Understanding The Trinity: Difficult Doctrines / Greg Bahnsen

This recording has been released into the public domain by the Bonsen Institute, where we aim to bring into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ.

Welcome to our course on difficult doctrines of the Bible. There are a number of such difficult doctrines, and the one that we're going to tackle first in our course is the doctrine of the Trinity. Please open your Bibles with me then to Isaiah, the 55th chapter, which will be the theme text for our entire course on difficult doctrines, Isaiah 55. And I'd like to begin reading at the sixth verse. Hear God's word, Seek ye Jehovah while he may be found. Call ye upon him while he is near. Let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts, and let him return unto Jehovah, and he will have mercy upon him and to our God, for he will abundantly pardon. For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, saith Jehovah. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts. And thus far, the reading of God's word. Isaiah tells us right here in the 55th chapter of his prophecy, that when God speaks to us, we should expect expect to find difficult thoughts in his revelation. For after all, according to the Lord, we do not think as he thinks. We don't think as he thinks. First of all, because we are sinful, we have departed from Him. We must forsake our sinful patterns of thinking. We must return to the Lord. And so we have this call for repentance. But Isaiah also tells us that God dwells on a plane much higher than man, that God's thoughts are mysterious to man. God says, my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts. God tells us that he is incomprehensible, that he is not like a man, that he is not limited as we are. And so when we get ready to think about God and to learn of him, the problem is not simply that we are sinful. For even if we were sin free, if we could be in the place of Adam in the garden, before he fell into rebellion against God and was cursed by God, even if we didn't have sin obscuring our thinking, we would still find mystery in what we think about God. For God is higher than man, his thoughts are higher than our thoughts. And indeed God is more mysterious than men might expect. God is certainly far more mysterious than what men would dream up if they were left to themselves. When we read what the Bible has to tell us about the nature of God and especially his tri unity, we find that this is not the sort of thing that anybody would have come up with on his own. This is not the sort of God that men devise. And that's because at the heart of the Christian faith and its understanding of God is the mystery of the Trinity. The mystery of the Trinity is a conceptual problem. We're going to be dealing in our class with other things which are more emotional problems for people, such as the doctrine of hell. Many people who don't understand or reject the doctrine of hell do so because they find it emotionally displeasing. It's very dreadful. It's a dark. It's a hard doctrine. The doctrine of the Trinity, however, is difficult even for people who don't have emotional problems with what God is or what he says about himself. I have no difficulty in terms of my emotions accepting the tri unity of God. But it's a great mystery conceptually nonetheless. It's more of an intellectual problem than it is an emotional one. But I don't think we should, at the outset be too concerned that the very nature and essence of God is mysterious. Stop and think about the alternative. If the nature of God were not a great mystery to men, we would have to suspect, wouldn't we, that you have here a human creation. This concept of God that is being used would be one that's subject to man's limitations and the sort of thing man might create on his own. And thus you wouldn't be dealing with God at all. This isn't to say that the door is open to believing just anything you want about God. Sometimes people say, well, God is a mystery, and therefore you can believe all these weird ideas that people come up with. I'm not suggesting that, but I am saying that if we have found out what God is truly like, it shouldn't surprise us that it's a mystery, the very essence of God's nature or his character. Because God is greater than man. Because man is finite and man is fallible and fallen, God's thoughts being higher than our thoughts, even as God himself is higher than man. It isn't a surprise that the Trinity would be a difficult doctrine for us. In order to introduce the doctrine of the Trinity, turn with me in your Bibles to 1 Corinthians 8, 5, 6 1st Corinthians 8. I'd like to read just verses 5 and 6 for you here, Paul. For though there be that are called gods, whether in heaven or on earth, as there are Gods many and Lords many, yet to us there is one God, the Father of whom are all things, and we unto him, and one Lord Jesus Christ, through whom are all things. We through Him. At the very beginning of our consideration then we notice that the Apostle Paul speaks of two things emphatically. He says, for us there's only one God. Christians are monotheists. We believe that there's only one deity, one God. And yet Paul, without seeming to have lost his place conceptually. It's not as though Paul just starts, you know, going a little wacko in his thinking. Paul mentions both the Father and the Son as being this one God. There's a multiplicity of persons. And yet he is speaking of that multiplicity in a passage where his emphasis is upon the singularity of God already. Then we see the beginning hint here of the full blown doctrine of the Trinity as it's found in Christian orthodoxy. The main idea that I want to share with you in our lesson tonight is that the indispensable mystery which is at the heart of the Christian faith is that God is three persons in one substance. If you want to get that into your notes, that's the key idea that we're going to be developing, that the indispensable mystery at the heart of the Christian faith is that God is three persons in one substance. This is what we call the doctrine of the Trinity. And I hope you can see in the word Trinity both aspects of this main idea that God is three persons. There you have the tri ness of God and that it's one substance is the unity of God. So you have both the tri and the unity, which is to say the Trinity. And so the Trinity, I'm arguing, is the indispensable mystery that's at the heart of of the Christian faith. It is a mystery and yet an indispensable one. It's at the very heart of the Christian faith. It is what makes Christianity. Christianity sets it off over against the other religions of the world and against the heretical cults that are all about us. It's at the very heart of the Christian faith. God is three persons and one substance. Let's take a look at the development of the doctrine in the Trinity. Somebody might say, well, Dr. Bronson, now that you've mentioned what the Trinity is and given us some idea of its concept, the concept of the Trinity, where do we find this word Trinity in the Bible? Where could we go in the Bible So that we might prove this? Of course. Wouldn't you be happy if I could just say, oh yeah, well, here's the particular text, let's turn to it. But the word Trinity does not appear in the Bible. The word Trinity is a word that comes from the history of Christian theology. I think it's a word that is very helpful and so forth. But we don't look for it specifically in the Bible. But the concept of the Trinity is found in the Bible. And I believe that the concept of the Trinity is found in the Bible from the very beginning. And it works its way out throughout the progressive revelation of God that we find from COVID to cover in the Scriptures. So let's begin first of all with the Old Testament and ask how does the Old Testament teach the doctrine of the Trinity? At the very beginning of the Bible, Genesis chapter one, verses one, two and three, we have a description of the creation of this world by God. And in those three verses you'll find that there are three agents mentioned. In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. But it's not just God that is active at the time of creation, it's also the Word of God. God speaks and things happen. Moreover, the Bible tells us that the Spirit of God was brooding over the face of the waters. And so a mention of God, word and Spirit in the opening verses of the Bible, that is not a full blown doctrine of the Trinity. Obviously, God is going to give a lot more information as Revelation progresses through the ages. But what I want to point out to you is you can't open your Bible without beginning in those very opening verses of Genesis. To see already an indication of the doctrine of the Trinity. In the Old Testament, God sometimes refers to Himself in the plural form. In Genesis 1:26, you'll see a good example of that. Also Genesis 11, verses 5 through 7, God refers to Himself in the plural, saying, let us do this or Let us do that. And it would be easy to ask that question, who's the us here? God's referring to Himself, but he's referring to Himself in the plural. Now, Jews who reject the doctrine of the Trinity try to get around this by saying, God is referring to the heavenly court, the angels. So it's God and the angels who do these certain things. The only problem is God created the angels as well. They are not on a par with Him. Yet God refers to Himself in the plural form. In the 18th chapter of Genesis, we have another interesting account that gives us some insight to the doctrine of the Trinity. In the Old Testament. There, in Genesis 18, God appeared to Abraham, and God appeared to Abraham in the form of three visitors. Three visitors. This is God's appearance to Abraham. In Genesis 32 and other passages we read of the angel of the Lord being sent by God, and yet the angel of the Lord is identified with God. Again, when you have time at home, look at Genesis 32 for yourself. You notice that interesting combination of things. You have the angel of the Lord, and so in that sense distinct from the Lord, and yet the angel is identified with the Lord. Distinctness, yet identical. The way of saying there's a plurality of persons in the unity of God. We're not using abstract terms when we read the biblical account, but that's what lies behind the story. The angel of the Lord is distinct from the Lord, and yet is the Lord. And this already you see in the Book of Genesis. I've emphasized these accounts in the Book of Genesis because I don't want you to have the idea that the doctrine of the Trinity is something that's brand new when we get to the New Testament, nor is it something that's late in the development of biblical doctrine. Already in the first book of the Bible, we're having some difficulty understanding the very essence or nature of God. God is a plurality. We have the reference to God and the Word and the Spirit, and we have these three visitors that are visiting Abraham and the angel of the Lord that is distinct from and yet identical with the Lord. Moreover, in the Old Testament, you'll find not only the word of God personified, but the wisdom of God. In Psalm 33:6, the word of God is spoken of as though it is a person. And in Proverbs, the eighth chapter, the wisdom of God is spoken of as though it is a person. It has been thought by many theologians that these indications are also a foreshadowing of the doctrine of the Trinity as we find it more fully revealed in the New Testament. And then hurrying along, let's look at one text in the Old Testament specifically, Isaiah 48:16. The prophecy of Isaiah the 48:16 is somewhat mysterious until we have understood the doctrine of the Trinity. Isaiah 48:16. Come ye near unto me, hear ye. From the beginning I have not spoken in secret. From the time that it was, there am I. And now the Lord Jehovah hath sent me, and his Spirit. Now the speaker of these words claims to be, from the time of the beginning, from the time that it was there am I. And this speaker has been sent by the Lord Jehovah. And so you have the speaker, the Eternal One sent by the Lord Jehovah, and we have the mention of his Spirit. And so again, we have a text in the Old Testament which, in terms of the limited information available at that time, would have been very difficult to understand. But looking back now from the perspective of the New Testament, we see already an indication of the doctrine of the Trinity there. However, the revelation of the Trinity in the Bible, I think we have to recognize, is made far more in deed than it is in word. As we are Christian theologians, we use words to describe God, and the doctrine of the Trinity comes out verbally, and that's very appropriate. But the Bible does not develop a doctrine of the Trinity and give us words for that. What the Bible does is display the Trinity in terms of the activity of God, the deeds, if you will, in which God engages to show himself to men. And so when we come to the New Testament, we begin to see the doctrine of the Trinity revealed graphically, undeniably, but not so much because we have a doctrine revealed of the Trinity, but because we have the Trinity itself displayed. Indeed, Jesus comes into this world as God the Son, displaying someone who is distinct from the Father and yet claiming to be equal with the Father. Jesus and the Father send the Spirit into the church the day of Pentecost and thereafter displaying in deed and in power the third person of the Trinity. And so the doctrine of the Trinity, though we're going to look at it in word, I want you to realize, was shown to God's people because God himself came to his people and they saw played out in their very presence the doctrine of the Trinity in the Incarnation, in the day of Pentecost, the coming of the Spirit. Let's look at two or three passages in the New Testament, then, that develop more fully these Old Testament foreshadowings or hints of the doctrine of the Trinity. The one that is best known, I'm sure, is the great commission found at the end of Matthew's Gospel, Matthew, chapter 28, Matthew 28:18. Jesus, we read, came to them and spake unto them, saying, all authority hath been given unto me in heaven and on earth. Go ye therefore, and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them into the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. You may recall the baptism of Jesus himself, that according to the Bible, when he was baptized, he stood in the Jordan river where John the baptizer was to perform this ritual. And there was a voice from heaven, this is my beloved Son, the voice of the Father, speaking about His Son. And then the Spirit of God, as a dove descending, comes upon Jesus in his baptism. So the baptism of Jesus already shows us three divine personages, the Father speaking, the Son being baptized, and the Holy Spirit descending upon him. Now, when Jesus sends us out into the world to baptize you, notice that he names three persons, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. There are three names. However, baptism is said to be into the name singular of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. This is a very inadequate human example. But if I were to send you out and say, I want you to do something in the name and authority of Bill, Ted, and Herman, you'd say, well, which name is it that authorizes this? Is it Bill, is it Ted, or is it Herman? We would rather say, go do this in the names of these three. Although Jesus names three the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, he says the baptism is into the singular name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. We account for that because we believe God is one. There is one Name, and and yet this One name is three persons, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. In First Corinthians 8, 5, 6 that we began our class with today, we saw that Paul emphasizes the oneness of God for us. There is one God, and yet Paul recognizes the Father and the Son as being this one God. And then one more New testament text. Ephesians 4, 4, 5, 6, Ephesians 4, beginning at the fourth verse. There is one body and one Spirit, even as also you were called in one hope of your calling, one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all, and in all the oneness of God. This is part of the unity of the Christian faith. Paul speaks of one faith, one baptism, and so forth. And there's one God. But Paul mentions this one God as being the Spirit, the Lord and the Father. And so three persons, right in the midst of a text that emphasizes the oneness of God. So from the very beginning of the Bible, the Book of Genesis, in fact the creation account, we begin to see the mystery of a plurality of persons in the oneness of God. This then comes to expression in the New Testament, is played out indeed, right in the presence of God's people, with Jesus the Son coming into the world and then sending the Spirit on the day of Pentecost. And we see reflections of this plurality of persons and yet oneness of God in a number of New Testament texts. Matthew 28, First Corinthians 8, and Ephesians 4. Now, how can we use the Scripture to Prove the doctrine of the Trinity. I've tried to show you its biblical development very quickly here from Old to New Testament. But someone might say, well, how can the Bible prove the doctrine of the Trinity? When you talk to a Jehovah's Witness or to other cultic groups that deny the Trinity, it'd be good for you to know that there are two ways to prove the doctrine of the Trinity. One way is to look at specific texts that mention the plurality of persons and the unity of God. That is a specific singular text or passage where God is said to be one, and yet God is Father and Son, or Father, Son and Spirit. And we've already done that already. We've seen three of those in the New Testament. Matthew 28, 1 Corinthians 8, Ephesians 4. Direct testimony to the plurality of persons in one God is available to us. But there is an equally good way to prove the doctrine of the Trinity, and that is to prove it by way of inference. That is to say, we go throughout the Bible and we pick up various truths that are taught to us, and we bring these together, we synthesize them, bring them together, and we come up with the doctrine of the Trinity by way of inference. As you might guess, there are some people who don't like that. They say if anything is going to be taught, it's got to be taught in one place in the Bible. Well, I've already shown you how it's taught in more than just one of those one places in the Bible. That's fine. But there's absolutely nothing wrong with taking what the Bible teaches from COVID to cover and bringing it together in form, formulating doctrines by way of inference as well. Let's stop and think about our theological methodology for a moment. Do we believe in the virgin birth of Christ? Yes, we do. Well, there are some places in the Bible that speak of the birth of Jesus, but do not refer to him being born of a virgin. Somebody might say, see, there you have it. The Bible doesn't teach the virgin birth of Christ. You say, well, but the Bible does teach it at another text somewhere else. And so we take what that text says and the text that we're now looking at, and we bring them together and we have a combined understanding of features of the birth of our Savior Jesus Christ. No one complains when we do that, because everyone knows that if the Bible is God's word from COVID to cover, then God doesn't have to say everything at once. And yet everything that God says, we have to take account of in our theology. There is nothing wrong then with proving doctrines by way of inference. And that's what I'm going to be doing in the next section then of our class today. I'm going to try to teach the doctrine of the Trinity to you, but by way of inference, rather than looking at one specific passage and seeing all the features of the Trinity in it. So let's see if we can bring together some truths that are found throughout the Bible. First of all, the Bible teaches us that there is but one only the living and true God. The Bible is monotheistic, and this is not difficult to prove. Let's consider Deuteronomy 6:4 as a text that will undergird that first step in our developing doctrine of the Trinity. Deuteronomy 6:4. This is the Shema of Israel, the confession of faith that every Israelite must make. Hear, O Israel, Jehovah, our God is one. Or your translation may have the Lord our God in the place of Jehovah. The Bible emphasizes that God is one God. There's not many gods. The pagan neighbors of Israel had many gods. For them there were lords, many. There was a Lord of the countryside and a Lord of the sea, and a Lord of fertility, and a Lord for the city and for merchants and for travelers. And on and on and on it went. There were many lords. But Israel was to hear this confession. Jehovah, our God is one. And so the Bible teaches there is only one God. The Bible is monotheistic. And yet the Bible teaches that Jesus, the man who came into this world, was born of a woman, lived in Nazareth, eventually was crucified. The Bible teaches us that this historical person, Jesus, is God as well. Jesus did things according to the New Testament which were appropriate only for God. If you look at Luke 5, 20, 21, you'll notice that Jesus forgives a man of his sins. He says, your sins be forgiven. His opponents come to him and say, listen, only God can forgive sins. Jesus says, you're exactly right. Here's a man and yet a man who is God, or at least acting with divine prerogatives. In Matthew the 4th chapter, verse 10, as well as the 28th chapter, verse 17, we read that Jesus received worship from men. But only God is to be worshipped according to the law of God. And yet Jesus willingly accepted that worship. In the pages of the New Testament, Jesus is called the Son of God. In a completely unique sense, Jesus is the Son of God in a way different from the way in which I or you might be sons of God. In Fact. Jesus teaches us that when he speaks of my Father and your father, he indicates there's a difference in his relationship to the Father, his sonship, from the one in which we enjoy being redeemed by his grace. In fact, the sense in which Jesus was the Son of God made him out to be equal with God himself. In John 5:18, we get an indication of that. We might want to turn to that briefly. John 5:18, we read for this cause, therefore, the Jews sought the more to kill him because he not only break the Sabbath, but also called God his own father. Listen to this. Making himself equal with God. And then In John the 10th chapter, we see a dispute between Jesus and his Jewish opponents. And because he made himself out to be equal with God, they wanted to stone him for blasphemy. So here we have the Bible teaching there's only one God. And yet Jesus makes himself equal with this one God. And he performs the prerogatives of deity, forgiving sin, and accepting the worship of men. In John 10, verse 30, Jesus said, I and my Father are one. And then in the 14th chapter of John's Gospel, verse 9, Jesus says, anyone who has seen me has seen the Father. In the pages of the New Testament, we have Jesus appearing, claiming to be God himself. According to the teaching of the apostles, Jesus is equal with God the Father in eternality. In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God. And the Word was God. And this Word created everything. So from the very outset, the Word was there. The Word was not created by God. The Word was God and was there from the very beginning, so equal in eternality. In his high priestly prayer, Jesus speaks of the glory, the eternal glory that was his with the Father. From the very beginning, Jesus says that he has sovereignty over all things, even as the Father has sovereignty over all. In John 16, verse 15. Thus Paul tells us in Philippians the second chapter, verse 6, that Jesus did not consider equality with God a thing. He had to grasp after Jesus didn't have to try to work his way up. You see, on the scale of being or grasp after that dignity or status of being equal with God. He had it all along. It was His. It could not be lost. In the New Testament we find the most sacred name of God from Old Testament Scripture, Jehovah, meaning I am. This most sacred name for God is claimed by Jesus. He says, before Abraham was, I am. I am Jehovah, the One of Old. In fact, there are texts in the New Testament which quote the Old Testament where the Old Testament speaks of Jehovah speaks of Yahweh, the living and true God, the one God over all things. And these Old Testament texts speaking of Jehovah are applied to Jesus in the New Testament. Jesus is Jehovah. An example would be found in Joel 2:32, calling upon the name of Jehovah to be saved. And that's applied to Jesus in Romans 10:13. All who call on the name of the Lord. The word Lord is a substitute for Jehovah. In Old Testament Scriptures, those who call on the name of the Lord, meaning Jesus shall be saved. And so Jesus is Jehovah. When Thomas finally encountered the resurrected Savior, you remember what he cried out? My Lord and my God. Jesus doesn't rebuke him and say, oh no, that's far too great an honor, Thomas. No, that's quite appropriate for Jesus, according to the teaching of the Bible, is God Himself. John 1:1 in the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. So you have the Word and you have God. The Word is with God, separate personages, and yet the Word is God. In Hebrews 1:8 we read about the Son. He said, you, throne, O God is forever and ever. And so the Son is the eternal God. In Romans 9:5, Paul refers to Christ, who is overall God blessed forever. And in first John 5:20, the apostle John says, his Son Jesus Christ is the true God and eternal life. Or think of the author of Hebrews chapter one, verse three of that epistle, Hebrews 1:3, His Son, who is the radiance of God's glory and the exact representation of his substance. And in the text that I have always found the most difficult for people who deny the deity of Christ. To get around Colossians 2, verse 6, we read who, being in the form of God, did not regard equality with God. Something to be grasped. Jesus doesn't have to grasp after deity. Colossians 2:9 for in him dwells all the fullness of deity, bodily and bodily form. The fullness of what God is comes to expression in this man Jesus, who had flesh and blood, who had a body, as John 1:14 says the word, the Word that was in the beginning with God, and was God. This Word was made flesh, flesh and dwelt among us. We could look at a number of other proof texts. I've been trying to fly through these quickly just so there wouldn't be any doubt about the New Testament's claim. One more that might be mentioned, though, that I think is interesting. In Acts 20, verse 28, we find an expression that is awfully hard to account for if we don't think the New Testament presents Jesus as God himself. We read the expression God's own blood. God's own blood. Well, now, the blood here obviously refers to this person, Jesus, who died and shed his blood. And yet that blood is called God's own blood. So clearly the writer here, Luke, and the writers of the New Testament looked upon Jesus as fully God. So we're trying to develop the doctrine of the Trinity inferentially. And what we have is two steps. We know that there's only one God according to the teaching of the Bible. And yet the Bible tells us that Jesus is God, and Jesus prays to the Father as God. Moreover, according to the teaching of God's Word, there are three persons, not just two, three persons that are this one God. The Holy Spirit, along with the Father and the Son, is presented as God. We've seen this in Matthew 28:19, where the Father, Son and Holy Spirit are on a par. And we can see it in the way that the New Testament speaks of the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit is presented as having the names of God, the attributes of God, the works of God, and as receiving the worship that's appropriate to God only. Let's look at each one of those real quickly. First of all, in terms of the names of God, in Acts 5, verses 3 and 4, Ananias and Sapphira come under the judgment of God. And it said that they lied to the Holy Spirit, and that's why they received the judgment of God. And then we go on to read, you have not lied to men, but to God. And so by lying to the Holy Spirit, they lied to God according to Acts the fifth chapter. And so here the Spirit has the name God himself. By the way, if we had time, I could show you text in the New Testament that quote the Old Testament referring to Jehovah and apply those Old Testament references to Jehovah to the Holy Spirit. In the same way that Jesus has Old Testament texts about Jehovah applied to him. That also happens with respect to the Holy Spirit. But let's move on. The attributes of God are attributed to the Holy Spirit in the New Testament as well. In First Corinthians 2:10, we read that no one knows the thoughts of God except the Spirit of God, even as no one knows the thoughts of a man but the Spirit of the man himself. The Spirit thinks God's own thoughts. Moreover, the Spirit does the works of God. Genesis 1, verse 2. We've already referred to earlier in our class there we see the Spirit was active at the time of creation. Just as God is the Creator, the Spirit is said to be the Creator. In 1st Peter 3:18, the Holy Spirit is the one who raised Jesus from the dead, performs miracles, bringing the dead to life. And so the works of God are done by the Spirit. The attributes of God are given to the Spirit. The names of God are attributed to the Spirit. And then as well, in Second Corinthians 13, 14, you'll notice that the worship that is given to God is given to the spirit as well. Second Corinthians 13, verse 14. Another one of these New Testament texts that shows us the three persons, the Trinity. Second Corinthians 13 and the 14th verse. The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, the love of God, and the communion of the Holy Spirit be with you all. This is what's known as the apostolic benediction. Paul here pronounces this blessing on the church. And the blessing has to come in the name of God, the good word. The benediction is in God's name. And yet the blessing comes from the Lord Jesus, the love of God, His Father, and the Holy Spirit. And so, according to the Bible, there's only one God. According to the Bible, Jesus is God. According to the Bible, the Holy Spirit is God. And moreover, they are all the same in substance, being equal in power and in glory. As a proof of that, 2nd Corinthians 3, verses 16 to 18, 2 Corinthians 3, 16, 18, we read, but whensoever it shall turn to the Lord, the veil is taken away. Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty. But we all with unveiled face, beholding, as in a mirror, the glory of the Lord are transformed into the same image from glory to glory, even as from the Lord the Spirit. Now this text in itself could call for a class to explain the way in which Paul's using these expressions, these premises. But the important thing to note is the Lord and the Spirit are not distinguished as somehow on different levels. They have the same status. In fact, the Lord is the Spirit, and we speak of the Spirit as the Spirit of the Lord. They are equal in power, in glory. I've already indicated when we looked at John 1, that the members of the Trinity are equal in eternality. And yet the Bible teaches us as well that these three persons, all of whom are God, these three persons are personally distinct. They are distinguished by their personal attributes. Look at first Peter 1, 2, another text that refers to the Trinity. And yet it's very clear here that we're dealing with three distinct persons. You would know that if you remembered the baptism of Jesus. The voice from heaven is not Jesus being a ventriloquist. After all, that's the Father speaking, but speaking of the one being baptized. And then the Spirit, descending as a dove, comes upon Jesus. These are three distinct persons, and yet they are one God first. Peter 1:2 would indicate the same about the distinction between the persons of the Trinity according to the foreknowledge of God the Father in sanctification of the Spirit unto obedience and sprinkling of the blood of Jesus Christ, Grace to you and peace be multiplied. Peter opens his salutation referring to the triune blessing of God. And God is seen here as not only the Father who foreknows, but also the Spirit that sanctifies, as well as Jesus Christ who sprinkles his blood for our salvation. And so let's see if we can put all this together. I would like to summarize this inferential development of the doctrine of the Trinity in four propositions for you. So if you're taking notes, you want to get these down. I would say that what we have seen, beginning with the monotheistic proof text, through the proofs of Jesus, Deity and the Spirit's deity, and their equality, as well as their personal distinctions, what we have seen are four things. First, we are taught the true unity, simplicity and indivisibility of God. In these texts, the true unity, simplicity and indivisibility of God. God is one. But secondly, we have taught that God exists in three persons. There is only one God. God is indivisible, and yet God exists in three persons. Thirdly, each of these persons is fully divine, not merely part of God, but is fully God. Remember Colossians 2:9. In him dwells all the fullness of Deity bodily. Jesus isn't one third of God. He is all of God. He is the fullness of God in bodily form. And then, fourthly, we have learned that these three have personal distinctions. There are three distinct persons, all of whom are fully God. Now, it's very easy at this point for us to fall into using analogies for the Trinity to try to make the doctrine a little bit easier. Many teachers would say, well, this is mysterious, of course, but then we can find ways to understand this. A couple of analogies that I've heard along the way that I'd like to warn you against. First of all, there are those who will say, well, God's three and one, and that's just like an egg. Think about it. An egg has the white and the yolk and the shell. So there you have three, and yet it's one egg, right? When you hear somebody say that, you say, well, I know you mean well, but that's not the orthodox doctrine of the Trinity. Why not? Well, because the egg has three parts. It has the white, the yolk and the shell. But those three parts are not the same as each other. God is not made up of three parts. Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Yet I know many Christians get confused about that. They really do think there are three gods and they're like one because they are joined in purpose or something. But that's not the mystery of the Trinity, that there are three who work together. There is one God, and this one God is three distinct persons. Another analogy that I've heard from time to time as well. That's kind of like water, right? Water takes three forms. Our H2O takes three forms. You can find it in liquid form in water, you can find it in steam form, gaseous form. You can also find it in hardened, formed in ice. And so that's like God, three forms, but it's all H2O. Can you see the heresy that's involved here? What that is saying is that the Father, Son and Holy Spirit are just three different forms of God, or three modal expressions of God. Three modes of God's working or appearing in this world. Three functions of God, if you will. But the Bible doesn't say that God has three functions. He sometimes acts like a Father, sometimes acts like a son, sometimes appears as a spirit, but rather the Father, Son and Holy Spirit are distinct persons, and yet they are but one God. So this doctrine of the Trinity taught in the Bible is truly a mystery. In fact, I would argue that there can be no natural analogies for God. God, in the very essence of his being, is a supernatural being set apart from the created order, different from the created order. And nothing in the created order is exactly like him. There's nothing in the created order that is exactly three and yet one. And so we don't have any natural analogies, whether you want to use eggs or water or, you know, sometimes we hear, well, Dr. Bonson, you're a brother, you're a father, you're also a son. And so you're three in one, right? Yeah, but I mean, I'm also what, somebody who plays the stereo? I'm a baseball player, I'm a food consumer. I'm this and that. I mean, we put all these together but none of it comes to the doctrine of the Trinity because those are just three different relationships or three different modes and functions. I have a brother mode, I have a father mode, I have a son mode. But they are not all the same, even though it is the same person doing them. God the Father is distinct from God the Son, and God the Son is distinct from God the Spirit. And yes, they are all one. Now I will give you an analogy. You are going to tell me, well, it can't be that way. And I already know it can't be that way. But this will come closer to the orthodox doctrine of the Trinity than any of these misleading natural analogies. I want you to imagine I have three balloons here in my hand. I have a red balloon, a blue balloon, and a green balloon. And what I'm going to tell you is that in these three separate. I mean, they have three different colors, they're clearly distinct. Then these three different balloons all have the same air in them. Not the same kind of air, but the very same air that is, the air that is in the red balloon is exactly the same as the air that is in the green balloon. The very same numerically same molecules that are in the one balloon or in the other. You think about that and you say, well, I mean, how can that be? Well, it can't be. In the natural world, you can't have something that's exactly like God. But what the Bible tells us is that Jesus is fully God. He's not one third of God, and he's not just God because he is the same kind of substance that the Father and the Spirit do. He is fully God, and yet God the Father is fully God and God the Spirit is fully God, and they are distinct from one another. In order to understand the doctrine of the Trinity properly, I think we need to say a bit about the biblical teaching regarding subordination as well. We had time in our class today. We could look up some texts and you'll find them readily enough. In the New Testament where the Son is subject to the Father. And not only that, we read that the Spirit is subject to the Son and is subject to the Father. And so the Son says that he only does what the Father commands him to do. The Spirit comes to bear witness to the Son and to do the bidding of the Son. And so we clearly have a kind of subordination here. And many people have thought, oh, this is how we can understand the doctrine of the Trinity. Then you have three persons, but they're not equal with each other. One's at the highest level, the Father. Then you have one that's a little below that the Son, and a little below that the Spirit. Now, two things have to be said here. First of all, the Bible clearly teaches subordination. The Son is subordinate to the Father. The Spirit is subordinate to the Son and the Father. The second thing is the Bible does not teach subordination in terms of their reality as God. It does not teach subordination in terms of their dignity or their godness in terms of their ontological status. I know that's a fancy word, but the word ontology refers to the reality of things in terms of what they are in reality. They are all on the same plane. They are equal. There is no ontological subordination. I'll give you an example of ontological subordination. You are greater than your dog. Ontologically, you're both fully real. But one has the reality of a human being and the other the reality of a dog. In terms of the way God has made things. Animals are subordinate not only in function, but also in dignity to men. Dogs are not equal to men. However, the Bible teaches that wives are to be subordinate to their husbands as well. And in that case, you do not have ontological subordination. It's not as though the husband is more fully human than the wife. The wife is just as human as is the husband. They are ontologically on the same plane. And so what kind of subordination are we referring to? Let's go back to the husband and wife. There you have a functional subordination. The wife, though she is as fully human as the husband, nevertheless serves the desires of the husband. She functions in subordination to Him. Likewise, when the Bible speaks to us about subordination between the Son and the Father, that doesn't mean that Jesus is any less God. It does mean that he has willingly subordinated his will to that of the Father for the accomplishment of salvation. The Son is subordinate to the Father, and the Spirit is subordinate to the Son and the Father. In the history of theology, this is called economical subordination. I didn't begin with that expression, though, because that misleads you into thinking we're talking about finances. We aren't. Economics is the doctrine of function, the way things work together. And financial economics is what we're most familiar with. Economical subordination simply means that the Spirit and the Son work. They function in subordination to the Father or to the Father and the Son. But that does not mean they are not fully God. And so we have the doctrine of the Trinity then, as we see it, developed in the Bible, and as I've now inferentially tried to prove prove it to you in the Bible, the doctrine that there is only one God, he is simple and undivided. There's a singularity to God, and yet this God exists in three persons. These three persons are equal with each other in power and glory. They are fully divine, not merely parts of God. And yet they have personal distinctions. Those personal distinctions come to expression in their subordination to one another functionally, but they are not ontologically subordinate to each other. They are not any less than God, any one of them. Now, as you know, you came to this class today because it's a difficult doctrine of the Bible, this doctrine of the Trinity. You know that there are those who would detract from the doctrine of the Trinity. The doctrine of the Trinity is the great stumbling block to Jews and to Muslims who accuse Christians of departing from monotheism. Jews say that if we call Jesus fully God, we are no longer monotheistic. Muslims say the same thing. In fact, it's considered abominable according to the Koran that God should have a Son, that anyone should confess the Son as being God himself. And so we see the doctrine of the Trinity is what sets off Christians from the other people of the Book. Jews, Christians and Muslims are often lumped together as holding to Near Eastern religion of the Book. We have the Old Testament that is shared by the Jews and it's shared by the Muslims as well to some degree. And yet we are the only ones as Christians that hold to a triune conception of God. Not only does the Trinity set us apart uniquely in terms of our religion over against Jews and Muslims and all other religions of the world, if you think about it. But the Trinity also distinguishes us as Christians over against heretical denials in the early church. In the early church, the heretics will be found to have denied the Trinity because they were motivated by a desire to unify God without having to admit mystery into their understanding of God. Very early, those who wanted to say they accepted the Bible, wanted to believe that there is one God and they wanted to unify their conception of God. But they didn't want to unify God and have to admit or accept that there's mystery as to how God could be one. We have a number of ancient heresies, maybe we could mention just a few in passing to make sure that you don't fall into them. One of the ancient heresies regarding the Trinity is called Modalism. Modalism says that the Father, Son and Spirit are all modes of God, three different functions. Or as Sibelius put it, three different masks, three different appearances of the one person that is God. So a modalist is a unitarian. There's only one person that is God, but this unitarian, one person, God shows himself in three different forms. That's what Sabellius said anyway. Noatius, who was an earlier modalist, actually felt that the true God was the Father. And then the Father shows himself as a Son and the Father shows himself as a spirit. Sabellius became a little more philosophical about it. He said, no, really, God is a mysterious being behind all three masks. Father, Son, Holy Spirit. You see, what the modalists accomplished is they have one God, they've unified God, and they don't have to have mystery anymore. Another kind of heresy regarding the Trinity in the early days of the Church was patropashianism. Patropashianism is a word that means the Father suffers. And so the one who died on the cross, the one who underwent the Passion, Jesus is actually the Father. And so again, there is one person that is God, and this one God, the Father, suffered in the form of a Son. There is also the heresy of dynamic monarchicalism. According to the dynamic monarchialist, there are no personal distinctions within God. God is but one person. However, Jesus, the man of history, was awarded a special portion of the divine nature for his service to God and his saving of his people. And so Jesus gets to rise up a bit between God and man. He doesn't make him fully God. And this leads us then to the third heresy that you want to remember, and that's the Arian heresy that says that Jesus was a God. He was very high, much better than any creature. He was the best and the first created of all the creatures. And he was godlike, but he was not fully God. And so in the history of dogma, you'll read about those who say that Jesus is homo, he is like the substance of the Father. And the orthodox doctrine is that Jesus is homoos. He is exactly the same substance as the Father. But hopefully you'll see here that these heretical views of the Trinity either obliterate the distinctions between Father, Son and Spirit tending toward modalism, or they accentuate the distinctions moving in the direction of subordinationism. That's what Arius did. You have the Father who's fully God, then subordinate to him is Jesus, who is godlike. So modalism, on the one hand Subordinationism, on the other hand, two ways to get rid of mystery three and yet have but one God. The only problem with all of these attempts is that they don't live up to the full teaching of God's word. The Bible teaches us that God is indivisible and yet three persons are fully God. Every modern pseudo Christian cult deviates from the doctrine of the Trinity as well. Let me illustrate this for you briefly before we end our class today. The Jehovah's Witnesses are Arians. They believe that Jesus is God. Like very high up, but not fully God. The Worldwide Church of God, the Christadelphians the Socinians and the Unitarians throughout history have all been Arian in their view of God. Jesus never is accounted fully God from all eternity with full dignity and honor. We also have Jesus only Pentecostalists, you may have heard of this small group. They believe there's only one God and Jesus is this one God. But they don't believe the Father and the Spirit are separate from Jesus and so they deny the doctrine of the Trinity. And then Mormons also deny the doctrine of the Trinity. They believe in the deity of the Father, the Son and the Spirit, but they think these are three separate gods. In fact, there are more gods than those three in Mormon theology. And so every pseudo Christian cult, every heresy in the early church and every other world religion turn out to deny the Trinity. Beginning to see how important the doctrine of the Trinity is. The doctrine of the Trinity, as I said at the very beginning of our class, is the indispensable mystery that's at the heart of the Christian faith. God is three persons in one substance. As we end, a couple of observations for your further reflection. One of the theological insights and significance of the doctrine of the Trinity was shared with us by St. Augustine when he wrote that we must remember that God, according to the Bible, God is love. And yet God is unchanging. God is eternal. And so for all eternity, in an unchanging way, God has been love, you say? Yes. Well, what's the problem with that? Well, the problem is, if God has always been love, what has been the object of his love? If God from all eternity before the creation of the world was love, what was the object of his love? Augustine says, we see then that from this understanding of God, God had a multiplicity of persons. We know it to be three according to biblical revelation that the Father loved the Son, the Son loved the Father, and the Spirit loved the Father and Son. That there was this mutuality of love in God from all eternity. And that's why we can say God is love and God is unchanging. The more I reflect on this, the more I worship and adore God. God is so different from us. God is more personal than we are. We are persons, but none of us. If we were to love ourselves for all eternity, that would be something to be mocked. That would be something very low in terms of ethical quality. That kind of self love is not virtuous at all. But God is more personal than we are. He's tri personal and his love has shared love within his own person for all eternity. Or I could put it this way. God holds community within his single being for us to be fully human. We live in community. I know there are some people who don't like that. We have hermits and people who want to be alone. But God did not create us to be alone. God created us to live with other people. God created us for marriage and God created us for families. God created us for the body life of the church. God created us to be unified with our communities and so forth, and to work together to subdue the world and our vocations and all that. God created us for community. No man is fully human who stands alone. And so we don't have community within ourselves, do we? We have single personality. We contribute to community. But God has the very principle of community within his own single being. There's something to reflect on in terms of the wonder of God, how we should adore him all the more. He is more fully personal than any of us can be. One final remark would have to do with the philosophical importance of the doctrine of the Trinity. Throughout history, philosophers have struggled with how do you have unity and diversity in your understanding of things? How can we say that there are three things out on the pond called ducks? They're all three ducks, and yet they are one thing, namely duck. Well, we say there are three kinds of the same thing, but what is that sameness? What is duckness? And throughout history. I know you probably want a whole class on that philosophical problem, don't you? Throughout history, people have wondered which is more important, the abstract concept, the unifying class of duckness, or the individuals that are called ducks? Which is more important? The Christian says, we have in the doctrine of the Trinity an answer to that problem. There's an equal ultimacy between the diversity, the three ness and the oneness that is God. And likewise, duckness is real, but it's not more real or less real than the particular ducks, the plural ducks. That are out on the pond. The problem of the one and the many has been seen in the history of philosophy and political theory too. Which is more important for the state? Unity? That everyone falls in line with the authority of the state? Or is freedom and individuality more important? Is the manyness of the community the most important thing so the people are diverse, making their own decisions and are free? Or is it that these are all united into one form of life by the higher authority? Is it unity or diversity that's more important? The oneness or the manyness? Christians say you can't choose between those two. They are equally ultimate. There must be law and order. There must be unity in the state, but it must also grant equally freedom to its citizens. And of course, we would go on to argue the only way you can find that balance is by reading God's word to see how he unites people, but also grants them true freedom in the midst of that law and order. I've had to be very quick here at the end of our class today, but I want you to see the doctrine of the Trinity has some wonderful theological insight to it that should help us to reflect on God and to adore him and worship him more. It also has great philosophical significance. The real question is, will we subordinate our thoughts to God's thoughts? Will we subordinate our thinking to God? If we will not be subject to God and what he reveals about himself, the doctrine of the Trinity will never be acceptable. We're either going to go to the way of another religion like the Jews or the Muslims, or what have you, or we're going to fall into the heresy that says this is a mystery. And so I can't accept it and I've got to find some way around it or we're going to become like one of the pseudo Christian cults. What is indispensable to Christianity and to the Christian faith? The indispensable mystery at the heart of the Christian faith is that God is three persons and one substance. Will we subordinate our thoughts to God and his thoughts? For us not to do so is the greatest of intellectual sins. Difficult doctrines of the Bible will prove whether we are subject to God and his revelation or whether we are self directed people. Let's pray. Lord, I ask that you would humble our hearts as we sit through this course, looking at your word and considering your greatness, your grandeur. I pray that you would humble our hearts and help us to know our true measure as men. That we would recognize that we are finite and beyond, that we are fallible and fallen people that we have no right to devise a God after our own imagination or to try to alter what you have told us about yourself to make it more acceptable to us in our ways of thinking. Help us to realize that your thoughts are above our thoughts that even as the heavens are above the earth so you and your thoughts are above us in the way we think. Help us to accept what you have told us about yourself and your full personality. Help us to accept the mystery that you are but one and yet three. Help us to worship you Father, Son and Holy Spirit. One God through all eternity for we pray in Jesus name Amen.

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