The Trinity - How can God be both 1 & 3?

Ishmael LaBiosa: Welcome to the You Ask Podcast, where the goal is to answer common questions about Christianity. Let's listen in as Pastor Rusty answers today's question. Today's question is how can God be both one and three? This is the question of the doctrine of the Trinity. The doctrine of the Trinity mystifies many Christians. They think this doctrine is too complicated for them to fully understand. And unfortunately, a lot of Christians don't give the doctrine of the Trinity its rightful time and study because they feel it's too complex. I would want to push back on that and say while it is true that the concept of God in general and the concept of Trinity in particular is complex, it is the way in which God reveals Himself in the Bible. And the Trinity is revealed uniquely in the scriptures. I think there are some things that we can actually know about God from reason and observation. But the doctrine of the Trinity can only be known through biblical revelation as contained in the Old and New Testaments. So I want to just try to point out some key scriptures to you and to show you. Why the church has historically believed in the doctrine of the Trinity, because the data is in the Bible reveals to us that God is, in fact, three in one. Now, many people have a great deal of debate about how much the doctrine of the Trinity is disclosed in the Old Testament. What I like to say is the Old Testament clearly gives us clues that more is going on than. Mere monotheism. For example, some Old Testament texts that point to God is more complex than just a mere monotheism is Genesis 126, the very first chapter of the Bible where it says, and if we notice the words, let us, this is God speaking, make man in our image after our likeness. And then after the fall of humanity in Genesis 32, it says, Behold, the man has become like one of us, knowing good and evil. And then even in passages in the prophets like Isaiah six, eight, it will be God who says, Whom shall I send who will go for us? Notice the language of us in the Old Testament as it relates to God. And then the plot thickens even more in the book of Psalms, for example. Psalm 1101, it says, The Lord said to my Lord, Set at my right hand until I make your enemies a footstool at your feet. And so the question is: who is God speaking to? The Lord says to my Lord, Set at my right hand until I make your enemies a footstool at your feet. By the way, Psalm 110:1. Is one of the most quoted Old Testament text in the New Testament. And then you have additional data from the Old Testament. For example, in the book of Proverbs, you have an attribute of God, his wisdom, that seems to be separate from God, but still very much God. Does not wisdom cry out? Psalm eight says, I was appointed. Wisdom is speaking here from eternity from the beginning before the world began. So when we read the Old Testament at first glance, the first thing we kind of notice is that when God speaks, there's the language of plurality. And so we realize that something might be going on other than mere monotheism. Well, then we get to the key text, I would say, in the Old Testament, which is the key text for monotheism. Christianity does in fact believe God is Christ. One, Deuteronomy six, four, a key text, hear, O Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is one. The Old Testament and the New believes that there are not two gods or three gods, there's one God. In the New Testament, monotheism is affirmed in James chapter two, verse nineteen. You believe that there is one God. James says you do well. So the Unity of God, that God is one, is a clear teaching based upon the famous Deuteronomy 6 4 passage, Hero Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is one. But as we read, especially into the New Testament, we realize that while God is one, we notice that the Father is God, the Son is God, and the Holy Spirit is God. You say, Rusty, where where are those texts found? Well, one of the easiest ones to glean is that the Father is God. Matthew chapter 6, it says, your heavenly father feeds them, Jesus speaking. And then Jesus says, if that is how God. Notice that Father is clearly related to God. Or in like a Romans 1:7, grace and peace to you from God our Father. So the idea that The Father is God is pretty simple to grasp. In the New Testament, however, we also get clear indication that the Son is God. Probably the clearest indication that the Son is God is John 1 1. In the beginning was the Word, the Word was with God, and the Word, speaking about Jesus, was God. Or in Philippians 2, it says your attitude should be the same as that is Christ Jesus, who being in the very nature of God. God. Or you have ⁓ Hebrews 1:3, the sun is the radiance of God's glory, the exact expression of his being. And then in the gospels, Jesus functions as God. He claims that God's angels are his angels. He claims to have the power to judge the world and reign. He claims to forgive sins. So there is this. functionality of Jesus in the gospels. He's like, I am doing everything God is doing. And then there are direct statements in the New Testament that Jesus is in fact God. The Holy Spirit is also God. A few texts point out to us that the Holy Spirit is God. Acts chapter 5, 3 and 4, where Ananias and Sapphira lie, and they lied to the Holy Spirit, it says, you have lied to the Holy Spirit. And have kept for yourself some of the money you receive for the land, you have not lied to men, but to, here it is, God. And then to kind of wrap this section up, Matthew 28, 19, go and make disciples, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. So you say, Well, how do we get this idea that God is one and three? Well, we put some ideas together. Firstly, we put together that the Old Testament clearly is monotheistic. Hero Israel, the Lord our God is want. But when we read other texts in the Old Testament, we realize that there's some ambiguity to this monotheism. There's a great deal of the usage of us. There's the personification of characteristics of God, like his wisdom and word, that seem to almost have a separate quality from God, but clearly our God. And then when we get to the New Testament, we realize the Father is God, the Son is God, and the Holy Spirit is God. This forms the matrix for how we understand the Trinity. Now, where this gets, I think, even more interesting is listen carefully. And this is one place I think we misunderstand the Trinity. The Father is not the Son. The Son is not the Spirit. But the Father is God, the Son is God, the Holy Spirit is God, three persons, one essence, but they are indeed three persons. And what we mean by that is that they are unique unto themselves, that the Father has a role and a relationship with the Son, the Son has a role in relationship with the Father, the Spirit has a role in relationship to Father and Son, and they have relationships with one another. As we read through the Bible, we realize that, for example, the Father is supreme among the persons of the Godhead. And often when we read about the Father's actions, like in Ephesians 1, 9 through 12, the Father is the grand architect, the wise designer of creation, redemption, and consummation. The Father is uniquely identified, for example, in James 113, the giver of every good and perfect gift. And the Father ultimately gives the Son. Also, the Father often provides and works through the Son and the Spirit. Just this simple idea that the Father is not the Son is seen in a most basic verse. For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son. The Father gives the Son. They're not the same as far as persons, but one in. Essence. We ought to notice as we read through the Bible not only the persons of the Trinity, but how the persons function. What are their roles? I think it's very unique when we read in the Gospels. One of the questions that seemed to be quite lost on people is why is the Son called the Son? And there's a simple reason because he's in a relationship with the, you got it, the Father. So the Son is in a loving relationship with the Father. And the Son, at least in his earthly ministry, if not from eternity, is under the authority of the Father. Even though the Son is equal to the Father, he is in submission to the Father. We clearly know that you read through the Gospels and Jesus says, Well, I only do what the Father says for me to do. And notice there you have a clear indication of the son's relationship with the Father. And in his earthly life, the son submitted himself to the Spirit. Jesus says, the Spirit of the Lord is upon me, for he's anointed me to preach the gospel. And yet, after Christ's ascension, the Son then has authority over the Spirit to extend the ministry post-Jesus leaving. We ought to notice the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit also assists in carrying out the work of the Father. And now you say, What does the Holy Spirit do? The Holy Spirit Has a very important task of glorifying the Son. Also, it is the Holy Spirit. What is his role in the Trinity? He is the agent to inspire Scripture. Second Peter 1, 20 and 21. Men wrote from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit. Evangelism is empowered currently by the Holy Spirit. You must be born again. It says in John 3. And this idea of being born again is something brought forth by the Holy Spirit. Sanctification, becoming more like Jesus, is achieved by the Holy Spirit. And it seems, however, in the age to come, at present, the Holy Spirit is active in the church in a major way. Once we get to Revelation chapter five and New Heavens, New Earth, it seems that the focus is on Jesus, the Lamb who was slain, who is the lion. Of Judah. I just think it's important that we not only understand God is one, we not only understand the Father is God, the Son is God, the Spirit is God, God is three, but we understand some sense that there are relationships between Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. I always like to say when ⁓ God is self effacing. What I mean by that is if you look at the Father, the Father says, Well, have you considered my son? When you look at the Son, he is in submission to the Father. And when you look at the Holy Spirit, he says, Well, I'd like to glorify the Son. And so you can see there the roles and relationships, the relational, as it is sometimes called, Trinity. This was not lost on the early church. Early on, thinkers of the church understood God as Trinity. right outside the New Testament, Trinitarian language was already being written. There is a particular church father who is credited for coining the term Trinity. His name is Tertullian, and he says God is one substance and three persons. And by the time we get to the three hundreds, the Nicene Creed is written and it says we believe in one God, the Father, the Almighty. And in the one Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of God, and we believe in the Holy Spirit. This is one place where Protestants, Roman Catholics, and Orthodox Christians, the three great streams of Christianity, all agree. There are many things, since I am a Protestant, there are many things that I may stand in disagreement with, but during the Protestant Reformation. The great Protestant reformers had nothing to say in addition to what had already been said. The doctrine of the Trinity was well established and in place. What should we do with this doctrine? Some people ask the question: is the doctrine of the Trinity logical? And the simple answer is: it is logical. It does not violate any laws of logic because of the way it's formulated. And that's that's pretty well known as it's classically. Formulated, it does not break the law of non-contradiction. While I like to say it's illogical, it is not fully explicable, meaning you can't explain it. I would make one word of caution. There are basically no analogies that are given that adequately explain the Trinity, and most of them distort the Trinity because they mess up the distinction of persons. I've heard a lot of people say, well, the Trinity is like a tree, a root, a trunk, a branch, or the Trinity is like an egg. A shell, a yoke, a white, or the Trinity is like water, steam, liquid, and ice, or the Trinity is like a person who could be a teacher, a son, and a husband. And all of those analogies in many ways very much distort the doctrine of the Trinity. And I would recommend they not be used. You say, Well, I need a little help. What should I use? I think this simple statement really encapsulates the rightness of the doctrine of the Trinity. Is that the Father is God, the Son is God, and the Spirit is God. But the Father is not the Son, the Son is not the Spirit, the Spirit is not the Father. Three persons, one essence. You say, Rusty, what does this really matter? I think it matters in a few places. First of all, when we think about God, I don't know what you think about, but when we think about God as Christians, we should think about God as Trinity. We should think of God as the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, one God, three persons. And that should be central in our understanding of Christian worship. Also, I think, even in the place of prayer, if we have some sense of who God is, we know how to pray. Jesus tells us that we are to pray to the Father via the agency of the Son in the power of the Holy Spirit. It's one of the reasons we say, Dear Heavenly Father. And then at the end we say, in Jesus' name, meaning through his agency, we get to the Father via the Son, and we do all of this in the power of the Holy Spirit. As you read your Bibles, understand God as Christianity has revealed him. God is revealed as Trinity. And I hope this vision of God that is revealed in the scriptures deepens your understanding of Him. Thank you for listening to the You Ask Podcast. This is a ministry of Liberty Baptist Church, and we pray this podcast enables you to more faithfully live out your Christian life.

Psalms 110:1 Matthew 6 · chapter mention Romans 1:7 Hebrews 1:3 Acts 5 · chapter mention