The Trinity

 

Introduction

 

Today I am going to talk about what we call the Trinity.

 

I have to say that better minds than I have struggled to explain this concept, people throughout history who have been respected for their knowledge of theology. So what makes me think I can do better I don’t know.

 

When I first started to study this subject I decided it was probably too complex and I tried to get out of preaching it.  But God made it very clear that He wanted me to talk about it so I have tried to take out some of the complexity.

 

Dena actually came up to me the other day and asked whether I thought the subject of the trinity was important.  Well, the founders of this church and most other churches felt it was important enough to have it embedded in the constitution, so I guess it must be pretty important.

 

In fact, this is the only part of our constitution we can not change.

 

The Trinity

The idea of the trinity is that God exists in three persons, the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit, (Deut 6:4: Matt 23:19; Mark 1 2:29)

 

How can it be that there are three persons who are each God and yet there is only one God?

 

I should say that there are many people who don’t believe in the trinity including groups who call themselves Christians. 

 

Opponents will say that the word ‘trinity’ does not appear in the Bible - which is true but then the  three persons who make up the trinity are clearly defined.

 

The Worldwide Church of God and various offshoot churches do not believe in the trinity neither I understand, do the Jehovah’s Witnesses, Christadelphians, Christian Scientists, The Oneness Pentecostal Church, and The Way International.

 

Some don’t believe that Jesus is God whereas others don’t believe that the Holy Spirit is God or that the Holy Spirit is a person.

 

Matthew 28, clearly refers to the three persons

Matthew 28:18-19 (NKJV)
 …… And Jesus came and spoke to them, saying, "All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth.
 Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit,

The word translated ‘name’ is singular which implies the three are one.

 

We have no evidence to suggest that the trinity was ever part of the teaching of the early church, but someone once said that it was gradually discovered over a number of years.

 

At the end of the 2nd century the famous Christian author Quintas Tertullian was probably the first person to write about the Trinity.  It was then more widely accepted in the 4th and 5th centuries after the Council of Nicea which acknowledged Jesus was God describing Him as being of the same substance as the Father.

 

As far as I know, all the mainline churches accept this idea of the Trinity, God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit.

 

The Tyndale Bible Dictionary states: "The Scriptures present the Father as the source of creation, the giver of life, and God of all the universe. The Son is depicted as the image of the invisible God, the exact representation of his being and nature, and The Holy Spirit is God in action, God reaching people—influencing them, regenerating them, infilling them, and guiding them. All three are a tri-unity, inhabiting one another and working together to accomplish the divine design in the universe."

 

 

Of course, many people think that Christianity and Islam follow the same God as they are both monotheistic.  But Allah does not have a son and they have no concept of a trinity in Islam.  It is Jesus who differentiates between Allah and the Christian God.

 

Some claim that the trinity only appears in the new testament but not in the old.  This is not true because the trinity is actually first mentioned in the very first verse of the Bible.

Genesis 1:1 (NKJV)
 In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.

 

The word used for God here is ‘Elohim’ which is plural.  The way it is used doesn’t mean more than one god but that God Himself is plural.

 

In the next verse we see the mention of the Spirit of Elohim.

 

Genesis 1: 2 (KJV)
²  And the earth was without form, and void; and darkness was upon the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God (Elohim) moved upon the face of the waters.

 

 

 

So when God created the heavens and the earth. At the time of creation, we see the Holy Spirit moving over the face of the waters.  The Father speaking ‘Let there be light’ and from John chapter 1 we know that all things were made by the Word who is later identified as Jesus.

John 1:1-4 (KJV)
¹  In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. ²  The same was in the beginning with God.
³  All things were made by him; and without him was not any thing made that was made.
⁴  In him was life; and the life was the light of men.

When God made man we see again the word Elohim is used for God

Genesis 1:26-27 (KJV)
²⁶  And God (Elohim) said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness: and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth.
²⁷  So God (Elohim) created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them.

This time the word  ‘Elohim” is reinforced by the words ‘in our image’ and ‘our likeness’.

And when Adam sinned Elohim says man has become ‘like one of us’;

 

Genesis 3:22 (NKJV)
²²  Then the LORD God (Elohim) said, "Behold, the man has become like one of Us, to know good and evil.

 

And in Genesis 11:7 (NKJV) God says about Babel;

 

⁷  Come, let Us go down and there confuse their language, that they may not understand one another's speech."

 

The trinity is as much the God of the Old Testament as it is of the New Testament. 

 

The Father, Son and Holy Spirit have always existed. It’s just that the Jews didn’t recognize it.

 

 

What do we mean by three persons?

 

Some people say God is a trinity in three states rather like water which can be ice, water or steam.

 

Mormons believe the three are one in purpose and mission but they are three separate divine beings. In other words three gods not one.

 

Muslims think we mean three gods when we talk about the trinity and they think we mean the Father, the Son and Mary.

 

Some say that God the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit are like us as human beings spirit, soul and body.

 

Other groups believe that there is one God who just shows Himself in different forms – in which case, presumably there could be more than three.

 

T.D. Jakes who was part of the Oneness Pentecostal movement who don’t believe in the trinity has only recently come to believe and he says he prefers to use the word manifestations rather than persons.

 

The original word used in the 3^rd century when they first came up with the term was the Latin word ‘persona’ which has a meaning closer to the facemasks actors would use.  So one God with three face masks would be how they thought of it.

 

Another way to look at it is that man first experienced God as the creator and law maker.  Then we experienced Him as our saviour.  And now we experience Him as the God who is personally present in every believer.

 

To Christians, it is not just referring to different names of God because we actually have many names for God, and it doesn’t mean three different gods, nor are they 3 different functions of God.

 

The Father does not become the Son and the Son does not become the Holy Spirit.  All three have always existed together.  Jesus prayed to the Father and the Holy Spirit was seen to come upon Him so they all existed at the same time.

 

I think we can see the trinity at work when He speaks.  The Father speaks from Heaven, the Son came to us on Earth and spoke face to face and the Holy Spirit is in us and speaks from within.

 

The Bible often talks about the three as if they were three different persons and Paul refers to them in his benedictions such as;

3 Corinthians 13:14, The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ and the love of God and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all.

 

In Luke chapter 1, the angel referred to all three persons of the trinity. Talking to Zacharias about John the Baptist he said,;

Luke 1:15-17 (NKJV)
 For he will be great in the sight of the Lord, and shall drink neither wine nor strong drink. He will also be filled with the Holy Spirit, even from his mother's womb.
 And he will turn many of the children of Israel to the Lord their God. (the Father)
 He will also go before Him (Jesus) in the spirit and power of Elijah, 'to turn the hearts of the fathers to the children,' and the disobedient to the wisdom of the just, to make ready a people prepared for the Lord."

 

The angel said that John the Baptist will be great in the sight of the Father, filled with the Holy Spirit and go before the Son of God.

 

Then in the same chapter, Gabriel says to Mary;

Luke 1:30-35 (NKJV)
……, "Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God.
 And behold, you will conceive in your womb and bring forth a Son, and shall call His name JESUS.
 He will be great, and will be called the Son of the Highest; and the Lord God (the Father) will give Him the throne of His father David.
 And He will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and of His kingdom there will be no end."
 Then Mary said to the angel, "How can this be, since I do not know a man?"
 And the angel answered and said to her, "The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Highest will overshadow you; therefore, also, that Holy One who is to be born will be called the Son of God.

 

Again we see all three persons of the Godhead mentioned.  Now we know that the Father is holy but this scripture also calls the Spirit holy and the Son holy.

 

At Christ’s baptism, the three persons were present and now when Jesus said He would send the Holy Spirit we find them all three persons mentioned again;

 

John 15:26 (NKJV)
 "But when the Helper comes, whom I (the Son) shall send to you from the Father, the Spirit of truth who proceeds from the Father, He will testify of Me.

 

Now that I have totally confused you, we will move on.

 

 

 

 

God the Father

I don’t think that anyone doubts that the Father is God except, of course, aetheists and those who follow another god.

Isaiah 63:16 (NKJV)
¹⁶  Doubtless You are our Father, Though Abraham was ignorant of us, And Israel does not acknowledge us. You, O LORD, are our Father; Our Redeemer from Everlasting is Your name.

Isaiah 64:8 (NKJV)
⁸  But now, O LORD, You are our Father; We are the clay, and You our potter; And all we are the work of Your hand.

1 Chronicles 29:10 (NKJV)
¹⁰  Therefore David blessed the LORD before all the assembly; and David said: "Blessed are You, LORD God of Israel, our Father, forever and ever.

 

Jesus often referred to Him as Father.

 

John 5:19-23 (NKJV)
¹⁹  Then Jesus answered and said to them, "Most assuredly, I say to you, the Son can do nothing of Himself, but what He sees the Father do; for whatever He does, the Son also does in like manner.
²⁰  For the Father loves the Son, and shows Him all things that He Himself does; and He will show Him greater works than these, that you may marvel.
²¹  For as the Father raises the dead and gives life to them, even so the Son gives life to whom He will.
²²  For the Father judges no one, but has committed all judgment to the Son,
²³  that all should honor the Son just as they honor the Father. He who does not honor the Son does not honor the Father who sent Him.

 

And Paul says in

2 Corinthians 6:18 (NKJV)
I will be a Father to you, And you shall be My sons and daughters, Says the LORD Almighty."

 

So there is no doubt that the Father is God.  Where people do get confused is with Jesus and the Holy Spirit.

 

God the Son

Jesus, who prayed to his Father and taught his disciples to do the same, convinced them that he was personally divine. Belief in his divinity and that we should worship Him is basic to New Testament faith (John 20:28-31; cf. 1:18; Acts 7:59; Rom. 9:5; 10:9-13; 2 Cor. 12:7-9; Phil. 2:5-6; Col. 1:15-17; 2:9; Heb. 1:1-12; 1 Pet. 3:15).

 

Jesus is identified as God’s Son at his baptism where we also see the Holy Spirit present.

Matthew 3:13-17 (NKJV)
 Then Jesus came from Galilee to John at the Jordan to be baptized by him.
 And John tried to prevent Him, saying, "I need to be baptized by You, and are You coming to me?"
 But Jesus answered and said to him, "Permit it to be so now, for thus it is fitting for us to fulfill all righteousness." Then he allowed Him.
 When He had been baptized, Jesus came up immediately from the water; and behold, the heavens were opened to Him, and He saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and alighting upon Him.
 And suddenly a voice came from heaven, saying, "This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased."

Again at the transfiguration, the Father called Him His son in front of Peter, James, and John and in  the presence of Moses and Elijah. God said "This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased; listen to him."

 

And, of course we have the famous statement by Jesus in John 8 where Jesus undoubtedly claims He is God and that He is eternal

John 8:58-59 (NKJV)
 Jesus said to them, "Most assuredly, I say to you, before Abraham was, I AM."
 Then they took up stones to throw at Him; but Jesus hid Himself and went out of the temple, going through the midst of them, and so passed by.

 

This is a direct reference to Exodus 3:14 (NKJV) where  God said to Moses, "I AM WHO I AM." …., "Thus you shall say to the children of Israel, 'I AM has sent me to you.' "

The response of the people shows they understood that He was claiming to be God.

 

Again in John 10.33 the Jews realised that Jesus was claiming to be God  when He said ‘I and my Father are one’, so they tried to stone Him;

John 10:33 (NKJV)
 The Jews answered Him, saying, "For a good work we do not stone You, but for blasphemy, and because You, being a Man, make Yourself God."

 

Before His birth, the angel proclaimed that Jesus is literally ‘God with us’.

 

Jesus did not deny His deity when Thomas referred to Him as God in

John 20:27-29 (NKJV)
 Then He said to Thomas, "Reach your finger here, and look at My hands; and reach your hand here, and put it into My side. Do not be unbelieving, but believing."
 And Thomas answered and said to Him, "My Lord and my God!"
 Jesus said to him, "Thomas, because you have seen Me, you have believed. Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed."

 

Really a good Jew should have been totally shocked at such a statement if it weren’t true and be quick to deny it.

 

Jesus told Philip (the other Philip not me) that if you have seen Him you have seen the Father.

 

John 14:9-11 (NKJV)
 Jesus said to him, "Have I been with you so long, and yet you have not known Me, Philip? He who has seen Me has seen the Father; so how can you say, 'Show us the Father'?
 Do you not believe that I am in the Father, and the Father in Me? The words that I speak to you I do not speak on My own authority; but the Father who dwells in Me does the works.
 Believe Me that I am in the Father and the Father in Me, or else believe Me for the sake of the works themselves.

In this passage, Jesus also said that the works He did proves who He was and John 9.4 says they are the works of God;

 

• He performed miracles.
• He healed the sick.
• He turned water into wine.
• He cast out demons.
• He forgave sins.
• He fed thousands of people like God fed Israel in the wilderness.
• He taught as only God would teach such as in the Sermon on the Mount (Matthew chapters 5, 6 and7)
• He raised the dead
• And He is our judge.

The apostle Paul clearly recognises Jesus as God in;

Colossians 1:13-18 (NKJV)
 He has delivered us from the power of darkness and conveyed us into the kingdom of the Son of His love,
 in whom we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins.
 He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation.
 For by Him all things were created that are in heaven and that are on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or principalities or powers. All things were created through Him and for Him.
 And He is before all things, and in Him all things consist.
 And He is the head of the body, the church, who is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that in all things He may have the preeminence.

In this scripture, we see He has the power to deliver us from darkness, the authority to forgive our sins and He was the creator of all things.

 

Those who oppose His deity claim being the firstborn means He was created but the scripture clearly says He is the creator not the created. 

 

The word firstborn means He had the inheritance rights of the firstborn rather like Jacob and Isaac. The last verse shows Him to be the firstborn from the dead a reference to His resurrection which is also our hope for the future.

 

In  other places, the old King James mistranslates words to refer to Jesus being begotten such as in John 3.16, but the Greek word ‘monogenes’ actually means unique or one of a kind not begotten.

Gnostics claimed He was a high class of spirit,  Spiritists claim He was an advanced spirit of the 6^th sphere and Jehovah’s witnesses that He started as an angel.  But we see here that He created all things visible and invisible, powers in heaven and on earth.  In other words, He created the spirits and He created angels, He wasn’t one of them Himself.

No, Jesus is definitely God.

 

God The Holy Spirit

Have you ever wondered what the Holy Spirit looks like?  Most of us would probably draw Him as a cloud, a wind or a flame or maybe a dove. Perhaps you think of Him as a force rather like gravity. But the Holy Spirit is in fact a person just like Jesus.

 

Referring to the Holy Spirit,  Jesus promised to send another like Himself. (John 14:16-17, 26; 15:26-27; 16:7-15).

John 14:16-17 (NKJV)
 And I will pray the Father, and He will give you another Helper, that He may abide with you forever--
 the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees Him nor knows Him; but you know Him, for He dwells with you and will be in you.

 

Here we find that Jesus says the Father will send another ‘parakletos’ which is translated as helper, counsellor, intercessor, advocate.   The word ‘another’ is the Greek word ‘allos’ which means another of the same kind in other words someone like Himself.  If He meant another of a different kind, He would have used a different Greek word ‘heteros’.

 

We also understand that the Holy Spirit is a person as He behaves like a person. For instance;

Act_28:25  …. "The Holy Spirit spoke rightly through Isaiah the prophet to our fathers,

Romans_5:5  Now hope does not disappoint, because the love of God has been poured out in our hearts by the Holy Spirit who was given to us.

1Corinthians_2:13  These things we also speak, not in words which man's wisdom teaches but which the Holy Spirit teaches, comparing spiritual things with spiritual.

Ephesians_4:30  And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, by whom you were sealed for the day of redemption.

John 15:26 (NKJV)
 "But when the Helper comes, whom I shall send to you from the Father, the Spirit of truth who proceeds from the Father, He will testify of Me.

 

Speak, pour, teach, compare, testify, these are all things a person does.

 

We also see that when Jesus was conceived it says the Holy Spirit will come upon Mary and the baby would be called the Son of God.

Luke 1:34-35 (KJV)
³⁴  Then said Mary unto the angel, How shall this be, seeing I know not a man? And the angel answered and said unto her, The Holy Ghost shall come upon thee, and the power of the Highest shall overshadow thee: therefore also that holy thing which shall be born of thee shall be called the Son of God.

 

In John 16 we see Jesus refers to the Holy Spirit as He or Him and says He comes to you, helps, convicts, guides, hears, speaks, glorifies, takes and declares.  Again, these are all things a person does.

 

John 16:7-15 (NKJV)
⁷  Nevertheless I tell you the truth. It is to your advantage that I go away; for if I do not go away, the Helper will not come to you; but if I depart, I will send Him to you.
⁸  And when He has come, He will convict the world of sin, and of righteousness, and of judgment:
⁹  of sin, because they do not believe in Me;
¹⁰  of righteousness, because I go to My Father and you see Me no more;
¹¹  of judgment, because the ruler of this world is judged.
¹²  I still have many things to say to you, but you cannot bear them now.
¹³  However, when He, the Spirit of truth, has come, He will guide you into all truth; for He will not speak on His own authority, but whatever He hears He will speak; and He will tell you things to come.
¹⁴  He will glorify Me, for He will take of what is Mine and declare it to you.
¹⁵  All things that the Father has are Mine. Therefore I said that He will take of Mine and declare it to you.

 

Peter clearly identifies the Holy Spirit as God when he says lying to the Holy Spirit is lying to God.

 

Acts 5:3-4 (NKJV)
³  But Peter said, "Ananias, why has Satan filled your heart to lie to the Holy Spirit and keep back part of the price of the land for yourself?
⁴  While it remained, was it not your own? And after it was sold, was it not in your own control? Why have you conceived this thing in your heart? You have not lied to men but to God."

So  there we have it.  The Father is God, Jesus the Son is God and the Holy Spirit is God.  What could be clearer?

 

 

God is One;

Now we come to the difficult bit. 

 

Clearly God is three persons but the bible also states very clearly that there is just one God.

Isaiah 45:5 (KJV)
⁵  I am the LORD, and there is none else, there is no God beside me: I girded thee, though thou hast not known me:

 

Well, that is clear, there is only one God.   How can we say there is more than one?

 

Deuteronomy 6:4 (KJV)
⁴  Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God is one LORD:

Zechariah 14:9 (NKJV)
9  And the LORD shall be King over all the earth. In that day it shall be-- "The LORD is one," And His name one.

 

 

The Hebrew word translated one in both these verses is ‘ehad’ which is also used when it says that husband and wife become one flesh.

 

Genesis 2:24 (NKJV)
 Therefore a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and they shall become one (ehad) flesh.

Obviously, they are two people but are described by God as being one with the same word that describes God as one.  Elsewhere, the same word ‘ehad’ is used to describe for instance, a cluster of grapes and in Genesis 11.6 it is used to describe all the people of Babel as one.

But it’s not only the old testament.  The new testament also tells us there is only one God.

Mark 12:29 (NKJV)
²⁹  Jesus answered him, "The first of all the commandments is: 'Hear, O Israel, the LORD our God, the LORD is one.

Romans 3:30 (NKJV)
³⁰  since there is one God who will justify the circumcised by faith and the uncircumcised through faith.

James 2:19 (NKJV)
You believe that there is one God. You do well. Even the demons believe--and tremble!

 

 

Since the Father sent the Son into the world (John 3:16), he cannot be the same person as the Son.

Likewise, after the Son returned to the Father (John 16:10), the Father and the Son sent the Holy Spirit into the world (John 14:26; Acts 2:33). Therefore, the Holy Spirit must be distinct from the Father and the Son.

It was the Father who raised Jesus from the dead and Jesus who asked the Father to send the Holy Spirit.

So there are three persons of the Godhead and yet God is one, They are so much in unity, they work so close together, they are one.  They will never be separate.

Jesus said in John 10:30 (NKJV)  I and My Father are one."

 

In John 17 Jesus prayed that we (the church) would be one which is the same Greek word (heis) used when we say “God is one”.  But of course we know there are many of us – in fact millions. 

But we are called to be one, to work together in unity as one body.  In the same way, God is one but three persons.

You need to be clear, we do not believe in three gods.  That is polytheism.  We believe in one God but in three persons – monotheism.

 

 

We know that Jesus was called our advocate or intercessor and yet the Holy Spirit is also our intercessor.  Jesus was our teacher and yet so is the Holy Spirit, Jesus is our counsellor and so is the Holy Spirit.

 

Whatever we ask in His name Jesus will do for us and yet the Holy Spirit is our helper. 

 

Jesus was Immanuel, God with us but today, the Holy Spirit is with us and in us.

 

Jesus said He would never leave us because the Holy Spirit is with us today.

 

And we find that Jesus is also called the Almighty, Author of Eternal Salvation, Creator, Emmanuel, Everlasting Father, GOD, God in the Flesh, God with Us, I am, Law Giver,  Lord of Glory, Lord of Lords, Lord of Our Righteousness, Mighty God  Rev 1.8 Heb 5.9  John 1.3   Matt 1.23  Isaiah 9.6 Heb 1.8 Phil 2.5-6, Luke 4.12, John 1.1-14 1 Tim 3.16  Matt 1.23, 19.16 Col 2.8-9,  James 4.12  1 Cor 2. John 8.58  Rev 19.16  8  Jer 23.6   Isaiah 9.6  

They are also attributes we associate with the Father

 

So God is one but in three persons in total unity working together as one God and yet the Father is in the Son and the Son in the Father and the Father and the Son are in the Holy Spirit.

 

 

 

The three persons of the Godhead work together in synergy.  The Father working with the Son, working with the Holy Spirit.

 

For example, at Christ’s baptism, we see the Son, hear the Father and the power of the Holy Spirit comes upon the Son.  The trinity working together in synergy.

 

Now listen to this, when we are saved we find all three persons of the Godhead are working together.

 

• The father draws us to His Son (John 6.44),
• the Holy Spirit convicts us of sin (John 16.8)
• and Jesus, of course, paid the price for our salvation.
  

Finale

So there we have the trinity.  I hope I haven’t confused you but it is important that you know that the Father is God, Jesus is God and the Holy Spirit is God.

 

Today we have focused on just this one attribute of God – the Trinity, but we know He is many other things too but we don’t have time today to discuss them all.

 

We weren’t baptized into the Father or the Son or the Holy Spirit.  We were baptized into the Father, and the Son and the Holy Spirit.

 

And when we were baptized into them, we became one with them.

 

God is the Father, God is the Son, God is the Holy Spirit and God is one. 

 

He deserves all our praise, all our worship, all our love, all glory and honour and everything we have to give Him we should give.

 

1 Timothy 1:17 (NKJV)
 Now to the King eternal, immortal, invisible, to God who alone is wise, be honor and glory forever and ever.    Amen.