Theology Proper: The Doctrine of God

God in Three Persons, Blessed Trinity

Trinity – from Latin words for three (tri) and one (unitas).

Truly a work of systematic theology.

The term of explicit concept is not in the Bible.

Thus a work of synthesis from Biblical text to Biblical theology to Systematic Theology.

Not all theologians have considered it to be of the first order of import.

Melanchton – Luther referred to Melanchton as Dr. Phillip. He formulated doctrine since this was not Luther’s primary passion. Melanchton writes that the apostles wrote about the law, sin and grace. He thought that looking at the Trinity only provided limited illumination.

Schleiermacher – 1768 – 1834 – His theology in 1821-22 is the Glabenslehr – “Faith Teaching”. Schleiermacher treats it only passingly in his work (app. 15 pages out of 500). The Trinity is not a sufficient revelation concerning Christian self-consciousness. It might be important, but it is not central to the Christian experience.

Jefferson, Thomas – Contemporary of Schleiermacher. He did not like the “Trinitarian arithmetic”. He thought the Trinity overshadowed the simple Jesus.

Harnack – 1851 – 1930 – The core of Christianity is about God and the soul and the soul and God. He wanted to eliminate any alien intrusions in this relationship. The idea of the son being incarnate deity was an undesirable alien concept. Harnack was influential during the heyday of liberalism. Harnack was a functional Trinitarian. In actual being, he was not part of the godhead.

Why investigate the Trinity?

Renaissance of Trinitarian studies. Many like Barth started their theologies with the Trinity. In his words, without a robust understanding of the Trinity, Christianity loses its soul. In his Dogmatics, he deals with this issue and many have responded. Please note that Barth was a student of Harnack.

The Trinity and other key doctrines. Systematic theology is integrated, therefore, there is a lot of overlap. What are the implications of the Trinity on doxology? One needs to know how to worship the Trinity, to pray to the Trinity, etc. Christology is intimately tied to the Trinity. Theologies that have de-emphasized the Trinity have been strong on the humanity of Christ. Theologies of salvation that emphasize Christ’s humanity state that Jesus was the ultimate example of someone knowing God. As a result, we are inspired to these same acts of devotion. Historically, theologies that emphasize a strong view of the Trinity have emphasized the deity of Christ. This leads to a theology of the cross that states that Jesus was the perfect substitute.

Misconceptions among laity. It is Tim Janiszewski’s opinion that many lay members are operating as tritheists. People think of them as three gods that form the perfect committee. Progressive churches move toward Unitarianism. Their argument is that God is solely the Father and the spirit is the immanence of God surrounding all of us. Only God is really God.

The challenge of religious pluralism. The temptation of pluralism is to de-emphasize the cognitive. Many people at the end of day would put experience as the base of their world. If this is the base, the cognitive is melded to what you are experiencing. The Trinity is not directly experiential; therefore, it becomes less meaningful. The parts of doctrine that do not fit into an inter-religious dialogue are also downplayed. The two closest religions to Christianity are Judaism and Islam. All three religions lay claim to worshipping the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. All three of them accept the Old Testament witness to God. At least two of them accept the NT; Islam and Christianity. The point of departure is the Trinity. Surah 3:54 and other passages refer to the non-deity of Christ.

Identifying the cults.

The doctrine is sometimes attacked.

Wanting to get God right!

The Story of the Doctrine from the New Testament

Context – Jewish monotheism of the first Christians. I Corinthians 8:4, Ephesians 4:6; James 2:19; etc. – The early church was composed of monotheists. It was condemnable to be polytheistic.

New datum – The encounter with Jesus forced them to reinterpret the idea of one, true, living God. The unfolding of their realization was progressive. As they continued to reflect on it with the aid of the Holy Spirit, the doctrine was more concretely formulated. Jesus had profound implications. Much of this was explored in the book of John.

Question – How do we reconcile Jewish monotheism and Jesus?

Jesus’ self identification.

• Matthew 11:26-30 – This passage very clearly shows that certain mysteries were obscured in the past. Jesus claimed to have all things handed to him from God the Father. No one knows the Father except the Son. Jesus had the authority to either reveal or conceal God. Jesus self-arrogated to himself amazing dominion and being. Matthew per the synoptic scholarly tradition is not supposed to have such things about Christ! This is often called the Johanine Thunderbolt in Matthew.
  
• John 8:52-59 – Before Abraham was born, Jesus was. This blatant passage staked Jesus’ claim to deity. The people surrounding Jesus certainly saw it as blasphemy. They knew that he was equating himself to God.
  Jesus and acts designated to God.


• Mark 2:1-11 – Jesus teaches at a home that is overflowing. Four friends lower their paralytic friend through the roof. The scribes were upset that Jesus claimed to have the authority to forgive sin; an act that is solely in the dominion of God.
  Jesus and worship.


• John 20:28 – Thomas fell down to worship.


• Acts 7:54-60 – Stephen has a vision of the glorified Jesus in heaven next to God the Father.


• Revelation 5:12-14 – Worship of Christ by the heavenly creatures.


• NT appellations – Lord Jesus (41 times), Lord Jesus Christ (60), etc. The word “Lord” was substituted for the tetragrammaton. The LXX used “kurios”.
  Jesus is Lord


• James 2:1 – “My brethren, have not the faith of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Lord of glory, with respect of persons.”


• Philippians 2:6-11 – “And that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.”
  Jesus as God


• Romans 9:5 - Explicitly says Jesus is God.


• Titus 2:13 – “while we wait for the blessed hope—the glorious appearing of our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ.”


• Hebrews 1:8 – Christ’s throne will last forever.


• II Peter 1:1 –


• John 1:1, 14, 18: 20:28 – Christ tabernacled or dwelled among us. Jesus exegeted the Father.


• Colossians 1:15-20 – “He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation.”

The Story of the Doctrine from the Old Testament

Christ came as a fulfillment of the prophets and the law (Matthew 5:17, Romans 10:4).

Look for multiplicity in the singularity.

Plurals in divine self-reference (Gen. 1:26; 11:7; Isaiah 6:8).

Angel of the Lord. In Genesis 16, Hagar claims to have seen the Lord upon seeing the angel. The visitors to Abraham speak of one angel in a deific sense.

Son passages. Proverbs 30:4 – “Who has gone up to heaven and come down? Who has gathered up the wind in the hollow of his hands? Who has wrapped up the waters in his cloak? Who has established all the ends of the earth? What is his name, and the name of his son? Tell me if you know!”

The Shema itself – Deuteronomy 6:4 – The Lord is one Lord. There are two Hebrew words for “one”; yahid and echad. Yahid refers to one of a kind. Echad refers to the idea of unifying or of collecting into one. Echad is used as a bunch of grapes. Deuteronomy used echad.

A N.T. interpretation – I Peter 1:10-12 – “Concerning this salvation, the prophets, who spoke of the grace that was to come to you, searched intently and with the greatest care, 11 trying to find out the time and circumstances to which the Spirit of Christ in them was pointing when he predicted the sufferings of Christ and the glories that would follow. 12 It was revealed to them that they were not serving themselves but you, when they spoke of the things that have now been told you by those who have preached the gospel to you by the Holy Spirit sent from heaven. Even angels long to look into these things.”

The Story of the Doctrine from the Early Fathers

I John 5:7 (KJV) – “There are three that bear record in heaven…and they are one.” This is not in the earliest manuscripts. It was an early impulse that they wanted to see explicit references.

Didache 7.1-3 (A.D. 90-150) – Conservatives place this close to 90 A.D. Baptism is by the Father, Son and Holy Spirit.

Ignatius (A.D. 110) – He was hunted down and captured by the Romans. As he went to Rome, he stated he was going to the lions to be ground as wheat, but that his death would provide food for God’s people. On his way to the lions, he left letters that may be reliably dated. He calls Jesus God and writes of him as God incarnate.

Governor Pliny (A.D. 112) – Pliny was governor of Bithynia. Wrote that Christians met before dawn to recite hymns to Christ as if to God.

Athenagoras (A.D. 175) – He received an accusation that Christians were atheists. He explained that Christians were not atheists, but believed in God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit.

Irenaeus of Lyon (A.D. 130-200) – Before there were formalized creeds, there were rules of faith. He explicitly stated that there was God the Father and God the Son. He used imagery that depicted the Son and the Spirit as the two hands of God. In contemporary times, the hand imagery of the Holy Spirit given by Irenaeus has been used to advance religious pluralism (Bethel Seminary).

Tertullian (A.D. 160-225) – First to use the word “Trinity”. He was also the first to use the category of one substance in three persons. There are three coherent persons who are one in essence.

The Story of the Doctrine from Two Challengers

It is possible that these early challenges were actually work by the theologians to figure out the issues.

Monarchianisms – Attempted to define monotheism.

• Mono – “one”


• Arche – “ruler” or “source”

Modalistic Monarchianism

• Sabellianism –

Dynamic Monarchianism

• Adoptionism – Jesus was a good man who was adopted by the Spirit of God. Just prior to the cross, Jesus ceased to be the adopted son.
  


• Paul of Samosata – He started to develop a more sophisticated view in the 250s and 260s. His views were later condemned. Paul had a student named Lucian. Lucian kept the adoptionist teaching alive in a slightly different form. He exalted Jesus more, but did not quite bring him all the way equal to God the Father. His student was Arius. Arius would foment a revolution that would almost topple Trinitarianism entirely.
  

The Story of Arianism

Arius was schooled by Lucian in monarchianism as an adoptionist.

The Antiochian school that he also followed emphasized the human side of Christ (Alexandrian school emphasized the deity of Christ).

Arius is sent to Alexandria to become the presbyter at the catechistical school. Upon arriving, Arius accuses Alexander the bishop of denying the humanity of Christ.

Controversy begins over these statements:
“There once was when the Son was not.”
“There once was when God was not a father.”

Arius depicted Jesus within a degree Christology. There is only a degree of difference, not in essence. Monarchianism had now traveled from Jesus only be adopted all the way to almost granting deity to Christ within its Arianism form.

A synod was called at Alexandria in 318. Arius was very capable and charismatic. Alexander was gentle and quiet. As a result of Arius’ charisma, there were rallies for his position in the streets of Alexandria during the senate. The synod, nonetheless, decided against Arius.

Arius had a friend by the name of Eusebius of Nicomedia. He objected to the decision made in Alexandria and gave Arius shelter.

The Council of Nicea (A.D. 325)

Overseen by Constantine. Constantine had a dream before a battle of a white cross on a field of blue. He had his men paint the white cross with a blue background just prior to the battle. As a result of the battle, he became Emperor of the Roman Empire.

Homoiousias vs. homoousias –

• Homoi – Jesus was of like or similar substance to God the Father. Arians.


• Homo – Jesus was the same substance as God the Father. This was the decision of the council.

Anathema to Arianism – Arius was condemned by the Council of Nicea.

They emphasized that Christ was begotten, not made.

Nicea was not the end of the story. Alexander is an old man at this time, but he has a young and capable assistant by the name of Athanasius. In 328, Alexander dies.

The Story of the Doctrine from Athanasius

Athanasius nickname was the “Black Dwarf”.

This man was a bishop of Alexandria for 40 years. 17 years of this were spent in exile. He stood up for homoousian (same substance) which was unpopular and was the main factor sending him into exile 5 times.

In 332, Constantine switches to homoiousian. At this point, Arius is restored as a presbyter at Alexandria. Athanasius states that he can come back as soon as he accepts homoousian. He was banished to Germany for 3 years by Constantine. Athanasius was so beloved by the Alexandrians that they filibustered his replacement proceedings. In 336, just prior to his restoration, Athanasius dies.

The road to resolution. Only God can restore mankind to the original image. It is through Jesus as God that we are saved. The Son of God became man in order that men might become sons of God.

The Council of Constantinople and the final version of the Nicene Creed (A.D. 381). The Council affirmed the deity of Christ and the Nicene creed. Once the issue of Christ’s deity was settled, the deity of the Holy Spirit became much less controversial.

The Nicene Creed

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 the Holy Spirit, the Lord, the giver of life,
who proceeds from the Father (and the Son. – late addition which split the Church).
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.

The Doctrine of the Trinity


The Essentials to the Mystery

• God is one.


• The Father is God.


• The Son is God.


• The Holy Spirit is God.


• The Father is no the Son or Spirit.


• The Son is not the Father or Spirit.


• The Spirit is not the Father or Son.


• These 3 are co-equal and co-eternal. These ideas are important so that one is not elevated over another.


• These 3 share all and defer to each other. Parechoresis (circumincession) – Even though the Father, Son and Holy Spirit are distinct, they all share everything. They are individual in their persons; however, there is a perfect sharing of all knowledge, activity and being. The Father with the Son from all of eternity were in agreement with the plan of salvation and the subordination of the Son to die on the cross was the plan of the entire Godhead.