RESOURCES — SHORT ARTICLES

 

SHORT ARTICLES BY TOM ELSEROAD
	2020-07-23	Do I Need To Understand the Trinity?
		How much of the trinity must make sense to me? Allow me to give a brief Biblical view of the trinity. God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit:     • Are each a person     • Are each God     • But each comprising of one divine essence     • One God     • Not three Gods As Jesus comes into the world we have this revelation from Him and the apostles. Joh 1:1  In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. The Word was with God, and the Word was God. Joh 1:14  And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth. The “Word” in verse 1 becomes the “begotten” in verse 14. He is the Son of the Father full of grace and truth. Joh 1:17  For the law was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ.  Now we know the name of the Word is “Jesus Christ”. The One who was God, and came into flesh, though He was God from all eternity, He was with God from all eternity. It is texts like this from which we build the doctrine of the trinity. So in John 1:1-17 we have one God in two Persons. Then we have the Holy Spirit who is also called the Spirit of God (Mt.3:16), and the Spirit of God's Son (Ga.4:6). Jesus clearly speaks of the Spirit as a distinct person from the Father and the Son (Jn.14-15). Joh 14:26  But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, he will teach you all things and bring to your remembrance all that I have said to you.  Joh 15:26  "But when the Helper comes, whom I will send to you from the Father, the Spirit of truth, who proceeds from the Father, he will bear witness about me.  This is the way you talk about a person, not an influence. This is a sampling of the building blocks of the doctrine of the trinity. There are many more. So what degree of clarity in this life must a person have about the trinity to affirm their true understanding of and trust in the God of the Bible? In the letter of 1 John we see there were those with false teachings concerning Christ. From this we can determine what aspects of Christ's nature are required of believers to understand. What this letter emphasizes is both the deity and earthy incarnation of the Son of God. Both are necessary to understand. What we need to embrace about the nature of Christ is often determined by what is being denied. I do not know any way to describe the precise contours of the trinity one must be clear about in order to be saved. 1Jn 4:15  Whoever confesses that Jesus is the Son of God, God abides in him, and he in God. 1Jn 5:10  Whoever believes in the Son of God has the testimony in himself. Whoever does not believe God has made him a liar, because he has not believed in the testimony that God has borne concerning his Son.  These verses stress the necessity of knowing Jesus as the Son of God. This is John's language for God the Son. 1Jn 4:2  By this you know the Spirit of God: every spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God,  Here the emphasis shifts from the deity (Sonship of Christ) to His earthly coming in the flesh. What 1 John shows us is that authentic saving faith is of such a nature, when false views of Christ's deity and humanity are taught, we can detect it as false. The practical application for our life and teaching is that we not spend too much time trying to discern what is minimally necessary to believe about the trinity. Rather we should devote a lot of our time to help all believers to have authentic, well informed, faith in God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit who are one God in three persons. Pastor Tom Elseroad

 

An Evangelical Free Church of America

23304 E Wellesley Ave. Otis Orchards, WA 99027 Church Office: 509.926.9552 Church Cell: 509.342.9145 Pastor Cell: 509.828.8843 tomelseroad@gmail.com