The Trinity Flashcards
Assume that your hearer knows utterly nothing about God, but is eager to lear. Using Scripture, explain the Trinity to this person.
Trinity - one God who eternally exists as three distinct Persons - the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.
God is one essence (substance of God) and three persons (role or character adopted by God)
Three critical truths:
1. The Father, Son, and Holy Spirit are three distinct persons
2. Each Person is fully God
3. There is only one God
Father as God - Phil 1:2
Jesus as God - Titus 2:13
Holy Spirit as God - Acts 5:3-4
The personhood of each member of the Trinity means that each Person has a distinct center of consciousness. Thus, they relate to each other personally (so they cannot all be the exact same person).
The trinity does not divide God into three parts: “in Him[Jesus] all the fullness of Deity dwells in bodily form” (Col 2:9)
Stated otherwise: “the being of each Person is equal to the whole being of God”
The divine essence is not something that is divided between them, but is fully in all three persons without being divided into parts.
“There is no other God besides me, a righteous God and a savior; there is none besides me. Turn to me and be saved, all the ends of the earth! For I am God, and there is no other” (Isaiah 45:21-22; 44:6-8, Exodus 15:11; Deu 4:35)
That is meant by the term ‘substance’ and ‘persons’ as they relate to the doctrine of the Trinity?
Substance - any individual being that exists separately from - and is not merely a characteristic ‘inherent’ in - other beings. For example, and oak tree is a substance; its color, size, weight, and so forth are not substances but accidents. The tree exists separately from the other substances; the tree accidents cannot possibly be separate from it.
Hypostatis - substance - an individual
Person - an individual substance (hypostatis) with a rational nature
The Divine substance answers the question of what kind of being God is
What historical positions were taken on the Trinity at the Councils of Nicaea 325 and Constantinople 381?
Council of Nicaea 325 - Jesus is divine
Council of Constantinople 381 - Spirit is divine
How do these three persons relate to Creation? Revelation? Salvation? The Church?
Creation - all were involved in creation
Reevaluation - all are involved in revelation; God reveals himself through Jesus, the Spirit points back to Jesus
Salvation - all are involved in salvation; God sends Jesus to atone for the sins believers; the Holy Spirit ensures that believers cease the activity of sin
The Church - God exalted Jesus to be the head of the Church. Jesus is the head of the Church and intercedes for the Body of Christ; the Holy Spirit inaugurated the Church.
Why is the doctrine of the Trinity essential to sound Christian faith?
It is essential to understand that we serve one God and one God only
It is essential to understand that the pathway to that God is through the atoning work of Christ on the cross
It is essential to understand that it is the Holy Spirit that brings us to all righteousness through the work of sanctification within the believer after the Spirit has regenerated (given new birth) the believer.
