In Jeremiah 13:23 the prophet, after telling Judah they will face judgment from a northern enemy, addresses the topic of repentance. Yet rather than calling them to make a 180 degree turn from the immoral, disobedient direction they are going, the point he makes is that he knows they will not repent because they can’t. Sin has become a strong part of their nature, who they are. Here is the way he says this (literally): “Can the Sudanese change his skin or the leopard his spots? In the same way, you are able to do good, as disciples of evil.” Jeremiah’s point is that the inhabitants of Judah are as capable of doing good as the Sudanese person is of changing his skin color or the leopard getting rid of his spots. Doing evil has become who they are. Literally, he says they are “disciples of evil.” In the Hebrew mind, a disciple becomes like the teacher (Luke 6:40). The inhabitants of Judah, through the constant training and catechism of evil, are transformed into the same image.
What Jeremiah 13:23 reminds us of is that someone or something (or both) will disciple (or catechize) us and/or our children through sheer repetition. Our task is to catechize intentionally self and family so that we become more and more like Jesus Christ (2 Cor. 3:18) and not like the world system that opposes God (1 John 2:15-17). This is why we are currently encouraging you to think through and memorize The New City Catechism.
With this reminder of its importance in mind, we now come to the third question: “How many persons are there in God? Answer: There are three persons in the one true and living God: the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. They are the same in substance, equal in power and glory.” Though the Bible does not use the word, “Trinity,” it very clearly teaches it, and highlights its importance. Let’s see how this is so.
What Trinity Means
The word Trinity means tri-unity. In other words, it means that God is one in three.
To start, God is always and at each moment, He has always been, and always will be three persons. As the catechism says, “There are three persons in the one true and living God: the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. They are the same in substance, equal in power and glory.” The Father is fully God, yet He is not the Son or the Spirit. The Son is fully God, yet He is not the Father or the Spirt. The Spirit is fully God, yet He is not the Father or the Son.
Next, we must see that though God is three persons, He is only one God, as the catechism affirms: “the one true and living God.”
Even more important than what Trinity means is that the Bible teaches it. Here are just a few examples.
The Bible Teaches The Doctrine of The Trinity
Luke 3:21-22 highlights that God is three persons, distinct from each other, and God is always and at one and the same time three persons: “Now when all the people were baptized, and when Jesus also had been baptized and was praying, the heavens were opened, 22 and the Holy Spirit descended on him in bodily form, like a dove; and a voice came from heaven, “You are my beloved Son; with you I am well pleased.” (emphasis added)
In Matthew 28:19 Jesus commissioned us with these words and, in the process, shows that God is one God (one name) and yet three persons: “Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit….” (emphasis added)
In Paul’s closing prayer of blessing for the Corinthians in 2 Corinthians 13:14, we see the three persons doing and being only what the one God can do and be: “The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ and the love of God and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all.” (emphasis added)
These are just three of many examples we could give, yet they are enough to make the point that the Bible Teaches God has always been, is, and always be at all times and at each moment one God in three persons.
Of course many of us might think, “That’s all nice, but does this really matter? Isn’t this a doctrine that only scholars care about?” Let’s answer this.
The Doctrine of the Trinity Is Important
There are a number of reasons this is important.
1. This is who God is and God takes delight in us knowing who He is and what He is like (Jeremiah 9:23-24).
2. The only way that God can be eternally and at His very essence love (“God is love.” 1 John 4:8), is to be a Trinity. If God is only a one person God, He would have had no one to love until He created and so could not have been love in His very essence for eternity.
3. The Trinity shows God has always been at His very essence a Father, the “begetter” (1 John 5:1). The ultimate Word or communication to us from and about God is the Son (John 1:1, 14, 18; Heb. 1:1-3) and the Son reveals to us that for all eternity the first person of the Trinity has been Father (John 1:14; 3:16) and this means that he is one who “begets,” who gives birth, who gives life (Dt. 32:18; 1 John 5:1). This shows that at the very core of His being God is one who gives true and full life, who overflows with good and love.
4. Related to number three is that the Father has always and eternally overflowed with, He has radiated out with His glory, embodied in the Son (Hebrews 1:3), which shapes how God overflows to create the world and to express His love in its most intense way through the love that saves sinners (John 3:16; Romans 5:6, 8; 8:28-39). This love has always been present in the Father and Son’s love for each other (John 17:24), which has been poured out among them by the Spirit (Romans 5:5).
5. The Savior, in addition to being fully human, had to be fully God, which means a triune God is important. He had to be God since God ultimately is the Redeemer or Savior of man (Isaiah 43:3; Jonah 2:9), most likely no mere man could have undergone the eternal wrath of God in that short period of time as a sin-offering (2 Cor. 5:21; 1 John 2:1-2), and the sacrifice and the priest offering the sacrifice had to be without sin (Rom. 5:12-19; Hebrews 9:1-14; 10:1-22)—and deity safe-guarded his sinlessness (Lk. 1:35). The Savior also had to be man since He was taking the place of sinful humans as the perfect man (Rom. 5:12-19; 1 Tim. 2:5; Heb. 2:5-18; 9:1-14). To have a Savior who is fully God and fully man demands the reality and teaching of the Trinity behind it.
6. The Bible tells us that the Trinitarian God, the one who has been in community as the three persons of the Trinity for all eternity, created man in His image (Genesis 1:26; 5:1-2; 9:6; James 3:9). This sets the stage or us to see we are meant to be individuals who are also community beings. What is more, we are alike and different.
7. The Bible teaches us that God is eternally happy (1 Timothy 1:11) and that he does all things at some level out of his pleasure (Pss. 115:3; 135:6). Most often in Scripture pleasure, happiness, and joy are spoken of as radiating out of one’s being, but also in response to others. As a result, God’s eternal happiness and pleasure would relate to His being eternally a God of love as a God in community (Father, Son, and Holy Spirit)—each person giving pleasure to the other persons.
8. The Bible tells us that the Trinity is the model for how God created man and woman (different to be in marital union, that is, one (1 Corinthians 11:3). When we come to see what the Bible teaches about the persons of the Trinity being equal in value, glory, power, and significance, having different main roles, and each person sharing in all the works of the Trinity outwardly, what significance do all these truths have for how we should approach marriage?
9. Seeing the beauty of God is a great desire of the godly (Psalms 27:4; 96:6) and, as can be seen in the above teaching about the Trinity, we can conclude we see God’s beauty in the Trinity.
Joyfully Seeing God's Beauty In The Trinity With You,
Tom
