The Ant-man Heresy

Three separate persons in one.

The past couple of weeks we have looked at how Jesus is not like Superman but completely human. We have also seen that Jesus is not like Batman but He is completely God.

But how can both of these be true. But to also further the confusion there is also the Holy Spirit who is also God. But all three of these are separate but are one...

Mind-blown!!!

Now to add in the superhero into the conversation. Ant-man!

Some quick backstory on Ant-man.

Hank Pym is a scientist that developed a serum called Pym particles to making shipping items across the world easier by making everything the size of an ant.

He got curious and poured a little bit of the serum on his arm but left the antidote on the counter and left the lab in search for help. He however encountered some angry ants who came to attack him. He ran into an anthill and got stuck in some honey and some friendly ants helped him escape. He was able to use his Judo experience alongside the friendly ants to fend off the angry ants.

After he this encounter he became infatuated with ants and created a helmet to communicate with ants. Hence, the name Ant-man...

Ant-man also created a different serum that in-turn changed Hank Pym into a Giant form of himself. Named Giant man.

He also formed a new costume for Ant-man and he was called yellow Jacket.

So Hank Pym is a man who can change into Giant-man, Ant-man, and Yellow Jacket...

This one man but three different costumes...

Where as God is three persons in one not three different costumes of God.

The Issues with this thinking:

So what is the problem with saying or telling people that Jesus was just a form of God or a costume in which God put on?

I mean where in the Bible is the trinity even mentioned?

Side note: the word Trinity is not mentioned but the trinity is affirmed all throughout the Bible.

Let’s just look at a few places in scripture that clearly affirms the trinity being true.

1. There is only one God.

This is what we believe as Christians. There is only one God and he is creator, sustainer, and provider for us!

Isaiah 45:5 NLT

5 I am the Lord; there is no other God. I have equipped you for battle, though you don’t even know me,

or even

1 Corinthians 8:4 NLT

4 So, what about eating meat that has been offered to idols? Well, we all know that an idol is not really a god and that there is only one God.

From the Old Testament to the New Testament the truth of their being only one God is written over and over again.

2. The Father is God

All throughout scripture God the Creator is labeled as God the Father. Even Jesus referred to God as the Father.

Multiple places in the New Testament such as Paul greeting the churches in Rome.

Romans 1:7 NLT

7 I am writing to all of you in Rome who are loved by God and are called to be his own holy people. May God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ give you grace and peace.

To Paul’s greeting to the Galatians:

Galatians 1:1 NLT

1 This letter is from Paul, an apostle. I was not appointed by any group of people or any human authority, but by Jesus Christ himself and by God the Father, who raised Jesus from the dead.

And Peter in:

1 Peter 1:17 NLT

17 And remember that the heavenly Father to whom you pray has no favorites. He will judge or reward you according to what you do. So you must live in reverent fear of him during your time here as “temporary residents.”

So from these scripture references God the Father is God.

3. The Son is God

Remember last week as we talked about the Jesus Christ being God.

4. The Holy Spirit is God

The Holy Spirit in which lives in us from the moment we are saved is God.

1 Corinthians 12:11 NLT

11 It is the one and only Spirit who distributes all these gifts. He alone decides which gift each person should have.

The Holy Spirit gives each person their spiritual Gifts to be used to Glorify God.

He also appoints people to be missionaries in foreign countries.

Acts 13:2 NLT

2 One day as these men were worshiping the Lord and fasting, the Holy Spirit said, “Appoint Barnabas and Saul for the special work to which I have called them.”

There is also a scenario in which lying to the Holy Spirit is equal to lying to God.

Acts 5:3–4 NLT

3 Then Peter said, “Ananias, why have you let Satan fill your heart? You lied to the Holy Spirit, and you kept some of the money for yourself. 4 The property was yours to sell or not sell, as you wished. And after selling it, the money was also yours to give away. How could you do a thing like this? You weren’t lying to us but to God!”

5. The Father is not the Son is not the Spirit.

Matthew 3:13–17 NLT

13 Then Jesus went from Galilee to the Jordan River to be baptized by John. 14 But John tried to talk him out of it. “I am the one who needs to be baptized by you,” he said, “so why are you coming to me?” 15 But Jesus said, “It should be done, for we must carry out all that God requires.” So John agreed to baptize him. 16 After his baptism, as Jesus came up out of the water, the heavens were opened and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and settling on him. 17 And a voice from heaven said, “This is my dearly loved Son, who brings me great joy.”

So quick recap!

There is only one God. The Father is God. The Son is God. The Spirit is God. But the Father is not the Son, the Son is not the Spirit, and the Spirit is not the Father...

You got it! Its not confusing at all right...

This is something we will never understand but it is vital to our faith. We don’t want to worship a God that we can figure out because that would not be an all powerful God.

When might this an issues? THIS IS THE FALSE ASSUMPTION OF PEOPLE!! THIS STATEMENT IS NOT TRUE OF GOD!!!

People will state that God is like Hank Pym who must choose between Ant-Man or Giant-Man or Yellowjacket at any one time, but can never bee all three or even two of them simultaneously. Likewise, God can choose between being the Father or the Son or the Holy Spirit. They are just different costumes or roles and they cannot coexist at the same time.

People also will come up with the idea that the trinity is far to complicated to grasp so they would just rather think of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit as just one of God’s costumes that He can choose for an instant in time.

This is flawed thinking and dishonest to make the LORD someone easier for us to understand. God is God and we are not!

What does the Bible state about God being three persons and all being God?

The New Testament teaches that God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit are three separate persons who exist simultaneously and interact with one another and all three are one God. Here is an instance that we read a couple of minutes ago. All three are interacting with each other and all exist at the same time!

Matthew 3:13–17 NLT

13 Then Jesus went from Galilee to the Jordan River to be baptized by John. 14 But John tried to talk him out of it. “I am the one who needs to be baptized by you,” he said, “so why are you coming to me?” 15 But Jesus said, “It should be done, for we must carry out all that God requires.” So John agreed to baptize him. 16 After his baptism, as Jesus came up out of the water, the heavens were opened and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and settling on him. 17 And a voice from heaven said, “This is my dearly loved Son, who brings me great joy.”

Jesus in the flesh is baptized.

The Holy Spirit descends like a dove on his shoulder.

God the Father speaks from heaven!

If God is like Ant-Man, wearing different costumes or assuming different personae at different times, how can we account for what we just read about Jesus’s baptism?

The answer is, we can’t!

What is the issues with thinking that God puts on different suits to appear in another form? Like Ant-Man...

The way we understand the trinity is important because it has huge implications for how we understand the Gospel!

The gospel requires all three members of the Trinity to be actively involved simultaneously every step of the way? And that if God is more like Hank Pym than he is the triune God revealed in the Bible, then the gospel disintegrates before our eyes?

Ant-Man cannot save you!

We discussed 2 weeks ago that sin is a human problem that requires a human solution. We also looked last week how only God can save us. Those two facts create a problem. If humans have sinned against God the God is rightly angry at us. Given that God is also the very standard of justice, the one who must and will judge all his moral agents whom he created, we are in terrible trouble. God cannot look the other way! He is too holy!

God also cannot just forgive. That would be to deny himself as the holy God. He has to judge sin. He has to uphold the moral fabric of the universe.

Our moral decisions really do count and God has given us the incredible responsibility of actually mattering. BUT that comes at a price that we are unable to pay.

God took on this issue head on!

God the Father the righteous judge sent his Son to live as a human and die in our place.

The Son lived in complete dependence on the Holy Spirit to live the perfect life.

The Son also lived in complete submission to the Father and not submitting to his own authority.

John 6:38 NLT

38 For I have come down from heaven to do the will of God who sent me, not to do my own will.

The Son obeyed the Father.

Matthew 26:37–39 NLT

37 He took Peter and Zebedee’s two sons, James and John, and he became anguished and distressed. 38 He told them, “My soul is crushed with grief to the point of death. Stay here and keep watch with me.” 39 He went on a little farther and bowed with his face to the ground, praying, “My Father! If it is possible, let this cup of suffering be taken away from me. Yet I want your will to be done, not mine.”

The Son obeyed the Father to the point of death. Even when he didn’t necessarily want to do it.

God is not in the Costume of the Father or the Son he is both. When Jesus was praying he was praying to God the father!

Another case and point would be when Jesus was nailed to the cross as a sacrifice for our sins.

Matthew 27:46 NLT

46 At about three o’clock, Jesus called out with a loud voice, “Eli, Eli, lema sabachthani?” which means “My God, my God, why have you abandoned me?”

or

Luke 23:46 NLT

46 Then Jesus shouted, “Father, I entrust my spirit into your hands!” And with those words he breathed his last.

If God is like Hank Pym, then this is like Ant-Man trying to talk to Giant-Man, which makes no sense!

BUT IF JESUS IS AN ENTIRELY DIFFERENT PERSON FROM THE FATHER, THEN IT IS RIGHT AND GOOD THAT THE SON WOULD OFFER HIMSELF UP TO THE FATHER, BECAUSE THAT IS HOW THE GOSPEL WORKS!!!!

Romans 3:23–26 ESV

23 for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, 24 and are justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, 25 whom God put forward as a propitiation by his blood, to be received by faith. This was to show God’s righteousness, because in his divine forbearance he had passed over former sins. 26 It was to show his righteousness at the present time, so that he might be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus.

Sinner like you and me are declared to not be guilty but to be made righteous. God is able to do this not by just forgiving.

God is able to forgive and still be holy God because the Father sent Christ Jesus, the incarnate Son of God, to pay the penalty for human sin.

The word “propitiation” is an important word, and it basically means to turn away wrath or anger. Jesus propitiated God the Father.

Let’s take a look as to why this would have to happen.

If you just killed someone and the judge just says you are free without a trial would that be just?

Or let’s say the judge does have a trial and you get no punishment at all, would that be considered right?

Or let’s say you get punished but it is only 2 minutes in jail then you are free to live as you please. Does that justify the crime that you committed?

Absolutely not!

When sin entered into the world sin brought in death. That is the punishment for sin but we are still able to live in the world in which God blesses us with everything we could imagine!

But for God to be Holy, Righteous, and Justice someone had to take on the penalty for the crime!

The penalty was death and God’s wrath!

The only one able to appease this penalty would be God the Son.

God is able to forgive sinners of their sin because Jesus took on the punishment of the crime!

God has to be triune and not like Hank Pym because the need that the Gospel meets required that all three person of the trinity play simultaneous roles. The Father is the God who sent the Son and condemned sin at the cross. The Son is the God who became man and offered himself up for sin. The Spirit is the God who enabled and empowered the incarnate Son to live an authentically human life and the raised the Son from the dead on the third day. And then the Spirit is the one who applies the work of Christ according to the will of the Father to us. All three play different and simultaneous roles that make the Gospel what it is.