WEBVTT 00:00:01.900 --> 00:00:09.920 As an evangelical Christian, Biblical Christians, born again Christians, whatever you want to call us, a 00:00:09.920 --> 00:00:16.920 lot of people are under the impression that we are required to believe in the Trinity because the Council of Nicea told 00:00:16.920 --> 00:00:20.600 us to, or something like that. 00:00:20.620 --> 00:00:23.080 That's actually not why we believe in the Trinity. 00:00:23.160 --> 00:00:25.700 We believe it because it's found in scripture. 00:00:25.700 --> 00:00:32.840 It's the result of a holistic view of scripture when you look at the Old Testament and New Testament with both eyes open and take 00:00:32.840 --> 00:00:37.410 into consideration everything that the Bible has to say on the subject. 00:00:38.280 --> 00:00:40.070 You end up with the doctrine of the Trinity. 00:00:40.840 --> 00:00:48.040 But since there's a lot of preconceived notions and presuppositions that people have on what 00:00:48.160 --> 00:00:54.920 they think the Trinity is, let's clear those out of the way before we get to what the actual doctrine of the Trinity is. 00:00:55.640 --> 00:00:58.340 I'd like to talk first about about what the Trinity is not. 00:00:58.520 --> 00:01:02.420 What we do not mean when we say we believe in the Trinity. 00:01:02.940 --> 00:01:10.500 First, we don't believe that Jesus is the Father and father of the Spirit and the Spirit is Jesus, 00:01:10.680 --> 00:01:13.070 and all of them are the same person. 00:01:13.900 --> 00:01:14.740 We don't believe that. 00:01:15.180 --> 00:01:22.840 That God has three different masks, plays three different parts, 00:01:23.520 --> 00:01:26.050 puts on three different costumes, or anything like that. 00:01:27.560 --> 00:01:32.530 Second, we don't believe that there are three Gods. 00:01:33.160 --> 00:01:40.220 That the Son is one God who is separate from the Father (who was another God), who is separate from the Spirit (who was another God), then you would 00:01:40.240 --> 00:01:40.660 have tritheism. 00:01:42.260 --> 00:01:49.920 Which we don't believe, especially because the Bible emphatically teaches that there is one God and only one God. 00:01:50.260 --> 00:01:57.240 Third, we don't believe that Jesus is subordinate, in the sense that he's a lesser God. 00:01:57.240 --> 00:02:02.220 Or that we have demigods, or different levels of gods, or anything like that. 00:02:02.980 --> 00:02:08.100 That the Father is the top God, and they out range each other, or anything like that. 00:02:09.780 --> 00:02:12.780 That's also what we don't mean we talk about the Trinity. 00:02:15.040 --> 00:02:22.220 The actual definition of the Trinity, historically, is that the Trinity is one God who exists in three 00:02:22.220 --> 00:02:25.290 coequal, coeternal and distinct persons. 00:02:28.880 --> 00:02:36.040 Right off the bat some people are going to think that is confusing, when really the reason it's worded that way is because of 00:02:36.080 --> 00:02:37.020 what we find in scripture. 00:02:37.780 --> 00:02:44.800 We can go through these three premises to show how we arrive at the doctrine of the trinity, because a lot of people 00:02:44.800 --> 00:02:52.060 say, "the word Trinity isn't even in the Bible." We know and it is a 00:02:52.060 --> 00:02:59.280 term that was coined to put a name to concept of 00:02:59.300 --> 00:02:59.820 what the Bible teaches. 00:03:00.820 --> 00:03:03.620 So the first premise is that there is only one God. 00:03:04.680 --> 00:03:06.040 Bible teaches us this emphatically. 00:03:06.760 --> 00:03:15.300 Deuteronomy 6:4, "Hear oh Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is one." Or Isaiah 44:6, 00:03:16.380 --> 00:03:18.310 says, "I am the first. 00:03:19.060 --> 00:03:19.840 I am the last. 00:03:19.860 --> 00:03:25.260 Besides me there is no God." One God. 00:03:26.200 --> 00:03:33.260 Second premise is that you find three persons in the Bible who all 00:03:33.260 --> 00:03:35.680 have these attributes of God. 00:03:35.680 --> 00:03:37.570 Attributes that only God could possess. 00:03:38.300 --> 00:03:45.300 So the Father, Son and Spirit – all of them are called God, all of them are called Creator, all of them 00:03:45.300 --> 00:03:51.910 indwell believers, all of them are omniscient (or all know), all of them are the giver of live, all of them are eternal. 00:03:52.240 --> 00:03:56.870 We could go on and on about their equality with each other. 00:03:59.140 --> 00:04:06.380 Third, we see a distinction between these three persons and so we see that it's 00:04:06.380 --> 00:04:10.510 not God putting on three different costumes, but they are actually distinct from one another. 00:04:14.000 --> 00:04:21.079 You have Jesus at his baptism with Jesus in the water, the Spirit coming down, the Father speaking 00:04:21.079 --> 00:04:21.899 from heaven. 00:04:22.460 --> 00:04:25.540 When Jesus was praying in the garden, we see a distinction in their wills. 00:04:27.380 --> 00:04:31.740 A will would be an attribute of personhood, so you see different persons at that point. 00:04:32.720 --> 00:04:36.400 "Not my will, but let your will be done," is what Jesus says to his Father. 00:04:38.220 --> 00:04:45.860 So with those three premises, what we end up with is a definition that sounds kinda like God is one 00:04:45.860 --> 00:04:49.990 God who exists three coequal, coeternal and distinct persons. 00:04:50.640 --> 00:04:54.140 That's how we end up with the doctrine of the Trinity. 00:04:54.380 --> 00:05:01.640 Biblically, in scripture, looking at both Testaments with both eyes open and taking 00:05:01.640 --> 00:05:03.050 everything into consideration. 00:05:03.200 --> 00:05:07.400 When we see all that, you end up with the doctrine of the Trinity.