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Apologetics for the Masses #484 - The Trinity
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Topic
Scriptural Evidence for the Trinity
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General Comments
Hey folks,
In the last newsletter I mentioned that I have a few projects that I'm working on that I would be telling you about over the coming weeks. Well, the first of those projects is that I have mailed a Catechism of the Catholic Church to every non-Catholic pastor in Leeds, Alabama (a suburb of Birmingham). Accompanying the catechism is a letter that basically says the catechism is a gift from the Bible Christian Society for their reference library, so that if they ever wanted to talk about the Catholic Church from the pulpit, in a Bible study, or in a Sunday school class, they would be able to get their information "straight from the horse's mouth". The letter also says that while we do not expect they will agree with everything the Church teaches, we hope that the Catechism will enable them to accurately convey to their people what the Church teaches, so that if folks disagree with Catholic teaching, they're disagreeing with what the Church actually teaches, as opposed to what many people mistakenly believe the Church teaches. It also mentions that there is a 32-page index of Scripture references in the back of the Catechism because, contrary to common misperceptions about the Catholic Church, the Bible is central to the Catholic Faith.
I will be following up the Catechism mailings in a few weeks by sending a Catholic tract to every household in the zip code in which Leeds, Alabama is situated. There are approximately 5000 households in the zip code. Haven't yet decided what the tract will be, but I have one on Sola Scriptura and one on Sola Fide. Plus, I'm in the process of writing one titled: "That They May All Be One," which is based on Jesus' prayer at the Last Supper (John 17:11, 20-21). So, first the pastors get a Catholic catechism, then a few weeks later the folks in their congregations get a Catholic tract. It should make for some interesting conversations in those churches as to what the heck those Catholics are up to.
Please keep this project in your prayers...that there will be seeds of truth planted with a number of folks. Some 5000 households will be exposed to something Catholic - from a Catholic source - probably for the first time for the vast majority of these households. I have no idea how effective this effort will be, but I do know one thing for sure - it will be more effective than what is currently being done to evangelize all of these folks...nothing! And, after I'm done with Leeds, the next phase of the project will be to repeat the pattern in a couple other suburbs of Birmingham - Adamsville and Pleasant Grove. And, hopefully, more to follow...
I'll keep you up-to-date on things as we move forward.
Introduction
This week I thought I would get away from direct disputations with Protestants and go for something a bit more indirect. There are some Protestant denominations out there - Oneness Pentecostals, Iglesia ni Cristo, various Messianic Jew congregations, Jehovah's Witnesses, Mormons, United Church of God, the Christian Disciples, Unitarians, and a few others - that do not believe in the Trinity. That's because either they do not believe Jesus is God (as in the Jehovah's Witnesses) or because they do not believe there are Three Persons in the One Godhead (as in the Oneness Pentecostals - who believe Father, Son, and Holy Spirit all refer to Jesus). So, should you ever come across some of these folks, I thought I would give you some arguments you could use from Scripture to present the evidence for the Church's Trinitarian beliefs.
Challenge/Response/Strategy
The Trinity and the Bible
Let's start off by looking at biblical passages that point to Jesus as indeed being God.
We'll start in the 1st chapter of the 1st book of the New Testament - the Gospel of Matthew.
Matthew 1:23, "Behold, a virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and his name shall be Emmanuel (which means, God with us)." This verse is quoting the prophecy found in Isaiah 7:14. Now, that seems to pretty clearly say that Jesus is "God with us". However, some folks will respond, "Well, what that means is that Jesus, the Messiah, was sent by God and so, in that sense, he is a sign that God is with us, but it isn't saying that he himself is God."
Matthew 11:4-5, "And Jesus answered them [John the Baptist's disciples], 'Go and tell John what you hear and see: the blind receive their sight and the lame walk, lepers are cleansed and the deaf hear, and the dead are raised up..." Who else but God can do such miraculous things? And, in particular, who else but God has the power of life and death to the extent that he can raise up the dead? Now, some might say, "Well, that was God working through him to do such things. Others in the Scriptures have done similar miracles by the power of God. Yes, they have. But, right before a parallel passage in Luke (Luke 7:22) of that same verse in Matthew, it says this:
Luke 7:21, "In that hour He cured many of diseases and plagues and evil spirits, and on many that were blind he bestowed sight." The sheer numbers of miracles apparently worked by Jesus is unprecedented in Scripture up to that point, but the key thing here is that it says Jesus did all of these things - "He cured many..." as opposed to in the Old Testament where it is generally clear that God is the one effecting the miracles. "Well," one could argue, "the Acts of the Apostles says that 'many signs and wonders were done among the people by the hands of the Apostles,' (Acts 5:12) so same difference." Yes indeed. However, the Apostles are, first of all, disciples of Jesus, and it is abundantly clear that any power they have to perform miracles is from Jesus and the Holy Spirit. For example, in Luke 9:1 it says that Jesus gave the Apostles the power and authority over all demons and to cure diseases. Then, in Acts 2, they are filled with the Holy Spirit. So, not their own power. Secondly, there is also this verse from Scripture:
Luke 8:46, "But Jesus said, 'Someone touched me, for I perceive that power has gone forth from me." Jesus said this in response to the woman with the 12-yr. flow of blood who had touched the fringe of His garment and was instantly healed. The key here is that power went out from Jesus. The power to heal her was in Him. And Scripture tells us, "...that power belongs to God," (Psalm 62:11). Nothing similar that I know of anywhere else in the Scriptures in terms of the power to perform miracles coming from the person performing the miracle. It is God's power that heals, and if this power was in Jesus, then that is a pretty strong indication that Jesus is indeed God. Also along those lines, we have this:
John 2:18-21, "The Jews then said to Him, 'What sign have you to show us for doing this?' Jesus answered them, 'Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up.' The Jews then said, 'It has taken forty-six years to build this temple, and will you raise it up in three days?' But He spoke of the temple of His body." Note, Jesus says the He will raise Himself up after three days. It's one thing to raise someone else from the dead, but to raise yourself up from the dead. I would tend to think that is something only God could do.
John 1:1, "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God." Now, that's about as straightforward as it gets, right? Jesus is the Word. The Word was/is God. The problem here, though, is if your talking to a Jehovah's Witness. The Jehovah's Witnesses have a translation of the Bible - "The New World Translation" - in which John 1:1 says, "...and the Word was with God, and the Word was a god." They assume there is no Trinity, so they say that the Word cannot be "with" God if the Word is God. They claim, and rightly so, that the Word being "with" God means there are two distinct persons being referenced here. Well, there are! But, since they come to Scripture with an anti-trinitarian predisposition, then that means Jesus is not God, but a god - i.e., a powerful divine being, but not THE God.
So, what can you do with that? I mean, they're re-writing Scripture to support their beliefs. Well, if you do talk to a Jehovah's Witness (JW), first thing to do is to indeed go to John 1:1. Then, when they tell you that, "No, no...you have a bad translation. It should say "the Word was a god," you can respond with, "Oh, I see." Then, turn to Jeremiah 17:10 and read it to them - "I the Lord search the mind and try the heart, to give to every man according to his ways, according to the fruit of his doings." (In their translation it says, "I Jehovah am searching the heart...) Then ask them, "Is that referring to Jehovah God?" To which the JW will respond in the affirmative.
Then you can add something along the lines of: "And, it's only Jehovah God Who can search the mind and try the heart of men and give to them according to the fruit of their works, right?" Again, affirmative response. That's when you take them to Revelation 2:23 and read to them - "And all the churches shall know that I am He who searches mind and heart, and I will give to each of you as your works deserve." And you ask them, "So, this is Jehovah God speaking here, right? Because you said it's only Jehovah God who can search the minds and hearts of men and give to each according to their works, right?" And then you show them that person speaking in Rev 2:23 is Jesus Christ. We know this for a fact because in verse 18 it tells us that these words are the words of the "Son of God", and Jesus is the Son of God. We know this from many verses in the gospels. For example, Matthew 8:29; 14:33; 16:16; 27:54; and many others. So, Jesus is Jehovah God. But, according to the JW's, that can't be because Jesus is a separate person than Jehovah God. So, when you hit them with that inconsistency in their theology, just stand there and smile while they try to stammer their way out of the situation.
Okay, back to some more verses for Jesus being God:
Hebrews 1:1-6,8 - "...God spoke of old to our fathers by the prophets; but in these last days He has spoken to us by a Son, whom He appointed the heir of all things, through Whom He created the world. He refelcts the glory of God and bears the very stamp of His nature, upholding the universe by His word of power. When He had made purification for sins, He sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high...For to what angel did God ever say, 'Thou art my Son, today I have begotten thee?"...And again, when he brings the firstborn into the world, He says, "Let all God's angels worship Him." The only one who is to be worshipped is God Himself. So, if God tells the angels to worship His Son, Jesus, then that is God saying that Jesus is God. So, two separate and distinct persons; yet, both of them God (distinct in regard to their Personhood, not to their nature).
John 8:58-59, "Truly, truly, I say to you, before Abraham was, I Am. So they took up stones to throw at Him." Jesus here identifies Himself with the same name that God identifies Himself to Moses in the Old Testament: "And [God] said, 'Say this to the people of Israel, 'I Am has sent me to you.'" (Exodus 3:14). And we can know for sure that Jesus was identifying Himself as God because the Jewish leaders "took up stones to throw at Him." They were going to stone Him to death for blasphemy! They knew exactly what He was saying...He was calling Himself God.
Okay, so if Jesus is God, then how do we know that He isn't, as the Oneness Pentecostals believe, the one and only divine Person and that He is simply referred to in different ways - as the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit? All are Jesus. Well, the baptism of Jesus gives us a pretty good indication that Jesus is not the same as the Father nor the Holy Spirit. What do we see in the accounts of His baptism? Jesus is baptized with water. Then, a voice from Heaven says, "This is My beloved Son..." Then, the Holy Spirit in the form of a dove descends upon Him. Three separate entities here. But, the verses that seal the deal for me are from John 14,15, and 16:
John 14:16, "And I will pray the Father, and He will give you another Counselor, to be with you forever, even the Spirit of truth.." Jesus is praying to the Father, and He clearly identifies the Holy Spirit as being "another". The Holy Spirit cannot be Jesus because Jesus refers to Him as "another" Counselor. Another...not the same...different.
John 14:26, "But the Counselor, the Holy Spirit, Whom the Father will send in My name..." Translating this as an anti-Trinitarian, it would read thus: "But I, the Holy Spirit, Whom I, the Father, will send in My, Jesus', name..." That's nuts!
John 15:23-24,26 - "He who hates Me hates My Father also...but now they have seen and hated both Me and My Father...But when the Counselor comes, Whom I shall send to you from the Father, even the Spirit of truth, Who proceeds from the Father..." He who hates Jesus hates the Father also. Jesus and the Father are two separate Persons. They hated both Me and My Father. Jesus clearly identifies Himself and the Father as two separate Persons. If Jesus and the Father are the same Person, then what Jesus says here makes no sense. And then verse 26. The anti-Trinitarian translation is: "But when I come, Whom I shall send to you from Me, even Me, Who proceeds from Me."
John 16:3, "And they will do this because they have not known the Father, nor Me." They have not known the Father...nor Me? Again, clearly, Jesus is identifying the Father as a separate Person from Himself. This makes no sense if Jesus and the Father are indeed the same Person.
John 16:7, "Nevertheless, I tell you the truth: it is to your advantage that I go away, for if I do not go away, the Counselor will not come to you; but if I go, I will send Him to you." The anti-Trinitarian translation of this is: For if I do not go away, then I will not come to you, but if I go, I will send Me to you."
To say that the Father and Jesus and the Holy Spirit are all the same divine Person...one divine Person...is to render a number of verses of the Gospels as nothing short of bizarre.
Divinity - Father, Son, and Holy Spirit - three divine Persons, one divine nature. Humanity - me, you, everybody - many human persons, one human nature. The difference is, the divine nature is infinite, human nature is not. So, human beings have limits, have boundaries, can be separated. Not so with divine Persons. So, if you have 3 Persons, each of Whom have the divine nature, then each of them has to be infinite. If each of them is infinite, then that means each of them is fully, totally, completely God. So, one God, three Persons in God.
We cannot wrap our finite minds around the Infinite. But, if we believe Scripture, then we believe in the Trinity.
Closing Comments
I pray all of you have a great week. As always, any comments and questions can be sent to me by simply hitting "Reply" to this email.
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