THE TRINITY

  • Matthias Haeusel
  • Nov 9, 2008
  • Series: The Gospel of Mark

THE TRINITY

Cool Quotes:

"...try to deny the doctrine of the Trinity and you'll loose your salvation, try to understand it and you'll loose your mind."  ~ Stanley Grenz

"The doctrine of the Trinity is truth for the heart. The fact that it cannot be satisfactorily explained instead of being against it, is actually in its favor; such a truth had to be revealed, no one could have imagined it." ~ A.W. Tozer

Definition:

God eternally exists as three persons, Father, Son and Holy Spirit; and each person is fully God, and there is One God!

Preliminary Considerations:

  1. The Bible never uses the term Trinity 
  2. The Bible confirms that there is ONE God --> we are not Tri-Theists
  3. The Bible affirms that the Father is God, the Son (Jesus Christ) is God and the Holy Spirit is God 

There is one God:

There can only be one 100% sovereign being in the universe, only one true God! Every Orthodox Jew would have daily recited the Shema found in Deuteronomy 6:4 - "Hear O Israel, the LORD your God the LORD is one." 
Throughout both the Old Testament and the New Testament we find a continuous refrain of scriptures that confirm that there is one God:

  • Deuteronomy 4:35
  • Deuteronomy 6:4-6
  • Psalm 86:10
  • Isaiah 43:10
  • Isaiah 44:6
  • Isaiah 45:5-6
  • 1 Corinthians 8:4
  • 1 Timothy 1:17
  • 1 Timothy 2:5
  • James 2:19 

 The Father is God:

  • John 6:27
  • Romans 15:6
  • Ephesians 1:2-3
  • 1 Corinthians 8:4-6

The Son is God:

  • John 1:1 ff.
  • John 8:58
  • John 20:28
  • Titus 2:13
  • 1 John 5:20
  • Colossians 1:15-17
  • Colossians 2:9
  • Hebrews 1:1-3

The Holy Spirit is God:

  • 2 Corinthians 3:17-18
  • Acts 5:1-4

The Trinity at Work:

Creation - Genesis 1:1-2, 1:26; John 1:1-3,10

Great Commission - Matthew 28:18-20

Baptism - Mark 1:9-11; Matthew 3:13-17

Salvation - Ephesians 1:3-14

Other Trinitarian Passages:

2 Corinthians 13:14

1 Peter 1:2

Jude 20 & 21

False Teaching about the Trinity:

Tri-Theism:
Modern Example: Mormonism - Jesus was a created being and the Spirit-brother of Lucifer, who became a god. Mormonism teaches that there are many gods and we too can become gods.

Modalism (also Sabellianism, Modalistic Monarchianism):
Modern Example: United Pentecostal Church - "Jesus only", there is only one God who manifests himself in three modes. God is essentially playing different roles and the assumption is that in the Old Testament he revealed himself as the Father, in the New Testament God reveals himself as Jesus, and in the church-age as Holy Spirit.

Arianism (Dynamic Monarchianism):
Modern Example: Jehovah's Witnesses - Denying the deity of Jesus and the Holy Spirit. Jesus was a created being adopted by God, and the Holy Spirit is simply the power of God or a force.