CHAPTER 50 - THE TRINITY
The Trinity
When I asked Eli the son of my Jewish friend and a scholar of the Old Testament about Genesis 1:26 Then God said, "Let us make man in our image, in our likeness. Eli said that he did not have the understanding about that scripture that maybe be God was talking to His angels. Well God did not make his angels in his image and likeness He only made man in His image. So whom was God talking to? Was it the Holy Trinity the Father, Jesus and the Holy Spirit?
Genesis 3:22: And the Lord God said, "The man has now become like one of us.
Genesis 11:6: The Lord said, "If as one people speaking the same language they have begun to do this then nothing they plan to do will be impossible for them Come, let us go down and confuse their language so they will not understand each other.
We see in Isaiah that the Father says the following.
Isaiah 6:8: And I heard the voice of the Lord, saying, Whom shall I send, and who will go for us? Then I said here am I; send me!
Isaiah 6:9-10: And He said, Go, and tell this people, you hear indeed, but do not understand; and seeing you see, but do not know.
Make the heart of this people fat, and make their ears heavy, and shut their eyes; lest they see with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and understand with their hearts, and turn back, and be healed.
Acts28: 25: And disagreeing with one another, they were let go, Paul saying one word: Well did the Holy Spirit speak through Isaiah the prophet to our fathers,
Acts 28:26-27: saying, "Go to this people and say: Hearing you shall hear and shall not understand; and seeing you shall see and not perceive.
For the heart of this people was fattened, and they have heard with their ears dully; and they closed their eyes; lest at any time they should see with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and understand with their heart, and should be converted, and I should heal them."
Hebrews 10:15-16: The Holy Spirit also is a witness to us; for after He had said before,
"This is the covenant that I will make with them after those days, says the Lord; I will put My Laws into their hearts, and in their minds I will write them,"
Jeremiah 31:33: but this shall be the covenant that I will cut with the house of Israel: After those days, says Jehovah, I will put My Law in their inward parts, and write it in their hearts; and I will be their God, and they shall be My people.
We can see from these scriptures that God the Farther and God The Holy Spirit are speaking as one.
And in 2 Corinthians confirms that the Lord is the Spirit and the Sprit is of the Lord.
2Corintians 3:17: And the Lord is that Spirit; and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty.
Then of course in John 14:7: we read
John 14:7: If you had known Me, you would have known My Father also. And from now on you know Him and have seen Him.
It is plain by this verse that to know God and to see God is the same thing. Now whereas he said before that no man saw God at any time, it is to be understood in this way: without Christ, or were it not through Christ, no man could ever see God, nor ever saw God, at any time: for as Chrysostom says, the Son is a very concise and plain setting forth of the Father's nature to us.
If ye had known me, ye should have known my Father - Because I and the Father are One, John 10:30: Or, if ye had properly examined the intention and design of the law, ye would have been convinced that it referred to me; and that all that I have done and instituted was according to the design and intention of the Father, as expressed in that law.
And now we see that God The Father, God the Son, and God The Holy Spirit are one but their work is different
The Farther is the one, which commands God Almighty.
Jesus is the doer in the Godhead, the Son.
The Holy Spirit is the one that manifest the commands of the Father and the doing of Jesus.
1Corintians 12:4-6: But there are differences of gifts, but the same Spirit. And there are differences of ministries, but the same Lord. And there are differences of workings, but it is the same God working all things in all.
• God the Father is in charge of the operations.
• Jesus God the Son is in charge of the administrations.
• God the Holy Spirit is in charge of the manifestations.
So when we pray we must go in the Spirit, through the Son Jesus, to the Father. The Holy Sprit is the power of the Godhead.
Mica 3:8: But I am full of power by the Spirit of Jehovah, and justice, and might.
Luke 1:35: And the angel answered and said to her, The Holy Spirit shall come on you, and the power of the Highest shall overshadow you.
Isaiah 59:19: So they shall fear the name of Jehovah from the west, and His glory from the rising of the sun. When the enemy shall come in like a flood, the Spirit of Jehovah shall make him flee.
The word in Hebrew for one is achad, which is used in:
Genesis 1:5: And God called the light, Day. And He called the darkness, Night. And the evening and the morning were the first day.
We see here that both evening and morning is called one day and in Genesis 2:24: again that both man and woman using the Hebrew word achad becomes one.
Genesis 2:24: Therefore shall a man leave his father and his mother, and shall cleave to his wife and they shall be one flesh.
The in Deuteronomy 6:4: the same Hebrew Echad is used.
Deuteronomy 6:4: Hear, O, Israel. Jehovah our God is one Jehovah.
God the Holy Spirit cannot be seen
God the Father cannot be seen with out dying
God the Son can be seen
Galatians 4:4: The Father sends the Son
John 3:16: The Father Sends the Son to die for our sins
John 14:26: The Farther sends the Spirit
John 8:28: The Son speaks on behalf of the Father
John 16:13: The Spirit speaks on behalf of Jesus
John 3:35; 5:20; 14:31: The Father loves the Son, and the Son loves the Father
John 17:1,4-5: The father and the Son glorify one another.
John 16:14: The Spirit glorifies Jesus the Son
1 John 2:1: The Son is an Advocate for us with the Father
John 14:16, 26 Jesus the Son sent the Holy Spirit.
2 John 3: Jesus is not the Father, but the Son of the Father
The word Elohim is the plural word for God.
Psalm 45:7: You love righteousness, and hate wickedness; therefore God, Your God, has anointed you with the oil of gladness above your fellows.
See this verse explained in the notes at Hebrew 1:9: where it is applied to the Messiah. The word "God" is rendered in the margin "O God"; "O God, thy God, hath anointed thee," etc. According to this construction, the thought would be carried on which is suggested in Psalm 45:6: of a direct address to the Messiah as God. This construction is not necessary, but it is the most obvious one. The Messiah - the Lord Jesus - though he is described as God himself (John 1:1: et al.), yet addresses God as "his" God, John 20:17: As Mediator, as appearing in human form, as commissioned to perform the work of redemption, and to subdue the world to the divine authority, it was proper thus to address his Father as "his" God, and to, acknowledge Him as the source of all authority and law. This remarkable chapter in Genesis is quite clear that Abram saw 3 men but addressed them as one.
Genesis 17:1: And when Abram was ninety-nine years old, Jehovah appeared to Abram and said to him, I am the Almighty God! Walk before Me and be perfect.
Genesis 18:1-3: And Jehovah appeared to him in the plains of Mamre, and he sat at the tent door in the heat of the day. And he lifted up his eyes and looked, and lo, three men stood by him. And when he saw them, he ran to meet them from the tent door, and bowed toward the ground. And he said, My Lord, if now I have found favor in Your sight, do not pass awa
And, lo, three men stood by him; having perhaps descended at once from heaven upon the spot near where Abraham sat; for these, whoever they were, appeared in an human form, and they were took by Abraham at first sight to be men, and as such he treated them: some have taken these to be the three divine Persons, as some of the ancients; of which opinion was Dr. Lightfoot, who expressly says,"three months after this, (i.e. the institution of the circumcision,) the three Persons in the Trinity dine with Abraham, and foretell the birth of Isaac; again, the Son and the Holy Ghost go down to Sodom, but the first Person in the Trinity stayed with Abraham' and elsewhere ,"the three Persons in the Trinity, in the shape of three men, appear to Abraham and dine with him, and eat the first flesh mentioned eaten in all the Scripture.' But to this may be objected, that the Father and the Holy Spirit are never said to appear in a human form.
John Gill Exposition on the Bible
According to the Hebrew translation and its grammar Abraham ran to the 3 and called them in the singular.
Exodus 6:2-3: And God spoke to Moses, and said to him, I am Jehovah. And I appeared to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob as God Almighty. But I was not known to them by the name JEHOVAH.
Exodus 33:20: And He said, You cannot see My face. For there no man can see Me and live. And he said, thou canst not see my face
This means not his form, his essence, his very nature, and the glory of it, that Moses must know he could never see; but the brightest displays of his grace and goodness in Christ, the fullest discoveries of it, which are too much for man, in the present state of things, to have, who sees in part, and but through a glass darkly, not face to face, or in the most complete and perfect manner; it is but a small part and portion of God, and of his ways and works, as of creation and providence, so more especially of grace, salvation, and redemption by Jesus Christ, that is known of him; the things of the Gospel in their full perfection are what eye has not seen; and particularly were more hidden and unseen under the legal dispensation; this face was covered with types and shadows, and dark representations of things; though, in comparison of that state, we now, with open face, behold the glory of the Lord, yet still it is through a glass darkly, and we have not the clear and full view of things as will be hereafter:
"For there shall no man see me and live: if there was to be such a revelation made of the grace and goodness, and glory of God in Christ, as it really is in itself, it would be too much for mortals in the present state to bear; it would break their earthen vessels in pieces; the full discovery therefore is reserved to a future state, when these things will be seen as they are, and men will be in a condition to receive them; otherwise we find that men have, in a sense, seen the face of God in this life, and have lived; though many, and even good men, have been possessed with such a notion, that if a man saw God he must die."
John Gill's Exposition on the Entire Bible
Genesis 32:30: Jacob said, "I have seen God face to face, and I am still alive." So he named the place Peniel.
Peniel - the face of God. The reason of this name is assigned in the sentence, "I have seen God face to face." He is at first called a man. Hosea terms him the angel. And here Jacob names him God. Hence, some men, deeply penetrated with the ineffable grandeur of the divine nature, are disposed to resolve the first act at least into an impression on the imagination. We do not pretend to define with undue nicety the mode of this wrestling. And we are far from saying that every sentence of Scripture is to be understood in a literal sense. But until some cogent reason is assigned, we do not feel at liberty to depart from the literal sense in this instance. The whole theory of a revelation from God to man is founded upon the principle that God can adapt himself to the apprehension of the being whom he has made in his own image. This principle we accept, and we dare not limit its application "further than the demonstrative laws of reason and conscience demand." If God walk in the garden with Adam, expostulate with Cain, give a specification of the ark to Noah, partake of the hospitality of Abraham, take Lot by the hand to deliver him from Sodom, we cannot affirm that he may not, for a worthy end, enter into a bodily conflict with Jacob. These various manifestations of God to man differ only in degree. If we admit anyone, we are bound by parity of reason to accept all the others.
We have also already noted the divine method of dealing with man. He proceeds from the known to the unknown, from the simple to the complex, from the material to the spiritual, from the sensible to the super-sensible. So must he do, until he have to deal with a world of philosophers. And even then, and only then, will his method of teaching and dealing with people be clearly and fully understood. The more we advance in the philosophy of spiritual things, the more delight will we feel in discerning the marvelous analogy and intimate nearness of the outward to the inward, and the material to the spiritual world. We have only to bear in mind that in man there is a spirit as well as a body; and in this outward wrestling of man with man we have a token of the inward wrestling of spirit with spirit, and therefore, an experimental instance of that great conflict of the Infinite Being with the finite self, which grace has introduced into our fallen world, recorded here for the spiritual edification of the church on earth.
"My life is preserved." The feeling of conscience is, that no sinner can see the infinitely holy God and live. "And he halted upon his thigh." The wrenching of the tendons and muscles was mercifully healed, so as to leave a permanent monument, in Jacob's halting gait, that God had overcome his self-will.
Gill's Exposition on the Bible
Jesus was with God in the beginning and Jesus was God
John 1:1-3: In the beginning was the Word (Jesus), and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things came into being through Him, and without Him not even one thing came into being that has come into being.
Isaiah 9:6: For to us a Child is born, to us a Son is given; and the government shall be on His shoulder; and His name shall be called Wonderful, Counselor, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace.
The mighty God; or "God the mighty One" (r); as some read the words with a comma; but if read together, the sense is the same; Christ is God, truly and properly so; as appears from his name Jehovah, which is peculiar to the most High; from his nature and perfections, being the same with his Father's: from the works performed by him, as those of creation, providence, miracles, redemption, resurrection from the dead, &c.; and from the worship given him, which only belongs to God; also he is called our God, your God, their God, my God, by which epithets those that are not truly God are never called; he is said to be God manifest in the flesh; God over all, blessed for ever; the great God, the living God, the true God, and eternal life; and he is "the mighty One" as appears by the works he did, previous to his incarnation; as the creation of all things out of nothing; the upholding of all things by the word or his power.
John Gill Exposition on the Bible
The Father commanded and Jesus made all things. The Father, Jesus, and the Holy Spirit together in scripture.
Mathew 3:16: And Jesus, when He had been baptized, went up immediately out of the water. And lo, the heavens were opened to Him, and He saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and lighting upon Him.
Mathew 28:19: Therefore go and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit,
Titus 3:4-6: But when the kindness and love of God our Savior toward man appeared, not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to His mercy He saved us, through the washing of regeneration and renewal of the Holy Spirit, whom He poured out on us abundantly through Jesus Christ our Savior,
Although the word Trinity is not in the Bible, it is used to describe the to explain the Father, The Son, and the Holy Spirit. Theophilus of Antioch Syria used the word Trinity first in AD 168; just as the word Rapture in given to "being caught up with Jesus in the air or snatched up.