The Trinity: Enjoy The Relationship

Note: This is a message I preached on the Trinity. Much of the notes came from research online and reviewing sermons from sermon central. I don't claim this as my own but wanted to share as a message developed. The last point is all original.

Title: The Trinity – Enjoying

2 Corinthians 13:14 The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the communion of the Holy Spirit be with you all. Amen.

It matters – Why? Example of Jesus – His body, His blood

It matters – How? Evaluate – recognize our sin, see the grace of God,

It matters – That? It is part of a reflection and remembrance

Title: The Trinity – Enjoying

2 Corinthians 13:14 The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the communion of the Holy Spirit be with you all. Amen.

It matters – Why? Example of Jesus – His body, His blood

It matters – How? Evaluate – recognize our sin, see the grace of God,

It matters – That? It is part of a reflection and remembrance

Introduction

Today I want to share with you about the doctrine of the trinity. This is a topic that I have covered in many studies but have never taken it on as a sermon. Just to let you know ahead and that is the help you to understand the blessings of connecting with God as the trinity. I believe that when people don’t believe in the trinity, they 1) do an injustice to scripture 2) do an injustice to themselves and their worship.

So let us begin.

Why do we believe in the trinity?

I. Proof of the Trinity is broken down into three areas

1) The Plurality of God in the Old Testament – It begins early

The shape of Trinitarian orthodoxy is finally rounded off by texts that hint at the plurality of persons in the Godhead (Gen. 1:1-3, 26; Psalm 2:7; Dan. 7), texts like 1 Cor. 8:6 which place Jesus Christ as Lord right in the middle of Jewish Shema, and dozens of texts that speak of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit in the same breath, from The Most Important Doctrine Many Never Think About (thegospelcoalition.org)

2. Names of God prove plurality of persons. The Hebrew: ’Elohiym (H430) is the word for God in Gen_1:1 and in over 2,700 other places in the Old Testament It is a uni-plural noun meaning Gods and is so translated 239 times (Gen_3:5; Exo_22:28; 1Sa_4:8; Dan_2:11; Dan_4:6-9; Dan_5:11, Dan_5:14; etc.). Sometimes ’Elohiym is used with plural verbs and pronouns, "the Gods they caused me to wander" (Gen_20:13), and "there the Gods they appeared unto him" (Gen_35:7).

So we get a hint that there is more than what we read. Although God has chosen not to fully reveal himself in the Old Testament we get a cloak. We do see the Holy Spirit working as in the prophets, servants with Moses and Saul. We also see Jesus as with the 3 Hebrew Children and many other theophany’s but not as clear as in the New Testament.

2) The deity of the trinity found in scripture

Father – Full OT

Son – From Jesus beginning in John and His constant accusations of blasphemy from the Jews.

Holy Spirit

Next, we have the scores of texts which prove the deity of Jesus Christ, the Son—passages like John 1 (“the word was God”), John 8:58 (“before Abraham was born, I am”), Col. 2:9 (“in Christ all the fullness of Deity lives in bodily form”), Heb. 1:3 (“The Son is the radiance of God’s glory and the exact imprint of his being”), Tit. 2:13 (“our great God and Savior Jesus Christ”)-not to mention the explicit worship Christ willingly received from his disciples (Luke 24:52; John 20:28) and the charges of blasphemy leveled against him for making himself equal with God (Mark 2:7). Then we have similar texts which assume the deity of the Holy Spirit, calling Him an “eternal Spirit” (Heb. 9:14) and using “God” interchangeably with the “Holy Spirit” (1 Cor. 3:16 and 1 Cor. 6:19; Acts 5:3-4) without a second thought. From Kevin DeYoung on The Trinity – CraigThompson.org

3) The Unity of the Godhead found in scripture

equating the three in rank, while assuming distinction of personhood (Matt. 28:19; Gal. 4:6; 1 Cor.12:4-6; 1 Peter 1:1-2; 2 Cor. 2:21-22; 13:14; Eph. 1:13-14; 2:18, 20-22; 3:14-17; 4:4-6; 5:18-20; 6:10-18).

Baptize in the name of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit. If this was just a general name then they would have added, the apostles and the church.

Second, where is the doctrine of the Trinity found in the Bible? Although the word “Trinity” is famously absent from Scripture, the theology behind the word can be found in a surprising number of verses. For starters there are verses that speak of God’s oneness (Deut. 6:4; Isa. 44:6; 1 Tim. 1:17). Then there are the myriad of passages which demonstrate that God is Father (e.g., John 6:27, Titus 1:4).