THE TRINITY
THE TRINITY
CLASS OVERVIEW
WEEK 1 – THE TRINITY DEFINED
WEEK 2 – WHAT THE TRINITY IS NOT
WEEK 3 – PATTERNS IN SCRIPTURE
WEEK 4 – STILL MORE PATTERNS
WEEK 5 – A RELATIONAL LOVE
WEEK 6 – A WAY FOR US
WEEK 7 – REVIEW, Q&A
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THESIS
IF WE ARE TO LOVE THE LORD OUR GOD WITH ALL OUR HEART, OUR MIND AND OUR STRENGTH THEN WE MUST LOVE HIM FOR WHO HE HAS REVEALED HIMSELF TO BE.
OUR GOD IS ONE IN THREE PERSONS; FATHER, SON AND HOLY SPIRIT…��AND HE IS PERFECT IN LOVE.
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Review: Who is God?
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GOD IS ONE
“Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God, the LORD is one.” – Deuteronomy 6:4
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THE FATHER IS GOD
“…yet for us there is one God, the Father, from whom are all things and for whom we exist, and one Lord, Jesus Christ, through whom are all things and through whom we exist.” – 1 Corinthians 8:6
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THE SON IS GOD
“1In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2He was in the beginning with God. 3All things were made through him, and without him was not any thing made that was made. 4In him was life, and the life was the light of men. 5The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it…
…14And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth.”
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THE HOLY SPIRIT IS GOD
“1But a man named Ananias, with his wife Sapphira, sold a piece of property, 2and with his wife’s knowledge he kept back for himself some of the proceeds and brought only a part of it and laid it at the apostles’ feet. 3But Peter said, “Ananias, why has Satan filled your heart to lie to the Holy Spirit and to keep back for yourself part of the proceeds of the land? 4While it remained unsold, did it not remain your own? And after it was sold, was it not at your disposal? Why is it that you have contrived this deed in your heart? You have not lied to man but to God.” - Acts 5:1-4
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THE FATHER, SON AND SPIRIT ARE THREE DIFFERENT PERSONS
“Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever receives the one I send receives me, and whoever receives me receives the one who sent me.” – John 13:20
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GOD IS LOVE
“Anyone who does not love does not know God, because God is love.” – 1 John 4:8
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Review: What is the love of God like?
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Strong's Concordance
agapé: love, goodwill
Original Word: ἀγάπη, ης, ἡ�Part of Speech: Noun, Feminine�Transliteration: agapé�Phonetic Spelling: (ag-ah'-pay)�Definition: love, goodwill�Usage: love, benevolence, good will, esteem; plur: love-feasts.
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HELPS Word-studies
26 agápē – properly, love which centers in moral preference. So too in secular ancient Greek, 26 (agápē) focuses on preference; likewise the verb form (25 /agapáō) in antiquity meant "to prefer" (TDNT, 7). In the NT, 26 (agápē) typically refers to divine love (= what God prefers).
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So God’s “agape” love is “other centered benevolence”.
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If God IS (a state of being) “agape” love (1 John 4:8), what implications does this have for his character or make up?
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IT MEANS HIS “AGAPE” LOVE IS…
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IT MEANS HIS “AGAPE” LOVE IS…
“And now, Father, glorify me in your own presence with the glory that I had with you before the world existed.” - John 17:5
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IT MEANS HIS “AGAPE” LOVE IS…
“8For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, declares the LORD. 9For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts.” – Isaiah 55:8-9
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IT MEANS HIS “AGAPE” LOVE IS…
“As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Abide in my love (agape).” – John 15:9
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IT MEANS HIS “AGAPE” LOVE IS…
“…“Father, if you are willing, remove this cup from me. Nevertheless, not my will, but yours, be done.” – Luke 22:42
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What the Trinity is not...
THE TRINITY IS NOT
ANYTHING OTHER THAN WHAT THE SCRIPTURES HAVE REVEALED HIM TO BE
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Trinitarian Illustrations
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ILLUSTRATIONS & THEIR FAILURES
ILLUSTRATIONS | THEIR FAILURES |
The Egg/the Apple | Partialism |
States of Matter: Ice, Water & Vapor | Modalism |
The Shamrock | Partialism |
Geometrical Designs | ??? |
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ILLUSTRATIONS & THEIR FAILURES
ILLUSTRATIONS | THEIR FAILURES |
The Egg/the Apple | Partialism |
States of Matter: Ice, Water & Vapor | Modalism |
The Shamrock | Partialism |
Geometrical Designs | A Creation |
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Trinitarian Illustrations All Fail
THE TRINITY IS NOT
ANYTHING OTHER THAN WHAT THE SCRIPTURES HAVE REVEALED HIM TO BE
“29Being then God’s offspring, we ought not to think that the divine being is like gold or silver or stone, an image formed by the art and imagination of man” – Acts 17:29
THE TRINITY IS NOT
ANYTHING OTHER THAN WHAT THE SCRIPTURES HAVE REVEALED HIM TO BE
4“You shall not make for yourself a carved image, or any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth. 5You shall not bow down to them or serve them, for I the LORD your God am a jealous God,…” – Exodus 20:4-5
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What do all of these Trinitarian heresies have in common?
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They lack his perfect love.
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A Trinitarian Image
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“26Then God said, “Let us make man in our image, after our likeness. And let them have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over the livestock and over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.”
27So God created man in his own image,
in the image of God he created him;
male and female he created them.” – Genesis 1:26-27
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“28And God blessed them. And God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth and subdue it, and have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over every living thing that moves on the earth…
31And God saw everything that he had made, and behold, it was very good.” – Genesis 1:28-31
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“18Then the LORD God said, “It is not good that the man should be alone; I will make him a helper fit for him” – Genesis 2:18-25
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“…22And the rib that the LORD God had taken from the man he made into a woman and brought her to the man. 23Then the man said,��“This at last is bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh; she shall be called Woman, because she was taken out of Man…” – Genesis 2:18-25
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“… 24Therefore a man shall leave his father and his mother and hold fast to his wife, and they shall become one flesh. 25And the man and his wife were both naked and were not ashamed.” – Genesis 2:18-25
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“… 24Therefore a man shall leave his father and his mother and hold fast to his wife, and they shall become one flesh. 25And the man and his wife were both naked and were not ashamed.” – Genesis 2:18-25
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“A new commandment I give to you, that you love (agape) one another: just as I have loved (agape) you, you also are to love (agape) one another.” – John 13:34
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“A new commandment I give to you, that you love (agape) one another: just as I have loved (agape) you, you also are to love (agape) one another.” – John 13:34
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“By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love (agape) for one another.”�– John 13:35
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Strong's Concordance
agapaó: to love
Original Word: ἀγαπάω�Part of Speech: Verb�Transliteration: agapaó�Phonetic Spelling: (ag-ap-ah'-o)�Definition: to love�Usage: I love, wish well to, take pleasure in, long for; denotes the love of reason, esteem.
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HELPS Word-studies
Cognate: 25 agapáō – properly, to prefer, to love; for the believer, preferring to "live through Christ" (1 Jn 4:9,10), i.e. embracing God's will (choosing His choices) and obeying them through His power. 25 (agapáō) preeminently refers to what God prefers as He "is love" (1 Jn 4:8,16). See 26 (agapē).
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HELPS Word-studies
Cont…
With the believer, 25 /agapáō ("to love") means actively doing what the Lord prefers, with Him (by His power and direction). True 25 /agapáō ("loving") is always defined by God – a "discriminating affection which involves choice and selection" (WS, 477). 1 Jn 4:8,16,17 for example convey how loving ("preferring," 25 /agapáō) is Christ living His life through the believer.
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“7Beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God, and whoever loves has been born of God and knows God. 8Anyone who does not love does not know God, because God is love. 9In this the love of God was made manifest among us, that God sent his only Son into the world, so that we might live through him…” – 1 John 4:7-12
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“…10In this is love, not that we have loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins. 11Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. 12No one has ever seen God; if we love one another, God abides in us and his love is perfected in us.” – 1 John 4:7-12
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We, the church, ARE the image of the invisible Triune God. And we bare witness to this truth by our LOVE.
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THE FATHER IS GOD
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“Whosoever will be saved, before all things it is necessary that he hold the Catholic faith. Which faith unless every one do keep whole and undefiled, without doubt he shall perish everlastingly. And the Catholic faith is this: that we worship one God in Trinity, and Trinity in Unity; neither confounding the Persons, nor dividing the Essence. For there is one Person of the Father; another of the Son; and another of the Holy Ghost. But the Godhead of the Father, of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost, is all one; the Glory equal, the Majesty coeternal…” – Athanasian Creed,
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THERE IS ONE GOD
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THERE IS ONE GOD
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