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Treasuring the Trinity

By pitchford | August 5, 2005

Study Notes from the Martin Institute of Bible & Mission

Introduction

The dividing line between true Christianity and all other world religions is the Trinitarian conception of God. No religion that denies the doctrine of one God eternally existing in three persons can rightfully claim to be Christian. Islam believes in one eternal God, the God who revealed himself to Abraham; but because it denies that this one God exists in three persons, the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit, it is no more Christian than Hinduism. Jehovah’s Witnesses believe in one God who, they claim, is the God of the Bible. But they reject that Jesus Christ is an eternal person of the Godhead, and therefore, they are no more Christian than the Greek pagans. The doctrine of the Trinity cannot be denied without Christianity itself being rejected.

If this is truly the nature of the case, then why is it that the word “Trinity” does not even appear in the Bible? Are we wrong to make this the foundational issue of Christianity, when the term was not even around at the beginning of Christianity? When did this terminology come about? If the terminology did not come until later in church history, does that mean that the doctrine did not develop until later in church history? These are the questions with which we must deal in our introduction to the topic at hand.

  1. The History of the Doctrine of the Trinity

    2. In Revelation 12, we have a symbolical representation of the history of the church, and the conflict between Christ and Satan. In this picture, we see the Old Testament Church symbolized by a woman clothed with the sun (representing the righteousness of Christ given to her) with a crown of twelve stars on her head (representing the twelve tribes) laboring to give birth (even as the church in the Old Testament was laboring under intense persecution until she had brought forth the promised Seed through the line of Abraham and David). Just as the woman gave birth, the dragon with ten horns and seven heads (representing Satan as he employs the world religious and political systems who are opposed to Christ) attempted to devour the child (as Satan did with Christ at his birth). But the Father triumphantly brought Christ up to heaven, at his ascension, leaving the dragon full of great fury against the woman (now the early New Testament church). When God gives a place of safety to the church, as she is being persecuted by the dragon, Satan is forced to change his strategy of how to overcome her. Now, instead of trying to devour her through persecution, he attempts to overwhelm her through a flood of heresies. This is the prophetic picture of what was transpiring in the days of the early church. When God preserved her through the great Roman persecutions, Satan attempted to defeat her through the rise of heresies that threatened to swallow her up. One of the earliest and most devastating of these heresies was Arianism (which finds its modern expression in today’s Jehovah’s Witnesses). But God continued to preserve his church, raising up men of faith who would turn to the scriptures to formulate biblical responses to the heresies which were attacking the church. One of these men that God raised up to combat Arianism was Athanasius, who labored to give us our first clear doctrinal expression of the Trinity, in opposition to the heresy that said that Christ was not truly God. Athansius formulated a statement about the Trinity which became the standard orthodox expression. The following excerpts are from the Athanasian creed:

    We worship one God in trinity and the trinity in unity, neither blending their persons nor dividing their essence. For the person of the Father is a distinct person, the person of the Son is another, and that of the Holy Spirit still another. But the divinity of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit is one, their glory equal, their majesty coeternal. What quality the Father has, the Son has, and the Holy Spirit has. The Father is God, the Son is God, the Holy Spirit is God. Yet there are not three gods; there is but one God.

    Although Athanasius is formulating a new expression of the doctrine of the Trinity, he is not stating a new doctrine. All of the elements of his formula are biblical elements. The harmonizing of scriptural truths into a doctrinal statement was not necessary until heresies arose that denied some fundamental doctrinal truth. When these heresies arose, men of God were forced to find answers from the scriptures. That is what the early Christian creeds, and the adoption of Trinitarian terminology, was all about.

  2. The Biblical basis for the Doctrine of the Trinity

    3. Although there are no scriptural passages which employ the term “Trinity,” the doctrine itself is thoroughly scriptural. We find numerous clear and undeniable statements throughout the scriptures of every element of the trinitarian view of God. Consider the following:

    • There is one God

      • Hear, O, Israel. Jehovah our God is one Jehovah (Deuteronomy 6:4)

      [There is] one God and Father of all, who is above all and through all and in you all. (Ephesians 4:6)

    • The Father is God

      • Now there is to us only one God, the Father, of whom are all things, and we in Him; and one Lord Jesus Christ, through whom are all things, and we by Him. (I Corinthians 8:6)

    • The Son is God

      • And we know that the Son of God has come, and He has given us an understanding so that we may know Him who is true. And we are in Him that is true, in His Son Jesus Christ. This is the true God, and the everlasting life. (I John 5:20) [cf. Is. 7:14; 9:6; Jn 1:1-5,14; 8:58,59; 20:28; Acts 20:28; Rom. 9:5; 10:9-13; Phil. 2:9-11; Col. 1:15,16; 2:9; Tit. 2:13; Heb. 1:3,8; II Pet. 1:1]

    • The Holy Spirit is God

      • But Peter said, Ananias, why has Satan filled your heart for you to lie to the Holy Spirit, and to keep back part of the price of the land? While it remained, was it not your own? And after it was sold, was it not in your own authority? Why have you conceived this thing in your heart? You have not lied to men, but to God. (Acts 5:3,4) [cf. II Cor. 3:17]

    • The Father is one with the Son

      • I and the Father are one. (John 10:30)

    • The Holy Spirit is one with the Father and the Son

      • For who among men knows the things of a man except the spirit of man within him? So also no one knows the things of God except the Spirit of God. (I Corinthians 2:11)

      But you are not in the flesh, but in the Spirit, if the Spirit of God dwells in you. But if anyone has not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of His. (Romans 8:9)

    • The Father, Son, and Holy Spirit are viewed as equally God, yet personally distinct

      • And Jesus, when He had been baptized, went up immediately out of the water. And lo, the heavens were opened to Him, and He saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and lighting upon Him. And lo, a voice from Heaven, saying, This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased. (Matthew 3:16,17)

      Therefore go and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. (Matthew 28:19)[cf. as well Ephesians 1:3-14; 4:4-6; II Cor. 13:14; Jude 20,21, etc.]

  3. Possible Misunderstandings of the Doctrine of the Trinity
    • We worship three gods
    • Father, Son, and Holy Spirit are three different names for God
    • Father, Son, and Holy Spirit are three different parts of God
    • God shows up at different times as either Father, Son, or Holy Spirit
    • Jesus is a lesser God than the Father or a created God
    • Jesus is fully God, but he was not fully man
    • The Holy Spirit is an impersonal force from God
  4. The Practical Relevance of the Doctrine of the Trinity

    5. The predominant purpose of this block class is not merely to establish that the Trinity is; much more than that, we hope to show that the Trinity is to be treasured. In other words, the doctrine of the Trinity is not some old, musty theological truth that has nothing to do with my day-to-day life. On the contrary, understanding the inter-trinitarian relationship of God is the very foundation of how to live my life in order to accomplish my created purpose. The better I understand the Trinity, the better I will be able to live a life filled with the joy of seeing and displaying the manifold glory of God. So how is this study practically relevant? Let me list three ways.

    • Understanding the Trinity allows me to understand more fully who God is. And to know God is the purpose for which we were created, and our only eternal delight.
    • Understanding the Trinity allows me to understand more fully my own relationship to God, which is the foundation of all true joy.
    • Understanding the Trinity allows me to understand more fully my mission in this life: spreading the gospel of God, which is about his Son, as empowered by the Holy Spirit.

Using John 17 as our primary text, let’s turn our discussion to these points.

Who is the Triune God?

  1. The Inter-Trinitarian Relationship of the Father and Son
    • They are eternally united in a mutual indwelling

      • You, Father, are in Me, and I in You (vs. 21)

      We are one (vs. 22)

    • They are eternally united in a mutual love

      • You have loved Me before the foundation of the world (vs. 24)

    • In their eternal love and fellowship, they bring glory to one another

      • Glorify Your Son so that Your Son also may glorify You (vs. 1)

      I have glorified You upon the earth. I have finished the work which You have given Me to do. And now Father, glorify Me with Yourself with the glory which I had with You before the world was (vss. 4, 5)

    • The Son brings glory to the Father by obeying his will

      • I have glorified You upon the earth. I have finished the work which You have given Me to do. (vs. 4)

      I have revealed Your name to the men whom You gave to Me out of the world. (vs. 6)

    • The Father brings glory to the Son by giving him a people [cf.. Philippians 2:5-11]

      • Glorify Your Son so that Your Son also may glorify You, even as You have given Him authority over all flesh so that He should give eternal life to all You have given Him (vss. 1, 2)

      And all Mine are Yours, and Yours are Mine; and I am glorified in them (vs. 10)

  2. The Inter-Trinitarian Relationship of the Father and The Holy Spirit
    • The Father sends the Holy Spirit to reveal his true nature

      • And I will pray the Father, and He shall give you another Comforter, so that He may be with you forever, the Spirit of Truth, whom the world cannot receive because it does not see Him nor know Him. But you know Him, for He dwells with you and shall be in you (Jn. 14:16, 17)

    • The Holy Spirit searches and reveals the truths of God

      • But God has revealed them to us by His Spirit; for the Spirit searches all things, yea, the deep things of God (I Cor. 2:10)

  3. The Inter-Trinitarian Relationship of the Son and the Spirit
    • The Son sends the Holy Spirit to reveal his true nature

      • And when the Comforter has come, whom I will send to you from the Father, the Spirit of truth who proceeds from the Father…

    • The Holy Spirit searches and reveals the truths of Christ

      • …He shall testify of Me (Jn. 15:26)

What is Our Relationship to the Triune God?

  1. We were made to enjoy fellowship with the Triune God

    2. And this is life eternal, that they might know You, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom You have sent (vs. 3)

  2. In Adam, we lost our fellowship with God

    3. …through one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin, and so death passed on all men inasmuch as all sinned. (Romans 5:12)

  3. In Christ, we enter into the Inter-Trinitarian fellowship

    4. Keep them in Your name, those whom You have given Me, so that they may be one as We are. (vs. 11)

    And I do not pray for these alone, but for those also who shall believe on Me through their word, that they all may be one, as You, Father, are in Me, and I in You, that they also may be one in Us (vss. 20, 21)

    And I have given them the glory which You have given Me, that they may be one, even as We are one, I in them, and You in Me, that they may be made perfect in one (vss. 22, 23)

    • In this fellowship we see the glory of God

      • Father, I desire that those whom You have given Me, that they may be with Me where I am, that they may behold My glory which You have given Me, for You have loved Me before the foundation of the world (vs. 24)

      O righteous Father, indeed the world has not known You; but I have known You, and these have known that You have sent me. And I made known to them Your name, and will make it known (vss. 25, 26)

    • In this fellowship we experience the inter-trinitarian love of God

      • I in them, and You in Me, that they may be made perfect in one; and that the world may know that You have sent Me and have loved them as You have loved Me. (vs. 23)

      And I made known to them Your name, and will make it known, so that the love with which You have loved Me may be in them, and I in them. (vs. 26)

    • Seeing God’s glory and experiencing his inter-trinitarian love is the foundation of our joy

      • And now I come to You, and these things I speak in the world that they might have My joy fulfilled in them. (vs. 13)

      On the cross, the inter-trinitarian fellowship was broken, so that we might be brought in to experience all of its privileges!

How Does Our Relationship to the Triune God Shape Our Mission to the World?

The doctrine of the Trinity teaches us that God is, by his very nature, a covenant God. God is involved in an eternal, inter-trinitarian covenant of love. In the overflow of joy in this covenant relationship, God created a world which was also in covenant relationship with himself. He then created man, who was especially to show forth his image and enjoy his covenant of love. Man sinned, and broke the covenant of love; in this fall, even the earth was impacted, so that the covenant was marred. But in his grace, God renewed the covenant, so that, through Christ, the covenant with all of creation might be redeemed, and the covenant with man might be restored. God initially commanded man to subdue the earth in expression of his image. In the New Covenant, God commands man to conquer the corrupted earth through the preaching of the gospel, and thereby to restore the whole world to fellowship with God. This is done on the basis of Christ’s absolute authority. It is accomplished according to the decree of the Father, and by the power of the Spirit as he applies the work of Christ to those who belong to Christ all over the world. This is our task as Christians while we remain on this earth (Matthew 28:18,20). And one day this task will be accomplished, and the whole world will rejoice in a blood-bought and unshakeable covenant with the triune God. And all the redeemed will glorify God as they see his glory, rejoice in it, and share the love of the persons of the Trinity, as they are one in Christ — one with God as fully as the Father is one with the Son. How is all this to come about?

  1. Christ was sent into the world to accomplish a restored fellowship with God; we are sent into the world to proclaim a restored fellowship with God

    2. As You have sent Me into the world, even so I have sent them into the world (vs.18)

  2. The world will believe in Christ when they see the reality of the covenant fellowship we have with him

    3. that they all may be one, as You, Father, are in Me, and I in You, that they also may be one in Us, so that the world may believe that You have sent Me. (vs. 21)

  3. The world will see the reality of our covenant fellowship when they see the reality of our love

    4. I in them, and You in Me, that they may be made perfect in one; and that the world may know that You have sent Me and have loved them as You have loved Me. (vs. 23)

    By this all shall know that you are My disciples, if you have love toward one another. (Jn. 13:35)

    At that day you shall know that I am in My Father, and you in Me, and I in you. He who has My commandments and keeps them, he it is who loves Me. And he who loves Me shall be loved by My Father, and I will love him and will reveal Myself to him. (Jn. 14:20, 21)

  4. The reality of our covenant love is seen when we live in obedience to the covenant obligations

    5. Jesus answered and said to him, If a man loves Me, he will keep My Word. And My Father will love him, and We will come to him and make Our abode with him. (Jn. 14:23)

Questions for Discussion

Topics: Scripture Lists |

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