The Attributes of God
The Trinity
I. Scriptural references for the Trinity
Genesis 1:1-3
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.
And God said, “Let there be light,” and there was light.
Matthew 3:16-17
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.”
Matthew 28:19
Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in[b] the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit
John 14:16-17
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 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.
1Peter 1:2
…according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, in the sanctification of the Spirit, for obedience to Jesus Christ and for sprinkling with his blood: May grace and peace be multiplied to you.
II. Creedal statements
From the Athansian creed
Now this is the catholic faith: We worship one God in trinity and the Trinity in unity, neither confusing the persons nor dividing the divine being.
For the Father is one person, the Son is another, and the Spirit is still another.
But the deity of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit is one, equal in glory, coeternal in majesty.
What the Father is, the Son is, and so is the Holy Spirit.
Uncreated is the Father; uncreated is the Son; uncreated is the Spirit.
The Father is infinite; the Son is infinite; the Holy Spirit is infinite.
Eternal is the Father; eternal is the Son; eternal is the Spirit: And yet there are not three eternal beings, but one who is eternal; as there are not three uncreated and unlimited beings, but one who is uncreated and unlimited.
Almighty is the Father; almighty is the Son; almighty is the Spirit: And yet there are not three almighty beings, but one who is almighty.
Thus the Father is God; the Son is God; the Holy Spirit is God: And yet there are not three gods, but one God.
Thus the Father is Lord; the Son is Lord; the Holy Spirit is Lord: And yet there are not three lords, but one Lord.
As Christian truth compels us to acknowledge each distinct person as God and Lord, so catholic religion forbids us to say that there are three gods or lords.
The Father was neither made nor created nor begotten; the Son was neither made nor created, but was alone begotten of the Father; the Spirit was neither made nor created, but is proceeding from the Father and the Son.
Thus there is one Father, not three fathers; one Son, not three sons; one Holy Spirit, not three spirits.
And in this Trinity, no one is before or after, greater or less than the other; but all three persons are in themselves, coeternal and coequal; and so we must worship the Trinity in unity and the one God in three persons.
Whoever wants to be saved should think thus about the Trinity.
The Nicene Creed
We believe in one God,
the Father almighty,
maker of heaven and earth,
of all things visible and invisible.
And in one Lord Jesus Christ,
the only Son of God,
begotten from the Father before all ages,
God from God,
Light from Light,
true God from true God,
begotten, not made;
of the same essence as the Father.
Through him all things were made.
For us and for our salvation
he came down from heaven;
he became incarnate by the Holy Spirit and the virgin Mary,
and was made human.
He was crucified for us under Pontius Pilate;
he suffered and was buried.
The third day he rose again, according to the Scriptures.
He ascended to heaven
and is seated at the right hand of the Father.
He will come again with glory
to judge the living and the dead.
His kingdom will never end.
And we believe in the Holy Spirit,
the Lord, the giver of life.
He proceeds from the Father and the Son,
and with the Father and the Son is worshiped and glorified.
He spoke through the prophets.
We believe in one holy catholic and apostolic church.
We affirm one baptism for the forgiveness of sins.
We look forward to the resurrection of the dead,
and to life in the world to come. Amen.
III. Historic heresies
Sabellianism
A third-century priest named Sabellius began to emphasize the oneness of God, as opposed to God’s tri-unity. He said that there are no distinctions between the “persons” of the Godhead. The one God manifests Himself at different times and for different purposes in three different “modes” or “aspects.”
None of the writings of Sabellius have survived to this day, so what we know of his teaching comes from the writings of those who refuted his errors. According to Sabellianism, God manifested as the Father at creation, as the Son in redemption, and as the Spirit in sanctification. For years, Sabellianism was quite popular in some parts of the world, but it was finally declared a heresy, and Sabellius was excommunicated in AD 220.
Arianism
Arianism is a heresy named for Arius, a priest and false teacher in the early fourth century AD in Alexandria, Egypt. One of the earliest and probably the most important item of debate among early Christians was the subject of Christ’s deity. Was Jesus truly God in the flesh, or was Jesus a created being? Was Jesus God or not? Arius denied the deity of the Son of God, holding that Jesus was created by God as the first act of creation and that the nature of Christ was unlike that of God the Father. Arianism, then, is the view that Jesus is a finite created being with some divine attributes, but He is not eternal and not divine in and of Himself.
Partialism
Partialism is a flawed view of God that suggests that the three members of the Trinity are each “100 percent God” but not “100 percent of God.” As an analogy, partialism would point out that the Atlantic Ocean is 100 percent water, and the Pacific Ocean is 100 percent water, but the Atlantic Ocean by itself is not 100 percent of all the water that exists. According to partialism, each Person of the Trinity is 100 percent divine in nature, but God is only God when, where, and if all three Persons are unified. Some partialists—but not all—would extend this idea by stating that the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit are each “1/3 of God.”
IV. Modern challenges
Today many cults fall into various flavors of historic errors. Some deny the deity of Jesus, others assert a modalistic view of God that denigrates the personhood of The Father, The Son and The Holy Spirit. Other religions imagine that Christians are polytheists worshipping three different gods. There are as many challenges to the Trinity today as there have been throughout history.
V. Why study the Trinity
John 1:1-5
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 nothing was made that was made. In Him was life, and the life was the light of men. And the light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not comprehend it.
The Trinity is incomprehensible to human reason. It is a revealed truth. All analogies fail to explain it. Ultimately we accept the authority of scripture that clearly shows the eternal, self-existent God that is one in essence yet three in persons. It is awe-inspiring. Studying the Trinity should cause us to worship.
The Trinity demonstrates that God’s nature is to exist in relationship. It is encouraging to reflect that our search for meaning is not met merely by cold uncaring causality but rather by a God who is not at all distant from us but close as a Father or a friend or our own hearts.
Like children who emulate their father, we learn from the Trinity to live in unity with one another, to love one another and to work in concert for glory of God and His kingdom.
brotherpayne 