All historic Christianity
believes in the holy Trinity. The word
Trinity is not in the Bible but the concept of the Trinity is in the Bible.
Jehovah’s witnesses and other cults say that the doctrine of the Trinity is not
found in the Bible and they continue to say it is a pagan, satanic doctrine.
This is not true. The doctrine of the Trinity is a revelation from God to us.
Whatever revealed in the Bible is divine and true. When the scripture declare
that the Father, Son and the Holy Spirit as one God, even though we do not
understand how it can be, we need to believe. We do not understand gravity, yet
we believe. We do not understand electricity yet we believe. We do not see the
wind, yet we believe it. In the same way God has revealed to us just a little
of the Trinity, we do not understand fully, yet we believe because it is in the
Bible.
The
Meaning of the Trinity.
The word Trinity is made up with
Tri and Unity.
There are three persons in the
unity of Godhead. The Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. They are three
separate persons, yet one God coequal in power, substance and eternity.
The following Christian Churches do not believe in the Trinity, therefore
they are not in the mainstream of Christianity.
Jehovah’s Witness, Mormonism, United Pentecostal
Church, Apostolic Overcoming Holy Church of God, Pentecostal Assemblies of the
World and any other Oneness doctrine group.
Why is God exists in Three Persons?
Theologians of the ages tried to deal with the Trinity, not so much of the
oneness of God, but the Three Persons as one God. Probably the best theologian
who gave the best answer was the Scottish theologian Richard of St. Victor who
lived in France. (1123 A.D – 1173 A.D) Probably he gave the clearest
approach to the Trinity, why God exist in three persons than one? The
root answer is the love of God. Richard talks about the three perfection of
charity.
But before we get to the love of God, we need to see the God is personal.
Therefore, I would like to approach this from a different angle for us to
understand the full picture.
God is Personal
If God is not a person, then our faith is useless, our prayers are in vain, we
will be just like the heathens. Because God is a person, we have an intimate
communion with him. Because God is personal, he is love. It was God’s love that originated this
communion. God is also tri-personal. And he could not exist without the
tri-personal form. Apostle Paul speaks of the fullness of Godhead.
Eph 3:17 so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith—that you, being
rooted and grounded in love, 18 may have strength to comprehend with all the
saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth, 19 and to know the
love of Christ that surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled with all the
fullness of God.
Col 1: 19 For in him all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell.
One God in
Trinity and Trinity in unity
1Jo 4:8
He that loveth not knoweth not God; for God is love.
God
is infinitely perfect so he cannot lack in love. But love is not selfish, (1
Cor 13:5) cannot love without another person. In one God there is a plurality
of divine persons and love is the happiness of God’s glory. There is joy and
fullness in the presence of God. (Ps 16:11) There is goodness, happiness and
glory in the plurality of divine persons.
Since God is immutable (unchangeable) these persons are coeternal. (Equally
eternal) They are equally omnipotent, equally divine, yet there is unity in the
Trinity, this unity is the supreme love to each other.
If
happiness and love can be shared with two, then he alone loves there is only
the other person, but this is not a shared love. This is only a love between
two people. But shared love exists with a third person. This is the perfection
of love. This is the one God in Trinity and Trinity in unity.
(Read
1 Corinthians 13:1-8, of love)
Today many evangelical
Christians believe that God created the angels and mankind because God was
lonely. This is terrible bad theology. The love between the Father, Son and the
Holy Spirit has been through eternity; there is a sweet love and a
wonderful fellowship within the Godhead. First Corinthians 13 gives us the love
chapter. This love chapter did not come from man but from the very bosom of
God. The nature of God's love is not selfish but seeking to be a blessing to
outside of others. It is love that shares with others.
Let
us take our own family. Husband and wife becomes one when they get married.
They share their love and affection to one another. However only when they have
children they can experience the supreme love as they share their love within
the family. The family is one and united in love.
St.
Augustine said, if you want to see the Trinity go to the Jordon River.
Matthew
3: 16 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; 17 and
behold, a voice from heaven said, “This is my beloved Son, with
whom I am well pleased
Here
we see a picture of the Trinity and the Father is pleased because of his love,
also the participation of the Holy Spirit.
John
17: 24 Father, I desire
that they also, whom you have given me, may be with me where I am, to see my
glory that you have given me because you loved me before the foundation of the
world.
John 14: 16 And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Helper.
According to Greek scholar A.T Robertson. The Greek word another is another
of like kind (allon, not eteron), besides Jesus who becomes our
Paraclete, Helper, Advocate, with the Father (1 John 2:1 Cf. Romans 8:26).
This old word (Demosthenes), from parakalew,
was used for legal assistant, pleader, advocate, one who pleads another's
cause.
Church
in History. The Formulation of the Trinity.
The early New Testament church
always believed that the Father is God, the Son is God and the Holy Spirit is
God but never used the term Trinity. In
1098 A.D, Theologian Anselm of Canterbury wrote a treatise on ‘Cur Deus Homo’
why did God become Man?
Tertullian was the first to use
the term Trinity. (Latin Trinitas) Tertullian was a theologian and an apologist
lived during the third century. He was born and raised in Carthage, in the
region of Tunisia in North Africa. Tertullian was a lawyer, trained in Roman
law in Rome and was very eloquent in Greek and Latin.
Tertullian wrote a treatise on
the Trinity against Paraxeas. Paraxeas
believed God the Father was in the beginning, then later the Father became the
Son, and then later the Son became the Spirit.
This kind of teaching is called
Modalism. Modalism denies the Trinity. According to Modalism, God is one person
who manifests in three different persons.
The modern day Modalists are United Pentecostal Church, United Apostolic
Churches and Oneness Doctrine Churches.
They believe in the Old Testament
God manifested as the Father, in the incarnation the same God manifested as the
Son and God manifested as the Holy Spirit in our regeneration.
Why
there was a deficiency of the Trinity? Because the canon was not completed yet.
Although Tertullian defended the church during the third century, his
formation of the Trinity was deficient. He believed in the subordination of the
Son to the Father.
Origen was another theologian who
lived during the third century. He was
born in Alexandria, Egypt, although he was an influential teacher, Origen went
even further down the road, when it came to the subordination he was not good
at all. He said that the Son was subordinated to the Father in essence and the
Holy Spirit was subordinated to the Son.
This was a stepping-stone for Arianism.
Arian was a Bishop in Alexandria,
Egypt, lived during the 4th century. Arian denied the deity of the Son
and the Holy Spirit. He believed the Son was the first creation of the Father,
his followers were called Arians. The
former day Watchtower society, Jehovah’s Witnesses fall into Arianism.
Athanasius.
During the time of Arian, there
was one of the greatest theologians of Christianity, his name was Athanasius.
He was a Bishop in Alexandria, Egypt. Athanasius attacked the Arian heresy, as
Athanasius believed in the deity of Christ. There was a controversy grew
between Arian and Athanasius. It spread all over Europe.
There was a council nearly 300
Bishops to settle the matter of this controversy. This council took place in
Nicea in 325 A.D Now modern Turkey; the town is called today Iznik.
It was in council of Nicea church
affirmed the deity of Christ and the Holy Spirit along with the Father. The
church established the official definition of the Trinity. And by 4th century, the
foundation of the Trinity was laid down.
We believe in one God,
the Father, the Almighty,
maker of heaven and earth,
of all that is, seen and unseen.
We believe in one Lord, Jesus
Christ,
the only Son of God,
eternally begotten of the Father,
God from God, Light from Light,
true God from true God,
begotten, not made,
of one being with the Father.
Through him all things were made.
For us and for our salvation
he came down from heaven:
by the power of the Holy Spirit
he became incarnate from the
virgin Mary,
and was made man.
For our sake he was crucified under
Pontius Pilate;
he suffered death and was buried.
On the third day he rose again
in accordance with the
Scriptures;
he ascended into heaven
and is seated at the right hand
of the Father.
He will come again in glory to
judge the living and the dead,
and his kingdom will have no end.
We believe in the Holy Spirit,
the Lord, the giver of life,
who proceeds from the Father and
the Son.
With the Father and the Son he is
worshiped and glorified.
He has spoken through the
Prophets.
We believe in one holy catholic
and apostolic Church.
We acknowledge one baptism for
the forgiveness of sins.
We look for the resurrection of
the dead,
and the life of the world to
come. Amen.
Why
is it that the Christian creeds use God as the Father prior to God as the
Creator?
I believe in God, the Father
Almighty,
The Maker of heaven and earth. (Apostles Creed)
I believe in one God, the Father
Almighty, Maker of heaven and earth, and of all things visible and invisible.
(Nicene Creed)
Athanasius the great theologian the
Bishop from Alexandria during the time of the Nicene Creed, who fought against
Arius who denied the deity of Christ, said, God is always the Father, God is
always not the Creator.
Father always existed through
eternity, then at a certain point; he created the heavens and the earth.
In the beginning (Space, time and
history) God created the heavens and the earth. But there was before the beginning, God is through eternity
always the Father.
The
Trinity, triune relationship existed even before the creation, creation should
be understood in the Trinity.
John 1: 1:1 In the beginning was
the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2 He was in the
beginning with God. 3 All things were made through him, and without him was not
any thing made that was made.
If God is a Trinity, why is it
not clearly revealed in the Old Testament? We do not have an evolutionary view
of theology where God evolved himself, then added the Son and the Holy Spirit.
Yes, the doctrine of the Trinity
in not clearly revealed in the Old Testament, however there is a shadow and the
concept of the Trinity.
Old
Testament is very clear that God is one.
Deut 6:4 “Hear, O Israel: The
Lord our God, the Lord is one.
Isaiah 44:11 I, I am the Lord, and besides me there is no Savior.
Isaiah 44:6 Thus says the Lord,
the King of Israel and his Redeemer, the Lord of hosts: “I am the first and I
am the last; besides me there is no god.
Genesis 1:1 In the beginning, God
created the heavens and the earth
The word God here is Elohim, it
appears in the Old Testament about 2570 times. Elohim is a plural noun but
consistently used with singular verbs (and it is be taken not as gods) but as a
singular noun. (God)
The following Scriptures show
plurality of persons.
Genesis 1:26 Let us make man in our image.
Genesis 3: 22 Then the Lord God
said, “Behold, the man has become like one of us in knowing good and evil.
Genesis 11: 7 Come, let us go down and there confuse their
language, so that they may not understand one another's speech.”
Ps 45: 6 Your throne, O God, is
forever and ever.
The scepter of your kingdom is a
scepter of uprightness;
7 you have loved righteousness
and hated wickedness.
(Compare to Hebrews 1:8)
Ps 110:1 The Lord says to my
Lord:
“Sit at my right hand,
Until I make your enemies your
footstool.”
There are other passages where
Angel of the Lord is mentioned yet identified as God.
Gen 16: 7-13;18:1-21
The Jews do not believe in the
Trinity. Jews are monotheistic. However, Jews do not see Christians as
monotheistic as Christians believed Father is God, the Son is God and Holy
Spirit is God. The question was; is the New Testament still monotheistic? This
question split the early synagogues and the church.
Except Luke, the writers of the
New Testament were Jews, they believed in the monotheistic God and they never
felt they were presenting a different God than the Old Testament God.
We do not believe the Old
Testament God became a Trinity in the New Testament. Then why is that the Trinity was revealed more in the New
Testament than the Old Testament?
Remember the revelation of the
Trinity in the word has to wait upon the revelation of the Trinity in the Flesh.
(Jesus) Until the incarnation of the
Son of God and the outpouring of the Holy Spirit, then we see the concept of
the Trinity more clearly in the New Testament.
Old
Testament Scriptures Parallel to the New Testament Scriptures.
The first person of the Trinity
is God the Father. He is called the first person in respect to order not
according to superiority. This is a priority but not superiority.
The second person of the Trinity
is Jesus Christ. He is Jehovah God who became a man, became our mediator, our
high priest and prophet.
The third person of the Trinity
is the Holy Spirit. Holy Spirit convicts us of our sins, regenerates us, and
guides us into all truth.
In the Old Testament Jehovah God
is represented as the redeemer and Savior.
Job 19:25; Ps 19:4; 78:35:
106:21; Isa 41:14; 43:3-14; 47:4 49:7,26; Jer 14:3; 50:14; Hos 13:3
In the New Testament Son is
represented as the redeemer and Savior.
Mat 1:21; Luke 1:76-79; 2:17;
John 4:42; Gal 3:13; 4:5; Philp 3:30; Tit 2:13-14
In the Old Testament, Jehovah God
dwells among Israel and the hearts of those that fear him.
Ps 74:2; 135:21; Isa 8:18; 57:15;
Ezk 43:7-9; Joel 3:17-21; Zech 2: 10-11.
In the New Testament, the Holy
Spirit dwells in the church.
Acts 2:4; Rom 8:9-11; I Cor 3:16;
Gal 4:6; Eph 2:22 Jas 4:5
Bible declares Father is
God, the Son is God and the Holy Spirit is God, yet there is one God.
Father is called God.
2 Pet 1:17 For when he received honor and glory from God the Father,
and the voice was borne to him by the Majestic Glory, “This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well
pleased.
1 Cor 8:6 yet for us there is one God, the Father, from whom are all things and for
whom we exist, and one Lord, Jesus Christ, through whom are all things and
through whom we exist.
John 17:3 3 And this is eternal life, that they know you the
only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent.
Jesus is God, the eternal Son of God. He is revealed in the following scriptures
to be God. He is to be served, worshiped, believed and obeyed as God. He was
also fully man, lived and died as a man, but also he is God. He did pre exist
as God before his incarnation.
Ps 45:6 Your throne, O God, is forever and ever. The scepter of your
kingdom is a scepter of uprightness
Compare to Hebrews 1:8
8 But of the Son he
says, “Your throne O God is forever and ever, the
scepter of uprightness is the scepter of your kingdom.
Ps 110:1 The LORD said unto my Lord, Sit thou at my
right hand, until I make thine enemies thy footstool.
Mat 22:41 Now while the Pharisees were
gathered together, Jesus asked them a question, 42 saying,
“What do you think about the Christ? Whose son is he?”
They said to him, “The son of David.” 43 He
said to them, “How is it then that David, in the Spirit, calls
him Lord, saying, 44 “‘The Lord said to my Lord, Sit at my right
hand, until I put your enemies under your feet’? 45 If then David calls him Lord,
how is he his son?” 46 And no one was able
to answer him a word, nor from that day did anyone dare to ask him any more
questions.
Ps 102:25 Of old hast thou laid the foundation of the earth: and the
heavens are the work of thy hands.
Heb 1: 10 And,
“You, Lord, laid the foundation of the earth in the beginning, and the heavens
are the work of your hands; 11 they will
perish, but you remain; they will all wear out like a garment, 12 like a robe you will roll them up, like a
garment they will be changed. But you are the
same, and your years will have no end.”
Isa 6:1 In
the year that king Uzziah died I saw also the Lord sitting upon a throne, high
and lifted up, and his train filled the temple. 2 Above it stood the seraphims:
each one had six wings; with twain he covered his face, and with twain he
covered his feet, and with twain he did fly. 3 And one cried unto another, and
said, Holy, holy, holy, is the LORD of hosts: the whole earth is full of his
glory.
John
12:36 When Jesus had said these things, he departed and hid himself from them. 37 Though he had done so many signs before them,
they still did not believe in him, 38 so that
the word spoken by the prophet Isaiah might be fulfilled: “Lord, who has
believed what he heard from us, and to whom has the arm of the Lord been
revealed?” 41 Isaiah said these things
because he saw his glory and spoke of him.
Isa
8:13 Sanctify the LORD of hosts himself; and let him be your fear, and let him
be your dread. 14 And he shall be for a sanctuary; but for a stone of stumbling
and for a rock of offence to both the houses of Israel, for a gin and for a
snare to the inhabitants of Jerusalem.
1Pe
2:8 And a stone of stumbling, and a rock of offence, even to them which stumble
at the word, being disobedient: whereunto also they were appointed.
Also
Ro 9:33 As it is written, Behold, I lay in Sion a stumbling stone and rock of
offence: and whosoever believeth on him shall not be ashamed.
Isa
9:6 For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given: and the government
shall be upon his shoulder: and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counselor,
The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace.
John
14: 8 Philip said to him, “Lord, show us the
Father, and it is enough for us.” 9 Jesus
said to him, “Have I been with you so long, and you still do
not know me, Philip? Whoever has seen me has seen the Father. How can you say,
‘Show us the Father’?
Numbers 21:6 Then the Lord sent fiery serpents among the people, and they bit
the people, so that many people of Israel died.
1
Cor 10: 9 We must not put Christ to the test, as some of them did and were destroyed
by serpents
Isa
44: 6 Thus says the Lord,
the King of Israel and his Redeemer, the Lord of
hosts: “I am the first and I am the last; besides me there is no god.
Rev
1: 8 “I am the Alpha and the Omega,” says the
Lord God, “who is and who was and who is to come, the Almighty.”
Exod
3: Ex 3:14 And God said unto Moses, I AM THAT I AM: and he said, Thus shalt
thou say unto the children of Israel, I AM hath sent me unto you.
John
8: 57 So the Jews said to him, “You are not
yet fifty years old, and have you seen Abraham?” 58 Jesus said to them, “Truly,
truly, I say to you, before Abraham was, I am.” 59 So
they picked up stones to throw at him, but Jesus hid himself and went out of
the temple.
John
18: 5 They answered him, “Jesus of Nazareth.”
Jesus said to them, “I am he.” Judas, who betrayed him,
was standing with them. 6 When Jesus said to them, “I am he,”
they drew back and fell to the ground.
John 1: 1 In the
beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2 He was in the beginning with God. 3 All things were made through him, and without him
was not any thing made that was made. 4 In
him was life, and the life was the light of
men. 5 The light shines in the darkness, and the
darkness has not overcome it.
14 And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we
have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace
and truth.
John
8: 57 So the Jews said to him, “You are not
yet fifty years old, and have you seen Abraham?” 58 Jesus said to them, “Truly,
truly, I say to you, before Abraham was, I am.”
John 10: 30 I and the Father are one.
John 20: 28 Thomas
answered him, “My Lord and my God!”
In
the Greek interlinear, it reads; Answered Thomas and said to him: The Lord of
me and the God of me.
Acts
20: 28 Pay careful attention to yourselves
and to all the flock, in which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers, to care
for the church of God, which he obtained with
his own blood.
Rom 1: 3 concerning
his Son, who was descended from David according to the flesh 4 and was declared to be the Son of God in power
according to the Spirit of holiness by his resurrection from the dead, Jesus
Christ our Lord, 5 through whom we have
received grace and apostleship to bring about the obedience of faith for the
sake of his name among all the nations, 6 including
you who are called to belong to Jesus Christ.
Romans
9: 5 To them belong the patriarchs, and from
their race, according to the flesh, is the Christ who is God over all, blessed
forever. Amen.
Philip
2: 5 Have this mind among yourselves, which
is yours in Christ Jesus, 6 who, though he was in the form of God, did not
count equality with God a thing to be grasped, 7 but
made himself nothing, taking the form of a servant.
Col
1: 15 He is the image of the invisible God,
the firstborn of all creation. 16 For by him all things were created, in heaven and on
earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or
authorities—all things were created through him and for him. 17 And he is before all things, and in him all
things hold together.
1
Tim 3: 15 He is the image of the invisible
God, the firstborn of all creation. 16 For by
him all things were created, in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible,
whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities—all things were created
through him and for him. 17 And he is before
all things, and in him all things hold together.
Titus
2: 13 waiting for our blessed hope, the
appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ.
Hebrews
1:3 He is the radiance of the glory of God
and the exact imprint of his nature, and he upholds the universe by the word of
his power.
1
John 3:16 By this we know love, that he laid
down his life for us, and we ought to lay down our lives for the brothers.
Resurrection of Jesus shows the Trinity
Ac
3:15 And killed the Prince of life, whom God hath raised from the dead; whereof
we are witnesses. (Here we see God raising Jesus from the dead)
Ro
8:11 But if the Spirit of him that raised up Jesus from the dead dwell in you,
he that raised up Christ from the dead shall also quicken your mortal bodies by
his Spirit that dwelleth in you. (Here we see the Spirit raising Jesus from the
dead)
Joh
2:19 Jesus answered and said unto them, Destroy this temple, and in three days
I will raise it up. (Here we see Jesus going to raise himself)
The Holy Spirit is called God
Holy Spirit is identified as God
by apostle Peter as Peter told Ananias lying to the Holy Spirit was lying to
God.
Acts 5:
3 But Peter said, “Ananias, why has Satan filled your heart to lie
to the Holy Spirit and to keep back for yourself part of the proceeds of the
land? 4 While it remained unsold, did it not
remain your own? And after it was sold, was it not at your disposal? Why is it
that you have contrived this deed in your heart? You have not lied to men but
to God.”
Holy Spirit is a person. In the
olden days, the Socinians and the Sabellians rejected the personality of the
Holy Spirit. Socinians came into being in the time of the reformation and they
denied the Orthodox Christian theology. Sabellianism was began by Sabellius a
priest in the 3rd century, which he believed that God had three
different modes as the Father, Son and the Holy Spirit. Tertullian defended this heresy and
criticized their doctrine. In the modern day cults, the United Pentecostal
Church and other oneness groups fall into this category. All the cults deny the person of the Holy
Spirit.
The Hebrew word for Spirit is ruach and the Greek word is pneuma. In the Old Testament mentioned as the Spirit of God and in the New Testament the Holy Spirit. Although pneuma is neuter, yet masculine pronoun.
Holy Spirit is mentioned as ‘he’
John 16
Verse 7, the Holy Spirit is
identified as the Comforter. Then v8, 13, 14 masculine pronoun is used as the
Comforter is mentioned as ‘He’ a person.
What
are the characteristics of a person?
Makes intercessions. 11. Does
Miracles.
Jehovah’s witness say the Holy
Spirit is a thing, like the power of electricity. A thing cannot talk; a thing
does not have intelligence. A thing does not have any affections.
A thing cannot teach. But only an
intelligent person can teach.
Joh 14:26 But the Comforter,
which is the Holy Ghost, whom the Father will send in my name, he shall teach
you all things, and bring all things to your remembrance, whatsoever I have
said unto you.
Joh 15:26 But when the Comforter
is come, whom I will send unto you from the Father, even the Spirit of truth,
which proceedeth from the Father, he shall testify of me.
Ro 8:16 The Spirit itself beareth
witness with our spirit, that we are the children of God.
Ac 16:7 After they were come to
Mysia, they assayed to go into Bithynia: but the Spirit suffered them not.
1Cor 12;
11 All these are empowered by one and the same Spirit, who
apportions to each one individually as he wills.
Isa 63:10 But they rebelled, and
vexed his holy Spirit: therefore he was turned to be their enemy, and he fought
against them.
Eph 4:30 And grieve not the holy
Spirit of God, whereby ye are sealed unto the day of redemption.
Ge 1:2 And the earth was without
form, and void; and darkness was upon the face of the deep. And the Spirit of
God moved upon the face of the waters.
Lu 12:12 For the Holy Ghost shall
teach you in the same hour what ye ought to say.
John
16: 8 And when he comes,
he will convict the world concerning sin and righteousness and judgment.
Ac
8:29 Then the Spirit said unto Philip, Go near, and join thyself to this
chariot.
Ac
13:2 As they ministered to the Lord, and fasted, the Holy Ghost said, Separate
me Barnabas and Saul for the work whereunto I have called them.
1Co
2:10 But God hath revealed them unto us by his Spirit: for the Spirit searcheth
all things, yea, the deep things of God.
Holy
Spirit is equal with the Father and the Son.
Mt
28:19 Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the
Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost.
It
does not say names (plural) but name, singular yet three persons.
1Co
12:4 Now there are diversities of gifts, but the same Spirit. 5 And there are
differences of administrations, but the same Lord. 6 And there are diversities
of operations, but it is the same God, which worketh all in all.
2Co
13:14 The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the
communion of the Holy Ghost, be with you all. Amen.
Eph
2:18 For through him we both have access by one Spirit unto the Father.
1Pe
1:2 Elect according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, through
sanctification of the Spirit, unto obedience and sprinkling of the blood of
Jesus Christ: Grace unto you, and peace, be multiplied.
Holy Spirit
possesses divine attributes of God.
Eternal
Heb
9:14 How much more shall the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit
offered himself without spot to God, purge your conscience from dead works to
serve the living God?
Joh
14:16 And I will pray the Father, and he shall give you another Comforter, that
he may abide with you forever.
Omnipresent
Ps
139:7 Whither shall I go from thy spirit? or whither shall I flee from thy
presence? 8 If I ascend up into heaven, thou art there: if I make my bed in
hell, behold, thou art there. 9 If I take the wings of the morning, and dwell
in the uttermost parts of the sea; 10 Even there shall thy hand lead me, and
thy right hand shall hold me.
Omnipotent
Ro
15:19 Through mighty signs and wonders, by the power of the Spirit of God; so
that from Jerusalem, and round about unto Illyricum, I have fully preached the
gospel of Christ.
Omniscient
Isa
40:13 Who hath directed the Spirit of the LORD, or being his counselor hath
taught him? 14 With whom took he counsel, and who instructed him, and taught
him in the path of judgment, and taught him knowledge, and shewed to him the
way of understanding?
Paul
uses the same language to God Almighty. (Romans 11:33—36)
Sovereign
Joh
3:8 The wind bloweth where it listeth, and thou hearest the sound thereof, but
canst not tell whence it cometh, and whither it goeth: so is every one that is
born of the Spirit.
Holy
Spirit glorifies Christ. (John 16:13-14) Convicts the world of sin and
judgment. Invite people to Christ. (Rev 22:17) Regenerates (John 3:6;8) Builds
the church. (Eph 2:22) Live in the believers. (1 Cor 3;16) Seals the believers.
(Eph 1:13) Gives power and boldness (Acts 4:29) Sanctifies. ((1 Cor 6:11) Give
gifts (1 Cor 12:1-11) Produces fruits in the believers (Gal 5:22-23) Intercedes
(Rom 8;26-27) Raises from the dead. (Rom 8:11)
The Father through eternity past chose us before the foundation of the world.
Eph 1:
3 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has
blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places, 4 even as he chose us
in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless
before him, in love.
Yet choosing does not mean when
the elect are born they are automatically saved. Everyone, including the elect
were born sinners. We were chosen yet
not saved. Salvation came to us by hearing the gospel and the elect of God
responded to the gospel and saved.
Eph 2:
2:1 And you were dead in the trespasses and sins 2 in which you once
walked, following the course of this world, following the prince of the power
of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience— 3 among whom we all
once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body
and the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind.
John 6:
37 All that the Father gives me will come to me,
and whoever comes to me I will never cast out.
44 No one can come to me unless the Father who
sent me draws him. And I will raise him up on the last day.
The Son died for the Church.
John 10: 14 I am the good shepherd. I know my own and my
own know me, 15 just as the Father knows
me and I know the Father; and I lay down my life for the sheep.
Holy Spirit Regenerates the Believer
John 3: 6 That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and
that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. 7 Do not marvel that I said to you, ‘You must be born again.
There is a bond with three names appended, — Father Son and
Holy Ghost. By three immutable things, as well as by two, the Christian is secured
beyond the reach of death and hell. A Trinity of Securities, because there is a
trinity of God. (C.H Spurgeon)
And this I
suppose to be that blessed Trinity that we read of in the Holy Scriptures. The
Father is the Deity subsisting in the prime, un-originated and most absolute
manner, or the Deity in its direct existence. The Son is the Deity generated by
God’s understanding, or having an idea of himself and subsisting in that idea.
The Holy Ghost is the Deity subsisting in act, or the divine essence flowing
out and breathed forth in God’s infinite love to and delight in himself. And I
believe the whole divine essence does truly and distinctly subsist both in the
divine idea and divine love, and that each of them are properly distinct
Persons. (Jonathan Edwards)
God Revealed the Tri-unity of God to the Believers so that we would
Worship and Obey Him.
This is the substance of the doctrine of the
Trinity, as to the first direct concernment of faith therein. The first
intention of the Scripture, in the revelation of God
towards us, is, as was said, that we might fear him, believe, worship, obey
him, and live unto him, as God. That we may do this in a due manner, and
worship the only true God, and not adore the false imaginations of our own
minds it declares, as was said, that this God is one, the Father, Son, and Holy
Ghost; — that the Father is this one God; and therefore is to be believed in,
worshipped, obeyed, lived unto, and in all things considered by us as the first
cause, sovereign Lord, and last end of all; — that the Son is the one true God;
and therefore is to be believed in, worshipped, obeyed, lived unto, and in all
things considered by us as the first cause, sovereign Lord, and last end of
all; — and so, also, of the Holy Ghost. This is the whole of faith’s
concernment in this matter, as it respects the direct revelation of God made by
himself in the Scripture, and the first proper general end thereof. Let this be
clearly confirmed by direct and positive divine testimonies, containing the
declaration and revelation of God concerning himself, and faith is secured as
to all it concerns; for it has both its proper formal object, and is
sufficiently enabled to be directive of divine worship and obedience. (John Owen)