The Trinity Flashcards
Where would you go in scripture to support the doctrine of the Trinity?
*ALWAYS ASKED
The word Trinity is not in the BIble. It is a latin term, trinitas, which means Triad.
While there is one God, he exists eternally in three persons: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.
JESUS’ BAPTISM- Matthew 3:16-17
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 alighting on him. And a voice from heaven said, “This is my Son, whom I love; with him I am well pleased.”
THE GREAT COMMISSION- Matthew 28:18-20
Then Jesus came to them and said, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. 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, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.”
2 CORINTHIAN BENEDICTION- 2 Cor. 13:14
The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ and the love of God and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all.
EPHESIAN PRAYER- Ephesians 1:17
…that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give you the Spirit of wisdom and of revelation in the knowledge of him…
MAJESTIC PLURALS
- Genesis 1:26 - Let us make man in our image.
- Genesis 3:22 - Man has become like us, knowing good from evil.
- Genesis 11:7 - Let us go down and confound their language.
- Isaiah 6:8 - Whom shall I send? Who will go for us?
ALL 3 ACTIVE IN CREATION
Father- Gen. 1:1
Spirit- Gen 1:2
Son- John 1:3, Col. 1:16
ALL 3 ACTIVE IN SALVATION- John 3:5,16
Father, Spirit, and Son active in Jesus’ talk with Nicodemus about being born again: “Unless you are born of water and the SPIRIT, you cannot enter the Kingdom of God…For GOD so loved the world that he gave his one and only SON…
What is the biblical basis for the confession, “There is one God”?
1 GOD // 3 PERSONS
THE SHEMA- Deuteronomy 6:4
Hear, O Israel! The LORD is our God, the LORD is one!
10 COMMANDMENTS- Exodus 20:2-6
“I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery. You shall have no other gods before me. You shall not make for yourself an image in the form of anything in heaven above or on the earth beneath or in the waters below. You shall not bow down to them or worship them; for I, the Lord your God, am a jealous God, punishing the children for the sin of the parents to the third and fourth generation of those who hate me, but showing love to a thousand generations of those who love me and keep my commandments.”
Isaiah 43:10
Before me no god was formed, nor shall there be any after me. I, I am the Lord,
and besides me there is no savior.
Isaiah 44:6-8 “I am the first and I am the last; besides me there is no god... Is there a God besides me? There is no Rock; I know not any.”
Psalm 86:10
For you are great and do wondrous things;
you alone are God.
What is the biblical basis for the belief that God exists “in three persons: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit”?
An entity is defined as a person if they possess the attributes of personality, namely: intellect, emotion, and will.
Each person of the Trinity possesses those attributes of personality and is ascribed both the declarations of deity and the works of deity.
Distinguish between Jesus as “begotten not made” and the Holy Spirit proceeding from the Father and Son.
RARELY ASKED
Begotten not made is from the Niceness Creed (combatting the teaching of Arius that Jesus was created and therefore not eternal) to state that Jesus is equal to the Father. We see the pre-existence of Jesus in:
John 1:1
John 8:58
Colossians 1:15-20
The Spirit proceeding from the Father and the Son is from the Filioque in the Nicene Creed. Just as the Son is eternally begotten from the Father, so also the Spirit proceeds from the Father and the Son.
God from God - true God from true God - one of being with the Father and not made. In scripture, the Spirit is called the Spirit of the Father and the Spirit of Christ.
What contemporary theological positions raise serious questions for the traditional doctrine of the Trinity?
Jehovah’s Witness - deny the deity of Christ
United Pentecostals - modern day modalists
Mormans - Jesus was once a man like us and brother of Satan
Christian Scientists - Gnostic view of Christ
