Grace Church
257 Kendall Street
Burlington, WI 53105

(262) 763-3021

The Trinity: Eating Jell-o with a fork Isaiah 55:8-9 We Believe Sermon Series #14 One of the problems with God, one of our dilemmas when it comes to theology is that we can’t put God in a box. We can’t put God in a neat package of our own making. Theologian, Hans Kung, in his book, Does God Exist?, makes this point quite well by relating the following incident: “A Bavarian parish priest announced to his congregation on the Feast of the Trinity that [the trinity] was so great a mystery, of which he understood nothing, that there would unfortunately be no sermon.” Now before we give the benediction, there is going to be a sermon this morning. But when it comes to the doctrine of the trinity, I feel like I’m trying to eat Jell-o with a fork. The fact is that you’re going to make a mess if you try to eat Jell-o with a fork. This morning we’ve got something even more elusive than Jell-o on our theological plates. And we’re going to try to use our forks with this. The Church has long understood that the doctrine of the trinity is a meal that requires spoons and some real care, and even then we’re going to work to not make a mess of it. The trinity is probably the most difficult doctrine for believers to even begin to comprehend. But it is a vital part of the Apostles’ Creed. Each paragraph affirms belief in a different person of the Godhead; the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit, and deals with His work in eternity. Yet theologians through the ages have struggled with this doctrine. The early church father, Augustine, took nearly thirty years to write fifteen volumes called “About the Trinity.” And he was constantly updating and revising his work. If it took Augustine 15 volumes and thirty years, this morning I will not be presumptuous enough to attempt to do anything else other than scratch the surface of the trinity.   The story is also told that as Augustine was struggling to understand the doctrine of the Trinity, he decided to go for a walk on the beach. There he saw a little boy digging a hole in the sand with a seashell. The boy then ran off to the ocean, filling the shell with ocean water, and then rushed back to pour it into the hole he had made.  “What are you doing, my little man,” Augustine asked.  “I’m trying to put the ocean into this hole,” the boy replied. Augustine suddenly realized that this was precisely what he was trying to do. He was attempting to fit the great infinite mysteries of God into his little finite mind. The Trinity is a truth that tests our dedication to the principle that God is a lot smarter than we are. As strange as that may sound, I truly believe that in most instances where a religious group denies the Trinity, the reason can be traced back to the founder’s unwillingness to admit the simple reality that God is bigger than we can ever imagine. Nearly every cult or heresy that has departed from orthodoxy and the fundamentals of the faith has begun with someone attempting to explain the Trinity. Beginning with the Gnostics, who were around when the apostles were on earth, all the way through to contemporary cults, denial of, or perversion of the doctrine of the Trinity has been the common factor in nearly all of them. Today, the Jehovah’s Witnesses, and The Way deny the Godhood of Jesus and the personality and deity of the Holy Spirit. The Mormons believe in a refined form of polytheism, the belief in more than one God. Some radical Pentecostal groups believe in a perversion of the Trinity which has God "pretending" to be different persons at different times, called "oneness," or "Jesus only." Historically this is called modalism, identical to the ancient 1500‑year‑old cult of Sabellianism. The view of the entire orthodox church, including evangelicals, Eastern Orthodox, and Roman Catholics, has always been that denial of the doctrine of the Trinity is apostasy and constitutes departure from "the faith once delivered to the saints" (Jude 3). The doctrine of the Trinity is a spiritual mystery. That term has never meant that the Trinity is an inherently irrational thing. Instead, it simply means that we realize that God is completely unique in the way He exists, and there are elements of His being that are simply beyond our meager mental capacity to comprehend. The fact that God is eternal is another facet of His being that is beyond us. We cannot really grasp eternity, nor how God exists eternally rather than in time. Yet this truth is revealed to us in Scripture, and we believe it on the logical basis that God is trustworthy. It is a mystery that we accept on the basis of faith in God’s revelation. And this morning, though admittedly limited by our finite minds, we are going to try to put our theological forks into this awesome doctrine. 1. The Trinity gives us insight into the nature of God. On the Upper West Side of New York City lived a Jewish man who was a very militant atheist. But he sent his son Morris to Trinity School because, despite its denominational roots, it was a great school and completely secular. After a month, the boy came home and said casually, "By the way Dad, I learned what Trinity means! It means 'The Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost.'" The father could barely control his rage. He seized his son by the shoulders and declared, "Morris, I'm going to tell you something now and I want you never to forget it. Forget the Trinity business. There is only one God... and we don't believe in him!” Perhaps you’ve also struggled with the Christian view of God, that He is three in one. Christians are often accused of believing in three gods. The word trinity also does not appear in the Bible, though the idea represented by the word is consistently taught throughout Scripture. Personally, I prefer the word tri-unity or “three in oneness.” That simply means that God is three persons yet one God. But one God—three persons—is this really possible? Someone has suggested that we can illustrate this problem mathematically. By using the numeral “1" three times, we can come to two different conclusions: 1 + 1 + 1 = 3 and 1 x 1 x 1 = 1. The first formula results in a trinity but the second formula, 1 x 1 x 1 = 1, represents a tri-unity. So what’s the issue that faces us? The ultimate issue as always is; Does the Biblical evidence support the doctrine of the Tri-unity or tri‑personality of God? If Biblical evidence supports it, we know it’s true, though comprehending it is another matter. John Wesley insightfully said, “Bring me a worm that can comprehend a man, and then I will show you a man that can comprehend the triune God.” It shouldn’t bother us that we don’t understand the Tri-unity of God. Why? Because how can a finite man, even with a combined finite knowledge even begin to understand an infinite God. In Isaiah, God tells us about this and says, “For My thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways My ways," declares the LORD. As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are My ways higher than your ways and My thoughts than your thoughts” (Isaiah 55:8‑9). As finite beings we cannot and should not expect to understand the Bible exhaustively. If we could, the Bible would not be divine but would be limited to human intelligence. And a very important idea comes out of this, something over which many non‑Christians and even Christians stumble, “Since the Bible is an infinite revelation, it often brings the reader beyond the limit of his/her intelligence.” As simple as the Bible is in its message of sin and of free salvation in Christ, an incredible infinite depth underlies all its doctrines. Even a child can receive Christ as his Savior, thereby appropriating the free gift of eternal life. Yet no philosopher has more than scratched the surface regarding the things that happened at the Cross. The Bible forces its readers to crash into the ceiling of their own comprehensions, beyond which he cannot go until he sees the Lord face‑to‑face. Until a person recognizes that his own wisdom and intelligence are not enough, he is not ready to listen to God’s greater wisdom. Jesus alluded to this when He said to God, “you have hidden these things from the wise and learned, and revealed them to little children” (Luke 10:21). God has communicated to men truly though not exhaustively. Moses expressed this in Deuteronomy 29:29, “The secret things belong to the LORD our God, but the things revealed belong to us and to our sons forever, that we may observe all the words of this law.” 2. God’s Word teaches the Tri-unity of God. Sometimes when stating an important truth, we ignore another equally important truth and become unbalanced in our understanding. Before we try to tackle the difficult problem of the Tri-unity of God, let us start with the unity of God.   A) The Bible teaches that there is one God. Scripture teaches that God is one, and that He is the only God. In Deuteronomy, we read that “the LORD Himself is God; there is none other besides Him...The LORD Himself is God in heaven above and on the earth beneath; there is no other” (Deut. 4:35, 39). If you are Jewish, you are very familiar with the words of Deuteronomy 6:4, “Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God, the LORD is one!” This word for one in Hebrew also occurs in Genesis 2:24, where Adam and Eve in marriage like every other married couple are referred to as "one flesh." Obviously, there is some sense in which two can be one, since man and woman are one flesh. The Hebrew word here, echad, means one in unity, not one in isolation. Because God is one, it does not necessarily demand that He cannot also be two or three. He is one in some sense, but can be two or three in another sense or respect. Jesus Himself agreed with the teaching that God is one. In Mark 12:29, He responded to a scribe’s question about which commandment is the greatest of all by quoting Deuteronomy 6:4, “Hear, O Israel, the LORD our God, the LORD is one.” In John 5:44 Jesus said, “How can you believe...yet make no effort to obtain the praise that comes from the only God?” Yet Jesus also said, “I and My Father are one.” The Jews, knowing that the Old Testament teaches the unity and uniqueness of God, picked up stones to stone Him to death for blasphemy. They understood His words to be making Himself equal with God. The Apostle Paul taught the unity of God, 1 Corinthians 8:4-6. James 2:19 adds, “You believe that there is one God. Good! Even the demons believe that‑‑and shudder.” The demons of hell are smarter than many people! They do not doubt that God is one. They know He exists and that He is the only real God there is. They tremble before Him! Because God is one, we are assured that He has one plan of salvation that includes all people, “Is God the God of Jews only? Is He not the God of Gentiles too? Yes, of Gentiles too, since there is only one God, Who will justify the circumcised by faith and the uncircumcised through that same faith” (Rom. 3:29-30). There is not a separate God for the Gentiles, and another one for Jews. There is only one God and He has only one plan of salvation through Jesus Christ His Son. Because God is one though there cannot be any other claim upon the human heart. That is why the Bible follows the statement of God’s unity with the exhortation to love God with all of our heart, soul, mind, and strength (Deuteronomy 6:4-5).   B) The Bible teaches that each member of the Godhead is fully God. There is no class system or caste system in the Godhead. That God the Father is clearly God is seen in the first verse in the Bible, “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.” It is evident through the Old and New Testaments where God the Father is viewed as sovereign Lord over all, and where Jesus prays to His Father in heaven. Jesus the Son is fully God. John 1 echoes Genesis 1 but this time talking of Jesus’ the Son’s role, “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was with God in the beginning. Through Him all things were made; without Him nothing was made that has been made. In Him was life, and that life was the light of men” (John 1:1-4). Here Jesus Christ is referred to as the Word and John writes that He was “with God” and that He “was God.” John reminds his readers that he was talking about something before the world was created. The Holy Spirit is fully God. Once we understand God the Father and God the Son to be fully God, then the Trinitarian expressions in verses like Matthew 28:19, “baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit” make it clear the Holy Spirit is also God, as He is classified on an equal level with the Father and the Son. Just think how spiritually repulsive it would be to say, “baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the archangel Michael” or in the name of Peter. Believers throughout the ages can only be baptized (and thus showing their submission to) in the name of God Himself. Just for your notes, here are other Trinitarian passages: 1 Cor. 12:4-6; 2 Cor. 13:14; Eph. 4:4-6; 1 Peter 1:2; Jude 20-21.   C) The name of God is a plural noun. This is one of those times in Bible study when some knowledge of the original language of Scripture helps. For example, the Hebrew word for "God" is Elohim and it’s a plural noun. This plural form is used hundreds of times in the Bible. Obviously, this is not conclusive but it has great implications about the nature of God Himself and makes it possible to argue that God is more than one, even though He is one in some sense.   D) Plural pronouns are used of God. If the word God referred only to a single Person, then how do we explain the plural pronouns that are used in the following passages? Genesis 1:26, “Then God said, ‘Let Us make man in our image...” Genesis 3:22, “Then the LORD God said, "The man has now become like one of Us...” Genesis 11:6-7, “The LORD said...Come, let Us go down.” Isaiah 6:8, “Then I heard the voice of the Lord saying, ‘Whom shall I send? And who will go for Us?’” Who is God talking to when He says, "Let Us make man in Our image"? One cult teaches that God was discussing this with the angels, and that man is therefore made in the image of God and the angels. But if that is the meaning of these passages, why is the phrase "to the angels" not in the text? And how do we explain Isaiah 6:8, where the Lord says, "Whom shall I send, And who will go for Us?" God certainly was not speaking about the angels when He said "I." Previous to the creation of man, God was able to talk with Himself. God was referring to Himself as "Us." If God is more than one, if the Godhead is a Tri-unity, the use of plural pronouns is understandable.   E) God’s name is applied to more than one person in the same text. Turn to Psalm 45:6-7. Please notice that the first “God” has a scepter and a kingdom. This “God" also has a “God” who has anointed Him above all others. In Psalm 110:1, it says, “The LORD says to my Lord: ‘Sit at my right hand until I make your enemies a footstool for your feet’.” In Matthew 22 Jesus refers to this passage and presents the difficulty of the "son of David" being called David’s "Lord." This is a prophetic passage about the Second Person of the Godhead, Jesus Christ. Over and over again the Bible presents information on the Tri‑unity of God, if we are willing to examine the evidence without bias and prejudice. Sure there are ways to get around these "problem texts" if one comes with a preconception but it never seems to really answer the questions. It only ignores the obvious facts and seeks to interpret loosely rather than literally. The truth is, the Bible proves conclusively that God is more than One!   F) Each of the three persons in the Godhead are clearly distinguished from the other two. The name God is applied to the Father, Son, and the Holy Spirit, but that does not make them one and the same. They are separated from each other, even though they are all called "God." In John 14:16 we read, “And I [Jesus] will ask the Father, and He will give you another Counselor to be with you forever.” The Father, in giving the Holy Spirit to us, is thus separated from the Holy Spirit. Jesus is also separated from the Father in that He asks the Father to give the Holy Spirit. Jesus and the Father are not one and the same (as some religious groups teach). They communicate with each other. The same truth is found in John 14:26, “But the Counselor, 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.” Jesus also said, “When the Counselor comes, whom I will send to you from the Father, the Spirit of truth who goes out from the Father, He will testify about Me” (John 15:26). In Matthew 3:16-17, all three Persons are mentioned, yet are quite distinct from each other. Jesus is being baptized in water by John the Baptist. The Father is in the heavens, saying, “This is my Son, whom I love; with Him I am well pleased.” And the Holy Spirit descends as a dove to land upon Jesus.   G) The three persons in the Godhead are set forth as one God, not three Gods. In John 10:30, Jesus said, "I and the Father are one." Some religious groups teach that this merely means "one in purpose." However, the Jews who heard that statement thought otherwise: "The Jews took up stones again to stone Him" (vs. 31). When Jesus questioned their action, they said that they were stoning Him “for blasphemy, because You, a mere man, claim to be God.” (vs. 33). They understood Jesus’ remark as meaning that He and the Father were one in the sense that they were both God.   The Father and the Spirit are seen as one in 1 Corinthians 2:11, in that they know each other’s thoughts, “In the same way no one knows the thoughts of God except the Spirit of God.” The Son and the Spirit appear as one in Romans 8:9, “You, however, are controlled not by the sinful nature but by the Spirit, if the Spirit of God lives in you. And if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he does not belong to Christ.” The Spirit of God in the believer is called the “Spirit of Christ.” A very interesting passage in this regard is found in John 14. In verse 16, Jesus promises to ask the Father and He will give the Spirit to be in the believers forever. In verse 18, Jesus says, "I will not leave you orphans; I will come to you." In verse 16, it is the Holy Spirit who comes, but in verse 18, it is Jesus who comes. Then, in verse 23, Jesus says, “If anyone loves Me, he will obey My teaching. My Father will love him, and We will come to him and make Our home with him.” In verse 16, the Spirit comes; in verse 18, Jesus comes; and in verse 23, the Father comes along with Jesus, and they make their abode in the believer. What a fantastic truth!   3. Some difficult questions about the Tri-unity of God. Someone has suggested these great imponderables like; When an agnostic dies, does he go to the "great perhaps"? Why is the time of day with the slowest traffic called rush hour? Do you think Houdini ever locked his keys in his car? Why is there a road sign that says "Braille Institute, Next Exit"? Can atheists get insurance for acts of God? If procrastinators had a club would they ever have a meeting?  If the #2 pencil is the most popular, why is it still #2? If time heals all wounds, how come the belly button stays the same? Isn't it strange that the same people who laugh at fortunetellers take economists seriously? If practice makes perfect, and nobody's perfect, why practice?   When we come to Tri-unity of God, there are some difficult questions. God is one, and yet three Persons are called "God." That’s not easy to understand! For many the greatest difficulties come in dealing with three important questions, all related to the argument about Jesus being called God.   A) How can Jesus be the Son of God and also be called "God" at the same time? Many are troubled by the word Son. It suggests that He was born and had a beginning. Since God is eternal and does not have a beginning or end, how could Jesus be God?   My children are certainly a part of me. Genetically, they are related to me. They have certain of my physical features and (hopefully!) some from my wife. But my children are not me, but we are one in the sense that we are all human and they are the result of the sexual union of my wife and me. Most of the conflict over this problem can be related to our understanding (or misunderstanding) of the word Son. To us this implies a child born of his parents. He would have had a point in time where He began to exist. But God has always existed, therefore, how could Jesus be God? The answer is found in the original language of the New Testament, Greek. The word Son, as used of Jesus Christ, is a special word that does not refer to birth or origin. The Greek word huios refers to an heir, one who will receive the inheritance of the Father. It does not imply birth. As a matter of fact, the word for a child born to his parents (teknos) is never used of Jesus Christ. A "son" (heir) could be an adopted son; even a servant in the household whom the father would desire to honor could be a "son." When Jesus was born of the virgin Mary, He had no human father. His conception was caused by the miraculous power of God the Holy Spirit, according to Luke 1:34-35. John 1:2 says of Jesus, “He was in the beginning with God." When speaking of His birth into the human family, the Bible uses distinct and concise terms to indicate His preexistence. In John 1:14, it says that He "became flesh." The Greek word implies a change of condition, not a new beginning.  B) How can Jesus be called the "only begotten Son" of God if He is really God? The phrase only begotten is used by the Apostle John in his writings on five occasions to refer to Jesus Christ. In John 1:18, we read: "No one has seen God at any time. The only begotten Son, who is in the bosom of the Father, He has declared Him" (KJV). The phrase only begotten does make you think! How can God, who never had a beginning or end, be called "only begotten"? John 3:16 says that God gave His "only begotten Son." John 1:14 refers to Jesus as the "only begotten of the Father." John 3:18 says He is the "only begotten son of God," and 1 John 4:9 also refers to Him as the "only begotten Son." The answer to this problem lies in the use of the phrase only begotten in Hebrews 11:17. Isaac is referred to as Abraham’s "only begotten son." But we know that Abraham had other children than Isaac (Genesis 16:15; 25:1-2). In what sense was Isaac the "only begotten"? Hebrews 11:18 gives the answer: It was through Isaac that the Messiah would come, and God would fulfill His promise to Abraham. In that sense, Isaac is the unique son of Abraham, not the only child ever born of Abraham. Jesus is the unique Son of God. There is no one like Him or equal to Him.   C) If Jesus is God, why did He submit to the will of His Father? There are many statements of Christ that indicate His complete submission to the will of His Father, His subordination to the Father’s authority. Jesus willingly accepted certain limitations to His nature and Person when He became man. He laid aside His divine rights and privileges in order to redeem us. The work of incarnation (becoming flesh) and redemption necessitated His submission and subordination to the Father. Philippians 2:5-8 brings this out in some detail. It is clear that Jesus existed in the very form (Greek/ morphe) of God. That is, He had God’s essential nature. But Philippians 2:7 says He “made Himself nothing, taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness.” He did this by humbling Himself and becoming obedient even to the point of His death on the cross. But He did all of this voluntarily. Jesus said, “The reason my Father loves Me is that I lay down my life‑‑only to take it up again. No one takes it from Me, but I lay it down of my own accord. I have authority to lay it down and authority to take it up again. This command I received from my Father.” Jesus was in complete control of the situation surrounding His death and resurrection. He was not a helpless victim. During the days of His life on earth, He willingly accepted His role of complete submission to the will of the Father. Therefore, He could (and did) say that the Father "is greater than all" (John 10:29). 4. So what? What difference does the Tri-unity of God make? Why has the Church since the beginning been so concerned about the doctrine of the Trinity? Is it really essential to hold to the full deity of the Son and the Holy Spirit? Yes it is, for this truth has tremendous spiritual implications for the very heart of the Christian faith. First, the atonement is at stake. If Jesus is merely a created being, and not fully God, then it is hard to see how He, a creature, and a created being could bear the full wrath of God against all of our sins. Could any creature, no matter how great, really save us? Second, justification by faith alone is threatened if we deny the full deity of the Son. (This is seen today in the teaching of the Jehovah’s Witnesses, who do not believe in justification by faith alone.) If Jesus is not fully God, we would rightly doubt whether we can really trust Him to save us completely. Could we really depend on any creature fully for our salvation? Third, if Jesus is not infinite God, should we pray to Him or worship Him? Who but an omnipotent, omniscient God could hear and respond to all the prayers of all God’s people? And who but God Himself is worthy of worship? If Jesus is merely creature, no matter how great, it would be idolatry to worship Him, yet the New Testament commands us to do so (Phil. 2:9-11; Rev. 5:12- 14). Fourth, if someone teaches that Christ was a created being but nonetheless one who saved us, then this teaching wrongly begins to attribute credit for salvation to a creature and not to God Himself. But this wrongfully exalts the creature rather than the Creator, something Scripture never allows us to do. Fifth, the independence and personal nature of God are at stake: If there is no tri-unity, there were no interpersonal relationships within the being of God before creation, and, without personal relationships, it is difficult to see how God could be genuinely personal or be without the need for a creation to relate to. Sixth, the unity of the university is at stake. If there is not perfect plurality and perfect unity in God Himself, then we have no basis for thinking there can be any ultimate unity among the diverse elements of the universe either. Clearly, in the doctrine of the Trinity, the heart of the Christian faith is at stake.    Herman Bavinck said that "Athanasius (the early church father) understood better than any of his contemporaries that Christianity stands or falls with the confession of the deity of Christ and of the Trinity.” And then he adds, "In the confession of the Trinity throbs the heart of the Christian religion: every error results from, or upon deeper reflection may be traced to, a wrong view of this doctrine.” Conclusion: The doctrine of the trinity is truly beyond human comprehension or the limits of our finite minds, but it is nevertheless a vital truth of the Bible. Since God is the Creator and we are part of His creation, we should not be surprised that He is greater than our human language can express. One young woman reflected on her journey of faith. She stated: “I got to know God through the three Persons of the Trinity. I first encountered God as Father in church, where I learned that God is holy, deserving of my worship. Later, as a teenager, I became acquainted with Jesus, a Man I wanted to follow for the rest of my life. And then—it was almost like a second conversion—I became aware of the power of the Spirit, of God living inside me.” Perhaps one of the best descriptions I’ve heard of the Trinity is this: “3 toll‑free numbers that are never busy.” God the Father revealed Himself to the Jewish nation. Jesus revealed the completion of God’s plan for salvation, and then promised the Holy Spirit, the Comforter to indwell and guide us. Our devotion to God includes all three Persons–Father, Son, and Holy Spirit: The God above us, the God before us, and the God within us.