An overview of the Trinity for discussion

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The Trinity
Deeper 05 – November 2010
The majority of information derived from
William Lane Craig's Defenders Class.
http://www.reasonablefaith.org

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Any Analogies?
 Did you come up with any analogies?

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What do we believe?
 We believe in one God, the Father, the Almighty maker of heaven and
earth, of all that is seen and unseen. We believe in one Lord, Jesus Christ,
the only Son of God, eternally begotten of the Father, God from God, Light
from Light, true God from true God, begotten, not made, one in Being with
the Father. Through him all things were made. For us men and for our
salvation he came down from heaven by the power of the Holy Spirit he
was born of the Virgin Mary, and became man. For our sake he was
crucified under Pontius Pilate; he suffered, died, and was buried. On the
third day he rose again in fulfillment of the Scriptures; he ascended into
heaven and is seated at the right hand of the Father. He will come again in
glory to judge the living and the dead, and his kingdom will have no end.
We believe in the Holy Spirit, the Lord, the giver of Life, who proceeds
from the Father and the Son. With the Father and the Son he is worshiped
and glorified. He has spoken through the Prophets. We believe in one holy
catholic and apostolic Church. We acknowledge one baptism for the
forgiveness of sins. We look for the resurrection of the dead, and the life of
the world to come.

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What is the Trinity?
 The Trinity is that God (the Father), Jesus Christ (the Son), and
the Holy Spirit are simultaneously three distinct beings, and all
the same being, none subserviant to another, all three with
complete equality and a single will. There was no time when
any did not exist.

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What The Trinity Is Not
 Arianism - Believe that the Father existed before the Son, the Son
was created by the Father, and there was a time when the Son did
not exist.
 Macedonianism - Denied the deity of the Holy Spirit, asserting it
was a servent, similar to the angels.
 Monarchianism - The denial of three separate beings in the Trinity.
 Modalist Monarchianism - Held that God was a single being, and
that Father / Son / Spirit were simply three modes of the same
being, only one being possible at a time.
 Subordinationism - Any doctrine that subordinates one being of
the Trinity to another.

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Father - Distinct
 Matt 11:27 - All things have been committed to me by my
Father. No one knows the Son except the Father, and no one
knows the Father except the Son and those to whom the Son
chooses to reveal him
 Matt 26:39 - Going a little farther, he fell with his face to the
ground and prayed, “My Father, if it is possible, may this cup be
taken from me. Yet not as I will, but as you will.”
 John 14:16 - And I will ask the Father, and he will give you
another advocate to help you and be with you forever—

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Father - God
 Psalm 89:26 - He will call out to me, ‘You are my Father, my
God, the Rock my Savior.’
 Isaiah 63:16 - But you are our Father, though Abraham does
not know us or Israel acknowledge us; you, LORD, are our
Father, our Redeemer from of old is your name.
 Matthew 6:9 - This, then, is how you should pray: Our Father in
heaven, hallowed be your name.

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Son - Distinct
 Mark 1:9-11- At that time Jesus came from Nazareth in Galilee and was
baptized by John in the Jordan. Just as Jesus was coming up out of the
water, he saw heaven being torn open and the Spirit descending on him
like a dove. And a voice came from heaven: “You are my Son, whom I
love; with you I am well pleased.”
 John 17:1-5 - After Jesus said this, he looked toward heaven and
prayed: “Father, the hour has come. Glorify your Son, that your Son may
glorify you. For you granted him authority over all people that he might
give eternal life to all those you have given him. Now this is eternal life:
that they know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom you have
sent. I have brought you glory on earth by finishing the work you gave me
to do. And now, Father, glorify me in your presence with the glory I had
with you before the world began.
 John 16:7 - But very truly I tell you, it is for your good that I am going
away. Unless I go away, the Advocate will not come to you; but if I go, I will
send him to you.

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Son - God
 1 Corinthians 12:3 - Therefore I want you to know that no one
who is speaking by the Spirit of God says, “Jesus be cursed,”
and no one can say, “Jesus is Lord,” except by the Holy Spirit.
 Colossians 1:15 - The Son is the image of the invisible God,
the firstborn over all creation.
 Titus 2:13 - while we wait for the blessed hope—the appearing
of the glory of our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ,
 John 20:28 - Thomas said to him, “My Lord and my God!”

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Holy Spirit - Distinct
 2 Corinthians 13:14 - May the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ,
and the love of God, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be
with you all
 Romans 8:26-27 - In the same way, the Spirit helps us in our
weakness. We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the
Spirit himself intercedes for us through wordless groans. And
he who searches our hearts knows the mind of the Spirit,
because the Spirit intercedes for God’s people in accordance
with the will of God
 Matthew 28:19 - Therefore go and make disciples of all nations,
baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of
the Holy Spirit

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Holy Spirit - God
 Matthew 12:28 - But if it is by the Spirit of God that I drive out
demons, then the kingdom of God has come upon you.
 Acts 5:3-4 - Then Peter said, “Ananias, how is it that Satan has so
filled your heart that you have lied to the Holy Spirit and have kept
for yourself some of the money you received for the land? Didn’t it
belong to you before it was sold? And after it was sold, wasn’t the
money at your disposal? What made you think of doing such a
thing? You have not lied just to human beings but to God.”
 Romans 8:9 - You, however, are not in the realm of the flesh but
are in the realm of the Spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God lives in
you. And if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, they do not
belong to Christ.

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Jews & The Trinity
 The Jewish idea of God is that God is One and Indivisible. We
cannot divide God up but somehow make them one and the same.
 Isaiah 44:6, where God tells us, "I am the first, and I am the last;
and beside me there is no God."
 When Isaiah tells us that God said, "I am the first," it means that
God has no father.
 When Isaiah tells us that God said, "I am the last," it means that
God has no literal son.
 And when Isaiah tells us that God said, "Besides me there is no
God," it means that God does not share being God with any other
god, or demi-god, or semi-god, or persons, and there is no trinity.

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Jehovah Witnesses & The Trinity
 Jesus cannot be God because He was created. The verse they
use here is Colossians 1:15, "And He is the image of the
invisible God, the first-born of all creation.”
 John 14:28 How can Jesus be equal to God if here He states
'the Father is greater than I’?

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Mormans & The Trinty
 Latter-day Saints believe in the three members of the
Godhead—the Father, Son, and the Holy Ghost as separate
beings.
 The first Article of LDS faith states that “We believe in God the
Eternal Father, and in His Son Jesus Christ, and in the Holy
Ghost”. That is the Trinity.

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Muslims & The Trinity
 The Qur'an 5:72-73 They do blaspheme who say: "Allah is
Christ the son of Mary.” But said Christ: "O children of Israel!
Worship Allah my Lord and your Lord.” Whoever joins other
gods with Allah Allah will forbid him the garden and the Fire will
be his abode. There will for the wrong-doers be no one to help.
They do blaspheme who say: Allah is one of three [in a Trinity]:
for there is no god except One Allah. If they desist not from
their word (of blasphemy) verily a grievous penalty will befall
the blasphemers among them.

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Over To You
 Do you agree on my explanation of the Trinity?
 Is it possible to explain the Trinity?
 Does the Trinity need to be understood?