Scriptural Testimony to the Trinity

The Old and the New Testament alike, assures us that in the trustful knowledge of One God,—the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost,—is the spiritual life of man now and for ever. The Lord grant that we may continue to bring to the study of his word, that humble spirit which prays “That which I see not teach thou me” (Job 34:32).

To one who receives with meekness the engrafted word which is able to save our souls, the Scriptures already adduced prove beyond contradiction that as the Father is God, so is Jesus Christ God, and so the Holy Spirit is God. This truth, however, must be combined with another, which is revealed with equal clearness and enforced with equal solemnity:—“I am Jehovah, and there is none else, there is no God beside me” (Isa 45:5). The combination of these truths establishes the doctrine of the Holy Trinity, for “these Three must together subsist in one infinite Divine essence, called Jehovah or God; and as this essence must be indivisible, each of them must possess not a part or portion of it, but the whole fulness or perfection of the essential Godhead forming, in an unity of nature, One Eternal Jehovah, and therefore revealed by a plural noun as the Jehovah Elohim, which comprehends these Three; but with this solemn qualification, that the Jehovah Elohim is in truth but one Jehovah, Triune God, Father, Son, and Holy Ghost.”

This supreme mystery must transcend all the powers of human thought; and the question must recur again and again, What saith the Scripture? Our imaginations must be counted as the small dust of the balance. Thus do you conceive that the very names “the Father the Son” imply a certain point in duration beyond which the Father inhabited eternity alone? Your conception cannot countervail the assertion of Scripture, that the goingsforth of the Saviour have been from everlasting (Micah 5:2); or the words of Christ himself, adopting the formula which declares the Divine self-existence from eternity to eternity, “I am the first and the last” (Rev 1:11).

The illustration, before adduced, of the sun, its beams of light, and its vital heat, may offer some faint resemblance of this great mystery; for the beams of light are generated by the central orb; and yet the sun could not have existed, so far as we know, for a moment without emitting its radiance, nor the radiance have existed without diffusing its warmth: so that “one is not before another, but only in order and relation to one another.” But no creature can adequately image forth the Creator, who asks, “To whom then will ye liken God? or what likeness will ye compare unto him?” (Isa 40:18).

Again, do you imagine that the name of him who is alone Jehovah, cannot comprehend a Trinity in Unity? Your imagination is as nothing in contradiction of the words of Christ revealing the one Divine name, as “the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost.” Do you asseverate the impossibility of three subsistences in one eternal essence? Remember, I pray you, the words, “Canst thou find out the Almighty unto perfection?” (Job 11:7). What do we know of the essence of created things? The pure white light seems indissolubly one; an unscientific man would, without hesitation, pronounce it uniform, and would utterly deny any plurality subsisting in its transparent simplicity. The colours of the rainbow seem evidently manifold; and the same man might refuse to credit their unity. Science stoops to analyze light; and we are told that— 

 

“The prismatic spectrum consists in reality of three spectra of nearly equal length, each of uniform colour; superposed one upon another; and that the colours which the actual spectrum exhibits, arise from the mixture of the uniform colours of these three spectra superposed. The colours of these three elementary spectra, according to Sir David Brewster, are red, yellow, and blue. He shows that by a combination of these three, not only all the colours exhibited in the prismatic spectrum may be reproduced, but their combination also produces white light. He contends, therefore, that the white light of the sun consists, not of seven, but of three constituent lights.”— “Lardner’s Museum” vol. 7 p. 78. 19

The unlearned man then, in his incredulity, would have denied an established fact. The unity of that pure white light was not so simple as he affirmed. More constituents than one subsist in its ethereal essence. But has science now fathomed the mysteries of light? So far from it, we read—“Light is now proved to consist in the waves of a subtle and elastic ether, which pervades all space, and serves to communicate every impulse, from one part of the universe to another, with a speed almost inconceivable. In this luminous ether, matter seems to emulate the subtlety of thought. Invisible, and yet the only means by which all things are made visible; impalpable, and yet nourishing all material objects into life and beauty; so elastic, that when touched at one point, swift glances of light tremble through the universe; and still so subtle that the celestial bodies traverse its depths freely, and even the most vaporous comet scarcely exhibits a sensible retardation in its course— there is something in the very nature of this medium which seems to baffle the powers of human science, and to say to the pride of human intellect, “Hitherto shalt thou come, but no further; and here shall thy proud waves be stayed.” Here, indeed, the most brilliant and profound analysts have continually to guess their way, when they would trace out a few of the simplest laws resulting from the existence of such an ether, and unfold their application to the various phenomena of reflected and refracted light. It is a great deep of mystery. Science grows dizzy on its verge when it strives to explore the nature of this subtle, immense imponderable ocean, which bathes all worlds in light, and itself remains, by its own nature, invisible for ever.”—Birks’ “Treasures of Wisdom”, pp.99-106.

Is such the modest confession of truth after all the triumphs of human wisdom? Is man only wading, with tremulous footstep, into the shallow waters of that unfathomable sea called into existence by the fiat of God, when he said, “Let there be light, and there was light?” Are we so soon out of our depth in seeking to understand one of his works? How much rather may we expect to be humbled as we meditate, and to be baffled if we think we can comprehend, the glorious Creator himself? Is light a mystery? How much rather he who dwells in the light that no man can approach unto! We know him only as he reveals himself.

This self-revelation involves a yet greater self-concealment There will be the manifestation of God in the voluntary condescension of his love: and there will be the necessary seclusion within the clouds of his unapproachable glory. W hen a finite being seeks to understand anything of the Infinite, it must always be so. There will be the fragment of truth which the student has made and is making his own, and the illimitable expanse beneath, above, and beyond him. Thus in the field of nature we read, “The works of the Lord are great, sought out of all them that have pleasure therein” (Psa 111:2). Here is our knowledge. But “No man,” says Solomon, “can find out the work that God maketh from the beginning to the end” (Eccl 3:11). There is the limit of our knowledge. We are invited to consider his heavens, to trace his footprints, and to regard the operations of his hands. And yet after all, “Lo! these are parts of his ways; how faint a whisper is heard of him! the thunder of his power who can understand?” (Job 26:14) So, in the majestic course of his patient. providence we adoringly acknowledge, “Just and true are thy ways, thou King of saints:”(Rev 15:3) and yet we must confess, “Thy way is in the sea, and thy path in the great waters, and thy footsteps are not known” (Psa 77:19).

Humble students are treading an upland path. Their horizon widens every step they take. The angels of light, standing on a higher eminence, see further than they. Still there must be a boundary line which limits angelic intuition: and whatever lies beyond that line must be a mystery to them, or, if made known to them, made known by revelation. We rebuke the want of modesty in the unlearned peasant who argues from his ignorance against the declarations of science: surely those blessed spirits would rebuke us, if we, through preconceived notions of our own, refused to credit the simple revelations of God regarding his own mysterious Being. He reveals himself by his names, his attributes, and his acts. And, therefore, if, combined with assertions that God is one, we find three revealed in Scripture to whom the same names, attributes, and acts are ascribed, the same so far as a personal distinction allows; if we look vainly for any fourth Divine one, or any intimation of more than three; if we connect with this the intimate and necessary union affirmed to exist betwixt the Father, and the Son, and the Spirit, as when the Lord Jesus says, “I and my Father are one,” and when Paul says, “The Spirit searches the depths of God;” if, then, we find that every Christian is baptized into one Name,—the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost,—we are led swiftly and irresistibly up to the doctrine (call it by what name you will) of the Trinity in Unity.

Hence, at the risk of apparent repetition, I shall bring together again some few Bible testimonies to the Deity of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost; combining them in one view; and adding a further declaration from Scripture of our sole dependence on the alone Jehovah; so that you may see at a glance, that we are compelled by the Christian verity, “to acknowledge the glory of the eternal Trinity, and in the power of the Divine Majesty to worship the Unity.”

I. The Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost are eternal.

1. I am the first, and I am the last (Isa 44:6). The everlasting God (Rom 16:26).
2. I am the first and the last (Rev 1:17). Whose goings forth have been from of old, from everlasting (Micah 5:2.)

3. The eternal Spirit (Heb 9:14). 

The One Eternal is our trust. The eternal God is thy refuge, and underneath are the everlasting arms (Deut. 33:27).

II. The Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost created all things.

1. One God, the Father, of whom are all things (1 Cor 8:6). The Lord.... it is he that hath made us (Psa. 100:3).
2. All things were made by him (the Word, etc. John1:3). By him were all things created, etc. (Col.1:16).
3. Who hath measured, etc. who hath directed the Spirit of the Lord? (Isa. 40:12,13). The Spirit of God hath made me (Job 33:4).

The One Almighty is our trust. Commit the keeping of their souls to him,—as unto a faithful Creator (1 Peter 4:19).

III. The Father, the Son and the Holy Ghost are omnipresent.

1. Do not I fill the heaven and earth? saith the Lord (Jer 23:24).

2. Lo, I am with you alway (Matt 28:20).

3. Whither shall I go from thy Spirit? (Psa 139:7).

The One omnipresent God its our trust. He is not far from every one of us; for in him we live, and move, and have our being (Acts 17:27, 28).

IV. The Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost are omniscient.

1. No one knoweth the Father, save the Son (Matt. 11:27). Known unto God are all his works, etc. (Acts 15:18).

2. No one knoweth the Son, save the Father (Matt 11:27). Lord, thou knowest all things (John 21:17). 

3. Who being his counsellor hath taught him? (Isa 40:13). The Spirit searcheth all things (l Cor 2:10).

We worship the One all-seeing God. All things are naked and opened unto the eyes of him with whom we have to do (Heb 4:13).

V. The Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost are true, holy, and good

1. He that sent me is true (John 7:28). Holy Father. Righteous Father (John 17:11, 25). The Lord is good (Psalm 34:8).

2. I am...the truth (John 14:6). The Holy One and the just (Acts 3:14). The good Shepherd (John 10:11).

3. The Spirit is truth (1 John 5:6). The Spirit, the Holy One (John 14:26). Thy Spirit is good (Psa 143:10).

We adore the One Lord of infinite goodness. Who shall not fear thee, O Lord, and glorify thy name? for thou only art holy (Rev. 15:4).

VI. The Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost have each a self-regulating will.

1. Him that worketh all things after the counsel of his own will (Eph 1:11).

2. The Son wills to reveal him (Matt 11:27). Father, I will (John 17:24).

3. Dividing to every one severally as he wills (1 Cor 12:11).

We rest on the will of him who alone is Jehovah. The will of the Lord be done (Acts 21:14).

VII. The Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost are the fountain of life.

1. With thee is the fountain of life (Psa 36:9). God hath quickened us (Eph. 2:4,5).

2. In him (the Word) was life (John 1:4). The Son quickeneth whom he will (John 5:21).

3. The Spirit is life (Rom 8:10). Born of the Spirit (John 3:8).

We depend on one life-giving God. Love the Lord thy God,...cleave unto him,...for he is thy life (Deut 30:20).

VIII. The Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost strengthern, comfort, and sanctify us.

1. Thou strengthenedst me with strength in my soul (Psa 138:3). I will comfort you (Isa 66:13). Sanctified by God the Father (Jude 1).

2. I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me (Phil 4:13). If any consolation in Christ (Phil. 2:1). Sanctified in Christ Jesus (1 Cor 1:2).

3. Strengthened with might by his Spirit in the inner man (Eph 3:16). The Comforter, the Holy Ghost (John 14:26). Being sanctified by the Holy Ghost (Rom 15:16).

We trust in One God for spiritual power. My God, my strength, in whom I will trust (Psa 18:2).

IX. The Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost fill the soul with Divine love.

1. Every one that loveth him that begat (1 John 5:1). If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him (1 John 2:15).

2. The love of Christ constraineth us (2 Cor 5:14). If any man love not the Lord Jesus Christ (1 Cor 16:22).

3. I beseech you for the love of the Spirit (Rom 15:30). Your love in the Spirit (Col 1:8).

The love of the One living and true God characterizes the saint. Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart (Deut. 6:5).

X. The Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost gave the Divine law.

1. The law of the Lord is perfect (Psa 19:7). The word of our God (Isa 11:8). Thus saith the Lord God (Eze 2:4).

2. The law of Christ (Gal 6:2). The word of Christ (Col 3:16). These things saith the Son of God (Rev 2:18).

3. The law of the Spirit of life (Rom 8:2). Holy men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost (2 Peter 1:21). The Holy Ghost said (Acts 13:2).

The word of One Legislator is the believer’s rule. There is one Lawgiver who is able to save (James 4:12).

XI. The Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost dwell in the hearts of believers.

1. I will dwell in them (2 Cor 6:16). God is in you of a truth (1 Cor 14:25). Our fellowship is with the Father (1 John 1:3).

2. Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith (Eph 3:17). Christ in you, the hope of glory (Col 1:27). Our fellowship with his Son Jesus Christ (1 John 1:3).

3. The Spirit dwelleth with you, and shall be in you (John 14:17). The communion of the Holy Ghost (2 Cor 13:14).

The contrite heart receives One Divine guest. Thus saith the high and lofty One that inhabiteth eternity, I dwell with him that is of a contrite and humble heart (Isa 57:15).

XII. The Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost are, each by himself, the supreme Jehovah and God.

1. I am Jehovah thy God (Exo 20:2). Thou, Lord, art most High for evermore (Psa 92:8).

2. Jehovah our God (Isa 40:3, with Matt 3:3) The Highest (Luke 1:76, with Matt 11:10).

3. Jehovah God (Ezek 8:1,3). The Highest (Luke 1:35).

The One supreme Lord God is our God for ever and ever. Jehovah, our Elohim, One Jehovah (Deu 6:4).

From this brief comparison, which might be elaborated at far greater length, Scripture assures us that the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost, have the same Divine attributes, concur with a mind and will and heart, personally independent but unitedly harmonious, in the same Divine acts, and are addressed by the same Divine names. And further, we learn that our trust is not dispersed or confused by this co-equal Godhood of the Sacred Three: but that (a way of access being opened in the gospel through the revelation of the Father in Christ by the Spirit) we rest on, we worship, and we love One God.

Taken from the book “The Trinity” by Edward Henry Bickersteth.

A Brief Study of the Doctrine of the Trinity, Part 3

1. The Fatherhood of God:

Countless passages in the Gospels where Christ refers to “the Father.”

2. The Deity of the Incarnate Son:

John 1:1

John 20:28

Phil. 2:6

Titus 2:13

Jer. 23:5-6

Heb. 1:8

3. Personhood and Deity of the Holy Spirit:

Gen. 1:2; 6:3;

Luke 12:12;

Acts 5:3-4; 8:29; 13:2

John 15:26

1 Cor. 2:10; 3:16; 6:19

Works ascribed to the Trinity

Creation

Father: Gen. 1:1

Son: Col. 1:16

Holy Spirit: Job 26:13; Ps. 33:6; 104:30

Incarnation

Luke 1:35

Inauguration of Christ’s Ministry (Baptism was fulfillment of High Priest’s washing)

Mat. 3:16-17

Atonement

Heb. 9:14

Resurrection

Father: Acts 2:23

Son: John 10:17-18

Holy Spirit: Rom. 1:4; 8:11

Salvation

1 Peter 1:2

Indwelling

John 14:15-23

THE RELATIONSHIPS BETWEEN THE PERSONS

A. The Three Persons are co-equal

   1. There is no rank

      a. Our use of the terms “first, second, third” Persons does not mean that the Father is higher, more glorious, more exalted, more powerful than the Son or the HS (John 5:23, that all men honor the Son).

      b. Because the Trinity is the perfect union of love there is no rivalry for supremacy

    2. Therefore, we are to understand that the Father, the Son and the HS are equally God and equally to be worshipped. Thus we reject all subordinationism within the Godhead. None is above another, or under another.

B. The Three Persons are co-eternal

    1. There is no temporal sequence

      a. In our families, the father is older than the son, and the grandson is younger than the son, but the Trinity is not like that.

      b. Our use of the terms “first, second, third” Persons does not mean that the Father was before the Son, and the Son was before the HS.

    2. All three Persons, then, are eternal, co-eternal

      a. The Father is eternal, the Son is eternal, the HS is eternal; none are created, none have a beginning.

      b. This must be the case if God is love: the Father was Father eternally; He never was without His Son, and He always loved His Son in the HS.

C. The Three Persons are co-essential or con-substantial

    1. This means that the Three Persons are of the same essence, being or substance

      a. It is not true that the Father is of the divine essence, but the Son and HS are of a different, although similar, essence.

       b. The Father, the Son and the HS are one, true, eternal and Almighty God

    2. This means that they possess the entire being or essence of God together

      a. They share equally the divine being so that the Father, Son and HS are in one another, and are inseparable from one another. This is what the Greek theologians called the perichoresis.

      b. It is false to say that the Father is 1/3 part God, the Son is 1/3 part God and the HS is 1/3 part God.

THE PERSONAL RELATIONSHIPS (personal properties of Father, Son and HS)

A. How do they relate within the Godhead?

1. The Father begets or generates the Son

   a. Begetting is a father’s action: “X begat Y and Y begat Z, etc” The Father is not begotten, He begets.

    1) Begetting is not the same as creating. The Father does not create the Son. He begets Him. That is why the Bible calls Jesus the only begotten Son; He stands in a unique relationship to the Father.

    2) Begetting is an act of love whereby the Father brings forth one who is of the same essence as the

Father but is personally distinct from Him.

b. But the begetting of the Father is eternal

     1) This is different from our begetting: a human father begets a son who comes after him, and is younger than he is; such a human father exists before his son, but the Father and the Son always existed together. Prov. 8:22

    2) The Father can never be without the Son; John 1:1

2. The Son is begotten of the Father

a. The Son is begotten; not made; not created. He always was in the Father’s bosom (John 1:1, 1:18, 8:58)

b. The Son does not beget, because He is not the Father. He is begotten!

3. The Spirit proceeds eternally from the Father and the Son (Filioque)

a. The word “Spirit” means breath. The HS is the breath of God, which the Father breathes forth in love to the Son and the Son breathes forth in love to the Father. This breathing forth is called “procession.” The Spirit proceeds. The Spirit is the bond of perfect love between the Father and the Son.

b. The Spirit does not beget (He is not Father); He is not begotten (He is not Son); He is not made or created (He is not a creature), but He proceeds from the Father and the Son. See John 15:26

c. What is the difference between being begotten and proceeding? Who can tell? The HS comes forth from the Father and the Son in a different way in which the Son comes forth from the Father.

d. This procession is eternal. The Father eternally begets the Son; the Son is eternally begotten of the Father, and the Father and Son together eternally breathe forth the Spirit so that the HS eternally proceeds.

B. This begetting, being begotten, proceeding is the loving fellowship of God in Himself.

1. The three persons dwell in close, intimate fellowship and communion of love

a. The Father loves the Son in the HS, and the Son loves the Father in the HS.

c. The Father is in the Son and the Son is in the Father by the Holy Spirit (John 10:37-38; 14:10-11).

d. The Father seeks after, delights in and gives Himself to the Son in the Holy Spirit and the Son seeks after, delights in and gives Himself to the Father in the Holy Spirit.

A Brief Study of the Doctrine of the Trinity, Part 2

GOD IS ONE IN BEING AND THREE IN PERSONS

A. First, there is only one God.

   1. The Trinity is NOT the teaching that there are three gods.

       a. Is. 43:10; 44:8

      b. What is a Being? Being (or essence or substance) is what makes something what it is, and distinguishes it from everything else.

     c. A human is a being: a human being. Angels are a certain kind of being different from humans. God is the only divine being. He alone possesses the being of God. No creature can share in the being of God. That being is spiritual, personal; transcendent and immanent.

  2. We see the oneness of being in the oneness of name. The Trinity has only one name – shares the one name – in the baptismal formula.

      a. Matt. 28:19, “baptizing in the name (not “names”) of the Father, and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost.” All three Persons of the Trinity have the name of God.

     b. The Father is called God, the Son is called God, the Spirit is called God; the Father is called Lord, the Son is called Lord, the Spirit is called Lord. Yet, there is only one God, only one Lord (Deut. 6:4).

B. Second, within the one Being of God are three Persons.

   1. What is a Person?

      a. A person is that which in an individual says, “I.” The person is the subject (the one doing) of all the activity of an individual. From the beginning of your life to the end and into eternity, you will have the same person. Much changes; your person does not. Also, a person is self-conscious and conscious of that which is outside of himself. Thus, human beings are also human persons. You say, “I.”

  2. We are one being and one person, but God is one being and three persons. There are within the being of God three distinct individuals who say, “I;” Three who know themselves and know others; three active, living, willing, thinking individual Persons.

      a. The Father knows Himself, and He knows the Son and the Spirit and He says, “I.”

      b. The Son knows Himself and He knows the Father and the Spirit and He says, “I.”

      c. The Spirit knows Himself and He knows the Son and the Father and He says, “I.”

  3. But, remember, these are THREE distinct persons.

     a. The Father is not the Son, nor the Spirit. The Son is not the Father, nor the Spirit. The Spirit is not the Father, nor the Son.

      b. And yet, they can never be without one another or separated from one another.

      c. This is contra Modalism: Modalism teaches that there is one Person in the Godhead who manifests Himself in different modes at different times. Sometimes, God is Father; sometimes, Son; sometimes, Spirit, but there is only One Person, not three.

   4. How would you prove the Trinity from Scripture?

      a. First, there is no verse that proves the Trinity by itself. Matt. 28:19 and II Cor. 13:14 come close.

      b. Second, prove it along these lines: The Bible ascribes the names, attributes, worship and works of God to each of the three Persons.

All analogies fail. But we know why they fail: God is infinite; we are finite. The body/soul/spirit analogy, or father/son/husband analogies are heretical because they are modalistic.

A Brief Study of the Doctrine of the Trinity, Part 1

One of the biggest lies you’ll ever hear about the Trinity is that it was invented at the Council of Nicaea in 325 A.D. This is the Liberal nonsense you’ll hear on the Discovery Networks or from the Dan Brown types. One of the easiest ways to refute this is the fact that the term “Trinity” appears in Christian literature about 150 years before Nicaea.

The term first surfaces in an Apology for Christians written in the 170’s A.D. “Apology” does not mean ‘saying you’re sorry;’ rather it is a reasoned defense of the faith. The 2^nd Century was replete with such “apologies” and most of the important Church writers of that era are referred to as the “Apologists.” The earliest written instance of the term Trinity appears in the Apology of Athenagoras of Athens - (died ca. 185). This is incredibly important for a couple of reasons:

(1). The term is simply stated, not lugged in as something novel, meaning it was not an innovation in the 170’s. He refers to something as a “type” of the Trinity, suggesting that he had written on the subject before, or, at least, that others had.

(2). This is an apology, which means it was written to an unbeliever.

Right around the same time, the Carthaginian theologian, Tertullian (155-230), used the term as well. However, Tertullian’s use was not a mere mention of the term. He used the terms Essence and Person, which are the standard terms – in the exact way that Nicaea affirmed their usage – again, nearly 150 years before Nicaea. And by 206, at the latest, he had written a defense of the Trinity against a Modalist named Praxeas.

The doctrine of the Trinity is the heart of the Christian faith. This doctrine has always been seen as a necessary element of Christianity, one that cannot be surrendered without destroying the faith itself. We, of course agree with Luther that the doctrine of Justification by faith alone is the doctrine by which the Church stands or falls. But we should hasten to say that the doctrine of the Trinity, because it deals with the essence of God Himself, precedes all doctrine. It is therefore the safeguard of the faith.

One need not be a genius to realize that something that is never taught or preached about is either not important or not true. How are millions of professing Christians supposed to believe that the Trinity is true, and that even if it is true, that it makes a difference anyway, if they never hear the doctrine explained? The simple fact is: they won’t. That’s what we’re here to do, and the leadership of CtK is to be highly commended for placing emphasis on Christian education.

Why, though, we might ask is the Trinity, generally speaking, such a neglected doctrine?  It is my considered opinion that the explanation for this neglect lies in our sinful nature’s proclivity to self-righteousness. Like Cain, we are always trying to commend ourselves to God with our works. Hence, the only doctrines we care for are those from which we can derive a moral application. Every time we read the Bible, instead of seeing what God has done for us in Christ, we ask, “What do I have to do?” If we can’t take something home with us to DO, then we don’t value it.  This is Law, not Gospel. The Law says, “Do this and live.” Whereas the Gospel says, “Live, because Christ has done this for you.”

Let’s consider this: If it the doctrine of the Trinity be true, because it is a truth about God, then it is of infinite importance. There are two simple yet important reasons why the Church must hold fast to the doctrine of the Trinity.

1. For the sake of God’s glory. God must be distinguished from false gods. God must be worshipped as He has revealed Himself. He has revealed Himself as Triune. Worship of anything less is idolatry. Anyone who denies the Trinity is, ipso facto, an idolater.

2. For the sake of our salvation. No one is saved without knowledge of the Father. But the Father is not known without the Son. Scripture says, “No man hath seen God at any time; the only begotten Son which is in the bosom of the Father, he hath declared him” (John 1:18). And, “Whosoever denieth the Son, the same hath not the Father” (1 John 2:23). Further, no one is saved without faith in the Son: “How then shall they call on him in whom they have not believed, and how shall they believe in him of whom they have not heard” (Rom. 10:14). Similarly, no one is saved without knowledge of the Spirit. Scripture says, “If any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of his” (Rom. 8:9). No one receives the Spirit without knowing Him; for Christ says, “Whom the world cannot receive, because it seeth him not, neither knoweth him” (John 17:17). It is necessary then, that for anyone to be saved, he must know the Triune God.

Therefore, the doctrine of the Trinity is not so much a point among many as the very essence and compendium of Christianity itself.

1. Remember that God is personal: He is not abstract but He is a living, thinking, willing, conscious Being.

2. God is personal but He is also a plurality of persons.

3. We confess with the orthodox church of all ages the doctrine of the Trinity, that God is one in Being, and three in Persons.

Key Point: LORD in OT is YHWH = Kurios in LXX. Kurios means Lord. In the English versions of the OT YHWH is rendered LORD in what is called ‘small caps.’ This is where the whole word is capitalized but the first letter is a couple of font points larger. The LXX is what the Apostles read. Now think what it implies when we realize that in no NT book do the authors ever bat an eye at calling Jesus ‘Lord.’ Hence every occurrence of Kurios in the NT in reference to Christ is tantamount to calling Him YHWH. Sometimes the references are more blatant than others:

Joel 2:32 / Acts 2:21; Romans 10:13

Isaiah 8:13 / 1 Peter 3:14-15

Jeremiah 23:5-6 / Luke 1:32-33; 1 Cor. 1:30

The same point can also be applied in reference to the Holy Spirit: calling Him “Lord” is tantamount to calling Him “YHWH.” (2 Cor. 3:17-18) Verse 17 as much as says that the expression “Spirit of the Lord” is synonymous with calling the Spirit “Kurios, i.e., YHWH.”

The Doctrine of the Trinity is the Very Essence of Christianity

“The doctrine of the Trinity is not so much a point among many as the very essence and compendium of Christianity itself. It not only presents a lofty and sublime subject of contemplation to the intellect, but furnishes repose and peace to the heart and conscience. To explain this mystery is not our province. All true theologians, who have trained and disciplined minds in the right school, whether in expounding positive truths or in combating erroneous views, have uniformly accepted it as their highest function simply TO CONSERVE THE MYSTERY and leave it where they found it, in its inscrutable sublimity, or, as the poet expresses it, “dark though excessive bright.” Leibnitz happily said, If we could bring it within the terms of any humanly constructed definition, it would be a mystery no longer. The zeal and erudition of the Fathers, accordingly, were mainly employed to retain and preserve the mystery.

 

“And when we look at the doctrine from the practical point of view, a belief of this great truth is absolutely essential to the Christian man and the Christian Church. Without it, Christianity would at once collapse. As this doctrine is believed on the one hand, or challenged on the other, Christian life is found to be affected at its roots and over all its extent. Every doctrine is run up to it; every privilege and duty hang on it. It cannot escape observation that scarcely a heresy ever appeared which did not, when carried out to its logical results, come into collision with the doctrine of the Trinity at some point. Through the whole history of opinion, the ever-recurring fact presented to us is that, however a man may begin his career of error, the general issue is that the doctrine of the Trinity, proving to an unexpected check or insurmountable obstacle in the carrying out of his opinions, has to be modified or pushed aside; and he come to be against the Trinity because he has found that it was against him.

 

“The attacks on the Trinity, menacing though they might be at the time, have commonly been the occasion of real benefit to the Church. The Church might have been less on the alert than was found to be imperatively necessary when asked, for instance, by the Sabellian to allow within her pale a mere modal distinction in the Trinity, as asked by the Arian to give a certain amount of liberty to such as questioned the or denied the supreme Deity of the second or third person of the Trinity. By varied discipline and experience, she has been schooled to apprehend the doctrine of the tri-personal God, or of the threefold personality in unity, as the most fundamental, vital, and practical of doctrines; that it forms the ultimate ground of every truth; that it is absolutely intertwined with the essential provisions of the gospel; and that the plan of salvation cannot be left standing entire, if this great doctrine, the keystone of the arch, is either loosened or displaced.

 

“The Church, accordingly, has always posted herself here as in the Thermopylae, where her last stand is to be made. She knew that, without this doctrine, the Creed would have no coherence, nor her members solid peace. The enlightened Christian neither expects nor wishes to find that which will not baffle his contemplation by its vastness, nor dazzle him by its splendor. Nay, the appeal to the ADORING WONDER of the finite mind becomes more powerful when its limited capacity fails to comprehend the theme in all its magnitude. The Christian Church, feeling that she has to believe what God has condescended to declare, and alive to the fact that there is no loyalty greater than the loyalty of the intellect, calls for the submission of the finite reason. Hence everyone feels the force of these beautiful words of Gregory Nazianzen in reference to the Trinity. In his sermon on Baptism he says: ‘I cannot think of the ONE but I am immediately surrounded with the slendour of the THREE; nor can I clearly discover the Three, but I am suddenly carried back to the One.’

 

“The objection to the Trinity on the ground of the unfathomable mystery, has been repeated in every successive age. And it may not be out of place to say that if there had been no mystery, an opposite objection might not improbably have emanated from the very same parties. Had there been no inscrutable doctrines beyond the sounding line of man’s reason, no profound mysteries in the revealed account of God’s Being, purposes, and works, - if such a thing were conceivable in a revelation communicated from God to man, - the objectors might have decried and depreciated it from a wholly different point of view as a stale, flat, and unprofitable message, which had nothing in it worthy of the claims which it made on men’s minds, because it had nothing beyond the discovery of the human understanding.”

The Doctrine of the Holy Spirit, George Smeaton (pp 4-7)

Objections Against the Doctrine of the Trinity

Having asserted the importance of the doctrine of the Trinity in our previous post, we would now like to dispatch with the objections heretical sects seek to use against the doctrine. We should perhaps pause here and give the simplest explanation of the Trinity. The commonest way the Church has explained the Trinity is to affirm that God is one in essence, i.e., God is one divine Essence; yet this One divine Essence subsists in Three Persons.

Having put that definition is place we are now prepared to look at the objections frequently made against our doctrine.

1. How can one essence be three persons? One being three is a contradiction, isn’t it? If God is one essence, He can’t be three persons.

Reply: This objection hold true for created, and therefore finite, essences which cannot be one and the same in three persons. However this does not hold true with God who is infinite. God’s essence is not divided among the Persons of the Trinity. Hence the simplicity (meaning that it is not a composition of many different elements) of God’s essence is not impaired by the number and distinction of the Persons. That may sound like an overly intellectual, obtuse answer, but we are not dealing with a pulp fiction deity. This is the infinite, ineffible, inscrutable God if the Bible.

2. Three and one make four distinct things. If, in God there are three persons and one essence, there are then four things in God, which is absurd.

Reply: Where there are three and one really distinct, - yes there are four things. But in God, the Persons are not distinct from the Essence, for the three Persons of the Godhead are one divine Essence. They differ only in the mode of subsisting.

3. Giving three names to one substance is Sabellianism. The doctrine of the Trinity ascribes three name to one substance. Isn’t it therefore the heresy of Sabellius?

Reply:  This syllogism switches the meanings of its terms. If substance means “person” then the objection vanishes. It only holds if by substance one means essence. The former is the orthodox Christian doctrine; the latter is Sabellianism

4. He who is the whole Deity, beside him there is no person, in whom the whole Deity is, in a like manner. If the Father is the whole Deity, then the whole Deity is not in another person.

Reply: We deny the major premise of this objection. The same Deity whichis entire in the Father, is also entire in the Son and Holy Spirit. There is neither more or less of the divine essence in one person than in two or three Persons.

5. Persons to whom distinct operations are ascribed must have different essences. There are affirmed different internal operations in the Father, Son and Holy Spirit. Therefore their essences are distinct.

Reply: The main gist of this objection holds against finite essences, but it is false when understod of the infinite divine Essence.

6. The divine essence is incarnate. The three persons are the divine essence. But it is absurd to say that the three persons are incarnate.

Reply: The basic premise of this objection has no bearing at all on the divine nature, because the divine Essence is incarnate in the Person of the Son alone.

7. Jehovah, or the true God, is the Trinity. The Father is Jehovah, therefore, He is the Trinity.

Reply: Again we have a premise without any bearing on the divine nature at all. It is not accurate to say that whatever is Jehovah is the Trinity.

8. No abstract term signifies substance. “Trinity” is just such an abstract term. Therefore it signifies no substance.

Reply: The premise of the objection is false. Deity and humanity are abstract terms which most definitely signify substances.

It may be noted that all of the objections made against the Trinity are objections which intend to produce a contradiction. We have not here even considered the various arguments defending the Godhead of the Son and the Spirit; we have simply looked at the objections against the doctrine of the Trinity in general. These are the kind of arguments advanced by modalists like T.D. Jakes, the so-called “Oneness” Pentecostals, and the Jehovah’s Witnesses.

Why the Doctrine of the Trinity is So Important

The heart of the Christian faith is the doctrine of the Trinity. This doctrine has always been seen as necessary element of Christianity, one that cannot be surrendered without destroying the faith itself. This is undoubtedly true. Indeed, if you were to ask most Christians if they agreed with the previous sentences, they would likely answer in the affirmative. The burning question then is this: Why is the doctrine of the Trinity virtually never preached or taught? Raw belief in the doctrine is affirmed every Sunday in countless churches as they recite the Apostles Creed. Yet little more that this raw confession is ever, ever mentioned.

One need not be a genius to realize that something that is never taught or preached about is either unimportant or not true. How are millions of professing Christians supposed to believe that the Trinity is true, and that even if it is true, that it makes a difference anyway, if they never hear the doctrine explained? The simple fact is: they won’t. I am a baseball fan. But I do not, for a second, entertain the notion that baseball has any eternal or salvific value. Why? It’s never taught at church. I have never heard a sermon on the infield fly rule. Neither have you. I submit to you that a minister who does not nor has not preached on the Trinity either doesn’t believe it himself, or he hasn’t learned it well enough to teach it (in which case he shouldn’t be preaching in the first place!), or he is a Finney-ite who believes that any doctrine which cannot be twisted into providing a moral lesson is not important enough to bother with.

Zachary Ursinus defines God this way (and as you read it, ask yourself if such language would fly in any church you know of today!): “A theological and more complete description of God, the one which the Church receives, is the following: God is a spiritual essence, intelligent, eternal different from all creatures, incomprehensible, most perfect in Himself, immutable, of immense power, wisdom and goodness; just, true, pure, merciful, bountiful, most free, hating sin – which is, the eternal Father, who from eternity begat the Son in His own image; the Son, who is the co-eternal image of the Father; and the Holy Ghost, proceeding from the Father and the Son, as has been divinely revealed by the sure word delivered by the Prophets and Apostles, and divine testimonies; that the eternal Father, with the Son and Holy Ghost, did create heaven and earth, and all creatures, is present with all creatures, that He may preserve and rule them by His providence, and produce all good things in them; and that from the human race, made after His own image, He hath chosen and gathers unto Himself an everlasting church, by and for the sake of His Son, that by the church this one and true Deity may, according to the word revealed from heaven, be here known and praised, an glorified in the life to come; and that He is the judge of the righteous and the wicked.”

Notice the stress which the doctrine of the Trinity receives. If it is true, because it is a truth about God, then it is of infinite importance.

There are two simple yet important reasons why the Church must hold fast to the doctrine of the Trinity.

1. For the sake of God’s glory. God must be distinguished from false gods. God must be worshipped as He has revealed Himself. He has revealed Himself as Triune. Worship of anything less is idolatry.

2. For the sake of our salvation. No one is saved without knowledge of the Father. But the Father is not known without the Son. Scripture says, “No man hath seen God at any time; the only begotten Son which is in the bosom of the Father, he hath declared him” (John 1:18). And, “Whosoever denieth the Son, the same hath not the Father” (1 John 2:23). Further, no one is saved without faith in the Son: “This is the true God, and eternal life (1 John 5:20). “How then shall they call on him in whom they have not believed, and how shall they believe in him of whom they have not heard (Rom. 10:14). Similarly, no one is sanctified and saved with knowledge of the Spirit. If one has not receives the Spirit, he cannot be saved. Scripture says, “If any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he in none of his” (Rom. 8:9). No one receives the Spirit without knowing Him; for Christ says, “Whom the world cannot receive, because it seeth him not, neither knoweth him” (John 17:17). Hence if one does not know the Holy Spirit, he is not saved. It is necessary then, that for anyone to be saved, he must know the Triune God.