Scripture:
Genesis 1.26; Ex. 3.13-15; 20.1-7; Deut. 6.4-9; Psalm 110.1-7; Matt. 1.18-25; Matt.
3.13-17; Matt. 17.1-6; Matt. 28.16-20; John 1.1-3; John 1.14-18; John 8.30-59;
John 14.15-26; John 15.26-27; John 16.5-15; John 20.24-29; Acts 5.1-11; Rom.
8.12-17, 26-39; 1 Cor. 2.10-16; 1 Cor. 12.4-6; 2 Cor. 3.17-18; Eph. 1.1-19;
Eph. 4.4-6; Phil. 2.6-11; Titus 3.4-7; Heb. 9.14; Rev. 4-5
Translation: Genesis 1.26And
God said, “We should make man in Our image, according to Our
likeness, so that they can rule over the fish of the sea and over the birds of
the skies and over the animals and over all the earth and over all the crawly
things crawling on the earth.”
Ex. 3.13And Moses said to God, “Look, I’m going
to the sons of Israel, and I’ll say to them, ‘The God of your fathers sent me
to you.’ And they’ll say to me, “What is His Name?’ What should I say to them?”
14And God said to Moses, “I am who I am. And as I said You should
say to the sons of Israel, ‘I AM sent me to you.’” 15And God said
again to Moses, “You should say this to the sons of Israel, ‘Yahweh, the God of
your fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, sent
me to you.’ This is My Name forever. And this is How I’ll be remembered from
generation to generation.”
Exodus 20.1And God spoke all these words, 1“I
am Yahweh Your God, Who brought you out from the land of Egypt from the house
of slaves. 3There will be no other gods for you in My Presence/except
for me. Don’t you ever make for yourselves an idol or any image that is in the
skies above or that on the earth below or that is in the waters from below to
the land. 5Do ever worship them and don't ever serve them, because I
am Yahweh Your God, the Jealous God, Who punishes the sin of fathers on their
sons for three or four generations of those who hate Me. 6And I show
loyalty for a thousand generations to those who love Me and obey My commands.
Deut. 6.4Listen up Israel, Yahweh is Our
God; Yahweh is One. 5So you will love Yahweh Your God with all your
heart and with all your life and with all your intensity!
Psalm 110.1Davidic, a song: Yahweh’s
declaration to my Lord: Sit at my right hand, until I make your enemies
footstool. 2Yahweh will send Your strong club from Zion. Rule in the
middle of Your enemies. 3Your people will voluntary offerings on the
day of Your power/army. In the beauties of holiness from the womb of the
morning, the dew of your youth is yours! 4Yahweh swears an oath, and
He won’t change His mind: “You are a priest forever, on the basis of My promise
to Melchi-zedek. 5My Lord is at Your right hand; He will smash kings
on day of His anger. 6He will judge nations, filling up [the world]
with corpses, smashing heads all over the earth. 7He will drink from
the stream on the road, therefore He will hold His head up high!
Matt. 3.13Then Jesus showed up from
Galilee at the Jordan before John in order to be baptized by him. 14And
John was preventing Him by saying, “I need to be baptized by You, and you’re
coming to me? 15And Jesus to answer said to him, “Allow [it] now,
because it is right for us to fulfill total righteousness in this way.” Then he
let Him. 16And when Jesus got baptized, immediately He came up out
of the water—and look, the heavens were opened to Him, and He saw the Spirit of
God coming down like a dove and coming on Him. 17And look, a voice
from the heavens was saying, “This is My loved Son. I’m really happy with Him!”
Matt. 17.1And after six days, Jesus took
Peter and James, and John, his brother, along with Him. And He took them up to
a tall mountain, by themselves. 2And
He was transformed right in front of them! His face shined like the sun, and
His clothes became white like the light! 3And look, Moses and Elijah
was seen by them, talking with Him. 4And in response Peter said to
Jesus, “Lord, it’s good that we’re here. If You want, I’ll make three shelters
here, one for You, one for Moses, and one for Elijah. 5While he was
still speaking—Look, a bright cloud covered Him. And look—a voice from the
cloud saying, “This is My loved Son! I’m really happy with Him! Listen to Him.”
Matt. 28.16And the eleven disciples
traveled to Galilee, to the mountain that Jesus commanded them. 17And
when they saw Him, they worshiped, and they doubted. 18And coming
close, Jesus spoke to them, saying, “All authority in heaven and on earth was
given to Me. 19So, go make disciples of all ethnicities, baptizing
them into the Name of the Father and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, 20teaching
them to obey absolutely all that I commanded you. And look, I’m with You for
all days until the end of the age!”
John 1.1In the beginning was the Word. And
the Word was with God. And the Word was God. 2This [Word] was in the
beginning with God. 3All things came to exist through Him; and
without Him, not even one thing that truly exists came to exist. …14And
the Word became flesh and lived with us. And we looked at His glory, the glory
like the Unique One from the Father, full of grace and truth.
John 8.58Jesus said to them, “Amen, Amen,
I’m telling you: before Abraham came to exist, I AM!
John 14.16And I will ask the Father and He
will give you another Advocate, so that He could be with you forever. 17The
Spirit of Truth, Who the world can’t understand, because it can’t see Him or
know Him. You know Him, because He stays with you and will be in you. …25These
things I’m truly telling you while staying with you. 26And the
Advocate, the Holy Spirit, Who the Father will send in My Name—That One will
teach you all things and will remind you of all the things that I said to you.
John 15.26Whenever the Advocate, Whom I
will send to you from the Father—the Spirit of Truth, Who goes out from the
Father—comes, That One will testify about Me. 27But also you will
testify, that you were with Me from the beginning.
John 16.7But I’m telling you the truth:
It’s good for you that I go away, because if I don’t go away, the Advocate
won’t come to you. And if I go, I will send Him to you. 8And when He
comes, That One confront the world about sin and about righteousness and about
judgment: 9about sin, because they don’t believe in Me; 10and
about righteousness, because I go to the Father and You won’t look at me any
more; 11and about judgment, because the ruler of this world really
is being judged.
John 20.24And Thomas, one of the Twelve,
the one who’s called “Twin,” was not with them when Jesus came. 25So
the other disciples were telling him, “We really saw the Lord!” But he said to
them, “If can’t see on his hands the mark of the nails and put my finger on the
mark of the nails and put my hand on his side, I will not believe.” 26And
after 8 days (= one week later) His disciples were again inside and Thomas was
with them. Jesus was coming even though the doors were locked and stood in the
middle and said, “Peace to you.” 27Then He was saying to Thomas,
“Bring your finger here and see my hands and bring your hand and put it on my
side. And don’t become faithless, but faithful. 28Thomas responded
and said to Him, “My Lord and My God!” 29Jesus was saying to him,
“Did you really believe, because you really looked at Me? Blessed are those
that don’t see and believe!”
I Cor. 12.4And there are different kinds
of spiritual gifts, but the same Spirit. 5And there are different
kinds of ministries, and the same Lord. 6And there are different
kinds of activities, but the same God that is working all things in all things.
2 Cor. 3.17And the Lord [read Yahweh] is
the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is there is freedom. 18We
all, looking upon the glory of the Lord with an uncovered face, the same image,
are being transformed from glory into glory just as from the Lord, the Spirit.
Eph. 4.4There is one body and one Spirit,
just like you were called in the one hope of your calling. 5There is
one Lord, one faith, one baptism, 6one God and Father of all, Who is
over all and through all and in all.
Phil. 2.6Who although He really was in the
form of God, did not consider being equal with God as something to hold on to. 7Instead,
He emptied Himself by taking the form of a slave, becoming in the likeness of
men, and being found in appearance as a man, 8He humbled Himself,
becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross! 9Therefore,
God also exalted Him way up and graced Him with the Name, the Name over ever
name, 10so that in the Name of Jesus, every knee would bow, of the
heavenly places and the earthly places and the subterranean places, 11and
every tongue would declare aloud that Jesus the Messiah is Lord [read Yahweh]
for the glory of God the Father!
Interpretation
1.
Themes
a.
The Oneness of God
b.
The Threeness of God.
c.
Each Person of the Godhead
is a true Person, distinct and eternal, but also truly the One God, not three
separate mini-gods.
d.
The Sovereignty of God
e.
The Humility of God
f.
The paradigm: From the
Father, through the Son, by the Spirit
g.
The roles/relational characteristics
of the Godhead.
h.
The eternality of God, and
each one of His Persons—not forms, true persons.
i.
The Name of God,
Yahweh/Lord
2.
Doctrines
a.
There is One God, Who
eternally exists as Three eternal distinct Persons: God the Father, God the Son
(Jesus the Messiah), and God the Holy Spirit
b.
God is the Creator, and is
self existent, being eternal.
Applications
1.
Outline
a.
There Is Only One God,
Yahweh, Who eternally exists as three equal, personal, distinct persons: God
the Father, God the Son, God the Holy Spirit
i.
God is One
1.
There is only One God,
there always has been and there always will be, just One. This has been the
conviction and belief not just since Jesus, but since Abraham and Moses and
even Noah or Adam. One God, period.
2.
Ex. 3.13-15
a.
The Same God, the Only God,
is Named Yahweh.
3.
Ex. 20.1-7
a.
Yahweh insists that no
other God’s be worshiped, served, or created. He is the Only God
4.
Deut. 6.4-9
a.
The Shema, the oldest creed
in the world still held to, is that Yahweh is our God and that He is One
i.
Oneness means He is the
Only One, and that He is truly unique. But this does not mean that He is so
totally oneness that His Threeness disappears, just that we must recognize that
He is the Only God, but we also take Him as He is, which is Three in One, not
merely One.
ii.
God is Three
1.
God the Father is God,
Yahweh
a.
Eph. 4.6
b.
Matt. 3.13-17
c.
Matt. 17.1-6
d.
John 8.30-59
e.
Rom. 8.12-17, 26-39;
f.
1 Cor. 2.10-16;
g.
1 Cor. 12.4-6;
h.
Eph. 1.1-19
i.
Matt. 28.16-20
2.
Jesus is God, Yahweh
a.
Jesus is fully God and
fully human
b.
Eph. 4.5
c.
Matt. 3.13-17
d.
Matt. 17.1-6
e.
John 8.30-59
f.
Rom. 8.12-17, 26-39;
g.
1 Cor. 2.10-16;
h.
1 Cor. 12.4-6;
i.
Eph. 1.1-19
j.
Psalm 110.1-7;
k.
Matt. 1.18-25;
l.
Matt. 28.16-20;
m.
John 1.1-3;
n.
John 1.14-18
o.
John 20.24-29;
p.
Phil. 2.6-11;
q.
Rev. 4-5
3.
The Holy Spirit is God,
Yahweh
a.
He God
i.
Matt. 1.18-25
ii.
Matt. 3.13-17
iii.
Matt. 17.1-6
iv.
Matt. 28.16-20
v.
John 14.15-26
vi.
John 15.26-27
vii.
John 16.5-15
viii.
Acts 5.1-11
ix.
Rom. 8.12-17, 26-39
x.
1 Cor. 2.10-16
xi.
1 Cor. 12.4-6
xii.
2 Cor. 3.17-18
xiii.
Eph. 1.1-19
xiv.
Eph. 4.4
xv.
Titus 3.4-7
xvi.
Heb. 9.14
xvii.
Rev. 4
b.
He is a Person, not a force
i.
Matt. 28.16-20
ii.
John 14.15-26
iii.
John 15.26-27
iv.
John 16.5-15
v.
Acts 5.1-11
vi.
Rom. 8.12-17, 26-39
vii.
1 Cor. 2.10-16
viii.
1 Cor. 12.4-6
ix.
2 Cor. 3.17-18
iii.
God is Three in One
1.
Genesis 1.26;
2.
Psalm 110.1-7
3.
Matt. 3.13-17
4.
Matt. 17.1-6
5.
Matt. 28.16-20
6.
John 14.15-26
7.
John 15.26-27
8.
John 16.5-15
9.
Rom. 8.12-17, 26-39
10.
1 Cor. 12.4-6
11.
Eph. 1.1-19
12.
Eph. 4.4-6
13.
Titus 3.4-7
14.
Heb. 9.14
15.
Rev. 4-5
iv.
Heresies/False Theology
1.
God is really only one
person with three different forms
2.
God is really three
separate gods
3.
God is really only one
person, the Father, Jesus is not truly God, and neither is the Spirit
b.
The Doctrine of the Holy
Trinity matters, because…
i.
We must believe in Yahweh
the Holy Trinity to be saved!
1.
That is Who God is, and to
believe in a god that is not the Holy Trinity is to believe in a lie, which
means that a person who doesn’t believe in the Trinity is not a real Christian
and is going to hell, no matter how nice that person is or how much they love
Jesus
ii.
We must believe in Yahweh
the Holy Trinity to grow and live for Him!
1.
What we also often fail to
understand is that without a healthy understanding and faith in the Holy
Trinity our Spiritual growth and development, including our ability to truly
live for Him will be stunted
2.
our identity as Christians
in completely tied up with the Persons of the Godhead. In a very real sense, we
can only know our own identity if we know it in relationship to God the Father,
God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit
a.
our identity as God’s
adopted children and therefore having a freeing and secure relationship with
God as our Father is only possible if we believe in the Trinity, because we
need to believe in God the Father to understand what it is to have a perfect
and true Father, but we also need to believe in Christ to understand what it
means and is to be one of God’s children. And believe it or not we need to
believe in and rely on the Holy Spirit to be able to even recognize that we are
God’s children.
b.
Our identity as those
chosen by God, saved by Christ, and reborn by the Spirit also requires us to
believe in the Trinity.
c.
We can live for God and
grow closer to God without knowing Him more deeply
iii.
We must believe in Yahweh
the Holy Trinity to bring people to salvation
1.
Because we must believe in
the Holy Trinity to be saved, it follows that if we don’t know or believe in the
Holy Trinity we can not lead others to salvation. Many false teachers and
preachers and leaders have gone out into the world offering salvation, but
denying the Trinity. But what salvation could they offer? They don’t have any
salvation for themselves!
iv.
We must believe in Yahweh
the Holy Trinity to make sense of reality
1.
It gives us a basis and
model for unity
a.
Have you ever wondered why
we value unity in the Body of Christ or even why people in the world in general
value unity, why we care about seeing how things are connected and related?
b.
The answer is that it is
because there is Unity in the Godhead. You could say, it is because we see the
functional value of unity and seeing connections, but that doesn’t actually
answer the question it just pushes it further away, and leaves us
semi-satisfied with an empty answer. Because you still have not answered by
whether it is useful matters, or how there could be beauty in it. NO, the
answer is that because God is Three in One, because Yahweh is unity, we see it
in the world and in our lives as a reflection of Him.
2.
It gives us a basis and
model for diversity
a.
Why are people different?
Why are there different colors? Why do opposites attract? The answers is
because God is Three in One. There in fact has always been diversity, because
God has always been a diversity within a unity. There has always been three
distinct, eternal Persons of God. God the Father has always valued diversity
and made it reflective of Himself in the universe, because He has always
enjoyed and experienced the beauty, excitement, and joy of knowing God the Son
and God the Holy Spirit, Who are truly and eternally God, but Who are One God.
3.
It gives us a basis and
model for relationships and love and loyalty
a.
Why do we have
relationships here on earth, why do we value them. Why does love exist and why
do we love love? Because God is Three in One and therefore has always been in a
relationship. God the Father has always been God the Father, because He has
always had God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit has always been God the Holy
Spirit because He is so deeply in relationship with the Father and the Son that
He can be called the Spirit of God and the Spirit of Christ. He is their
Spirit.
b.
And they have always loved
each other perfect, because God is Love, as John says in his first letter.
2.
Discussion Questions
a.
If someone asked to explain
the Trinity to them, how would you do it?
b.
What difference does it
make whether Jesus or the Holy Spirit is God?
c.
Where do you find your
identity? As a Christian, how could your relationship with each Person of the
Holy Trinity shape how you think about yourself and empower you to live for
Him?
d.
When you think of love or
the perfect relationship, what do you think of? How does it compare or reflect
the relationship and love of the Holy Trinity? How could we reflect the perfect
love and relationship of the Holy Trinity better?
e.
How could we reflect God by
embracing diversity in our personal lives and as a church?
f.
How could we become more
united as a church, so that we reflect the unify and diversity of God more?
g.
Do you ever think about how
to make sense of the world? Are there any areas of reality that the truth that
God is Triune helps us to understand?
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