Welcome to “Learning and Living the God-centered life”

Carmel Baptist Church

www.learningandlivingtheword.com

May 24, 2009

Let’s know better the God who we already knowTo see afresh God in Christ who lived His life by the power of the SpiritHow clearly Paul sees the Persons of the Trinity

Turn to Ephesians 1:1-14 - and notice 3 things about the text The clear delineation in the Trinity as Paul distinguishes the Father, Son and Holy SpiritSo we have to ask is this Paul just ad hoc, or is it purposeful in order to teach us Notice the implicit ranking of the members of the Trinity, the Father first, then the Son and finally the Spirit. The early church Fathers used the word taxis, which indicates the ordering found in the Trinity Also notice the centrality of the Son when it comes to salvation. The Father has chosen to make the Son the center piece of His cosmic work in salvation and accomplishing it to His glory.

Ephesians 1:1-2 (READ THE TEXT)Stop and think about what the apostle Paul is writing in these verses

Notice he writes “Paul an apostle of Christ Jesus, by the will of God, which means the Father.” Paul uses theos when talking about God the Father in Trinitarian context.2 Corinthians 13:14

Paul’s shorthand for the The Father is when he writes GodThe grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit, be with you all.

Point #1 - Isn’t there a distinction here that Paul is making between the Father and the Son. They are two different Persons of the One true and Living God. Two different expressions of the Father and Son and yet they are distinct

Paul is an apostle of Christ “by the will of God”

Point #2 - Doesn’t this also imply a ranking with the Trinity?

Paul is an apostle of Christ sent by Christ one who is sent to carry out the mission of Christ but he does this ultimately not because Christ has said so but in fact because the Father has said so.

The Father has willed that Paul be an apostle of Christ.

There is primacy that is given to the Father.

The saints are to be faithful in Christ, and Paul is an apostle of Christ, while understanding that they do so under the authority of the Father.

The Father whom we will see receives the ultimate glory in this work of salvation, done in His Son.

So in verse 1 we can see the following: Distinction Ranking Centrality

Followers not of God or the Spirit but of Christ

Ephesians 1:2God the Father “AND” (kai in the Greek) think of the significance of this one word in the Greek that links together God our Father AND the Lord Jesus Christ

If verse 1 shows us the distinction between the Father and Son then verse 2 shows us the identity and unity of the two.

So Grace and Peace flow from whom?Answer- the Father and the Son. They are both identified as givers of grace to their people.

Point #3 - Where is the Spirit?Now we know the danger of building too much on silence and that you can’t build an argument on the basis of silence.

But isn’t it noteworthy how seldom the Spirit comes into play in the context where God is given praise.

Turn to Revelation 5:12 “the Lamb slain was given praise and they bow before the Father and the question can be asked: ”where is the Spirit?“

Here is the point: The Spirit willingly accepts and embraces a backstage position, He is not out there in the spot light. The one who is generally out in the spot light is the Son, who receives center attention

Paul understands the Spirit is facilitating while the Father and Son bring peace and grace to the people.

Ephesians 1:3 (distinction and ranking)Blessed be who? The God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ…Isn’t it clear when it comes to the distinction in the Trinity

Paul is saying here every blessing from heaven that we have in Christ is brought to us by the Spirit.

Ephesians 1:3 is a Trinitarian verse:(Father, Son and Spirit)Notice the distinction and ranking

Blessed be the God and Father (notice the implicit ranking) Not the Spirit Not the Son

It is clear that the ultimate praise and ultimate glory redounds to the God the Father

Just as Jesus taught us to out his earthly ministry. All the glory goes to the Father and we will see this, Turn to Philippians 2:11 “every knee will bow and every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father”

The Son is second because each of the blessings are in the SonFor exampleEphesians 1:4 - in HimEphesians 1:5 - through Jesus Christ Ephesians 1:7 - in Him

OBSERVE: Go through the list and each blessing comes in the Son The Son is the central focus point of all the blessings of God Which are brought to us in Christ meditated by the Spirit

As we read from this point own we need to keep track of the pronouns:

Ephesians 1:4Just as He, (God the Father) chose us in Him, (The Son) before him (God the Father)

Isn’t this an astonishing fact, the Father chose us in the Son in order that the Son would bring us to Himself as holy and blameless people

It was the desire of the Father to have us as his own, and the only way that was possible, was to choose us in the Son to be holy and blameless through the work of his Son

Sometimes we process salvation in these terms, the Father and his anger toward us, in his just condemnation of us was getting ready to condemn us all, and send us all to hell.

And then we think the Son stepped in with love and grace and said, “Oh Father don’t do that, allow me to take the punishment that they deserve, on myself so they can be set free.”

This kind of thinking is dishonoring to the Father, and it is not true to biblical teaching, to think that the Father had to be convinced and had to accept a planned brought to him by his Son.

No it was the Father who designed and carried out EVERY aspect of our redemption and the Father did it in his Son. And the starting point for your salvation starts in ETERNITY PAST.

Before the foundation of the world the Father chose us to be brought to Himself and he knew the only way this could be done was through his Son.

Behold what love the Father has bestowed on us as children of God.

How did this happen?Got adopted us, he picked us out, legally made us His children through what the Son has done for us

Ephesians 1:5Just look at what the text is telling us that the Father has done for us.

Ephesians 1:4 - He (God the Father) chose usEphesians 1:5 - He (God the Father) predestined us, to Himself (God the Father)The kind intention of his will, (God the Father)

Ephesians 1:6His grace (God the Father), He (God the Father), freely bestowed on us in His beloved SonThe Father brings these blessings because of His deep love for usAnd he provides the way for us to come to his Son

Ephesians 1:7In him (Christ)His blood (Christ)His grace (God the Father) look back at verse 6

Ephesians 1:8Which He, God the Father lavished on us

Ephesians 1:9He (God the Father) made knownHis will (God the Father)His (God the Father) kind intentionHe (God the Father) purposedIn Him (Christ)

Ephesians 1:10Isn’t this clear Distinction Ranking Centrality - the accomplishing of Christ with everything that God sought to do in the created order

“Everything” is summed up in Christ

Ephesians 1:11His purpose (God the Father)His will (God the Father)

Ephesians 1:12 His glory (God the Father)

Ephesians:1-13 in Him (Christ)Sealed in Him (Christ)The Spirit is coming to us through the Son

Ephesians 1:14 His glory (God the Father)

His refers to the FatherIn him refers to the Son with him refers to the Spirit

The Spirit comes in seals us, so that each promise and gift that the Father has for us in the Son will come to pass.

Ephesians 1:1-14Isn’t this section of Scripture amazing as it is jam packed with the Trinity.

How many times do we read a text like this and yet we missed the obvious.

And it stems from our lack of training and teaching in these important Bible basics.

We need to put on our Trinitarian glasses when we come to the Bible. And notice Father, Son and Spirit

Now as we move forward let’s look at

An overview of the doctrine of the Trinity:

A common definition of the Trinity

A common understanding of the problem in the early Churchand to realize why this is so significant for us today in the church

Historical and biblical overview of the Trinity

We begin with the early Christian conviction that there is only one God.A scriptural monotheism.

An Old Testament Israel and in the New Testament church we have in Judaism and early Christianity a wholehearted commitment to believe that there is only one and only one God.

Why is that so remarkable, because that sounds right to us?

The reason is true for ancient Israel and today for early Christians because they were surrounded by polytheistic cultures.

Everyone around them believed in a multitude of deities

Think of the apostle Paul when he entered Athens, the Greco-Roman world in acts 17 “beholding a city full of idols”Cultures that are deeply polytheisticAnd we have is the faith of Israel and the early Christians affirming there is one God. This was in the face of enormous opposition.

And well is this clear that the Old Testament teaches one God?

Genesis 1:1 - “in the beginning God created the heavens and the earth Is this a monotheistic text?Answer - it sure is, if we understand what Moses the writer is doing, his main purpose is to establish their uniqueness, the oneness of the one true and living God of Israel.In contrast to the polytheistic views of the nations that surround Israel.

And these religions they held the different gods help territorial jurisdictions over different portions of the created order. And therefore they had lordship over various parts of creation.

And in contrast to that Moses writes Genesis 1:1 and explains that there is one God who made all of it which means that he alone has rights of rulership, over every one and everything.

In Biblical theology there is a close connection between creation and lordship.

Think of Acts 17:24God who made the world and all things in it, since he is Lord of heaven and earth

Do you hear the connection between Creator and Lord?

And this is exactly what Moses is saying from verse one of the Bible:There is one God who made it allThis God rules over all he made God rules over the nations like Assyrians, Babylonians, Philistines and Egyptians - why, because He created and has the right Deuteronomy 4:35 Deuteronomy 6:4 - the famous “shama” text of IsraelThere is one God and He is our God (meditate on this fact!)

And friends by his grace he has brought us to worship him, the one true living God. What mercy has been extended to us who are of the faith of Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and Jesus.

1 King 8:59-60 (READ THIS SCRIPTURE)This comes at the end of the address that Solomon gives regarding building the temple

Yes in the age of pluralism in which we live now, these words are enormously relevant whether others out there acknowledged this or not, there is one God and He reigns over all people and they must bow the knee to him or they perish.

May we see the truth of His word, and how contemporary these verses are for us today.

Isaiah 45:5-7 (READ THIS SCRIPTURE)“I am the LORD and there is no other”This is about Cyrus who was born over 200 years before this was written

Isaiah 46:9The Old Testament concludes there is one true God

But now when we moved to the New Testament, in which we clearly can see God the Father, God the Son and God the Spirit, it would have been easy to affirm three instead of one true God the calls of the polytheistic cultures

But no the New Testament is insistent that there is one true God John 17:3 1 Corinthians 8:6 1Timothy 2:5 Romans 3:30 James 2:19

Point #2How did the early church develop its Trinitarian understanding given that it was committed to monotheism?

In early church there was no question that the Father was full deitywho did Jesus pray to if it wasn’t the Father?

Who did Jesus seek to honor with his life if not God the Father?

To whom did Jesus pray if not God the Father

There was a tendency in the early Church to something called “monarchianism” the thinking about the Father in a way that would render less the Son and the SpiritThe Scripture talks about the Father’s monarchy or his rule over all things that could not be jeopardized

But what about Jesus? The burning question for the first three centuries of the church theologically, is this questionwho is Jesus?

Yes we agree he is our savior and we are called to follow his lordship but how do we affirm him as Thomas did my Father and my God if there is but one God (John 20:28)

How can we understand this Jesus is God and the Father is also God?

The early church was pressed by the words of Scripture to affirm Jesus as God John 17:3 (who is capable of giving eternal life?)Distinction and Life (both are the providers of life)the giver of life is God, Jesus is identified with the Father as being capable of doing only what God can do and that is to give life

1Corinthians 8:6 Question, who is capable of creating the universe?Who alone can do it? Answer - only God can do this

Look how Paul distinguishes between Father and Son but he attributes to Father and Son the same ability to bring about creationThe Father is the Creator and the Son is the agent

John 1:1 (understanding the deity of Christ)the Word was with God (distinction) you are with someone only if they are distinct from you

The Word was God (equality)

We need to see the Father and Son as distinct from one another while identifying as the same God

So what language can we borrow to express such great truth?

This is written in the context of Genesis 1:1 in the beginningJohn 1:3-the Son created the heavens and the earth that is declared in Genesis 1 he is God

John 8:58 - Before Abraham was “I AM”Look at the response and this was not because they thought Jesus was indicating he was 2000 years old but calls with this statement Jesus was claiming to be God (Exodus 3:14) the Lamb of the God of Israel is what Jesus is declaring to be.

Mark 25-11Jesus forgives sin and of course only God can forgive sin.

Hebrews chapter 1 - The 6 arguments for the deity of Christ

Point #1 Hebrews 1:2-Christ is creator of everything

Point #2Hebrews 1:3 (a)-he is the exact representation of the nature of his Father

Point #3Hebrews 1:3(b) - he upholds the universe by the word of his power

Point #4Hebrews 1:6-the angels worship him do you think God knows that only the Angels should worship God?God commands the Angels to worship Jesus the Son

Point #5Hebrews 1:8-the Greek word for God is used as the title for the Son

Point #6Hebrews 1:11-12 applied these verses to Jesus the Son

Well what about the Holy Spirit? And indeed the early church had to wrestle through this issue of the Holy Spirit is God

But finally as usual the words of scripture provided the evidenceActs 5:3-4 this is Peter’s dialogue with Ananias and Sophia asking them if they lied to the Holy Spirit and then he says you have not lied to men but to God

1Corinthians 2:10-11Paul indicates the Holy Spirit knows the thoughts of Godthis is an emphasis regarding revelation, but it is the spirit who reveals the thoughts of God and who can know the thoughts of God other than God himself.

1Corinthians 3:16Do you not know that you are the temple of God and that the Spirit of God dwells in you?

Isn’t this an incredible metaphor when a rethink of the temple of God in the Old Testament, where God dwelt and manifest himself as the Shekinah glory and now it is us by whom?Answer - God present in us by his Spirit

Hebrews 9:14-which indicates that Christ was delivered up by the eternal Spirit. Therefore when we see the attribute here for the spirit as he turned out the the Father is God the Son is God the Spirit is God

The last category will be in the New Testament that are referred to as triadic passages

Which means that all three are present in the same context and some are clear to indicate the deity of the Father, the Son, the spirit

Matthew 28:19-20 in the name (Cingular) which indicates one nature of God, one being of God, whose name is Father, Son and Holy Spirit

The one name of the one God is Father, Son and Spirit,

2 Corinthians 13:14-this is the last verse of 2 Corinthians and is Paul’s benediction to say God be with you.May God’s presence go with you

The one God whose blessings will rest upon them is Father, Son, and Spirit

So how did the early church put together all this data?At the Council of Nicaea 325 A.D.

We need to know these dates to help our fellow Christians know their history

Leading up to the Council at Nicaea there had to be much dispute especially as it related to the Son. And at this point the Holy Spirit is not much on the radar screen

But calls the issue of the Son had not yet been settled in order to move into the issue of the Spirit. You paragraph 1 proposal that was put on the table was that of “modalism”this was done so by a gentleman named Sabellius

He argued for one God, the Father is God, the Son is God, the Spirit is GodThis sounds pretty good to us doesn’t it?So what’s the problem?

Sabellius said, he hailed to a monarchy in view of the Father

Therefore in the incarnation the Father is now manifesting Himself as the Son. So during the life of Christ we have God the Father present as the Son but not as Father, and not Spirit

At Pentecost the Father comes again in Spirit but not as Son or the Father.

So yes we haveGod the FatherGod the SonGod the Father

But each is God successively, and not simultaneously

This became obvious to Christian people when they read their Bibles that this would just not work.

Example: The baptism of Jesushow can you have the voice from Heaven-this is my beloved Sonthe Spirit descending as a dove upon the Son in the water all simultaneously

Who does Jesus prayed to in the garden?unless you hold to the fact that Jesus somehow was a ventriloquist

So “modalism” died out because it became obvious from a reading of the Scriptures that this simply did not work.

The more serious problem came from Aria, who was one of the main components of the notion that Jesus was the highest form of all God created beings. The Son was head over all creation (Colossians 1:15) but according to Arias, the Son was in essence subordinate to the Father.

The Son was created and the Father was uncreated this became such a popular view that a council was formed and met at Nicaea and 325 A.D. in which the hero of the day became a man named Athanasius.

He was a courageous defender of the deity of Christ. Athanasius put forth the Greek term “homousios” that the Son is the same nature as the Father

At the same council were the followers of the deceased Origen who proposed a middle position they proposed Christ as “homoiusios” which remains of a similar nature to God the Father.

Beware of those who say that we should always find a middle position

Instead we seek the truth and sometimes the truth is no one edge or the other, but go for the truth!

At the end of the day after nation is one out and the bases they came Christ is not just similar to what he is of the same kind as the Father and this is where we get the Nicene Creed

So what about the Holy Spirit?The Arians since losing the battle on the Son moved their attack to the Spirit. And contended that the Spirit of God was likened to an arm of God, or the right hand of the Lord, or the breath of the Lord, this was just an emphasis on the presence of the Lord but not his personhood.

So that the Spirit represents an impersonal force that is the presence of God.

And He is not deity.

So another council is called and this time at Constantinople in 381 A.D. in which the heroes were three Eastern theologians (the Cappadocian fathers)Basel the greatGregory of NessaGregory of Narzianses

Areas died and 336 A.D. and so they were responding to the Aryans who were very much active and present

In 325 A.D. at Nicaea here is what stated regarding the Holy Spirit “and we believe in the Holy Spirit”

This represents the attention those days given the Holy Spirit. In 381 A.D. an extension of the Nicene Creed is made for the church in which the third article proclaiming the Holy Spirit is Lord, the life giver, the one who proceeds from the Father, who with the Father and the Son is to be worshiped and glorified.

There was much dispute between Gregory of Narziances onto his and the other two over pushing the term homousios, this means the same as, which had been done with Athanasius in his argument over the deity of ChristGregory wanted this badly but the other two men voted against him.

And he got so upset that he got up and left in mid-Council and actually wrote some nasty notes back to the other two gentlemen.

But they became convinced this approach needed to be different than before in order for this article to pass.

Instead they orchestrated language that amounted to the same thing but deeply rooted in biblical teaching so others can not complain against them unless you complained with Scripture period

The third article of the Nicene Creed indicates the deity of the Spirit with spiritual language indicating he is Lord (2Corinthians 3:18), creator (Genesis 1:2) and is to be worshiped and glorified as God (2Corinthians 13:14)

At the Counsel at Nicaea 325 A.D. and Constantinople 381 A.D. then the Church affirms the deity of the Father the Son and the Spirit

How to put that together with one God, well for that we need St. Augustine.

St. Augustine put together our Orthodox understanding of the Trinity

Here is an Augustinian definition of the Trinity:God’s whole and undivided essence belongs equally, eternally, simultaneously, and fully to each of the three persons of the Godhead. So that the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit each is fully God while each in his own personal expression in role and activity of the one eternal and undivided divine essence.

The Christian faith affirms that there is one and only one true God eternally existing while fully and simultaneously expressed in these three persons.

The Father, the Son, the Spirit, each member of the Godhead is equally God and is eternally God and each is fully God, not three gods, but three persons of the one Godhead.

Each person is equal in essence as each possesses fully the identical same and eternally divine nature yet each is also an eternal and distinct personal expression of that one undivided divine nature.

Each person of the Godhead that is fully God, the Father or the Son or the Spirit is not just one third God but rather each person is fully God

Yet while each person is fully God, it is no one person alone who is fully God that each person eternally exists along with the others.

Each of whom possesses fully the identically same divine nature. Because of this, what distinguishes each person of the Godhead from each other is not and cannot be the divine nature, of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.

The one undivided divine nature is possessed equally and eternally, simultaneously and fully by the three persons of the Godhead

Therefore what distinguishes each person of the Godhead from the other persons is his particular role, in relation to the other persons and the relationships that each has with the other persons.

Our task is to determine how these roles and relationships will be expressed.

How does the Bible talk about the roles and relationships of: God the Father God the Son God the Spirit

As they relate to one another and to us, in the created world

In doing so may we see more clearly and more fully the God of whom we already know.