The Triunity of God in the New Testament

You know, when we study the Bible, there is a time to search out principles for practical living like we did with the marriage series back last year and other things like that. There is also a time for a deeper understanding of the great doctrinal truths of the Bible so that we know what we believe and why. There is value in that, not just value, necessity in that. In fact, the Bible puts a lot of emphasis in the New Testament and the epistles on the teaching of the church. Much more said about teaching than there is about preaching in the epistles, particularly the pastoral epistles. And passages like Ephesians 4 as well that describe the fact that it is dangerous to swallow every wind of doctrine that comes along. And so it is part of the job of pastor teachers to build up the flock so that they do not fall into error. We talked about that some Sunday night when we were in Titus 1 and we kind of looked through the warnings about false teaching in the New Testament. And so one of the ways to counter that positively is not just to be on the alert for false teaching, but to know what the Bible teaches, to know what you believe, to know exactly what the great doctrinal truths of the Scripture are. If you understand what the Bible teaches about God, particularly the area we are talking about now, the Trinity, then you will not fall prey to the Jehovah's Witness teaching or other teachings like Mormonism that do not believe in the Trinity. So it is important to understand these things. And we are talking about the Trinity or the triunity of God. We define the Trinity as the fact that there is one God who exists eternally, equally, distinctly in three persons, the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. And last time we talked about the evidence for the Trinity or the triunity of God. Remember, the word triunity is the better way to put it because it emphasizes both the unity and the Trinity. Put them together and you have triunity of God. So that is a term that many use to describe this balanced doctrine. Last time we talked about the evidence for the triunity of God in the Old Testament. And we saw that the very Hebrew name for God, the most popular or most common name, found twenty-three hundred times, is a plural name, Elohim. And so that may indicate, not real strong, but it may indicate more than one person in the Godhead. But then we saw that there are plural pronouns used of God. God says, let us make man in our image several times that's found in the Old Testament. Even the Hebrew word for one, for one God, we saw several examples of the fact that the Hebrew word means a compound unity. A unit made up of several parts. And we saw evidence for that. So if the fact there is one God does not mean that there cannot be three persons within the Godhead. Then we talked about passages that mention two or more persons in the Trinity. Even in the Old Testament, there's some about the Father and the Son, the Father and the Spirit, and then we saw three passages in Isaiah that mention all three members of the Trinity. Remember that the emphasis of the Old Testament is on the unity of God, the fact that God is one because of all of the polytheism, the worship of many gods by the cultures around Israel. But there is evidence of the Trinity even in the Old Testament. Now we didn't quite get to the last point last week. And so although it's not on your outline tonight, let me just real quickly mention this one. There are passages in the Old Testament that affirm the deity of Christ. And that's one way to see the Trinity. Remember, the Trinity is not just that there is one God who exists eternally and equally and distinctly in three persons. But there are also three persons that are all referred to as God. And so anytime you find that, anytime you find in the Old Testament the Messiah being referred to as God, that's a proof for the fact that there's more than one person in the Godhead. And certainly there are a number of those places, three that I just mentioned quickly and you might want to look in in Isaiah chapter 7 and verse 14. All three of these are familiar prophecies of the Messiah. Isaiah 7, 14 prophesies his birth. Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign. The Virgin will conceive and give birth to a son and will call him Emmanuel. Now obviously this is a prophecy of the Lord Jesus. We know that. Why? How do we know it's a prophecy of Jesus? God be with us, Virgin birth. Okay. I'm sorry. He will give a son future? Yes. Yes. And although there is some application of this to Isaiah himself, we know for sure that this is a reference to the Messiah because Matthew tells us. Matthew quotes this passage in Matthew 1 when the angel Gabriel is introducing to Joseph what's taking place and he quotes this passage in reference to Jesus. So we know this is talking about Jesus. Now how does how does this passage show that Jesus is God? A couple of you have already mentioned that his name will be called. Okay. What does him manual mean? God with us. Matthew tells us that too. But that's what the literal word means. The Hebrew word E, Manuel. El is God. God with us is the way that the word actually is put together. So it is a clear reference to Jesus being God. Look at the next one in Isaiah 9.6. Isaiah 9.6 says, for unto us a child is born, to us a son is given and the government will be on his shoulders and he will be called. Notice his titles. Wonderful counselor. Mighty God. Everlasting father. Prince of peace. It's clear it's talking about the Messiah because verse 7 talks about him raining on David's throne over his kingdom from that time on and forever. And so it's clear prophecy of the Messiah but he is called the mighty God and the everlasting father. So Jesus is referred to as God here. One other in Isaiah, Isaiah 40 and verse 3 which is actually a prophecy of John the Baptist. But notice how it's phrased and then we'll look at how it is fulfilled in the New Testament. Chapter 40 verse 3 says, a voice of one calling in the wilderness prepare the way for the Lord, make straight in the desert a highway for our God. Okay. It is this voice is making straight in the desert preparing away for the Lord, capital L O R D which which whenever you see that all four letters capitalize that's the word for Jehovah which is the name of God and his covenant relationship with Israel. So prepare the way or prepare the way for Jehovah make straight in the desert a highway for our God. Now in Matthew chapter 3 and verse 3 this is fulfilled. Matthew 3, look at verses 1 and 2. In those days John the Baptist came preaching in the wilderness of Judea and saying repent for the kingdom of heaven has come near. This is he who was spoken of through the prophet Isaiah a voice of one calling in the wilderness prepare the way for the Lord make straight paths for him. Who is the Lord and who is the God that is being prepared for? Isaiah calls him the Lord and God. Matthew makes it clear that it's Jesus because John the Baptist is preparing the way for Jesus to come. So again those are just some evidences of the fact that the deity of Christ is found even in the Old Testament the deity of the Messiah and there are others as well like Jeremiah 23, 5 and 6 and other passages like that. Okay any question about that before we jump to the New Testament. Yes the Jeremiah 23 passage John verses 5 and 6 is a route a shoot out of the stump of Jesse that will come. Yeah and his name will be called the Lord our righteousness Jeremiah says. And so a clear reference to Christ who will reign on David's throne will come from his line but also is called the Lord God. Okay anything else before we move on? All right let's let's look at some of the New Testament evidence we're going to start in Matthew 3 if you are there already. The Trinity really is a part of the fabric of the New Testament it's just woven throughout the whole New Testament there are many ways to see it other than the ways we're going to go through tonight and we'll try to do these fairly briefly but what I really want to do and that this reason I've put all the verses on your outline tonight I want to give you an arsenal of verses. So the next time that Jehovah's Witness comes to your door and you're brave enough to invite him in you've got about 40 verses to fire back at him okay. Seriously you may not want to use it in that particular context and you may that would be great but remember it is a knowledge of what the scriptures teach that protect us from every wind of doctrine and from the deceiving spirits of the last days that we find so much about in the New Testament epistles. So how do we know that the Trinity is real? Well the first the first proof of it is in the baptism of Christ look at Matthew 3 verses 16 and 17 we've referred to this earlier. As soon as Jesus was baptized he went up out of the water at that moment heaven was opened and he saw the spirit of God descending like a dove and a lighting on him and a voice from heaven said this is my son whom I love with him I am well pleased. Now all three members of the Trinity are active here aren't they Jesus being baptized Holy Spirit coming on him like a dove and then the voice of the Father from heaven. Remember we talked about this a little bit earlier why is this one of the most important maybe the key text to prove the Trinity because they're all three active at the same time that's exactly right Trevor and the reason why that's so important to see is because the Jesus only movement today and other movements have resurrected T.D. Jakes for instance doesn't believe in the Trinity um he has resurrected an old form of what was called Aryanism in the third century which basically says that God appears sometimes as the Father sometimes as the Son sometimes as the Holy Spirit and that's how he rationally logically deals with the Trinity there are not three persons all at the same time in his teaching but God sometimes appears as Father at other times he may appear in the form of the Son and at other times you may appear in the form of the Holy Spirit well this passage is the death knell to that view because in this passage there are all three scene active heard at the very same time there are all three in the same location acting at the same time and so it's a very key scripture if anybody challenges you on the Trinity this is one to go to maybe one of the best Trevor you got a good point who did Christ pray to if there is no one else except God is appearing as him now yeah good point and that's that's a good argument anytime you see two or more of the persons of the Trinity operating at the same time even like you say in prayer that's a good a good point to be made okay a second proof for the Trinity in the New Testament is in the baptismal formula in the great commission in Matthew 28 verse 19 and this is also a key text because it shows both the unity and the Trinity of God it really does show both aspects of it notice how in 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 okay both the unity and the Trinity of God are seen in that passage how is the unity of God seen here that there's one God how is that seen in this baptismal formula well as a quality certainly yes equality yes okay okay no distinction in the names of the three okay how you're baptizing yes right okay I think that's all of those are right I think that's the real key though it's in the name just one name which indicates it singular indicates or emphasizes the unity of God but notice it it almost sounds like a grammatical error in the name of and then you mentioned three persons one name three persons one God manifested in three persons and notice there's another real strong proof of the Trinity or emphasis on the Trinity in this in that the the definite article v is used in front of each of the persons it's not the name of the father son and Holy Spirit Matthew goes to extra lengths to make sure the three are distinct it is the name of the father the son the Holy Spirit indicating three separate persons there's no way you can run the three together into one person the three separate persons and the grammar really punches it home reinforces it so this is a strong proof because it emphasizes both unity and Trinity the oneness is seen in in the ways that that all of you mentioned and the Trinity is seen in the three names and all of them specified separately the name or the father the son the Holy Spirit okay any question about this passage okay we're going to run through these next couple pretty quickly because they're repetitive somewhat but when you look at the greetings in the epistles you'll find that sometimes the father and the son are mentioned in fact the first four all do that look at first Corinthians one three and again think think of this they are Paul is giving a a greeting like a blessing and so this is a reference to God God he's greeting them in the name of God so anytime you see two persons mentioned you've got more than one person in the in the Godhead who is being mentioned equally so first Corinthians one three grace and peace to you from God our father and the Lord Jesus Christ that is Paul's typical greeting he basically says the same thing in second Corinthians one two Galatians one three and Ephesians one two basically same greeting but he puts God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ together on the same plane this blessing this prayer for blessing and this greeting is grace and peace and obviously those are qualities that God gives and so he's saying they come from both the father and the son and since divine blessing in the form of grace and peace come from both father and son that makes father and son equal right makes both of them God so that's found in four passages but the real strong one is in first Peter one two or maybe the strongest of all of them in first Peter one two where Peter mentions all three have to really pick it up in verse one to God's elect exile scattered throughout the provinces of Pontus Galatia, Capitose and Bethinia who have been chosen according to the foreknowledge of God the Father through the sanctifying work of the Spirit to the obedient to be obedient to Jesus Christ and sprinkled with his blood grace and peace be yours in abundance now this broad greeting includes all three members of the Trinity God the Father Holy Spirit and Jesus Christ all three and basically their work in salvation is referred to here which is another evidence that all three are God because only God can save so all three of these are active in our salvation God has foreknown chosen this Holy Spirit has sanctified that simply means to set apart and that's done through his convicting ministry as he sets us apart draws us to the Savior and then the the the blood of Christ obviously the provision on the cross for our salvation so all three of them are active in salvation which is a work only God can do that's another way in this passage to see the Trinity because all three of them are doing works that only God can do so the greetings and the epistles reinforce the Trinity as well all right any question about those okay blessings are given not only in greetings but also in conclusions to epistles and so you've got the the closings in the epistles as well we'll just look at a couple of those Ephesians 623 where Paul gives this blessing peace to the brothers and sisters and love with faith from God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ Jesus Christ being referred to as the Lord obviously is a reference to deity but again just the idea that a divine benediction or blessing is given in this closing greeting from God and it's given from two persons in the Godhead but second Corinthians 13 is even stronger this is another one of those real strong texts that prove the Trinity because all three are mentioned and this is a benediction you hear a lot may the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ and the love of God and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all now again remember that when Paul is giving a blessing like this and it's really what this is this was an Old Testament concept remember how Moses blessed the people blessed the 12 tribes before he died Joshua blessed the tribes before he died you know this was very common Jacob blessed his 12 sons before he died this was very common to pronounce a blessing from God was to in a sense give a prayer for God to be with that person and to bless that person and to minister to that person and so these old these new testament either greetings or closings really are are blessings that are being given Paul is speaking of blessing over the people and blessing which comes from God Paul says comes from all three persons in the Godhead the grace of Christ the love of God the fellowship of the Holy Spirit are a part of this blessing that all come in one package so it's a very strong reference to the Trinity here in second Corinthians okay comments or questions there you it would it would cause them to be non-believers because the now Mormons will call themselves Christians and they will they will look you in the eye and agree with everything you say but if you read their teachings and you understand what they're actually saying they do not believe in salvation through the blood of Jesus Christ and through through the death of Christ in fact they have a whole twisted theology about the fact that we pre-existed as gods and then came to this earth and we can populate heaven with more gods in the future it's a very twisted theology but they they want to be seen as Christian and so they there's a real push on the part of Mormons to look like their Christians to look like their evangelical and so they will agree with with you when you say things but you get deeper into their teaching and it's a it's a twisted pile of stuff but no they would not believe in the Trinity as we do or in the sufficiency of the death of Christ alone to save so that's where we would differ with them basically Trevor? pardon me? Galatians 1-8 I'm not sure what they would say about that I haven't read their writings on that but obviously you know that's a very strong warning Paul says if anyone preaches any other gospel then that which I've preached unto you let him be a cursed oh yeah it is a different gospel and that's true of any cult or any false religion and the same anathema is pronounced by Paul on anybody who adds anything to the death of Christ which is what was the trouble in Galatia Paul was in Galatians was fighting against the Judaizers who said yeah okay the death of Christ is important you got to believe that but you also got to add this to it the mosaic law and circumcision and becoming a Jew and all that and so there are a lot of people that add other things to the death of Christ and that's really what Paul's addressing now the Mormons will talk about the death of Christ but there are other things that are added to it and they fall into the Galatian heresy for that reason John very different from what we do it it's a it's a good question no there's not a blanket answer to that of course you know I could say that Baptists have everything right and you know but that's not true either there is not a blanket answer to that because John's question in case you didn't hear was can you can you define certain denominations that would not believe the Trinity is it I think kind of what you're asking is it easy to put two columns on a page and say this denomination is good and this one isn't because of what they believe in the Trinity it's not as simple as what a denomination believes it's whether or not a particular part of that denomination or church in that denomination has been affected by liberalism liberal theology which started in Europe in the late 1800s and made it to this country in the 19 teens and 20s liberal theology basically denied all the supernatural in the Bible and one of the things they denied was the Trinity you know you remember me telling the story of Harry Emerson Fosdick the preacher at John Rockefeller's church in New York City River Riverview Riverside anyway he basically said the Trinity is a is a mathematical impossibility and clearly wrote a book in the 1920s against the Trinity and against everything that we believe okay liberalism affected most of the major denominations including Baptists the Northern Baptist Convention which later became the American Baptist Convention went liberal in the 1940s the Southern Baptist Convention most of the seminaries were going liberal and then there was a mighty upsurge of conservative pastors that retook that denomination and today the liberals have been forced out of the Southern Baptist Convention but there are liberals in the United Methodist Church there are liberals in the there are several different Presbyterian groups one of them is more conservative than others it's not as easy to say the Presbyterians have got it right or the Baptists have it right the Methodists have it wrong it's not that simple but there are good Methodist churches that preach the gospel some in this area that preach the gospel and would believe in the Trinity just like we do but there are many liberal United Methodist churches too just as there are many liberal Baptist churches and any church that has been affected by liberalism will talk their way around the Trinity if they don't flat out deny it they'll talk their way around it yeah basically because it doesn't make sense logically one of one of the reasons for one of the motivating forces for liberal theology to start with was it didn't seem intellectual enough to believe some of this stuff the Bible teaches you know and so that's why in the late 1800s when Darwinism and Marxism and all the other isms that were formulating that continent and that time were invading the universities the religion departments looked like they were had their heads stuck in the sand like they were these funny duties that believed in miraculous and didn't believe in science and reason and logic and so they caved in and that's how liberalism started liberalism basically is a desire to look academically equal to any other science and so you apply the scientific method to the Bible which means anything miraculous or that cannot be reasoned out has to be abandoned that's what liberalism basically is done and so that's how the Trinity got scuttled because it doesn't make reasonable or logical sense very insidious stuff very dangerous stuff okay let's take a look at some of the the passages that separately establish the deity of each person and i've given you a lot of them here we won't try to look at all of them but there are many passages that that describe the father as god look at John 627 for a clear one Jesus is speaking here he says do not work for food that spoils but for food that endures to eternal life which the son of man will give you for on him god the father has placed his seal of approval very clearly the father is referenced as god and john 17 Jesus said father glorify me with the glory you had before i came to this earth and so he's speaking to him as god in heaven look at first Corinthians 8 6 that's a good one first Corinthians 8 6 where Paul is talking about Christian liberty and he's dealing with the issue of whether or not eating meat that sacrifice to idols is wrong and he's making the point that idols are not real gods so you're not you're not involved you're not involved in a false worship of god or gods if you eat that meat his point is reinforced verse 4 for instance he says so then about eating food sacrifice to idols we know that an idol is nothing at all in the world and that there is no god but one for even if there are so-called gods whether in heaven or on earth as indeed there are many small letter small g gods many lords now verse 6 yet for us there is but one god the father from whom all things came and for whom we live and there is but one lord Jesus Christ through whom all things came and through whom we live and so god obviously the father obviously is clearly referred to as god but also Christ is clearly referred to as god John 1 1 in the beginning was the word and the word was with god and the word was god very clear reference to the deity of Christ in John 2028 that's when Thomas sees the lord after the resurrection and Jesus proves to him says okay you weren't here last Sunday night you missed the Sunday night service the first one in history and so this Sunday night you're here so come on and and touch my side and my my hands and feet and get the proof you wanted and Thomas doesn't do that but he falls down at Jesus feet and what does he say my lord and my god it is the clearest reference of anyone else calling Jesus god in the gospels my lord and my god so Jesus is clearly called god there Titus 213 talks about the great god even our savior the lord Jesus let me see how the n i v translates to that while we wait for the blessed hope the appearing of the glory of our great god and savior Jesus Christ he's called god there and then he brews one eight very clear reference but about the sun he says your throne oh god will last forever and ever the septor of justice will be the septor of your kingdom so the father is called god Christ is called god and then the holy spirit is also called god the first two verses i want you to look at first Corinthians 619 in tandem with second Corinthians 616 first Corinthians 619 says do you not know that your bodies are the temples of the holy spirit who is in you whom you have received from god you are not your own now compare that with second Corinthians 616 which says what agreement is there between the temple of god and idols for we are the temple of the living god as god has said i will live in with them walk among them i will be their god they will be my people okay put those two together and basically you're seeing in one case Paul same author is saying your your body is the temple of the holy spirit in second Corinthians he says you're the temple of the living god okay so that is kind of a backdoor way of saying the holy spirit is god because he's the one that resides in us in in Paul's teaching here acts five three and four will turn there but that's the anionisans safira passage remember where anionisans safira have lied about what they've given and and Peter challenged them this way um he says you have lied to the holy spirit and then in the very next verse he says you've not lied to men but you've lied to god okay lied to the holy spirit not men but god clear equation of the holy spirit being god and then in second Corinthians 317 now the lord is the spirit and where the spirit of the lord is there's freedom the holy spirit is called lord here which is a title of deity so clearly the holy spirit is called god in the New Testament as well so the father is god christ is god the spirit is god basically that's another way of proving the Trinity because all three are referenced clearly in the New Testament as being god which supports what we believe to be the biblical position that there is one god yes but he exists in three equal eternal distinct persons the father son and holy spirit so all three are god okay now again the jahobas witnesses very clearly say that's not mathematically possible they say it this way either you believe in three gods one plus one plus one equals three or in order to get one you must believe that each other more a third god one third plus one third plus one third equals one someone last week showed me the little equation a different equation and way to see it is i think it was you wasn't it last showed me this one times one times one equals one and so that maybe it's a little if you want to if you want to argue from math do it that way okay but again remember when we started out on the Trinity I made it clear we don't base our theology on math that's not where we get our theology our theology comes from the Bible and so what we're really concerned about is not does it make mathematical sense because who are we to think that we can wrap our minds around god anyway or we can fully understand who he is with our finite brains god is bigger than our logic and our brains can conceive of he's much bigger than that and so we can't we can't box him into the confines of our human brain so our concern is is it found in the Bible whether or not I can understand it logically explain it reasonably whether or not it makes mathematical sense that's not the issue the issue is is it found in the Bible and over the last two three weeks I think we have seen yes abundantly over and over and over and over again it's found in the Bible many proofs both in Old Testament and New Testament yes it is found in the Bible and so that settles it for us now the culture can do all they want to to look at us and say well you poor little folks that just believe that old book I don't know how many of you saw the the Kenham debate with Bill Nye the science guy who how many of you saw that several of you did okay it's not the thing that Bill Nye kept coming back to he could not understand how can you you mean you're asking me to put faith in a three thousand year old book written in English he said which was totally off the wall to start with and and you mean you're expecting me to put faith in that rather than sound scientific reason and the answer to that is well you got your facts wrong but yes that's exactly what we're asking you to do and until that is done that bridge will never be or that that divide will never be bridged and you can see it so evident in that debate it all comes down to what are your presuppositions do you believe the Bible to be the word of God okay then it's then it's easy to prove the truths that we teach if you don't start with that presupposition you're never going to see it you you never will see it Bill Nye will never see the truth of God until he submits to God's word and neither will any other evolutionist or atheist now there's value in in as I've said before in apologetic arguments to show a person they may be thinking wrong but faith only comes through the word of God and so that's what we have to go back to one other proof and I'll just mention this one quickly divine attributes are applied to each person and we won't take time to show that but you could take all of the attributes remember the 15 attributes that we studied about God in the New Testament and you can you can go through the Bible and find them applied to each of the three persons each of the three is described in places as being omniscient or omnipresent or omnipotent or or immutable or holy or whatever you can take the attributes and you can find in the Bible all three persons have those divine attributes and so it's just another way of proving the the Trinity okay that's the Trinity in the New Testament at least a little bit of it there's a lot more but I think that gives us enough to to chew on for a while any any other questions about the Trinity because we're done with the Trinity I mean we're we are finished studying the Trinity I should say in our study on what the Bible teaches about God John oh hahaha okay they taught them so much about how to try to get into the house and never taught them what to do once they got in huh that's funny okay next next time we're going to start and we'll finish up this study with two or three sessions on the works of God and we'll talk about God's plan just briefly survey what the Bible teaches about creation God as a creator and then God's providence is overall control of all events but we'll spend at least one maybe two sessions on God's plan because that's a pretty big subject all right let's pray father thank you for your word that you've given us your word so that we might understand you better and know you better and be able to be to be able to to give a reason for the hope that's in us to be able to give sound biblical reasons to be able to answer people's questions to be able to defend ourselves against every wind of doctrine that comes down the pike and all the teachers that have itching ears that are ready to deceive there's so many warnings about them in the New Testament and we pray that we will be ready to defend what your word teaches and know what we believe in why so thank you for the opportunity to study your word and we we pray that we'll not be content with just learning but we will want to live to live out your word whatever we learn that we'll seek to use to become more like you we ask in Jesus' name you