SA Ep79 - The Articles of Faith #3 The Trinity

SA Ep79 - The Articles of Faith #3 The Trinity

 In this episode, we look at the doctrine of the Trinity, the Bible truth that there is one God who eternally exists in three distinct Persons: the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost. We will examine what the Trinity is, what it is not, and why this doctrine matters so deeply to the Christian faith. This episode shows that the Father is God, the Son is God, and the Holy Ghost is God, yet there are not three gods, but one God. We will also see how the Trinity is woven into salvation itself, from the Father’s plan, to the Son’s redemption, to the Spirit’s application of grace. This is not an abstract doctrine for scholars alone. It is the glorious truth of who God is. 

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:03

Welcome to the Seeking Approval Podcast. I'm Dr. Chris Smelser from Iliad Baptist Church. You know life moves fast, and faith is not meant to be rushed. I want to take some time and slow down with you and have some honest conversations from the Word of God about daily living. So join me here today on Seeking Approval. How can three things be the same thing, but different things all at one time? Can I give you one example? What about snow, ice, and steam? They're all forms of water, they're all liquid, H2O, but they're in three different forms, three different variations, serving three different functions. And when we speak of the Trinity, the heavenly trinity, it's the same thing. It's all one, it's God, but within we have God the Father, God the Son, God the Holy Spirit, or the Holy Ghost, as Paul would write. Three different distinctions, three different roles or uh attributes that they bring, but all in one. It's not that hard to think about when you look at something as simple as water. But people have made it to be so much more than what we ought to make it to be. We've tried to outthink the Bible. And we're talking about uh the Trinity, and we're talking about what some people will say Trinitarian theology or theology proper. That's what some people will call it, the study of God in general, theology proper, uh pneumatology, uh, that's the study of the Holy Spirit, Christology is the study of Christ, uh, or the Trinitarian theology, that's the study of the Trinity. And looking at our articles of faith, we have moved our way now to number three, which is the Trinity, and that we believe that there are three persons in one, just as we discussed with the snow, ice, and the steam. And this Trinity, when we begin to speak about it, this is not um this is not something we uh just should come across lightly. We're really we're we're standing in some holy ground when we get to this place. And I know in these articles of faith, we're not going to be dealing with things that you know might, you know, at the end of the day make you feel really good when we finish our 15-minute segment. And, you know, we I try to do things, I try to I try to look at things that are more uplifting, help you with your daily walk. Well, I think these will help you with your daily walk. I think if we understand some of the things that we've looked at so far, looking at the Word of God, I mean, how could it not make our day better to know that the Word of God is the true living Word of God? How's it understanding God's nature that he's everything, he's all things to us? How does that not make our day better? And now with the Trinity, how does that not make our day better? Because if the Trinity were not so, we would have to believe a whole lot different than what we are believing right now. And I want to look at some of that throughout this uh episode. You see, there's many groups, people, uh, organizations out there that don't believe in the Trinity the way we do. So what we would be called are Orthodox Trinitarians. Now, I don't put a lot of labels on myself. I had a man one time we were sitting in the waiting room, and my mom was going through cancer treatments. And uh I've always got a Gilead shirt on, whether it's a polo, you know, embroidered polo or an embroidered button-up or just one of my t-shirts. It's got a the logo right on the front of the shirt. And uh so he asked, you know, something about the church. Yeah, pastor of the church. He said, Oh, okay. So, and he rattled off about four or five, six names. And, you know, are you Trinitarian, Calvinist, something, something, something that goes on down the line? I said, that's a whole lot of labels. I said, um, you know, I don't get too much into the labels and and all that. Uh I believe Jesus Christ uh crucified, rose again on the third day, and he did it all for me. And that's the that's the basis of everything. But if you're really wanting to understand more, there are some things to understand. And one thing is the Orthodox Trinitarianism. That's what we believe, the Father, Son, the Holy Ghost. Uh, these three are co-equal, they're co-eternal, they're there's their one essence. Um that's what we believe. There's another group out there, fairly large group, that believe in what's called the oneness theology or modalism, M-O-D-A-L-I-S-M, modalism. One of the more popular ones of the modalist out there, or the oneness would be someone like T.D. Jakes. Now, he's very careful whenever he says things in uh interviews and things like that, but all you gotta do is listen to him preach for a few minutes and you'll find out um you know, modalism is the way he leans. And modalism thinks, uh well believes that there are three uh manifestations or modes of God, but he only reveals himself as different people or different entities at one time. So he can only be God the Father, or he can be God the Son, or he can be God the Holy Ghost, but not all three at one. And that's very important because this uh denies the eternal coexistence, uh coequal of all three. Uh Pentecostal, the Pentecostal International Church, uh the any of the churches that's uh the Jesus name only churches, um, apostolic groups, those are typically your oneness modalist. Arianism is another one. Arianism, uh, we've heard a lot about that. This Arian brotherhood that became very popular back uh in uh Trump's first term because they they made a name for themselves and they they kind of came back out of nowhere. They believe that Jesus is not uh an eternal God, but was a created being, but higher than man, lower than God. Uh the Jehovah's Witness uh believe that Jesus is not God, but he was just the first and greatest creation of God. Um they usually will identify him with Michael, the archangel. So Jesus is kind of an archangel type of person. Unitarianism, uh God's only one person, and it's God the Father. Jesus is not God, but he's just a moral teacher, a prophet, uh kind of a specially used man. Uh that's what the Unitarians, um, Christadelphians, uh, that's the one we don't hear about uh a whole lot, but uh that's that's two of those groups. Adoptionism, uh, this one is one that's kind of uh, man, you talk about a really niche group. Adoptionism is one that believes that Jesus was merely a man who was uniquely chosen and then adopted by God into a special role, and then was given the name of Son, which was a title uh of honor. Um that is, I mean, those are just some really some ancient heretical groups that that use that and very fringe uh uh sects out there. Uh there's more, the Mormon view, um Father, Son, Holy Ghost. Uh, there are not uh one God in essence, but three separate beings united for one person. That's not biblical unit uh uh unity in the Trinity. Uh Christian science, uh some of those, God is, I mean, you really talk about going off the deep end. It's like an abstract, God's an abstract uh thought. Uh He's very impersonal. Um it's just uh it's a weird Islam. Uh they deny their Trinity completely. Allah is one, and Jesus is regarded only as a prophet. Uh that's you know, you're Muslims, uh that's part of the Islam. Judaism. Well, Judaism, that's that's Jews, that's early uh the Judaizers. Uh the Trinity, uh, they completely reject the Trinity. Uh they do not receive Jesus as the Messiah or the Son of God. Um that's sad. Uh, you know, I hate that. You know, the people who really should have known uh never saw it. Um and there's a few others out there, again, some very fringe groups, but so the so it's not that everybody believes this, that that there's the Trinity, uh, that all three are one, all three are co-equal, coexistent and co-eternal. That's the that's the three big things. If you want to know, like, well, I don't know what I believe. Uh, if you believe that all three are one and they're coequal, they coexist at the same time, and they're co-eternal. They've all been here from the beginning and will be here until the very end, then you are what would be considered an Orthodox Trinitarian. Okay. Um, so when we come to this, there's a whole lot to understand. And the Bible is very clear that there is only one God. Deuteronomy 6, 4, it says, Here, O Israel, the Lord our God is one Lord. So we're not tri-theistic. Tri-theistic is God, like monotheistic, polytheistic, multiple gods, one God. So Christianity, our our our my belief is it's not a it's not a tri-theistic. There's not three gods. We don't believe in three separate gods working together. It's one divine uh essence. As we talked about, water. From the water, you have God, uh you have the snow, the ice, and the steam. So from the Godhead, you have God the Father, God the Son, God the Holy Ghost, uh, all three being one. And that unity in the Godhead is foundational. Because if we don't believe that Jesus Christ is there, then you've got to throw out a whole lot of the Bible. And this is where I want to get very plain and simple. I just want I just want to look at this real quick. If we don't believe that all three are coeternal, coexistent, uh, and coequal, what do we do with the verse when it says that he ever liveth to make intercession for us? Because if they're not coexisting, that means that Jesus is not ever living to make intercession for you and I. He can't. If we believe in modalism or oneness, or that there's the, or that there's Jesus is not the Son of God, or that He's not always present, then He can't be making intercession for you and I. So then who is my who is my arbiter in heaven right now whenever Satan is standing in the throne room and making accusations against you and I, who is there arbitrating for me? Because according to Hebrews, it's Jesus. Because he ever liveth to make intercession. That's what he's doing right now. The only thing he ever liveth, he does it every day. So if the Trinity is not true, then I've got a whole different outlook now. Because now I've got to start defending myself. I've got to start fighting for myself. Or I better just hope that God has manifested himself into the Son of God, the Jesus Christ, so then he can make intercession for me, and I better hope that when my name comes up, when Satan brings accusation against me, that somebody will be there. But then if that's the case, now if it now, if I need him to be Jesus, arbitrating for me in heaven against the uh the accusations of Satan, then who is going to be here with me, comforting me in the hard times and the trials of life? Because Jesus said, I go away, I'll send you a comforter. That's the Holy Ghost. So now what? Now do I have to choose who do I want him to be? Do I have to choose? Okay, now wait a minute. I need, I need, I need the Holy Ghost here right now because I'm going through a hard time because uh, you know, all these things are coming against me right now. But wait a minute, I I also need Jesus up there arbitrating for me because Satan is the one bringing all these things against me, but but I need the Holy Ghost here to come for me. So what do we do? We we are we are cast into a conundrum of trying to figure out what do we need? What do I need to pray for at this moment? And they'll explain it away by saying, God's got it under control, you just need to trust God. Right, I do. I trust God that there are three all co-equal, coexistent, co-eternal, together at the same time. That's how God's got it under control. And to think that that there'd be anything different than that, it really does change your entire outlook on things. It changes your prayer life. Who do you pray to? No, how do you do how do you deal with salvation? Can you only get saved whenever God is manifested as Jesus Christ? What if I mean the the Bible tells us that that that God is is the one who commands and controls the the the universe and the cosmos? Well, who controls that whenever he steps away to become Christ or become the Holy Ghost? If he's here dealing with me and and and and and my trifling and and and trivial problems, well, who's controlling the universe? What if this world just spins off his axis? We can't do that. Everything has to change if we try to change who God is, what he is, and and the and the essence of all that he is. The Father in in the Bible is identified all throughout. John 1.1. I love this. I love this verse, John 1.1. In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. That lays it out pretty clear. It takes us all the way back before Bethlehem, before creation, before anything that we even know was there, and it tells us that the Word not only was God, but was with God. See, that language doesn't make sense. And when it's saying the Word is talking about Jesus Christ, we can go on and read the rest of the verses and not find out that's Jesus Christ. That verse makes no sense whatsoever if they can't be co-equal, coexistent, co-eternal. If they can only be one, or if Jesus was not the Son of God and it was only a moral teacher. I mean, you you see, when you start messing with these things, the doctrines that are so simply laid out in Scripture, and we start to try to put our own intellect on it, we have to start dissecting out verses because that verse has to go away. The verse that says that he's sitting at the right hand of the Father, if they're not co-eternal, coexistent, you've got to start taking those verses out of the way. You've got to take an entire chapter out of the way, out of it in Romans, in Revelation, chapter, uh, chapter number one, two, three, four, five, chapter number five. You have to take the because the whole chapter is about Jesus at the right hand of the Father, and He's taking the scroll from the Father's hand. How do they do that if they're not equal, coexist, and coeternal? So there's so much that we have to start doing. It's what Calvinism does. This whole belief that people are select and elect from the foundation of the world, and you know, if you're not select, then tough luck. I mean, you're you have no option to choose salvation. You're just, you know, you're damned for hell from the very beginning. You have to start cutting out a whole lot of scripture. You have to start changing definitions because we mess with things that God has set from the beginning of time. You know, when we don't mess with the things that God has given us, we we won't find error in it. When you introduce a framework, that's what false religion, that's what false narrative is. It's just a framework. And so you build this framework of what you want to believe or what I want to believe. And we build this framework, whether it's modalism, oneness, uh, Jesus being a rabbi, a holy man, whatever you know, some of these we looked at, or whether it's a Calvinistic belief where you change all of salvation, the the whole point of salvation has changed, the gospel message has changed. He didn't come for everybody, he only came for a few. When you put that framework over the Bible, and then you've got to start making it fit, what people usually don't look at, they only look at the verses that fit. But what we need to look at are the verses that don't fit into the framework. What do you do with those? What do you do with verses like, for God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son, that whosoever believeth in him shall not perish, whosoever shall not perish, but have everlasting life? What do you do with one of those? What do you do with the verse that you know God's not willing any man should perish? That all would come to repentance. What do you do with these kind of verses? What do you do with verses where Jesus is sitting at the right hand of the Father? What do you do whenever he says, If I go away, I will send a comforter to you? How do we gotta throw that out? We've got to throw that whole dissertation out of Christ. Because if he goes away, I'll send a comforter. He he shouldn't have said that. He said, When you don't see me anymore, it's because I have become the comforter. So we've got to change all that. So when we start changing things, when we start putting our framework on it, we've got to start changing portions of the Bible for it to fit into us, or it doesn't make sense. Or we just start throwing it out like, well, that's not really what he meant. Then what did he mean? So this idea of the Trinity, it's it's deeper. That's why I say this this kind of stuff does make my day better. I don't know if it does yours or not, but it makes my day better because I know that right now I've got Jesus in heaven making intercession for me. I've got the the Holy Ghost, the Holy Spirit of God right now comforting me. I'm here at work this morning, early morning, a little after four o'clock this morning, as I'm recording this on a Tuesday. My wife, my daughter at home right now, they're asleep in the bed. I mean, just as beautiful as they could be right now. They're they're they're the sleeping beauties of my life. And right now I can pray, God, protect those girls at home. Send send heaven's angels just to surround the house. That no no evil can get in. And I don't have to think, but do I need to give up my protection for them to have protection? I would, in a heartbeat. But I don't have to. Do I have to do I have to pray that God would give up protection on the widows and the widowers of my church and just pray for my wife and my daughter to be protected because you know God can only do so many things at one time because you know he's a little limited. No, this makes my day better. And I hope it makes your day better. I've got so many more verses. I didn't even I didn't get out of the first I didn't get out of the first paragraph, and I've got one, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, ten, eleven, twelve, thirteen, fourteen, fifteen, fifteen paragraphs rife with scripture, and I didn't get out of the first paragraph today. Folks, let me just say it this way. We're we're coming up on my 20-minute mark, and I try to get you out of here in 20 minutes. Let me just say it. The Bible leaves no mistake. There is no mistake, there's no hidden gem in there that somebody's going to pull out and see, aha, told you. The Trinity is not real. It never says that. Never. Jesus, when he's in the garden, he's praying to the Father. Jesus, when he's on the cross, he's talking with the Father. I mean, on and on and on. And people say, well, what about those verses where it only mentions God and the Son? I mean, there's no Holy Ghost there. Yes, the Holy Ghost is the one that is dealing with the men who are writing this down, and he wants no recognition. He stays in the background all the time. He's always in the background. And when you do see the Holy Ghost manifested in in ways where you can feel or see his presence, it is something altogether different. Great things start happening when that comes about. He usually stays in the background. He deals with the heart of people, deals in the mind of people. So he's there. He's just working in the background, like he is right now. In here in my office, quietly in the background. I hope you have a good day today. And I hope that as soon as this is over, what I would encourage you to do is bow your head. Say, Our Father, which art in heaven, hallowed be thy name, thy kingdom come, thy will be done on earth, as is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread. Forgive us of our trespasses. We'll be those trespass against us, or our debtors as we forgive our debts, we forgive our debtors. Lead us not to temptation. Deliver us from evil. Wait a minute. Lead us not to temptation. Guess who's doing that? The Holy Ghost. Deliver us from evil. Guess who's doing that? Jesus Christ. There's all three in one. I encourage you. When we end, pray that prayer. And you'll talk to all three at one time. Thank you for joining us today on Seeking Approval. You know our faith oftentimes grows in quiet places. I hope today's conversation gave you something worth carrying throughout the rest of this day. And join me, Dr. Chris Smelser, again next time as we continue thinking, learning, and walking together. Until then, grace and peace to you from Seeking Approval at Gilead Baptist Church.