True worship of God, Christians would agree, must worship God as He is, not as we might wish him to be. If one makes an image of God (even in the mind), that is not in accord with God’s revelation of Himself, then this is idolatry. Biblical Christians must be willing to love God as He is, and that includes every aspect of His being (even if such is offensive to us in our fallen state). Those who edit the biblical revelation often do so because the idea of God as He has revealed Himself is not palatable, or even offensive to them. In sum, one must love God as He has revealed Himself, not an image of God that one creates in his mind. This being said, how does the New Testament speak concerning the Trinity? Consider the following:

Romans 14:17-18 … for the kingdom of God is not eating and drinking, but righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit. 18For he who in this way serves Christ is acceptable to God and approved by men. Romans 15:16 to be a minister of Christ Jesus to the Gentiles, ministering as a priest the gospel of God, that my offering of the Gentiles might become acceptable, sanctified by the Holy Spirit. 1 Corinthians 2:2-5 For I determined to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ, and Him crucified. 3And I was with you in weakness and in fear and in much trembling. 4And my message and my preaching were not in persuasive words in wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power, 5that your faith should not rest on the wisdom of men, but on the power of God. 1 Corinthians 6:11 And such were some of you; but you were washed, but you were sanctified, but you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, and in the Spirit of our God. 1 Corinthians 12:4-6 Now there are varieties of gifts, but the same Spirit. 5And there are varieties of ministries, and the same Lord. 6And there are varieties of effects, but the same God who works all tings in all persons. 2 Corinthians 1:21-22 Now He who establishes us with you in Christ and anointed us is God, 22who also sealed us and gave us the Spirit in our hearts as a pledge.

2 Corinthians 13:14 The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit, be with you all. Ephesians 2:18 for through Him we both have our access in one Spirit to the Father. Ephesians 3:16-17 that He would grant you, according to the riches of His glory, to be strengthened with power through His Spirit in the inner man; 17so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith; and that you, being rooted and grounded in love, Ephesians 4:4-6 There is one body and one Spirit, just as also you were called in one hope of your calling; 5one Lord, one faith, one baptism, 6one God and Father of all who is over all and through all and in all. Colossians 1:6-8 which has come to you, just as in all the world also it is constantly bearing fruit and increasing, even as it has been doing in you also since the day you heard of it and understood the grace of God in truth; 7just as you learned it from Epaphras, our beloved fellow bond-servant, who is a faithful servant of Christ on our behalf, 8and he also informed us of your love in the Spirit.

From these passages it is evident that the faith of the New Testament is an implicitly Trinitarian faith. No passage says, “Now the teaching about the Trinity is…” No passage needs to do this. The Trinity is an assumed teaching here. Paul and the apostles were experiential Trinitarians. B.B. Warfield put it this way: ‘The whole book is Trinitarian (the NT) to the core; all its teaching is built on the assumption of the Trinity; and its allusions to the Trinity are frequent, cursory, easy and confident’ (Warfield, 1981: 143) The doctrine of the Trinity is the highest truth God has revealed about Himself to His people. God revealed this truth about Himself most clearly and irrefutably in the Incarnation of Jesus Christ. That act revealed the Trinity to us in a way that no amount of verbal communication from God could ever convey. God was pleased to reveal to us that He exists as Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.

Many, however, insist that the doctrine developed over time in the consciousness of the church. They contend that the doctrine did not become official teaching until well into the church age (compare JW treatments). But this is to confuse men’s knowledge and understanding of God’s revelation with the revelation of God itself. The biblical teaching of the Trinity has always been true! It only became fully knowable to men at the Incarnation of Christ and the coming of the Holy Spirit. The Trinity is revealed not in the OT, but in the ministry of Christ and the founding of the Church.

Orthodoxy affirms that God is one substantially (one spiritual Being) and one essentially (one spiritual being with all the attributes belonging to Him). God’s unity is not a unity of genus, for there are not three gods of the same kind (genus). Only a substantial and essential oneness fits the biblical data that deny polytheism and affirm monotheism. God is one and indivisible. Later, we will study the simplicity of God as an attribute. We do affirm that God cannot be chopped into parts. But the divine unity is not like a mystical Neo-Platonic “One” beyond all categories of human thought. The biblical oneness does not rule out distinguishable attributes and persons.5Different terms have been used down through the ventures to express this same truth. Essence in English, ousia in Greek, and essentia in Latin have all been used to describe that which makes God who He is. Because He is unique, His being is unique. Whatever the being of God is, creatures do not possess it. We struggle to describe it for this reason.

God’s oneness does not rule out distinguishable persons. We begin with a consideration of person and its relation to being and conclude by critiquing the inadequacy of the term manifestation to explain the biblical testimony. 1. Defining and distinguishing Being and Person (including economic [function] and ontological [being] Trinity). 1.1. Personhood – with reference to God, this is a center of consciousness capable of fellowship, communication, and intercession. While sharing the same divine essence, the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit have personal characteristics. Distinguishable as each of the Persons in the Trinity is, each functions harmoniously in an unbroken fellowship of love with the others. John Calvin wrote concerning the definition of person in reference to the Trinity in his Institutes of the Christian Religion, Book 1, chapter XIII, paragraph 6: ‘By person, then, I mean a subsistence in the Divine essence, a subsistence which, while related to the other two, is distinguished from them by incommunicable properties. By subsistence we wish something else to be understood than essence. For if the Word were God simply and had not some property peculiar to Himself, John could not have said correctly that he had always been with God. When he adds immediately after, that the Word was God, he calls us back to the one essence. But because he could not be with God without dwelling in the Father, hence arises that subsistence, which, though connected with the essence by an indissoluable tie, being incapable of separation, yet has a special mark by which it is distinguished from it. Now, I say that each of the three subsistences while related to the others is distinguished by its own properties’ (emphasis added).

1.2. The term ‘subsistence’ The term subsistence has been utilized in the history of Trinitarian discussions because people are wont to read into the term ‘person’ all sorts of limitations (physical and otherwise) that should not be thought of at all when speaking of the Trinity. It is employed by theologians wishing to clarify personhood. Many, when they hear of the ‘three Persons of the Trinity’, envision three men standing side by side. Now, one might object, does subsistence mean anything different? The answer is yes. By subsistence theologians mean personal distinctions in the divine being that do not relate to God’s essence. We are talking about the “I,” “You,” and “He” relations found in passages such as Matthew 3:16ff. (Jesus’ baptism): And after being baptized, Jesus went up immediately from the water; and behold, the heavens were opened, and he saw the Spirit of God descending as a dove, and coming upon Him, 17and behold, a voice out of the heavens, saying, “This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well-pleased.” While trying to avoid the idea of separate individuals, we are speaking of the personal self-distinctions God has revealed to exist within one, indivisible divine essence. One can tell the Father from the Son and the Son from the Spirit and the Spirit from the Father and Son by how they are related to each other, and by what actions they take in working out salvation, creation, etc. Historically, these distinctions are identified as the opera ad intra (internal operations) and the opera ad extra (external operations) of the persons of the Trinity. Theologians thus speak of each of the subsistences as demarcated by particular incommunicable attributes. Distinctions in the subsistences do not lead to division in the one Being that is God.

1.3. What is the difference between being and person? If in respect to being God is One, in what respects is God diverse? Is there sufficient biblical evidence to add to the diversity of God’s attributes and actions/purposes a diversity of persons? Trinitarians affirm that the whole undivided essence of God belongs equally to each of the three Persons of the Trinity. Father, Son, and Holy Spirit are in full possession of the entirety of the divine essence. There are not three essences, for this would be tritheism. Nor is the essence divided into thirds for each person is fully God, coequal and coeternal with the others. Where people often stumble is in comparing what they hear of the Trinity with their experience. In experience, we reckon that being can only be shared by one person. So what is the difference between being and person? 1.3.1. Everything that exists has being. 1) Stones have the being of stones. 2) Trees have the being of trees. 3) Cows have the being of cows. 4) Men are human beings. 1.3.2. Not everything that has being is personal. 1) Stones are not personal. One can sing bad music to a stone all day long and it really won’t care. 2) Dittos for trees. 3) Cows may react to the music, but aren’t personal in any technical sense. 4) According to the Bible, there are three kinds of beings who are personal: God, angels, and men. You and I have being. We exist. We are personal. Our being as individuals is limited (finite). We are limited to one place at a time. That is the essence of being a creature. My being is shared by only one person: me. My being, like yours, cannot be distributed among two, three or any more persons. The same is apparently true about angels (including Satan), even though they are spirit-beings. God’s being, however, is not limited and finite like His creatures. His being is unlimited and infinite. In a way beyond our ability to comprehend it, His being can be simultaneously shared by three Persons (Father, Son, and Spirit). The full and equal participation in the divine Being is the doctrine most often denied by heterodox and cultic (heretical) groups.

1.4. A definite order marks the subsistence and operation of the three Persons in the divine Being (Economic & Ontological Trinity). 1.4.1. Ontological Trinity Ontology is the study of being. The ontological Trinity, therefore, is the Trinity as it existed, in and of itself, before creation or before time began. Ontological Trinity is an older term used in many theologies to describe this before-time existence. 1.4.2. Economic (Or Economical) Trinity This term is in contrast to the Ontological Trinity. Here the emphasis is on the operations and workings of the Trinity, what the three persons do in creation and salvation. These operations and workings are distinctive, yet harmonious ministries in history. Several further terms apply to this discussion and it is important to note at the outset that these terms denote a relationship within the Trinity and do not suggest inferiority in any way.

1.4.2.1. The Biblical Order: Father, Son, and then Spirit. We should not import time elements here, only observe the biblical priority. This is not an order of being (as though the Father came first in time, the Son second, and the Spirit third). The first is not bigger than the second or third, or more important. The order is a relationship order. 1.4.2.2. Father, Begotten and Procession “Father,” in reference to God in Scripture, is a reference to God as initiator and purposer. The relationship shared by Father, Son, and Spirit is defined in the use of the terms begotten and procession. “Begotten” should be understood, not in its human application, but in the context of the divine relationships. Looking opera ad intra, it describes the relationship of the Father and the Son. The Father is begotten by no one, the Son is eternally begotten by the Father. The Father’s action in generating the Son makes the Son in a filiation relationship. Only the Son bears this filiation relationship (of Son to the Father). The begotten One’s administrative role is without ontological inferiority. As Geoffrey Bromiley summarized: “Generation” makes it plain that there is a divine sonship prior to the incarnation (cf. John 1:18; 1 John 4:9), that there is thus a distinction of persons within the one Godhead (John 5:26), and that between these persons there is priority and subordination of order (cf. Jon 5:19; 8:28). “Eternal” reinforces the fact that the generation is not merely economic (i.e., for the purpose of human salvation as in the incarnation, cf. Luke 1:35), but essential, and that as such it cannot be construed in the categories of natural or human generation (Bromiley, 1994:368). The term procession describes the relationship of the Holy Spirit to the Father and the Son (John 15:26; 16:7). He is said to proceed from the Father and the Son. Only the Spirit proceeds from the Father and the Son in this spiration relationship.

2. Defining Manifestation – There are two definitions given in Webster’s dictionary that suffice to define this term and to demonstrate its inadequacy to express the doctrine of the Trinity. 2.1. “The demonstration of the existence, reality, or presence of something, possibly a person, an object, or a quality.” 2.2. “One of the forms in which something or someone, such as an individual, a divine being, or an idea is revealed.” Such a perspective accounts for biblical evidences of functional distinctions, but does not account for the biblical data that make clear that behind the three “modes” of revelation to mankind in history are three transcendent ontological modes if being, subsistences or persons. The emphasis in manifestation diminishes the biblical account of personal identity. In the view of modalists, there is one Being and on Person in God. The manifestation of Jesus Christ, even at God’s right hand may be an appearance, but is certainly not a Person (until and unless modern modalists clarify their statements). Many people confuse modalism with Trinitarian belief. The false impression is that God exists in three modes but is only one person. A manifestation of the Trinity need not reflect the ontological Trinity (the Trinity as it exists in itself). The idea behind the manifestation as Father, Son, or Spirit is merely a designation without regard for real distinctions. The names are merely appropriate and applicable at different times. Hence God just functions in relationship to the world in three different ways or modes (or dimensions). It is for a clear contrast with modalism that orthodox Christians continue to use the word “Person” (or subsistence) and reject manifestation. Personhood emphasizes not only a manifestation but also an individual personality (see economic Trinity discussion above). These “multiple personalities,” if you will, are not serial or sequential, but all at once (and all equally righteous, wise, etc.). Millard Erickson, in his Christian Theology, alerts us to the dangers inherent in modalism from an historical perspective: By contrast, modalistic monarchianism was a fairly widespread, popular teaching. Whereas dynamic monarchianism seemed to deny the doctrine of the Trinity, modalism appeared to affirm it. Both varieties of monarchianism desired to preserve the doctrine of the unity of God. Modalism, however, was also strongly committed to the full deity of Jesus. Since the term Father was generally regarded as signifying the Godhead itself, any suggestion that the Word or the Son was somehow other than the Father upset the modalists. It seemed to them to be a case of bitheism… The essential idea of this school of thought is that there is one Godhead which may be variously designated as Father, Son, or Spirit. The terms do not stand for real distinctions, but are merely names which are appropriate and applicable at different times. Father, Son, and Holy Spirit are identical (In essence and in Person)––they are successive revelations of the same person. The modalistic solution to the paradox of threeness and oneness was, then, not three persons, but one person with three different names, roles or activities (Erickson, 1985:334). (Italicized in () is my comment)

What Difference Does It Make? 1. The Trinity in Christian Apologetics Our technical approach has tended to focus at times upon what the Trinity is not, rather than what it is. This is due, in part, to the uniqueness of the Trinity. In our earlier discussions, we have sought to establish three principal points in defending the doctrine. First, monotheism (there is only one Being that is God) was championed as the only consistent teaching of the Scriptures. If one denies the co-equality of the Persons, one ends up in some form a modalist. This general paradigm will serve the student well in confronting cultists. Explore the cultist’s reaction to each principal point, and you will be on your way to evaluating the orthodoxy (or lack thereof) of their position. 1.1. Use the Biblical Teaching to Contrast with Tritheism or Polytheism Although He is omnipresent, God cannot be divided into multiple beings. God’s ontological unity is the basis for outreach in pagan lands. God transcends and rules the diversity of powers in the world. 1.2. Use the Biblical Teaching to Refute Jehovah’s Witnesses, LDS, Oneness Pentecostalism, and others. Often, the Witnesses are at your door with a mockery of the Christian doctrine of the Trinity. Use the biblical teaching to refute the idea that the Bible nowhere teaches the equality of the Son with the Father. Jesus is one in essence with the Father, but in the Incarnation he functionally limited himself to provide for man’s salvation. 1.3. Use the Biblical Teaching to Refute the Hindu and Buddhist Pantheistic Trinities and Christian Scientism The Hindu trimurti (threefold manifestation of the Absolute), Brahman or the universe in its triple role as emanator, destroyer, and preserver has at times been thought to be analogous to the Trinity. Hindus in America have used this teaching to make missionary inroads among nominal Christianity. The supposition underlying the trimurti, however, is pantheism. There are no persons, and the modalism is functional. Similarly, the Buddhists suggest a trikaya, three bodies emanating from the Buddha (primordial and ultimate body of Essence, Bliss, and Appearance). Anything one experiences in reality is thought to have a threeness in unity. The concept of the transcendent, personal God in Christianity with three personal distinctions (consciences) able to commune and intercede with each other is a radical departure from the East. If the ultimate reality in the world is many, it becomes impossible to account for the unity of the world. In the ultimate reality of the Trinity, the Christian has a coherent account of diversity in the unity in the world and does not find it impossible to consider that the universe has both multiplicity and unity. 1.4. Use the Biblical Teaching to Refute Process Theology Process theologians posit an impersonal god in the process of “becoming.” God is merely the factor of order in the evolutionary process. By way of contrast the Triune God is unchanging, eternal, and one. 1.5. Use the Biblical Teaching to undermine Muslim Anti-Trinitarianism According to the Quran: “Although God is merciful with adulterers and liars, Trinitarians deserve hell.” Christians in Muslim countries might suggest a study of the oneness of God in the OT and NT (the latter regarded as “prophecy”) to consider whether or not the Bible summarily dismisses any kind of complexity in the divine being. 2. Pragmatic Implications for Life and Ministry 2.1 Observe the modern efforts to root missionary endeavors in biblically based Trinitarianism. Start your reading in: George H. Anderson, “The Theology of Mission Among Protestants in the Twentieth Century,” in The Theology of Christian Mission (Nashville: Abingdon, 1996). George W. Peters, A Biblical Theology of Missions (Chicago: Moody, 1972) Lesslie Newbigin, The Open Secret (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1978), esp. 20-72 2.2. Because the three Persons have each other, we can be assured that God created us only to share the love they have and not as a means to His own end (Acts 17:25; John 17:21-26).

So What Difference Does the Doctrine of the Trinity Make to YOU? 1. A Mystery to embrace: The Triune God is totally unlike anything in our world, and therefore greater than anything we can comprehend (Rom. 11:33-36; Isa. 40:18). 2. Salvation: God alone planned our salvation, came to save us, and dwells in us to complete our salvation: 1 Pet. 1:2; Eph. 1:3-18; etc. 3. Prayer: We pray to the Father through the Son, and also pray to the Son directly, in the Spirit (John 14:13-14; Eph. 2:18; etc.). 4. Worship: We worship the Father and the Son in the Spirit (John 4:23-24; Phil. 3:3; Heb. 1:8; etc.) 5. Love: The love among the three Persons is the basis and model for our love for one another (John 17:26) 6. Unity: The unity of the three persons is the basis and model for the unity of the church (John 17:21-23). 7. Humility: As the persons of the Trinity seek the glory of each other, so we should seek the interests of others above our own (Phil. 2:5-11; John 16:13-14). 8. Sonship: We are “sons of God” as we are united with the Son of God by the work of the Holy Spirit and the adoption of the Father (John 1:12-23; Rom. 8:14-17). 9. Truth: All those who wish to worship and love God must seek to know Him as He is in truth, for God, as Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, is truth (John 4:24; 14:6; 17; 15:26; 16:13).

Trinitarianism: Biblical Teaching on the Trinity J. Brian Tucker, Ph.D. Moody Theological Seminary

Introduction How does the New Testament speak concerning the Trinity?

NT Teaching on the Trinity Romans 14:17-18 Romans 15:16 1 Corinthians 2:2-5 1 Corinthians 6:11 1 Corinthians 12:4-6 2 Corinthians 1:21-22

NT Teaching on the Trinity 2 Corinthians 13:14 Ephesians 2:18 Ephesians 3:16-17 Ephesians 4:4-6 Colossians 1:6-8

Conclusion NT is implicitly Trinitarian. No passage says, ‘Now the teaching…’ The Trinity is an assumed teaching. The doctrine of the Trinity is the highest truth God has revealed about Himself to His people.

Conclusion Many contend the doctrine developed over time. Don’t confuse human knowledge with God’s revelation. Biblical teaching on the Trinity has always been true. Trinity not revealed in the OT but in Christ and the church.

Begin with One God God is one substantially (one spiritual Being) and one essentially (one spiritual being with all the attributes belonging to Him). Essence = substance + attributes The biblical oneness does not rule out distinguishable attributes and persons. Essence in English ousia in Greek essentia in Latin

Three Persons or Subsistences in God: Father, Son, Holy Spirit God’s oneness does not rule out distinguishable persons. 1. Defining and distinguishing Being and Person (including economic [function] and ontological [being] Trinity). 1.1. Personhood – with reference to God, this is a center of consciousness capable of fellowship, communication, and intercession.

Three Persons or Subsistences in God: Father, Son, Holy Spirit 1.2. The term ‘subsistence’ By subsistence theologians mean personal distinctions in the divine being that do not relate to God’s essence. Matt 3:16ff opera ad intra (internal operations) opera ad extra (external operations)

Three Persons or Subsistences in God: Father, Son, Holy Spirit 1.3. What is the difference between being and person? Trinitarians affirm that the whole undivided essence of God belongs equally to each of the three Persons of the Trinity. The full and equal participation in the divine Being is the doctrine most often denied by heterodox and cultic (heretical) groups.

Three Persons or Subsistences in God: Father, Son, Holy Spirit 1.4. A definite order marks the subsistence and operation of the three Persons in the divine Being (Economic & Ontological Trinity). 1.4.1. Ontological Trinity 1.4.2. Economic (or Economical) Trinity

Three Persons or Subsistences in God: Father, Son, Holy Spirit 1.4.2.1. The Biblical Order: Father, Son, and then Spirit. 1.4.2.2. Father, Begotten and Procession

2. Defining Manifestation The false impression is that God exists in three modes but is only one person.

What Difference Does it Make? 1. The Trinity in Christian Apologetics

What Difference Does it Make to You? A mystery to embrace Salvation Prayer Worship Love Unity Humility Sonship Truth

16 The End