The Doctrine of the Trinity

Well, hello everybody. My name is Jared Mineward's 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, 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 Okay, and so we look at the word

Trinity you see kind of two basic words in there you get try 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 is one and one sense He is also many God is singular and he is also diverse but keep you don't get anything else from what

I'll be saying is we're talking about two different categories because when the 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 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 adore

So we're gonna be talking about the what and the who or the being of God and the persons

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 found 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 the 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

This would break monotheism and 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 So I'm gonna 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 Existence 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 showed 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 had 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 Okay, God is different than his creation in so many different ways.

God alone is omnipotent Meaning he's 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 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 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 in 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 a person because you may be 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 Where's 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 being this 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. 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 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 block 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 try 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 there turn 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 and 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 what 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 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 God's apart from him But that one true

God has been revealed 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 that's eternal 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 give you for on him

God the Father Has set his seal So many more verses could talk to talk to us about the divinity of the

Father how the Father in fact is God And so so many more verses talked 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've contrived this deed in your heart? You have not lied to man

God Okay, what's interesting is you don't lie to yourself on 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 relate 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 Now 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 But because I was told the

Trinity is like water Okay, so water Water it can be a liquid a gas or 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 a

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 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 Try the nature and then or the unity that's one and the persons is three

I want you to understand that the gospel is a Trinitarian work

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 we pause the Gospels origin begins with the father before the

Foundation of the world the father is choosing a people a ride with the

Sun So the origin of the gospel with the father before the foundation of the world in love verse 5

He predestined us for adoption to himself as sons 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

Gospels 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 Gospels origins with the father the gospel is accomplished by the

Son and Skip 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 in dwells believers and seals us with an eternal security into the day of redemption

So perhaps 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 So I don't see

Creston here. So we might can take a question It's oh

Creston is hiding back there. We got maybe we got we got two minutes. Is anybody three minutes?

Oh, we got another one. Yeah In Genesis chapter 1 when

God created and the Spirit hovered and God spoke would that be another picture of the

Trinity? Absolutely, and I like how you said a picture because when we go to the Old Testament Implicit there's it's almost like how is this?

So remember how it says God Elohim made man in our image in the likeness of us

So we could we should be saying okay Galway who is one. It's 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

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 the benefit of the complete Word of God teaching us Yeah, it's a picture there

Anybody else? 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 exact verse reference But we do see the Spirit of Jesus that I think possibly

I don't have a good death 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? So that context

I think would be the Holy Spirit, okay, 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 because there's a word

I found the Bible doesn't mean that 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 the 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