009 - 15 - Lesson 15: The Trinity and the Bible
The Theology of God • Sermon • Submitted
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If there is one God, who was God loving in eternity?
The One God Is the Father, Son, and Spirit
The One God Is the Father, Son, and Spirit
The Bible is emphatic that there is one God. “Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God, the LORD is one” (Deuteronomy 6:4).
4 “Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one.
Just as clearly, in 1 Cor. 8:4-6 Paul identifies the LORD God as the Father (“one God, the Father”) and the Son (“one Lord, Jesus Christ.”
4 Therefore, as to the eating of food offered to idols, we know that “an idol has no real existence,” and that “there is no God but one.” 5 For although there may be so-called gods in heaven or on earth—as indeed there are many “gods” and many “lords”— 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.
And in 1 Cor. 6:19, Paul says that our bodies are a temple of the Holy Spirit – and who dwells in a temple? God! So the Holy Spirit is God.
19 Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, whom you have from God? You are not your own,
In the very context of refuting pagan polytheism and asserting the one true LORD God, Paul identifies Israel’s God as the Father, Son, and Spirit.
You can see the same identification in 2 Cor. 3:15-18, where Paul refers to Moses appearing before the LORD in Exodus 34:14 and says that the Spirit is the Lord.
15 Yes, to this day whenever Moses is read a veil lies over their hearts. 16 But when one turns to the Lord, the veil is removed. 17 Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom. 18 And we all, with unveiled face, beholding the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another. For this comes from the Lord who is the Spirit.
14 (for you shall worship no other god, for the Lord, whose name is Jealous, is a jealous God),
And just a few verses later, in 2 Cor. 4:5, he says that we proclaim Jesus as Lord.
5 For what we proclaim is not ourselves, but Jesus Christ as Lord, with ourselves as your servants for Jesus’ sake.
So according to Paul, the LORD God is the Father, Son, and Spirit. A word that captures this three-fold aspect of God’s nature is Trinity (from the Latin trinitas, “state of being threefold”).
A Solution, Not a Puzzle
A Solution, Not a Puzzle
The Trinity is not a problem to be solved – it is the solution! It solves questions like:
How can God work through God? (1 Cor. 8:6)
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.
How can God send God? (1 Cor. 6:19)
19 Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, whom you have from God? You are not your own,
How can one God be eternally relational and loving?
The Importance of the Trinity
The Importance of the Trinity
It is important because Jesus is important (John 1:1, 14).
1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.
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.
It is important because God’s love is important (1 John 4:8; John 17:24).
8 Anyone who does not love does not know God, because God is love.
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.
It is important because the Gospel is important (Gal. 4:4-6; 2 Cor. 5:18).
4 But when the fullness of time had come, God sent forth his Son, born of woman, born under the law, 5 to redeem those who were under the law, so that we might receive adoption as sons. 6 And because you are sons, God has sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, crying, “Abba! Father!”
18 All this is from God, who through Christ reconciled us to himself and gave us the ministry of reconciliation;
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