The Doctrine of the Trinity

The Trinity as a Biblical Doctrine

Well, hello, everybody. My name is Jared Minewards here. I'm from Jonesboro, Arkansas at a church plant called 12 -5 Church. So it is an honor to be with you all and I've been tasked to talk about the doctrine of the Trinity.

Now, I don't know what your experience has been with this particular doctrine, but if it's anything like me growing up, I just believed it because my parents just said, hey, that's what we believe. That's what was said in the pulpit.

And then over time, I began to share my faith with people, right, sharing the gospel. And then I met a Jehovah's Witness and he was like, oh, yeah, so do you believe in the Trinity? I said, absolutely I do.

And he said, can you show me anywhere in the Bible where it says the word Trinity? Now I was stuck because I wasn't equipped to share the God that we worship and adore and he had me looking for the word Trinity and it's not in there.

So if you're anything like me, I couldn't sleep at night. I was like, oh man, God, please equip me with understanding your word to be able to articulate these deep truths to other people. So that actually was good because it propelled me to study God's Word even deeper.

And so one of my tasks in helping to equip you is I want to talk about the what of God and.

The who of God.

One God in Three Divine Persons

Okay, and so when we look at the word Trinity, you see kind of two basic words in there. You get tribe, which means three, and then you have unity, which means one. So we're talking about two different categories.

We're talking about in one sense God is one and one sense he is also many. God is singular and he is also diverse. But if you don't get anything else from what I'll be saying is we're talking about two different categories.

Because when we're talking about the unity and the diversity of God, so when Jehovah's Witnesses or people in a cult say, well, do you believe in one God or three? And you just say, well, I kind of believe in both.

That's not a coherent answer, and it doesn't properly reflect the scripture. So they shouldn't believe anything we have to say if we're presenting something that's illogical. But fortunately, the Bible equips us to better understand the triune God we worship and adore.

So we're going to be talking about the what and the who, or the being of God and the persons of God. I really want to drill that in our minds that we're talking about the single being of God who has fully revealed himself in three persons.

So for all you note-takers, I want to talk about three foundational truths. You have to believe in these three foundational truths in order to have a robust understanding of the Trinity. Number one, the scriptures teach the one true God.

So that is called monotheism. Second major foundation is three divine persons. Three divine persons that are distinct from one another. And so lastly, number three, we're going to talk about the equality of those persons.

So number one, one true God, monotheism. Number two, three divine persons. And then number three, the equality of those persons. If you deny at any point one of these major foundations, then you actually commit a major heresy.

For example, you have the Mormons. They teach that many gods exist and that you can become a god one day. So this view denies the first major pillar. This would break monotheism. They would hold to a polyistic system.

One is Pentecostalism. They teach that God shifts between modes or puts on different masks at different times. So this would deny the three persons and would have no distinction between being and persons.

And so lastly, in these examples, Jehovah's Witnesses teach that Father Jehovah first created Jesus the Son. So this heresy, this is heresy because it denies the divinity of Jesus. And it doesn't show the equality of the person.

So when you see cults, they will break one of those major foundations of the Trinity. Monotheism, three divine persons, and the equality of those persons. And so the only way to come to a consistent understanding of the Trinity is to look to Scripture alone.

And you must look at all of Scripture. Because as we've seen God's Word being revealed to us, it's been a progressive revelation. When you look at the Old Testament, there's clues, there's subtle hints about the Trinity, but it's not explicit.

And then when we get to the New Testament, then we have very fully the triune God being revealed. And we'll look at some scriptures here in a moment, but you must look to Scripture alone. You must look to all or the total number of Scripture.

The One True God in Scripture

So I want to talk about this first major foundation. The Bible teaches that there is one God. Mono, meaning one. Theism, meaning God. And so we believe and teach that there is one God who is infinite and self-existent.

So the Old Testament begins this truth. The New Testament reaffirms this truth. Maybe you've heard of the great Shema. Hero Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is one. Jesus quotes the Shema, confirming this, that there's only one true God.

And the rest of the writers of the New Testament also quote the Shema. James 2 .19, you believe that there is one God, you do well. This is a consistent theme of what the Scripture alone teaches and all of Scripture.

So on many of the creeds and confessions throughout church history, they have affirmed this biblical teaching and they show the distinction between the being, the what of God, and the person of God, the who.

So a lot of confessions teach that the Lord our God is one, the only living and true God. He is self-existent and infinite in being and perfection. This divine infinite being consists of three real persons, the Father, the Word, or Son, and the Holy Spirit.

These three have the same substance of power and eternity, each having the whole divine essence without essence being divided. And so those are the two key words that I wanted you to see that they're not contradictory.

God is not one in the same way that he is three. One being, three persons. And so as we're talking about the one God, God is wholly different than man in so many different ways. For you note-takers, a lot of theologians have referred to as the.

Creator,.

Creation,.

Distinction.

God's Omnipotence, Omniscience, and Omnipresence

Okay, God is different than his creation in so many different ways. God alone is omnipotent, meaning he is all-powerful. He is omniscient. He knows everything and he is omnipresent. Many of y 'all maybe are familiar with the story of Job.

Job, for whatever reason, thought it was a good idea to start questioning God. And God turned around and was like, where were you when I laid the foundation of the world? Do you think you know something?

Poor Job, he got, you know, a heavy dose of, okay, I shouldn't, you know, question the things of God. And I love what Job said in chapter 42. He says, I know that you are God and can do all things and that no purpose of yours can be thwarted.

That means that God is omnipotent. God is different than man. This is going to help us in our understanding of the Trinity. Scripture, since we're short on time, I'll tell you all the citations here, but God is omniscient.

He knows everything. That's why we're able to have prophecy in the scripture. And so God is omnipresent. Not that he's in everything, like pantheism teaches, but God simply sees everything. His presence is everywhere.

Nothing escapes his sight. And so these attributes of God will help us understand how God has revealed himself to humanity. And this shows us that God is fundamentally different than man. And so that is, we're talking about the what of God.

God's existence is eternal. God is uncreated. Okay, so now let's move to the who of God, the second foundation of three divine persons. So I'm going to start by illustrating how being in person are not the same thing.

This point right here is so important to having a better grasp of the doctrine of the Trinity, because once again we're not saying that God is one and three in the same way. That would be illogical. So please write in your notes, being in person, they're fundamentally different.

So I want to, by illustration, show you the difference between being in person. Because you maybe have never thought about this and say, what's truly the difference? So if I were to have a rock, a rock exists.

A rock has being. Okay, you may be like, okay, where is he going with this? Well, if I were to chunk this rock into the audience, somebody that doubts that this rock has being, their human beingness, their nature, would collide with this rock, proving that it's real.

It exists. It has being. But what's the fundamental difference between people and the rock? People are personal, right? So we're saying that everything that exists has being, but not everything that has being is personal.

Okay, remember we're talking about these two categories. Remember, there's a huge difference between the Creator and the creation. So let's talk about man. We are human beings. We exist in this body, don't we?

But since man is limited and finite, we're created. Our being can only be shared by one person. Make sense? Remember we're different than this this podium. We're different than that chair over there. We are personal beings.

But since our being is limited and finite within space and time, our being is shared by one person. Now, when we look at the transcendent eternal Creator that has always existed, His nature, His being, is fully shared by this train of thought I feel like is totally illustrated in the scripture.

It helps us understand that the Bible even makes distinctions between these categories. The Bible recognizes all of mankind, but we're different from one another. Right? So the Trinity, God is tri in His persons.

He is three persons, but they fully share in that unity, that eternal nature, that eternal essence. So if you do have your Bibles with me, they're turned with me. So we don't have a whole lot of time, but turn with me to Matthew chapter 28.

I want to look at verse 19, which is a very famous Trinitarian verse. Well, a lot of us are familiar with the Great Commission, but in the Great Commission that Jesus is pushing forward, He grounds everything in the triune God.

Very interesting. Look at me at Matthew 28 verse 19. Jesus says, Go therefore make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name, singular name there, of the Father, the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.

Have you ever thought that, well, that's interesting how we don't read names plural there. Wouldn't that have made sense? Go baptize them in the names, the Father, Son, and the Holy Spirit. That's because this is the singular name of Yahweh.

Okay, this is the one true God who has always existed, and there is no gods apart from Him. But that one true God has been revealed in Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.

And so,.

So much more can be said about that, so I do apologize for going a little bit faster than anticipated. So let's move on to our third major point, which is the equality of these three persons. Remember, the persons are distinct from one another, but they share in that divine nature that's eternal.

The Equality and Divinity of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit

And so very briefly, I think Old and New Testament teach us that many of the members of the Trinity are divine. Okay, so John 6, 27, Jesus says, Do not work for the food that perishes, but for the food that endures to eternal life, which the Son of Man will give you, for on Him God the Father has set his seal.

So many more verses could talk to us about the divinity of the Father, how the Father, in fact, is God. And so, so many more verses talk about how the second member of the Trinity, Jesus Christ, is also God.

One of my favorites is Romans 9, verse 5, which says, Christ came, who is over all, He eternally blessed God. Now, I think so many more things can be demonstrated to show that Jesus is God. He had the power to forgive sin, right, which only God alone can do.

The opening prologue of the Gospel of John, in the beginning was the Word, the Logos, who was with God, and the Word was God. And that very Word became flesh and dwelt among us. So we could spend time, but we see so many verses that show us the Father's God, the Son is God, and there's many verses that tell us that the Spirit is God as well.

One of the clearest places comes out of Acts, chapter 5, where Peter is rebuking Ananias and Sapphira. He says, Why has Satan filled your heart to lie to the Holy Spirit? Why is it that you have contrived this deed in your heart?

You have not lied to man, but to God. Okay, now what's interesting is, you don't lie to your cell phone. You don't lie to a rock. You don't lie to impersonal things. We shouldn't lie, but who do we end up lying to?

We lie to persons. We lie to people, or persons is the correct term there. So even in that, we see the personal nature of the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit talks to people in the book of Acts. The Holy Spirit has a will and desires to give gifts to Christians, right?

So the Holy Spirit is a person, and the Holy Spirit is a divine person. So with that being said, I do want to mention the distinctions between these persons, right? Have you ever thought about the baptism of Christ?

Okay, this is a really good example of how all these divine persons are separate from one another, but they share in that divinity. You have Jesus being baptized by John the Baptist, but who descended on him like a dove?

The Holy Spirit, right? So God is not shifting masks between the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. You see two different persons, right? And then who had the booming voice from heaven saying, this is my son who I will please?

Right? Three divine persons that are distinct in their personhood, but nonetheless are still God. They have capacity for relationships. They have been eternally in relationship with one another, and we're made in the triune God's image.

So that's why we are able to have relationship. So I'm gonna have to start winding down. I'd love to share with y 'all so many more things, but I think we get into trouble when we start trying to explain the Trinity in terms of analogies.

Okay, I may step on some toes here, but don't worry. My toes have first been stepped on with some of these. Every analogy breaks down at some point, right? But the problem is, since the Trinity is an eternal truth, anything in the created order to illustrate the triune God will not only break down, but it'll break down in a heretical way.

That's why you want to explain biblically the one being of God who has been revealed in three persons. Stick to that, right? Because I was told the Trinity is like water. Okay, so water can be a liquid, a gas, or a solid.

What's the problem? It's shifting into different forms. It's the same heresy as modalism. It's the same thing that one this Pentecostal teaches. It doesn't recognize the different persons. So water doesn't work.

The one that I was taught growing up, more than any other one, is the Trinity is like a man who is a father, a son, and a brother. But what's the problem with that? That's one person acting in three different roles.

Well, the Trinity is one being, one nature, that is three persons. So like I said, there's more and more that can be said about this, but I do want us to begin to wind down with one passage of Scripture.

And even though I want you to understand that there's two different categories when it comes to the Trinity, that's right, the nature, or the unity, that's one, and the persons is three. I want you to understand that the gospel is a Trinitarian work.

The Trinitarian Work of the Gospel

So if you do have your Bibles, turn with me to Ephesians chapter 1. Five minutes, we got this. So Ephesians chapter 1, we see the whole Trinity at work in accomplishing the gospel. Ephesians chapter 1, starting in verse 3, says, Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places, even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him.

So let me pause. The gospel's origin begins with the Father before the foundation of the world. The Father is choosing a people, a bride for the Son. So the origin of the gospel is with the Father before the foundation of the world.

In love, verse 5, he predestined us for adoption to himself as sons, the second person of the Trinity, Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of his will, to the praise of his glorious grace, with which he has blessed us in the beloved.

In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses. So the gospel's origin is with the Father before the foundation of the world, and the gospel is accomplished by Jesus Christ.

Right? He is the perfect Savior. He says, all that the Father has given me will come to me. He can save to the uttermost. The gospel's origin was with the Father. The gospel is accomplished by the Son.

Let's get down with me to verse 13, because we see that the gospel is applied by the Holy Spirit. In him you also, when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, and believed in him, were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit, who is the guarantee of our inheritance until we acquire possession of it, to the praise of his glory.

The gospel was applied by the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit regenerates, indwells believers, and seals us with an eternal security until the day of redemption. So perhaps the two things that I want you to walk away is saying, okay, the Trinity is talking about two categories.

The one being of God who's eternally existed in three divine persons, and the Trinity is, or the gospel, is a Trinitarian gospel. So I don't see Creston here, so we might can take a question. Oh, Creston is hiding back there.

We got maybe, we got, we got two minutes. Is anybody? Three minutes. Three minutes. Oh, we got another one.

Yeah.

Genesis 1 as a Picture of the Trinity

In Genesis chapter 1, when God created, and the Spirit hovered, and God spoke, would that be another picture of the Trinity?

Absolutely, absolutely. And I like how you said a picture, because when we go to the Old Testament, it's implicit. There's, it's almost like, how is this? So remember how it said, God, Elohim, made man in our image, in the likeness of us.

So we could, we should be saying, okay, Galway, who is one, is also.

Mysteriously.

More than one, right? There's a unity and diversity there. So I don't think Old Testament saints understood that fully. They knew that there was some profound mystery that God is one, and yet many in some ways, but Christians, right?

We look to the Apostles. They were experiential Trinitarians. They walked with God the Son. They had the indwelling of the Spirit, and they revered the Father as God. So we get the benefit of Sola Scriptura.

We get the benefit of the complete Word of God teaching us. Yeah, it's a picture there in Genesis 1. Anybody else?

The Spirit of Jesus

So like, the Spirit being us, or Jesus being us?

So that's a good question, because what I've often thought about is Jesus had a human spirit, because he was truly man. But sometimes, and I can't think of an exact verse reference, but we do see the Spirit of Jesus that I think possibly, I don't have a good definite answer here, but I think it could be referring to the Holy Spirit.

Does that make sense? There's, there's, that's a really good question. I have to look. She's asking about the Spirit of Jesus. Is that referring to Jesus's Spirit, or the Holy Spirit? Is that right?

Yes.

So that context, I think, would be the Holy Spirit. But that's me off the cuff, so. Anybody have any more questions? I'm trying to think. I wrote some questions. Probably one thing that I want you to be equipped with is, remember earlier when a Jehovah's Witness says, show me a verse that says Trinity.

Well, we should say, wait a second. We should be asking the question, what does the Trinity mean? What does the Bible teach? Because think about that standard. Just because there's a word I've found in the Bible doesn't mean that it doesn't teach it.

The Bible doesn't use the word monotheism. But we believe in one true God. So there's something to think about. We look to all of Scripture and Scriptural. So if you have any more questions, especially about resources, I'd love to encourage you to get certain books, certain teachers that have really helped break these things down for me.

So if you're interested in that, just come search me up.