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The Trinity

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

+Any Analogies?

Did you come up with any analogies?

+What do we believe?

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

+What is the Trinity?

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

+What The Trinity Is Not

Arianism - Believe that the Father existed before the Son, the Son was created by the Father, and there was a time when the Son did not exist.

Macedonianism - Denied the deity of the Holy Spirit, asserting it was a servent, similar to the angels.

Monarchianism - The denial of three separate beings in the Trinity.

Modalist Monarchianism - Held that God was a single being, and that Father / Son / Spirit were simply three modes of the same being, only one being possible at a time.

Subordinationism - Any doctrine that subordinates one being of the Trinity to another.

+Father - Distinct

Matt 11:27 - All things have been committed to me by my Father. No one knows the Son except the Father, and no one knows the Father except the Son and those to whom the Son chooses to reveal him

Matt 26:39 - Going a little farther, he fell with his face to the ground and prayed, “My Father, if it is possible, may this cup be taken from me. Yet not as I will, but as you will.”

John 14:16 - And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another advocate to help you and be with you forever—

+Father - God

Psalm 89:26 - He will call out to me, ‘You are my Father, my God, the Rock my Savior.’

Isaiah 63:16 - But you are our Father, though Abraham does not know us or Israel acknowledge us; you, LORD, are our Father, our Redeemer from of old is your name.

Matthew 6:9 - This, then, is how you should pray: Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name.

+Son - Distinct

Mark 1:9-11- At that time Jesus came from Nazareth in Galilee and was baptized by John in the Jordan. Just as Jesus was coming up out of the water, he saw heaven being torn open and the Spirit descending on him like a dove. And a voice came from heaven: “You are my Son, whom I love; with you I am well pleased.”

John 17:1-5 - After Jesus said this, he looked toward heaven and prayed:    “Father, the hour has come. Glorify your Son, that your Son may glorify you. For you granted him authority over all people that he might give eternal life to all those you have given him. Now this is eternal life: that they know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom you have sent. I have brought you glory on earth by finishing the work you gave me to do. And now, Father, glorify me in your presence with the glory I had with you before the world began.

John 16:7 - But very truly I tell you, it is for your good that I am going away. Unless I go away, the Advocate will not come to you; but if I go, I will send him to you.

+Son - God

1 Corinthians 12:3 - Therefore I want you to know that no one who is speaking by the Spirit of God says, “Jesus be cursed,” and no one can say, “Jesus is Lord,” except by the Holy Spirit.

Colossians 1:15 - The Son is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation.

Titus 2:13 - while we wait for the blessed hope—the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ,

John 20:28 - Thomas said to him, “My Lord and my God!”

+Holy Spirit - Distinct

2 Corinthians 13:14 - May the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all

Romans 8:26-27 - In the same way, the Spirit helps us in our weakness. We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us through wordless groans. And he who searches our hearts knows the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for God’s people in accordance with the will of God

Matthew 28:19 - Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit

+Holy Spirit - God

Matthew 12:28 - But if it is by the Spirit of God that I drive out demons, then the kingdom of God has come upon you.

Acts 5:3-4 - Then Peter said, “Ananias, how is it that Satan has so filled your heart that you have lied to the Holy Spirit and have kept for yourself some of the money you received for the land? Didn’t it belong to you before it was sold? And after it was sold, wasn’t the money at your disposal? What made you think of doing such a thing? You have not lied just to human beings but to God.”

Romans 8:9 - You, however, are not in the realm of the flesh but are in the realm of the Spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God lives in you. And if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, they do not belong to Christ.

+Jews & The Trinity

The Jewish idea of God is that God is One and Indivisible. We cannot divide God up but somehow make them one and the same.

Isaiah 44:6, where God tells us, "I am the first, and I am the last; and beside me there is no God."

When Isaiah tells us that God said, "I am the first," it means that God has no father.

When Isaiah tells us that God said, "I am the last," it means that God has no literal son.

And when Isaiah tells us that God said, "Besides me there is no God," it means that God does not share being God with any other god, or demi-god, or semi-god, or persons, and there is no trinity.

+Jehovah Witnesses & The Trinity

Jesus cannot be God because He was created. The verse they use here is Colossians 1:15, "And He is the image of the invisible God, the first-born of all creation.”

John 14:28 How can Jesus be equal to God if here He states 'the Father is greater than I’?

+Mormans & The Trinty

Latter-day Saints believe in the three members of the Godhead—the Father, Son, and the Holy Ghost as separate beings.

The first Article of LDS faith states that “We believe in God the Eternal Father, and in His Son Jesus Christ, and in the Holy Ghost”. That is the Trinity.

+Muslims & The Trinity

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

+Over To You

Do you agree on my explanation of the Trinity?

Is it possible to explain the Trinity?

Does the Trinity need to be understood?