We continue our Foundational Truth’s series looking at the doctrine of the Trinity. Our statement of faith reads:
We believe that the Godhead exists co-equally and co-eternally in three persons - Father, Son and Holy Spirit - and that these three are one God, sovereign in creation, providence and redemption.
This is probably the one misunderstood doctrine of all. We believe God is one, yet three persons. Mathematically that doesn’t make sense. All of our illustrations about this fall short too - because the Trinity only applies fully and completely in God - it does not fully exist elsewhere. Why? Because He is God and He is bigger than our intellect.
Is It Really Biblical?
Some would say that because the word Trinity is not present in the Bible that this doctrine cannot be true. There are many words we use today that are not in the Bible to describe a principle of Scripture - they are Christian shorthand:
- The word bible is not found in the Bible, but we use it anyway to describe the Bible.
- Omniscience which means "all-knowing,"
- Omnipotence which means "all-powerful," and
- Omnipresence which means "present everywhere,”
These are words not found in the Bible either, but we use them to describe the attributes of God. We don't have to see a specific word in the Bible in order for the concept it describes to be true.
There are other words that the Bible doesn’t use but the concepts are clear:
Atheism is the teaching that there is no God.
Psalm 14:1: The fool says in his heart, ‘There is no God.’ They are corrupt, their deeds are vile; there is no one who does good.
Divinity which means divine quality or godlike character.
We speak of the godlike quality of the Lord God. See Psalm 139.
Incarnation which means the word (God) who became flesh.
This is definitely taught in the Bible (John 1:1, 14).
Rapture is the teaching that the Christians who are alive when Jesus returns will be caught up to meet Him in the air.
1 Thess. 4:16-18: For the Lord himself will come down from heaven, with a loud command, with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet call of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first. 17 After that, we who are still alive and are left will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And so we will be with the Lord for ever. 18 Therefore encourage one another with these words.
There are other words not found in the biblical text that exist today that we don’t doubt because we see them: car, telephone, aeroplane, Keith!
If you travelled here by car today you cannot prove that such a thing exists biblically!
Point: just because a word doesn’t appear doesn’t mean the principle is not in Scripture. The Trinity is true. So, to say that the Trinity isn't true because the word isn't in the Bible is an invalid argument.
The Trinity is Throughout the Bible
There are scriptures that demonstrate a Trinitarian aspect; here are four out of many:
Matt. 28:19:Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptising them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.
2 Cor. 13:14: May the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all.
Ephesians 4:4-7: There is one body and one Spirit, just as you were called to one hope when you were called; 5 one Lord, one faith, one baptism; 6 one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all. 7 But to each one of us grace has been given as Christ apportioned it.
Jude 20-21: But you, dear friends, by building yourselves up in your most holy faith and praying in the Holy Spirit, 21 keep yourselves in God’s love as you wait for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ to bring you to eternal life.
The Trinity Simplified
First, what does the doctrine mean? The doctrine of the Trinity can be summarised in seven statements. This picture might help too:
(1) There is only one God.
(2) The Father is God.
(3) The Son is God.
(4) The Holy Spirit is God.
(5) The Father is not the Son.
(6) The Son is the not the Holy Spirit.
(7) The Holy Spirit is not the Father.
Trinity is One God, Three Persons
Today we need to centre our thinking that there is only One God. Once we get that we can move on in the next two week into other aspects of the Trinity.
Points of clarification to help us avoid heresy:
- God is not one person, the Father, with Jesus as a creation and the Holy Spirit as a force (Jehovah's Witnesses).
- God is not one person who took three consecutive forms, i.e., the Father, became the Son, who became the Holy Spirit.
- God is not the divine nature of the Son (where Jesus had a human nature perceived as the Son and a divine nature perceived as the Father (Oneness theology).
- The Trinity is not an office held by three separate Gods (Mormonism).
The word "person" is used to describe the three members of the Godhead because the word "person" is appropriate. A person is self-aware, can speak, love, hate, say "you," "yours," "me," "mine," etc. Each of the three persons in the Trinity demonstrates these qualities. [CARM.org/Trinity]
Since the Son speaks to the Father, they are distinct persons. Since the Holy Spirit speaks also (Acts 13:2), He is a distinct person. There is one God who exists in three persons.
The Trinity is Three Persons, but One God.
If we are to take anything away from today it must be that God is One God.
We describe this with another word not found n the Bible: Monotheism, the teaching that there is only one God.
Isaiah 43:10:You are my witnesses,’ declares the Lord, ‘and my servant whom I have chosen, so that you may know and believe me and understand that I am he. Before me no god was formed, nor will there be one after me.
Isaiah 44:8: Do not tremble, do not be afraid. Did I not proclaim this and foretell it long ago? You are my witnesses. Is there any God besides me? No, there is no other Rock; I know not one.
Isaiah 45:5: I am the Lord, and there is no other;
apart from me there is no God.
(Compare these to other verses in the Bible: Isaiah 43:10; 44:6; 45:5, 14, 18, 21, 22; 46:9; 47:8; John 17:3; 1 Cor. 8:5-6; Gal. 4:8-9).
The Bible says there is only one God. Yet, it says:
Jesus is God
John 1:1,14: In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God…. The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the one and only Son, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth.
Father is God
Philippians 1:2: Grace and peace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ
Holy Spirit is God
Acts 5:3-4:3 Then Peter said, ‘Ananias, how is it that Satan has so filled your heart that you have lied to the Holy Spirit and have kept for yourself some of the money you received for the land? 4 Didn’t it belong to you before it was sold? And after it was sold, wasn’t the money at your disposal? What made you think of doing such a thing? You have not lied just to human beings but to God.’
Why Does It Matter, Keith?
So what! Why does all this matter to us?
There are lots of reasons, but borrowing from Robert Letham’s book (The Holy Trinity: In Scripture, History, Theology, and Worship), let’s highlight three:
The Trinity matters for creation.
God, unlike the gods in other ancient creation stories, did not need to go outside himself to create the universe.
Instead, the Word and the Spirit were like his own two hands (to use Irenaeus’ famous phrase) in fashioning the cosmos.
God created by speaking (the Word) as the Spirit hovered over the chaos.
Creation, like regeneration, is a Trinitarian act, with God working by the agency of the Word spoken and the mysterious movement of the Holy Spirit.
The Trinity matters for evangelism and cultural engagement.
The two main rivals to a Christian worldview at present are Islam and Postmodernism.
Islam emphasises unity—unity of language, culture, and expression—without allowing much variance for diversity.
Postmodernism, on the other hand, emphasises diversity—diversity of opinion, belief, and background—without attempting to see things in any kind of meta-unity.
Christianity, with its understanding of God as three in one, allows for diversity and unity.
If God exists in three distinct Persons who all share the same essence, then it is possible to hope that God’s creation may exhibit stunning variety and individuality while still holding together in a genuine oneness.
The Trinity matters for relationships.
We worship a God who is in constant and eternal relationship with himself as Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.
Community is a buzz word in church, but it is only in a Christian framework that communion and interpersonal community are seen as expressions of the eternal nature of God.
It is only with a Trinitarian God that love can be an eternal attribute of God. Without a plurality of persons in the Godhead, we would be forced to think that God created humans so that he might show love and know love, thereby making love a created thing (and God a needy deity).
With a biblical understanding of the Trinity we can say that God did not create in order to be loved, but rather, created out of the overflow of the perfect love that had always existed among Father, Son, and Holy Spirit who ever live in perfect and mutual relationship and delight.
Wrapping This Up
We will look in the next two weeks how the Trinity relate to each other, to us, and what they are like.
We’ll touch too on how this affects our worship and prayer life.
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