The Trinity

February 19, 2010

Definition

God eternally exists as three persons, Father, Son and Holy

Spirit, and each person is fully God, and there is one God.

The trinity is never mentioned in the Bible!!!

But it's very important to Christianity.

Is God One or Many?

Let us make man in our image, after our likeness (Gen 1)

Could be majestic we ("We are pleased to ...") or angels?

Behold the man has become like one of us, knowing good and
evil (Gen 3)

Come let us go down, and there confus their language (Gen

11)

Whom shall I send and who will go for us (Is 6)

David Recognized the Trinity?

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Your throne, O God, will last for ever and ever;
a scepter of justice will be the scepter of your kingdom.
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You love righteousness and hate wickedness;
therefore God, your God, has set you above your
companions
by anointing you with the oil of joy. (Ps 45)

1
The LORD says to my Lord:
"Sit at my right hand
until I make your enemies
a footstool for your feet." (Ps 110)
The Holy Spirit

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Yet they rebelled
and grieved his Holy Spirit. (Is 63)
Lots of other references.
New Testament Passages

As soon as Jesus was baptized, he went up out of the water.

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At that moment heaven was opened, and he saw the Spirit of

God descending like a dove and lighting on him. And a voice
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from heaven said, "This is my Son, whom I love; with him I am

well pleased." (Matt 3)

Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them

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in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit
[a]

(Matt 18)

To God's elect... who have been chosen according to the

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foreknowledge of God the Father, through the sanctifying work

of the Spirit, for obedience to Jesus Christ (1 Peter 1)
Paul as well

Generally "God" (theos ) is God the Father and "Lord" (kyrios ) is

God the Son in the New Testament.

May the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God,
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and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all. (2 Cor 13)

build yourselves up in your most holy faith and pray in the Holy
Spirit. Keep yourselves in God's love as you wait for the mercy
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of our Lord Jesus Christ to bring you to eternal life. (Jude)

Summary of The Trinity

1. God is three persons.

2. Each person is full God.
3. There is one God.
Images of the Trinity
God is Three Persons - Jesus is
separate from God
"Father, I want those you have given me to be with me where I
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am, and to see my glory, the glory you have given me because
you loved me before the creation of the world. (John 17)

But if anybody does sin, we have one who speaks to the Father
in our defense—Jesus Christ, the Righteous One. (1 John 1)
The Holy Spirit is Separate

But the Counselor, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send
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in my name, will teach you all things (John 14)

Therefore he is able to save completely those who come to

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God through him, because he always lives to intercede for

them. (Heb 7)
Is the Holy Spirit a Person?
There are many places where he (ekeinos) is used for HS
rather than spirit (pneuma).

Put on equal standing with Jesus and God.

will teach you all things and will remind you of everything (John
14)

"When the Counselor comes... he will testify about me

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(John15)

Spirit himself intercedes for us (Rom 8)

The Spirit told Philip, "Go to that chariot and stay near it." (Acts
29

8)
HS a person Continued....

If the HS was a power or force of God then we can restate

these passages:

how God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and
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power, and how he went around doing good and healing all
who were under the power of the devil

restatement: "God annonted Jesus with the force of God and

power."

Jesus returned to Galilee in the power of the Spirit (Luke 4)

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restatement: "Jesus returned in the power of the power of

God."
Each Person is Fully God

God the Father is clearly God

Jesus is God

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

and the Word was God. He was with God in the beginning.
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Through him all things were made (John 1)

3

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The Son is the radiance of God's glory and the exact
representation of his being, sustaining all things by his powerful
word. (Heb 1)
The HS is fully God

Mentioned in equal stature with Jesus and God in the trinitarian

passages before.

Then Peter said, "Ananias, how is it that Satan has so filled

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your heart that you have lied to the Holy Spirit and have kept
for yourself some of the money ... You have not lied to men but
to God." (Acts 5)

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Where can I go from your Spirit?
Where can I flee from your presence?
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If I go up to the heavens, you are there;
if I make my bed in the depths, you are there. (Ps 139)
[a]

-> omnipresence
HS is Fully God Continued

ominscience

The Spirit searches all things, even the deep things of God.
For who among men knows the thoughts of a man except the
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man's spirit within him? In the same way no one knows the
thoughts of God except the Spirit of God (1 Cor 2)

Gives Spiritual life:

Jesus answered, "I tell you the truth, no one can enter the
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kingdom of God unless he is born of water and the Spirit. Flesh

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gives birth to flesh, but the Spirit gives birth to spirit. (John 3)
[b]
What are the conclusions so far?
Clearly

1. There are three separate Gods.

2. Each one is fully God.

There is One God
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Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God, the LORD is one. Love
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the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul
and with all your strength. (Deut 6)

I am the LORD, and there is no other; apart from me there is

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no God... men may know there is none besides me. I am the

LORD, and there is no other. (Is 45)

For there is one God and one mediator between God and
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men, the man Christ Jesus (1 Tim 2)

...since there is only one God... (Rom 3)

You believe that there is one God. Good! Even the demons
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believe that—and shudder. (?)

Analogies(?)

1. Three leaf clover.

2. Water with it's three states (water, steam, ice)
3. Man who is a farmer, mayor and churchelder.

How do these break down?

What is the analogy used in the Bible?

Can We Remove Any of the Three?

1. God is three persons.

2. Each person is fully god.

3. There is one God.

Modalism

There is one person who appears to us in three different forms

or modes.

I and the Father are one (John 10)

He who has seen me has seen the Father (John 14)

but,

What about Jesus' baptism?

How can Jesus' scrafice himself for us?
Arianism

Denies the full deity of Christ and the HS, that they are
subordinante to God.

came from the father.

His one and only Son (only begotten)

the first-born of all creation (Col 1:15)

But this probably implies the rights of the first born.

monogenes (mono-only, gennao - beget, genos - kind/class)

Why Is This Important?

1. Atonement - If Jesus created then how could he take God's

wrath?
2. Justification - Can we fully trust him to save us if he is not
fully God?
3. Praying/worshiping Jesus? Idolatry!!
4. No perfect unity.
Distinctions

In the work of Creation:

God the Father spoke the words. (Gen 1)
All things were made through him. (John 1:3)
HS was hovering over the face of the deep. (Gen 1:2)

Redemption (Jesus' sacrifice)

God the Father planned it (John 3, Gal 4:4)
The son carried it out.
Holy Spirit came afterward as our comforter.

Operates like a family?

Scriptural Evidence for Different Roles

14For this reason I kneel before the Father, from whom his
whole family in heaven and on earth derives its name. (Eph 3)

4I have brought you glory on earth by completing the work you

gave me to do. (John 17)

The relationship between Father and Son is Eternal:

We were chosen in him before the foundation of the world
(Eph 1)

Clearly there are different roles but that does not mean there is
not equality.
How does Each Figure Fall Short?
Application

Marriage
Male and female he created them (Gen 1)
Unity of Marriage - become one. (Gen 2:24)
Different roles and authority but equal in importance.

31"For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and
be united to his wife, and the two will become one flesh." (Eph
5)

17But he who unites himself with the Lord is one with him in
spirit... 19Do you not know that your body is a temple of the
Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God?
You are not your own (1 Cor 6)
Application Cont.

12The body is a unit, though it is made up of many parts; and

though all its parts are many, they form one body. (1 Cor 12)

Final Unity:

10that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow,

in heaven and on earth and under the earth, (Phil 2)