ANNOUNCEMENTS Dr. Tim McGrew Historicity of the Gospels Nov 11 th Leadership Positions Available MSC Tabling Next Thursday

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THE DOCTRINE OF THE TRINITY Ratio Christi Texas A&M

IMPORTANCE BiblicalFoundationalEssential implicit - early Christiansimplicit - early Christians explicit - currentexplicit - current

IMPORTANCE Keen’s Law #3Keen’s Law #3 All options are on the table at any point in time Mystery ObjectionMystery Objection Mysteries are instances of sparse data Mysteries are not illogical/paradoxical Scripture commands us to think and consider the ways of God

WHERE IS THE TRINITY IN SCRIPTURE?

THE DOCTRINE DEFINED 1.Monotheism1.Monotheism 2.The Father is God2.The Father is God 3.The Son is God3.The Son is God 4.The Holy Spirit is God4.The Holy Spirit is God 5.The Father, Son, and Spirit are distinct

MONOTHEISM The Bible is strongly monotheisticThe Bible is strongly monotheistic Deut 6:4Deut 6:4 Hear O Israel, the Lord our God is one Lord II Samuel 7:22II Samuel 7:22 Therefore, you are great, Adonai, God; for there is no one like you, and there is no God besides you — everything we have heard confirms that. Isaiah 45:5Isaiah 45:5 I am Adonai; there is no other; besides me there is no God.

THE FATHER IS GOD Taken as a statement of predication John 6:27John 6:27 “Don’t work for the food which passes away but for the food that stays on into eternal life, which the Son of Man will give you. For this is the one on whom God the Father has put his seal.” Isaiah 64:8Isaiah 64:8 But now, O Lord, you are our Father; we are the clay, and you are our potter; we are all the work of your hand.

THE SON IS GOD Taken as a statement of predicationTaken as a statement of predication John 1:1-3,14,18John 1:1-3,14,18 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things were made through him, and without him was not any thing made that was made…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…No one has ever seen God; but the only and unique Son, who is identical with God and is at the Father’s side — he has made him known.

THE SON IS GOD Colossians 1:15-20Colossians 1:15-20 He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation. For by him all things were created, in heaven and on earth, …all things were created through him and for him. And he is before all things, and in him all things hold together…He is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that in everything he might be preeminent. For in him all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell Colossians 2:9Colossians 2:9 For in him, bodily, lives the fullness of all that God is.

THE SON IS GOD Calls himself GodCalls himself God John 8:58John 8:58 “Why, you’re not yet fifty years old,” the Judeans replied, “and you have seen Abraham?” Jesus said to them, “Yes, indeed! Before Abraham came into being, I AM!” Mark 14:62Mark 14:62 Again the high priest asked him, “Are you the Christ, the Son of the Blessed?” and Jesus said, “I AM, and you will see the Son of Man seated at the right hand of Power, and coming with the clouds of heaven.” Again the high priest asked him, “Are you the Christ, the Son of the Blessed?” and Jesus said, “I AM, and you will see the Son of Man seated at the right hand of Power, and coming with the clouds of heaven.”

THE HOLY SPIRIT IS GOD Taken as a statement of predication Matthew 28:19Matthew 28:19 in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit Acts 5:3-4Acts 5:3-4 But Peter said, “Ananias, why has the Adversary filled your heart to lie to the Holy Spirit…You have not lied to man but to God.”

DISTINCTION Identity statementsIdentity statements John 14:15-17John 14:15-17 “If you love me, you will keep my commandments. And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Helper, to be with you forever, even the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees him nor knows him. You know him, for he dwells with you and will be in you.”

EVERY ANALOGY IS A HERESY

HERESIES! ModalismPolytheism Subordinationism Monotheism Distinction Divinity/Equality TrinitarianOrthodoxy Arianism

SYSTEMATIZED Within the one being of God, there exist three persons One what, three who'sOne what, three who's That we worship one God in Trinity, and Trinity in Unity; neither confounding the persons nor dividing the substance Not three beings are one being nor three persons are one person

A HELPFUL HERESY THE FLATLAND ANALOGY In our plane of existence, there is a 1:1 relation between persons and beings Trying to explain how God can be three persons in one being is similar to explaining a cube to someone who only comprehends two dimensions This is not to say God is like a cube but the parallel between three- person beings and one-person beings is similar to three-dimensional objects and two-dimensional objects.

DISCUSSION QUESTIONS