Ever listened to someone teach or talk or write and wondered what exactly they believe? And then scoured their website trying to find some info? No, just me?
Well if you have a little bit of a sleuth in you, this page is for you.
“The Trinity” is a term we use to explain that the one God is three distinct persons.
I was reading The Trinity: An Introduction by Scott R. Swain when writing this, so much of the following section on the Trinity is taken from his book. This book was very enlightening and I highly recommend it.
First of all, God is self-existent (this is referred to as “aseity”). He is not dependent on anyone or anything to exist, He cannot die.
God is not composed of parts, and who God is and what God is are identical. This is what the theological term “divine simplicity” explains.
The one God is God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit. This does not mean that there are three gods, because for us there is one God, one Lord, one Spirit – one divine being, one divine mind, one divine will, and one divine power (1 Corinthians 8:6, Ephesians 4:4-6).
The real distinctions between the persons are their relations to each other: the Father eternally begets the Son (“paternity”) and the Son is eternally begotten of the Father (“filiation”). The Father and the Son eternally breathe forth the spirit (“active spiration”).
God’s proper name is YHWH.
God the Father.
God the Father is spirit.
God has always been and will always be (Psalm 90:2).
God created everything – heaven and earth, visible and invisible (Genesis 1:1, John 1:1-3, Colossians 1:16) – through the Son, by the Spirit.
He is sovereign; He rules over all things (1 Chronicles 29:11-12).
God is Jesus’ Father, and once we receive Jesus as our Lord and Savior, we are joint-heirs with Christ, which means we have the same access to God as Jesus, and we can call Him Father (Romans 8:14-17). Over and over, God shows His heart is tender toward us, just like a father’s heart should be (Ephesians 1:4-5, Luke 11:13), while also being just and righteous.
God the Son.
Jesus is the only begotten Son of God, which is to say Jesus is one with God. He is fully God and fully man – one Person with two natures, the divine nature and the human nature.
He upholds the world by His word (Hebrews 1:3).
He chose to give up the glory He had in heaven and come to earth as a human (Philippians 2:5-6).
As the only begotten Son of God, he was born of the virgin Mary (John 3:16, Matthew 1:18-25) and lived His whole life without making any mistakes (1 Peter 2:22).
Because He is perfect, He was the only one who could be the sacrifice that sets us free from sin (2 Corinthians 5:21, Hebrews 9:13-14).
So He was crucified, buried for three days, and on the third day, was resurrected (Matthew 27:32-50, Matthew 27:57-61, Matthew 28:1-10).
He stayed on earth for 40 days to prove to many people He was truly alive and truly God before ascending to Heaven (Acts 1:3, Mark 16:19).
He now sits at the right hand of the throne of God, interceding for us (Romans 8:34, Colossians 3:1, 1 Timothy 2:5, Hebrews 7:25).
Someday, He will return again to bring every Christian into heaven (John 14:3, 1 Thessalonians 4:14-18).
God the Holy Spirit.
Because the Holy Spirit is God, He has always been, even before the creation of the heavens and earth (Genesis 1:2). He has been with God’s people all throughout history, including Samson, David, and Isaiah (Judges 14:6, Psalm 51:11, 139:7, Isaiah 61:1-3). It is by the Holy Spirit Mary conceived Jesus (Matthew 1:18). The Holy Spirit descended on Jesus like a dove when He was baptized, and remained on Him, and the Holy Spirit was with Jesus when He was tempted by the devil (John 1:32, Matthew 3:3:16, 4:1). The Holy Spirit inspired the men who wrote the Bible (2 Peter 1:20-21).
At the moment of regeneration (when someone chooses to receive Jesus’ gift of salvation) He baptizes each believer into the Body of Christ (1 Corinthians 12:13-14). Christians are sealed by the Holy Spirit (Ephesians 1:13-14).
The Holy Spirit is a good gift from our heavenly Father (Luke 11:11-13)
We know the Holy Spirit because He dwells with us and is in us. (John 14:17)
Jesus said that it was to our advantage that He went back to heaven so we could receive the Holy Spirit (John 16:7).
The Holy Spirit is the Helper, He will teach us all things and bring Scripture to our minds (John 14:26), and will tell us what we should say when we’re being persecuted (Luke 12:11-12).
The Bible is the Word of God.
The Bible is God’s love letter to us, and it’s how we get to know Him. It was divinely inspired and is without any kind of error and is infallible, meaning it cannot fail. The Bible is good for teaching, correction, training in righteousness, and equips us to do every good work (2 Timothy 3:16-17, 2 Peter 1:19-21). The inspired Holy Scriptures include the 66 books the early church fathers acknowledged as Canon. Personally, I use the ESV most frequently.
Salvation is a free gift, but we must choose to receive it.
For our sins to be cast as far as the east is from the west, for us to be at peace with God and united in Heaven with God Himself, we must receive the gift of Jesus’ salvation (Psalm 103:12, Romans 5:1, Revelation 22:4, John 14:6). We are only justified, that is, to be pardoned and cleared from guilt, by faith in Jesus (Romans 3:21-26).
When Jesus was on earth, He instituted two ordinances Christians are supposed to practice.
An ordinance is defined as this: “A rule established by authority; a permanent rule of action; Observance commanded; established rite or ceremony.” (Webster’s 1828 Dictionary). Jesus instituted them by first practicing them Himself and then by commanding us to do the same.
The first ordinance is baptism by water. (Mark 1:9, Matthew 28:19)
The second is Communion, also called The Lord’s Supper or the Eucharist. Communion has two elements – unleavened bread representing the body of Christ, and “the fruit of the vine,” either wine or grape juice, representing the blood of Christ (Luke 22:14-20). Because we are told not to eat the Lord’s Supper in an unworthy manner, only Christians should partake in it, and before eating it Christians should repent to God (1 Corinthians 11:27-29).
The sexual ethic & sanctity of life
God created humans in His own image, and He only created two genders – male and female (Genesis 1:27). As Creator, God gets to define the expression of both gender and sexuality. He designed men to be masculine and women to be feminine (Deuteronomy 22:5, 1 Corinthians 6:9, 1 Corinthians 11:13-15). He designed sex to be between one man and one woman within the covenant of marriage (Hebrews 13:4, 1 Corinthians 6:9-20).
We are to treat each person, no matter what race or creed, with honor (1 Peter 2:17), because everyone is made in the image of God. Life begins at conception (Psalm 139:13, 16).
Church is important.
There’s two components to church – the global Church and the local church.
The global church consists of followers of Christ around the world and across time.
The local church is the place you attend worship each Lord’s day, where you build a community that does life together, encouraging each other to grow in the faith.
We are not to forsake the gathering together with fellow Christians to worship God (Hebrews 10:25).
I grew up attending Southern Baptist churches, but now my husband and I worship at his family’s Church of Christ church.
Additional resources
Albert Mohler’s Theological Triage