Faith Fundamentals: Doctrine of God (Trinity)

Faith Foundations • Sermon • Submitted 7 months ago • Presented 7 months ago

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Introduction

The Nicene Creed as a whole encapsulates what we, as Christians, believe about who God is. We believe that God is three-Persons in One. Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. But before we get there let’s take a big picture look at who God is.

God is transcendent and other. If God did not want to be known, we would not know Him. But He wants to be known, and reveals himself to us. At a fundamental level God reveals himself to us through nature (Romans 1)

Not only does God want to be known, but He wants to know us. That’s because He created humanity in His own image (Imago Dei), and He wants to have a relationship with us.

Beyond nature, how do we know who God is? We know who God is based on how He has revealed Himself in Scripture.

One important note: there is an inherent limitation on discussing the nature of God because He is so transcendent. At some point, human language reaches it’s limit and can only go so far in truly capturing who God is. The authors of Scripture understood this well - which is why sometimes they really stretched their own language in an attempt to describe what they saw/knew.

For us, that means that at some point, our conversation of God is going to hit some linguistic and conceptual roadblocks, but we can still try.

Christian vs Pagan understandings

The belief in God is common to humanity. But it’s usually not just one God. Most of humanity for most of human history has been polytheistic, which means believing in many gods. The ancient Greek and Roman pantheons are examples of polytheism, and today Hinduism is a common example.

The Bible tells us that in contrast to polytheism, there is actually just one God, which is called monotheism. Deuteronomy 6:4 ““Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one.”

Scripture doesn’t deny that the world has it’s own gods, however it consistently denies that those gods are ‘real’. The gods that this world worships are usually just lifeless idols, but in some cases they may have demons behind them (1 Corinthians).

Another common understanding of God is ‘pantheism’ or the belief that nature/the universe is God. We are not pantheists. We believe God is wholly separate from creation and that He created the universe.

Who is our God?

God, by nature, transcends what our human minds can conceive. And that makes sense. If it was possible to fully comprehend God, He would no longer be God.

He has no beginning and He has no end. This is a classic example of not being able to fully comprehend His nature. As finite creatures, we cannot conceptualize something not having a beginning. But, if God did have a beginning, He would not truly be God.

But just because this is His nature, does not mean God cannot be known at all. Scripture tells us in very human terms who God is. This usually comes from the many names by which God is given. From Yahweh, to ‘Lord of Hosts’, to ‘God Almighty’, and so on.

Other times we’re told qualities of God, such as ‘God is love.’

God truly first ‘revealed’ himself to Abraham and then to the rest of the patriarchs of Genesis. In Exodus, God comes to Moses and reveals himself as ‘Yahweh’, which means ‘I AM’ and which we translate as ‘LORD’.

While Scripture tells us who our God is, it’s important to note that in the end Scripture is just a written revelation. And in the end, all of Scripture points us to Jesus Christ who truly is God revealed. The Lord Jesus is the exact imprint of God. He is Yahweh in the flesh. And because He is the Son of God, he fully reveals to us who God is (Hebrews 1:1-2 “Long ago, at many times and in many ways, God spoke to our fathers by the prophets, but in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son, whom he appointed the heir of all things, through whom also he created the world.” )

The Godhead is a Trinity

Beyond just being monotheistic, Christianity believes that God is Triune in nature. This differentiates us from other monotheistic religions such as Islam and Judaism. We of course believe in Yahweh, the same God as the Jews, but we know Him more fully than they do.

What does it mean for God to be Triune? The Holy Trinity consists of three Persons, but One nature. Therefore God is One, and we do not refer to Him in the plural.

The Father, Son, and Holy Spirit are all referred to as God at different times in Scripture. We’ll dive more into the divinity of the Son and Holy Spirit in coming weeks.

Sample passages in the Old Testament:

The LORD is frequently referred (or inferred) as ‘Father’ in passages like

Deuteronomy 32:6 “Do you thus repay the Lord, you foolish and senseless people? Is not he your father, who created you, who made you and established you?”

2 Samuel 7:14 “I will be to him a father, and he shall be to me a son. When he commits iniquity, I will discipline him with the rod of men, with the stripes of the sons of men,”

Psalm 2:7 “I will tell of the decree: The Lord said to me, “You are my Son; today I have begotten you.” (the New Testament explicitly tells us that this was a prophecy about Jesus.)

The pre-incarnate Son is personified as ‘the Word’ and ‘Wisdom’ in the OT. John tells us that Jesus is the Word made flesh.

The Word was instrumental in the creative-activity of the world (Genesis 1-2).

Psalm 33:8-9 “Let all the earth fear the Lord; let all the inhabitants of the world stand in awe of him! For he spoke, and it came to be; he commanded, and it stood firm.”

The NT explicitly connects Jesus to creative nature of the Word (Hebrews 1:2).

Apocryphal passages on the Word:

Sirach 43:26 “Because of him each of his messengers succeeds, and by his word all things hold together.”

Wisdom 9:1-2 ““O God of my ancestors and Lord of mercy, who have made all things by your word, and by your wisdom have formed humankind to have dominion over the creatures you have made,”

Judith 16:14 “Let all your creatures serve you, for you spoke, and they were made. You sent forth your spirit, and it formed them; there is none that can resist your voice.”

The Son is also personified as Wisdom:

Job 28

Proverbs 2-4.

Proverbs 8-9.

The Spirit is mentioned all throughout the OT:

Genesis 1:2 “The earth was without form and void, and darkness was over the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God was hovering over the face of the waters.”

Judges 3:10 “The Spirit of the Lord was upon him, and he judged Israel. He went out to war, and the Lord gave Cushan-rishathaim king of Mesopotamia into his hand. And his hand prevailed over Cushan-rishathaim.”

1 Samuel 10:6 “Then the Spirit of the Lord will rush upon you, and you will prophesy with them and be turned into another man.”

Ezekiel 2:1-3 “And he said to me, “Son of man, stand on your feet, and I will speak with you.” And as he spoke to me, the Spirit entered into me and set me on my feet, and I heard him speaking to me. And he said to me, “Son of man, I send you to the people of Israel, to nations of rebels, who have rebelled against me. They and their fathers have transgressed against me to this very day.”

Isaiah 11:2 “And the Spirit of the Lord shall rest upon him, the Spirit of wisdom and understanding, the Spirit of counsel and might, the Spirit of knowledge and the fear of the Lord.”

Isaiah 42:1 “Behold my servant, whom I uphold, my chosen, in whom my soul delights; I have put my Spirit upon him; he will bring forth justice to the nations.”

Sample passages in the New Testament

Luke 1:35 “And the angel answered her, “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you; therefore the child to be born will be called holy—the Son of God.”

John 1:1 “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.”

John 5:19 “So Jesus said to them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, the Son can do nothing of his own accord, but only what he sees the Father doing. For whatever the Father does, that the Son does likewise.”

Mark 14:36 “And he said, “Abba, Father, all things are possible for you. Remove this cup from me. Yet not what I will, but what you will.””

Matthew 16:17 “And Jesus answered him, “Blessed are you, Simon Bar-Jonah! For flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but my Father who is in heaven.”

Luke 22:29 “and I assign to you, as my Father assigned to me, a kingdom,”

Mark 1:10-11 “And when he came up out of the water, immediately he saw the heavens being torn open and the Spirit descending on him like a dove. And a voice came from heaven, “You are my beloved Son; with you I am well pleased.””

Luke 9:35 “And a voice came out of the cloud, saying, “This is my Son, my Chosen One; listen to him!”” (The Transfiguration)

Matthew 28:19 “Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit,”

Acts 2:32-33 “This Jesus God raised up, and of that we all are witnesses. Being therefore exalted at the right hand of God, and having received from the Father the promise of the Holy Spirit, he has poured out this that you yourselves are seeing and hearing.”

1 Corinthians 12:4-6 “Now there are varieties of gifts, but the same Spirit; and there are varieties of service, but the same Lord; and there are varieties of activities, but it is the same God who empowers them all in everyone.”

Ephesians 2:17-18 “And he came and preached peace to you who were far off and peace to those who were near. For through him we both have access in one Spirit to the Father.”

Ephesians 4:4-6 “There is one body and one Spirit—just as you were called to the one hope that belongs to your call— one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all.”

Ephesians 5:18-20 “And do not get drunk with wine, for that is debauchery, but be filled with the Spirit, addressing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody to the Lord with your heart, giving thanks always and for everything to God the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ,”

1 Peter 1:1-2 “Peter, an apostle of Jesus Christ, To those who are elect exiles of the Dispersion in Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, and Bithynia, according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, in the sanctification of the Spirit, for obedience to Jesus Christ and for sprinkling with his blood: May grace and peace be multiplied to you.”

Three Persons, One God?

If you think the Trinity is difficult to understand as a concept....that’s okay! That doesn’t mean it isn’t true. Remember: if it was possible to fully comprehend and understand the nature of God, would He still be God?

When describing our theology of God as triune, it’s sometimes better to say what it is not.

We do not believe in three different gods. That would be polytheism. We believe in One God!

We do not believe that each person of the Trinity just simply a different ‘form’ or ‘mode’ of God. (i.e. God took the form of the Father, then of the Son, and now of the Holy Spirit.) This heresy is called Modalism.

The three persons of the Trinity share the same essence. If they were three separate gods, they would have three different essences. But they do not.

The three persons of the Trinity share the same operation. If they were three different gods, we would expect them to have different operations. But all three persons do everything in complete unity.

The testimony of Church History

From the earliest days, the Church firmly believed in the Triune nature of God. The earliest surviving documents outside of the New Testament have several examples of this:

1 Clement 16:1-2

Justin Martyr First Apology 6; 13; 61

Iraneus, Against Heresies 2.28.6

It’s worth noting that one of the common defenses of this doctrine wasn’t just Scripture, but also the tradition of what was passed down. Essentially the question was asked, “What has been orally passed down to us since the apostles?”

Augustinian understanding of the Trinity:

If God is Love then:

the Father is the Lover

the Son is the Beloved

the Holy Spirit is the mutual love they share.

Gregory of Nyssa has two important treatises on this topic called, ‘On the Trinity (and the divinity of the Holy Spirit’ and ‘On ‘Not Three Gods’’

Gregory does a good job in illustrating the various ways in which Scripture points to all three Persons having attributes of God and therefore are God.

One easy to understand example he uses comes from 1 Timothy 4:10 “For to this end we toil and strive, because we have our hope set on the living God, who is the Savior of all people, especially of those who believe.”

From this verse Gregory deduces that ‘God is the Savior of all people’. We know that Jesus Christ is our Savior (therefore He must be God), and the Holy Spirit gives us our salvation (therefore He is God).

‘…but God who is over all, is the Savior of all, while the Son works salvation by means of the grace of the Spirit, and yet they are not on this account called in Scripture three Saviors (although salvation is confessed to proceed from the Holy Trinity.)’

Conclusion

The Christian understanding of God as triune is unique. It is both simple and complex at the same time. All three persons of the Holy Trinity are equally divine, and yet they share the same divinity making them One God that we worship. This triune nature:

Gives us a true understanding of love (mentioned above)

Gives us a true understanding of righteousness (the relationship of the Three Persons allows God to be righteous in himself, independent of any other person.)

Gives is a true understanding of relationships (the eternal communal relationship of the Three Persons gives us a blueprint for how we ought to have relationships with others).

Gives us a true understanding of holiness (each Person of the Trinity indwells within each other, consecrating the other and therefore making God truly holy, independent of anything else.)

Gives us a true understanding of glory (God does not need ‘glory’ from anything else, for each Person of the Trinity glorifies the other. We were created to glorify God, but He does not need our glory - He is glorified in himself.)

Source: ‘5 ways the doctrine of the Trinity is surprisingly practical’, Logos.com (https://www.logos.com/grow/5-ways-the-doctrine-of-the-trinity-is-surprisingly-practical/)

And that’s only truly fitting way to end any conversation on the Holy Trinity: worship and glorification. Praise, blessing, and honor be to the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, amen!

Resources for further study:

On the Trinity, St. Augustine

On the Trinity, Gregory of Nyssa

On ‘Not Three Gods’, Gregory of Nyssa

The Trinity: An Introduction, Scott Swain

The Deep Things of God, Fred Sanders

Meditations on the Trinity, A. W. Tozer

(Source: ‘11 Best Books on the Trinity (For all levels of study’ Logos.com)

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