Sunday Sermon

"The Trinity: Three Persons"
[Matthew 3:13-17; 28:19]
February 11, 2007 Second Reformed Church

This morning we heard texts that we have referred to several times already in our look at the main issues or points concerning the Doctrine -- or teaching -- of the Trinity, as we find it in the Scripture.

In our first Scripture, let us notice that we are to baptize in the One Name -- it's singular -- "of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit." And as we have seen, all Three are the One God, so this makes sense.

As were look at our second Scripture, it is obvious that there are Three Persons involved, other than John the Baptist. We have Jesus, Who is called "the beloved Son" by the Voice from heaven. We have the Father, Who calls from heaven, speaking of and to Jesus, and we have the Spirit of God Who comes from heaven and "rests" on Jesus.

The Father, the Son, and God the Spirit plainly, obviously, simply, are Three separate and distinct Persons. All Three Persons can be in one place at the same time and known as separate Persons. The Father is not the Son, and the Father is not the Spirit, and the Son is not the Father, and the Son is not the Spirit, and the Spirit is not the Father, and the Spirit is not the Son.

But -- and this is where we understand the finitude of our minds -- the Father and the Son and the Spirit are all the One God. The Father and the Son and the Spirit are the Same One Being. They are of the Same Essence. There is One and Only One God, and God is known in the Three Persons of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit.

How do we wrap our minds around this? It would be easy to say that there is Only One God Who acts in a variety of ways, but that is not what this doctrine is teaching. It would be easy to say that there are three gods, but that is not what this doctrine is teaching. And there is a tendency for us, as humans, to slide toward one of these views or the other, because our mind cannot fully comprehend what is taught in the Scripture about the Trinity. However, God has told us what He has told us in the Scripture, and He wants us to know that much and to know Him, so we teach as the Church has always taught, that there is Only One God, but God exists in Three Persons.

It may help to think about the word "one." [Cf. Dwight Pryor. "One God & Lord." http://www.jcstudies.com/cgi-bin/articles.pl?articleid=73 -- thanks, Scott N!]

If we turn back to Genesis chapter one, we find that God created a man, and then in chapter two, verse fifteen, "And YHWH Elohim took the man and put him in the garden of Eden to work it and keep it." Verse eighteen: "Then YHWH Elohim said, 'It is not good that the man should be alone; I will make a helper fit for him.'" Verses twenty-one and twenty-two: "So YHWH Elohim caused a deep sleep to fall upon the man, and while he slept took one of his ribs and closed up its place with flesh. And the rib that YHWH Elohim had taken from the man he made into a woman and brought her to the man." And verse twenty-four: "Therefore a man shall leave his father and his mother and hold fast to his wife, and they shall become one flesh."

What happens? God creates one man. God takes part of the man and makes one women. Then, God says that the two together make one.

When God created one man, the word that is used, when God says that he is one, alone, the word that is used for one is yahid which means one in the sense of a singularity. But when God says that the man and the woman coming together in marriage makes them one flesh, the word for one that is used there is ehad, which means one in the sense of unity. One can be a plurality when
it is a unity.

When we say that Adam was one man, we understand that he was a singularity -- yahid -- a single man. We do not mean that when we talk about marriage -- when a man and a woman join together in marriage and become one flesh, they do not suddenly melt or fuse or merge together. No, a married man and women are one -- ehad -- a unity of persons.

Ah, perhaps you just thought of a possible connection!

When we look at the word that is used in Deuteronomy 6:4, "Hear, O Israel: the Lord our God is one Lord" -- Deuteronomy 6:4 uses ehad indicating that the One God is a unity, similar to the unity of a man and a woman in marriage. Now, the image falls short, because the Three Persons of the Trinity are not different beings who got married; they are the Same One Being, Who exists in as a unity of Three Persons. In a similar way that Adam and Eve were a unity of the same being.

With this, perhaps we are wise to believe what God has said, and say with Job, "Behold, I am of small account; what shall I answer you? I lay my hand over my mouth, I have spoken once, and I will not answer; twice, but I will proceed no further" (Job 40:4-5).

Then again, as the joke goes, the biggest lie a minister ever tells is, "And for my final point...."

With all that we have looked at over the past few weeks in mind, let us look at four heretical responses to the doctrine of the Trinity. Remember, a heresy is something that the Historic Church, the Church Universal, the Church throughout the ages, has condemned as being false teaching.

There are four major modern heresies regarding the Trinity:

The first heresy, the first false teaching, is that of the Unitarians and the Muslims. The Unitarians and the Moslems both confess belief in One God; they both confess belief in Jesus as a wise teacher or prophet. But they deny that Jesus and the Spirit are God. In denying that Jesus and the Spirit are God, they have cut themselves off from the truth of Salvation in Jesus Christ Alone.

A second heresy is that of the Jehovah's Witnesses. Again, they believe in One God, but they teach that Jesus is a lesser god, a lower god, a being similar to God, but not the same God as God the Father. They believe that there is One God Almighty, and then there are lesser gods -- beings greater than humans, greater than the angels, but less than God Almighty. Here was have a similar problem to the first heresy: if Jesus is less than the Father, if He is less divine, less holy, less almighty, then, again, they have cut themselves off from the truth of Salvation in Jesus Christ Alone. For, if Jesus was not equal in Being to God the Father, if He was not of the Same Essence as the Father, then He did not survive the crucifixion, or, even if by some chance He survived, He could not have paid the debt for all of our sins, because He is less that the God Who condemns us, and we are still doomed to eternal Hell.

A third heresy is found in Oneness Pentecostalism, which teaches that there is Only One God, but there is also only one person. They teach that God does not exist is Three Persons, we only think He does, and what is actually happening is that God is acting in a variety of modes or manifestations. The heresy here is that they deny that Jesus, the real human being, is God, so again, they have cut themselves off from the truth of Salvation in Jesus Christ Alone. If Jesus was not God, He could not have survived the crucifixion. And if God, somehow, is said to take our place, but is not truly human, then God has violated His Own Word that no one but a human can take the place of a human in punishment. Thus, we would not be saved, but would, rather still be doomed to eternal Hell.

And a fourth heresy is found in Mormonism or the Church of Jesus Christ Latter Day Saints. Whereas the first three affirm that there is One God and then fall short in their teachings on the Three Persons, Mormons teach that the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit are Three distinct Persons because they are three different gods. In fact, they teach that there are many gods, and human beings can become gods. In some senses, this heresy is furthest from Christianity, because Christianity affirms One and Only One God. If there are many gods and we can all become gods, then, despite Mormons claiming to believe the Bible, what the Bible teaches is somewhere between irrelevant and wrong. But, in fact, this leaves them cut off from salvation in Jesus Christ Alone. And, in fact, rather than becoming gods ourselves, we would perish in everlasting Hell.

The Doctrine of the Trinity is not one hundred percent clear in ever way, but it is taught in the Scripture. It is the Truth that was given to us by God that we might know Him and glorify Him and be saved by Him. And we can know and affirm these things:

There is Only One God.

The Father is God.

The Son is God.

The Holy Spirit is God.

The Father is a distinct and separate Person from the Son and the Holy Spirit, and the Son is a distinct and separate Person from the Father and the Holy Spirit, and the Holy Spirit is a distinct and separate Person from the Father and the Son.

And the Father is not the Son, and the Father is not the Spirit, and the Son is not the Father, and the Son is not the Spirit, and the Spirit is not the Father, and the Spirit is not the Son.

There is One and Only One God, and He exists in Three Persons. This is the Truth and the Teaching of God, the Scripture, and the Church Universal. These are the elements of the Doctrine of the Trinity.

Let us pray:
Almighty God and Father, Son Who saved and saves us, Holy Spirit Who has made us and makes us holy, we praise and glorify the Name of the One God. We thank You for the gift of Your Word, for Your salvation, and for Your indwelling of us. We ask that we would continue to know You better. We ask that You would cause us to read and understand Your Word and come to You in Worship and joy more and more. Satisfy us with Yourself. For it is in Jesus' Name we pray, Amen.