Peter Barnes
SERMON NOTES
GOD IN THREE PERSONS, BLESSED TRINITY
– the Bible says that there is one God but that Jesus is Lord.
– we baptize in the one name of the three Persons in the Godhead (Matthew 28:19-20). There are three Persons in the one essence.
– Gregory of Nazianzus: ‘I cannot think of the One without quickly being encircled by the splendour of the Three; nor can I discern the Three without being straightway carried back to the One.’
1. God is one. There is only one God – Deut.6:4; Isa.44:6; Mark 12:29, 32; 1 Cor.8:4.
2. Christ as God.
(a) He is called God. Jesus is specifically referred to as God in John 1:1, 18 (NASB is the best text); 20:28; Romans 9:5; Philippians 2:6; Titus 2:13; Hebrews 1:8: 2 Peter 1:1; 1 John 5:20. The emperor Domitian (A.D. 81-96) insisted that he be addressed as ‘Lord and God’, but Thomas embraced Christ in the same terms (John 20:28). As the Son of God, Jesus is equal with God (John 5:18); He is ‘the image of the invisible God’ (Col.1:15).
(b) He has the attributes of God. Christ Jesus is eternal (John 8:58; Rev.1:8, 17; 22:13), everywhere at the same time (Matt.18:20; 28:20), unchangeable (Heb.13:8), and able to do all things (Phil.3:21; Heb.1:3).
(c) He does what God does. He is the creator of the world (John 1:3, 10; Col.1:16; Heb.1:2-3, 10) and the judge of all the world (Matt.25:32; John 5:28-29; 2 Cor.5:10). He claims to forgive sins in the same sense that God does (Mark 2:1-12), and promises to give eternal life to those who trust Him (John 10:28).
(d) He is worshipped. Christ is not just admired by Christians but worshipped (Matt.2:2, 11; 28:9, 17; John 9:38; Heb.1:6; Rev.5:12).
3. The Spirit as God.
The Spirit is a Person, not a force or an influence – a ‘He’, not an ‘It’ (John 14:16; 16:13-14).
(a) He is Lord. The Spirit of the Lord is the Lord (2 Cor.3:17-18).
(b) He has the attributes of God. He knows all things, even the depths of God (Isa.40:13-14; 1 Cor.2:10-11); He is everywhere at the same time (Ps.139:7-10; 1 Cor.3:16; 6:19); and He is eternal (Heb.9:14). He can be blasphemed (Matt.12:31). A lie to the Spirit is a lie to God (Acts 5:3-4). He was active in creating the world (Gen.1:2; Ps.104:30); and He raises the dead (Rom.8:11).
4. A word of caution.
Any illustration is an error. An orange can be cut up into three equal parts, but each part is one-third of the whole. These three persons are not simply appearances of the one person in different guises or forms, as a man may be a pastor, a husband and a father, or H2O can be water, ice or steam.
Conclusions
(a) We cannot fully understand the triune God. Only the Son (Matt.11:27) or the Spirit (1 Cor.2:11) can plumb the depths of God.
Herman Bavinck: ‘He can be apprehended, he cannot be comprehended.’
(b) In Christ we know God completely (John 14:9; Heb.1:3). Our knowledge is not perfect, but Christ is perfectly God.
(c) Our salvation is in the hands of the triune God. No creature can save us. Regarding the salvation of God’s people, the Father sought it (Eph.1:3-6), the Son bought it (Eph.1:7-12), and the Spirit taught it (Eph.1:13-14).