Growing in Faith:

Trinity
Text: Matthew 3:16-17
2 Corinthians 13:14
 Christology
Soteriology (Salvation)
Trinity
 No appropriate
metaphor/ analogies or
picture could illustrate
the doctrine of Trinity.
 The doctrine of the
Trinity is knowable but
incomprehensible.
It is true that the word Trinity
cannot be found in the Bible
but it doesn’t mean that the
doctrine of the Trinity is not
in the Bible.
What is Trinity?
We may define the doctrine of
the Trinity as follows: God
eternally exists as three
persons, Father, Son, and Holy
Spirit, and each person is fully
God, and there is one God.
-Wayne Grudem
 God eternally exists in
three distinct persons,
Father, Son and Holy Spirit,
and each person is fully
God, and there is one God,
co-eternal and co-
existential.
Within the one Being that
is God, there exists
eternally three coequal
and coeternal persons,
namely, the Father, the
Son, and the Holy Spirit.
-Dr. James White
 God eternally exists in
three distinct persons,
Father, Son and Holy Spirit,
and each person is fully
God, and there is one God,
co-eternal and co-
existential.
Trinity is. . .
Trinity is. . .
Each of these three divine
persons is eternal with no
beginning, each almighty
and uncreated.
Trinity is. . .
None greater or less than
another
Trinity is. . .
Each God, and yet
together being but one
God,
Trinity is. . .

They are not three Gods or

three Lords.
Trinity is. . .
The Father, the Son and
the Holy Ghost are not
modes, aspects or roles, of
God
 Matthew 3:16-17
And when Jesus was baptized, immediately he
went up from the water, and behold, the
heavens were opened to him, and he saw the
Spirit of God descending like a dove and coming
to rest on him; and behold, a voice from
heaven said, “This is my beloved Son, with
whom I am well pleased.”
There is One
God
There is One God
Old Testament

Deuteronomy 6:4 “Hear, O

Israel: The Lord our God,
the Lord is one
There is One God
Old Testament

Isaiah 44:6 “This is what the Lord

says – Israel’s King and Redeemer,
the last Lord Almighty: I’m the first
and I am the last; apart from me
there is no God”
There is One God

New Testament

“For there is one God, and there is

one mediator between God and men,
the man Christ Jesus.” 1 Tim. 2:5
”
There is One God

New Testament

“God is one.” Rom. 3:30

There is One God
New Testament

“There is one God, the Father, from

whom are all things and for whom we
exist.” 1 Cor. 8:6
In Three Distinct
Persons
In Three Distinct Persons

a. Plurality within the Godhead

 In Three Distinct Persons
a. Plurality within the Godhead (Old Testament)

“Let us make man in our image.” Genesis 1:26

 In Three Distinct Persons
a. Plurality within the Godhead (Old Testament)

“Let us go down and confuse their language.”

Genesis 11:7
In Three Distinct Persons
a. Plurality within the Godhead (Old Testament)

“Who will go out for Us?” Isaiah 6:8

In Three Distinct Persons
b. Plurality within the Godhead (New
Testament)

They were also named alongside of each other

In Three Distinct Persons
1Co 12:4 There are different kinds of gifts, but
the same Spirit.
1Co 12:5 There are different kinds of service,
but the same Lord.
1Co 12:6 There are different kinds of working,
but the same God works all of them in all men.
In Three Distinct Persons

2Co 13:14 May the grace of the Lord Jesus

Christ, and the love of God, and the fellowship
of the Holy Spirit be with you all.
In Three Distinct Persons

1 Peter 1:2 who have been chosen according to

the foreknowledge of God the Father, through
the sanctifying work of the Spirit, for obedience
to Jesus Christ and sprinkling by his blood:
Grace and peace be yours in abundance.
In Three Distinct Persons
God The Son

“In the beginning was the Word, and

the Word was with God, and the
Word was God.”
John 1:1
In Three Distinct Persons
God The Son

“Before Abraham was born, I am.”

John 8:58
In Three Distinct Persons
God The Son

Thomas said to Him, “My Lord and my

God.”
John 20:28
In Three Distinct Persons
God The Son

“Looking for the blessed hope and the

appearing of the glory of our great
God and Savior, Christ Jesus.”
Titus 2:13
In Three Distinct Persons

God The Son

Jesus is the “exact representation of

God’s nature.” Hebrews 1:3
In Three Distinct Persons
God The Son
Jesus is eternal (John 17:5),
omniscient (John 16:30), omnipotent
(John 5:19), immutable (Heb 13:8),
creator (John 1:3)
In Three Distinct Persons
God the Holy Spirit
Acts 5:3-4
Then Peter said, "Ananias, how is it that Satan has so
filled your heart that you have lied to the Holy Spirit and
have kept for yourself some of the money you received
for the land? Didn't it belong to you before it was sold?
And after it was sold, wasn't the money at your disposal?
What made you think of doing such a thing? You have
not lied to men but to God."
In Three Distinct Persons
God the Holy Spirit

2 Cor. 3:17-18
Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the
Lord is, there is freedom. And we, who with unveiled
faces all reflect the Lord's glory, are being transformed
into his likeness with ever-increasing glory, which comes
from the Lord, who is the Spirit.
In Three Distinct Persons

God the Holy Spirit

Holy Spirit is eternal (Heb 9:14), omniscient (1 Cor. 2:10-

11), omnipotent (Luke 1:35).
 There is only one God, but within the one
essence or being of God there are three co-
eternal and co-equal persons, the same in
substance but distinct in subsistence
(existence). These three persons are neither
three gods nor three parts of God.
Unity of the Godhead
 1 Peter 1:2
who have been chosen according to the
foreknowledge of God the Father, through the
sanctifying work of the Spirit, for obedience to
Jesus Christ and sprinkling by his blood:
Majesty of the Trinity
 Economic Roles in Creation
1. God the Father spoke the creative words to
bring the universe into existence. (Genesis 1:3)
2. God the Son carried out the Father’s creative
decrees. (John 1:3)
3. God the Spirit was active in “moving” over the
surface of the waters (Gen. 1:2) and in giving life
to man as the “breath of God.” (Gen. 2:7)
 Economic Roles in Redemption

1. The Son obeyed the Father to provide

redemption for man. (John 6:38)
2. God the Spirit regenerates us (John 3:5-8),
sanctifies us (Rom. 8:13) and empowers us for
service. (Acts 1:8)
Heresies
Heresies

Arianism
 Heresies

Modalism/ Sabellianism
Athanasian Creed
And the Catholic Faith is this: That we worship one
God in Trinity, and Trinity in Unity... For there is one
Person of the Father, another of the Son: and
another of the Holy Ghost. But the Godhead of the
Father, of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost, is all one:
the Glory equal, the Majesty co-eternal. Such as the
Father is, such is the Son: and such is the Holy
Ghost...
Athanasian Creed
And in this Trinity none is afore, or after other:
none is greater, or less than another: But the whole
three Persons are co-eternal together: and co-
equal. So that in all things, as it is aforesaid; the
Unity in Trinity, and the Trinity in Unity is to be
worshipped. He therefore that will be saved: must
thus think of the Trinity…
Doctrinal Implications
 What will happen if we
deny the doctrine of the
Trinity?
First, the atonement is at
stake.
 Second, justification by
faith alone is threatened
if we deny the full deity
of the Son.
 Third, if Jesus is not
infinite God, should we
pray to him or worship
him?
 Fourth, if someone teaches that
Christ was a created being but
nonetheless one who saved us, then
this teaching wrongly begins to
attribute credit for salvation to a
creature and not to God himself.
Fifth, the independence and
personal nature of God are
at stake.
Sixth, the unity of the
universe is at stake.
 The True Church must
believe in the doctrine of
the Trinity.
The True Church must
defend and teach the
doctrine of the Trinity.
 The grace of the Lord Jesus
Christ, and the love of God, and
the communion of the Holy
Spirit be with you all. Amen.
2 Corinthians 13:14