Okay, it is time to get started and today will probably be the last easy day. Last week we started looking at the doctrine of the Trinity with respect to mostly the Old Testament, the Old Testament testimony. Today we're going to, of necessity because of what we're doing, look at some of the New Testament and then start to see the language that is used. It's next week where we start to unpack some of the meaning behind the language that is used. That's where your eyes will probably roll in the back of your head. Some of the history behind it and so forth, and trying to organize that is no easy task to be certain. So to begin with, let's turn to 1 Peter chapter 1. First two verses, the introduction. Peter, an apostle of Jesus Christ, to those who are elect exiles of the dispersion in Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, Bithynia, according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, in the sanctification of the Spirit, for obedience to Jesus Christ and for sprinkling with his blood. May grace and peace be multiplied to you. So, what do you see in that text? Come on. Well, that's true, but we're not talking Calvinism today. Okay, for knowledge of who? The Father. You also have the Spirit and Jesus Christ. Now, a couple of things, well, we'll get to that in some other aspects of this. Now, much of what we're talking about today, you already know, you take for granted. But if we're going to get into substantial discussions on the doctrine of the Trinity, which is where we're going to be moving, we have to have the biblical foundation first. So we looked at the Old Testament seeds last week. This week we're focusing on the New Testament and then hopefully just reminding you of some of the language and technicalities that we see in our own standards. Especially when you compare it to scripture and you see terminology that you do not find in scripture. And we'll work on the historical background a couple of the Trinitarian heresies and so forth as we move forward in the weeks to come. But, New Testament versus Old Testament, just generally speaking, what can you say about it? This is a broad question, I get it. It's what? It's still old. Okay, it's old to us, yeah, 2,000 years old. What else? You see this is not just for the Jews, this is for other nations. Okay, it's expanded outside a particular nation, not just the Jews. The New Testament acts like Okay. Okay, the New Testament is full of the Old Testament. Yeah, that's certainly true. Maybe what might be helpful here in thinking this through And you've heard me refer to this time and again. Think of the book of Hebrews and what its overall message is. What it's preventing, trying to prevent the Hebrews to do versus what they have. Okay much more mystery revealed and Paul makes use of that language especially in Ephesians but mystery revealed Opened it tells us more I That's the idea, yeah. Well, it was darker, if you will. But even as our standards made clear, the Old Testament, the scriptures that they had for themselves and everything that they were required to do was, as our standards say, still efficacious, effectual for the application of salvation in their lives. But there's still the truth that it was more dim Darker sounds ominous. And that's just the way we use words today. But darker is not wrong. It's just we tend to think of it as something scary. Now, if we think in terms of Hebrews, the book of Hebrews in the New Testament reminds us of this simple phrase. And I know you've heard me say this before. How much more? You have the types, the shadows, they lived by faith. I mean, you have the wall of faith, the hall of faith in Hebrews 11. And they were looking forward. How much more in the New Testament? The New Testament is the old revealed. And so the doctrine of the Trinity fits this. The seeds of the Trinity are there in the Old Testament. Quick review, what did we talk about last week? At creation, what was there? What do we see? Let us make man, so there's a plurality. Yep, same thing in the Tower of Babel. Elohim, plural. form of God. Now it doesn't say three, but there are seeds of a plurality in God. It's debatable, but the burning bush. Burning bush, yeah. A hint, we didn't talk about man and woman. Man and woman, what about it? They're equal and yet not the same. Okay. And that gives us a hint. Yeah, there's a plurality in man, as it were. That works differently, of course. Okay, so we had those Old Testament hints, but when we get to the New Testament, things become much clearer. What's some of the terminology or phrasing that we use when we see in the New Testament that helps us make it clear? Okay, beginning of the Gospel of John. In the beginning was the Word. Okay, so there you have it. In John chapter 1, verse 1, the Word was with God. So if the Word was with God, there's a distinction there. And then you have the next phrase, the Word was God, to indicate a union. So now, Lots of ink has been spilled on the Gospel of John, especially those first words with the logos and so forth. So the New Testament reveals more to us. Now, let me just take a step back and remind you that on the other side of glory, we will still not fully comprehend the Trinity. We'll still know it better Why won't we fully know the Trinity? We'll still be creatures. We'll still be finite. We'll know it better. Who knows the Trinity? God ultimately knows fully the doctrine of the Trinity. All right. Boving says this and in his section on the New Testament proof if you will of the Trinity all salvation every blessing and blessedness Have their threefold cause in God the Father Son and Holy Spirit everything the Bible is a Trinitarian work and I think a lot of times we fall into a trap of the Christian life in over-emphasizing the individual persons at the expense of the union. There is an aspect where that's the case because we also recognize that it's Christ who's the prophet. It's the word of Christ. He's the living word and it's through the spirit. Right, exactly. Now we'll get into some of these other aspects too. We'll unpack some of these things in much more detail as we move forward. But we need to understand that One of the things that is this doctrine of the trinity was being developed by the ancient church What became apparent as we look at the data in scripture? Is that ultimately the work of god? is indivisible All the work of god is a trinitarian work Even though scripture tends to focus this particular work on this person, this particular work on that person, and this particular work on the third person. Think of salvation, right? Who elects? The Father. That's not to say the Son and the Spirit don't have a hand in that, but we attribute election to the Father. Who atones? The Son. Who applies? The Spirit. Ultimately, if we just simply think of that God the Father does through the Son by the Spirit. That's kind of a blanket statement, I realize, but it's helpful to remember that the work of God is Trinitarian in nature. And in fact, we really need to think in terms of our own piety in life. And we ought to have a Trinitarian mindset. Now, I think, It's out. I haven't bought it. I hope to buy it someday. Ryan McGraw wrote a short booklet on Trinitarian piety. I would recommend just about anything McGraw writes. He's a good friend. I like him. I've even suggested for Up and Bartlesville, when they do their fall conference now, that they bring him in. We both know him. All right. Let's look in the New Testament, couple of passages where we see the Trinity, maybe not spelled out, but the Trinity in action. Let's turn to, well I've got three choices, but I'm gonna go to Luke chapter three. Luke chapter 3, verses 21 and 22. This is Jesus' baptism. Now when all the people were baptized and when Jesus also had been baptized and was praying, the heavens were opened and the Holy Spirit descended on him in bodily form like a dove. And a voice came from heaven, you are my beloved son, with you I am well pleased. Okay. Which person of the Trinity is not specifically named? The father. How can we be sure that the father is there? Come on, this one's an obvious. My son. You are my son. And notice the distinction of language. This seems so obvious, but it matters. You are my son. There's a direct communication of one person to another. And then you also have the Spirit descending. So there we see the Trinity in action, if you will. And it's something that we need to remember. This is an example of the work of God as a work of the Trinity. Now, Christ's baptism, the simple answer, especially seen in John's gospel, but Christ's baptism is ultimately his anointing as high priest. John indicates that he was 30 years old, and that's when a priest became full-fledged, no longer an apprentice, priest. when we think about the relationship between the father and the son, among other things that we're talking about are maleness and femaleness. Yeah. And among other things that are happening then in our culture, is our culture insists that there isn't any difference. They are attacking the trinity. They're attacking the very things you're talking about in terms of this is my son. and that particular facet of our culture shows up in a multiple number of places but they all have that same foundational root of saying God shall not determine reality we will independently of him Yeah, it's definitely related. As Van Til put this, and a lot of apologists will put this, this really is a question of the problem of the many and the one. Now that's big in philosophical language, I realize. But that's what the doctrine of the Trinity is focused on here. We've got many and one. We don't usually think of three as many, but it's plurality in one. three in one, one in three. I don't fully understand that, and we're not going to. But the scripture reveals this to be true. Yeah. that the Hindus, the Buddhists, insist that there really is not two, much less three in many. Now, that obviously leads to a multiple number of conundrums. I remember one time on the beach asking a fellow who was a Hindu why he thought the gals were more attractive than the palm trees, because they were all one. What he should have said is, because I'm mistaken, what he said was, get lost. but this is a part of our culture. And what we see in the newspaper and experience right now is not something which is far away and abstract, but it really happens and works out in the ways that people defy God. It's concrete. Let's turn to 2 Corinthians chapter 13, the last verse of the epistle. Verse 14, and this ought to be really familiar to you. You could probably recite it, or probably recite it with my slight twist to it, if you will. The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, the love of God, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you. What is that? You see the Trinity there. This is the apostolic benediction that I use frequently in pronouncing the benediction at the end of the service. Now, a couple of things to note. First of all, this is parallel to what? Come on, think about what I do when I say this. the high priestly benediction in Numbers chapter six. The Lord bless you and keep you. The Lord make his face to shine upon you and be gracious unto you. The Lord lift up his countenance upon you and give you peace. Now, how many things in the Levitical Aaronic blessing are being pronounced there? Three. Three. The Lord bless you, the Lord make his face shine upon you, and the Lord lift up his countenance upon you. Here we come to 2 Corinthians chapter 13 and verse 14, threefold. The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, the love of God, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit. Now, the English misses this. But in the Greek, when you look at the middle one, isn't it interesting that first, it is the second person in the Trinity, the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, because that's, if you think about it, that's how it's even possible. The love of God, it's actually in the Greek, the love of the God. The article is there. I'll say the definite article. English has definite and indefinite. Greek only has the article. So I will frequently say of the Greek language the definite article, even though technically it doesn't have one. It's just the article, because there's no indefinite article. We distinguish. That's kind of old Puritan-esque language. We distinguish. We affirm, we deny, we distinguish. You'll see that a lot if you pick up Turritan. But anyway, the point here is the fact that all three The Lord Jesus Christ. Now, what makes that definite is not just the article in front of Lord, but also the fact Jesus Christ, the name. So names don't necessarily have to have an article in front of it. It becomes definite anyway. But the God, which is a reference to God the Father, and the Holy Spirit, there's a distinction made. That's part of what the article in Greek does. It makes a distinction. There's a distinction of persons. Now, let's bring this together. Why is this important in terms of the apostolic benediction and really the Aaronic benediction? Even though we're pronouncing a blessing from the Father, the Son, and the Spirit. Are you receiving a blessing from three? Or are you receiving a blessing from one? The answer is yes. Ultimately, in the presence of God, only God can bless. You see in this? God the Father, God the Son, God the Spirit, blesses you in His presence when we gather to worship. Yep, that's right. One blessing, three parts, I gotta be careful, I'm not saying that three persons are parts, that's heresy. Okay, that's flat out heresy. So when you hear somebody say, you know, the Father is one part of God, the Son is another part of God, the Spirit is another part of God, that's blatant heresy. Partialism. The point is, ultimately, is that we see, even in the apostolic blessing, the doctrine of the Trinity. It's not just merely three persons. It is three persons that are one God. You receive one blessing from God, from the Father, the Son, and the Spirit. So far so good? We good there? Samuel? Yeah. We will get into that. Oftentimes, though it's not exclusive, oftentimes when we see God, it usually is a reference to God the Father. There are exceptions. You know, we talked about this in going through Acts and other contexts, but Acts 20, 28 talks about how God shed his blood. So there's an example where it can only refer to the incarnate son. But generally speaking, when we see God, it's usually a reference to the father. Context helps us determine. All right, continuing. The Great Commission, Matthew 28, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. There it's clear because the English does do it. The Father, the Son, the Spirit. There's a distinction, but there's a unity. All right. Now Berkov, how many of you have Berkov systematic? And you who live in my house can raise your hand. You have it too. Okay, Birkhoff's Systematic Theology gives a nice, neat little discussion, I'm only gonna give you parts of this, about the comparison of descriptions of God's work in the Old Testament, how it compares to His work in the New, to show this doctrine of the Trinity. So for instance, the Old Testament portrays Jehovah, Yahweh, as the Redeemer. Right? I mean, you see that through the Psalms, for instance. But the New Testament portrays who is the Redeemer? The Son. So there's a parallel right there. The Son is also Jehovah, Yahweh. A couple of passages, for instance. Matthew 121 and the announcement John 4 42 Galatians 3 13 and 4 5 Philippians 3 30 and especially I like this one Titus 2 13 and 14 if you miss those you can get those later or if you have berk off look them up Also, the Old Testament describes Jehovah or Yahweh dwelling among Israel and in hearts. In the New Testament, who is usually described as dwelling among the church and in our hearts? Okay, it is Christ, but the Spirit of Christ, the Holy Spirit. So for instance, Acts 2, 4, Romans 8, 9, and 11, 1 Corinthians 3, 16, Galatians 4, 6, Ephesians 2, 22, and James 4, 5. I know I said those fast, but I'm just trying to get through. It'll get posted, don't worry. And I can give you these later. But there's also a distinction in the works. Like we mentioned, I've already said that we must remember that God's work, especially with respect to creation and redemption, is indivisible. It is always a Trinitarian work. But generally speaking, what we see in the New Testament attributed to the Father, and this comes from Bavinck, good pleasure, foreknowledge, election, power, love. The kingdom belongs to the father. For the son, he is the mediator. He makes atonement. He brings salvation and grace and wisdom and righteousness. The spirit regeneration, renewal, sanctification, communion, all by the power of the Spirit. We'll talk about the indivisible work of God as we unpack some of this. So ultimately, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit are clearly designations that God reveals of himself to us to indicate that there are relations existing within the Godhead, personal relations, distinct subjects. Like we saw in Christ's baptism, the Father said to the Son, you are my Son. Now, let's look at some of the language of the standards. Westminster larger catechism. It's one of the reasons we got these. For almost six years you heard me bemoan the inadequacy of the, quote, New Trinity Hymnal for not putting the larger catechism in it. Larger catechism, question number eight, so this is on page 940. Are there more gods than one? What's the simple answer? No. No. Good job. There is but one only, the living and true God. That's identical to the shorter catechism question. So the shortest catechism question answer would be no. So you got it. Now, I don't know. Number nine, how many persons are there in the Godhead? There'll be three persons in the Godhead, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost, Old English. And these three are one true eternal God, the same in substance, equal in power and glory, though distinguished by their personal properties. All right, now look through that question and answer, particularly the answer. How many of those things and expressions do we see there that we just take for granted because we have heard it, in many cases, just for decades? Okay, at least three or one. Person. What's a person? Okay, a living soul. Okay, there's personality and we are going to talk about this in the coming weeks to kind of show developmentally in the doctrine of the Trinity where we get this term person from. There is. That's exactly right. And so, you know, we talk about three in one, one in three, one God in three persons. And don't we just simply, it just comes right off our tongue because that's what we always say. We've said it all this way. Now, the fact that you have throughout church history, so much ink spilled on the question of what a person is when we're talking about the Godhead. We're talking about this and trying to figure this out and make sure we have at least some basic understanding or concept of this. Don't think for a minute that they fully grasped everything that they were writing. They would tell you. They don't fully get it all. They just know what God is not and they try to formulate something to help us understand in terms that are a little bit easier, put the quotes around that, to help us appropriate the truth of this. But really, a person versus nature and substance. I guess you could say three forms, but I like the translation person better because it actually means individual. OK. Person. Right. And see, that's the thing. Forms. This is where the headaches that the ancient church had to deal with. Because it became a question of words, yes. But it's beyond just words. It's how they're using words. Because they would argue, and they would realize, OK, you're saying this by using this word. If you mean this, then OK, I can live with that. But if you mean that, no. But eventually, the church came to the conclusion, these are the kind of words that we need. Now, what's our problem today? English. None of this was written in English originally. I mean, the confession was. I know that. But the Nicene Creed, and later the Chalcedon definition, dealing with Christology. It wasn't English. So even when we use English words, we are trying to take what we know about those words. I mean, honestly, as we look around the room, there's a lot of individual persons in here, right? How do you define that? We can't even define it adequately with respect to each other. What makes us think we're going to be able to adequately define it for God? But nevertheless, the language is important. So you have in here this description, persons. We're gonna have to see where did that come from? Where did that terminology come from? The phrase there, the same in substance. Substance, that's a technical term. And then you've got this last clause. This question is very similar to the shorter catechism, except for this last clause. Although distinguished by their personal properties. What does that mean? If you're looking, you could probably... What does it mean? Well, that's what the next question asks. What are the personal properties of the three persons of the Godhead? Now here's language that you probably remember hearing. It is proper to the Father to beget the Son, and to the Son to be begotten of the Father, and to the Holy Ghost to proceed from the Father and the Son from all eternity. Those are the personal properties of the Godhead. Now, we're going to have to unpack all of that, too. And we will. That's my hope. Where did this language come from? How did this develop? Calvin, in his Institutes, chapter 13. Anybody taking advantage of the thing that I said at the beginning of the year, Calvin's Institutes in a year? OK, we've got a couple people. It's not bad if you have the version that they're using. Not that it makes a difference if you use the battles or the beverage one volume edition. It's only like about five to six pages a day. It's not too bad. But on the other hand, it's still Calvin. Calvin's not always easy to read. And it also adds to the fact that it's a translation into English. But Calvin has a very good discussion on the doctrine of the Trinity and the use of terminology, why it's appropriate to use language and terminology that is outside of Scripture, as it were. Not in terms of its meaning, but the words themselves. So, Trinity, why is that good to use? Person, with respect to the Father, the Son, and the Spirit, why are those good to use? Book 1, Chapter 13 of Calvin's Institutes. Now if you don't have a copy of Calvin's Institutes, you can find it online for free. Now that's, at least in the first portion of Book 1 of the Institutes, that's a longer chapter. So you can probably just read maybe the first seven or eight sections, I think, is what the discussion there is with respect to the language and terminology used. These things matter and they come into play. Sarah? Yeah. Why did they even create us? Much less redeem us. Yeah. That's why we're here. had at one time or another, with the cultists knocking on our door. And here we're talking about these, the language we're using to describe the Ten of Trinity. And as you multiply texts this morning, I'm sitting and thinking, even though many of them I've reviewed and thought about before, again, I'm impressed by how much I don't know. and how much is at the same time a, well, duh, yeah. It's obvious that God is three persons. It's obvious that this is beyond my understanding. And it also is more and more obvious that it isn't because of any brilliance or skill or education or experience that I submit to these truths. that when the cultist comes and doesn't understand and challenges me, I realize that I'm not going to be able by any powers of persuasion to enable them to see that reality. It's the work of the spirit. It is. Ultimately, it is the work of the spirit. And it just humbles. Yeah. In and through the word. It's the work of the Spirit in our lives that helps us to at least apprehend and accept even if we don't fully understand. It is, and this is where there's a historical issue with that. I agree with the catechism here, but why do we have a Roman Catholic Church in an Eastern Orthodox Church? It split. The focal point was that issue. There were all kinds of political stuff going on too. But it became the key excuse for the church to split. Anybody know the term? Filioque. And it's this question of the procession of the Spirit. The Spirit proceeds because the Eastern Orthodox say that the Spirit proceeds from the Father full stop. The Western Church, what's now Roman Catholicism and us following Roman Catholicism, see I can say that with a straight face. the Spirit proceeds from the Father and the Son. And we recite that when we recite the Nicene Creed. So we'll talk about that too. So Eastern Orthodox don't like the Nicene Creed at all? Their version of the Nicene Creed, the Spirit proceeds from the Father. Just that part? Yeah. That's the only part. It's not from the Father and the Son. Basically, they will fight you over it. Yes. Oh yeah, absolutely. I mean Christ himself said, I will send you another comforter. But we also have to get into what precisely is meant by procession. What does it mean that the Spirit proceeds? Because we have begotten, right? The Father begets the Son. What's that mean? And then the Spirit proceeds from the Father and the Son. Why is that language used? We'll talk about that. Anyway, we're kind of out of time, and this was just to whet the appetite, as it were. Just next week, get a good night's sleep. You should do that anyway. the night before the Lord's Day, not that I always do, but we're going to talk about some of the terms that are used and we'll define them. I'll put that in quotes just so that you have an inkling that these didn't just come up out of nowhere. It took a long time to hash some of this out. And the consensus that the church came to that we're going to use this term this way and not this way anymore. Things like that. And then we'll start to trace some of the history of the doctrine as it develops. Let's close in prayer.