Trinity – TGN

God In Three Persons

Enoch Anti — Mon, 22 Apr 2024 05:00:23 +0000

John 5:18-30

One of the cherished hymns in Christian worship is “Holy, Holy, Holy! Lord God Almighty.” This hymn is a melodious tribute to God’s majesty and encapsulates one of Christianity’s core doctrines.

Holy, holy, holy!

Lord God Almighty

Early in the morning

Our song shall rise to Thee

Holy, holy, holy!

Merciful and mighty

God in three persons

Blessed Trinity!

Whenever we sing this hymn, we affirm several truths about God: His holiness, His omnipotence, His mercy, and, crucially, the doctrine of the Trinity:

God in three persons

Blessed Trinity!

This article aims to unpack the doctrine of the Trinity, a foundational yet often misunderstood aspect of Christian theology. Here’s the approach we’ll take. I will begin by defining the doctrine of the Trinity. Next, we will explore three key aspects: the Oneness of God, the Distinction in Oneness, and the Equality of Distinction in Oneness.

Through God’s self-revelation, He has clearly presented Himself as a Triune God—“Three in One” or “Tri-Unity.” This divine self-revelation compels us to embrace and believe in the doctrine. Let’s start with the definition of the Trinity, as articulated in the Westminster Shorter Catechism:

There are three persons in the Godhead; the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost; and these three are one God, the same in substance, equal in power and glory.

Oneness of God

In the definition above, we read, “…and these three are one God.” This line underscores the foundational Christian belief that there is only one God, not three. This concept is pivotal when considering the events of John 5:18-30, where the healing of an invalid by Jesus stirs controversy among the Jews. They challenge the authority of Jesus, especially aggravated by His claim of equality with God by calling God His Father. This assertion—where Jesus says, “The Father and I are working, and that is why I am working,” particularly when He declares Himself Lord over the Sabbath (Mark 2:28)—left no doubt in the minds of the Jews about His divine claims.

Given this strict monotheism that we get from passages like Deuteronomy 6:4-6, the concept of the Trinity may initially appear confounding, leading some to assert that Christians worship three gods or adhere to a purely human-invented doctrine. However, at the very core of Christian faith is the belief in one Divine Essence shared by three co-equal and co-eternal Persons—Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. This is the Godhead (Colossians 2:9), encompassing attributes such as omnipotence, omnipresence, and omniscience, attributes that only belong to God. This understanding is not a departure into tritheism but establishes the Biblical insight into the true nature of God’s infinite unity. Thus, we affirm that Christians are indeed absolute monotheists, even as we embrace and love the mystery of our Triune God.

Distinction In Oneness

This One God has revealed himself as three distinct persons: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. In John Chapter 5, a clear distinction is drawn between “The Father and The Son,” illustrating that while they are one God, they are distinct persons. This distinction is central to understanding the Trinity as each divine Person plays a unique role in accomplishing Redemption.

The relationship between the Father and the Son is profound, as shown when the Father loves the Son and reveals His works to Him (John 5:20). This dynamic underscores that all promises made by God in the Old Testament, pointing to the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ, were fulfilled in Him. Jesus lived a perfectly sinless life, fulfilling God’s commandments—something none of us could achieve. He came to make substitutionary atonement for our sins, thus redeeming a people for God and reconciling sinners to Him. This is a vital implication of the Trinity: God fulfilled His promise to send a Saviour and Messiah to save His people from their sins (Genesis 3:15).

The Trinity in Creation

The narrative of creation clearly yet subtly hints at the reality of the Trinity. The term “Elohim” used in Genesis 1 is plural, suggesting a multiplicity of persons within the Godhead. During creation, “the Spirit of God was hovering over the face of the waters,” and God said, “Let there be light,” introducing the Word and the Spirit alongside God (Genesis 1:1-3). John echoes this in his gospel: “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God” (John 1:1). Thus, we see God, the Word, and the Spirit actively involved in creation.

Genesis 1:26 states, “Let us make man in our image, after our likeness.” The use of “us” and “our” raises the question: Who was God speaking to? Wayne Grudem argues that this cannot be a plural of majesty or a conversation with angels, as humans were not made in the image of angels, nor do angels share in God’s creative acts. The most convincing explanation is the presence of a plurality of persons in the Godhead.

The Trinity in the New Testament

In the New Testament, the Trinity is fully revealed. God is clearly presented as Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. The salvation of sinners is a Trinitarian work—by the Father, through the Son, and with the sanctification of the Spirit.

The Father purposed our redemption, the Son died to save us, and the Holy Spirit applies Christ’s work to our hearts for our salvation. When we embrace faith in Christ and are baptised, it is in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, affirming our belief in the Triune God. Whenever we share in the benediction, we affirm this same truth: “The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ and the love of God and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all” (2 Corinthians 13:14). Furthermore, Peter explains what happens in salvation in Trinitarian language. He says we are saved “according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, in the sanctification of the Spirit, for obedience to Jesus Christ and for sprinkling with his blood” (1 Peter 1:2).

Equality In the Godhead

All three persons of the Godhead are equally God. The Father is no more God than the Son or the Holy Spirit. The Westminster Shorter Catechism affirms that the members of the Trinity are same in “substance, equal in power and glory”. We see this in John 5:18: “the Son can do nothing of his own accord, but only what he sees the Father doing. For whatever the Father does, that the Son does likewise.”

Jesus wasn’t speaking of his inability to act. At issue here is his cooperation and unity with the Father in the work of redemption. In the Baptism text quoted earlier, note that we are to” [baptise] them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit”. Notice that the verse avers that it is ‘in the name of’ (singular) that we are to baptise; it doesn’t say ‘in the names of’ (plural). This tells us that, though distinct, the three persons of the Godhead are equal and united. The Father is God, The Son is God, and The Holy Spirit is God. And the three are One.

Ephesians 4:4-6 affirms:

There is one body and one Spirit—just as you were called to the one hope that belongs to your call— one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all.

Thus, the Trinity is not an abstract doctrine.

Practical Implications

The doctrine of the Trinity has implications for our lives as believers. It is a model for unity among believers. Jesus prayed:

“That they may all be one, just as you, Father, are in me, and I in you, that they also may be in us, so that the world may believe that you have sent me.” (John 17:21).

The unity reflected in the Trinity must be seen amongst us. Believers don’t meet to have just fellowship. We meet to reflect God’s tri-unity and to show the world the testimony of our God. Paul echoes this in his teachings, reminding us that though we are many, we are one body in Christ. Our gatherings are an opportunity to reflect the love of God by loving one another. The same love expressed in the Trinity is the same love the Father extends to us, and through us, to one another: “I in them and you in me, that they may become perfectly one, so that the world may know that you sent me and loved them even as you loved me.”

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The Trinity Before Constantine

Michael Franco Smit — Mon, 30 Jan 2023 07:13:59 +0000

“…from the essence of the Father, God from God,
Light from Light, True God from true God, Begotten, not created,
Of the same essence as the Father,”
Nicene Creed, 325 AD[1]

If there has ever been a theological hill to die on, it is for the doctrine of the Trinity. In fact, this is the exact place where many have drawn a line in the sand. In this brief defence, I desire to step aside as much as possible for you to hear their voices.

Setting the Stage

The Nicene Creed is a landmark confession in Christian history. Though not the first church council[2], it is the first ecumenical[3] council. After nearly three centuries of Empire-wide persecution of the church and her saints, Roman Emperor Constantine the Great (272-337) issued the Edict of Milan (313) which brought about a shift in the religious landscape of the Empire. This Edict granted Christians the right to worship and many other previously prohibited rights. At the same time a theological storm was brewing in the East.

The great city of Alexandria, the ‘bread-basket’ of the Empire, had erupted into a monumental dispute. At the centre of the unfolding drama stood the influential Libyan elder, Arius (256-336). Arius taught that the Father alone was God. In an attempt to maintain the unique supremacy of the Father, Arius argued for a Creator-Creature distinction and placed the Son, that is Jesus, on the Creature divide. In defending himself, Arius pointed to passages like Colossians 1:15 as a prooftext, stating, “There was once a time when the Son was not.”[4] This argument drew many to his side. After a failed synod in 321, in the city of Alexandria, the stage was set for the church to respond to these dangerous teachings. The Council would convene at Nicea, a city in Asia Minor modern day Turkey, in 325 AD.

Many have looked back at the Council of Nicea with some suspicion. Claiming that the Trinity was an invention of this particular Council. Others question the role of the State in the proceedings: Constantine was clearly present in most of the meetings as the Creed was drafted and redrafted.[5] In our day, the Jehovah’s Witnesses, Unitarians and some of our Muslim friends argue that the Trinity was an innovation with no historical basis prior to Nicea. Is this the case? Was this some innovation, or is there evidence in support of a pre-Nicene Trinitarian commitment? I will argue for the latter.

Let us set forth clear evidence that the Bible and the early Christians, who lived and died before the Council of Nicea, were committed to the Trinitarian doctrine. Five fundamental truths will anchor this inquiry: the Father is God, the Son is God, the Holy Spirit is God, the Son is not the Father, and the Holy Spirit is not the Father nor the Son.

The Biblical Data

“Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God, the LORD is one.”[6] The oneness of the God of Israel had distinguished this nation from their neighbours and had a similar effect on the Christian Church that had burst onto the world stage following the death and resurrection of her Lord. At the baptism of Jesus, the distinct voice of God from heaven being heard while the Spirit of God descended like a dove exclaimed the previously concealed wonder of the Trinity. Here we see three Persons, yet one Being.

The church fathers understood that Scripture alone should to be their final authority. An example of this can be seen with Gregory of Nyssa (335-389), in a conflict with his Arian opponents, declared: “Let the inspired Scripture, then, be our umpire, and the vote of truth will surely be given to those whose dogmas are found to agree with the Divine words.”[7]

1. The Father is God.

2 Corinthians 1:3 – “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and God of all comfort.”[8]

2. The Son is God.

Titus 2:13 – “looking for the blessed hope and the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior, Christ Jesus”[9]

3. The Holy Spirit is God.

Acts 5:3–4 – But Peter said, ‘Ananias, why has Satan filled your heart to lie to the Holy Spirit … You have not lied to men but to God.’”[10]

4. The Son is not the Father.

John 1:1–2 – “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God.”[11]

5. The Holy Spirit is not the Father nor the Son.

John 14:16–17 – “I will ask the Father, and He will give you another Helper, that He may be with you forever; that is the Spirit of truth…”[12]

The Ante Nicene Fathers[13] “The early church was faced with both belief in monotheism and belief in the deity of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit—what would later be called Trinitarianism. And the early church affirmed both.”[14] As Aristides of Athens (c. 125) put it, “For they (Christians) know God, the Creator and Fashioner of all things through the only-begotten Son and the Holy Spirit; and beside Him they worship no other God.”[15]

1. The Father is God.

Irenaeus of Lyon (130-202) spoke of “the preaching of the apostles, the authoritative teaching of the Lord, the announcements of the prophets, the dictated utterances of the apostles, and the ministration of the law—all of which praise one and the same Being, the God and Father of all.”[16]

2. The Son is God.

Justin Martyr (100–165): “Permit me first to recount the prophecies, which I wish to do in order to prove that Christ is called both God and Lord of hosts.”[17]
And,
Tatian (110–172): “We do not act as fools, O Greeks, nor utter idle tales when we announce that God was born in the form of man.”[18]
And,
Polycarp of Smyrna (69–155): “Now may the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, and the eternal high priest himself, the Son of God Jesus Christ, build you up in faith and truth . . ., and to us with you, and to all those under heaven who will yet believe in our Lord and God Jesus Christ and in his Father who raised him from the dead.”[19]

3. The Holy Spirit is God.

Athenagoras (d. c. 190): (in response to the pagan accusation that Christians were atheists) he wrote “The Holy Spirit Himself also, which operates in the prophets, we assert to be an effluence of God, flowing from Him, and returning back again like a beam of the sun. Who, then, would not be astonished to hear men who speak of God the Father, and of God the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, and who declare both their power in union and their distinction in order, called atheist.”[20]
And,
Origen (185–254): “From all which we learn that the person of the Holy Spirit was of such authority and dignity, that (the formula for) baptism was not complete except by the authority of the most excellent Trinity of them all, i.e., by the naming of Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, and by joining to the unbegotten God the Father, and to His only-begotten Son, the name also of the Holy Spirit. Who, then, is not amazed at the exceeding majesty of the Holy Spirit, when he hears that he who speaks a word against the Son of man may hope for forgiveness; but that he who is guilty of blasphemy against the Holy Spirit has not forgiveness, either in the present world or in that which is to come.’”[21]

4. The Son is not the Father.

Justin Martyr (again): “We can indisputably learn that [God] conversed with someone who was numerically distinct from Himself and also a rational Being.”[22]

5. The Holy Spirit is not the Father nor the Son.

Tertullian (160–225): “Thus the connection of the Father in the Son, and of the Son in the Paraclete, produces three coherent Persons, who are yet distinct One from Another. These Three are one essence, not one Person, as it is said, ‘I and my Father are One,’ in respect of unity of substance, not singularity of number.”[23]

With One Voice
These are the voices of those who have gone before. Their teachings echo the Divine Writ with such subtlety and precision that by the time the Nicene Creed was formulated it was merely an affirmation and articulation of what the saints have been saying for nearly three centuries. Consider Constantine’s Letter to the Church of Alexandria at the close of the Council, “May the Divine Majesty forgive the dreadful horror of the blasphemies which some were shamelessly uttering about our Saviour, who is our Life and Hope, declaring and acknowledging that they believe things contrary to the divinely inspired Scripture and the holy faith. More than 300 bishops (elders), distinguished by their moderation and insight, were united in confirming one and the same faith, which is in accurate harmony with the truth revealed in God’s decrees. Arius alone, deceived by the subtlety of the devil, was discovered to be the propagator of this mischief, with unholy purposes, first among you Alexandrians, then among others too. Let us therefore accept the judgement which the Almighty has presented to us; let us be re-united with our beloved brothers, from whom this shameless servant of Satan has separated us; let us go with zeal to the common body of Christ to which we all belong.”[24]

Every aspect of the life of the Church has been grafted and shaped by Trinitarian belief. From her Baptismal formula, her Praying, her Worship, her Ecclesiology, and her Apologetics have been rooted and governed by the God who is Triune. All glory be to our God!

May the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all.[25]

Notes

1. https://christthesavioroca.org/files/2020-Resurrection-Classes/The-Nicene-Creed- of-325.pdf
2. Acts 15, for instance.
3. The concept of promoting or tending toward worldwide Christian unity or cooperation.
4. Upon hearing Arius’s false teaching, Athanasius immediately refuted the idea that the Son is not eternal: the “begetting” of the Son, or the “uttering” of the Word, by the Father, said Athanasius, denotes an eternal relationship between the Father and Son, not a temporal event.
5. “Then everyone stood up as the sign was given that the emperor was about to enter; and at least, he himself mad his way through the midst of the assembly, looking line some heavenly angel of God, covered in a garment which glittered as if it were radiant with light, reflecting the glow of his purple robe…” – Eusebius of Caesarea, Oration on the Thirtieth Anniversary of Constantine, Chapter 2
6. Deuteronomy6:4
7. Gregory of Nyssa, On the Holy Trinity, and of the Godhead of the Holy Spirit
8. Also see: Matthew 6:9, 14; John 17:1–3; 1 Corinthians. 8:6; Ephesians 1: 3 Philippians 2:11; Colossians 1:3; 1 Peter 1:2.
9. Also see: Isaiah 9:6; Matthew 1:23; John 1:1, 14, 18; 20:28; Acts 20:28; Romans 9:5; 1 Corinthians 1:24; 2 Corinthians 4:4; Philippians 2:6, 10–11; Colossians 1:15–16; 2:9; Hebrews 1:3, 8; 2 Peter 1:1; 1 John 5:20
10. Also see: Genesis 1:2; 6:3; Job 33:4; Psalms 139:7–8; John 3:3–8; 14:23; 1 Corinthians 2:10– 11; 6:16,19; 2 Corinthians 3:18; Hebrews 9:14; 10:15–16; 2 Thessalonians 2:13; 1 Peter 1:10–11; 2 Peter 1:21
11. Also see: Matthew 11:27; John 3:35; 4:34; 5:30–32, 37; 6:38; 10:36; 12:49; 14:8–11; 17:20–24; Galatians 4:41; John 2:1; Hebrews 7: 25
12. Also see: Isaiah 48:16; Matthew 28:19; Luke 3:21; John 14:26; 16:13–14; Romans 8:27; Hebrews 9:8
13. A way of referring to those theologians and writers who predate the Council of Nicaea, 325 AD
14. Gregg Allison, Historical Theology, 232
15. Aristides, Apology, Greek version, 15
16. Irenaeus, Against Heresies, 2.35.4. ANF, I:413
17. Justin Martyr, Dialogue with Trypho, 36. ANF, 212
18. Tatian, Address to the Greeks, 21. ANF, II:74
19. Polycarp, Philippians 12:2. Holmes, AF, 295
20. Athenagoras, A Plea for the Christians, 10. ANF, II:133
21. Origen, De Principiis, ANF, IV:252
22. Justin Martyr, Dialogue with Trypho, 62. ANF, I:228
23. Tertullian, Against Praxeas, 25. ANF, III:621
24. From the Letter of Constantine to the Catholic Church in Alexandria, The Emperor
Speaks
25. 2 Corinthians 13:

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