Bethlehem Baptist Church

September 17 – December 10 2014

January 14 – April 29 2015

Theologic Foundations

The aim of our charge is love that issues from a pure heart and

a good conscience and a sincere faith.

(1 Timothy 1:5 ESV)

Our Goal in Theology

Theologic Foundations CurriculumIntroductionScripture: 2 lessonsThe TrinityGod’s Eternal

Purposes: 2God’s Creation: 2Man’s Sin and FallJesus Christ: 2The Saving Work of

Christ (Jan. 2015)

The CurriculumOne God in Three PersonsGod the Father, God the SonGod the Holy SpiritThe Happy God

Other WritersJohn Piper – Desiring GodJonathan Edwards – Essay on the TrinityFred Sanders – The Deep Things of God: How

the Trinity Changes Everything.

Week 4: The Trinity

Deuteronomy 6:4 The Lord is OneIsaiah 45, 46, 42 “there is no other”Matthew 28:18-20 In the name of . . .2 Corinthians 13:14 The threeMatthew 3:16-17 The members of the TrinityRomans 11:34-36 Supremacy of GodJohn 1:1-3, 8:57-59 Diety of Christ1 Corinthians 2:10-11 The HS searches the

depths of GodTrinitarian work – many verses

Key Verses

1) God is three persons2) Each person is fully God3) There is One God

Definition:God eternally exists as three persons, Father,

Son and Holy Spirit, and each person is fully God, and there is one God.

Three Simple Statements from Grudem

“ We always tend in our folly to consider things as antitheses which are meant to be complementary.”

Martyn Lloyd-Jones Sermon on the Mount (p. 182)

Paradox in Theology

TF Day1:There is One God

“Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one.

(Deuteronomy 6:4 ESV)

Isaiah 45:I am the Lord, and there is no other.And there is no other God besides me,. . .

There is none besides me.For I am God, and there is no other.

TF Day1:There is One God and He is Unique

Isaiah 46:I have made and I will bear, I will carry and

will save.I am God , and there is no other; I am God,

and there is none like me, declaring the end from the beginning and from ancient times things not yet done, saying, “My counsel shall stand, and I will accomplish all my purpose.”

TF Day1:There is One God and He is Three

And Jesus came and said to them, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. 19 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, 20 teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age(Matthew 28:18-20 ESV)

The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ and the love of God and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all(2 Corinthians 13:14 ESV)

TF Day1:There is One God and He is Three

And when Jesus was baptized, immediately he went up from the water, and behold, the heavens were opened to him, 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, with whom I am well pleased

(Matthew 3:16-17 ESV)

TF Day2: God the Father6 yet for us there is one God, the Father, from

whom are all things and for whom we exist(1 Corinthians 8:6 ESV)

“For who has known the mind of the Lord,or who has been his counselor?”35 “Or who has given a gift to himthat he might be repaid?”36 For from him and through him and to him

are all things. To him be glory forever. Amen(Romans 11:34-36 ESV)

TF Day2: 2 important wordsOntologic Equality of the three persons of the

TrinityThey are of the same substanceThey are each fully GodThey are each eternalThey are fully unifiedThey delight in love towards each other

The Economic relationship within the TrinityThe Father is preeminentThe Son submits to His Father’s willThe Spirit acts on behalf of the Father and the

Son

TF Day2: the Son is Fully God1 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(John 1:1-3 ESV)

So the Jews said to him, “You are not yet fifty years old, and have you seen Abraham?” 58 Jesus said to them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, before Abraham was, I am.” 59 So they picked up stones to throw at him, but Jesus hid himself and went out of the temple(John 8:57-59 ESV) [cp. Exodus 3:14]

TF Day2: the Son is Fully God22 “Turn to me and be saved, all the ends of the earth!

For I am God, and there is no other. 23 By myself I have sworn; from my mouth has gone out in righteousness a word that shall not return: ‘To me every knee shall bow, every tongue shall swear allegiance. ’ (Isaiah 45:22-23 ESV)

9 Therefore God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name, 10 so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, 11 and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father (Philippians 2:9-11 ESV)

TF Day2: the Son is Fully GodJohn 1:14-18

The Word. . . Has made him known.Hebrews 1:1-3

The radiance of God, the exact representationColossians 1:11-15

He is the image of the invisible GodColossians 2:9

In Him all the fullness of deity dwells bodily.2 Corinthians 4:4

the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God

TF Day3: the HS is Fully GodAnd the Spirit of God was hovering over the face of the

waters (Genesis 1:2 ESV)

For the Spirit searches everything, even the depths of God. . . . So also no one comprehends the thoughts of God except the Spirit of God (1 Corinthians 2:10-11 ESV)

3 But Peter said, “Ananias, why has Satan filled your heart to lie to the Holy Spirit and to keep back for yourself part of the proceeds of the land? 4 While it remained unsold, did it not remain your own? And after it was sold, was it not at your disposal? Why is it that you have contrived this deed in your heart? You have not lied to man but to God (Acts 5:3-4 ESV)

TF Day3: Key roles of the HSWhen the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide

you into all the truth, for he will not speak on his own authority, but whatever he hears he will speak, and he will declare to you the things that are to come. 14 He will glorify me, for he will take what is mine and declare it to you. 15 All that the Father has is mine; therefore I said that he will take what is mine and declare it to you

(John 16:13-15 ESV)He (refers to a person) has a mind and a will,

can be grieved, lied to, resisted, and insulted.

TF Day3: the work of the Trinity in salvation“To generalize:The Father foreordains,The Son accomplishes,And The Spirit applies the work of Christ to

the heart”John Frame, Salvation belongs to the Lord

TF Day4: the Happy God in accordance with the gospel of the glory of the blessed

God with which I have been entrusted (1 Timothy 1:11 ESV)

which he will display at the proper time—he who is the blessed and only Sovereign, the King of kings and Lord of lords (1 Timothy 6:15 ESV)

11 These things I have spoken to you, that my joy may be in you, and that your joy may be full (John 15:11 ESV)

I made known to them your name, and I will continue to make it known, that the love with which you have loved me may be in them, and I in them (John 17:26 ESV)

TF Day4: the Happy GodDesiring God by John PiperGod is never frustrated in any of His plans.Therefore He must be the happiest of beings.He loves Himself absolutely; to do otherwise

would be idolatry.Within the triune Godhead (Father, Son, and Holy Spirit), God

has been uppermost in His own affections for all eternity. This belongs to His very nature, for He has begotten and loved the Son from all eternity. Therefore, God has been supremely and eternally happy in the fellowship of the Trinity.9 P 43 Desiring God, reference 9 (Jonathan Edwards)

TF Day4: the Happy GodA Essay on the Trinity

Jonathan EdwardsA view of the Trinitarian relationship from

eternity pasthttps://www.dropbox.com/s/ui5izq59v600pr0/

An Unpublished Essay on the Trinity by JE.pdf?dl=0

TF Day4: the Happy GodThe Deep Things of God: How the Trinity Changes

Everything Fred Sanders

He outlines C S Lewis’s Trinitarian viewsHis evangelism is TrinitarianThe doctrine of salvation is itself the doctrine of the

Trinity, “he shows us the dance of divine love and indicates that there is room for another dancer to join in.”

Our Sanctification (practical Christian living) is a “constant reenactment of that same movement – [the dance of divine love] – of stepping into the place that the Son of God is holding open for us.”

TF Day5:What analogies for the trinity do you recall?

Are they helpful or misleading?

What do you think typical evangelicals think about the Trinity today?

Grudem’s Systematic TheologyWhat is at stake in the doctrine of the Trinity?

Ch. 14Doubt the atonementJustification by faith alone is threatenedIt would be idolatry to worship JesusWe must attribute salvation to a creatureThe independence and personal nature of God

are in questionThe unity of the universe is undermined

ModalismGod exists in different “modes” at different

times.Arianism

Jesus was not fully GodNicene Creed 325 AD (p 1169 in Grudem)

And in one Lord Jesus Christ, the only-begotten Son of God, begotten of the Father before all worlds, God of God, Light of Light, very God of very God, begotten, not made,

being of one substance with the Father. . . Modern Day Arianism: Jehovah’s Witnesses

Controversies and Challenges

2.1 We believe in one living, sovereign, and all- glorious God, eternally existing in three infinitely excellent and admirable Persons: God the Father, fountain of all being; God the Son, eternally begotten, not made, without beginning, being of one essence with the Father; and God the Holy Spirit, proceeding in the full, divine essence, as a Person, eternally from the Father and the Son. Thus each Person in the Godhead is fully and completely God.

The BBC AOF

2.2 We believe that God is supremely joyful in the fellowship of the Trinity, each Person beholding and expressing His eternal and unsurpassed delight in the all-satisfying perfections of the triune God.

Why is this section in the Affirmation of Faith?

The BBC AOF

Questions