The Doctrine of the Godhead (Holy Trinity)

So, we're going to continue with the Morris Corner Church Doctoral Statement. And before we get into our study of the Godhead, or the Trinity, as you can see with the diagram here on the screen, the Trinity tells us something about God, that God cares about relationships.

Because within the Trinity, there is a relationship between Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. So there has always been this relationship and fellowship within the Trinity. So because God cares about relationships, He cares about fellowship with us, His creatures.

The Church Statement of Faith on the Triune God

So from the Morris Corner Church Statement of Faith, it says, We believe in one triune God, eternally existing in three Persons, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, co-eternal in being, co-identical in nature, co-equal in power and glory, having the same attributes and perfections.

So that might be a lot to take in, but let's look up some of the verses. So can I have a volunteer to look up Deuteronomy 6, verse 4? Because we have two references given, Deuteronomy 6, 4, Larry's going to look that up.

And then 2 Corinthians 13, verse 14, who would like to look up 2 Corinthians? Or I'll just call on someone if nobody volunteers.

Okay, Linda.

What did you say?

2 Corinthians 13, verse 14. So let me just read this again. We believe in one triune God, eternally existing in three Persons, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. We believe they are co-eternal in being, co-identical in nature, and co-equal in power and glory, having the same attributes and perfections.

So Larry, would you like to read Deuteronomy 6, verse 4?

Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is one.

Okay, this is known as the Shema. So the Jews, to this day, will use this in their prayers. Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is one. All right, so keep that in mind, the Lord is one. And then Linda, 2 Corinthians 13, verse 14.

The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the communion of the Holy Spirit, be with you all, amen.

Okay, so Deuteronomy says, the Lord our God, the Lord is one. And then in 2 Corinthians 13, verse 14, talks about the love of God, the communion of the Holy Spirit, and the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ.

So there's something in the Bible that we should all know by now. It's called progressive revelation, or this is a term that we use for it, progressive revelation. That the Bible, over time, reveals more and more truth.

So over time, more and more truth about God, and who He is, and His nature is revealed. So in the Old Testament, it was very, very clear. God made it clear to Israel that the Lord is one. All right, but then in the New Testament, we see three.

Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, and all three are referred to as God. So now you have Old Testament, Lord is one, New Testament, three. So this is where we get the formulation of the Trinity, because this is where we're talking about the Godhead, or the Trinity.

Three in one, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Yes, Marcus.

Also, in the Old Testament, though, God says, let us make man in our image. And one of His names is Elohim, and Elohim, on the end of any Hebrew word, makes it plural. So His trinity is one. But this is an argument that the Jewish people make, is no, no, there's no such thing as God the Father, Son, and Spirit.

God is one, but right in their own.

Right.

Right in the first chapter of Genesis, you can see a plurality.

Right, and I'm glad you guys know that, because that's exactly what I was going to say. So he took the words right out of my mouth. So in the Old Testament Scriptures, let's look at some things. Isaiah chapter 9.

Let's turn to Isaiah chapter 9. But yeah, because in Old Testament, one, God is one. New Testament, you see three. So over time, we learn more and more about God and His nature. But it's not as if this wasn't true back then, because you do see hints of it, as Marcus alluded to.

Because in Genesis chapter 1, God said, let us make man in our image, not my image, our image. And the name of God there, in Hebrew, Elohim, is in plural form. So God, E-L, is singular. But God, in Hebrew, Elohim, is plural.

So you can see hints at the Trinity all the way back in the book of Genesis chapter 1. So with this truth that we have in the Old Testament, God is one. In the New Testament, three. What's the automatic thing people say?

The critics are going to level a charge against Christians that in our belief about God, there is what?

Discrepancy.

A discrepancy or a contradiction. Isn't this a contradiction? We're saying that God is one, but at the same time, we're saying God is three. Or the Bible says, the Lord our God is one, but then He's three.

Is that a contradiction? Well, here's the thing. It would be a contradiction if we were saying that God is one and three in the same way and in the same relationship. That would be a contradiction. But is that what we are saying?

That there is one God and there are three gods. Is that what we're saying? No, we're saying there are three persons within the Godhead. So we're not saying there's one person in the Godhead. There's three persons, but one God.

You can see this chart. So there is one God, three persons. And the Father is not the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit is not the Son. The Son is not the Father, but the Son is God. The Holy Spirit is God.

God the Father is God, but they are not one another. Three persons, not one person. So it's not a contradiction. It's a mystery, but not a contradiction. And I think God should be a mystery. If you can figure God out and explain Him in a paragraph or less.

I mean, He's not all that amazing or glorious, I don't think. Marcus.

Yeah, well, we can say that when we're saying Adonai Echad, the Lord is one. Well, I think the best way to understand it is that there really is only one true God. There are many, many, many gods, but there is only one true God.

Right.

There are false gods, but only one true God.

So here's the thing that's important for us. If a person denies the Trinity, they are rejecting God because there is only one God and He is a Trinity. So if you say, I don't believe in the Trinity, you don't believe in God then.

Because this is the only God that exists. So if you deny the son of God, if you deny any member of the Trinity or the Trinity altogether, you're denying God because there is only one. And whatever your idea of God is, it's not the true God.

And if somebody says, I believe in God, and it's this little statue that I worship that I got on my shelf here. You're denying, you're denying God because there is only one.

Yes.

Sometimes it's, it's said God is one being like we're human beings. He, he is one being one God, one being that exists in three persons.

Yes.

One God, three persons, father, son, and Holy spirit. That's the formulation. So in the new Testament, we have the faith once for all delivered to the saints. Now we have the full revelation of who God is.

Abraham did not have that. Moses did not have that. David did not have that. But the benefit for us as new Testament Christians, we have that full revelation of God. And we know that he is triune in nature.

All right.

Isaiah chapter nine, you're in Isaiah nine. Again, here's another hint at the Trinity found in the old Testament, because really this is the crux of the matter is the deity of Christ. We're going to look at that more next week.

But Isaiah nine, six and seven says for unto us, a child is born unto us. A son is given and the government will be upon his shoulder and his name will be called wonderful counselor, mighty God, the everlasting father, prince of peace of the increase of his government and peace.

There will be no end upon the throne of David and over his kingdom to order it and establish it with judgment and justice from that time forward, even forever, the zeal of the Lord of hosts will perform this.

Just a side note. Why have Christians been persecuted throughout history? Because the gospel is as much as people don't like it and people don't want to admit it or people don't want to talk about it.

The gospel and the truth of the scripture is a deeply political message because the claim is there is one King. Jesus is the King of Kings. Notice what it says. The increase of his government and peace, there will be no end.

So the reason why Christians have been persecuted throughout history is because we recognize Jesus is Lord of all and governments. They want to be Lord. They want to tell people what to do. They want to make the laws and usually their laws don't line up with God's laws.

And when they see a people committed to God and not what they're saying, that's what leads to persecution. So just, just so we're aware of that, because generally Kings don't really care about what people believe in their, in their hearts.

All right, Jim.

Yeah, I just wanted to say, we can see what you just said in, in, uh, in scripture and a new Testament, uh, especially in Acts. Um, the reason why the people were persecuted because the leaders, not necessarily the Jewish leaders, but the Roman leaders and any of the other leaders for the first couple of centuries, they wanted, they wanted to be worshiped and not just one time.

Yeah.

The Sanhedrin, it was about power. Hey, we're, we're in control. You do what we say, Rome. Hey, we're in charge. You do what we say when Christians said, no, we're going to obey God. That's what led to the persecution.

So, but that's not what this message is about, but that's what was brought out in Isaiah.

Nine.

But as far as the Trinity goes, what's important here, it all talks about the deity of Christ. Notice a child is born, but the son is given. So Jesus, the man is born, but the son of God is given. The government will be upon his shoulder.

He is the king of Kings. His name will be called what wonderful counselor or the wonderful counselor, mighty God, everlasting father, prince of peace. These are obviously titles of deity. If you say this man, uh, this child who is born grows up to be a man.

He is the mighty God. I mean, you're just coming right out and saying he's the mighty God guy. You can't be any more clear than that. He is the everlasting father, mighty God, prince of peace. So clearly this is a hint at the Trinity and the deity of the Messiah all the way back in the prophets in Isaiah chapter nine.

Also in Genesis one, because we're talking about God, the father, nobody argues that God, the father is God. I mean, unless you're an atheist, right? No, that, no, that, that's not in dispute. The son.

Okay.

There's the cult groups that deny the deity of Christ. But what about the Holy spirit is the Holy spirit. God as well. Well, back in Genesis one, we see a hint of this. It says that the spirit of God was hovering over the face of the waters.

So you can see the Holy spirit brought out in the very first chapter of the Bible. And of course, uh, and Isaiah nine, the son of God. So all three members of the Trinity are in the old Testament. That's the point.

Marcus, the Holy spirit is sometimes referred to as you've just said, the spirit of the father, but it's also called the spirit of the son. So again, it shows he's the spirit of Christ, the spirit of Christ, the spirit of God, the.

Holy spirit of God, right?

Most people, like you said, when you think of God, you think of God, the father, but the Holy spirit is the spirit of God, but it's the spirit of Christ also.

So God can be applied to all three. Well, which one's God, the son or the spirit? They're all God, but there's three distinct persons. All right, let's turn to first John chapter five. So where's God, the father right now, 2000 years ago, God, the son was walking the earth, right?

For 33 years, the son of God walked the earth. So Jesus was here on earth. Where was, or where is God, the father? Okay. He's in heaven and the Holy spirit is everywhere. Therefore we can say God is omnipresent.

God is everywhere.

Okay.

So we're going to look at some of the passages that teach the deity of Christ. First John chapter five is the first one we're going to look at, but just going back to our doctrinal statement, this is why we believe that there is one triune God eternally existing in three persons.

It's really, it comes down to the deity of Christ. If you accept the deity of Christ, you accept the Trinity. Usually, well, there's another topic we're getting into, but let's read first John five verse seven.

I'm going to read this and you can follow along in your Bible.

Okay.

I'll give you a little test. See, see what translation of the Bible you guys are reading. First John five, seven in the new King James version says, for there are three that bear witness in heaven, the father, the word, and the Holy spirit.

And these three are one. If this is what John, the apostle wrote, this is without question, the most clear verse on the Trinity anywhere in the scripture. There is one little potential problem though.

And what is that? Some of you noticed as I was reading in the beginning was the word and the word was, no, no, not that, not that we're in first John five.

Yeah.

That's the word.

First John five, seven. I'm going to read it again. What does some of you notice. First John five, seven, for there are three that bear witness in heaven, the father, the word, and the Holy spirit. And these three are one.

Does anyone have anything different?

The only thing I have different is instead of, um, um, I was reading the wrong one.

Sorry. Okay.

Who has something different?

Okay.

Several.

Okay.

What do you have, Mike? What do you got?

Yep.

But there are three that testify the spirit, the water and the blood and the three are in agreement.

Okay.

But just read verse seven, just seven.

For there are three that testify.

Okay.

There are three that testify. Kathy, you have the Holman, correct?

Yeah. And it reads the exact same wording as the NIV.

All right.

There are three that testify. Does anyone else have a different translation? Other, other than the NIV and the Holman, does anyone have another version that says that same thing, Jim?

Well, I have a King James, but these three, these, but there are three that bear record.

In heaven, right? Bear record in heaven or bear witness in heaven. And the King James says the father, the word, and the Holy spirit. These three are one, correct?

Okay.

So basically what you have is, uh, most modern Bible translations, uh, take the position of most modern scholars that say this verse really isn't part of the originals.

Okay.

The John never wrote this. And their argument is that this was a marginal note that didn't get into the Greek manuscripts until like the 1500s or something like that. And I don't want to, you know, turn this into a, uh, a whole debate on Bible translations, but just so you're aware of that, that would be the most clear verse on the Trinity anywhere in the Bible.

If you add the King James or the new King James, there it is. The three father, word, and Holy spirit, almost all other translations just say there's three that testify now that kind of troublesome people.

Again, that's a whole, that's another topic for another day. Here's the thing. It doesn't matter in this sense that the Bible still teaches the Trinity even with or without this verse. Now let's go to first John chapter one.

If this verse was the only passage in scripture that talked about or hinted at the Trinity, then we'd have to spend a lot of time on it, but it's, it's, it's not, it's not by any stretch of the imagination.

Okay.

So we were in the first epistle of John. Now we're in the gospel of John chapter one, John chapter one, starting in verse one says in the beginning was the word and the word was with God and the word was God.

He was in the beginning with God. All things were made through him and without him, nothing was made that was made. And then in verse 14, it says that the word became flesh and dwelt among us. So we know for a fact that the word is a title for Christ.

No question about that. So what is John saying in the beginning was Christ and Christ was with God and Christ was God. The Trinity is the only explanation for this, that he could be both God and with God at the same time.

So what does that show you? There's the unity of, of Christ is God, but he's also with God. I mean, that, that gets your attention, doesn't it? So the only way he can be God and with God at the same time is the doctrine of the Trinity.

And just to go back to the diagram. And does anyone have any questions about this diagram? You understand what it's saying? Can everyone see it? Do I have to move this for a minute? Would it be helpful?

I'll just move it for a second. So one God, three persons, father, son, and spirit. The father is not the Holy Spirit. The father is not the son. The son is not the father. The son is not the Holy Spirit, but the son is God.

The Holy Spirit is God. Father is God. I think this is the best, um, chart or diagram for the Trinity that I'm familiar with. Sometimes people try to explain the Trinity this way. They say, well, it's kind of like water or it's kind of like H2O, you know, um, because.

H2O can be solid liquid or gas, right?

So it can be water and I'm taking a drink of water. That's H2O or it can be vapor, right? Or it can freeze and it can be solid. It can be ice. Is that a good definition of the Trinity? The Trinity is like H2O.

No, it's, it's actually hereditary. That's a heretical, um, um, illustration.

We have a two. It's a heretical thing to compare anything.

Yeah, it's actually, I mean, for a little kid, if you're trying to explain it to a five-year-old, all right, fine. But that is a, it does not describe the Trinity.

All right.

So with that in mind, let's spend a little time. How many of you knew this coming in? I mean, I hope all of you, but it's helpful to kind of sharpen our, our minds on this so that you could get up and I'm sure some of you could get up and go through what I just went through.

And I hope all of us could, um, if we had to explain it to someone else, but let's get into the Trinitarian heresies.

Modalism: One God in Different Modes

Okay.

This is, this is the, uh, the fun part. This is something we might not be as familiar with. So we're just going to do a very basic overview of some of the Trinitarian heresies that we are likely to encounter.

What's a heresy? Incorrect teaching an incorrect teaching. Uh, well, you know, there are incorrect teachings that are not heresies, right? If somebody says, Hey, I'm pre-trib and somebody says, well, I'm mid-trib.

Well, I'm post-trib.

All right.

Two out of the three are not heretics.

Okay.

Okay.

Two out of three might be wrong, but that's not heresy. Heresy is a incorrect teaching, but it's so serious that it does violence to the person and work of Christ or to the nature of God. A heresy is something to where if you accept it and persist in that heresy, uh, your soul is at risk.

I mean, that it's that serious of an error, not just, Hey, this is a thing Christians, uh, disagree on like baptizing babies. I mean, I think that's, I don't think it's scriptural, but people that baptize infants, I would not consider that a heresy.

So a heresy is very serious. We're talking about the nature of God, who God is. Is there anything more important about that or more important than that? Who God is. So let's talk about some of the Trinitarian heresies because, uh, over time, uh, the church has defined her doctrines in responding to heresy.

When a false doctrine is taught, it threatens to disrupt the unity and threatened to divide the body of Christ. So it forces us to clarify some things, right? There might be something that we're not even thinking about.

We're not really teaching about something. Somebody comes in, starts teaching a heresy and it forces us to deal with it. And now we have to start getting specific. So the first, uh, heresy we are going to look at, um, is that of modalism.

All right.

So the nature of the Godhead is one of the most important areas of theology. And it's no surprise over the centuries, people have had differing ideas about who God is and the nature of Christ and how Christ relates to God, the father.

Yes.

How do you spell modalism?

M O D A L I S M M O D A L I S M. So what did I say? The crux of the issue is what the deity of Christ is really what the Trinity comes down.

To.

However, there are some that accept the deal. I believe in the deity of Christ, but they're still teaching heresy. And this is the idea that Jesus. See the son is God. Well, they, and this says the son is not the father.

Well, they say the son is the father. So this is modalism oneness. Sometimes it's called modalism is the basic idea that Jesus is God. The father just in a different mode or in a different form. What versus come to mind?

Someone somewhere says, yeah, that makes sense.

Yeah.

Jesus is God. The father that makes sense.

Right.

He says, I am the father of one. So there are some verses. What would be an obvious problem to say that Jesus is God, the father. Well, in the garden of Gethsemane during his temptation, he's praying to who.

Jesus is praying to himself. He is God, the father. No, Jesus did not pray to himself or he's on the cross. My God, my God. Why have I forsaken myself?

Right.

When Jesus was baptized and the Holy Spirit, Holy Spirit descended upon him like a dove and a voice came from heaven. No, it's really Jesus's voice because he's the same person.

No, it's false. Yeah.

All three members of the Trinity made an appearance at the baptism of Christ. So Jesus is not God, the father. Unless someone thinks that this is just some ancient idea that, yeah, people believe that long time ago.

No, there's relevance today. There are people teaching this today. Yes, Tony.

And when he was teaching the apostles to pray, our father who is in heaven.

Right, right. Our father. There's clearly a distinction between the son of God and God, the father, but they say, no, same person, just a different mode, different mode.

All right.

So this is relevant because there are people teaching this heresy today. Can anyone name one? Well, one of the most famous preachers in the United States believes in modalism and his name is T .D.

Jakes.

How many of you know T .D.

Jakes?

T .D.

Jakes was, from what I understand, he was born and raised a oneness Pentecostal. And this is what, like Marcus said, modalism. Another term for that is oneness.

So T .D.

Jakes was raised a oneness Pentecostal, and he has held on to this idea that the son is actually the father. They change modes. Another guy, you've probably heard of him. He's a little more popular, has more widespread popularity.

Guy named Stephen Furtick, you know, Stephen Furtick. Furtick is a disciple of T .D.

Jakes.

Okay, so Furtick said, I look up to T .D.

Jakes.

He's kind of his spiritual father. So it's no surprise that Stephen Furtick has taught modalism because T .D. Jakes taught modalism. So this is a very serious error. I just pulled something offline and, you know, I never say anything like this without proof.

You know, I don't go off half-cocked and just repeat names because I think I heard from somebody who heard from somebody that he said this. I would never bring something up publicly unless I had the actual video to prove it.

So Marcus, you had a question?

I did, but it's more of a summation thing. The difference, like atheists don't believe in the father and the cults don't believe in Jesus deity, so they're lost. But within Christianity, born again, heading to heaven, Christians, there's lots of disagreements about the Holy Spirit.

Just another one of these things.

Well, there's disagreements about the Holy Spirit, but nobody's denying that the Holy Spirit exists or that he's God the father.

But you will find these oneness or modalist, except the one are generally kind of about this. Well, let me just say they're Pentecostal, right? Or charismatic. Yeah, we wouldn't deny their their salvation.

Well, if somebody said that the Holy Spirit is not a person, that the Holy Spirit doesn't exist, that would put them outside of the Christian faith. If somebody said the Holy Spirit is God, the father, that they're the same, that would put them outside the Christian faith.

I had one guy tell me that I did not believe in the Holy Spirit because he showed me a video of some woman in a wheelchair and the faith healer came and, you know, and she got up and started shaking. See, that's a miracle.

The Holy Spirit did that. And I said, well, I don't know about that. I just, I was not willing to accept that it's possible. But because I didn't accept that that was a miracle done by the Holy Spirit, he accused me of denying the Holy Spirit.

That's not what we're talking about. There's a lot of differences about the charismatic gifts. You can be a true Christian and have a different idea about the charismatic gifts, but you can't deny the Holy Spirit and his existence in this person.

All right.

Megan, did you have a?

Yeah, I had a boss in Toledo, Ohio, and he was like, it was strange because I don't really know what church he was a part of, but he, um, he believed in God and we would have these conversations, but he believed he was so, you know, so fully, um, he believed that, uh, that God has left us for now we're on our own.

Right.

And so he was completely like denying that. It was like, sort of like you're denying that there's the Holy Spirit, you're denying that God has, you know, and so, yeah, it's sad because now he died recently.

So I hate to think of, you know, if he ever, you know, it sounds like deism, like you'll.

Find a lot of, um, freemasons tend to be deists. They do believe God is out there. He's just not involved. He created everything and then just walked away.

That was a big, probably around 25, 30 years ago. That was a big thing.

What was it?

That God just created everything and he stepped back and let man do with it as he pleased.

Yeah.

All right.

So I pulled this offline as far as the definition of modalism, a theologian and church historian Adolf von Harnack first used the term modalism to describe a doctrine believed in the late second century and third century.

During this time period, Christian theologians were attempting to clarify the relationship between God, the father, the son, and the Holy Spirit concerned with defending the absolute unity of God modalists such as Sibelius.

And I think another term for this is Sibelianism. They explained that the divinity of Jesus Christ and the Holy Spirit as the one God revealing himself in different ways or modes. So that's what modalism is.

There's one God. There are three persons, but God just changes form. God revealed. This is what the modalists say that God revealed as the creator and lawgiver. That's the father. God revealed as the savior in Jesus Christ.

That's the son. And God revealed as the one who sanctifies and grants eternal life. That's the Holy Spirit, but it's God just changing modes. By the fourth century, and that's false. By the fourth century, consensus had developed in favor of the doctrine of the Trinity.

That's what this is. And modalism was generally considered a heresy. With the advent of Pentecostalism in the 20th century, this revived theology developed into a central tenet of oneness. Pentecostalism oneness.

Pentecostals teach the divinity of Jesus and understand him to be a manifestation of Yahweh, the God of the old Testament in the flesh and the Holy Spirit or God. The Holy Spirit is God in action. He's not a separate person.

And one is Pentecostals baptized solely in the name of Jesus. They do not baptize in the name of father, son, and Holy Spirit. So when we baptize somebody, we baptize them in the name of the father, son, and Holy Spirit.

We put them under the water. Why do we do that? Because that's what Jesus told us to do in the great commission. But they don't believe in the Trinity. So they baptize in the name of Jesus only. So sometimes you'll hear the term, the Jesus only movement.

And that's usually a reference to oneness. Pentecostals who are modalists, they deny the Trinity.

All right.

Yes.

Another difference that I noticed, as you were saying, you said, where is the father? And we said, well, he's on the throne in heaven. Where is Jesus? He is seated at his right hand.

Jesus is in heaven right now.

Where is the Holy Spirit? He is inside us and, and throughout he is omnipresent.

Amen. Good.

Arianism and the Denial of Christ's Full Deity

All right.

Next Arianism. And this isn't that Adolf Hitler Arianism. That's a whole different thing.

Okay.

Arianism is a Christological doctrine. First attributed to a man named Arius who lived in 256 to 336 AD. Arius was a Christian elder or presbyter in Alexandria, Egypt. Arian theology holds that Jesus Christ is the son of God who was begotten by God, the father with the difference that the son of God did not always exist.