Bible Study Lessons
GOD IS A TRINITY
Many people in the world today believe in God. A great many people serve God. Yet, sadly, their God is not the true and living God.
With all the religions and myths to choose from, how can we know which God is the true God? To answer that most important question God has given to us His word. We have in the Holy Bible the very words of the living God. Men and women around the world have God's revelation of Himself in the Bible.
The spiritual outlook of any individual is usually the result of the conception he has of God. Very often the person has created a god in his imagination. His ideas of God are gathered in part from the Bible as well as other sources, perhaps religion, a creed, mother and father, a tribal or racial influence. All such mixing of truth with error, or truth with opinion, is most dangerous.
We will not try to prove that there is a God. According to the scripture this is self-evident to all men (see Romans 1 and John 1:9). In fact, there is only one person listed in the Bible who does not believe that there is a God. In Psalm 14:1 the Bible says: THE FOOL hath said in his heart, There is no God. Thus, if you are not a fool, you know and you believe that there is a God. The Bible does not make any attempt to prove the existence of God, because all men know in the depths of their hearts that there is a God.
In this series of lessons, we will open the Holy Bible, the word of God, and from God's words we shall see the person of God.
I. Our questions are simple ones. Who is this God? What are His attributes? What do we know of His character? Is He worthy of our respect, homage, and worship?
A. There is but one God. All other so-called gods, other than the God of the Bible, are simply idols. Men have given certain things or beings, real or imaginary, the homage that belongs to the one and only God, but that does not make such things the Lord. In Isaiah 44:6 the scripture says, Thus saith the LORD the King of Israel, and his redeemer the LORD of hosts; I am the first, and I am the last; and beside me there is NO God. Verse 8 of the same chapter reads: "Fear ye not, neither be afraid: have not I told thee from that time, and have declared it? ye are even my witnesses. Is there a God beside me? yea, there is NO God; I know not any." Throughout Isaiah 44 we are made to consider that men make gods. They fashion them with their hands. But God calls Himself the only God, the first, and the last, and declares that there is no other God beside Him. As God looks around, He says there is not any other God. And, certainly, there is none other.
B. This one God is a TRI-personality That is, one in three and three in one. Now we could not possibly take all the scriptures that bear out this great and wonderful truth.
Many readers will have heard the terminology that God is a trinity. While the word "trinity" is not found in the Bible, certainly the doctrine is found within the pages of the word of God. My name Brother Andy, does not appear in the word of God, yet I am found throughout the Bible.
All have sinned and come short of the glory of God (Romans 3:23). That's me. As many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God (John 1:12). There I am again. You see, I am found throughout the Bible, though the particular name by which I am known may not be found there. Likewise, from the start of the Bible to its finish, we find that God is a trinity, though that particular name may not be found in the pages of scripture.
In 1 John 5:7 the Holy Bible declares. For there are three that bear record in heaven, the Father, the Word, and the Holy Ghost: and these three are one.
This is crystal clear. Count them: the Father, one; the Word, two; and the Holy Ghost, three. These three are one. Now add them up. One, plus one, plus one equals one.
Turn all the way back to Genesis chapter 1 and we will see how God speaks of Himself in the matter of creation. In verse 26, God said. Let US (notice God, singular, said "let us", plural) make man in OUR (plural) image, after OUR (plural) likeness (singular). Then verse 27 says, So God (singular) created man in his (singular) own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them.
Thus, it is clear from the first chapter of the Bible that more than one personality makes up the Godhead.
Let us look now to Chapter 3 of Genesis and verse 22. After Adam and Mrs. Adam sinned by eating the forbidden fruit, the LORD God (singular) said, Behold, the man is become as one of US (plural), to know good and evil. In Genesis chapter 11 we find the incident of the tower of Babel. The Bible says: And the LORD came down to see the city and the tower, which the children of men builded. And the LORD said, Behold, the people is one, and they have all one language; and this they begin to do: and now nothing will be restrained from them, which they have imagined to do. Go to, let US go down, and there confound their language, that they may not understand one another's speech. So the LORD scattered them abroad from thence upon the face of all the earth: and they left off to build the city (Gen. 11:5-8).
Notice, three times in the first eleven chapters of the Bible, we see that ONE God (singular) is spoken of in a plural sense. A plurality of beings is spoken of when referring to God's work in creating man, driving them from the garden and in scattering them abroad upon the face of the earth.
You may say, "That's the Old Testament, way back in the book of Genesis."
All right, let us take one quick glance at the New Testament. In Matthew 28:19 Jesus Christ says, Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost. While different sects of "Christianity" may debate the interpretation of these words, the Trinitarian formula for baptism is first set forth by the Son of God.
Again, in the book of Matthew, at the beginning of Jesus' public ministry, the Bible says in Matthew 3:16, And Jesus, when he was baptized, went up straightway out of the water: and, lo, the heavens were opened unto him, and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove, and lighting upon him: And lo a voice from heaven, saying. This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased. Here we see the Father speaking from heaven, the Son in the water, and the Spirit descending like a dove and lighting upon Him.
What we have is one God manifest as the Father, the Word, and the Holy Ghost, and these three are ONE (1 John 5:7).
C. In our first point we said there is but one God. We saw this to be the testimony of scripture. All others are idols. In our second point, this one God was shown to be a triune personality, one in three, and three in one. We now submit that God made man in His own image, and that man, too, is three in one and one in three, having body, soul, and spirit.
a. An image is like, but not exactly like, that after which it is patterned. In Genesis 1:26 we noted that God said, Let US make man in OUR image. Therefore, if God is a trinity, we would expect to find in the Bible that man bears a triune likeness to the God who created him.
b. In 1 Thessalonians 5:23 the Bible declares: And the very God of peace sanctify you wholly (WHOLLY, not holy, but wholly, completely); and I pray God your whole spirit and soul and body be preserved blameless unto the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. So we see that man is a trinity. He is a spirit and a soul within a body. Are there three persons there? Well, there are three that are one and there is one that is three. That is, man made in the image of God is a tri-unity
It is remarkable to think how Satan deceives so many people into rejecting Bible truth. There are many, many men who believe in God but deny the doctrine of the trinity. Yet, these same people would cleave to the Bible truth that man is spirit, soul, and body, and would acknowledge that man is made in the image of God.
Now, I see people who have blonde hair, while some have brown hair, some have black hair. Some have fair skin, some have brown skin, and some have black skin. I see male bodies and female bodies and I ask you, which of these people is made in the image of God? You see, the image of God cannot speak of the physical appearance. Even identical twins bear distinctions and differences in their physical appearance.
So all men being made in the image of God could not possibly be a reference to a physical appearance but, rather, the entire man, the whole man, that is, one man in three parts - the spirit, the soul and the body. Therefore, we understand from God's creation, which declares and reveals God to man, that God is a trinity.
4. God is a living God and is, in every sense, a person. This is true of the Father, of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. To will and to love are outstanding characteristics of personality, and God does both. For example, the most famous and oft-quoted verse of the Bible is John 3:16: For God SO LOVED the world, that he GAVE his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. Again, in John 6:39 the Bible says: And this is the Father's WILL which hath sent me, that of all which he hath given me I should lose nothing, but should raise it up again at the last day.
Here we see again God with a WILL. Anyone honest enough to read the Bible through will find that God has all the outstanding (both major and minor) characteristics of personality. He is indeed a person. He is not a figure of wood or stone. He is not a carved image. He is not a planet such as the sun. He is not the moon or stars, or the trees or rocks. God is a PERSON. He is a person with whom you can speak. He is a person who can be worshipped. He is a person with whom you can walk and fellowship. You can know Him just as intimately and personally as you know any other person, for God is a person.
This is a marvelous thing about Bible Christianity. We do not worship creeds or churches. We do not worship images or idols. We do not worship things that we have made or things that we have invented, or nonexistent figments of our imagination. Rather, our God is a person.
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Doctrines of GOD Lesson 1 Trinity question sheet.
1. What is the purpose of this lesson?
2. Who does not believe that there is a GOD?
3. What does GOD consider Himself?
4. Explain Isaiah 44:6
5. Was Jesus there at the creation of the earth?
6. Explain how man is made in the image of GOD?
7. Explain the trinity?
8. What is the key verse for this Lesson?
9. Explain what happen in Matthew 3:16
10. Show where your name is in the Bible (give two examples)
11. Who put the desire in your heart to worship GOD?
12. Why is it impossible for GOD to be worshipped through images, pictures, statues, crosses
13. Why did GOD create man and woman?
14. What is the definite distinction between Bible Christianity and all other religions?
15. Where does man get his conception of who God is?
True/False
• Only a Pastor or a Priest can know GOD intimately.
• GOD can be worshipped through images, pictures, statues, crosses.
• Mans desire to seek GOD comes from his own drive and will.
• The trinity cannot be understood, GOD is too mysterious to allow it.
Do you know ABOUT God or do you know Him?
You can know a person. God IS A PERSON. There is only one God. He is a trinity - the Father, the Word, and the Holy Ghost. These three are one. You were made in the image of God. You are a spirit, a soul, and a body, and God is a living God. He is in every sense a person, just as you are; and the person of God desires intimate, eternal fellowship with you.
Do you wish to know Him?
Then humbly bow your knees and confess from your heart that you believe the Lord Jesus Christ is your God, and receive Him as your personal Saviour, asking Him to forgive your sins, to wash them away with His precious blood, and to restore you to fellowship with your Maker.
Are you absolutely positive if you died right now that you would not go to hell? Why?
