Bible Ballistics: Alert? March 16, 2014 Vol.3 No.18
As we’ve been talking about heartache and friendship, I hope it’s been an encouragement to you. I was doing things around the house the other day and heard that familiar ‘beep beep’ of the EAS (Emergency Alert System) and kept waiting for the message that usually accompanies it and it didn’t come. It made me think of the Lord’s return, and that when HE returns (whether we refer to the rapture or the second earthly return) the time to prepare will be over.
There are a couple of questions that have come in that I’d like to tie in to the example above, for when Jesus returns, time for evangelizing and defending our faith will cease. We need to be wise stewards of the time that we have as we seek HIS face through the word and prayer. There are three questions from Jarred that I think fit together well and I will address them this week, and as I am sure I can’t offer adequate responses in just one article, we will continue the article next week.
Question: “Is the ‘trinity’ in the Bible and is this an important issue.” The second, I think is a parallel issue and that is: “What about the people who have never heard the gospel message?” “Will all people need to ‘be saved’ to go to heaven, or are some exempted because they have never heard?” Good questions and pertinent especially in the days we are living in.
To begin, the word “trinity” is not itself in the scripture but the principle of the ‘three-in-one’ God is. The best place to begin is at the ‘beginning’.
Genesis 1:1-2, “In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth. 2 And the earth was without form, and void; and darkness was upon the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters.”
Here we see the ‘Holy Spirit/Holy Ghost’ at creation. God the Father and God the Spirit. But where is the Son? The only reference to the ‘Son’ in Genesis 1 is implied in verse 26,
“And 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 fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth.”
We see plurality in these three pronouns, us-our-our, yet we don’t see a specific mention of the Christ Jesus until the New Testament.
John 1:1-3 says, “ In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2 The same was in the beginning with God. 3 All things were made by him; and without him was not any thing made that was made.”
Here John tells us that Jesus–the Word- was with God, in the beginning, and that HE ‘WAS GOD’. John also credits Jesus’ very presence at creation, “All things were made by him; and without him was not any thing made that was made.” Jesus the creator!! Paul also confirms this in several places, one being Colossians 1:16-17, (speaking of Jesus),
“For by him were all things created, that are in heaven, and that are in earth, visible and invisible, whether they be thrones, or dominions, or principalities, or powers: all things were created by him, and for him: 17 And he is before all things, and by him all things consist.”
He not only created all things but holds them all together, as it’s also revealed in Hebrews 1:2-3,
“Hath in these last days spoken unto us by his Son, whom he hath appointed heir of all things, by whom also he made the worlds; 3 Who being the brightness of his glory, and the express image of his person, and upholding all things by the word of his power, when he had by himself purged our sins, sat down on the right hand of the Majesty on high:”
This same Jesus, who died for our sins, is the creator of the universe, with God the Father and the Holy Spirit (also called the Spirit of God and the Spirit of Christ).
What does the Holy Spirit have to do with the equation? Besides being an integral part of creation, He is the imparter of the “New Covenant” as introduced in Ezekiel 36:25-27,
“Then will I sprinkle clean water upon you, and ye shall be clean: from all your filthiness, and from all your idols, will I cleanse you. 26 A new heart also will I give you, and a new spirit will I put within you: and I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh, and I will give you an heart of flesh. 27 And I will put my spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes, and ye shall keep my judgments, and do them.”
God promised to put “HIS Spirit” within those who trust Jesus. Paul clearly restates this in Romans 8:9,
“But ye are not in the flesh, but in the Spirit, if so be that the Spirit of God dwell in you. Now if any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of his.”
And Colossians 1:27, “To whom God would make known what is the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles; which is Christ in you, the hope of glory:”
God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit….. Three in one—Three personalities, ONE GOD. A better term would be ‘triunity’ instead of ‘trinity’. “Trinity” can mean three people or things in a general sense but is applied to God in most cases as the three personalities of the ‘God Head’. Triunity, referring to the ‘triune’ Godhead, is more easily understand than ‘trinity’, sometimes taken to mean ‘three Gods’, but we serve and obey–ONE GOD. The Father, Son and Holy Spirit/Ghost.
So, to answer our first question,
the ‘trinity’ is the biblical doctrine of the
Father,
Son and
Holy Spirit—
three in one.
ONE GOD—
three distinct personalities,
and/or functions to bring us to Himself.
Equal in power and deity.
The other part of our question deals with the necessity to believe in this for salvation and we’ll pick up with that next week. If you have questions that you’d like to submit, you can email them to me, or send a personal message on the Facebook page, or the Blog website, and we’ll try to answer one each month. I hope this will give you food for thought this week. In whom do you trust?
