Essentials, Part 5

Teaching #5. October 22, 2006.

I am posting my notes on Pastor Tom’s teaching from Sunday, October 22th [Update - I originally had the date wrong.]. These are MY notes. Not a transcript. Not his notes. Any misquotes, mistakes, or mystifications are my fault (or something like that). All verses are from NASB 1995 unless noted.

The Holy Trinity

“Lord, open Your word to us. We need You.”

If God is th way He is, in the ways that He has revealed Himself, the who is He?

Genesis 1:1. In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.

“God” (Hebrew is “Elohim”) is a plural, masculine noun, but the verb is singular. “In the beginning, Gods is creating...” This is the first of His names that God revealed. This name is used throughout Genesis 1 and is used over 3000 times in the Old Testament.

Deuteronomy 6:4. “Hear, O Israel! The Lord is our God, the Lord is one!”

This is the “shema.” It is repeated everyday by devout Jews.

In other words, in the 4th word of the Bible, there is a conflict. How can God be one and also be more than one? Can I understand that? No. Can I believe that? Yes. It is a faith thing.

Who is Elohim?

In the fourth word of the Bible we are introduced to the Trinity, the plurality of God who is one God. There is a plurality, but there is also such a unity in love that They are one.

Elohim - the strong God, three strands woven together (Ecclesiastes 4:12b. A cord of three strands is not quickly torn apart.). The One who swears by Himself a covenant oath.

Trinity: Immutable, unchanging, from eternity to eternity.

Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. All three separately identified as deity. (An example from nature might be water. It can be solid, liquid and gas all at the same time.

God as Father. This is the most widely used and understood version of God in the Judeo-Christian tradition.

Isaiah 64:8
But now, O Lord, You are our Father,
We are the clay, and You our potter;
And all of us are the work of Your hand.

Matthew 3:17
17 and behold, a voice out of the heavens said, “This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well-pleased.”

In John 5:17-47 (end) there is a weaving together between Father and Son.

17 But He answered them, “My Father is working until now, and I Myself am working.”
18 For this reason therefore the Jews were seeking all the more to kill Him, because He not only was breaking the Sabbath, but also was calling God His own Father, making Himself equal with God.
19 Therefore Jesus answered and was saying to them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, the Son can do nothing of Himself, unless it is something He sees the Father doing; for whatever the Father does, these things the Son also does in like manner.
20 “For the Father loves the Son, and shows Him all things that He Himself is doing; and the Father will show Him greater works than these, so that you will marvel.

And so forth.

26 “For just as the Father has life in Himself, even so He gave to the Son also to have life in Himself;
27 and He gave Him authority to execute judgment, because He is the Son of Man.

And so on.

Romans 1:1-7.
1 Paul, a bond-servant of Christ Jesus, called as an apostle, set apart for the gospel of God,
2 which He promised beforehand through His prophets in the holy Scriptures,
3 concerning His Son, who was born of a descendant of David according to the flesh,
4 who was declared the Son of God with power by the resurrection from the dead, according to the Spirit of holiness, Jesus Christ our Lord,
5 through whom we have received grace and apostleship to bring about the obedience of faith among all the Gentiles for His name’s sake,
6 among whom you also are the called of Jesus Christ;
7 to all who are beloved of God in Rome, called as saints: Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

“God our Father” and “His Son,” “Jesus Christ our Lord.” Separate, yet united.

One Son, identified as God.

John 10:30. “I and the Father are one.”

This is the “shema,” re-spoken and re-emphasized. Greek is more literally: “I and the Father, one We are.” Also, “I and the Father, are one in essence.”

Jesus made clear His oneness with God the Father, that He and God were one essence. This is why “the Jews” tried to stone Him.

John 14:7-11
7 “If you had known Me, you would have known My Father also; from now on you know Him, and have seen Him.”
8 Philip *said to Him, “Lord, show us the Father, and it is enough for us.”
9 Jesus *said to him, “Have I been so long with you, and yet you have not come to know Me, Philip? He who has seen Me has seen the Father; how can you say, ‘Show us the Father’?
10 “Do you not believe that I am in the Father, and the Father is in Me? The words that I say to you I do not speak on My own initiative, but the Father abiding in Me does His works.
11 “Believe Me that I am in the Father and the Father is in Me; otherwise believe because of the works themselves.

Again, the interweaving of the Father and the Son. “He who has seen Me has seen the Father.” “I am in the Father and the Father is in Me.” They are united, sharing all things.

Colossians 1:13-18
13 For He rescued us from the domain of darkness, and transferred us to the kingdom of His beloved Son,
14 in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.
15 He (Jesus) is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation.
16 For by Him (Jesus) all things were created, both in the heavens and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities—all things have been created through Him and for Him.
17 He is before all things, and in Him all things hold together.
18 He is also head of the body, the church; and He is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, so that He Himself will come to have first place in everything.

Jesus is the image of God; the worlds were created by Him, through Him and for Him; the kingdom of God is the kingdom of Jesus; etc.

Philippians 2:6. Who, although He existed in the form of God, did not regard equality with God a thing to be grasped...

Hebrews 1:3a. And He (Jesus) is the radiance of His (the Father’s) glory and the exact representation of His (the Father’s) nature, and upholds all things by the word of His power.

Again, Jesus, the Son, interwoven with God, the Father.

The Holy Spirit.

"Father" is an easy and natural concept to get a hold of. We all had fathers, even if we did not have the same experience with them. Fatherhood is understandable. "Son" is also an easy concept to get a hold of. We can naturally see both fathers and son.

But we have a lot more problem with the idea of “spirit.” We can see the effect of the wind, feel it; but our senses (and understanding) falter with God the Holy Spirit.

John 14:16-17
16 “I will ask the Father, and He will give you another Helper, that He may be with you forever;
17 that is the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it does not see Him or know Him, but you know Him because He abides with you and will be in you.

The Spirit that the world does not and cannot know.

Matthew 3:13-17
13 Then Jesus *arrived from Galilee at the Jordan coming to John, to be baptized by him.
14 But John tried to prevent Him, saying, “I have need to be baptized by You, and do You come to me?”
15 But Jesus answering said to him, “Permit it at this time; for in this way it is fitting for us to fulfill all righteousness.” Then he *permitted Him.
16 After being baptized, Jesus came up immediately from the water; and behold, the heavens were opened, and he saw the Spirit of God descending as a dove and lighting on Him,
17 and behold, a voice out of the heavens said, “This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well-pleased.”

The Father, Son, and Holy Spirit; all here together, but all pictured in different ways.

John 15:26. “When the Helper comes, whom I will send to you from the Father, that is the Spirit of truth who proceeds from the Father, He will testify about Me..."

John 16:13-15
13 “But when He, the Spirit of truth, comes, He will guide you into all the truth; for He will not speak on His own initiative, but whatever He hears, He will speak; and He will disclose to you what is to come.
14 “He will glorify Me, for He will take of Mine and will disclose it to you.
15 “All things that the Father has are Mine; therefore I said that He takes of Mine and will disclose it to you.

Again, all three together. The Holy Spirit acting like Jesus did, revealing the Father and the Son.

Context: In John 16:7-15, Jesus identifies Himself 13 time, God the Father twice, and the Holy Spirit 15 times.

In all these places, the Holy Spirit is identified as a person, a “He,” and being. Not as an “it” or a thing.

Acts 2:32-33
32 “This Jesus God raised up again, to which we are all witnesses.
33 “Therefore having been exalted to the right hand of God, and having received from the Father the promise of the Holy Spirit, He has poured forth this which you both see and hear.

God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit came upon the church. He was poured out. The Holy Spirit isGod.

2 Corinthians 3:17. Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty.

The Holy Spirit is truly God.

Matthew 28:18-20
18 And Jesus came up and spoke to them, saying, “All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth.
19 “Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit,
20 teaching them to observe all that I commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.”

“In the name (singular) of the Father and then Son and the Holy Spirit...”

It is essential to hold the proper faith and doctrine about God: One God, three in one. All cults have something screwy, doctrinally, about the Trinity. They deny the divinity of one or another, or of two persons of the Trinity.