The doctrine of the Trinity?

[sarah]

Originally posted 1/20/06:

Ok, so I have found myself thinking about the doctrine of trinity lately. I have discovered that I have strong idea of the 3 as 1 aspect, but I am curious about where it came from. I have been trying to think of passages of scripture that talk about the 3 as 1, but have been unable to remember any. I can think of lots that talk about Christ being present from the foundations of the earth and present at creation and that infer the Holy Spirit as visiting throughout the OT but I am wondering where the 3as1 came from. Is it spelled out plainly in scripture or is it something we got from the early church fathers? Don't worry, I am not preparing to become a heretic, I just realized that this is something I believe more from teaching than from anything I can remember reading in the word. Any thoughts?

[Josh]

Originally posted 1/20/06:

There are verses that clearly spell out Jesus as God, and then there are a few that equivocate the Holy Spirit with God. I believe there are a handful of verses that simultaneously identify two of the persons of the Godhead at once, but there's only one that lists all three together: "baptise in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit". This verse, although not explicity saying anything about the Deity of these three personages, nevertheless implicitly suggests their Deity: only the Deity can 'save' through baptism.

The doctrine of the Trinity is formed by piecing together these chains of logic:

1) The Bible says there is only one God
2) The Bible says the Father is God
3) The Bible says Jesus is God
4) The Bible says the Holy Spirit is God

therefore, we have 3 persons in one God

The doctrine is inferred, though not spelled out all in one place (unless you take the Baptism formula above as an explicit statement of the Trinity). The early Church noticed these verses and 'pieced' the puzzle together in this logical format.

In regard to "3 as 1" passage specifically, we do have several "2 as 1" passages referred to Jesus and the Father-- passages like "I and the Father are one" or passages that use God and Jesus interchangeably. The Holy Spirit, always the most subtle and mysterious, gets least representation, although I believe there are 1 or 2 passages where the HS and "God" are used interchangeably as well (like 2 Cor.3:17)

I have a database of Trinity verses on the computer... I'll try and follow up with a posting of those.

Did that help or did I misunderstand the question?

[Josh]

A Brief Sketch of Christ’s Deity in Scripture (NOT an exhaustive list)

Deuteronomy 6:4
4 Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God, the LORD is one.

John 10:30
30 I and the Father are one.”

Christ’s Equality with God:

John 1:1-3
1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2 He was with God in the beginning.
3 Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made.

John 1:18
18 No one has ever seen God, but God the One and Only, who is at the Father’s side, has made him known.

Philippians 2:5-6
5 Your attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus:
6 Who, being in very nature God,
did not consider equality with God something to be grasped,

Philippians 3:20-21
20 But our citizenship is in heaven. And we eagerly await a Savior from there, the Lord Jesus Christ, 21 who, by the power that enables him to bring everything under his control, will transform our lowly bodies so that they will be like his glorious body.

Colossians 1:13-20
13 For he has rescued us from the dominion of darkness and brought us into the kingdom of the Son he loves, 14 in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.
15 He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation. 16 For by him all things were created: things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities; all things were created by him and for him. 17 He is before all things, and in him all things hold together. 18 And he is the head of the body, the church; he is the beginning and the firstborn from among the dead, so that in everything he might have the supremacy. 19 For God was pleased to have all his fullness dwell in him, 20 and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether things on earth or things in heaven, by making peace through his blood, shed on the cross.
(In relation to verse 16, see Isaiah 44:24)

Colossians 2:9
9 For in Christ all the fullness of the Deity lives in bodily form...

John 5:16-18
16 So, because Jesus was doing these things on the Sabbath, the Jews persecuted him. 17 Jesus said to them, “My Father is always at his work to this very day, and I, too, am working.” 18 For this reason the Jews tried all the harder to kill him; not only was he breaking the Sabbath, but he was even calling God his own Father, making himself equal with God.

Only God is worthy of worship; Jesus is worshipped:

Deuteronomy 8:19
19 If you ever forget the LORD your God and follow other gods and worship and bow down to them, I testify against you today that you will surely be destroyed.

Revelation 19:9-10
9 Then the angel said to me, “Write: ‘Blessed are those who are invited to the wedding supper of the Lamb!’” And he added, “These are the true words of God.”
10 At this I fell at his feet to worship him. But he said to me, “Do not do it! I am a fellow servant with you and with your brothers who hold to the testimony of Jesus. Worship God! For the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy.”

Revelation 1:17
17 When I saw him, I fell at his feet as though dead. Then he placed his right hand on me and said: “Do not be afraid. I am the First and the Last.

Matthew 14:31-33
31 Immediately Jesus reached out his hand and caught him. “You of little faith,” he said, “why did you doubt?”
32 And when they climbed into the boat, the wind died down. 33 Then those who were in the boat worshiped him, saying, “Truly you are the Son of God.”

There is only one Savior from Sins:

Mark 2:5-7
5 When Jesus saw their faith, he said to the paralytic, “Son, your sins are forgiven.”
6 Now some teachers of the law were sitting there, thinking to themselves, 7 “Why does this fellow talk like that? He’s blaspheming! Who can forgive sins but God alone?”

Isaiah 45:21
21 Declare what is to be, present it—
let them take counsel together.
Who foretold this long ago,
who declared it from the distant past?
Was it not I, the LORD?
And there is no God apart from me,
a righteous God and a Savior;
there is none but me.

2 Peter 1:1
1 Simon Peter, a servant and apostle of Jesus Christ,
To those who through the righteousness of our God and Savior Jesus Christ have received a faith as precious as ours:

Titus 2:13
13 while we wait for the blessed hope—the glorious appearing of our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ,

‘The Lord’ is the New Testament Equivalent for Yahweh (LORD):

When the Old Testament was translated into Greek (the Septuagint), YHWH was rendered "LORD" (Kyrios).  This same term is then regularly applied to Jesus in the New Testament.

Deuteronomy 6:4
4 Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God, the LORD is one.
Joel 2:32
32 And everyone who calls
on the name of the LORD will be saved;
for on Mount Zion and in Jerusalem
there will be deliverance,
as the LORD has said,
among the survivors
whom the LORD calls.

Romans 10:9-13
9 That if you confess with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord,” and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. 10 For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you confess and are saved. 11 As the Scripture says, “Anyone who trusts in him will never be put to shame.” 12 For there is no difference between Jew and Gentile—the same Lord is Lord of all and richly blesses all who call on him, 13 for, “Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.”

Isaiah 45:23 (Yahweh speaking)
23 By myself I have sworn,
my mouth has uttered in all integrity
a word that will not be revoked:
Before me every knee will bow;
by me every tongue will swear.

Philippians 2:10-11
10that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow,
in heaven and on earth and under the earth,
11and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord,
to the glory of God the Father.

Deuteronomy 6:4
Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God, the LORD is one.

1 Corinthians 8:6
6yet for us there is but one God, the Father, from whom all things came and for whom we live; and there is but one Lord, Jesus Christ, through whom all things came and through whom we live.

John 20:26-28
26 A week later his disciples were in the house again, and Thomas was with them. Though the doors were locked, Jesus came and stood among them and said, “Peace be with you!” 27 Then he said to Thomas, “Put your finger here; see my hands. Reach out your hand and put it into my side. Stop doubting and believe.”
28 Thomas said to him, “My Lord and my God!”

2 Corinthians 3:17
17 Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom (also shows the Deity of the Holy Spirit)

1 Corinthians 12:3
3 Therefore I tell you that no one who is speaking by the Spirit of God says, “Jesus be cursed,” and no one can say, “Jesus is Lord,” except by the Holy Spirit.

There is only one God, and the Father and the Jesus are both spoken of as that God:

Isaiah 45:22-23
22 “Turn to me and be saved,
all you ends of the earth;
for I am God, and there is no other.
23 By myself I have sworn,
my mouth has uttered in all integrity
a word that will not be revoked:
Before me every knee will bow;
by me every tongue will swear.

Philippians 2:9-11
9 Therefore God exalted him to the highest place
and gave him the name that is above every name,
10 that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow,
in heaven and on earth and under the earth,
11 and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord,
to the glory of God the Father.

Conclusion: The Trinity is Three Persons (God the Father, God the Son, and the Holy Spirit), One God (Three Whos and One What, or Three in Person, One in Essence):

Matthew 28:19
19 Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit,

(note: ‘name’ here is singular in the Greek; ‘name’ , not ‘names’ )

[Josh]

The other thing that remains to be said here is that though the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit are all said to be God, they are also all said to be individual persons.

This is exemplified in passages in which the Father speaks to the Son, or the Son speaks of the Holy Spirit as a separate person, or the Son prays to the Father.

This suggests a mystery- that in one sense all three are "one" and in another sense all three are "distinct".

That's why the doctrine of the Trinity, in effect, says that God is "one in essence" and "three in person".