First Baptist
“What the Bible
Teaches”
(Nine Week
Introductory Discipleship Series)
Session
Two: “What the Bible Teaches About the
Trinity”
The
Persons of the Trinity, while having equal attributes, differ in certain
properties. Hence, the first Person of the Trinity is called the Father. The
second Person of the Trinity is called the Son and is sent forth by the Father.
The third Person of the Trinity is the Holy Spirit, who is sent forth by the
Father and the Son. The order is never reversed, that is, the Son never sends the
Father and the Holy Spirit never sends the Son. In the nature of the uniqueness
of the Godhead, there is no illustration or parallel in human experience. Thus,
the doctrine should be accepted by faith on the basis of scriptural revelation
even if it is beyond human comprehension.
1. The work of
the Trinity:
A.
The
Father – electing, loving, bestowing
B.
The
Son – suffering, redeeming, upholding
C.
The
Holy Spirit – regenerating, indwelling, baptizing, energizing and sanctifying
2. The concept
of the godhead (Trinity)[5]
Wrong Right
3. Doctrinal
Errors Concerning god
A.
Monotheism
– (Judaism – Islam)
B.
Polytheism
– Many gods (idol worship)
C.
Pantheism
– God is All (Eastern religions)
D.
Atheism
– No god exists (Humanism)
4. The New
Testament Sets
A.
A
Father who is God – Romans 1:7
B.
A
Son who is God – Hebrews 1:8
C.
A
Holy Spirit who is God – Acts 5:3-4
_________________________________________________________________________
The Father is all the fullness of the Godhead invisible.
The Son is all the fullness of the godhead visible.
The Holy Spirit
is all the fullness of the Godhead acting upon the person.
_________________________________________________________________________
5.
The BAptism of Jesus provides us a look at the
distinctions in the trinity
(Matthew
3:16-17)
6.
the BAptismal formula
(Matthew
28:19)
7.
Old Testament Evidence of the Trinity.[6]
(Genesis
1:26)
(Genesis
3:22)
(Genesis
11:7)
The
many indications in both Old and New Testaments that God exists or subsists as
a triune being have made the doctrine of the Trinity a central fact of all
Orthodox creeds from the early church until modern times. Any departure from
this is considered a departure from scriptural truth. Although the word
“Trinity” does not occur in the Bible, the facts of scriptural revelation
permit no other explanation.
Bibliography
Bancroft, Emery H., Elemental Theology (Grand Rapids, MI, Zondervan, 1977)
Barnes, Albert, Barnes Notes “The Gospels” (
Calvin, John, Calvin’s Commentaries: Vol. XVII
(
Dockery, David, The Holman Guide to Interpreting the
Bible (
Elwell, Walter A., Evangelical Dictionary of Theology (Grand Rapids, MI, Baker Books, 1997)
Erickson, Millard, Introducing Christian Doctrine, 2nd
Edition (
Erickson, Millard, Whose Tampering with the Trinity
(
Evans, William, The Great Doctrines of the Bible (Chicago, IL, Moody Press, 1974)
Grudem, Wayne, Systematic Theology (Grand Rapids, MI, Zondervan, 1994)
Hodge, Charles, Systematic Theology (Phillipsburg, NJ, P & R Publishing, 1997)
MacArthur, John Jr., The Gospel According to Jesus (Grand Rapids, MI, Zondervan, 1994)
MacArthur, John Jr., The MacArthur New Testament Commentary: Matthew 24-28 (Winona, IN, BMH Books, 1989)
MacArthur, John, Charismatic Chaos (Grand Rapids, MI, Zondervan, 1992)
Stott, John R.W., Basic Christianity (Downer’s Grove, IL, Inter Varsity Press, 1971)
The
Warfield, Benjamin B., Revelation and Inspiration (
[1] Revelation
in its wider sense includes all modes in which God makes Himself known to men
or passively, all knowledge concerning God however attained, inasmuch as it is
conceived that all such knowledge is, in one way or another, wrought in time. –
Benjamin B. Warfield, Revelation and Inspiration (
[2] By
the inspiration of Scripture we mean that supernatural influence of the Holy
Spirit upon the Scripture writers which rendered their writing an accurate
record of the revelation of which resulted in what they wrote actually being
the Word of God. –
Millard Erickson, Introducing Christian Doctrine, 2nd
Edition (Grand Rapids, MI, Baker Academic, 2007) page 61
[3] The task of
Interpretation or “Hermeneutics” is to discover the meaning of the text in its
proper setting: to draw meaning from Scripture rather than reading one’s
presuppositions into it. – John MacArthur, Charismatic Chaos (Grand Rapids, MI, Zondervan, 1992) page
103
[4] …We must ground our interpretations of Scripture in the
original, intended meanings of the text and then must ground theological
reflection, and the resulting application and communication, in sound
interpretation. – David Dockery, The Holman
Guide to Interpreting the Bible (
[5] It is important to remember, however, that “each member
of the Godhead is equally God, each is eternally God, and each is fully God –
not three Gods but three persons of the one Godhead.” He [Bruce Ware]
emphasizes that each is equal in essence; in fact, “each possesses fully the
identically same, eternal divine nature, yet each is also an eternal and
distinct personal expression of the one undivided divine nature.” – Millard
Erickson, Whose Tampering with the
Trinity [Bruce A. Ware, (Father,
Son and Holy Spirit: Relationships, Rules and Relevance)] (
[6] The progressive character of divine revelation is
recognized in relation to all the great doctrines of the Bible. One of the
strongest arguments for the divine origin of the Scripture is the organic
relation of its several parts. They comprise more than sixty books written by
different men in different ages, and yet they form one whole. This unity is not
a matter merely of external historical relations, nor of a general identity of
subjects treated, but of internal organic development. All that is in the full-grown
tree was potentially in the seed. All that we find unfolded in the fullness of
the gospel lies in a rudimental form in the earliest books of the Bible. – Charles
Hodge, Systematic Theology
(Phillipsburg, NJ, P & R Publishing, 1997) page 168
[7] The visible creation makes the personality of God the
Father somewhat easy to conceive, the incarnation makes it almost, if not
altogether, impossible to disbelieve in the personality of Jesus Christ; but
the acts and workings of the Holy Spirit are so secret and mystical, so much is
said of His influence, graces, power and gifts, that we are prone to think of
Him as an influence, a power, a manifestation or influence of the divine
nature, an agent rather than a Person – William Evans, The Great Doctrines of the Bible (Chicago, IL, Moody Press,
1974) pages 107-108
[8] Trichotomy: The view that man is made of three parts
(body, soul, spirit) is called trichotomy. According to many trichotomists,
man’s soul includes his intellect, his emotions, and his will. – Wayne Grudem,
Systematic Theology (Grand
Rapids, MI, Zondervan, 1994) page 472
[9] *Alternate View* - Dichotomy: The view that man is made
up of two parts (body and soul/spirit) is called dichotomy. Those who hold this
view often agree that Scripture uses the word spirit (Heb. Rûach, and Gk. Pneuma)
more frequently when referring to our relationship to God, but such usage (they
say) is not uniform, and the word soul is also used in all the ways that spirit
can be used. – Wayne Grudem, Ibid
[10] He [John] shows that enjoyment consists in faith; and not
without reason, since by means of it we possess Christ, who brings along with
him both righteousness and life, which is the fruit of righteousness. When
faith in Christ is declared to be the cause of life, we learn from it that life
is to be found in Christ alone, and that in no other way do we become partakers
of it than by the grace of Christ himself.
– John Calvin, Calvin’s Commentaries: Vol. XVII (
[11] It is a remarkable commendation of faith, that it freed
us from everlasting destruction. For he intended expressly to state that,
though we appear to have been born to death, undoubted deliverance is offered
to us by the faith of Christ; and, therefore, that we ought not to fear death,
which otherwise hangs over us.” “…we live, because God loves us freely by not imputing
to us our sins.” – John Calvin, Ibid. pages 124-125
[12] Certain aspects of the doctrine of salvation relate to
the matter of one’s standing with God. … The individual’s legal status must be
changed from guilty to not guilty. … There also is a progressive alteration of
the individual’s spiritual condition; one actually becomes holier. …
Sanctification finally comes to completion in the life beyond death, when the
spiritual nature of the believer will be perfected. – Millard
Erickson, Introducing Christian
Doctrine, 2nd Edition (
[13] When Jesus said, “It is finished,” he meant it. Nothing
can be added to what he did. Many people believe they must supplement his work
with good deeds of their own. They believe they must facilitate their own
redemption through baptism, other sacraments and religious rituals, benevolent
deeds, or whatever else they can accomplish through their own efforts. But no
works of human righteousness can expand on what Jesus accomplished for us
(Titus 3:5). The beginning and the end of our salvation was consummated by
Jesus Christ, and we can contribute nothing.
– John MacArthur, Jr., The Gospel According to Jesus
(Grand Rapids, MI, Zondervan, 1994) page 242
[14] Universalism: A belief which affirms that in the fullness
of time all souls will be released from the penalties of sin and restored to
God. Historically known as Apokatastasis, final salvation denies the biblical
doctrine of eternal punishment and is based on a faulty reading of Acts 3:21;
Romans 5:18-19; Ephesians 1:9-10; 1 Corinthians 15:22 and other passages. - Walter A.
Elwell, Evangelical Dictionary of Theology (Grand Rapids, MI, Baker
Books, 1997) page 1128
[15] Christ gave a command perpetually binding on His Church
to baptize men “in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy
Ghost.”…According to this formula, he who receives baptism as a Christian rite
thereby professes to stand in that relation to the Father, Son, and Spirit
which those who receive the religion of Christ sustain. – Charles
Hodge, Systematic Theology,
page 483
[16] Baptism of Fire: This
expression has been variously understood. Some have supposed that John refers
to the afflictions and persecutions with which men would be tried under the
Gospel; others, that word fire means judgment or wrath. . – Albert
Barnes, Barnes Notes “The Gospels”,
(
[17] Baptism of the Holy
Spirit: The Scriptures make mention of only one Baptism of the Holy Spirit,
while the infilling of the Spirit is not confined to a single experience, but
may be repeated times without number. There need be no long searching before
receiving this. It may occur at conversion, and it is to be sought afresh in
each new emergency or act of service. – Emery H. Bancroft, Elemental Theology, (Grand Rapids, MI, Zondervan, 1977) pages
221-222
[18] By looking backward into history, it is a celebration and
reminder of His suffering and death. Because our memory is short, the memorial
supper symbolizes His body broken for us by means of the bread, and as we sip
of the fruit of the vine we partake of the blood shed for the establishment of
a new covenant. But the supper looks forward as well as backward as a prophecy
and promise of His coming as we “show forth the Lord’s death till He comes.”
Lastly, Paul reminds us that in the present we participate in the memorial meal
only after we “judge ourselves that we be not judged.” – Emery H. Bancroft,
Elemental Theology (Grand
Rapids, MI, Zondervan, 1977) page 311
[19] Transubstantiation: The theory accepted by
[20] Consubstantiation: While some have used the term
consubstantiation to denote Luther’s concept that body and bread are
concurrently present, that blood and wine coexist, it was not Luther’s term.
While he rejected transubstantiation and the sacrifice of the Mass, he still
believed that Christ is bodily present in the Lord’s Supper and that his body
is received by all who partake of the elements. – Millard Erickson, Introducing Christian Doctrine, 2nd
Edition (Grand
Rapids, MI, Baker Academic, 2007) page 364
[21] …it is no good supposing that membership of the universal
[22] The Great Commission is a command to bring unbelievers
throughout the world to a saving knowledge of Jesus Christ, and the term the
Lord uses in this commissioning is make disciples. … Jesus’ supreme command,
therefore, is for those who are His disciples to become His instruments for
making disciples of all nations. … Those who become His disciples are
themselves to become disciple makers. The mission of the early church was to
make disciples (see Acts 2:47; 14:21), and that is still Christ’s mission for His
Church. – John MacArthur Jr., The
MacArthur New Testament Commentary: Matthew 24-28 (Winona, IN, BMH
Books, 1989) page 341
[23] The phrase “separation of church and state” does not
appear anywhere in the Constitution. Thomas Jefferson wrote that the 1st
Amendment erected a “wall of separation” between the church and the state
(James Madison said it “drew a line,” but it is
[24] Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of
religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of
speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and
to petition the government fro a redress of grievances. – U.S
Constitution, 1st Amendment
[25] Indian Creek Baptist Association was organized in 1837.
At the time that the Indian Creek Association was organized there were seven
churches located in
[26] The first effort to organize a state convention in
[27] The roots of the Southern Baptist denomination go back to
the Reformation in
By 1644, due to the efforts of Thomas Helwys
and John Smyth, 50 Baptist churches were already established in
By the mid eighteenth century the number of
Baptists increased greatly as a result of the Great Awakening pioneered by
Johathan Edwards. In 1755 Shubael Stearns began to spread his Baptist belief in
In the late 1700’s and early 1800’s as
Baptists began to organize and expand, they formed missionary societies to
spread the Christian lifestyle to others These mission societies eventually led
to other organizational structures that would define and make a denomination of
Southern Baptists. By the 1830’s tension began to mount between the Northern
and Southern Baptists. One issue that severely divided the Baptists was
slavery. Northern Baptists believed God would not condone treating one race as
superior to another while Southerners said that God intended for races to be
separate. Southern state Baptists began complaining that they weren’t receiving
money for mission work. The Home Mission Society declared that a person could
not be a missionary and wish to keep his slaves as property. As a result of
this division, Baptists in the south met in May of 1845 and organized the Southern
Baptist Convention. – Mary Fairchild,
A Brief History of the Southern
Baptist Denomination, www.christianity.about.com/of/denominations/a/
baptisthistory.htm, September 17, 2010
[28] The major result of Christ’s second coming, from the
standpoint of individual eschatology, is the resurrection. This is the basis
for the believer’s hope in the face of death. Although death is inevitable, the
believer anticipates being delivered from its power. – Millard
Erickson, Introducing Christian
Doctrine, 2nd Edition (Grand Rapids, MI, Baker Academic,
2007) page 388