Beth-El Baptist Church
5/22/05
Is the Trinity Taught in the Scriptures?
As we continue evaluating the scriptures and the Trinity we continue evaluating the publication by the Jehovah Witnesses entitled “Should You Believe in the Trinity?” as they raise questions regarding the teaching of the Trinity.
In their publication, most of the discussion focus on some of the teachings of the early church leaders (Justin Martyr, Irenaeus, Clement, Tertullian, Hippolytus, Origen) we will concentrate not on the teachings of men but on the written word of God itself.
1. Are the scriptures the ultimate and final authority?
1 Thessalonians 2:13
2 Timothy 3:16-17
Acts 2-3; 17:10-11
Numerous places throughout the scriptures demonstrate that it is the very Word of God that is the ultimate and final authority. As long man’s ideas line up with what the scriptures say then they are legitimate. Man’s authority and understanding is limited, as we demonstrated from the scriptures last time. Just because men may disagree on a doctrine does not make the doctrine false. Just because the doctrine was not taught as explicitly in the past does not make the doctrine false.
Remember, the Pharisees believed that only those who kept the Pharisaical traditions could be clean before God (Mark 7:5-13). Likewise, there are many “Christian” teachers that claim that homosexuality and divorce are compatible with what Jesus taught.
2. Did the early church fathers believe in the Trinity?
Some of these same church fathers, and others, expressed believe in Jesus Christ as God.
Origen, who died about 250 C.E., said that “the Father and Son are two substances … two things as to their essence,” and that “compared with the Father, [the Son] is a very small light. (ellipsis theirs)
Taking this quote in its fuller context
Our
Savior, therefore, is the image of the invisible God, inasmuch as compared with
the Father Himself He is the truth: and as compared with us, to whom He reveals
the Father, He is the image by which we come to the knowledge of the Father,
whom no one knows says the Son, and He to whom the Son is pleased to reveal
Him.
Also note that Origen indicated that Jesus was “not in any respect inferior” (Ancient Christian Commentary on scripture New Testament VIII; 239)
It would help to properly quote the early church fathers and not remove what they actually said. Truth though is not found in the writings of the early church fathers, but in the Word of God.
3. Does the Old Testament present a picture of God the Father?
As we have previously discussed this in our question about the Trinity and the Father. The scriptures here look specifically at God in the Old Testament as being associated with the being the God in heaven, the father of the Messiah, and the ultimate authority.
Genesis 24:3-7
Deuteronomy 3:24; 4:39; 28:1-2
2 Chronicles 20:6-8
Ezra 1:2-3; 5:11-12; 6:9-11
Nehemiah 1:5
Psalm 2:7; 5:2-3; 68:4-6; 89:26; 136:26
Ecclesiastes 5:2
Daniel 2:28
Just as the God the Father is identified as being in heaven (Matthew 5:26) and as being the Father of the Messiah (Mark 3:11) and as being the ultimate authority (1 Corinthians 15:24) in the New Testament, God is identified as having these same attributes in the Old Testament.
4. Does the Old Testament present a picture of God the Son?
As we have previously discussed this in our question about the Trinity and the Son. The scriptures here look specifically at God in the Old Testament as being associated with God in flesh appearing before men.
Genesis 18:16-18; 32:29-30
Judges 13:21-23
Isaiah 7:14-15; 9:6; 42:8
Daniel 3:25
In several places in the scriptures, someone in the figure and stature of a man is being identified as being God and worshipped. Anything or anyone that is worshipped and is approved by God must be God since God will not accept the worship of anyone nor anything but himself (Isaiah 42:8).
5. Does the Old Testament present a picture of God the Holy Spirit?
1 Samuel 10:10
2 Chronicles 15:1; 24:20
Isaiah 61:1
Ezekiel 11:19-20; 36:26-27; 39:29
In the Old Testament, most of the times that someone speaks for the Lord or does the work of God the scriptures indicate that the Spirit of God directed it. This is not an impersonal force but the overpowering presence of God upon the individual. This is much like the Holy Spirit.
Even in the Old Testament, the three persons or representations of God are there and they are clearly distinct from one another. There is the God in heaven (Father), God in flesh (Son), and the empowering spirit of God (Holy Spirit).
6. Does the New Testament present a picture of God the Father?
Romans 1:7; 15:6
1 Corinthians 1:3; 8:6; 15:24
2 Corinthians 1:2-3; 11:31
Galatians 1:1-4
Ephesians 1:2-3, 17; 4:6; 5:20; 6:23
Philippians 1:2, 11; 4:20
Colossians 1:2-3; 2:2
1 Thessalonians 1:1-3; 3:11-13
2 Thessalonians 1:1-2; 2:16
1 Timothy 1:2
2 Timothy 1:2
Titus 1:4
Philemon 1:3
Hebrews 12:7
James 1:27; 3:9
1 Peter 1:2-3
2 Peter 1:17
1 John 3:1
2 John 1:3, 9
Jude 1:1
Revelation 1:6
Numerous places in the New Testament is God being referred to as the Father either of Jesus or of all believers. The scriptures represented here do not include those in which Jesus is called ‘Son of God’ nor are other numerous allusions represented in this section.
7. Does the New Testament present a picture of God the Son?
Acts 7:59
Romans 1:3-4; 9:5
2 Corinthians 5:16
Galatians 2:20
Philippians 2:6
Hebrews 1:3
1 Timothy 3:16
1 Peter 4:1-2
1 John 4:2-3
2 John 1:7
Many times in the New Testament is Jesus associated with being God without correction and without any condemnation from God. In fact, there are scriptures that strongly indicate that those who reject that God came in the flesh (Christ in flesh) are antichrists.
8. Does the New Testament present a picture of God the Holy Spirit?
John 3:34; 4:24
1 Corinthians 2:10-14; 3:16; 6:11, 20; 7:40; 12:3
2 Corinthians 3:3; 5:5
Ephesians 2:22; 4:30; 6:17 (cmp John 1:1)
1 Thessalonians 4:7-9 (cmp John 14:26)
Hebrews 9:14
1 Peter 1:2; 3:18; 4:6
1 John 4:1-3
The Spirit of God is clearly of God and is truly God for only the Spirit of God can teach us all things, and take our prayers to the Father in perfection. It is the Holy Spirit that dwells within us to transform us and conform us to the image of Jesus Christ, the Son.
While the word “trinity” appears nowhere in the scriptures, as we have seen here and elsewhere, God is clearly presented in both the Old and New Testaments as being one and only one God yet reveals himself to us in three distinct persons. They are separate in many ways, but they are always of the nature and character of one true God.