Author: Richard Cimino
Source: http://my.auburnjournal.com/detail/171633.html
We are going to embark on a series titled CREDO. CREDO = Latin for I BELIEVE. In this series we are going to follow the storyline of the Bible and define the essential doctrines of Christianity. Doctrine is a scary word for a lot of people. DOCTRINE = WHAT CHRISTIANS BELIEVE.
We are living in a generation of Christians that approach the subject of faith on the basis of what they feel about the Christian faith, rather than what the Bible says. This series is going to challenge us to THINK about the Christian faith! You may not like school — but for the next 12 Monday Nights you are IN SCHOOL! Throughout this series we are going to exercise our minds in loving God!
D. Martyn Lloyd-Jones had this to say about the subject of Doctrine. He is one of my favorite authors. Born in Wales, he became a medical doctor in London and on the brink of becoming one of the doctors for the royal family he left medicine to become a pastor. He became one of the greatest Bible expositors in modern history. QUOTE: D.M. L-J — The doctrines of the Bible are not a subject to be studied (academically); rather we should desire to know them in order that, having known them, we may not be `puffed up’ with knowledge, and excited about our information, but may draw nearer to God in worship, praise, and adoration, because we have seen, in a fuller way that we have ever seen before, the glory of our wondrous God. May He give us cause to do this, and grant that as a result of these doctrines, we may all come to know Him, the only true and living God, and Jesus Christ whom He has sent – and as a result may all be revived. And so I express the hope that through us, and others like us, the whole Church may be revived, and that we may witness again in our midst the manifestation of God’s glorious power.
Our world is filled with people who have a deep longing for God. You might know someone, or might be someone, who says — I’m an atheist and have no desire for God. Others might say — I’m an agnostic and I’m not sure if there is a God, let alone long for “Him” or “her” or “it.” But even the atheist and agnostic have a deep longing for God — That longing is seen in the fact that even the atheist wants to be loved — wants relationships — wants to belong.
Technology is exploding at an exponential rate to meet the demand from people to speak and be spoken to. Cell phones — text messaging — internet. As of December 21, 2010 the population the United States was 308,745,538 (2010.census.gov/news/releases) — making it the 3rd largest nation in the world. Did you know that as of July 21, 2010 there were 500 million people using Facebook? People are LONGONG to speak and be spoken to.
We will see tonight, and in the next weeks that these DEEP LONGINGS are rooted in the fact that we are made in the image and likeness of God. We approach this series with great anticipation and prayer because the subject in this series is God — who alone can answer those deep longings. Man can NEVER rise above his concept of God. A faulty view of God results in human suffering. There is NOTHING more important than answering the question – Who is my God? Who do I believe in? Who do I worship? Who do I hope to see in eternity?
Tonight’s subject is all about who God is. We will see that Bible plainly declares that God IS and the He exists as a Trinity. The word trinity does not appear in Scripture. But the concept very clearly does. The church father Tertullian (AD 155–220) was the first to use the word trinity in an effort to summarize the totality of who God is.
CRUCIAL INSIGHT: To say that God exists as a trinity does not mean there are three Gods (tritheism); or that there is one God who is not three persons (Unitarianism); or that there is one God who merely manifests himself as either Father, Son, or Holy Spirit on various occasions (Modalism).
QUESTION: WHAT is the Trinity. DEFINITION: The Trinity is ONE God who eternally exists as three distinct persons, the Father Son and Holy Spirit — each fully and equally God. QUOTE: J.I. Packer, Affirming the Apostles Creed — How the one eternal God is eternally both singular and plural, how Father, Son, and Spirit are personally distinct yet essentially one …. is more than we can know, and any attempt to “explain” it—to dispel the mystery by reasoning, as distinct from confessing it from Scripture—is bound to falsify it. Here, as elsewhere, our God is too big for his creatures’ little minds. QUOTE: Augustine of Hippo (354-430 AD) said – If you deny the Trinity you lose your soul — If you try to explain it you lose your mind! By way of tonight’s study we hope to avoid BOTH.
LET’S BREAK DOWN THE DEFINITION OF THE TRINITY. The Trinity is ONE God (monotheism). Who eternally exists (never a time when the Father, Son and Spirit didn’t exist). And exists as three distinct persons. “Person” does not mean that God the Father or God the Spirit became human beings. Rather, it means that each member of the Trinity thinks, acts, feels, speaks, and relates because they are persons as opposed impersonal forces.
Three distinct persons Father Son and Spirit who are each FULLY and EQUALLY God. FULLY = Each possesses the fullness of Divine Attributes — Which means that they share the divine attributes such as eternality — omniscience — omnipotence — and omnipresence.
EQUALLY = One is not more God than the other. SO – The Trinity is ONE God – Who eternally exists as three distinct persons – Father, Son and Spirit – Each FULLY and EQUALLY God. CRUCIAL: If the doctrine of the Trinity is truly Biblical — it holds to all of the truth that God has to say about himself in Scripture, without dismissing or diminishing any of that truth.
Let’s walk through the truths the Scriptures declare about God. There is only One God. That runs in the face of the countless people who claim that every religious system and ideology — along with all of the deities they worship — are equally valid. But here is what the Bible says! The Bible emphatically states that there is but ONE TRUE and LIVING God. Deuteronomy 4:35 To you it was shown, that you might know that the Lord is God; there is no other besides him. Deuteronomy 32:39 “‘See now that I, even I, am he, and there is no god beside me; Psalm 86:10 For you are great and do wondrous things; you alone are God. Isaiah 43:10 “You are my witnesses,” declares the Lord, “and my servant whom I have chosen, that you may know and believe me and understand that I am he. Before me no god was formed, nor shall there be any after me. Isaiah 45:5 I am the Lord, and there is no other, besides me there is no God; 1 Timothy 1:17 To the King of ages, immortal, invisible, the only God, be honor and glory forever and ever Amen. 1 Timothy 2:5 For there is one God, and there is one mediator between God and men, the man Jesus Christ.
All other gods are demonic false gods. Jesus spoke of – “. . . the only true God” (John 17:3). The inference is clear – any other gods were FALSE gods. The same was true in the Old Testament where every people group that surrounded the nation of Israel worshipped countless false gods.
The same was true in the New Testament – EXAMPLE: Paul (Acts 17) walked into the city of Athens and saw all kinds of temples and altars erected to the worship of all sorts of gods and goddesses. WHAT ABOUT THOSE other gods? This is going to be polarizing and controversial. Any religion other than Christianity worship demons. Demons are very REAL — very POWERFUL spiritual entities — fallen angels created by God — that joined Satan in his rebellion against the God of the Bible. Along with Satan they are in opposition to the One, True Living God. The Bible says that they masquerade as “angels of light” (2 Cor 11:14). They perform counterfeit signs and miracles.
Today it is very fashionable for people to describe themselves as SPIRITUAL! You have probably heard people say — “He/she is a very spiritual person.” Or “I don’t consider my self religious but I am very spiritual.” You want to be very careful to not be merely “spiritual.” You see — there are spiritual beings that love the God of the Bible — but there are also fallen angels who love Satan and join him in his rebellion against the God of the Bible. To plug into the spiritual world is to potentially plug into a demon. The Bible says this in the Old and New Testament. “They sacrificed to demons that were no gods” (Deut. 32:17). Peoples in the Old Testament went through all sorts of “spiritual” activity and rituals – but they did so to demons, not to God. (1 Kings 18 the prophets of Ba-al on Mt. Carmel). In the New Testament we read, “. . . what pagans sacrifice they offer to demons and not to God. I do not want you to be participants with demons” (1 Cor. 10:20).
We must never think that other religions are not worshipping powerful spiritual beings. We must never say that people involved in those religions don’t have powerful spiritual experiences. They can have very POWERFUL spiritual experiences — But the ORIGIN of those experiences is NOT the Trinitarian God of the Bible. Their experiences are demonic in origin. . . . [They are] different than Yahweh of the Bible. When you see the bumper sticker (on the back of a Subaru): Love your mother earth – There is a demon called mother earth! There are demons that PRETEND to be God and want you to worship them as God And if you are just religious or spiritual you are participating with demons. Maybe some of you already are – or you know those that are. And your defense, or their defense, is that you have real and powerful spiritual powerful experiences. Those experiences are REAL — but they are COUNTERFEIT. You need to TEST the spirits. 1 John 4:1 Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God. See if they honor Jesus as the unique and Only begotten Son of God.
The term trinity is the way that theologians have articulated 2 truths. 1.) There is ONE God; 2.) The Father Son and Spirit ARE God. So let’s see where the Bible says that the Father, Son and Spirit ARE God.
1.) The Father is God. John’s Gospel – “God the Father” (John 6:27). Paul’s first letter to the Corinthians – “. . . there is one God, the Father” (1 Cor. 8:6). So – The Father IS God. That the Father IS God is so generally accepted that even the heretics of the Church got this one right. Even the cults see this. The next is more debated.
2.) The Son is God. WHERE do we find this in the Bible?
“In the beginning (an echo of Genesis 1:1) was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. . . . (John 1:1) So whoever the Word is – He was WITH God the Father and He IS God. And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us” (John 1:14). So Jesus – God the Son —- was WITH God the Father and He IS God — and He became a man. “Truly, truly, I [Jesus] say to you, before Abraham was, I am” (John 8:58) It says in the next verse that the religious leaders picked up stones to kill him for having made that claim. It says in John 10 that Jesus asked – “Do you want to kill me because I healed a man on the Sabbath?” And the religious leaders replied – We don’t want to kill you for healing on the Sabbath – but because you, being a man, have claimed to be God. When Jesus said – Before Abraham I was, I am — He was declaring that He was from Eternity past God — that He pre-existed Abraham — that He was Abraham’s God. “I am” comes out of Exodus 3:14 where God spoke to Moses from out of the Burning Bush – Tell them that I AM has sent you. Jesus is saying – I am God — I am the God of Abraham — I am the God of Moses. That is why the fiercely monotheistic Jews wanted to kill Him. John 20:28 “Thomas answered him [Jesus], ‘My Lord and my God!’” Rom. 9:5 “. . . Christ who is God over all” Titus 2:13 “. . . our great God and Savior Jesus Christ” 1 John 5:20 “. . . Jesus Christ. He is the true God”
SUMMARIZE – THERE IS ONE GOD – The Father is God; the Son is God - AND — 3.) The Spirit is God. The first thing we want to set straight is that the Holy Spirit is a “he” and not an “it.” To call the Holy Spirit an IT means that you see the Holy Spirit as an impersonal force – that permeates creation, like the pantheist (God and the universe are one and the same – God is the tree / the tree is God), or the panentheist (meaning God is one with the physical universe and yet transcends it). The Holy Spirit is NOT an it – He is a HE. The Holy Spirit is a person and not an impersonal force. The Scriptures ascribe to Him the attributes of personality. The Holy Spirit can be grieved Eph. 4:30. An impersonal force can not be grieved – Gravity for example can not be grieved. We are also told that He can be resisted Acts 7:51. As the Holy Spirit seeks to INSTRUCT us and LEAD us and GUIDE us we can RESIST Him. We are also told in Heb. 10:29 that He can be INSULTED. You can’t insult gravity or electricity. The Holy Spirit is insulted by lies and the promotion of false doctrine. So the Holy Spirit is a HE (not an it).
And the Holy Spirit IS GOD! “Now the Lord is the Spirit (important – “Lord” is a title given to God), and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom. And we all, with unveiled face, beholding the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another. For this comes from (and Paul says it again) the Lord who is the Spirit.” 2 Cor. 3:17–18. In the Book of Acts There was a couple in the newly birthed Church who decided to sell a piece of property and give a portion of the sale to the church – but acted as if they had given the whole amount of the sale to the church — Here is what the apostle Peter said. “But Peter said, ‘Ananias, why has Satan filled your heart to lie to the Holy Spirit and to keep back for yourself part of the proceeds of the land? . . . You have not lied to men but to God’.” Acts 5:3–4.
THERE IS ONE GOD. God the Father is God. God the Son is God. The Holy Spirit is God. Bring those together and we come up with the doctrine of the Holy Spirit.
BEFORE WE CONTINUE CHECK THIS OUT! It is only in the light of the Trinity that we can UNDERSTAND LOVE! We love the definition of God given in 1 John 4:8 – “God is love.” And APART from God we have NO IDEA what love is. We think it is sentimentality – We think it is Sensual or sexual. We DO NOT understand love until we go to the source of love – UNTIL we see what the TRINITY IS – and THEN we see what true love IS and what true love looks like. Some say that God created us because He was lonely and wanted someone to love. God lacks nothing. He does not need us. Within the perfect Trinitarian nature of God there was perfect love! PERFECT Relationship — Friendship — Unity between the Father, Son and Spirit. The statement “God is Love” only makes sense in light of the fact that God is a perfectly loving Trinity. We see this in the Gospel of John – where God the Son leaves eternity and enters into time as the man Jesus Christ — and as man Jesus said in John 3:35 “The Father loves the Son,” and in John 14:31, “I love the Father.”
The ESSENCE of the TRINITY is LOVE. Jesus says – The Father loves Me, and I love the Father. The Bible says that Holy Spirit loves Jesus — desiring that Jesus be glorified in the hearts of men and women. THIS doctrine of the Trinity is so crucial in regards to you and me; because we were made to LOVE and BE LOVED.
COMMON QUESTION: Do we see the Trinity in the Old Testament? Well let’s start in the Book of Beginnings — Genesis — Because that’s where the revelation of God begins. Let’s look at the first verse of the Bible. “In the beginning, God (the word for God is Elohim — it is in the plural) created the heavens and the earth. The earth was without form and void, and darkness was over the face of the deep. And (notice who was there) the Spirit of God was hovering over the face of the waters” Gen. 1:1–2. In the beginning God – First things first – you have to know who God is. Today there is a generation of professing Christians who are asking — But what about life and love and family and cultures and justice and human rights and economics and politics.
FIRST THINGS FIRST — And it is here that a generation is losing it’s way! They try to form a theology out of secondary things rather than form their understanding of secondary things from genuine theology!
So we have IN THE BEGINNING GOD — We see God creating (we will get to this in our third time together. Who do we see active in creation —- the Father and the Holy Spirit.
Check This Out — There is something called the Targum Neofiti. A Targum is an accepted Jewish translation and interpretation of the Old Testament. The Jewish scholars would translate and interpret the Old Testament and they would validate them as accepted Targum. There is a manuscript called the Targum Neofiti — which is dated over 200 years BC and 500 years before the council of Nicaea where the Christian theologians officially declared the doctrine of the Trinity as true orthodoxy. Here is how the Targum Neofiti reads Genesis 1.
In the beginning by the first born — Who is that? That is a term used in the New Testament speaking of Jesus (Heb. 12:23; Rev 1:5). In Col. 1:15 Paul said that Jesus is the visible image of the invisible God and that He is the First Born of all creation — that is a term that ascribes preeminence and rulership over all creation. In the beginning by the first born (that’s Jesus), God (that’s the father) created the heavens and the earth… and the Spirit of God was hovering over the waters.
There were Jews living 200 years BEFORE the coming of Jesus who were waiting the coming of Jesus — and believed the opening verses of the Old Testament to be Trinitarian. They believed that the Father – through the First Born, Jesus, along with the Holy Spirit — created everything. TRINITARIAN
Now look at Genesis 1:26 in light of what we just looked at. “Then God said, ‘Let us make man in our image, after our likeness’” Gen. 1:26. That makes NO SENSE apart from the doctrine of the trinity. WHO is the US and the OUR? God the Father – God the Son – God the Holy Spirit. After sin entered the world we read Gen. 3:22 “Then the LORD God said, ‘Behold, the man has become like one of us.” At the Tower of Babel, Gen. 11:6-7 “And the LORD said . . . ‘Come, let us . . .’”.
There are echoes of the Trinity from the BEGINNING of the Book of Beginnings. At the very least we have in Genesis 1:1-2 God the Father and God the Holy Spirit. And we have Jewish tradition that says “We see Jesus there as well.”
Let’s look at TWO OTHER PLACES in the Old Testament. Hundreds of years before the birth of Christ — “And now the Lord GOD [Father] has sent me [Jesus], and his Spirit” (Isa. 48:16). The Father would send the Son with the Spirit. This is exactly what Jesus said. In John’s Gospel alone, more than 20 times, Jesus said — “The Father has sent Me.” Then Jesus says in John’s Gospel – When I leave I will send you the Holy Spirit. ALL of those are a fulfillment of Isaiah 48:16. Again — Hundreds of years before the birth of Christ — “The Spirit of the Lord GOD [Father] is upon me [Jesus], because the LORD has anointed me to bring good news to the poor” (Isa. 61:1).
This is hundreds of years before Luke 4. There in Luke 4 Jesus reads in the synagogue of Nazareth — and reads from Isaiah 61 and says – “TODAY THIS IS FULFILLED in Me.” Jesus KNEW that He – as the second person of the Trinity – was fulfilling Isaiah 61:1.
Here a few New Testament references to the Trinity.
Concerning the birth of Jesus - Luke 1:35 And the angel answered her, “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you; therefore the child to be born will be called holy—the Son of God. Mary was perplexed as to the MEANS she would conceive without having sex. The angel told her that God the Father and God the Spirit would give her the ability to give birth to God the Son.
Again — surrounding the birth of Jesus - Matthew 1:20-23 “Joseph, son of David, do not fear to take Mary as your wife, for that which is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit. 21She will bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins.” 22All this took place to fulfill what the Lord had spoken by the prophet: “Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, 23and they shall call his name Immanuel”
The baptism of Jesus - Matthew 3:16-17 And when Jesus was baptized, immediately he went up from the water, and behold, the heavens were opened to him, and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and coming to rest on him; 17and behold, a voice from heaven said, “This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased.” God the Father speaking from heaven. God the Son coming up out of the water. God the Holy Spirit coming upon Jesus, anointing with power for His public ministry. God graciously giving to us this wonderful family portrait of the Trinity.
The Great Commission of Jesus — After Jesus died for our sins and rose from the grave for our salvation — -just before ascending into heaven Jesus said in Matt. 28:19-20, "Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name (singular – one name) of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit ." When we baptize new believers we baptize them in the name of the Father, the son and the Holy Spirit.
In the N.T we have the TRINITY clearly defined in its economy. Theologians spoke of the IMMINENT Trinity and the ECONOMIC Trinity. The IMMINIENT Trinity is how God is within Himself. The ECONOMIC Trinity is how God works in history. In regards to our salvation we can see the ECONOMIC Trinity. We see the Trinity working in harmony – working in agreement – but each Person of the Trinity has a role to play. 1 Peter 1:2 according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, in the sanctification of the Spirit, for obedience to Jesus Christ and for sprinkling with his blood: God the Father foreknew whom He would save. God the Son came and shed His blood for our sins. God the Holy Spirit takes up residence within us to accomplish the work of sanctify us, cleanse and conform us to the image of Jesus.
I would encourage you to read EPHESIANS 1:1-13. That whole section is one unit of thought — and in it you see the ECONOMY of the Godhead in our salvation. Paul said that IN LOVE the Father predestined us unto salvation before the foundation of the earth, The Son came to this earth to die in our place for our sins and that He rose for our salvation. And that the Holy Spirit indwells the Christian regenerating their heart and renewing their mind and that the Holy Spirit Himself is the seal upon our lives guaranteeing our salvation - ALL to the praise of the glory of His grace.
HUGE CONCEPT — The entire Christian life is Trinitarian! We now live BY the Spirit THROUGH the SON and TO the father.
What is the HISTORY of the doctrine of the Trinity? Justin Martyr, Tertullian and Irenaeus all taught and defended the doctrine. Tertullian is one of the first to use the language of the trinity to describe all that the Bible says about the ONE God — THREE Persons, Father, Son and Spirit Eternally equal in every way. SOME SAY – It took a long time for the Doctrine of the Trinity to develop. I believe that it was held to (the internal evidence and harmony of the Old and New Testament Scriptures). But it was questioned by some — there were heretics and false teachers. There needed to be CLARIFICATION. It wasn’t a matter of taking a long time for it to develop. REALITY is that for 300 years Christians were being fed to wild beats, burned alive and crucified — Pastors were being beheaded. That is not exactly a culture conducive to theological treatises. Evangelism and survival was at the top of the to-do list! ONCE persecution died down they started to clarify their beliefs.
At the Council of Nicaea (325 AD) they clearly articulated the doctrine of the Trinity. In Constantinople (381 AD) - they lay down the doctrine of the Trinity. Augustine of Hippo was one of the leading thinkers of the western world. He spent 19 years studying this subject – so if you are feeling a bit overwhelmed in 60 minutes – not to worry! He published a work titled “On the Holy Trinity” — It has held up for 1,500 years!
TODAY – All Christians believe in the Trinity. Roman Catholics; Eastern Orthodox; Protestants. People say – Well those Christians can’t agree on anything. We agree on this one! There is NO disagreement on that issue.
THAT BEGS THE QUESTION – What are the major heresies that contradict the doctrine of the Trinity?
1.) There is Polytheism – There is more than one God. One form of that is Tri-Theism – There are three gods. If you say that there are multiple gods and that Jesus is man who became a god – NOT God who became man, that is polytheism. It is the same perversion and lie in the garden of Genesis where Satan said to our parents – “You can become gods.”
2.) There is Modalism – That heresy denies that God the Father, God the Son and God the Spirit are three distinct persons. This heresy essentially says that there is one God who puts on three masks. In the OT he acts like the Father. In the Gospels He acts like Jesus. From the Book of Acts forward He acts like the Holy Spirit. But He is only playing one role at a time. This heresy runs into a problem with the text of Matthew 3 at the Baptism of Jesus (The Father speaks – Jesus comes out of the water – The Holy Spirit descends). You can’t play three parts at the same time. If you say "JESUS ONLY" and there is no Father, Son and Spirit – there is JESUS ONLY who plays the part of the Father and the Spirit, you are practicing modalism.
3.) There are heresies that which deny that the Father, Son and Spirit are Equally God. Early on that was put forth by a guy named Arian who said that the Father is God but Jesus is not. Their are churches today that teach this heresy.
Another current cultural example - THE SHACK. It is amazing how Christians went nuts over The Shack. The book is about the Trinity. Mac goes into the Shack to meet God. God the Father is portrayed as an African American woman named Papa. Jesus is a guy of Middle Eastern Descent. God the Holy Spirit is portrayed as an Asian American woman. I am not saying that you become an apostate by reading the book. But don’t read it as doctrinal truth.
Here is the problem – Christians are saying – This is amazing! Now we understand the Trinity. Reviews from Amazon.com: “It answers the questions we all grew up wondering and the answers just might change your entire outlook on life while changing your preconceived notions of theology.” “As a seminary graduate and a veteran of decades of ministry, I highly recommend The Shack. It is delightful reading and gives clear, disarming theological insights that will shake up traditionalists.”
WRONG! Here’s why. FIRST – One of the 10 commandments (2nd) is Ex. 20:4 “You shall not make for yourself a carved image, or any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth. Do NOT take the invisible God and try to make Him visible — Do NOT take the Creator God and try to make Him part of Creation. Romans 1:25 says that Paganism is to exchange the truth of God for a lie and to worship and serve created things rather than the Creator who is blessed forever! In John 4 Jesus said that the Father is SPIRIT – He does not have a physical body. To try portray God the Father as an old man is a essentially very thing forbidden by Exodus 20:4. God the Father God is NOT an old man — aging as the result of sin. We can make a picture of Jesus because God the Son came as a man. At the Baptism of Jesus the Holy Spirit descended upon Jesus in the form of a dove. So we can use the dove as a symbol of the Holy Spirit. But to show God the Father as a human being is contrary to Scripture.
SECONDLY — It is goddess worship. If God the Father is really God the Mother it changes everything. God has revealed Himself to us as “Father.” It is WRONG to portray the “Father” as a woman.
THIRDLY — The depiction of God in “The Shack” is Modalism (which is heretical). Papa says – “I am truly human in Jesus.” THAT is not true. That is Modalism. The Father was NOT born of a virgin — did not die on a cross. Jesus did. Modalism says that the Father became the Son and became the Spirit. The Doctrine of the Trinity declares that they are distinct persons. The Father SENT the Son. The SON died for sin. The Spirit was sent to regenerate and indwell us. They are working together. But they are distinct. The Father was not born of a virgin. The Father did not grow up as a Galilean peasant. The Father did not die on a cross and walk away from the tomb. THAT was THE SON!
LASTLY — In speaking of the Trinity, the book says — We are in a circle of relationship not a chain of command. Hierarchy among us would make no sense. In other words — there is no deference within the trinity. Not True. There IS deference within the Trinity. Jesus said — The FATHER SENT Me. Jesus said — I only say what the Father tells me to say — I only do what the father tells me to do. There is EQUALITY but DEFERENCE within the Triune God. That is where we get our understanding of the relationships between parents and children – husbands and wives — believers and pastors. Children are not LESSER in nature than their parents. But they are to defer to them. Wives are not LESSER in nature than their husbands — but they are to defer to them. Christians aren’t LESSER in their new nature than their pastors —but they are to listen to them.
DON’T MISS THIS — The Shack essentially says that Hierarchy only makes sense where there is sin. There is NO sin in the Trinity — But there is deference. There is no sin among the angels who did not rebel against God with Satan — But there is clearly defined rankings among them!
The popularity of the book tells us that there is a HUNGER to know about the true and living God — a HUNGER to understand the Trinity. But the book — rather than explaining and answering that hunger gives a heretical view of the Godhead.
HERE IS THE GREAT TRAGEDY! Christians are so ignorant of the Scriptures that they ENDORSE it and SELL it to the multitudes as the answer to the BIGGEST QUESTION there is —- WHO IS GOD? Many churchgoers today — many of your peers — perhaps many here tonight say: Why do we have to go through all of this? Can’t we just love one another? Can’t we just serve one another? This sounds so doctrinal!
LISTEN! This night exists BECAUSE I love you! Because the leadership at Metro loves you. But I have to go back to what I said earlier. Every deep and passionate and profound longing that you have can ever be satisfied apart from the Trinity! We can not separate LIFE from DOCTRINE. Paul told Timothy to keep a close watch over himself and his doctrine (1 Tim 4:16).
PLEASE KNOW THIS — I am not referencing churches that teach heresy in order to pick on them. If you are a member of such a church — I LOVE you — but you are being lied to! You are worshipping a demon and I love you too much to let you do that!
Eph 6:12 We do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities and powers and spiritual wickedness in high places. Satan and demons are at work in this world to get you to believe in and worship something other than the Triune God. We love you and want to see you experience Trinitarian life! There is NO LIFE apart from connection to the Trinity.
Which brings us to this – LIFE is Trinitarian. When my sins are forgiven – the Holy Spirit comes to live within me bringing me into fellowship with God. ALL of my life is now TRINITARIAN! All of my worship — all of my prayer — all of my ministry — is BY the Spirit – THROUGH the Son – TO the Father. THAT is all of life. There is a POWER source — a LOVE source — God the Holy Spirit living within me — enabling me to live THROUGH the Son – TO the Father!
TRINITARIAN LIFE IS LOVING. Some people say – We don’t NEED doctrine – we just need to love! Listen – Unless you know WHO love is – WHAT love is – WHERE love comes from – HOW are you going to go out and love. By sheer numbers it is safe to say that there are guys here tonight who are sleeping with their girlfriend and they are calling it love. That is not Trinitarian love — it is demonic love! Trinitarian love is for the cherishing and serving of the other – not using. The Trinity loves perfectly and fully. TRINTARIAN life is LOVING!
TRINTARIAN LIFE IS EXPRESSED IN COMMUNITY. We are going to get to this in depth in one our 4th study. When God made the world he saw that there was ONE thing that was NOT good! It was not good for man to be alone LONELINESS — ISOLATION — is not what God intends. Relationship — community — friendship —THAT is what God intends. WHY? Because that is what God IS. The Trinity is a loving, relational community! Trinitarian life is TOGETHER – as the Father, Son and Spirit are one.
TRINITARIAN LIFE IS TRANSPARENT. The Father Son and Spirit have no secrets. They have hidden nothing! Trinitarian life has no duplicity. It is not one thing with one group and another thing with the next group. That means that we will be open and honest about our sins and failures – hopes and aspirations. The doctrine of the Trinity has so much practical application!
TRINITARIAN LIFE IS HUMBLE. There was never a day when Jesus was jealous of the glory that the father received (They all went away glorifying God). There never is a day when the Name of Jesus is preached and exalted that the Spirit is jealous or covets that glory. The Father, Son and Spirit live to serve and exalt one another. That is why Jesus could say – Not My will, but Your will be done! TRINITARIAN LIFE is HUMBLE. It is about the glory of God and the good of others. THAT is why Jesus said – When you lose your life – That is when you find it.
TRINITARIAN LIFE IS SUBMISSIVE. Again – we will get into this in depth in one of the upcoming studies. If you are defiant you are not Trinitarian – you are Satanic. It was Satan who came to our parents and said — You don’t have to submit to God. You’re pretty smart and I think you should do what you want to do – not what God wants you to do. THAT is Satanic!
A lot of churchgoers are living Satanic lives – Not submitted to your parents – not submitted to godly authority. I can’t trust anyone other than me – I can’t follow anyone other than me — because I don’t believe that anyone is better than me. THAT is not Trinitarian – It is demonic. Jesus did not have that attitude. He went where the Father directed — Said what the father gave Him to say — Did what the Father wanted done — and He did it gladly!
LASTLY – TRINTARIAN LIFE IS HAPPY. Within the Trinity there is matchless and limitless joy? WHY? Because there is NO sin – NO jealousy – NO lying – NO hiding – NO blaming — There is just LOVE. Perfect love — Perfect Unity — Perfect communication — Perfect connection. In and of Himself — what theologians call the IMMINENT TRINITY — God is the happiest being that ever existed. Without a doubt our sin does grieve God — and because of that it should grieve us. But in great love and in great joy, the Trinity decided to save us. And the Father decided to send the Son. And the Son agreed to come and live and die and rise. And the Spirit was sent to be present with us and to do a work in us and to do a work through us.
We have the opportunity to repent and believe this glorious good news — and should we do that we will enjoy a truly Trinitarian life that flows from all that the Trinity is and does.
Metro exists to bring you into relationship with the Trinity and to participate in Trinitarian life. Metro is a gathering of men and women who because of the cross of Jesus can enjoy life derived from a living relationship with the TRINITY!
Source: http://my.auburnjournal.com/detail/171633.html
We are going to embark on a series titled CREDO. CREDO = Latin for I BELIEVE. In this series we are going to follow the storyline of the Bible and define the essential doctrines of Christianity. Doctrine is a scary word for a lot of people. DOCTRINE = WHAT CHRISTIANS BELIEVE.
We are living in a generation of Christians that approach the subject of faith on the basis of what they feel about the Christian faith, rather than what the Bible says. This series is going to challenge us to THINK about the Christian faith! You may not like school — but for the next 12 Monday Nights you are IN SCHOOL! Throughout this series we are going to exercise our minds in loving God!
D. Martyn Lloyd-Jones had this to say about the subject of Doctrine. He is one of my favorite authors. Born in Wales, he became a medical doctor in London and on the brink of becoming one of the doctors for the royal family he left medicine to become a pastor. He became one of the greatest Bible expositors in modern history. QUOTE: D.M. L-J — The doctrines of the Bible are not a subject to be studied (academically); rather we should desire to know them in order that, having known them, we may not be `puffed up’ with knowledge, and excited about our information, but may draw nearer to God in worship, praise, and adoration, because we have seen, in a fuller way that we have ever seen before, the glory of our wondrous God. May He give us cause to do this, and grant that as a result of these doctrines, we may all come to know Him, the only true and living God, and Jesus Christ whom He has sent – and as a result may all be revived. And so I express the hope that through us, and others like us, the whole Church may be revived, and that we may witness again in our midst the manifestation of God’s glorious power.
Our world is filled with people who have a deep longing for God. You might know someone, or might be someone, who says — I’m an atheist and have no desire for God. Others might say — I’m an agnostic and I’m not sure if there is a God, let alone long for “Him” or “her” or “it.” But even the atheist and agnostic have a deep longing for God — That longing is seen in the fact that even the atheist wants to be loved — wants relationships — wants to belong.
Technology is exploding at an exponential rate to meet the demand from people to speak and be spoken to. Cell phones — text messaging — internet. As of December 21, 2010 the population the United States was 308,745,538 (2010.census.gov/news/releases) — making it the 3rd largest nation in the world. Did you know that as of July 21, 2010 there were 500 million people using Facebook? People are LONGONG to speak and be spoken to.
We will see tonight, and in the next weeks that these DEEP LONGINGS are rooted in the fact that we are made in the image and likeness of God. We approach this series with great anticipation and prayer because the subject in this series is God — who alone can answer those deep longings. Man can NEVER rise above his concept of God. A faulty view of God results in human suffering. There is NOTHING more important than answering the question – Who is my God? Who do I believe in? Who do I worship? Who do I hope to see in eternity?
Tonight’s subject is all about who God is. We will see that Bible plainly declares that God IS and the He exists as a Trinity. The word trinity does not appear in Scripture. But the concept very clearly does. The church father Tertullian (AD 155–220) was the first to use the word trinity in an effort to summarize the totality of who God is.
CRUCIAL INSIGHT: To say that God exists as a trinity does not mean there are three Gods (tritheism); or that there is one God who is not three persons (Unitarianism); or that there is one God who merely manifests himself as either Father, Son, or Holy Spirit on various occasions (Modalism).
QUESTION: WHAT is the Trinity. DEFINITION: The Trinity is ONE God who eternally exists as three distinct persons, the Father Son and Holy Spirit — each fully and equally God. QUOTE: J.I. Packer, Affirming the Apostles Creed — How the one eternal God is eternally both singular and plural, how Father, Son, and Spirit are personally distinct yet essentially one …. is more than we can know, and any attempt to “explain” it—to dispel the mystery by reasoning, as distinct from confessing it from Scripture—is bound to falsify it. Here, as elsewhere, our God is too big for his creatures’ little minds. QUOTE: Augustine of Hippo (354-430 AD) said – If you deny the Trinity you lose your soul — If you try to explain it you lose your mind! By way of tonight’s study we hope to avoid BOTH.
LET’S BREAK DOWN THE DEFINITION OF THE TRINITY. The Trinity is ONE God (monotheism). Who eternally exists (never a time when the Father, Son and Spirit didn’t exist). And exists as three distinct persons. “Person” does not mean that God the Father or God the Spirit became human beings. Rather, it means that each member of the Trinity thinks, acts, feels, speaks, and relates because they are persons as opposed impersonal forces.
Three distinct persons Father Son and Spirit who are each FULLY and EQUALLY God. FULLY = Each possesses the fullness of Divine Attributes — Which means that they share the divine attributes such as eternality — omniscience — omnipotence — and omnipresence.
EQUALLY = One is not more God than the other. SO – The Trinity is ONE God – Who eternally exists as three distinct persons – Father, Son and Spirit – Each FULLY and EQUALLY God. CRUCIAL: If the doctrine of the Trinity is truly Biblical — it holds to all of the truth that God has to say about himself in Scripture, without dismissing or diminishing any of that truth.
Let’s walk through the truths the Scriptures declare about God. There is only One God. That runs in the face of the countless people who claim that every religious system and ideology — along with all of the deities they worship — are equally valid. But here is what the Bible says! The Bible emphatically states that there is but ONE TRUE and LIVING God. Deuteronomy 4:35 To you it was shown, that you might know that the Lord is God; there is no other besides him. Deuteronomy 32:39 “‘See now that I, even I, am he, and there is no god beside me; Psalm 86:10 For you are great and do wondrous things; you alone are God. Isaiah 43:10 “You are my witnesses,” declares the Lord, “and my servant whom I have chosen, that you may know and believe me and understand that I am he. Before me no god was formed, nor shall there be any after me. Isaiah 45:5 I am the Lord, and there is no other, besides me there is no God; 1 Timothy 1:17 To the King of ages, immortal, invisible, the only God, be honor and glory forever and ever Amen. 1 Timothy 2:5 For there is one God, and there is one mediator between God and men, the man Jesus Christ.
All other gods are demonic false gods. Jesus spoke of – “. . . the only true God” (John 17:3). The inference is clear – any other gods were FALSE gods. The same was true in the Old Testament where every people group that surrounded the nation of Israel worshipped countless false gods.
The same was true in the New Testament – EXAMPLE: Paul (Acts 17) walked into the city of Athens and saw all kinds of temples and altars erected to the worship of all sorts of gods and goddesses. WHAT ABOUT THOSE other gods? This is going to be polarizing and controversial. Any religion other than Christianity worship demons. Demons are very REAL — very POWERFUL spiritual entities — fallen angels created by God — that joined Satan in his rebellion against the God of the Bible. Along with Satan they are in opposition to the One, True Living God. The Bible says that they masquerade as “angels of light” (2 Cor 11:14). They perform counterfeit signs and miracles.
Today it is very fashionable for people to describe themselves as SPIRITUAL! You have probably heard people say — “He/she is a very spiritual person.” Or “I don’t consider my self religious but I am very spiritual.” You want to be very careful to not be merely “spiritual.” You see — there are spiritual beings that love the God of the Bible — but there are also fallen angels who love Satan and join him in his rebellion against the God of the Bible. To plug into the spiritual world is to potentially plug into a demon. The Bible says this in the Old and New Testament. “They sacrificed to demons that were no gods” (Deut. 32:17). Peoples in the Old Testament went through all sorts of “spiritual” activity and rituals – but they did so to demons, not to God. (1 Kings 18 the prophets of Ba-al on Mt. Carmel). In the New Testament we read, “. . . what pagans sacrifice they offer to demons and not to God. I do not want you to be participants with demons” (1 Cor. 10:20).
We must never think that other religions are not worshipping powerful spiritual beings. We must never say that people involved in those religions don’t have powerful spiritual experiences. They can have very POWERFUL spiritual experiences — But the ORIGIN of those experiences is NOT the Trinitarian God of the Bible. Their experiences are demonic in origin. . . . [They are] different than Yahweh of the Bible. When you see the bumper sticker (on the back of a Subaru): Love your mother earth – There is a demon called mother earth! There are demons that PRETEND to be God and want you to worship them as God And if you are just religious or spiritual you are participating with demons. Maybe some of you already are – or you know those that are. And your defense, or their defense, is that you have real and powerful spiritual powerful experiences. Those experiences are REAL — but they are COUNTERFEIT. You need to TEST the spirits. 1 John 4:1 Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God. See if they honor Jesus as the unique and Only begotten Son of God.
The term trinity is the way that theologians have articulated 2 truths. 1.) There is ONE God; 2.) The Father Son and Spirit ARE God. So let’s see where the Bible says that the Father, Son and Spirit ARE God.
1.) The Father is God. John’s Gospel – “God the Father” (John 6:27). Paul’s first letter to the Corinthians – “. . . there is one God, the Father” (1 Cor. 8:6). So – The Father IS God. That the Father IS God is so generally accepted that even the heretics of the Church got this one right. Even the cults see this. The next is more debated.
2.) The Son is God. WHERE do we find this in the Bible?
“In the beginning (an echo of Genesis 1:1) was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. . . . (John 1:1) So whoever the Word is – He was WITH God the Father and He IS God. And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us” (John 1:14). So Jesus – God the Son —- was WITH God the Father and He IS God — and He became a man. “Truly, truly, I [Jesus] say to you, before Abraham was, I am” (John 8:58) It says in the next verse that the religious leaders picked up stones to kill him for having made that claim. It says in John 10 that Jesus asked – “Do you want to kill me because I healed a man on the Sabbath?” And the religious leaders replied – We don’t want to kill you for healing on the Sabbath – but because you, being a man, have claimed to be God. When Jesus said – Before Abraham I was, I am — He was declaring that He was from Eternity past God — that He pre-existed Abraham — that He was Abraham’s God. “I am” comes out of Exodus 3:14 where God spoke to Moses from out of the Burning Bush – Tell them that I AM has sent you. Jesus is saying – I am God — I am the God of Abraham — I am the God of Moses. That is why the fiercely monotheistic Jews wanted to kill Him. John 20:28 “Thomas answered him [Jesus], ‘My Lord and my God!’” Rom. 9:5 “. . . Christ who is God over all” Titus 2:13 “. . . our great God and Savior Jesus Christ” 1 John 5:20 “. . . Jesus Christ. He is the true God”
SUMMARIZE – THERE IS ONE GOD – The Father is God; the Son is God - AND — 3.) The Spirit is God. The first thing we want to set straight is that the Holy Spirit is a “he” and not an “it.” To call the Holy Spirit an IT means that you see the Holy Spirit as an impersonal force – that permeates creation, like the pantheist (God and the universe are one and the same – God is the tree / the tree is God), or the panentheist (meaning God is one with the physical universe and yet transcends it). The Holy Spirit is NOT an it – He is a HE. The Holy Spirit is a person and not an impersonal force. The Scriptures ascribe to Him the attributes of personality. The Holy Spirit can be grieved Eph. 4:30. An impersonal force can not be grieved – Gravity for example can not be grieved. We are also told that He can be resisted Acts 7:51. As the Holy Spirit seeks to INSTRUCT us and LEAD us and GUIDE us we can RESIST Him. We are also told in Heb. 10:29 that He can be INSULTED. You can’t insult gravity or electricity. The Holy Spirit is insulted by lies and the promotion of false doctrine. So the Holy Spirit is a HE (not an it).
And the Holy Spirit IS GOD! “Now the Lord is the Spirit (important – “Lord” is a title given to God), and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom. And we all, with unveiled face, beholding the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another. For this comes from (and Paul says it again) the Lord who is the Spirit.” 2 Cor. 3:17–18. In the Book of Acts There was a couple in the newly birthed Church who decided to sell a piece of property and give a portion of the sale to the church – but acted as if they had given the whole amount of the sale to the church — Here is what the apostle Peter said. “But Peter said, ‘Ananias, why has Satan filled your heart to lie to the Holy Spirit and to keep back for yourself part of the proceeds of the land? . . . You have not lied to men but to God’.” Acts 5:3–4.
THERE IS ONE GOD. God the Father is God. God the Son is God. The Holy Spirit is God. Bring those together and we come up with the doctrine of the Holy Spirit.
BEFORE WE CONTINUE CHECK THIS OUT! It is only in the light of the Trinity that we can UNDERSTAND LOVE! We love the definition of God given in 1 John 4:8 – “God is love.” And APART from God we have NO IDEA what love is. We think it is sentimentality – We think it is Sensual or sexual. We DO NOT understand love until we go to the source of love – UNTIL we see what the TRINITY IS – and THEN we see what true love IS and what true love looks like. Some say that God created us because He was lonely and wanted someone to love. God lacks nothing. He does not need us. Within the perfect Trinitarian nature of God there was perfect love! PERFECT Relationship — Friendship — Unity between the Father, Son and Spirit. The statement “God is Love” only makes sense in light of the fact that God is a perfectly loving Trinity. We see this in the Gospel of John – where God the Son leaves eternity and enters into time as the man Jesus Christ — and as man Jesus said in John 3:35 “The Father loves the Son,” and in John 14:31, “I love the Father.”
The ESSENCE of the TRINITY is LOVE. Jesus says – The Father loves Me, and I love the Father. The Bible says that Holy Spirit loves Jesus — desiring that Jesus be glorified in the hearts of men and women. THIS doctrine of the Trinity is so crucial in regards to you and me; because we were made to LOVE and BE LOVED.
COMMON QUESTION: Do we see the Trinity in the Old Testament? Well let’s start in the Book of Beginnings — Genesis — Because that’s where the revelation of God begins. Let’s look at the first verse of the Bible. “In the beginning, God (the word for God is Elohim — it is in the plural) created the heavens and the earth. The earth was without form and void, and darkness was over the face of the deep. And (notice who was there) the Spirit of God was hovering over the face of the waters” Gen. 1:1–2. In the beginning God – First things first – you have to know who God is. Today there is a generation of professing Christians who are asking — But what about life and love and family and cultures and justice and human rights and economics and politics.
FIRST THINGS FIRST — And it is here that a generation is losing it’s way! They try to form a theology out of secondary things rather than form their understanding of secondary things from genuine theology!
So we have IN THE BEGINNING GOD — We see God creating (we will get to this in our third time together. Who do we see active in creation —- the Father and the Holy Spirit.
Check This Out — There is something called the Targum Neofiti. A Targum is an accepted Jewish translation and interpretation of the Old Testament. The Jewish scholars would translate and interpret the Old Testament and they would validate them as accepted Targum. There is a manuscript called the Targum Neofiti — which is dated over 200 years BC and 500 years before the council of Nicaea where the Christian theologians officially declared the doctrine of the Trinity as true orthodoxy. Here is how the Targum Neofiti reads Genesis 1.
In the beginning by the first born — Who is that? That is a term used in the New Testament speaking of Jesus (Heb. 12:23; Rev 1:5). In Col. 1:15 Paul said that Jesus is the visible image of the invisible God and that He is the First Born of all creation — that is a term that ascribes preeminence and rulership over all creation. In the beginning by the first born (that’s Jesus), God (that’s the father) created the heavens and the earth… and the Spirit of God was hovering over the waters.
There were Jews living 200 years BEFORE the coming of Jesus who were waiting the coming of Jesus — and believed the opening verses of the Old Testament to be Trinitarian. They believed that the Father – through the First Born, Jesus, along with the Holy Spirit — created everything. TRINITARIAN
Now look at Genesis 1:26 in light of what we just looked at. “Then God said, ‘Let us make man in our image, after our likeness’” Gen. 1:26. That makes NO SENSE apart from the doctrine of the trinity. WHO is the US and the OUR? God the Father – God the Son – God the Holy Spirit. After sin entered the world we read Gen. 3:22 “Then the LORD God said, ‘Behold, the man has become like one of us.” At the Tower of Babel, Gen. 11:6-7 “And the LORD said . . . ‘Come, let us . . .’”.
There are echoes of the Trinity from the BEGINNING of the Book of Beginnings. At the very least we have in Genesis 1:1-2 God the Father and God the Holy Spirit. And we have Jewish tradition that says “We see Jesus there as well.”
Let’s look at TWO OTHER PLACES in the Old Testament. Hundreds of years before the birth of Christ — “And now the Lord GOD [Father] has sent me [Jesus], and his Spirit” (Isa. 48:16). The Father would send the Son with the Spirit. This is exactly what Jesus said. In John’s Gospel alone, more than 20 times, Jesus said — “The Father has sent Me.” Then Jesus says in John’s Gospel – When I leave I will send you the Holy Spirit. ALL of those are a fulfillment of Isaiah 48:16. Again — Hundreds of years before the birth of Christ — “The Spirit of the Lord GOD [Father] is upon me [Jesus], because the LORD has anointed me to bring good news to the poor” (Isa. 61:1).
This is hundreds of years before Luke 4. There in Luke 4 Jesus reads in the synagogue of Nazareth — and reads from Isaiah 61 and says – “TODAY THIS IS FULFILLED in Me.” Jesus KNEW that He – as the second person of the Trinity – was fulfilling Isaiah 61:1.
Here a few New Testament references to the Trinity.
Concerning the birth of Jesus - Luke 1:35 And the angel answered her, “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you; therefore the child to be born will be called holy—the Son of God. Mary was perplexed as to the MEANS she would conceive without having sex. The angel told her that God the Father and God the Spirit would give her the ability to give birth to God the Son.
Again — surrounding the birth of Jesus - Matthew 1:20-23 “Joseph, son of David, do not fear to take Mary as your wife, for that which is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit. 21She will bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins.” 22All this took place to fulfill what the Lord had spoken by the prophet: “Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, 23and they shall call his name Immanuel”
The baptism of Jesus - Matthew 3:16-17 And when Jesus was baptized, immediately he went up from the water, and behold, the heavens were opened to him, and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and coming to rest on him; 17and behold, a voice from heaven said, “This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased.” God the Father speaking from heaven. God the Son coming up out of the water. God the Holy Spirit coming upon Jesus, anointing with power for His public ministry. God graciously giving to us this wonderful family portrait of the Trinity.
The Great Commission of Jesus — After Jesus died for our sins and rose from the grave for our salvation — -just before ascending into heaven Jesus said in Matt. 28:19-20, "Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name (singular – one name) of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit ." When we baptize new believers we baptize them in the name of the Father, the son and the Holy Spirit.
In the N.T we have the TRINITY clearly defined in its economy. Theologians spoke of the IMMINENT Trinity and the ECONOMIC Trinity. The IMMINIENT Trinity is how God is within Himself. The ECONOMIC Trinity is how God works in history. In regards to our salvation we can see the ECONOMIC Trinity. We see the Trinity working in harmony – working in agreement – but each Person of the Trinity has a role to play. 1 Peter 1:2 according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, in the sanctification of the Spirit, for obedience to Jesus Christ and for sprinkling with his blood: God the Father foreknew whom He would save. God the Son came and shed His blood for our sins. God the Holy Spirit takes up residence within us to accomplish the work of sanctify us, cleanse and conform us to the image of Jesus.
I would encourage you to read EPHESIANS 1:1-13. That whole section is one unit of thought — and in it you see the ECONOMY of the Godhead in our salvation. Paul said that IN LOVE the Father predestined us unto salvation before the foundation of the earth, The Son came to this earth to die in our place for our sins and that He rose for our salvation. And that the Holy Spirit indwells the Christian regenerating their heart and renewing their mind and that the Holy Spirit Himself is the seal upon our lives guaranteeing our salvation - ALL to the praise of the glory of His grace.
HUGE CONCEPT — The entire Christian life is Trinitarian! We now live BY the Spirit THROUGH the SON and TO the father.
What is the HISTORY of the doctrine of the Trinity? Justin Martyr, Tertullian and Irenaeus all taught and defended the doctrine. Tertullian is one of the first to use the language of the trinity to describe all that the Bible says about the ONE God — THREE Persons, Father, Son and Spirit Eternally equal in every way. SOME SAY – It took a long time for the Doctrine of the Trinity to develop. I believe that it was held to (the internal evidence and harmony of the Old and New Testament Scriptures). But it was questioned by some — there were heretics and false teachers. There needed to be CLARIFICATION. It wasn’t a matter of taking a long time for it to develop. REALITY is that for 300 years Christians were being fed to wild beats, burned alive and crucified — Pastors were being beheaded. That is not exactly a culture conducive to theological treatises. Evangelism and survival was at the top of the to-do list! ONCE persecution died down they started to clarify their beliefs.
At the Council of Nicaea (325 AD) they clearly articulated the doctrine of the Trinity. In Constantinople (381 AD) - they lay down the doctrine of the Trinity. Augustine of Hippo was one of the leading thinkers of the western world. He spent 19 years studying this subject – so if you are feeling a bit overwhelmed in 60 minutes – not to worry! He published a work titled “On the Holy Trinity” — It has held up for 1,500 years!
TODAY – All Christians believe in the Trinity. Roman Catholics; Eastern Orthodox; Protestants. People say – Well those Christians can’t agree on anything. We agree on this one! There is NO disagreement on that issue.
THAT BEGS THE QUESTION – What are the major heresies that contradict the doctrine of the Trinity?
1.) There is Polytheism – There is more than one God. One form of that is Tri-Theism – There are three gods. If you say that there are multiple gods and that Jesus is man who became a god – NOT God who became man, that is polytheism. It is the same perversion and lie in the garden of Genesis where Satan said to our parents – “You can become gods.”
2.) There is Modalism – That heresy denies that God the Father, God the Son and God the Spirit are three distinct persons. This heresy essentially says that there is one God who puts on three masks. In the OT he acts like the Father. In the Gospels He acts like Jesus. From the Book of Acts forward He acts like the Holy Spirit. But He is only playing one role at a time. This heresy runs into a problem with the text of Matthew 3 at the Baptism of Jesus (The Father speaks – Jesus comes out of the water – The Holy Spirit descends). You can’t play three parts at the same time. If you say "JESUS ONLY" and there is no Father, Son and Spirit – there is JESUS ONLY who plays the part of the Father and the Spirit, you are practicing modalism.
3.) There are heresies that which deny that the Father, Son and Spirit are Equally God. Early on that was put forth by a guy named Arian who said that the Father is God but Jesus is not. Their are churches today that teach this heresy.
Another current cultural example - THE SHACK. It is amazing how Christians went nuts over The Shack. The book is about the Trinity. Mac goes into the Shack to meet God. God the Father is portrayed as an African American woman named Papa. Jesus is a guy of Middle Eastern Descent. God the Holy Spirit is portrayed as an Asian American woman. I am not saying that you become an apostate by reading the book. But don’t read it as doctrinal truth.
Here is the problem – Christians are saying – This is amazing! Now we understand the Trinity. Reviews from Amazon.com: “It answers the questions we all grew up wondering and the answers just might change your entire outlook on life while changing your preconceived notions of theology.” “As a seminary graduate and a veteran of decades of ministry, I highly recommend The Shack. It is delightful reading and gives clear, disarming theological insights that will shake up traditionalists.”
WRONG! Here’s why. FIRST – One of the 10 commandments (2nd) is Ex. 20:4 “You shall not make for yourself a carved image, or any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth. Do NOT take the invisible God and try to make Him visible — Do NOT take the Creator God and try to make Him part of Creation. Romans 1:25 says that Paganism is to exchange the truth of God for a lie and to worship and serve created things rather than the Creator who is blessed forever! In John 4 Jesus said that the Father is SPIRIT – He does not have a physical body. To try portray God the Father as an old man is a essentially very thing forbidden by Exodus 20:4. God the Father God is NOT an old man — aging as the result of sin. We can make a picture of Jesus because God the Son came as a man. At the Baptism of Jesus the Holy Spirit descended upon Jesus in the form of a dove. So we can use the dove as a symbol of the Holy Spirit. But to show God the Father as a human being is contrary to Scripture.
SECONDLY — It is goddess worship. If God the Father is really God the Mother it changes everything. God has revealed Himself to us as “Father.” It is WRONG to portray the “Father” as a woman.
THIRDLY — The depiction of God in “The Shack” is Modalism (which is heretical). Papa says – “I am truly human in Jesus.” THAT is not true. That is Modalism. The Father was NOT born of a virgin — did not die on a cross. Jesus did. Modalism says that the Father became the Son and became the Spirit. The Doctrine of the Trinity declares that they are distinct persons. The Father SENT the Son. The SON died for sin. The Spirit was sent to regenerate and indwell us. They are working together. But they are distinct. The Father was not born of a virgin. The Father did not grow up as a Galilean peasant. The Father did not die on a cross and walk away from the tomb. THAT was THE SON!
LASTLY — In speaking of the Trinity, the book says — We are in a circle of relationship not a chain of command. Hierarchy among us would make no sense. In other words — there is no deference within the trinity. Not True. There IS deference within the Trinity. Jesus said — The FATHER SENT Me. Jesus said — I only say what the Father tells me to say — I only do what the father tells me to do. There is EQUALITY but DEFERENCE within the Triune God. That is where we get our understanding of the relationships between parents and children – husbands and wives — believers and pastors. Children are not LESSER in nature than their parents. But they are to defer to them. Wives are not LESSER in nature than their husbands — but they are to defer to them. Christians aren’t LESSER in their new nature than their pastors —but they are to listen to them.
DON’T MISS THIS — The Shack essentially says that Hierarchy only makes sense where there is sin. There is NO sin in the Trinity — But there is deference. There is no sin among the angels who did not rebel against God with Satan — But there is clearly defined rankings among them!
The popularity of the book tells us that there is a HUNGER to know about the true and living God — a HUNGER to understand the Trinity. But the book — rather than explaining and answering that hunger gives a heretical view of the Godhead.
HERE IS THE GREAT TRAGEDY! Christians are so ignorant of the Scriptures that they ENDORSE it and SELL it to the multitudes as the answer to the BIGGEST QUESTION there is —- WHO IS GOD? Many churchgoers today — many of your peers — perhaps many here tonight say: Why do we have to go through all of this? Can’t we just love one another? Can’t we just serve one another? This sounds so doctrinal!
LISTEN! This night exists BECAUSE I love you! Because the leadership at Metro loves you. But I have to go back to what I said earlier. Every deep and passionate and profound longing that you have can ever be satisfied apart from the Trinity! We can not separate LIFE from DOCTRINE. Paul told Timothy to keep a close watch over himself and his doctrine (1 Tim 4:16).
PLEASE KNOW THIS — I am not referencing churches that teach heresy in order to pick on them. If you are a member of such a church — I LOVE you — but you are being lied to! You are worshipping a demon and I love you too much to let you do that!
Eph 6:12 We do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities and powers and spiritual wickedness in high places. Satan and demons are at work in this world to get you to believe in and worship something other than the Triune God. We love you and want to see you experience Trinitarian life! There is NO LIFE apart from connection to the Trinity.
Which brings us to this – LIFE is Trinitarian. When my sins are forgiven – the Holy Spirit comes to live within me bringing me into fellowship with God. ALL of my life is now TRINITARIAN! All of my worship — all of my prayer — all of my ministry — is BY the Spirit – THROUGH the Son – TO the Father. THAT is all of life. There is a POWER source — a LOVE source — God the Holy Spirit living within me — enabling me to live THROUGH the Son – TO the Father!
TRINITARIAN LIFE IS LOVING. Some people say – We don’t NEED doctrine – we just need to love! Listen – Unless you know WHO love is – WHAT love is – WHERE love comes from – HOW are you going to go out and love. By sheer numbers it is safe to say that there are guys here tonight who are sleeping with their girlfriend and they are calling it love. That is not Trinitarian love — it is demonic love! Trinitarian love is for the cherishing and serving of the other – not using. The Trinity loves perfectly and fully. TRINTARIAN life is LOVING!
TRINTARIAN LIFE IS EXPRESSED IN COMMUNITY. We are going to get to this in depth in one our 4th study. When God made the world he saw that there was ONE thing that was NOT good! It was not good for man to be alone LONELINESS — ISOLATION — is not what God intends. Relationship — community — friendship —THAT is what God intends. WHY? Because that is what God IS. The Trinity is a loving, relational community! Trinitarian life is TOGETHER – as the Father, Son and Spirit are one.
TRINITARIAN LIFE IS TRANSPARENT. The Father Son and Spirit have no secrets. They have hidden nothing! Trinitarian life has no duplicity. It is not one thing with one group and another thing with the next group. That means that we will be open and honest about our sins and failures – hopes and aspirations. The doctrine of the Trinity has so much practical application!
TRINITARIAN LIFE IS HUMBLE. There was never a day when Jesus was jealous of the glory that the father received (They all went away glorifying God). There never is a day when the Name of Jesus is preached and exalted that the Spirit is jealous or covets that glory. The Father, Son and Spirit live to serve and exalt one another. That is why Jesus could say – Not My will, but Your will be done! TRINITARIAN LIFE is HUMBLE. It is about the glory of God and the good of others. THAT is why Jesus said – When you lose your life – That is when you find it.
TRINITARIAN LIFE IS SUBMISSIVE. Again – we will get into this in depth in one of the upcoming studies. If you are defiant you are not Trinitarian – you are Satanic. It was Satan who came to our parents and said — You don’t have to submit to God. You’re pretty smart and I think you should do what you want to do – not what God wants you to do. THAT is Satanic!
A lot of churchgoers are living Satanic lives – Not submitted to your parents – not submitted to godly authority. I can’t trust anyone other than me – I can’t follow anyone other than me — because I don’t believe that anyone is better than me. THAT is not Trinitarian – It is demonic. Jesus did not have that attitude. He went where the Father directed — Said what the father gave Him to say — Did what the Father wanted done — and He did it gladly!
LASTLY – TRINTARIAN LIFE IS HAPPY. Within the Trinity there is matchless and limitless joy? WHY? Because there is NO sin – NO jealousy – NO lying – NO hiding – NO blaming — There is just LOVE. Perfect love — Perfect Unity — Perfect communication — Perfect connection. In and of Himself — what theologians call the IMMINENT TRINITY — God is the happiest being that ever existed. Without a doubt our sin does grieve God — and because of that it should grieve us. But in great love and in great joy, the Trinity decided to save us. And the Father decided to send the Son. And the Son agreed to come and live and die and rise. And the Spirit was sent to be present with us and to do a work in us and to do a work through us.
We have the opportunity to repent and believe this glorious good news — and should we do that we will enjoy a truly Trinitarian life that flows from all that the Trinity is and does.
Metro exists to bring you into relationship with the Trinity and to participate in Trinitarian life. Metro is a gathering of men and women who because of the cross of Jesus can enjoy life derived from a living relationship with the TRINITY!
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