Brian Fisher
Grace Bible Church
“God in Three Persons, Blessed Trinity”
The Trinity is a doctrine of
highest importance – revealed, and therefore understandable; yet mysterious,
and therefore unfathomable in many respects. God exists eternally as One God in
three separate but equal Persons, Father, Son and Holy Spirit. This truth has
profound implications for our worship, for our own relationships, and for our
purpose and meaning in this world and the next.
I. Definition
of “trinity”
Tertullian (c. 160 - c. 225), Against Praxeas
“Everywhere I hold one substance
[divine attributes] in three cohering….All are of one, by unity of substance;
while the mystery of the dispensation is still guarded, which distributes the
Unity into a Trinity, placing in their order the three, the Father, the Son,
and the Holy Spirit; three however…not in substance but in form, not in power
but in appearance.”
Trinity Difficulties
▪ 3 Persons = 1 God seems illogical
▪ “Trinity” not in Bible
▪ Language inadequate
Grace Bible Church Definition of “Trinity”
(doesn’t improve upon Tertullian, but simplifies language)
“We believe in one God eternally
existing in three equal persons – Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, who have the
same nature and attributes, but who are distinct in office and activity.”
Three Critical elements of definition
Mysterious Trinity
▪ Unity
▪ Plurality
▪ Equality
II. “Explanation”
of trinity
A. UNITY (Oneness/Unity of Essence)
Old Testament
Dt. 6:4; 4:35; 32:39
Isa. 43:10; 45:21-22
Mal. 2:10
polytheism everywhere around them
New Testament
Mk. 12:28-29
Jn. 5:44
1 Cor. 8:4-6
1 Tim. 1:17
James 2:19
B. PLURALITY (Plurality or Three-ness of Persons)
Ÿ Old Testament is monotheistic, but allows for plurality
Ÿ Plurality of Persons in the Old Testament
▪ Plural pronouns and verbs – Gen. 1:26; 3:22; 11:7; Is. 6:8
▪ Distinction of Persons – Is. 48:16; 59:21; 63:9-10
▪ Angel of the Lord – Gen. 16:7-13; 18:1-21; 19:1-28; Mal. 3:1
▪ Father is God – Ps. 89:26
▪ Son is God – Is. 7:14; 9:6; Ezek. 1; Dan. 7:9-14
▪ Spirit is God – Job 33:4; Psalm 139:7-12
Ÿ Distinction of Persons in New Testament
Mt. 3:16-17
John 14:16-18; 16:7,10
1 Cor. 12:4-6
2 Cor. 13:14
Ÿ Diversity of AUTHORITY
▪ The Son proceeds from /is in submission to the Father
John 5:36; 8:42; 10:18
▪ The Spirit proceeds from the Father and Son/glorifies the Son
John 15:26; 16:13-15
▪ The Father is Sovereign over all
1 Cor. 11:3; 15:27,28
▪ Functional subordination (priority without inferiority)
1 Cor. 11:3; 15:27,28
John 8:42; 10:18
Ÿ Tri-unity (three-in-oneness)
Is. 48:16
Mt. 28:19; 3:16-17
John 10:30 (see Ryrie, p. 54)
Romans 8:9-11
2 Cor. 13:14
John 14:9, 16-20
▪ I and the Father are One
C. EQUALITY
Ÿ The Father is God
John 6:27
1 Pet. 1:2
Ÿ The Son is God
John 1:1; 5:18; 8:58; 9:38, 10:30; 12:9; 14:9; 20:28
Mt. 1:23
Mark 2:1-12; receives worship
Phil. 2:6,7
Col. 1:15-17; 2:9
Heb. 1:2-3, 6, 8, 10-12
Ÿ The Spirit is God
John 3:5-6,8
Acts 5:3-4
1 Cor. 2:10
2 Cor. 3:17-18
D. Analogies and Illustrations
Ÿ Water (vapor, liquid and solid) (but not simultaneously)
Ÿ Egg (shell, white and yolk) (but not relational)
Ÿ Church analogy
1 Cor. 12:20,22, 23,27
1 Peter 5:5
Gal. 3:28
John 17
Ÿ Marriage analogy
Gen. 1-2
Gal. 3:28
1 Peter 3:7
Eph. 5:24
Summary
God eternally exists as Three real Persons, Father, Son, & Holy Spirit
▪ Each Person is fully God (equality)
▪ Each person is distinct (plurality)
▪ And yet there is just one God (unity)
III. History
and heresies
Not much thought put into trinity until attacks on deity of Jesus Christ. General consensus, but not well-articulated. Articulate who Christ is and His relationship to Father and Spirit.
1. Polytheism
Christians attacked as “atheists”
2. Subordination
a. Ebionism – Jesus just an extraordinary prophet
Jesus was an extraordinary prophet who identified with the poor but was not God; similar to Unitarianism, liberalism, and liberation theology. They also strictly followed Jewish law and rejected Paul’s writings
b. Adoptionism – Jesus an extremely righteous man adopted by the Father as His Christ
Jesus of Nazareth was an extremely righteous man completely submissive to the Father (the monarch) who adopted him as Christ (when Christ-Spirit descended at baptism or at resurrection); thus, Jesus became Christ, now made Lord of the Church; similar to Schleiermacher, functional Christology, and many liberals.
c. Arianism – Jesus an inferior god created by the Father
Arius proclaimed that Jesus was a god, the first of all of God’s creation through whom God created the world, but he was inferior in nature to the Father because he was a creation – “there was a time when the Son was not.” Neither the Son nor the Spirit are eternally preexistent nor of the same nature but only similar nature with the Father. Jehovah’s Witnesses and Mormons have similar views of Jesus.
3. Modalism – One God in three masks
a. Sabellianism – One God transforms: Father of the Old Testament to Christ of the Gospels to Spirit of the Epistles
b. Followed by “Jesus Only Pentecostals” today
c. Messianic Jew website
Specific challenges to Trinity
“Firstborn of all Creation”; Col 1:15
Ÿ Dt.21:15-17
▪ “literal first son who was born to a man”
▪ “one who possessed the supremacy, with the legal rights of the firstborn”
Ÿ John 1:3; Ps. 89:27
“Only begotten”; John 3:16
Ÿ Literal: “only offspring”
Ÿ Figurative: “unique” — such as Isaac in Heb. 11:17
“a god”; John 1:1
Ÿ Cp. John 1:18
Ÿ Heb. 1; Col. 1
IV. Significance
and application
Eternal relationships within godhead; relational; can be known; wants to be known
a. Sacrificial love – A monopersonal God can neither model love.
If God is alone, how can He be “love,” for love is that which gives itself to others.
b. True Worship – Can not honor God if you worship something He is not. Trinity makes Christianity unique.
c. True fellowship – family, church, friends
To Know Myself – to understand myself, I must understand the God in Who’s image I was formed. I don’t function at my best in isolation.
How are you imitating the Trinity in your relationships?