Wednesday Bible Study

What comes into our minds when we think about God is the most important thing about us. The history of mankind will probably show that no people has ever risen above its religion, and man’s spiritual history will positively demonstrate that no religion has ever been greater than its idea of God. Worship is pure or base as the worshiper entertains high or low thoughts of God. ~ A.W. Tozer

What makes Christianity distinctly true?

• The nature of who God really is

The Knowability of God

• We cannot know Him completely – Romans 11:33
• We can know Him truly, intimately, and personally – John 17:3; Jeremiah 9:23-24

The Trinity

• Trinity – Tri-unity, three-in-oneness. Not a word used in Scripture but a word used by the church fathers to describe what Scripture reveals.
• God is One Being. Three distinct Persons. Each Person is fully God. No Person is the Other. All Three Persons are One substance. There is NO natural illustration.
• There is One God
  • Deuteronomy 6:4-5
  • James 2:19
• There are Three distinct Persons
  • The Father:
    • Matthew 6:8-15
    • Matthew 6:25-34
  • The Son:
    • Hebrews 1:1-5 & 13
      • Radiance – quality of sending out rays of light
      • Of His glory – the manifest presentation of God’s infinite and majestic nature; normally
      • conveyed to humanity as superlative brightness
      • Exact representation – an exact copy or reproduction; understood as the exact expression
      • that is the result of printing or engraving with a stamp.
      • Of His nature – essence; substance; that which something really and truly is; whatever that quality, aspect, or reality is that makes things what they are.
    • Philippians 2:5-8
      • Form – the expression of something (such as a visual, spatial, or preternatural expression) that reflects or manifests fully and truly (and permanently) the essence of what something is. Denotes the genuine nature of a thing.
      • The one who is existing – present, participle. Often used of states that are enduring as opposed to temporary. Means Jesus is never not in the form of God. Cannot bereferencing something happened post humanity, for the context sets this up as actionJesus deliberately took prior to taking on human flesh.
      • Equality – having the same quality, quantity, value, or measure as another
      • A thing to be grasped – something to Lord over us. He chose to not rely on His own deity and authority but to submit to the Father, depend on the Spirit, and not exert His divinity over us.
    • Colossians 1:15-20
      • Image – that which has the same form as something else; a visual representation
      • Fullness – the state of heaving every necessary or normal part or component or step. Jesus has all that is divine.
    • John 1:4
      • The word was with God – implies distinction
      • Lit. God was the Word – implies divinity

• • • Jesus’ Own Words
      • Mark 2:5 – Jesus claims the authority and power to forgive sins
      • Matt. 25:31-46 – Jesus claims to judge the world
      • Mark 2:27-28 – Jesus claims authority over the Sabbath
      • John 10:30 – Jesus claims to be one with the Father
      • John 14:7-9 – Jesus says whoever sees Him has seen the Father
      • John 8:58 – Jesus claims eternality and takes on the Divine Name
      • Matt. 26:36 – Jesus accepts the charge that He has claimed divinity for himself and submits to the death that it brings on him.
      • Matt. 5:21-22, 27-28 – Jesus speaks of the OT with authority. He does not say, “the Lord says,” rather He says “I tell you,”.
  • The Holy Spirit:
    • Acts 5:3-4 – Lying to the Holy Spirit is the same as lying to God.
    • 1 Cor. 6:19-20 – The Temple of the Holy Spirit = being inhabited by God.
    • 1 Cor. 2:10-11 – the Holy Spirit has omniscience
    • Romans 15:19 (miracles), John 16:8-11 (conviction of sin), John 3:5-8 (regeneration) – the
    • Holy Spirit has omnipotence like God
    • Hebrews 9:14 – the Holy Spirit has eternality like God – (Heb. 1:10-12)
    • Romans 8:11 – The Holy Spirit raised Jesus from the dead. Only God could raise God.
    • 2 Timothy 3:16, 2 Peter 1:21 – the Scriptures come from the Holy Spirit. If the Bible is God’s Word and it comes from the Holy Spirit, then the Holy Spirit is God.
    • 1 Cor. 12:4-11 – Holy Spirit gives spiritual gifts and has sovereignty to do so. This is listed as a work of Jesus’ gift in Ephesians 4
    • Matt. 28:19-20, 2 Corinthians 13:14, 1 Corinthians 12, 1 Peter 1:2 – All show the Holy Spirit as part of the Godhead.
• Trinity in Unity
  • Genesis 1:1-2 & 26
  • Isaiah 6:8
  • Matthew 4
• All Three Persons are co-equal and co-eternal
• All Three Persons are distinct and united
• All Three Persons are co-dependent, working in harmony

Conclusion: God is One Being. Three distinct Persons. Each Person is fully God. No Person is the Other. All Three Persons are One substance. There is NO natural illustration.

The Catholic [the one true faith for all time and people] Faith is this: That we worship one God in Trinity and Trinity in Unity…And in this Trinity no one is before or after another, no one is greater or less than another. But the whole three Persons are coeternal and coequal. So that in all things: The unity in the Trinity, and the Trinity in unity, is to be worshipped. He therefore, that will be saved, must thus think of the Trinity. ~ Athanasian Creed