The Trinity: Study Guide and Sermon

 Within the one Being that is God, there exists eternally three coequal and coeternal persons, namely, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit(1)

The following notes and resources are from a sermon surveying the Trinity.

Basic Definition

1. There is one God

2. God is three persons

3. Each person is fully God

There is One God

At its core, Christianity is Monotheistic, we believe that there is one true, eternal, and sovereign creator based on the following passages found in Scripture:

Ex 8:10, 20:3-5
Deut 4:35, 6:4, 32:39
Neh 9:6
Psalm 83:18, 86:10
Isaiah 43:10, 44:6
Eph 4:6
1 Tim 2:5
1 Cor 8:4
Acts 14:15

God is Three Persons

While those who practice Judaism and Islam are also monotheistic, they adhere to unitarian monotheism while Christians hold to trinitarian monotheism. Even though the word "Trinity" is absent from Scripture, this plurality of God is progressively revealed within it. We see hints of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit in the Old Testament and then the doctrine of the Trinity is woven into the theology and doctrine of the New Testament Apostles.

The Plurality of God

Old Testament Allusions to the Trinity

Genesis 1:2 The Spirit of God moving upon the waters

Genesis 1:26, 3:22, 11:7, and Is 6:8 "Majestic plurals" were not used in the Hebrew 

Psalm 110:1 refers to Jesus, as he explains to the Pharisees in Matthew 22:41-46

Micah 5:2 speaks of the birth of a King in Bethlehem who exists "from everlasting"

Is 48:11-16 We see the Father, the Son, and the Spirit mentioned

New Testament Revelation of the Trinity

Matt 3:16-17 The Baptism of Jesus

Matt 28:19 The Great Commission

1 Cor 12:4-6 The Spirit, Son, and Father are represented

2 Cor 13:14

Eph 1:3-14 and Eph 4:4-6 Each person of the Trinity

1 Pet 1:2

Jude 20-21

* The KJV of 1 John 5:7 speaks of "three bearing witness (Father, Son, and Spirit) to Jesus' incarnation and victory over the world. This verse has been updated in modern translations because earlier Greek manuscripts read that the "three" are the Spirit, the water, and the blood.

This entire passage,1 John 5:1-13, still gives reference to all three persons of the Trinity; Jesus is the Son of God (the Father) and the Spirit testifies that Jesus is the Messiah because Jesus was baptized and crucified. Another interpretation is that this "water and blood" gives reference to when Jesus was pierced by the soldier on the cross (John 19:34), either way the point of the passage is that Jesus is the Messiah,  both fully man and fully God, and was sent by the Father and confirmed by the Spirit.

Three Distinct Persons

When we say that God is three distinct persons, we are confessing that:

1. The Father is not the Son and he is also not the Spirit.

2. The Son is not the Father and he is also not the Spirit.

3. The Spirit is not the Father and he is also not the Son.

John 1:1-2 Jesus (The Word) was eternally with God and he was (and is) eternally God

John 3:35 The Father loves the Son

Luke 3:22 The Father is pleased with the Son (the Spirit descends like a dove)

1 Cor 11:3 The Father is the head of Christ

Phil 2:8, John 10:18 The Son obeys the will of the Father

Acts 5:3 The Spirit can be lied to

John 14:26, 16:12-15 The Father and the Son send the Spirit

John 14:16 The Spirit is the "comforter" sent by the Father at the request of the Son

Each Person is Fully God

Each person of the Trinity is not part of God, but rather each person is fully God.

The Father is God

1 Cor 8:6 One God, the Father

John 17:11 Jesus prays to the Father

James 1:17 The Father of lights

2 Cor 6:18 The Father, Lord Almighty

The Son is God

John 20:28 Thomas confesses Jesus to be Lord and God

Titus 2:13 Our hope is the future appearing of our God and Savior Jesus

John 1:1 Again Jesus was with God and Jesus was God

*The New Testament uses the term LORD to translate the divine Old Testament name for God, YHWH or Jehovah.

Is 45:21-23, Rom 14:9-12, Phil 2:10-12 He is the only God and Savior

Joel 2:32, Rom 10:9-13 He will save all who call upon his name

The Spirit is God

Hag 2:4-5 The Spirit was in the midst of Israel after the Exodus

Acts 28:25 The Spirit spoke to the prophets

Heb 10:15-16 The Spirit bears witness to the covenant

2 Cor 2:9-11 The Spirit knows the will of God

2 Cor 3:16 and 1 Cor 6:19 The Spirit of God lives in believers

Historical Errors

Within church history, there have been several errors that have resulted by denying one of the statements found within the basic definition of the Trinity.

Modalism

Modalism teaches that God is not really three distinct persons, but rather that God has different modes of operation. It is often said that God revealed himself as Father in the Old Testament, as the Son during the Gospels, and as the Spirit to the New Testament church at Pentecost.

Modalism gains its attractiveness for emphasizing that there is only one God and gathers support from passages like John 10:30 and John 14:9.  However, these passages do not reveal different modes of operation, but that Jesus fully reveals the character of the Father and that they are united in their will and purpose.

Modalism cannot account for why Jesus often prays to the Father and denies the personal relationships within the Trinity that Scripture portrays. To deny the relationship between the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit would leave us with an impersonal God who would need to create in order to know love and fellowship. God would no longer be independent but would be dependent, his creation a necessity.

Arianism

Arianism teaches that Jesus was created by the Father at some point in time before God created the world. This would mean that Jesus is a heavenly being, who is not equal to the Father but possesses more significance than the angels.

This heretical belief relies on texts that refer to Jesus as God's "only begotten Son" (John 1:14, John 3:16, 1 John 4:9). In human experience (and in biblical language) a mother bears a child while a father begets a child. From this logic, God the Father at some point brought Jesus into existence.

Passages such as this, along with Col 1:15 that speaks of Jesus being "begotten" or as the "firstborn" are not referring to Jesus being created, but credit Jesus with the rights and privileges of the one who is "firstborn."

The Greek word monogenes translated in the KJV as "begotten" is better translated as "only, unique" as the word is derived from two words: monos which means "only" and genos which means kind" (2). 

To combat this teaching, the Nicene Creed (325) stated,

"We believe in one God, the Father Almighty, Maker of all things visible and invisible. And in one Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of God, begotten of the Father, the only-begotten; that is, of the essence of the Father, God of God, Light of Light, very God of very God, begotten, not made, being of one substance with the Father"

To deny that Jesus is God is to render the atonement ineffective. If Jesus is not fully God, then how can we trust him, a mere creature, for salvation? Why should we pray to him or worship him? If he is not infinite, omnipresent and omniscient then what hope would we have in him?

This is the error of Jehovah's Witnesses, who do not believe in the deity of Jesus, and so they must rely on salvation by works rather than faith alone.

Why the Trinity?

By considering what God has revealed about Himself in Scripture we can see that the Trinity reveals God's independence, demonstrates the roles of the Father, Son, and Spirit in our redemption, and give a basis for both unity and diversity.

God's Independence

The Trinity displays a loving fellowship that existed eternally between the Father, the Son, and the Spirit. When we read that "God is love" (1 John 4:8), this statement only makes sense in light of the Trinity.

Think about it: A solitary god cannot be love. He may learn to love. He may yearn for love. But he cannot in himself be love, since love requires an object. Real love requires relationship. In the doctrine of the Trinity we finally see how love is part of the fabric of creation; it’s essential to the eternal, need-nothing Creator. From eternity past, the Father and the Son and the Spirit have been in community, in relationship. They have loved each other. That loving relationship is bound up in the very nature of God himself.

If God were not a Trinity but merely a solitary divinity, he could neither be love nor be God. (3)

The Trinity gives weight to the fact that God does not need us, but that he created us for his glory. Similar to why an artist paints or a musician writes a song, he created us from the overflow of joy and love that eternally existed within the fellowship of the Trinity... he created us for his own glory, and the pinnacle of his glory is the redemption of his Creation, God creating a people for his great name. (Is 43:5-7, Matt 5:16, Is 43:20-21, Is 44:23). 

We worship a God who owes us nothing but gives us everything.

Salvation is Trinitarian

In Ephesians 1:3-14, we see a clear demonstration of the work of each person of the Trinity in planning, purchasing and preserving our redemption. The Father purposed to redeem us before the foundation of the world and sends the Son to purchase our redemption. The Son, in obedience to the Father, offers us redemption through his blood, and the Spirit, upon our belief and confession, is sent by the Father and the Son to seal us, guaranteeing our inheritance to the praise of God's glory

A similar pattern is also seen in prayer. We pray to the Father, through the Son (our mediator between God and man), in and by the Spirit who also prays with us when we lack the words and/or ability to pray ourselves. (Matt 6:9-13, 1 Tim 2:5, Rom 8:26)

The Trinity is like a thread that is interwoven in our knowing and loving God. We were created to worship the Father, Jesus (the logos) gives us knowledge of the Father, and through the Spirit, we are adopted and experience the Father. So we can know Him and Love Him.

This pattern is also seen in our sanctification and worship. The Spirit focuses and brings to mind the words, work, and example of Jesus and as we think about the finished work of Christ and the blessings he has secured for us on our behalf we see the heart of the Father and we respond in worship and obedience to the will of the Father.

Unity and Diversity

Within the Trinity, there is both Unity and Diversity. There is one God, who exists in three persons, each fully God. This model is an example that gives us a basis for understanding God's intentions for community, marriage, and the church.

In community, God has created us with diversity. The world consists of various cultures, ethnic groups, social statuses. We see different hair, eye, and skin colors. We enjoy various types of art, music, entertainment, and food. Yet, in all of this diversity, we are united in the fact that God has created us to bear his image and bring glory to him.

In marriage, God has created us male and female. While it is true we have many similarities, there are also numerous differences. God has designed marriage to mirror the Trinity, that a man and woman be united in the covenant of marriage and become "one flesh" (Gen 1:24-25). This union serves more than God's reproductive purposes. God's design for marriage is that it would demonstrate his glory throughout his creation.

The church is the body of Christ, and it too is a reflection of the Trinity. There is great diversity in represented around the throne of God (Rev 7:9), and there is great diversity in the gifts that God gives to members of his body (1 Cor 12). Even the biblical model of a plurality of elders demonstrates this diversity (James 5:14, Titus 1:5, Acts 20:17). but amid diversity, the members of the church are one body with Jesus as the head of his church (Col 1:18).

In Closing

We serve a glorious God who has graciously revealed himself to us and has demonstrated his love for us in a way that is completely undeserved and overwhelming. I hope by studying the Trinity, we do not equate what we discover as an accumulation of dry and ineffective facts about God. My hope is that we will be moved to joy by the treasure we have found hidden in the field... keep digging, there is something here more precious than gold.

(1) James White, "The Forgotten Trinity," 26.

(2) B. F. Wescott, "The Epistles of St. John: The Greek Text with Notes and Essays," 169 - 173.

(3) https://www.thegospelcoalition.org/article/no-trinity-no-love/