Bible Study Lessons
The following bible study lessons are available:
The Trinity
I. Introduction – One God
The creed most Christians know from Sunday school is called the “Nicene Creed.” It formulated at the council of Nicea 345 C.E. starting out this way:
We believe in one God, the Father, the Almighty, maker of heaven and earth, of all that is, seen and unseen.
We believe in one Lord, Jesus Christ, the only Son of God, eternally begotten of the Father, God from God, Light from Light, true God from true God, begotten, not made, of one Being with the Father. Through him all things were made. For us and for our salvation He came down from heaven: by the power of the Holy Spirit He became incarnate from the Virgin Mary, and was made man. For our sake he was crucified under Pontius Pilate; He suffered death and was buried. On the third day he rose again in accordance with the Scriptures; He ascended into heaven and is seated at the right hand of the Father. He will come again in glory to judge the living and the dead, and his kingdom will have no end.
We believe in one Lord, Jesus Christ, the only Son of God, eternally begotten of the Father, God from God, Light from Light, true God from true God, begotten, not made, of one Being with the Father. Through him all things were made. For us and for our salvation He came down from Heaven: by the power of the Holy Spirit He became incarnate from the Virgin Mary, and was made man. For our sake He was crucified under Pontius Pilate; He suffered death and was buried. On the third day He rose again in accordance with the Scriptures; He ascended into Heaven and is seated at the right hand of the Father. He will come again in glory to judge the living and the dead, and His kingdom will have no end.
We believe in the Holy Spirit, the Lord, the giver of life, who proceeds from the Father and the Son. With the Father and the Son He is worshiped and glorified. He has spoken through the Prophets. We believe in one holy catholic and apostolic Church. We acknowledge one baptism for the forgiveness of sins. We look for the resurrection of the dead, and the life of the world to come. Amen.
Some fifty years ago Jacob Jocz wrote,
At the center of the controversy between Church and Synagogue stands the Christological question. This is not a question whether Jesus is the Messiah, but whether the Christian understanding of the Messiah is admissible in view of the Jewish concept of God. Here lies the dividing line between Judaism and The Church. .
The Trinity has always been at the center of debate between Jewish people and Christians. "Tertullian (c. 150- c. 225 A.D.) was the first person recorded by history to use the words Trinity (Latin: trinitas), substance (substantia), and person (persona) in relation to God." Later in 325 C.E., the Council of Nicea solidified the Trinity as a major tenant of the Christian faith. The reason for its formulation was to retort the pagan Arian thought of trinity.
Because the word trinity is never found in the Bible some wonder about whether this is a biblical doctrine or not, but the absence of a term used to describe a doctrine does not necessarily mean the term is not biblical. The issue is, does the term accurately reflect what the Scripture teaches?
The point, then, is simply this: While the term Trinity is never specifically used nor the doctrine explicitly explained in Scripture, it is nevertheless implicitly stated. The church councils, in their fight against heresy, were forced to think through what the Bible says about how God exists. The result was the doctrine of the Triinity, but let it be emphasized, the development of this doctrine was based on a careful study of Scripture
Trinity: Webster’s dictionary gives the following definition of trinity: “The union of three divine persons (or hypostases), the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, in one divinity, so that all the three are one God as to substance, but three Persons (or hypostases as to individuality).” Synonyms sometimes used are triunity, trine, triality. The term “trinity” is formed from “tri,” three, and “nity,” unity. Triunity is a better term than “trinity” because it better expresses the idea of three in one. God is three in one. Hypostases is the plural of hypostasis which means “the substance, the underlying reality, or essence.”
Warfield’s: “There is one only and true God, but in the unity of the Godhead there are three coeternal and coequal Persons, the same in substance but distinct in subsistence.”
Person: In speaking of the Triunity, the term “person” is not used in same way it is in ordinary usage in which it means an identity completely distinct from other persons.. According to the teaching of Scripture, the three Persons are inseparable, interdependent, and eternally united in one Divine Being.
It is evident that the word “person” is not ideal for the purpose. Orthodox writers have struggled over this term. Some have opted for the term subsistence (the mode or quality of existence), hence, “God has three substances.” Most have continued to use persons because we have not been able to find a better term. “The word substance speaks of God’s essential nature or being and subsistence describes His mode or quality of existence.”
Essence: In its theological usage, essence refers to “the intrinsic or indispensable, permanent, and inseparable qualities that characterize or identify the being of God.” The doctrine of the trinity states that there is one God who is one in essence or substance, but three in personality. This does not mean three independent Gods existing as one, but three Persons who are co-equal, co-eternal, inseparable, interdependent, and eternally united in one absolute Divine Essence and Being
http://www.bible.org/page.asp?page_id=215
“A Theology of Election, London”: Jocz, Jakób, SPCK, 1958, p189
Otto Heick, A History of Christian Thought (Philadelphia: Fortress Press, 1965), I, 31-32, 59-63
II. New Testament Scriptures
The case for the Triunity of God is even stronger in the New Testament. Here it can be unequivocally demonstrated the Father is God, the Son is God, and the Holy Spirit is God. Furthermore, the New Testament teaches us that these three names are not synonymous, but speak of three distinct and equal Persons.
(1) The Father is called God (John 6:27; 20:17; 1 Cor. 8:6; Gal. 1:1; Eph. 4:6; Phil. 2:11; 1 Pet. 1:2).
(2) Jesus Christ, the Son is declared to be God. His deity is proven by the divine names given to Him, by His works that only God could do (upholding all things, Col. 1:17; creation, Col. 1:16, John 1:3; and future judgment, John 5:27), by His divine attributes (eternality, John 17:5; omnipresence, Matt. 28:20; omnipotence, Heb. 1:3; omniscience, Matt. 9:4), and by explicit statements declaring His deity (John 1:1; 20:28; Titus 2:13; Heb. 1:8).
(3) The Holy Spirit is recognized as God. By comparing Peter’s comments in Acts 5:3 and 4, we see that in lying to the Holy Spirit (vs. 3), Ananias was lying to God (vs. 4). He has the attributes which only God can possess like omniscience (1 Cor. 2:10) and omnipresence (1 Cor. 6:19), and He regenerates people to new life (John 3:5-6, 8; Tit. 3:5), which must of necessity be a work of God for only God has the power of life. Finally, His deity is evident by the divine names used for the Spirit as “the Spirit of our God,” (1 Cor. 6:11), which should be understood as “the Spirit, who is our God.”
Ryrie writes: “Matthew 28:19 best states both the oneness and threeness by associating equally the three Persons and uniting them in one singular name. Other passages like Matthew 3:16-17 and 2 Corinthians 13:14 associate equally the three Persons but do not contain the strong emphasis on unity as does Matthew 28:19.”
The New Bible Dictionary, adds to this the following evidence:
The evidence of the NT writings,
Peter, in explaining the phenomenon of Pentecost, represents it as the activity of the Trinity: ‘This Jesus … being … exalted at the right hand of God, and having received from the Father the promise of the Holy Spirit, he has poured out this which you see and hear’ (Acts 2:32-33). So the church of Pentecost was founded on the doctrine of the Trinity.
Peter traces salvation to the same triunal source: ‘destined by God the Father and sanctified by the Spirit for obedience to Jesus Christ’ (1 Pet. 1:2). The apostolic benediction: ‘The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ and the love of God and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all’ (2 Cor. 13:14), not only sums up the apostolic teaching, but interprets the deeper meaning of the Trinity in Christian experience, the saving grace of the Son giving access to the love of the Father and to the communion of the Spirit.
III. Scriptures on the Oneness of God
A. The Lord is One
Everyday, Orthodox Jewish men pray and recite the Yigdal, "The Thirteen Principles of Faith,” as founded by Rabbi Moses Maimonides. The closest that Judaism comes to the CREEDS are these thirteen principles. As a matter of fact, one of the principles of Maimonides is:
I firmly believe that the Creator, blessed be His Name, Is One; that there is no oneness in any form like His; and that He alone was, is, and ever will be our G*d.
a. Old Testament Scriptures
(1) Deuteronomy 6:4 “Hear, O Israel! The LORD is our God, the LORD is one!”
However, there is also a secondary emphasis—The Lord’s indivisibility. This is apparent in most English translations. This confession clearly prepares the way for the later revelation of the Trinity, but how? “God” (Elohim) is a plural word, and the word one (the Hebrew, echad) refers to one in a collective sense. As such, it is used of the union of Adam and Eve (Gen. 2:24) to describe two persons in one flesh. Further, it is used in a collective sense, like one cluster of grapes rather than in an absolute sense as in Numbers 13:23 when the spies brought back a single cluster of grapes. Furthermore, the oneness of God is implied in those Old Testament passages that declare that there is no other God beside Yahweh, the God of Israel.
(2) Deuteronomy 4:35 “To you it was shown that you might know that the LORD, He is God; there is no other besides Him.”
(3) Isaiah 46:9 “Remember the former things long past, For I am God, and there is no other; I am God, and there is no one like Me.”
(4) Isaiah 43:10 “You are My witnesses,” declares the LORD, “And My servant whom I have chosen, In order that you may know and believe Me, And understand that I am He. Before Me there was no God formed, And there will be none after Me.”
b. Liturgy Against heretics
However, there existed bitterness about how Jewish people saw Christians who believed in the Trinity. Origen and Justin discuss that Jewish people curse the Christians. In the Paris Disputation of 1242, the Pope was still concerned that the Jewish community saw Christians as heretics, deviating from the truth. The Pope inquired, “Are the Christians cursed in the Jewish prayer of the 18th Benediction?” In Hebrew, this prayer is called the Amida. Specifically, the 12th benediction is called, Birkit Ha –Manim. It states:
For the apostates let there be no hope and let the arrogant government be speedily uprooted in our days. Let the nosrim and minim (heretics); be destroyed in a moment. And let them be blotted out of the Book of Life and not be inscribed together with the righteous.
The Birkit Ha –Manim is still read everyday in synagogues. The prayer was first instituted in order to weed out those who might have sided with Israel's enemies. However, after the Temple is destroyed, Rabbi Gamaliel had this prayer reformulated for the purpose of speaking against heretics.
“Judaism on trial, Jewish Christian Disputation of the Middle Ages” translated by Hyam Maccoby Associated University Press, East Brunswick, NJ 1982 p.25 ,
“Jewish and Christian Self Definition” by E.P. Sanders Fortress Press, Philadelphia, PA 1981 p.226
IV Scriptures Demonstrating God, Who is One, is Also Three
Old Testament Scriptures
While there is no explicit statement in the Old Testament affirming the Triunity, we can confidently say that the Old Testament not only allows for the Triunity, but also implies that God is a triune Being in a number of ways:
Hear, O Israel, Adonai Eloheinu Adonai is one." These three are one. How can the three Names be one? Only through the perception of faith; the vision of the Holy Spirit, in the beholding of the hidden eye alone. So it is with the mystery of the threefold Divine manifestations designated by Adonai Eloheinu Adonai—three modes which yet form one unity.
In this quotation from the Zohar, attempting to argue how can three be one, it is apparent that Jewish minds have had this insight, and have struggled to understand it.
A. Elohim
(1) The name Elohim, translated God, is the plural form of El. While this is what is called a plural of plenitude pointing to the power and majesty of God, it certainly allows for the New Testament revelation of the Triunity of God.
(2) There are many instances where God uses the plural pronoun to describe Himself (see Gen. 1:26; 3:22; 11:7; Isa. 6:8).
(3) In the creation account, both God the Father and God the Holy Spirit are seen in the work of creation. It is stated that God created heaven and earth (Gen. 1:1), but that it was the Holy Spirit who moved over the earth to infuse it with life in the sense of protecting and participating in the work of creation (Gen. 1:2).
Furthermore, additional commentary is found in the Babylonian Talmud written between 200-450 C.E., such as:
Rabbi Samuel bar Nahman in the name of Rabbi Jonathan said, that at the time when Moses wrote the Torah, writing portion of it daily, when he came to this verse which says, “And Elohim said, let us make man in our image after our Likeness,” Moses said, Master of the Universe why do you give herewith an excuse to the sectarians (who believe in the trinity of G*d), G*d answered Moses, You write and whoever wants to err let him err.
Zohar II:43b (vol. 3, p. 134 in the Soncino Press edition).
B. Messiah is God
(1) Writing about the Messiah, Isaiah reveals Him to be equal with God, calling Him the “Mighty God” and “Eternal Father” (Isa. 9:6).
Several passages reveal a distinction of Persons within the Godhead.
(2) In Psalm 110:1, David demonstrates there is a distinction of Persons between “LORD,” the one speaking, and the one addressed called by David, “my Lord.” David was indicating the Messiah was no ordinary king, but his own Lord, Adoni (my Lord), one who was God Himself. So God the first Person addresses God the second Person. This is precisely Peter’s point when He quotes this Psalm to show the resurrection of the Messiah was anticipated in the Old Testament.
(3) In the Messianic prophecy of Isaiah 7:14, God made it clear that the One who would be born of the virgin would also be Immanuel, God with us.
(4) Two other passages which imply the Trinity are Isaiah 48:16 and 61:1. In Isaiah 48:16 all three Persons are mentioned and yet seen as distinct from each other. See also Gen. 22:15-16
C. The Word – MEMRE
- First, in order to explain Genesis 1:26, the Targum Pseudo Jonathan (an early Aramaic paraphrase of the Hebrew text) translated verse 27 as: "And the Memra (Word) of the Lord created the man in his (own) likeness." Another example is the Targum Onkelos commentary on Deuteronomy 33:27 translating the Hebrew "Underneath are the everlasting arms" as "And by His 'Memra' was the world created."
- The Rabbis used Memra to describe God Himself, as illustrated by this statement: "The Memra has a place above the angels as that agent of the deity who sustains the coarse of nature." The same rabbinical thoughts or reasoning serves as a bridge from the Messiah to this Memra.
- John, a New Testament gospel writer, associates the Word in creation with the Messiah. "And God said, Let there be light,.." (Genesis 1:3). John explains more about who this Word is: In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made. In him was life, and that life was the light of men. (John 1:1-3).
- Jesus declares His diet
After Jesus exclaims in John 10:30, "I and the Father are one," the Jewish response was: "[They] picked up stones again to stone Him, (John 10:30). This was their intercourse:Jesus answered them; "I showed you many good works from the Father; for which of them are you stoning Me?"
The Jews answered Him, "For a good work we do not stone You, but for blaspheme; and because You, being a man, make Yourself out {to be} God," (John 10:30).
D. The Angel of the Lord
1. Who is the Angel of the Lord?
Who is the one who wrestles with Jacob and meets Moses on Mt. Sinai:
(“The angel of the Lord appeared to him in a blazing fire from the midst of the bush,” (Ex 3:2))?
The Angel of God is revealed again as He leads the Jewish people in the wilderness, “Behold, I am going to send an angel before you to guard you along the way” (Ex 23:20).
Even Joshua meets Him as the Commander of God’s army when Joshua crosses over the Jordan River. In all four cases, this Angel shares some divine attributes with God
“"Take your sandals from your feet for the place you are standing is holy."
2. Jewish-Christian dialogue
Another example is when Justin Martyr challenges Trypo, a Jewish man, to understand this same Angel can forgive sin:
“Do not be rebellious toward Him, for he will not pardon your transgression, since my name is in Him."
3. Then, Jesus, in John 8:58, tells the rabbis,
"Truly, truly I say to you, before Abraham was born, I am."
This is an emphatic reference to the Angel of the Lord in the burning bush.
E. The Shekinah
1. The Shekinah means in Hebrew, the God-Who-Dwells-Within. Most certainly, the word derives from "Shakan." The first to use the word Shekinah, coined it as a substantive noun form from the verbal forms used to describe the "abiding, dwelling, or habitation" of the physical manifestations of God, as described in Exodus 24:16, Exodus 40:35, Numbers 9:16-18 and many places where "shakan" is used. The Shekinah is used to describe the mystical presence in the tabernacle.” . Isaiah sees the Shekinah as the Spirit of God,
Where is he who set his Holy Spirit among them, who sent his glorious arm of power to be at Moses right hand, who divided the waters before them, to gain for himself everlasting renown, (Isaiah 63:11-12).
There is a clear understanding about the Shekinah as a third major personality that comes through as the Spirit of God, often referred to simply as the Ruach Ha-kodesh. There are a number of references to the Spirit of God, including, Genesis 1:2; 6:3; Job 33:4; Psalm 51:11;139:7; Isaiah 11:2; 63:10&14. The Holy Spirit has all the characteristics of a personality (i.e. intellect, emotion and will) and still is considered divine.
2. Jesus’s teaching
Again, it is Jesus who gives wonderful insight into The Spirit of God. In John 16: 7-11, He talks about the Spirit in the same way as the Shekinah, who guided the Jewish people in the wilderness and who was present with them in the Tabernacle.
…Unless I go away, the Counselor will not come to you, but if I go, I will send Him to you. When he comes, He will convict the world of guilt in regards to sin and righteousness and judgement, (John 16:7-8).
“Answering Jewish Objections to Jesus” by Michael Brown Baker Books, Grand Rapids, MI 2000 p. 18
“Recent studies in early Christianity”
“Dialogue with Trypo” by Justin Martyr Chapter 75
www.ao.net/Shikinah excerpt from.” Zachariah and Jewish Renewal” by Fred Miller
