2.  16 After Jesus was baptized, He went up
immediately from the water.The heavens
suddenly opened for Him, and He saw the
Spirit of God descending like a dove and
coming down on Him. 17 And there came a
voice from heaven:This is My beloved Son. I
take delight in Him!

3.  The Christian response is contained in these
two fundamental dogmas: that of theTrinity
and that of the Incarnation. In the trinitarian
dogma God is one, good, true, and beautiful
because he is essentially Love, and Love
supposes the one, the other, and their unity.
- Hans Urs von Balthasar

4.  The Doctrine of theTrinity teaches that
within the unity of the one Godhead there are
three separate persons who are coequal in
power, nature, and eternity. -Walter Martin

6.  There is 1 God
 God is expressed to us in 3 distinct persons
 TheTrinity is an example of God’s revelation
to us as men in perfect unity

7. Deuteronomy 6:4
 Listen, Israel:The LORD our God, the LORD is
One.
▪ This verse is not a denial of God as triune but instead a
clarification that God is One God & not like the pagan
gods presented to Israel.

8.  Pagan cultures worshipped fallen angels/
demons
 Colossians 2:18
 18 Let no one disqualify you, insisting on ascetic
practices and the worship of angels, claiming access
to a visionary realm and inflated without cause by his
fleshly mind.
 Deuteronomy 32:17
 17 They sacrificed to demons, not God, to gods they
had not known, new gods that had just arrived, which
your fathers did not fear.

9.  Abraham was a part of this culture & was
called by God out of that culture into a
relational covenant w/ God (Genesis 12:4-9)
 Abraham was not a Jew but a pagan
 Israel arose out of a covenant w/God (see Genesis
32:28)

10.  TheTrinity
▪ The Father
▪ Yahweh – see Exodus 6:3
▪ Is forever on the throne – see Psalm 9:7
▪ The Son
▪ IncarnateGod – see John 10:31-39
▪ Messiah – see Matthew 16:16
▪ Redeemer – see 1st Corinthians 15:22
▪ The Holy Spirit
▪ Can be received – see Acts 8:17
▪ Can be resisted – see Acts 7:51
▪ Can be grieved – see Ephesians 4:30

11.  Other views
▪ Binitarianism (one deity/two persons)
▪ Unitarianism (one deity/one person)
▪ Oneness Pentecostalism (one deity/three
manifestations of Jesus)
▪ Modalism (one deity/different manifestations of the
Father)

12.  Problems with these views
 The implication is the Father suffered on the cross which He did
not
▪ Mark 15:34
▪ 34 And at three Jesus cried out with a loud voice, " Eloi, Eloi, lemá sabachtháni?" which is
translated, " My God, My God, why haveYou forsaken Me? "
▪ Isaiah 53:2-6
▪ 2 He grew up before Him like a young plant and like a root out of dry ground. He had no form
or splendor that we should look at Him, no appearance that we should desire Him. 3 He was
despised and rejected by men, a man of suffering who knew what sickness was. He was like
one people turned away from; He was despised, and we didn't value Him. 4Yet He Himself
bore our sicknesses, and He carried our pains; but we in turn regarded Him stricken, struck
down by God, and afflicted. 5 But He was pierced because of our transgressions, crushed
because of our iniquities; punishment for our peace was on Him, and we are healed by His
wounds. 6 We all went astray like sheep; we all have turned to our own way; and the LORD has
punished Him for the iniquity of us all.
 The implication is that God has different disguises which He does
not.

13.  There is deference in the trinity
 John 6:38
▪ 38 For I have come down from heaven, not to do My will,
but the will of Him who sent Me.
 John 7:16
▪ 16 Jesus answered them, "My teaching isn't Mine but is
from the One who sent Me.
 John 8:29
▪ 29 The One who sent Me is with Me. He has not left Me
alone, because I always do what pleases Him."

14.  Perfect love
 1st John 4:16
▪ 16 And we have come to know and to believe the love
that God has for us. God is love, and the one who
remains in love remains in God, and God remains in him.
 1st John 4:8
▪ 8 The one who does not love does not know God,
because God is love.
 Never show jealousy
 Perfect relationship

15.  There is 1 God
 God is expressed to us in 3 distinct persons
 TheTrinity is an example of God’s revelation
to us as men in perfect unity

17.  Milwaukee and Racine, WI
 emfellowship.org
 EMFrefresh.blogspot.com
 facebook.com/emfellowship
 twitter.com/emfellowship
 slideshare.com/emfellowship