Three in One at Baptism

16As soon as Jesus was baptized, he went up out of the water. At that moment heaven was opened, and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and alighting on him. 17And a voice from heaven said, “This is my Son, whom I love; with him I am well pleased.” (Matthew 3:16-17)

Thoughts: This is one of the great passages about the Trinity.  Here you see all three persons of the godhead in one spot.  Jesus, the Son, was in the water.  The Spirit, the second person of the Trinity, descended like a dove.  The Father's voice was heard saying, "This is my Son..."  This passage totally overturns the heresy that is called "modalism" that God is Father at Creation, that the Son came for 33 years, and then the Spirit carried on the presence of God afterwards.  Instead you see the three persons at once.  God is one essence but in three persons.  The Father is not the Son- but is pleased with Him.  The Spirit is not the Son- but descends blessing on Him.  The Son is the radiance of both.  

Prayer: Lord, thank you for your love and presence in Jesus.  Thank you that Jesus is my good Lord and as I follow Him may you also be pleased with me and may your Spirit descend on me with blessing and hope.

  

3-24-14 Jesus and the Father

 10Don’t you believe that I am in the Father, and that the Father is in me? The words I say to you I do not speak on my own authority. Rather, it is the Father, living in me, who is doing his work. 11Believe me when I say that I am in the Father and the Father is in me; or at least believe on the evidence of the works themselves. 12Very truly I tell you, whoever believes in me will do the works I have been doing, and they will do even greater things than these, because I am going to the Father. 13And I will do whatever you ask in my name, so that the Father may be glorified in the Son. 14You may ask me for anything in my name, and I will do it. (John 14:10-14) 

Thoughts: Jesus says He is in the Father and the Father is in Him plainly twice and expounds on it in several ways.  Jesus is one in essence with the Father.
   1. He speaks with the Father's authority (vs. 10).  The Son has the power to speak for the Father to the people. 
   2. (10,11) The Father lives in and works through Him.  His work is the Father's work.
   3. He is going back home to the Father.  The Father's home is His home.
   4. He will answer our prayers when they are made in His name.  The Father is honored to answer prayers made in the name of the Son. When the Son's name is honored, so is the Father honored.
So these four things give us some idea of the oneness of Jesus, the Son, with the Father.  Basically, if we honor and pray to Jesus we also glorify and honor the Father. 

Prayer: Help me to honor you, Lord.  May I honor your name as well as pray in your name, Jesus. 

9/29/13- A Month in Prayer Begins

In the center, around the throne, were four living creatures, and they were covered with eyes, in front and in back. 7 The first living creature was like a lion, the second was like an ox, the third had a face like a man, the fourth was like a flying eagle. 8 Each of the four living creatures had six wings and was covered with eyes all around, even under its wings. Day and night they never stop saying:

“‘Holy, holy, holy
is the Lord God Almighty,’
who was, and is, and is to come.”

Thoughts: The inner most song- the four cherubim around the throne sing is a song of holiness, power, and a song of the Trinity.
    The Trinity- the three I ams in one I am is found in the triplicate- "Holy, holy, holy.  It is found in the three names of the the one God- Lord, God, and Almighty.  He is over all in terms of allegiance, created all, and rules over all. The three in oneness is found in terms of time- He was, is and is to come. Past present and future all point to the trinity.  
    It is a song of power, person, and punctuality.  

    God is a holy God- unpolluted, unpoisoned with sin, brilliantly clean, absolutely perfect in morals, in person, in love.  The word "holy" means "other" or "different."  God is different from us- and that is a good thing.  This difference points to Creation.  Whereas pantheists and panentheists have a hard time saying God is different or holy- or that there is such a thing as holy.  For them God is only tolerance and love. 

     There was never a time when God was not.  God always is- He is never not present.  He is always to be trusted to come.  He comes to us in our time of need; He comes when no one else does. 

Prayer: Let me trust in your holiness, power, and ever-present love. 

1/21/13- Trinity- oneness and diverse

¹⁴ May the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all. (2 Corinthians 13:14)

Thoughts: In the passage above, Paul included all three persons of the Trinity in his benediction.  This is a common Christian benediction (blessing) used in worship.  The grace, love, and fellowship of God are three strands in the same rope.  Some have tried to describe the Trinity using things we see like H2O is water, ice, and steam- all the same molecule yet different; like the sun, the heat of the sun, and the light of the sun- all part of the sun yet different; or a person can be a father, son, and worker- the same person wearing different hats.  each illustration has true limitations and only points to the fact that three can be one and one can be three.  The "mystery" of the trinity is not so simply defined or fully and exhaustively described.  God is one essence in three persons, and cannot be divided against Himself.  It is this oneness of God that defines that the Spirit does not contradict Himself, nor the Son contradict the Word inspired and illuminated by the Holy Spirit.
    The tenet below holds that the three persons are "consubstantial with one another."  That means that they exist with each other at the same time.  So at the baptism of Christ- Jesus was in the water, the Spirit was descending like a dove, and the voice of the Father was heard from heaven- they were all there at once, yet differently.
    They are coeternal.  This means that the Father did not create the Son or Spirit- but the Son was begotten before time began and is as infinite as the Father.  Jesus said, "Before Abraham was I am."  The Spirit is described as "hovering over the waters" (in Genesis 1) before the world began.  God describes Himself as the great I am.  Jesus describes himself as the beginning and the end, alpha and omega.
    They are co-equal.  It is clear that the Father glorifies the Son at his baptism with his voice, and at the ascension.  Jesus said that he came to glorify the Father.  The Spirit is described in John 14 and 16 as bringing to remembrance the words of the Son and glorifying the Son.  There is no power struggle among the persons of the Trinity- only complete love and oneness in the godhead.
    It is clear in the great benediction above that Paul is calling and praying for God's blessing by appealing to each person of the Trinity.  So it is appropriate that we pray to each person.  The common language is we pray "to the Father, through the Son by the Holy Spirit."  Yet it is also true in Paul's example that we appeal to each person directly.
    On this Martin Luther King Day- may we appreciate that both oneness and diversity may exist- even in the person of God at the same time. 

Prayer: May your grace, O Christ; your love, O God; and your presence, O Holy Spirit- be with me this day to guide me, protect me, lead me in ways that please you. 


Mysteries
A. Trinity
The triune nature of God is the first great mystery of the Christian
faith. With Christians everywhere, we worship the only
true God - Father, Son, and Holy Spirit - who is both one
essence and three persons. God is infinite, eternal, immutable,
impassible, and ineffable. He cannot be divided against
Himself, nor is He becoming more than He has been, since
there is no potential or becoming in Him. He is the source
of all goodness, all truth and all beauty, of all love and all life,
omnipotent, omniscient, and omnipresent. The three persons
are consubstantial with one another, being both coeternal,
and coequal, such that there are not three gods, nor are there
three parts of God, but rather three persons within the one
Godhead. The Son is eternally begotten from the Father, and
the Spirit proceeds eternally from the Father and the Son. All
three persons are worthy of worship and praise.

2/5/12- The Divinity of the Holy Spirit

Q. In how many persons does this one God exist?
A. Three persons exist in the one God: the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.  These three are one God, the same in substance, and equal in power and glory.  

¹⁰ these are the things God has revealed to us by his Spirit.

   The Spirit searches all things, even the deep things of God. ¹¹ For who knows a person’s thoughts except their own spirit within them? In the same way no one knows the thoughts of God except the Spirit of God. ¹² What we have received is not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, so that we may understand what God has freely given us. (1 Corinthians 2:10-12)

Thoughts: In Acts 5 the Holy Spirit is called God.  Later the only sin that Jesus says is unforgivable is the blasphemy of the Holy Spirit.  So God the Spirit is seen as especially holy and to be revered.  In the passage above God the Holy Spirit is said to be omniscient (searching "all things") and is able to be received by all (pointing to His omnipresence).  So if the Holy Spirit is called God and is given the attributes of God, we should consider Him a person proceeding from the substance of God and of that same substance.  The worship of Him is encouraged in the baptism formula (Mt. 28:20), the Apostolic benediction (2 Cor. 13:14), and the prayer of Revelation 1:4.
    The Holy Spirit appears to be the shy person of the Trinity, working behind the scenes and seeking to glorify God the Father and God the Son.  Yet, when we bring the Spirit into the equation of our lives, the power of God often comes.  We should not be afraid to ask the Spirit for help and strength. 

Prayer: Holy Spirit, you inspired the writers of scripture, illuminate your Word to me today.  You encouraged and comforted the saints of old, do the same for me this day.  You bring breath and life to what is stale and decaying, bring new hope to me today. 

2/3/12 - Plurality in the One God- Hints of the Trinity

Q. In how many persons does this one God exist?
A. Three persons exist in the one God: the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.  These three are one God, the same in substance, and equal in power and glory. 


Then God said, “Let us make mankind in our image, in our likeness (Gen. 1:26)


And the LORD God said, “The man has now become like one of us, knowing good and evil. (Gen. 3:22)


Come, let us go down and confuse their language so they will not understand each other.” (Gen. 11:7)


 “Holy, holy, holy is the LORD Almighty; the whole earth is full of his glory.”Then I heard the voice of the Lord saying, “Whom shall I send? And who will go for us?”(Isaiah 6:3,8)


And the four beasts had each of them six wings about him; and they were full of eyes within: and they rest not day and night, saying, Holy, holy, holy, LORD God Almighty, which was, and is, and is to come. (Rev. 4:8)

(Shamrock- St. Patrick used this to help convince the High King of Ireland of the trinity)


Thoughts: Even Old Testament scripture indicates plurality in the one God.  if there is no plurality in the godhead, then why were the words "us" used of divinity?  Some say it is God speaking to the angelic court around Him- but the angels are not made in the image of God.  Some say it is a kind of majestic royal "we."  But there have been believers through the centuries who have seen the us as an indication of a multi-faceted plurality in the essence of God.  Such things hint at the Trinity.
      This same plurality is hinted as a three fold plurality in Isaiah 6 ("holy, holy, holy"), which is made even clearer in Revelation 4:8.  Revelation 4:8 also hints that time itself points to the trinity- "who was, is, and is to come." Time is one, yet time is also clearly past, present, and future.
     This points out that God is not lonely but may exist in Himself.  He made us not because He had to have company, but out of sheer grace and love.  In gratitude to God's love that made us, we should respond in love. 


Prayer: Help me to respond to your love with my love to you and to others. 


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WUXmnwCwERc

2/2/12- Affirmation and Negations of the Trinity

Q. In how many persons does this one God exist?
A. Three persons exist in the one God: the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.  These three are one God, the same in substance, and equal in power and glory.


In the beginning was the word.  And the Word was with God and the word was God...The Word became flesh and lived among us.  (John 1:1,14)

(Symbol of the Trinity)


Thoughts: There are three statements that define the trinity: 1) There is one God; 2) The Father is God, the Son is God, the Spirit is God; 3) Each of these three persons are distinct from each other and from creation but equal in power and glory.  This denies some views, and in their denial it might help us to understand what we affirm in the trinity. 
1. Unitarianism- that denies the divinity of the Son and Spirit.  
2. Polytheism- that denies the oneness of God. The trinity idea also denies the idea of different gods in different gods (which Mormons uphold). 
3. Pantheism and panentheism- which cannot draw a distinction between God and creation. 
4. Modalism- that God appeared in one form but not at the same time in another (like an actor in a play- assuming different roles).  That is when Jesus became human, there was no Father or Holy Spirit. 
3. Monarchism- that one of the three persons was superior to the other two (usually the Father). So the shorter catechism answers "equal in power and glory."  
The Trinity affirms the experience of Christians all over the world of a unified-one God but that the Father is God, the Son is God, and the Spirit is God.  The Trinity means that God is plural enough to be self-existent- with the Father loving the Son and Spirit; The Son loves the Father and Spirit; the Spirit loves the Father and Son.  God's love within Himself also elicits love within us.  


Prayer: Lord, help us to love you as you are full of love.  Give us grace also to love others and ourselves. 


Prayer: 

2/1/12- The Trinity

Q. 6 In how many persons does this one God exist?
A. Three persons exist in the one God: the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.  These three are one God, the same in substance, and equal in power and glory.

Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit (Matthew 28:19)


May the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all. (2 Corinthians 13:14)


¹⁶ As soon as Jesus was baptized, he went up out of the water. At that moment heaven was opened, and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and alighting on him. ¹⁷ And a voice from heaven said, “This is my Son, whom I love; with him I am well pleased.” (Matthew 3:16,17)

(Baptism of Christ- Francesco Alba 17th century)


Thoughts: The word "trinity" is not found in scripture but the experience of the trinity is found throughout the Bible. Scripture speaks of the Father being God the Creator, Redeemer and Sustainer.  Most of us assume this.  The Spirit is the Spirit of God and is also divine.  Annanias was told that he had lied to the Holy Spirit and lied to God (Acts 5:3,4).  Many of the attributes of God are given to the Spirit Jesus is also called God (John 1:1,14; 20:28).  In the passages above, the three persons of the godhead (the essence of God) are brought together-- yet are seen as one and at the same time distinct.  Most Christian believers have experienced the Father as God, the Son as God and the Spirit as God, yet we also know God is One.  The three passages above indicate the three separate persons in one being. The trinity is not some philosophical shananigan, but was born on scripture and also our experience.  


Prayer: Glory be to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Ghost!  As the essence of God was in the beginning, it is now and will be forever; world without end, amen. 


Q. 6. How many persons are there in the one God?
A. Three persons are in the one God, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. These three are one
God, the same in substance and equal in power and glory.


Q. 6- How many persons are there in the Godhead?
A: There are three persons in the Godhead: the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost, and these three are one God, the same in substance, equal in power and glory.