Doctrinal Studies

BIBLICAL CONCEPT OF THE TRINITY

I. The Trinity is taught in I Pet 1:2; 11; II Cor 13:14; Matt 28:19; John 10:30 compared with Psalm 110:1; Isa 48:16

II. The Trinity is found in Genesis with the pronoun "us" Gen 1:26; 3:22 and 11:7

III. Jesus Christ is the only visible member of the Trinity (The Father and Spirit are never visible to the human eye) John 1:18; John 6:46; I Tim 6:16 and I John 4:12

IV. Each member of the Trinity has identical essence, but is a separate and distinct person. Illustrated in I John 1:5 "God is light... Note the attributes of God: Sovereignty, Righteousness, Justice, Love, Eternal Life, Omniscience, Omnipresence, Omnipotence, Immutability and Veracity, these also belong to Christ and the Holy Spirit. Actinology is the study of the physics of light. Light has three basic (primary) colors: red, yellow and blue. From these we get secondary colors: blue and yellow forms green, red and yellow forms orange, red and blue forms purple. In a ray of light you do not see all the colors. God is light, in Him is no darkness at all. God is three, you do not see all His characteristics at once. Light is also has three characteristics: actinic, neither seen nor felt - God the Father, Luminiferic - seen and felt - God the Son; Calorific - felt but not seen - God the Holy Spirit.

V. When the Word of God refers to GOD as one it is emphasizing His essence or uniqueness, Hebrew word for God is Elohim - "im" is plural.

VI. When the Bible distinguishes between the members of the Godhead, it refers to the function or activity of a specific person, The Hebrew word - Jehovah (JHWH) sometimes refers to the Father, Son or Holy Spirit. This word always refers to one member of the Trinity.

VII. In salvation each person of the Trinity is assigned by the Bible a different function: the Father is the author, the Son executed the plan on the cross and the Holy Spirit is the revealer of the plan.

VIII. Each person of the Trinity performs a function in the plan of grace: In salvation - Acts 16:31, Believe on ... This phase I is accomplished by Jesus Christ John 3:36, He is the only savior. Our lives on earth, is to be executed by the Holy Spirit, abundant life. We are commanded to be filled and walk in the Spirit, Eph 5:18;Gal 5:16. Phase III is the believer in Heaven, Rev 21:4 "No more sorrow, crying, death, etc. God the Father is the executor of phase III.

IX. Apostates blaspheme God, Jude 8. They malign glories (plural) Trinity. They malign the plan and character of God. They malign the Person and work of Christ (They say He is humanity without Deity) they refuse to accept the Virgin Birth etc... They malign and distort the ministry of the Holy Spirit.