“God Revealed as Trinity”BibleClass.com.au Teaching Series

Series: Core Bible ConceptsPart: #5

Main Scripture: Matthew 28:18-19 Teacher: Dr Paul Iles

Date: 06.03.2013

The MP3 audio of the study upon which this transcript is based and a learning guide are available from http://bibleclass.com.au/

Inline, direct scripture quotes are italicised. Block quotes are indented.The New King James Version is used unless otherwise stated.

This transcript has undergone minor editing to ensure readability.

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COREBible Concepts

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IntroductionIn our Core Bible Concepts series, we are currently looking at the Biblical concept of the revelation of God. This study will build on the content covered in “Names of God in the Bible” (#4) in order to show how those names are both applied to and fulfilled in Christ.

Matthew 28 18 And Jesus came and spoke to them, saying, “All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth. 19 Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.

Notice that the three names: Father, Son and Holy Spirit are mentioned, but it doesn’t say “in the names.” Rather, it says simple, “in the name” in the singular.

The names applied to God in the Hebrew scriptures (the Old Testament) conveyed to us something of who He is, particularly of His almighty power and greatness.

That theme was presented in El and Elyon. Elyon also contained the idea of plurality, indicating its emphasis. Also, the fear which it brings was conveyed in the name, Elohim. Then we progressed to His revelation as the El Shaddai to Abraham - using all of that greatness and power for the blessing of His creatures.

Then we came across the most sacred name of God, YHWH (Yahweh, Jehovah). Here He is revealed as the unchangeable, continuing and immutable One. This title was again particularly applied with respect to the blessing of His people. His message to Moses was that He was going to keep His promise that had been made to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob to bless His people.

Ultimately we see the revelation of the God of all grace who is committed to the blessing of mankind.

Now we come in this study to the names of God as used, now in the Greek language, in the New Testament.

The truths that are revealed in the names of God in the Old Testament are gathered up together in the New. Then they are expressed in full glory in the person of Jesus Christ.

The glory of the New Testament is that is reveals also to us the fullness of the Triune God. That truth is in the Old Testament, but the splendour of it is revealed in the person of Christ. He shows us how that God uses all of Himself, as each divine person is used in the blessing of mankind to bring in redemption - our salvation.

The Greek NamesTheos• Translates the Hebrew: El, Elohim, Elyon.• English translation: God

Kurios• Translates the Hebrew: YHWH (and the substituted Adonai in many Hebrew scriptures)

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• English translation: Lord

Pantokrator• Translates the Hebrew: El Shaddai• English Translation: Almighty

In the case of Theos Pantokrator, therefore, the translation would be “Almighty God.” And in the case of Kurios Theos Pantokrator, “Lord God Almighty.”

Scripture ExamplesRevelation 1 8 “I am the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End,” says the Lord, “who is and who was and who is to come, the Almighty.”

“Lord” here is Kurios. This is YHWH. It is as if we have a revisiting of the burning bush, where God gave that revelation of His continuing existence and His unchanging nature and character. If we go to the beginning... He is God. If we go to the end... He is God. And everything in between is Him, as He is and as He ever was. He is the one who is, who was and who is to come. He is the almighty, immutable God.

We can also see here that, just as God was revealing His intention to bless His creatures when He spoke to Moses, He is here revealing His intention to finally and fully accomplish the redemption of His people.

Revelation 4 8 The four living creatures, each having six wings, were full of eyes around and within. And they do not rest day or night, saying:

“Holy, holy, holy, Lord God Almighty, Who was and is and is to come!”

“Lord God Almighty” is Kurios Theos Pantokrator. And the line which follows takes us back to the burning bush again: the unchanging one who ever continues to be what He always has continued to be.

The use of the threefold repetition of “holy” is intended to give extraordinary emphasis. Occasionally in the Bible, things are repeated so as to draw great emphasis to them, but it is incredibly rare to see a threefold repetition such as this - so great is the holiness of God. That word, “Holy” also encapsulates all that God is in His intrinsic personality and character. It is the sum of all of His perfect attributes that set Him apart.

Revelation 11 16 And the twenty-four elders who sat before God on their thrones fell on their faces and worshiped God, 17 saying:

“We give You thanks, O Lord God Almighty, The One who is and who was and who is to come, Because You have taken Your great power and reigned...

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Again, Kurios Theos Pantokrator. Or, if you like, YHWH God Almighty!

Again, we see YHWH God Almighty lifted up in all of His power, which He is using for the salvation of His people through the glorious message of the Cross and the redemptive work that has been done by His will and by His action.

Note also the following references, in passing:

Revelation 15 3 They sing the song of Moses, the servant of God, and the song of the Lamb, saying:

“Great and marvelous are Your works, Lord God Almighty! Just and true are Your ways, O King of the saints!”

Again: Kurios Theos Pantokrator. YHWH God Almighty.

Revelation 16 7 And I heard another from the altar saying, “Even so, Lord God Almighty, true and righ-teous are Your judgments.”

Once again: Kurios Theos Pantokrator. YHWH God Almighty.

The beautiful thing is that all of these scenes are pointing us directly to none other than the Lord Jesus Christ! He is God overall, blessed forever! As we read in Colossians:

Colossians 2 9 “In Him dwells all the fullness of the Godhead bodily.”

The Lord Jesus Christ is absolutely God and He is absolute deity.

Thomas said, “My Lord and my God”1 because all of those features and characteristics and titles and descriptions rightly belong to Jesus.

Notice also that all of these scenes concern a few things: the bringing of judgement upon His enemies, the asserting of the Lamb as the deliverer and protector of His people and His bringing of blessing, comfort and peace for the redeemed.

The Trinity: Father, Son, Holy SpiritThis is the great revelation of the New Testament concerning God.

When it comes to the idea of the three persons of the Godhead, we cannot really explain it. When we started our discussion in study #1, we did say that God was ultimately incomprehensible, although He is knowable because He has revealed Himself. Now, He has revealed Himself as Father, Son and Holy Spirit.

We only know that God is three persons because the Bible actually reveals Him that way quite clearly.

You can’t really illustrate the Trinity. Everything falls short. One example often used is an egg: shell, yolk and white, but only one egg. That is a sad shortfall of the true mystery, as so many such 1 John20:28.

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illustrations are. This whole doctrine is something that is beyond us, yet has been revealed to us as a fact and as something that has resulted in the marvellous blessing of our salvation.

God of loveIn its earliest suggestion, we see it in the nature of God: God is love. That is His nature.

He was a God of love before the world was made or anything was created. He was a God of love before there was any created being to show that love to or to share that love with.

But there could not be love if there was not a method of expressing it to others. So, just in that fact, that He was a God of love in eternity past implies that there was a relationship somehow.

There was love between the persons of the Godhead in eternity past.

The Trinity in the Old TestamentGenesis 1 1 In the beginning God...

The word for God there is Elohim, which is the plural word.

26 Then God said, “Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness...

Notice the use of “Us.”

Genesis 3 22 Then the Lord God said, “Behold, the man has become like one of Us, to know good and evil.

Note again the use of the word, “Us.”

Isaiah 6 8 Also I heard the voice of the Lord, saying:

“Whom shall I send, And who will go for Us?”

Again, notice the use of the plural “Us” when God refers to Himself.

Father

If you go through the Old Testament, you will find references to God as Father. For example:

Isaiah 63 16 Doubtless You are our Father, Though Abraham was ignorant of us, And Israel does not acknowledge us. You, O Lord, are our Father;

Isaiah 64 8 But now, O Lord, You are our Father; We are the clay, and You our potter; And all we are the work of Your hand.

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Jeremiah 3 4 Will you not from this time cry to Me, ‘My Father, You are the guide of my youth?

Jeremiah 31 9 They shall come with weeping, And with supplications I will lead them. I will cause them to walk by the rivers of waters, In a straight way in which they shall not stumble; For I am a Father to Israel, And Ephraim is My firstborn.

Son

Israel is called the Son of God:

Hosea 11 1 “When Israel was a child, I loved him, And out of Egypt I called My son...”

But we read that the literal fulfillment of this occurs in Matthew 2:15, when the Lord, as a child, comes out of Egypt with His parents once Herod dies:

Matthew 2 14 When he arose, he took the young Child and His mother by night and departed for Egypt, 15 and was there until the death of Herod, that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the Lord through the prophet, saying, “Out of Egypt I called My Son.”

The prophecy of Daniel speaks of him seeing one, “like the Son of Man” - this is clearly the Lord. It was a title which He used to refer to Himself2 when on earth and a title which is frequently applied to Him in the New Testament.

Daniel 7 13 “I was watching in the night visions, And behold, One like the Son of Man, Coming with the clouds of heaven! He came to the Ancient of Days, And they brought Him near before Him. 14 Then to Him was given dominion and glory and a kingdom, That all peoples, nations, and languages should serve Him. His dominion is an everlasting dominion, Which shall not pass away, And His kingdom the one Which shall not be destroyed.

See also:

Proverbs 30 4 Who has ascended into heaven, or descended? Who has gathered the wind in His fists? Who has bound the waters in a garment? Who has established all the ends of the earth? What is His name, and what is His Son’s name, If you know?

Isaiah 9 6 For unto us a Child is born, Unto us a Son is given; And the government will be upon His shoulder.

2 Amongmanyreferences,seeforexampleMatthew16:13;12:40;18:11;20:28;26:45,64;John3:13,5:27.

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And His name will be called Wonderful, Counselor, Mighty God...

Holy Spirit

There is even clearer reference to the presence of the Holy Spirit in the Old Testament.

He was present in creation:

Genesis 1 2 The earth was without form, and void; and darkness was on the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God was hovering over the face of the waters.

He came upon various people, such as David, Samson and others.

But One GodAlthough the idea of Trinity stands there in the Old Testament, what offsets it is the clear statement of the name YHWH which has no plural, as well as other statements of God’s oneness:

Deuteronomy 6 4 “Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one!”

Such truth was clearly expounded against the background of polytheism which consumed the surrounding nations.

Even in the New Testament, although the Lord attests to His deity and the truth of the Trinity is being fleshed out in more fullness, He says:

John 10 30 “I and My Father are one.”

So we have this incredible fact: We do not have three Gods. God, in His innermost nature is one. Nevertheless, the God who is one in His innermost nature and essence exists as three persons.

That is what the Bible teaches.

Three, but OneWhat we struggle with concerning this doctrine is that, when we think of three persons, we cannot help but think of three separate entities. It is beyond us to grasp the notion of the three being one.

The Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit are one God. They are the same in substance, coequal in power, glory and existence. There is a relationship between them that is co-eternal. One did not come before or after the other.

They are the one God who has revealed Himself to us and has purposed to bless us.

There is unspeakable mystery in that truth.

1 Timothy 3 16 And without controversy great is the mystery of godliness...

Three are GodIn the Bible you come across the fact that the Father is God - just one of countless examples is in Ephesians:

Ephesians 1 2 Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

You also come across the fact that the Son is God:

John 1 1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2 He was in the beginning with God.

John 10 30 “I and My Father are one.”

Romans 9 5 ...Christ came, who is over all, the eternally blessed God. Amen.

Colossians 2 9 “In Him dwells all the fullness of the Godhead bodily.”

All of God is in Christ. Absolutely nothing more, nothing less and nothing lost by His manhood.

You also come across the fact that the Holy Spirit is God:

Ephesians 4 30 And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God...

In Acts 5, we read of Ananias and Sapphira. They told lies. Peter said that they had not lied to men, but they had lied to God - and the lie was said to be against the Holy Spirit.

Concerning the unpardonable sin, we read that it is blasphemy against the Holy Spirit3. An obvious reference to God - you cannot blaspheme one who is not God.

Three are distinctTo further add to our conundrum, each divine person refers separately to the other as different from themselves. And yet they are one.

Does the Father speak of the Lord as His Son? Yes:

Matthew 3 17 And suddenly a voice came from heaven, saying, “This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.”

Does the Son speak of the Father as an individual? Yes:

Matthew 26 53 Or do you think that I cannot now pray to My Father, and He will provide Me with more than twelve legions of angels?

Does the Lord speak about the Holy Spirit as separate? Yes:

3 Matthew12:32.

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John 16 8 And when He [the Holy Spirit] has come, He will convict the world of sin, and of righteous-ness, and of judgment...

But three are oneThe Athanasian Creed puts it beautifully:

The Father is God. The Son is God. The Holy Ghost is God. Yet there are not three Gods. There is one God.

The Father is Lord. The Son is Lord. The Holy Ghost is Lord. Yet there are not three Lords, but one Lord.

We are compelled by Christian truth to acknowledge each person by Himself to be both God and Lord. So we are forbidden by the same truth to say that there are three Gods and three Lords.

As you marvel at this, remember that we are, afterall, dealing with the only wise God whom no man has seen nor can see. He is above us and greater than us and we are merely His creatures. We can marvel that, in His grace, He has chosen to reveal Himself to His creatures.

The Trinity Reveals GodIn the doctrine of the Trinity lies the ultimate revelation of the fact that God is a God of grace who wants to and who will bless mankind.

That was the theme that developed in our last study when we saw the Old Testament names of God. In His earliest revealed names, He was great, almighty and powerful. As a result, He was to be feared. But He purposed to use that greatness for the care and blessing of His people, and finally to reveal Himself as the one who always has and who always will purpose to achieve His creature’s redemption because He is the God of grace. That aspect of His nature was revealed by the names, El Shaddai and YHWH.

The Trinity shows us all of this in a still fuller sense.

The Triune work of salvationGod may well have stood alone, far above and far off. He needed none of us. He is self-existent, self-reliant and needful of nothing. He derives all that He is from within Himself, and yet the most marvellous thing has happened.

The persons of the Godhead have done a most glorious thing. They counselled together and set forth the plan of redemption.

Salvation is a work of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. We are redeemed because of the activities of the Godhead and their marvellous grace in stooping down, at such a cost, to save us from our sins.

Salvation, as a work of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, was a work in which each person of the Godhead subordinated themselves to the other in a most mysterious way. They are coequal with no superiority or inferiority of rank and yet:

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The Father

...is the originator of the plan. “The Father sent the Son to be the Saviour of the world.”4 He turned to the one who was coequal with Himself; His beloved Son, and sent Him into the world, knowing that it would mean the shame, the death and the awful humiliation of the cross.

John 3 16 For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son...

The Son

...who is coequal, co-eternal, of the same rank, became the sent one of the Father. The one who is the servant of His Father. Isaiah was able to write those words of Him, “Behold my servant.”5

He came only to do the will of His Father: To speak the words He was given to speak. To do the works He was given to do. And not to step out of that by one little iota. Ultimately, He said:

Luke 22 42 “...nevertheless, not my will but thine be done.”

He took that place in order to accomplish the plan of salvation from the counsels of God that were worked out in eternity. It was done for our salvation.

The Holy Spirit

...was sent by the Father and by the Son. Christ says that He will ask the Father, who will send the Spirit in His name.6

And so the Holy Spirit came, not now to do the work, but to take the work that was done and apply it: to convict men and women of sin, righteousness and judgement.7

The Holy Spirit actually came into the world to serve mankind by bringing to us: the knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ, awareness of our sin, understanding to receive the gospel, receptiveness to the word of God in our hearts and eternal life which springs up from God’s word.

The Holy Spirit never even speaks of Himself. He only speaks of the Lord Jesus.

There is one plan. There is one purpose. It is fulfilled by the Triune God as each person of the Triune God has, in a unity of labour and a unity of purpose, accomplished our redemption.

Grace RevealedThis ultimately is grace in its highest form and in its grandest revelation.

John 1 17 ...grace and truth came through Jesus Christ.

Jesus came to reveal the Father, and through His work came the descent of the Holy Spirit.

Through the work of Christ, there comes the way back to God. Through His work there comes the

4 1John4:14.5 Isaiah52:13.6 John14:26;15:26;16:7.7 John16:8.

whole basis for redemption.

Now the Holy Spirit has come in order to apply that work. It was essential for Him to apply the work of Christ, because without His work, then the work of the Son would be fruitless - which is amazing, but true.

God has revealed this to us although we can scarcely understand it.

Titus 3 4 ...the kindness and the love of God our Savior toward man appeared...

It is the love of God, who is our Saviour. God of unspeakable grace.

See you in the next study.

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