Knowing God Week 7 Chapter 6

Knowing God Chapter 6

Trinitas: Latin for threefold. The English word “Trinity” is not found in Scripture.

Genesis 1:1-2 – In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. The earth was without form and void, and darkness was over the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God was hovering over the face of the waters.

Genesis 1:26 – Then God said, “Let us make man in our image, after our likeness.”

The Bible opens focusing on the Trinitarian nature of God!

But there is only 1 GOD!

Deut 6:4 – Hear, O Israel: the Lord our God, the Lord is one. You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might.

God is Trinity, and He demands our worship.

The Biblical teaching on the Trinity embodies 4 essential affirmations (taken from ESV Bible Doctrine: An Overview):

1.) There is one and only one true living God.

2.) This one God eternally exists in three persons—God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit.

3.) These three persons are completely equal in attributes, each with the same divine nature.

4.) While each person is fully and completely God, the persons are not identical.

The Trinity may best be seen in the NT passage Matt 3:13-17 – Then Jesus came from Galilee to the Jordan to John, to be baptized by him. John would have prevented him, saying, “I need to be baptized by you, and do you come to me?” But Jesus answered him, “Let it be so now, for thus it is fitting for us to fulfill all righteousness.” Then he consented. And when Jesus was baptized, immediately he went up from the water, and behold, the heavens were opened to him, and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and coming to rest on him; and behold, a voice from heaven said, “This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased.”

John also opens his Gospel in the same manner:

John 1:1-3 – In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things were made through him, and without him was not any thing made that was made.

Colossians 1:15 – He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation. For by him all things were created, in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities—all things were created through him and for him. And he is before all things, and in him all things hold together. And he is the head of the body, the church. He is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that in everything he might be preeminent. For in him all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell, and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether on earth or in heaven, making peace by the blood of his cross.

The classic Arian heresy: Christ is a created being – he’s not. Paul is talking about rights as the divine Son (Psalm 89:27)

When Christ left, he promised to be with us always! – He is in the form of the Holy Spirit!

The Holy Spirit is our “comforter.” – John 14:16 – And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Helper, to be with you forever, even the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees him nor knows him. You know him, for he dwells with you and will be in you.

John 14:26 – But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, he will teach you all things and bring to your remembrance all that I have said to you.

John 15:26 – But when the Helper comes, whom I will send to you from the Father, the Spirit of truth, who proceeds from the Father, he will bear witness about me. And you also will bear witness, because you have been with me from the beginning.

Great way to introduce the forgotten member of the Trinity: the Holy Spirit!

The Father sends the Spirit in John 14 just like the Father sent Jesus (John 5:43)

Establishes Authority:

The Father has authority over the Son and Spirit. The Son has authority over the Spirit. But all three are equal and are God. (Matt 28:19-20)

Divine Attributes of the Spirit (from ESV Biblical Doctrine: An Overview):

The Holy Spirit is eternal	Heb. 9:14
The Holy Spirit is omnipresent	Ps. 139:7-10
The Holy Spirit is omniscient	1 Cor. 2:10-11
The Holy Spirit is omnipotent	Luke 1:35-37
The Holy Spirit is holy	Rom 1:4

There wouldn’t be any rebirth without the Spirit!

Salvation was designed by the Father, purchased by the Son, and given by the Spirit!

John 3

Now there was a man of the Pharisees named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews. This man came to jesus by night and said to him, “Rabbi, we know that you are a teacher come from God, for no one can do these signs that you do unless God is with him.” Jesus answered him, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again he cannot see the kingdom of God.” Nicodemus said to him, “how can a man be born when he is old? Cane he enter a second time into his mother’s womb and be born?” Jesus answered, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God. That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. D not marvel that I said to you, ‘You must be born again.’ The wind blows where it wishes, and you hears its sound, but you do not know where it comes from or where it goes. So it is with everyone who is born of the Spirit.”

The Spirit causes rebirth! We can pray for a revival, but we can’t bring revival.

Ephesians 1:13 – In him you also, when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, and believed in him, were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit.”

It is also the Spirit that empowers us to live the Christian life. Prophesied in Joel 2:28 – And it shall come to pass afterward, that I will pour out my Spirit on all flesh; your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, your old men shall dream dreams, and your young men shall see vision.”

Ezek. 39:29 – And I will not hide my face anymore from them, when I pour out my Spirit upon the house of Israel, declares the Lord God.

Galatians 5:22 – But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law.

Believers can still be tempted by their flesh to follow the ways of the world: Eph. 4:1-3…walk in a manner worthy of the calling to which you have been called, with all humility and gentleness, with patience, bearing with one another in love, eager to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.

His greatest goal is to glorify Christ!

John 16:13-14 – When the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all the truth, for he will not speak on his own authority, but whatever he hears he will speak, and he will declare to you things that are to come. He will glorify me, for he will take what is mine and declare it to you.

The Spirit wants to lift up Christ at all costs. We know that the Spirit is in us by a sanctified life!

Rom 8:9 – You, however, are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if in fact the Spirit of God dwells in you. Anyone who does not have the Spirit of Christ does not belong to him.