the resurrection has been debated among Bible expositors.

Some argue that it rests on the present tense of the verb which is translated, “I am.”

His point, these commentators suggest, is that Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob are still alive and awaiting resurrection.

Other commentators suggest that the Lord’s argument rests on the fact that God is a covenant God who will fulfill His promises to His people.

Each of these three had a covenant relationship with God.

Thus, the Lord’s argument was based upon God’s relationship with Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.

God had made a covenant with these men which involved their future possession of the land. Abraham lived his life seeking fulfillment of the promise and yet never did receive it (Hebrews 11:8-16).

If the patriarchs do not rise from the dead and enter the land of promise, then the promises are not fulfilled.

If there is a Messianic age to come, there must be a resurrection of the patriarchs in order for them to enjoy the fulfillment of the promises.

So approaching the subject of the Trinity with both an inductive and deductive method addresses the argument of many who reject the Trinity who contend that the word “Trinity” is not in the Bible.

Many say that there is not one verse in the Bible that says there are three persons in the one God of the Bible.

The reason why these individuals argue this is that their approach to the Bible is only through an inductive method.

We can understand what God has revealed about Himself through the ministry of God the Holy Spirit who is our true teacher (John 16:13-16; 1 Corinthians 2:10-12).

We can also understand what God has revealed about Himself and accept spiritual truth by means of faith.

This study about the subject of the Trinity is based upon the conviction that the Bible in its original autograph is inspired by the Holy Spirit.

I believe that the Holy Spirit supernaturally directed the human authors of Scripture that without destroying their individuality, their literary style, their personal interests or their vocabulary, God’s completed and connected thought towards man was recorded with perfect accuracy in the original languages of Scripture.

Therefore, I hold to the conviction that the Bible in its original languages is the exact record, the mind and will of God and contains the very words of God and thus bears the “authority” of divine authorship.

2 Peter 1:20 Above all, you do well if you recognize this: No prophecy of scripture ever comes about by the prophet’s own imagination, 21 for no prophecy was ever borne of human impulse; rather, men carried along by the Holy Spirit spoke from God. (NET Bible)

2 Timothy 3:16 Every scripture is inspired by God and useful for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, 17 that the person dedicated to God may be capable and equipped for every good work. (NET Bible)

The only piece of literature that can truly reveal to the human race who God is and what He is, is the Bible since it alone contains revelation concerning this subject, which is contrary to liberal scholarship today.

Robert Letham writes “we must faithfully submit ourselves to God’s revelation and allow our thoughts to proceed on the basis of who he discloses himself to be.”[3]

[1] Vol. 11: Emmaus Journal Volume 11. 2002 (2) (134). Dubuque, IA: Emmaus Bible College.

[2] The Holy Trinity: In Scripture, History, Theology and Worship; page 466; P & R Publishing, 2004

[3] The Holy Trinity: In Scripture, History, Theology and Worship; page 381; P & R Publishing, 2004