God The Holy Trinity

On Sunday, we humbled ourselves under God and sought to understand something of His nature – that He is one God in three persons, God the Holy Trinity. Let’s think a little further about that, starting with a quote from J. I. Packer:

‘The Old Testament constantly insists that there is only one God, the self-revealed Creator, who must be worshiped and loved exclusively (Deut. 6:4-5; Isa. 44:6 - 45:25). The New Testament agrees (Mark 12:29-30; 1 Cor. 8:4; Eph. 4:6; 1 Tim. 2:5) but speaks of three personal agents, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, working together in the manner of a team to bring about salvation (Rom 8; Eph 1:3-14; 2 Thess 2:13-14; 1 Pet 1:2). The historic formulation of the Trinity (derived from the Latin word trinitas, meaning “threeness”) seeks to circumscribe and safeguard this mystery (not explain it; that is beyond us), and it confronts us with perhaps the most difficult thought that the human mind has ever been asked to handle. It is not easy; but it is true.’ (Concise Theology, p.40)

I’ll summarise the outline of the Trinity that I gave on Sunday:

1. The Father is God – John 6:27, Matt 6:9 – Jesus taught us to pray to Our Father in heaven.

2. The Son is God – John 1:1 the Word (Jesus) was God, John 1:18, the one and only Son who is Himself God, Hebrews 1:8 quoting Psalm 45:6 About the Son he says, “your throne, O God, will last for ever and ever”. (An apology: on Sunday I quoted John 1:14 from some old notes not realising that part of the verse was cut off. It is John 1:18 that makes the point better anyway.)

3. The Spirit is God – Gen 1:1 “the Spirit of God was hovering over the waters”, Mark 3:29 “whoever blasphemes against the Holy Spirit will never be forgiven.” Acts 5:3-4 “you have lied to the Holy Spirit… you have not lied just to human beings but to God”.

4. The Three are One – Deut 6:4 “The LORD our God, the LORD is one.” In Matt 28:19 Jesus sends the disciples out to make disciples and baptise “in the name (singular) of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit (three persons)”.

5. The persons are distinct but not separate – John 1:1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. In John 14:26, Jesus says: But the Advocate, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you all things and will remind you of everything I have said to you. In John 14:10 Jesus says: Don’t you believe that I am in the Father, and that the Father is in me? Note: it would be great to read the whole of John’s Gospel noting how the persons of the Trinity relate to each other.

I then gave three reasons why the Trinity is so important:

1. If Jesus is not God, He can’t save us

2. If Jesus was not the divine Son who chose to lay down his own life, then God could be accused of child abuse.

3. Only God the Trinity can be love: 1 John 4:16 God is love.

Will you fall before our God and worship him?

Grace and peace,
‍Mark

PS: You can listen to the whole sermon HERE.