Modalism

God presents in self in three modes: God can show Himself as the father, God can show Himself as the son, and God can show Himself as the spirit

  • God is not presenting Himself in different modes

    Issues

  • God is three distinct persons

  • This drastically changes the relationship within the Trinity

    • John 1- The Word was God and the Word was with God

    • 1 John 2-Jesus makes intercession for us

    • The spirit makes intercession for us

  • Heaven was empty when Jesus was on Earth

  • Jesus is just praying to Himself

  • God lacks Transcendent properties clearly marked in Scripture

  • The scripture simply breaks down and doesn’t make sense

Partialism

God is made of three parts: the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Each part is 1/3rd of God and not completely God themselves.

Issues

  • Each one is limited in how much God they are.

  • God only exist when all three are together.

  • Jesus on Earth breaks “God”

  • The indwelling of the Holy Spirit also breaks “God”

  • Philosophically it is simply inferior to the doctrine of the trinity

Tritheism/Polytheism

There are three distinct gods

Issues

  • The scripture is clear that there is only one God.

Unitarian

God is the Father alone

Subordiantionism- The others are lesser to the father

Arianism- Jesus and the Holy Spirit are created and do not share the same essence as the Father

Ebionitism- Jesus was only human with imbued power

Adoptionism- Jesus was not born divine but became divine at…

Issues

  • The scripture will never work in these scenarious.

The Trinity

I can’t fully explain it but this is what I’ve got.

All anologies are a shadow of the reality of who God is for he is the I AM

Matthew 28:19

19 Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in[a] the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit,


Genesis 1:26

26 Then God said, “Let us make man in our image, after our likeness. And let them have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over the livestock and over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.”



Matthew 3:16-17

16 And when Jesus was baptized, immediately he went up from the water, and behold, the heavens were opened to him,[a] and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and coming to rest on him; 17 and behold, a voice from heaven said, “This is my beloved Son,[b] with whom I am well pleased.”

2 Corinthians 13:14

14 The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ and the love of God and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all.


Deuteronomy 6:4

4 “Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one.[a] 5 You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might.

John 1:14-18

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2 He was in the beginning with God. 3 All things were made through him, and without him was not any thing made that was made. 4 In him was life,[a] and the life was the light of men. 14 And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son[d] from the Father, full of grace and truth. 15 (John bore witness about him, and cried out, “This was he of whom I said, ‘He who comes after me ranks before me, because he was before me.’”) 16 For from his fullness we have all received, grace upon grace.[e] 17 For the law was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ. 18 No one has ever seen God; the only God,[f] who is at the Father's side,[g] he has made him known.

"The Trinity is a mystery which cannot be comprehended by human reason but is understood only through faith and is best confessed in the words of the Athanasian Creed, which states that we worship one God in Trinity, and Trinity in unity, neither confusing the Persons nor dividing the substance, that we are compelled by the Christian truth to confess that each distinct Person is God and Lord, and that the deity of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit is one, equal in glory, coequal in majesty.”

If I want to see the doctrine of the trinity come alive I must read the Bible

  • Did the counsel of Nicaea invent the trinity? (No)

    Is God three distinct persons? (Yes)

    Does the bible teach that God is three distinct persons? (Yes)

    Are there perfect anologies for the trinity? (No)

    1. Do you have any questions or thoughts from this lesson?

    2. What stood out to you most?

    3. How does understanding the Trinity affect your relationship with God?

    4. What Bible passages have helped you understand the Trinity better?

    5. How would you help someone understand the Trinity biblically?

    6. How do we practically live this lesson out?

    1. How was your emotional and physical health this week?

    2. What is a serious stressor in your life?

    3. How has your personal time with God been this week?

    4. Would you like to share your personal temptations and how can we help you overcome them?

    5. Is there anything that we need to discuss that we have not already?

    6. How can we pray for each other this week?

    Pray for one another, invite each person to pray even if it is just a few sentences.