Getting the Bible from Beginning to End – Part 2
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In our Online Ministry Bible study today we are continuing our discussion on Understanding the Bible from beginning to end. Last week we introduced the idea of God the King and the Holy Trinity. We said that:
“God is the Eternal King. He is an infinite, unchangeable, Spirit, perfect in holiness, wisdom, goodness, justice, power and love.”
In our study today we are going to add to that a little as we develop a deeper understanding of God the Father, Son and Holy Spirit. The idea of “trinity” is difficult to comprehend. Wikipedia defines it this way:
The Trinity is a Christian doctrine, stating that God is one Being who exists, simultaneously and eternally, as a mutual indwelling of three persons: the Father, the Son (incarnate as Jesus Christ), and the Holy Spirit. Since the beginning of the third century the doctrine of the Trinity has been stated as three Persons in one God, all three of whom, as distinct and co-eternal persons, are of one indivisible Divine essence, a simple being. Closely linked with this doctrine is that according to which the Son has two distinct natures, one fully divine and the other fully human, united in a hypostatic union. Belief in the doctrine of the Trinity is known as Trinitarianism. Most denominations within Christianity are Trinitarian, and regard belief in the Trinity as a mark of Christian orthodoxy. ….. In 325, the Council of Nicaea adopted a term for the relationship between the Son and the Father that from then on was seen as the hallmark of orthodoxy; it declared that the Son is “of the same substance” as the Father. This was further developed into the formula “three persons, one substance.”
Good, that should clear it up for everyone. Three persons, one substance? This is where it is hard for our finite thinking to grasp the concepts of the infinite. Let me try to help with a couple of examples.
- One substance, water, can exist in different forms. Ice, liquid, and steam. Apparently, in a vacuum at a specific temperature you can get all three to exist at the same time.
- I am a father, I am son, I am a brother, I am a husband. One substance, but different in relationship to children, parents, sibling, spouse. (Some might say about me, one substance, multiple personalities (lol))
It is in the area of Trinity that our beliefs are often attacked by other groups, so it is important that we have some understanding of the scriptures that leads us to the concept.
From all eternity
Isaiah 43:13 (NASB)
13 “Even from eternity I am He, And there is none who can deliver out of My hand; I act and who can reverse it?”
He (God the King) exists as the One
Isaiah 45:5 (NIV)
5 I am the LORD, and there is no other; apart from me there is no God. I will strengthen you, though you have not acknowledged me,
1 Corinthians 8:4 (NIV)
4 So then, about eating food sacrificed to idols: We know that an idol is nothing at all in the world and that there is no God but one.
Living
Psalms 42:2 (NIV)
2 My soul thirsts for God, for the living God. When can I go and meet with God?
Psalms 84:2 (NIV)
2 My soul yearns, even faints, for the courts of the LORD; my heart and my flesh cry out for the living God.
True
Jeremiah 10:10 (NIV)
10 But the LORD is the true God; he is the living God, the eternal King. When he is angry, the earth trembles; the nations cannot endure his wrath.
God in three persons
John 10:30 (NIV)
30 I and the Father are one.”
John 14:9 (NIV)
9 Jesus answered: “Don’t you know me, Philip, even after I have been among you such a long time? Anyone who has seen me has seen the Father. How can you say, ‘Show us the Father’?
John 14:16-17 (NIV)
16 And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Counselor to be with you forever– 17 the Spirit of truth. The world cannot accept him, because it neither sees him nor knows him. But you know him, for he lives with you and will be in you.
John 15:26 (NIV)
26 “When the Counselor comes, whom I will send to you from the Father, the Spirit of truth who goes out from the Father, he will testify about me.
Of one substance
John 1:1 (NIV)
1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.
John 1:14 (NIV)
14 The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the One and Only, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth.
2 Corinthians 3:17 (NIV)
17 Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom.
The Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit
Matthew 28:19-20 (NIV)
19 Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20 and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.”
2 Corinthians 13:14 (NIV)
14 May the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all.
Equal in power and glory
Revelation 5:13 (NIV)
13 Then I heard every creature in heaven and on earth and under the earth and on the sea, and all that is in them, singing: “To him who sits on the throne and to the Lamb be praise and honor and glory and power, for ever and ever!”
Ephesians 3:14-21 (NIV)
14 For this reason I kneel before the Father, 15 from whom his whole family in heaven and on earth derives its name. 16 I pray that out of his glorious riches he may strengthen you with power through his Spirit in your inner being, 17 so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, 18 may have power, together with all the saints, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, 19 and to know this love that surpasses knowledge–that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God. 20 Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us, 21 to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever! Amen.
So what do we know about God the King and the Holy Trinity?
God is the Eternal King. He is an infinite, unchangeable, Spirit, perfect in holiness, wisdom, goodness, justice, power and love. From all eternity He exists as the One Living and True God in three persons of one substance, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, equal in power and glory.
Next week we will begin to discuss “Creation”
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Category: Studying the Bible
