The Triune God

16th verse, Matthew 28 verse 16. Then the eleven disciples went away into Galilee, into a mountain where Jesus had appointed them. And when they saw him, they worshipped him, but some doubted.

And Jesus came and spake unto them, saying, All power is given unto me in heaven and in earth. Go ye therefore and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost, teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you. And lo, I am with you always, even unto the end of the world.

Amen. The doctrine of God is a great subject, and though we have engaged in our series over ten weeks, it would be right to employ the words of the Queen of Sheba and say with regard to this particular doctrine, the half has not yet been told. We're just skating around on the periphery, and it's been my objective to, by the power of the Holy Spirit, excite your interest in delving more and more into the word of God and appreciating and apprehending these great doctrines of the faith.

I can think of nothing that more stimulates my enthusiasm as a Christian than to consider the greatness of our God and the greatness of his plan of salvation. And we must thank him eternally for the fact that his plan has been inscripturated. That means it has been written down in a book that we have been able in this country to purchase and to read freely.

And so, once again, we come to this subject with the idea of trying to tie together one or two loose ends that I've left unknotted, and it is my hope that particularly this study will give information for folks who have difficulty in dealing with the Jehovah's Witnesses and with the Christadelphians, who not only deny the doctrine of the deity of the Lord Jesus, but they deny the Christian doctrine of the Trinity. But more of that in a moment. Let me engage in a resume for one or two minutes.

You remember how we commenced this series. We looked, first of all, in a very brief fashion at the theories of those who deny the concept of God. And then, having examined these theories in a little detail, we went on to examine the beliefs of those who claim that God can be proved to exist.

And then you remember I dealt with what I believe to be the Christian approach to the doctrine of God. And I underline from the Bible that knowledge of God comes not by merely intellectually pursuing it, but rather it comes through an opening of one's heart to God. And knowledge is therefore arrived at through faith.

The letter to the Hebrews tells us without faith it is impossible to please God. And let him that cometh unto God first of all believe that he is. Now from that teaching in Scripture, we developed the doctrine of God by considering what the Bible has to say about His personality.

And we found ourselves coming to the conclusion that God is indeed a personal God, and that He has characteristics. And the prime characteristics of God are surely His holiness and His love. And then you recall how I went on to draw your attention to the fact that God is existing in terms of three persons—God the Spirit, God the Son, and God the Father.

And we examined each of these persons of the Godhead and sought to establish from the Old Testament and from the New Testament their deity and their co-equality. And having gone through this particular program of studies, it now remains for me to show you how the triune God is a unity. Now I appreciate that this goes beyond human logic.

You can't fully understand, you cannot fully grasp how God can be three persons and yet one person, one person and yet three. And though we cannot grasp this, let me repeat, for us the doctrine is not an embarrassment. For Christian people have always acknowledged that God has only disclosed so much of Himself.

There is a great deal more to be apprehended, and the apostle Paul looks forward to that day when he shall know incomplete what now he only knows partially. So I reassert that the doctrine of the Trinity, though we cannot logically explain it, it is not for the Christian something to be embarrassed about. Rather, it is something for him to glory in, and he leaves the ultimate explanation as to how God can be three and yet one and one and yet three to the Lord, who will declare it to us in eternity.

What we have now then to do is to examine the fact that our God, though three is one, we're going to spend our time dealing with the unity of the members of the Trinity. And you know, the Jewish people have always objected, this is orthodox Judaism, have always objected to the Christian concept of the Trinity. And the reason for this is that entrenched within Judaic theology is a rigid monotheism.

Now that word monotheism is not something for you to be afraid of, it's something for you to learn and to use in declaring this doctrine to those who oppose it. Monotheism is just a combination of two Greek words, and it means one God, mono, one Theos God. And the Jews believed in one God.

Indeed, they had a sort of creed which is employed today called the Shema. And when the Jews recite this particular creed, they are in effect defining what they believe about God. And in the middle of this definition, recourse is made to some verses in the book of Deuteronomy, which tell us that the Lord our God is one Lord.

And it was this rigid approach to monotheism that caused the Jews to react in horror to the thought of the Christian church coming along and saying that the God that they worshipped really was a plural God, that there was plurality in the Godhead. Now something of the violent reaction that they gave to such teaching is clearly illustrated in the ministry of the Saviour. You remember how on one occasion, and the event is recorded in John's Gospel, he is interrogated by his opponents as to who he thinks he is.

And he is so bold as to assert that before Abraham was, he existed. In other words, he is claiming his pre-existence. But more than this, he employs the language that the Jews usually used in referring to God when he said before Abraham was, I am.

He takes for himself the very divine name. And by sheer implication, he is saying that he is on a par with God. As the Jews worship God the Father, so he is a disclosure of God the Father, but he is the Son.

So here is a remarkably bold claim made by the Saviour that there is plurality within the Godhead. And the reaction of the Jews, you remember, was such that they took up stones and they would have done him to death. Why? Because according to their reasoning, Jesus had committed blasphemy.

And there was only one antidote to blasphemy. There was only one response that the Jewish priests thought they should make, and that was to execute the Lord Jesus, to stone him to death. So this is the problem that one encounters when we talk in terms of God being a triune God.

And when we try to engage in conversation with Orthodox Jews along this line, they will say, no, the Lord, our God, is one Lord. This is the Shema, and the Shema is a composition of various verses from the Old Testament which underline monotheism, one God. Well, what have we to say to this? What is our reaction to the Jewish appeal to the Old Testament? Well, let's consider certain verses in the Old Testament ourselves this evening.

And before we do so, let me sound a note of warning, because if you read some books that deal with the doctrine of the Trinity and particularly delve into the Old Testament, you'll find that they virtually make the assertion that there is an explicit exposition of the doctrine of the Trinity in the Old Testament, that there is a clear formulation of God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit, each existing on their own and yet each illogically and miraculously bound together as one person. Now that's one extreme. The other extreme that I would warn you against is that put out by certain liberal scholars who in their attitude to the Old Testament would deny and therefore support Jewish theology, they would deny that there is any hint of the doctrine of the Trinity at all within the pages of the Old Testament.

I think that really the truth lies within the middle of those two extremes, and I would go so far as to say this, that though there is no clear formulation of the doctrine of the Trinity in the Old Testament, nonetheless there are anticipations of it, there are pointers of it, and as you look into the Old Testament and then you relate all that you find there to the New Testament, you'll see how the Old Testament is anticipating the New, and how the New is reflecting upon and expanding what is contained within the Old. Well, what are these pointers that seem to suggest plurality within the Godhead, pointers found in the Old Testament? Well, there are a number, and I have not time to look at each one, but I have in your notes given a sample of the evidences that seems to suggest that there is plurality within the Godhead taught in the Old Testament, and the first interesting thing that I bring to your attention is the name of God. Now, a number of Hebrew words are used in the pages of the Old Testament to indicate God, but one of the most favorite is the Hebrew word Elohim.

Now, whenever you come across a Hebrew word that finishes with the letters I-M, you know that you've got a plural. As, for example, in English grammar, if you come across a noun which finishes with the letter S or the letters E-S, similarly, you know that you've got a plural. So here's a very interesting thing.

One of the most popular names for God used in the Old Testament is a plural noun, Elohim, and I find that very significant because, you see, there is a singular noun, El, that would have served quite well to have conveyed the idea of God when the writers of the Old Testament were engaged in setting down the various books, but no, they employed the word Elohim, a plural noun, and very often they would link it to a singular verb. Now, anyone who knows anything about English grammar will realize that that would be a mistake in English, and similarly, it is a mistake in Hebrew, but nonetheless, in the Old Testament, you find that this mistake is often made, and one, therefore, is reluctant to say that it is a mistake. It is something deliberate.

It is not here a pointer to the plurality within the Godhead. So, the first evidence that I bring to your attention is that one of the most popular words for God in the Old Testament is a plural. But there is something else that I find extremely interesting, and it really follows on this previous observation, and it's what I've entitled United Divine Action.

You say, what on earth does that convey? Well, it's something very simple, really. Now and again in the Old Testament, one comes across God speaking, and yet he speaks about things that he's going to do, and he appeals to other individuals, or so it seems. For example, in the work of creation, Genesis chapter 1 and verse 26 describes it, and we find God saying this, and God said, let us make man in our own image.

Again, very interesting. Here is the divine work of creation, and the language employed is in the plural. Let us make man in our own image, and you get a similar reference in the prophecy of Isaiah, where Isaiah is listening in to a conversation in heaven, or so it seems.

And in the sixth chapter and the eighth verse, we hear the Lord saying this, whom shall I send, and who will go for us? The reference is obviously to evangelistic work here on the earth. Whom shall I send, and who will go for us? And Isaiah volunteers with the words, here am I, send me. Again, you see the point, United Divine Action, that seems to indicate, I would just go as far as to say that, it seems to indicate that there is plurality within the Godhead.

And then something else that strikes me as being interesting is the threefold benedictions that you come across in the Old Testament. Now, in the New, we're used to this. You remember at the close of a number of services here in the Tabernacle, it's my practice, I trust not out of habit, to invite you to join with me in saying the grace, the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with us.

You see, there's a sort of three-pronged approach in prayer there. Well, this three-pronged approach is found also in certain instances in the Old Testament. In the Pentateuch, for example, the book of Numbers, one comes across the Aaronic Blessing.

And there we find the benediction that was often used by the priests in the Old Testament dispensation as they prayed on behalf of men and women with whom they came into contact. Let me read it to you. Speak unto Aaron and unto his son, saying, On this wise ye shall bless the children of Israel, saying unto them, The Lord bless thee and keep thee.

The Lord make his face shine upon thee, and be gracious unto thee. The Lord lift up his countenance upon thee, and give thee peace. Again, very interesting.

Not conclusive on its own, but taken together with all the other evidence, it's very suggestive of the doctrine of the Trinity found more clearly in the pages of the New Testament. And to that illustration, I would add the experience again of Isaiah in the temple at Jerusalem. What does he report with regard to the praises of the angelic host as he has a vision of them behind the great throne of God? He says that their antiphonal chanting is in the form of holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts.

Again, you see this threefold approach to prayer. There are other instances of this, further development of this teaching, further evidences for this doctrine that I have set down in the notes. There's not time for me to enlarge upon them all.

Let me take one more. Let's take the deity of the Messiah. Often references made in the Old Testament to the coming Messiah.

And it's very interesting to consider what the Old Testament prophets had to say about the one whom God would send into the world. Interesting as far as his standing in the sight of God is concerned. Once again, we have recourse to Isaiah and to his prophecy.

Do you remember how in the opening chapters the prophet lists the characteristics of the Messiah in terms of names, in terms of inscriptions that will be given to the Messiah when he comes on earth? And he refers to him in terms of wonderful, counselor, the mighty God. Now listen to this one, the everlasting Father. Couple those last two together, the mighty God, the everlasting Father.

Now that's daring language, isn't it? Who else but God could really take these titles and apply them to himself? Take another example of this in the prophecy of Micah, the fifth chapter and verse two, a prophecy that I left to quote, which locates the very birthplace of the Savior. But more than that, it tells us about the nature of the Messiah. But thou Bethlehem Ephrathah, though thou be little among the thousands of Judah, yet, listen, out of thee shall come forth to me one whose goings forth have been from of old, from everlasting.

Again, remarkable language, daring language. From Bethlehem will be born someone who has a previous existence, and that previous existence is traced by the minor prophet, not just to the beginning of the creation of the world, but it's traced back in eternity. In fact, you can't push it too far back because eternity by very definition never has a beginning.

So the prophet says he was there, he existed from of old, from everlasting. Again, you see the point. The more you examine the Old Testament references to the Messiah, the more you are driven to the conclusion that the one who is to come as the emancipator of the Jews, indeed the emancipator of the world, is someone with a unique nature.

And human personality does not explain him. Someone is coming into the world whose very titles seem to indicate that this one is God. Now there were two or three points in the list that I've set down along this heading that I'm leaving you to study up yourself, but I think sufficient has been said in the time that I have this evening to indicate that in the Old Testament there are a good number of pointers towards the New Testament doctrine of the Trinity.

Again, I say it's not a developed notion in the Old Testament, but once more, always bear in mind that as far as God's revelation to the world is concerned, it was a progressive revelation. If you were to study, say, the first five books of the Bible, you would certainly come to a knowledge of God, but that knowledge would be greatly supplemented if you studied the next 10 or 15 books of the Bible. And then when you come to the minor prophets, they apprehend a little more about the doctrine of God.

It's something like a jigsaw puzzle, and God has given at various stages throughout history a certain number of the pieces. And then when you come into the New Testament, all that God is going to reveal about Himself is fully disclosed in and through Jesus Christ. So this follows with regard to the Trinity.

In the Old Testament, a few pieces of the jigsaw puzzle, and when you come into the New Testament, a lot more are given to us so that we can begin to grasp something of the miracle of the Godhead. And even when you do come into the New Testament, you're not going to see a concise formulation of the doctrine. In fact, that wasn't done until about the 3rd or 5th centuries AD.

What you find in the New Testament is further teaching in connection with the Trinity, but the word Trinity is not found at all in the New Testament. You start to come across that word in the first few centuries in church history. Why did they employ this word? What drove the early Christians to use such a word as the Trinity? Well, you see, the emerging Christian church had a number of difficulties, a number of problems, and not all these difficulties came from without.

They were not all directed by the Roman authorities or indeed the Jewish authorities. A number of problems came when people started to go into heresy and teach things that were not in accord with the word of God, and particularly in connection with the doctrine of the person of God, the heretics seemed to have a field day. And so more and more study was given to the New Testament and to the Old Testament as to the nature of God, and the early scholars in the Christian church were driven to the conclusion that the New Testament, along with the Old Testament, taught that God is a triune God, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, and the data for all this in the New Testament is found in the various books of the latter part of the Bible.

And all the information was brought together, and so the Christian church came across, if you like, this word Trinity as being the only valid way to describe the person of the Godhead, the triune God. Well, having said that, let us spend a few moments looking into the New Testament and seeing how the various members of the Godhead are shown in a unity of purpose. I've tried to demonstrate to you from the New Testament on previous weeks how the New Testament argues for the deity of the members of the Trinity.

Now I want to show you how the members of the Trinity unite at certain stages in the history of salvation, in the development of salvation, and how this is important for us because it proves the equality of each member of the Trinity. They engage in work and each person of the Trinity has something vital to contribute. Now let us look, for example, at the whole miracle of the incarnation, and the New Testament writers are at great pains to show us that the incarnation came about by the act of the Trinity, God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit.

When the angel Gabriel tells Mary that she is to be the woman who would be used to bring into this world God's own Son, she can hardly believe it, and she says in the 34th verse of Luke's first chapter, how shall this be seeing I know not a man? The angel answers her and he says, the Holy Ghost shall come upon thee, the first one of the persons of the Trinity, and the power of the highest shall overshadow thee. Therefore also that holy thing which shall be born of thee shall be called the Son of God, the second person of the Trinity. And in verse 37, he goes on to reassure her, for with God nothing shall be impossible.

Again you see the point, you see the point of this illustration. God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit, each involved in the miracle of the incarnation. You get a similar example in connection with the baptism of the Saviour, and I'm referring to the third chapter of Mark's gospel which describes the event.

The Lord Jesus Christ is in the river Jordan, about to be baptised by John the Baptist. The voice from heaven is heard, identifying Jesus as God's own Son, in other words the Father speaks, and then the Holy Spirit in the form of a dove descends upon the Saviour, and once again you get the Trinity in action. Let me read to you the relevant verses, the 16th and 17th of the third chapter of Matthew.

Jesus when he was baptised went up straight away out of the water, and lo the heavens were opened unto him, and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and lighting upon him, and lo a voice from heaven saying, this is my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased. And then there is another remarkable verse which is often unfortunately missed by Christians, which deals with the doctrine of the Trinity and the unity of the Trinity in the work, in the role of salvation, and I'm referring to the first epistle of Peter, the first chapter, and the second verse, where Peter is explaining to the Christians to whom he is addressing the letter, how it is that they have been born again, how it is that they have come into the Christian community, and he says this, you are elect according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, first person of the Trinity, through the sanctification of the Spirit, third person of the Trinity, unto obedience and sprinkling of the blood of Jesus Christ, second person of the Trinity. Now you see the point, the whole verse has as its objective to explain how these people have come to be Christians, and as Peter engages in the explanation, as he sets down the teaching, so he has recourse to each member of the Godhead in turn in explaining the whole business of salvation.

And when the disciples are told by the Lord Jesus Christ to go into all the world and preach the gospel, I'm referring now to the scripture that we read some while ago, the Saviour tells them that those who are converted are to be baptised, and they are to be baptised in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost. What is baptism? A seal of someone's conversion, and says the Lord Jesus, that seal is to be administered in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost. And again, if you'll allow me being a little bit, if you'll allow me being once more a little technical, it's interesting to me that in the Greek grammar of the New Testament, in the verse dealing with, in the verse, the one that I'm reading to you, when you come across the word name there, it's in the singular.

Again, that's very interesting, because grammatically speaking, to be correct, it should be in the plural. Go ye therefore and teach all nations baptising them in the names of, ES, the names of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Ghost. But no, you don't get that.

Like with the Hebrew word Elohim that I referred to earlier, you find here is a singular used, a singular used. It's almost a reverse of the illustration I gave you from the Old Testament. They are to be baptised in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost.

And here again I say as an underlining of the teaching that these three persons of the Trinity, though they are separate, yet nonetheless they are the same. And let's proceed and look just for a moment at the equality of these three persons. I think that's implied in the illustrations I've given you all along the line so far.

But notice the divine titles, or particularly one title that's attributed to each person of the Trinity. I made reference to this earlier in our studies. Each person is referred to in the New Testament with the qualification of holy.

The Holy Ghost, the Holy Son, the Holy Father. Again, it seems to imply, does it not, their equality. And we're told that the fullness of God resides in each person.

In the epistle that Paul writes to the church at Colossae, he makes reference to the fact that the fullness of God dwells in Jesus Christ. The first chapter in the 19th verse, for it pleased the Father that in him should all fullness dwell. In Jesus Christ, all the fullness of the Godhead consists.

And when Paul's writing to the church at Philippi, he has a similar thing to say. He says of Jesus Christ that he was in the form of God, and he thought it not robbery to be equal with God. Again, you see how the New Testament argues for the equality of the various persons of the Trinity.

And let me, at the risk of being worrisome, underline what I have just been saying, that nowhere is this brought out more clearly than in dealing with the salvation of the world. When the New Testament talks about the salvation work of God, it does not just talk about the salvation work of Jesus, or the salvation work of the Father, or the salvation work of the Holy Ghost. It talks about every member of the Trinity being involved in achieving salvation, in making this possible for you and for me.

And thus, when the Apostle Paul writes to the church at Corinth, and he concludes with a prayer on their behalf, for that is what a benediction really is, he says, the grace, the graciousness of our Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you. It's not just enough to mention Jesus Christ, not just enough to mention the Holy Ghost, not just enough to mention the Father. No, says the Apostle Paul, as far as spiritual blessings are concerned, as far as your apprehension of these spiritual blessings are concerned, they come to you via the Trinity.

God the Father, God the Son, God the Holy Spirit, all engaged in bringing about the work of salvation, and therefore you must praise the whole Godhead for all that you have received of the mercies of God. Well, there we are. That's how you would develop from the Old Testament and the New Testament the sure teaching of Scripture in connection with God Almighty, God the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.

Here is our great God, one and yet three, three and yet one. You must always maintain the delicate scriptural balance in this teaching. If you emphasize some text over against another, then you finish up with the position of the Unitarians.

You finish up with the position of the Jehovah's Witnesses and the Christadelphians. What they do is they take text completely out of context, but when you put down on one side verses that show the unity of the Godhead, and you contrast them with verses on the other side that shows the individuality of the Godhead, so you are driven inexorably to the conclusion that the Christian church throughout the centuries has always maintained that God is one and yet God is three. You say you don't understand it? Congratulations, neither did the Apostle Paul.

He said great is a mystery of godliness, and what we preach is that which is revealed within this book, not only what our reason apprehends, but what we find within the word of God, within the scriptures itself. Well, on that point I leave our studies for the time being at any rate on this great and glorious doctrine, and it is my prayer that not only shall your definition of God have been broadened as a result of our studies, but your ability to bring before others this doctrine shall have been improved, because together we have looked at it from the Old and the New Testament. Amen.