Essential Doctrines | Trinity

Matthew 3:16-17

16 After Jesus was baptized, He went up immediately from the water. The heavens suddenly opened for Him, and He saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and coming down on Him. 17 And there came a voice from heaven: This is My beloved Son. I take delight in Him!

Quotes

The Christian response is contained in these two fundamental dogmas: that of the Trinity and that of the Incarnation. In the trinitarian dogma God is one, good, true, and beautiful because he is essentially Love, and Love supposes the one, the other, and their unity. - Hans Urs von Balthasar

Quotes

The Doctrine of the Trinity teaches that within the unity of the one Godhead there are three separate persons who are coequal in power, nature, and eternity. - Walter Martin

The Trinity

Key Points

There is 1 God God is expressed to us in 3 distinct

persons The Trinity is an example of God’s

revelation to us as men in perfect unity

There Is One God

Deuteronomy 6:4 Listen, Israel: The LORD our God, the

LORD is One.

▪ This verse is not a denial of God as triune but instead a clarification that God is One God & not like the pagan gods presented to Israel.

There Is One God

Pagan cultures worshipped fallen angels/ demons

Colossians 2:18 18 Let no one disqualify you, insisting on

ascetic practices and the worship of angels, claiming access to a visionary realm and inflated without cause by his fleshly mind.

Deuteronomy 32:17 17 They sacrificed to demons, not God, to gods

they had not known, new gods that had just arrived, which your fathers did not fear.

There Is One God

Abraham was a part of this culture & was called by God out of that culture into a relational covenant w/ God (Genesis 12:4-9) Abraham was not a Jew but a pagan Israel arose out of a covenant w/God

(see Genesis 32:28)

God is expressed to us in 3 distinct persons

The Trinity▪ The Father▪ Yahweh – see Exodus 6:3▪ Is forever on the throne – see Psalm 9:7

▪ The Son▪ Incarnate God – see John 10:31-39▪ Messiah – see Matthew 16:16▪ Redeemer – see 1st Corinthians 15:22

▪ The Holy Spirit▪ Can be received – see Acts 8:17▪ Can be resisted – see Acts 7:51▪ Can be grieved – see Ephesians 4:30

God is expressed to us in 3 distinct persons

Other views▪ Binitarianism (one deity/two persons)▪ Unitarianism (one deity/one person)▪ Oneness Pentecostalism (one deity/three

manifestations of Jesus)▪ Modalism (one deity/different manifestations

of the Father)

God is expressed to us in 3 distinct persons

Problems with these views The implication is the Father suffered on the cross which

He did not▪ Mark 15:34▪ 34 And at three Jesus cried out with a loud voice, " Eloi, Eloi, lemá sabachtháni?"

which is translated, " My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me? "

▪ Isaiah 53:2-6▪ 2 He grew up before Him like a young plant and like a root out of dry ground. He

had no form or splendor that we should look at Him, no appearance that we should desire Him. 3 He was despised and rejected by men, a man of suffering who knew what sickness was. He was like one people turned away from; He was despised, and we didn't value Him. 4 Yet He Himself bore our sicknesses, and He carried our pains; but we in turn regarded Him stricken, struck down by God, and afflicted. 5 But He was pierced because of our transgressions, crushed because of our iniquities; punishment for our peace was on Him, and we are healed by His wounds. 6 We all went astray like sheep; we all have turned to our own way; and the LORD has punished Him for the iniquity of us all.

The implication is that God has different disguises which He does not.

The Trinity is an example of God’s revelation to us as men in perfect unity

There is deference in the trinity John 6:38▪ 38 For I have come down from heaven, not to do

My will, but the will of Him who sent Me. John 7:16▪ 16 Jesus answered them, "My teaching isn't

Mine but is from the One who sent Me. John 8:29▪ 29 The One who sent Me is with Me. He has not

left Me alone, because I always do what pleases Him."

The Trinity is an example of God’s revelation to us as men in perfect unity Perfect love

1st John 4:16▪ 16 And we have come to know and to believe

the love that God has for us. God is love, and the one who remains in love remains in God, and God remains in him.

1st John 4:8▪ 8 The one who does not love does not know

God, because God is love. Never show jealousy Perfect relationship

Key Points

There is 1 God God is expressed to us in 3 distinct

persons The Trinity is an example of God’s

revelation to us as men in perfect unity

Essential Doctrines | Trinity

Everlasting Mercy Fellowship

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