The Trinity; Father, Son, & Holy Spirit
A Sermon Series
“The Trinity Helps Us Understand Our Mission”
Matthew 28:16-20
Introduction
Genesis 1:26-27 “Then 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.” 27 So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them.” This is the first time we see God revealed to humanity as something other than one. “Us and our,” clearly show a plurality. God placed mankind, made in the image of God, in the world and gave him a job to do (have dominion and multiply). Humanity’s purpose is linked to his being made in the image of God, by a God revealed as having plurality. Our purpose as human beings is directly joined to how we understand God.
What is the Trinity?
When we talk about the Trinity it comes from a survey of the entire Bible. It is never mentioned as a teaching of Scripture, but the world “Bible” is not mentioned in the Bible either but that doesn’t mean that we don’t believe in the Bible.
Instead, the Trinity is assumed or presupposed as a “background framework when the Bible discusses how God saves us, how he adopts us, how he speaks to us, and how he makes his presence known among us and in us.”[1]
So, the first thing that we need to understand is that there is one God. Both the Old Testament and the New Testament testify that there is only one true God. Deuteronomy 6:4 “Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God, the LORD is one.” And in James 2:19 “You believe that God is one; you do well. Even the demons believe – and shudder!”
Each of the persons of the Trinity is God. God the Father is regularly used in reference to God, 1 Corinthians 8:6 “There is one God, the Father, from whom all things and for whom we exist.” Jesus, Christ the Son, the Word of God, is God. John 1:1 “In the beginning was the Word, and Word was with God, and Word was God.”
And the Holy Spirit is God, as in Acts 5:3-4 “But 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? 4 While 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” (these are just a few of many examples).
And while there is one God, and God is three persons who are all God, each is distinct from the other two. “The Son is distinct from the Father. We see the distinction from the statement in John 1:1 “the Word was with God.” We see it also from the fact that the Father sent the Son into the world as in Galatians 4:4, “God sent forth his Son.”[2]
In John 17 there is a prayer from Jesus to the Father, and Jesus prays to God the Father for those that will follow Him (the high priestly prayer). And in John 14 and 15 Jesus tells the disciples to wait in Jerusalem for the Spirit, the Helper, to arrive. The Holy Spirit is a person, not merely a force, because He can be lied to (see Ananias earlier). Other passages tells us that the Holy Spirit hears, speaks, intercedes and can be grieved (John 16:13; Romans 8:26-27; Ephesians 4:30). All of these imply that the Holy Spirit is a person.
There is only one God. This God is three persons.
Each of the persons is fully God
and each person is distinct from the other two.
But how can this be? How can there be three distinct persons and only be one God? It is a mystery (or a paradox) – so we seek to explain it with analogies (like a man is father, employee, and husband; or like water is ice, liquid, or solid; or like a clover is three separate petals, yet one leaf, etc.)
But most analogies lead us to heresy (modalism, Partialism, Tritheism, Docetism, Adoptionism).[3] Some affirm the unity of God but deny the distinctions of the persons. Or they affirm the distinctions of the persons, but make Jesus and the Spirit subordinate, “little gods.”[4]
One commentator said, “It is especially when we reflect on the relation of the three persons to the divine essence that all analogies fail us and we become deeply conscious of the fact that the Trinity is a mystery far beyond our comprehension. It is the incomprehensible glory of the Godhead.”[5]
Why does it matter? Why is the Trinity a non-negotiable doctrine? Can’t we just believe what we want?
The doctrine of the Trinity is important first and foremost because God has chosen to reveal the doctrine to us through his Word, thereby making it a biblical doctrine. AW Tozer says that “what comes into our minds when we think about God is the most important thing about us.” Why is that?
It is because if what comes into your mind when you think about God is anything other than the God revealed to us in Scripture, then you are committing idolatry. You have created God in such a way that does not align with His Word that has been revealed to us. God has revealed himself to us as a triune God.
Salvation is explained again and again through a Trinitarian God. Galatians 4:4-6 “But when the fullness of time had come, God sent forth his Son, born of woman, born under the law, to redeem those who were under the law, so that we might receive adoption as sons. And because you are sons, God has sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, crying, “Abba! Father!”
Heretical interpretations go against the doctrine of atonement. When we lose a correct understanding of God, we lose the gospel right behind it. The Trinity is one God and one God alone. If a person fails to recognize that there is one God instead of three, then this person is in danger of believing in a polytheistic god who does not save.
The Trinity is three distinct, co-equal, co-eternal, co-powerful persons. If a person fails to understand that the Godhead is three persons, then they would be in denial of the deity of Christ and the Holy Spirit.
A misunderstanding of the Trinity has also paved the way for heresies that deny the relationship between the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit and also deny the omnipotence, omniscience, and omnipresence of God.
The Trinity is who God is. If we mistake the character or the attributes of God, then we cannot put our faith in the God of the Bible. We end up putting our faith in a god that does not exist. That is why it is essential that we understand the Trinity so that we can have a true understanding of who God is and how He saves us.
The Trinity matter because it is directly related to our purpose in this life. Jesus stated to the disciples, “As the Father has sent me, so send I you.” Just as God the Father sent Jesus into the world, so Jesus sends us into the world to do the Father’s work, equipped and accompanied by the Spirit of God.
The Trinity Gives the Disciple An Eternal Purpose (Matthew 28:16-20)
16 Now the eleven disciples went to Galilee, to the mountain to which Jesus had directed them. 17 And when they saw him they worshiped him, but some doubted. 18 And Jesus came and said to them, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. 19 Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20 teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”
(v. 16) “Now the eleven disciples went to Galilee” – Why were there only 11? Judas had betrayed Jesus and had hung himself. The disciples had time to replace him with another to complete the 12 – why had they not replaced Judas? Because there was no point, the Jesus movement was dead.
The church father Jerome said, “Their doubting increases our faith.” Some found it hard to believe that the person a far off (it was in a group of 500) before them was the resurrected Christ. “And Jesus came (near) . . .” When Jesus is close we begin to understand the power and truth of the resurrection.
When you draw near to Jesus, He will make things clear. He has no desire to be the far-off God, he wants to be the close-up God of your life. In the Garden of Eden in Genesis God would come close to Adam and Eve, “in the cool of the day,” but sin caused that relationship between mankind and God to be distanced. Christ’s death and resurrection brings us back close to God.
“All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me” – Satan and all his dominion poured out all the hate, the vile, and blasphemy he could aim at Jesus the Son. Then all of the Father’s wrath was poured upon Jesus on the Roman cross for the salvation of the world. He was scourged and beaten beyond recognition. He was raised on the cross, pierced for our iniquities.
He was laid in the tomb, dead – and now upon the resurrection, the crown of thorns is removed, the rod used to beat him and then placed in his hand as a scepter is gone, and the mocking robe laid over him by the Roman soldiers is removed – Jesus the Son, now sits victorious at the right hand of the Father, having “All authority” – there is nothing that exists that is not under his reign.
Jesus then gives the disciples what is known as the Great Commission. (v. 19) “Go therefore” – Don’t miss the therefore; We are to make disciples of this resurrected Jesus. We who are Jesus’ disciples know that our Jesus sits with authority over all of creation as King, Supreme Ruler, all bow before Him. There is no one who will not have to give an account to Him.
We go under His authority, to speak and act as His representatives, his ambassadors, his brothers and sisters – but He is the resurrected Lord, therefore, He alone is worthy to be praised, worshipped, honored. Therefore, we tell the world about Him. Therefore, we share His gospel.
This is “the most sublime enterprise that ever human beings have been called upon to accomplish.”[6] Every nation should be discipled to be under His lordship, to keep His commandments.
(v. 19) “Go therefore and make disciples,” – but what is a disciple? Matthew 12:46-50 “While he was still speaking to the people, behold, his mother and his brothers stood outside, asking to speak to him. 48 But he replied to the man who told him, “Who is my mother, and who are my brothers?” 49 And stretching out his hand toward his disciples, he said, “Here are my mother and my brothers! 50 For whoever does the will of my Father in heaven is my brother and sister and mother.” A disciple is someone who hears, understands, and obeys Jesus’ word. This process takes time, actually a lifetime. But we are given two ways that show us how to be disciples:
Baptism
(v. 19) “baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit” – baptism, as a disciple, follows one’s salvation because it “symbolizes burial and resurrection, the actual burial and resurrection of Christ, and the spiritual death and resurrection of the believer in union with Christ (Rom. 6:3).”[7]
Why the mention of the Trinity? Why not baptism in Jesus’ name? “The three divine Persons co-operate in man’s salvation according to an external covenant,” so the Trinity’s “agreement and co-operation extend to all works of God.” The work of one is the work of all, and each works in and through the others.” However, “the divine Persons co-operate in different offices.” The source of the work is the Father, the mediator is the Son, and the operating agent is the Spirit.”[8]
You can’t “make disciples” without all three members of the Trinity.
The Trinity is the means of salvation
and is the means for the disciple to live out the gospel.
“So we baptize in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. We pray and worship in the name of Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. We trust and obey the Father, Son, and Spirit. In fact, all things come from the Father, through the Son, and by the Spirit. And all glory, honor, power, and strength return to the Father, through the Son, and by the Holy Spirit. This is the one true God – God in three persons, the blessed Trinity.”[9]
(v. 19) “in the name of” – Romans 6:3 “Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death?” A person who is baptized is identifying themselves with God who is Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.
Teaching
“teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you” – While baptism is an act of obedience, done one time – observing Christ’s commands is an ongoing act, that we seek to follow Christ’s teachings every day. As a disciple maker learning Christ’s commands is not enough – a disciple maker must teach the disciple how to follow those teachings as a well. “to observe all . . .” There are no sections of Jesus’ teachings that have become antiquated, irrelevant, or untrue. And you need all three of the Trinity to help you observe His teachings.
“And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age” – The word “behold” is used in many places throughout the Bible to signal to the reader something spectacular. Jesus promises to be with us, always. How spectacular is that – this resurrected God, who died for the sins of the world, who has ultimate authority or all of space and time is with us – enabling us to carry out this “Great Commission.”
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[1] Vern Poythress, Knowing and the Trinity, How Perspectives in Human Knowledge Imitate the Trinity (Phillipsburg; New Jersey, 2018) 43.
[2] Poythress, 47.
[3] https://www.monergism.com/thethreshold/sdg/Trinitarian%20Heresies.html
[4] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KQLfgaUoQCw
[5] Wayne Grudem, Systematic Theology, An Introduction to Biblical Doctrine (Grand Rapids, Michigan; Zondervan Publishing, 1994) 256.
[6] Broadus, 592.
[7] Broadus, 596.
[8] Daniel L. Akin, A Theology For the Church (Nashville, Tennessee; Broadman & Holman, 2007) 664.
[9] Nathan D. Holsteen & Michael J. Svigel, Exploring Christian Theology, Volume 1 (Minneapolis; Minnesota; Bethany House Publishing, 2014) 167.
