The Trinity

1. The Holy Trinity – 25th
June 2016
“Very trulyI tell you,” Jesusanswered, “beforeAbrahamwas born, I am!”( John8:58).
Who do we call God becomesaveryrelevantquestionwhenwe embarkonthisstudy. There are more
false teachingsaboutwhoGodis thanwe couldeveraddressdirectly.Fromthe conceptof idols,tothe
newage ideathat everythingispartof God, manypeople inventtheirown theories of whoGodis.
Whenspeakingof the God as statedin the Bible,there are alsofalse teachingsaboutwhoHe is. The
bible isclearthatGod is onlyone personwithdifferentrolesthatHe fulfills.We needtolookatthe clear
teachingof the scripturesregardingwhoGodis andhow God works.
Firstwe needto examine:‘Whatdoesitmeanthat there isone God? One of the most fundamental
teachingsof the Oldand NewTestamentsisthatGod isone.But whatdoesthat mean? We can read
fromthe OldTestamentin Deuteronomy6:4, “
Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God,the LORD is one” From
the NewTestament repeatsthis aswe can learnfrom James 2:19, “Youbelieve that Godis one; youdo
well. Even the demons believe—andshudder! Doesitmeanthat God isone person? We can learnfrom
John17 that explainswhatitmeans:“Myprayerisnot for them alone.I prayalso forthose who will
believe inme throughtheir message, 21
thatall of them may be one, Father, justas you are in me and I
am in you.May they alsobe inus so that the world may believethat you have sent me. 22
I have given
them the glory that you gave me, that they may be one as we are one— 23
I inthem andyou inme—so
that they may be brought to completeunity. Then the world will know that yousent me andhave
lovedthem even as you haveloved me”(John17:20-23). He tells usthat we musthave one purpose and
understandingjustasthe FatherandJesushave one purpose andunderstanding.If Jesusandthe Father
was one person,itwouldmake nosense forJesustoprayingto the Fathereither. We readthisa
numberof timesinthe gospels.
We can lookat anotherscripture foundin Genesis1:26 , “Then Godsaid,“Let us make mankindinour
image,in our likeness,so that they may rule over the fishin the sea andthe birds inthe sky, over the
livestockand all the wild animals,[a]
andover all the creatures that move alongthe ground.”Whois
God talkingtowhenHe says,“us” and “our”?The actual wordfor “God” here is“Elohim”whichisa
plural word.We are made in the image of God. That includesall of the personswhomake upthe one
God. We can lookat a scripturesthatmake it clearthat God includesmore thanone person. We can
readfrom Malachi 3:1 “Behold, I sendh
my messenger, and i
he will prepare the way before me. And
the Lordj
whomyou seek will suddenlycome to histemple; and k
the messenger of the covenantin
whom youdelight,behold,he is coming,saysthe LORD of hosts”.
At thispointone maywant to knowwhoare includedinthe One Godconcept.Now thatwe can see
clearlythatGod is one butmore thanone person,we can determine whomakesupwhomwe referto
as “one God”. Thisis referred toas the Godheador Trinity as itis inreference tothree spiritualpersons:
The Father,The Sonand the HolySpirit. We will lookateach one the Bible speaksof and understand
throughscripture sothat we clearly understand thatthey consistof whomwe refertoas God.
The Father: We can readin John 8:54, Jesusreplied, “IfI glorifymyself,my glorymeans nothing. My
Father, whomyou claimas your God,isthe one who glorifiesme. Jesussaysthat the one whomthe
JewscalledGodwasHis Father.He iscertainlynotdenyingthatHisFatherisGod. He isconfirmingit.

2. Jesus Christ- The Son: As statedinthe above passage justafterJesustalksaboutthe FatherbeingGod,
He saysthat “before Abrahamwas,I am.” We can read fromJohn8:55-58, “Thoughyou do not know
him,I know him. IfI saidI did not,I would be a liarlike you, butI doknow him andobey his word.
56
Yourfather Abrahamrejoiced at the thought ofseeing my day; he saw it andwas glad.”57
“Youare
not yet fifty years old,” they saidto him,“andyou have seen Abraham!”58
“VerytrulyI tell you,” Jesus
answered, “beforeAbrahamwas born,I am!” 59
At this,they picked up stonesto stone him, butJesus
hidhimself,slippingawayfromthe temple grounds.
One may inquire astowhy the Jews tryto kill Jesusforsayingthat?Thiswas clearto the Jews that He
was claimingtobe God. Notonlywas JesusChristclaimingthat“He was”before Abraham, buthe
claimed“Iam” before Abraham.Thisa claimof beingGod because Godisnot boundby time.He is
timelessoreternal.WhenMosesaskedwhototell the IsraelitesGodwas, we canlearnfrom Exodus
3:14, “Godsaidto Moses, “IAM WHO I AM.” Andhe said,“Saythisto the peopleof Israel, ‘I AM has
sent me to you”.WhenJesusclaimed,“Iam,”thiswasclear to the Jewsthathe wasclaimingtobe God.
We can learnagainfrom John1:1-3, “Inthe beginningwasthe Word,andthe Wordwas with God,and
the Word wasGod.2
He was with Godinthe beginning. 3
Throughhimall thingswere made; without
himnothingwas made that hasbeen made”.
We can alsoread fromJohn1: 14-18 : “The Wordbecame fleshand made hisdwellingamongus.We
have seen his glory,the glory ofthe one andonly Son,who came fromthe Father, full ofgrace and
truth.15
(Johntestifiedconcerninghim.He cried out, saying,“Thisisthe one I spokeabout when I said,
‘He whocomes after me hassurpassedme becausehe wasbefore me.’”) 16
Out of hisfullnesswe have
all received grace in placeof grace already given. 17
Forthe lawwas given throughMoses; grace and
truth came through JesusChrist. 18
No one hasever seen God,but the one and onlySon, whois himself
Godand[a]
isin closest relationshipwiththe Father, hasmade himknown. Inthese verses,the apostle,
John,clearlyclaimsthatJesusisGod.He has alwaysbeen.He isthe Creator.He isthe onlyGod,whois
at the Father’sside.He hasmade knownGodthe Father.
The Holy Spirit:This isthe third spiritual personinthe Godhead.We canreadthisin Matthew 28:19,
“Therefore go andmake disciplesof all nations,baptizingtheminthe name ofthe Father andof the
Son andof the Holy Spirit…”.Thispassage tellsusthatthe HolySpirit as havingthe same authorityas
the Fatherand the Son. Since these three spiritual beingsrepresentwho Godis,as Christianswe needto
be Baptized inthe name of the Fatherand of the Sonand the HolySpiritas we can learnfrom 2
Corinthians13:14, “Maythe grace ofthe Lord JesusChrist, andthe love of God,andthe fellowshipof
the Holy Spirit be withyou all”.