ANCIENT WORDS: THE TRINITY

•         Introduction

           □         God is One (Dt. 6:4; 1 Tim. 2:5) who made Himself known as three distinct Persons.

           □         The Bible does not explain the Trinity, it simply gives the fact.

           □         The word Trinity does not appear in the Bible. The word is a theological term to describe the biblical revelation about God as Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.

                      ♦         The Father is God.

                      ♦         The Son is God.

                      ♦         The Holy Spirit is God.

           □         References to the Trinity appear more often in the New Testament (Mt. 3:13-17).

           □         Tertullian, an early church leader, first expressed the biblical teaching of the Trinity in the 2^nd century.

           □         The doctrine of the Trinity preserves monotheism (rejects polytheism).

•         Mistaken ideas about the Trinity

           □         The Trinity is not a series of ways God appeared in history.

           □         The Trinity does not consist of three Gods.

           □         Jesus did not join the Trinity at some point in His life.

•         Old Testament evidence for the Trinity

           □         Creation (Gen. 1:1-2)

           □         Prophets (Is. 63:9-10)

           □         Plural forms of “God” (Gen. 1:26; Is. 6:8)

•         New Testament evidence for the Trinity

           □         Baptism of Jesus (Mk. 1:10-11)

           □         Great Commission (Mt. 28:19)

           □         Ascension of Jesus (Acts 2:32-33)

           □         Doxologies (Eph. 1:3-14, 4:4-6; 2 Cor. 13:14)

•         Biblical teaching on the Trinity

           □         The Father and Son have separate personal attributes (not God acting as sometimes Father, sometimes Son).

           □         The Holy Spirit is a Person (not the spiritual part of God).

           □         The Scriptures reveal the Three distinctly (1 Cor. 12:4-6; “same Spirit,” “same Lord,” “same God”), yet the Three are One God.

•         Doctrinal understanding of the Trinity

           □         No Person in the Trinity previously lacked nor later attained any relationship in the Trinity.

           □         No inferiority of nature or priority of being existed within the Trinity.

           □         Statements of submission or order about a Person in the Trinity related to the work of each Person, not to a lesser position (Mk. 13:32; Jn. 17:4; 1 Cor. 15:24).

           □         The whole work of salvation belonged to God but each Person cooperated in the work of salvation (Eph. 1:4; Phil. 2:8; Tit. 3:5).

•         Inadequate pictures of the incomprehensible Trinity

           □         Ice, water, and vapor (one substance in three forms)

           □         Father, son, and husband (one man in three relationships)

           □         Nature of man (mind, will, emotion)

•         Practical implications on the Trinity

           □         Believers should honor all three Persons of the Trinity.

           □         Believers pray to the Father through the merits of the Son by the guidance of the Holy Spirit (Rom. 15:30; Gal. 4:6).

           □         No one can know God without Christ, and no one can know Christ without the Spirit (Jn. 6:44, 14:6, 16:8).