The Divinity of ChristMal Couch, Ph.D., Th.D. The Doctrine of the Trinity With an objective study of Scripture on the subject of the nature of God, one cannot help but arrive at the doctrine of the Trinity. It seems almost impossible that the human mind could of itself conceive of such an understanding of the nature of God. Very few verses stand alone in proving the Trinity, but thousands of passages of Scripture, which are understood by normal interpretive processes prove this teaching to be correct. The doctrine of the Trinity teaches that there is only one true God, who is singular in essence (Deut. 4:35, 39; 6:4; 1 Kings 8:60; 2 Kings19:15; Psa. 86:10; Isa. 45:5-6; John 17:3; Rom. 3:30; Eph. 4:6; and 1 Tim. 2:5). God is one divine nature and is indivisible. But there are three distinct persons or personalities in the Godhead. While this is completely unfathomable and incomprehensible to the human mind, nevertheless, the Bible is consistent with this teaching from Genesis to Revelation. To help clarify the Trinity, we speak of the first, second, and third persons of the Trinity, i.e., Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Scripture shows over and over that they share the same attributes and characteristics. And yet, they also maintain different functions within the workings of their creation. Another way of speaking of the three in the Godhead, would be to speak of God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit. Of Christ it is said that He is very God, and very Man. He is both God and man in one person. The early church wrestled and struggled in trying to get the doctrine of the Trinity theologically correct. The church Fathers were pummeled with false teachings, and some of these teachings lasted far into the third and fourth centuries. Gnosticism taught that God the Son was but a floating ghost or spirit being. He had not come in human flesh. He was deity only in that He had a certain god-like consciousness. Much mysticism and false teaching covered over the true divinity of Christ. This was one of the earliest cults and heresies that may have been coming into the New Testament churches even before the canon of Scripture was closed. Sabellianism was a heresy invented by a Roman teacher named Sabellius (cir. 215 A.D). Sometimes labeled Modal Monarchianism, this view held that the Father was the essential God and divine essence, but that the Son and the Holy Spirit were but modes of self-expression. In other words, the Father could project Himself first as the Son and then as the Holy Spirit. Arianism takes its name from Arius, a church elder in Alexandria (4th century), taught that there was one God (the Father), and that the Son was created by Him out of nothing by His command. Both the Son and the Spirit were created, with the Spirit being of impersonal essence. Strangely, Arius held the Holy Spirit up high as the noblest of the creatures produced by the Father. Tritheism teaches that there are three Gods, rather than just one. Each person in the Trinity has His own separate divine nature. There are Christian views today that have heretical views about the Trinity. The United Pentecostal movements teach a kind of Sabellianism. They reject the Trinity and say that there is only one person in the Godhead who reveals Himself as a distinct "other" person. At one moment there is the Father, but then He makes an appearance as the Son, and again, as the Holy Spirit. In Arianism fashion, Jehovah’s Witnesses deny the deity of the Lord Jesus. He is but one deity created with many other gods who have gone before. What are the main points in considering the doctrine of the Trinity?
The Father is God (John 6:27; Rom. 1:7; 1 Pet.1:2), the Son is God (John 1:1, 14; Rom. 9:5; Heb. 1:8; 1 John 5:20), and the Holy Spirit is God (1 Cor. 3:16; Acts 5:3-4). The persons in the Trinity are differentiated as distinct. The plural noun describes God ("Elohim," Gen. 1:1), the plural pronoun is used in Genesis: (1:26; 3:22; 11:7; Isa. 6:8). The three persons are seen in the same passages of Scripture:
While these designations are vital and crucial to the doctrine of the Trinity, the additional designations clearly show that the Lord Jesus Christ is very God.
The Designation God The Old Testament. Beside the fact that many verses show us that Christ shares the attributes of God, there are specific verses of Scripture, in both Old and New Testaments, that describe Him as God. God:
is almost universally a reference to Deity. When applied to Christ, as many
Isaiah 7:14. This Messianic prophecy reads: "Therefore the Lord Himself will give you a sign: Behold, a virgin will be with child and bear a son, and she will call His name Immanuel." While this passage is important for the doctrine of the virgin birth, it is also significant because of the use of the word Immanuel. It is impossible to escape the definition and implications of the word. From Hebrew the word is to be translated, "with us is God." Unger writes that this word "was not intended to be a proper name, but rather, an appellative or descriptive designation of the person and character of the Messiah.2 In the highest sense Immanuel refers to God’s becoming man in His person, by which He would be truly "with us." Consequently, the Messiah will be fully entitled to this name, since in Him and through Him God will be with us.
This great revelation about the nature of the Messiah became part of the hope of the New Testament saints. The virgin birth and its theological implications are often referred to by the apostles. Matthew comments on it and writes that this "was spoken by the Lord through the prophet …, saying, ‘Behold, the virgin shall be with child, and shall bear a Son, and they shall call His name Immanuel,’ which translated means, ‘God with us’" (Matt. 1:23). Matthew makes it clear his readers understand that Mary’s husband Joseph got the point. He "kept her a virgin until she gave birth to a Son; and he called His name Jesus" (v. 25). The apostle continues the connection between the prophecy of Isaiah and the events of his time. He several times refers to Mary as the virgin (Luke 1:27, 34). Isaiah 7:14 is important because it is the first verse that gives such a strong indication that the One coming, the Messiah, would be God. Psalm 2:7 seven reveals prophetically that the Messiah will be "the Son of God," but Isaiah 7:14 goes further with added revelation about His unique nature. Isaiah 9:6. The Messiah is the "child born" and the "son given" in this remarkable prophecy. His name is a long list of descriptives: Wonderful-Counselor-Mighty God-Eternal Father-Prince of Peace. This promised One will sit "on the throne of David and over his kingdom, to establish it and to uphold it with justice and righteousness" (v. 7). The Hebrew word for wonderful is peh’leh has the force of miracle (Exod. 15:11; Psa. 77:12, 15; 76:13; Dan. 12:6). The Messiah will be a miracle worker as part of His divine activities when He arrives. Counselor means that He possesses supernatural wisdom, intelligence, and power.4 Some have translated mighty God as mighty Hero, but the great Old Testament scholar Hengstenberg believes that the traditional interpretation and translation must stand.5 Hengstenberg continues:
Hengstenberg concludes: "The fifth name is Prince of Peace, In this name there is plainly an allusion to the name Solomon, the peaceful, which is perhaps directly given to the Messiah in the seventy-second Psalm. As under the reign of Solomon, the theocracy enjoyed an outward and temporary peace, so under that of his great successor and antiype, it shall enjoy a real and everlasting peace. In like manner also in the blessing of Jacob, the Messiah is called Shiloh, peacemaker."7 The New Testament. God is with us from Isaiah 7:14 is carried over into the New Testament. The significance is that, with the incarnation, God has become one in the family of humanity. Luke tells us that the angel told Elizabeth that her son John would "turn back many of the sons of Israel to the Lord their God" (Luke 1:16). This can only be a reference to Jesus. Besides His humanity, the New Testament discloses the fact of His absolute Deity by applying to Him the name God. No one can miss the argument of John the apostle when he writes: "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God" (John 1:1-2). Though some point out that there is a textual problem in verse 18, an acceptable reading is, "No man has seen God at any time; the only begotten God who is in the bosom of the Father, He has explained Him." When Thomas saw Christ after His resurrection he cried out, "My Lord and my God" (20:28). Such a cry would have been blaspheming and idolatrous, were it untrue. To the other disciples present, and to Jesus also, the statement would have been reprehensible.
Other verses of Scripture continue this theme of Christ being very God. Paul writes in Romans 9:5: "Christ according to the flesh, who is overall, God blessed forever. Amen." The apostle John continues his proclamation of the deity of Christ, and writes that we are in God, who is true, in His Son Jesus Christ. This is the true God and eternal life" (1 John 5:20). In 1:2 John wrote that he proclaims "eternal life, which was with the Father and was manifested to us." That is, this "eternal life" is Christ Himself! Pendleton notes:
The Designation of Jehovah The Old Testament. The to be verb in Hebrew is haya, and from this comes one of the most profound names of God, Yahweh, sometimes spelled Jehovah in English. The translation would be the One who ever exists, or the One who always is. Very often too the word is simply translated Lord. The name takes on special theological significance in the encounter Moses had with the Lord at the site of the burning bush. Moses asks what name should he use when announcing deliverance to the children of Israel who are in bondage. God answered, "’I AM WHO I AM’; and He said, ‘Thus you shall say to the sons of Israel,’ "I AM has sent me to you’" Jesus makes a direct allusion to this passage when He told the Jews, "Your father Abraham rejoiced to see My day, and he saw it and was glad" (John 8:56). He added, "Truly, truly, I say to you, before Abraham was born, I am" (v. 58). The Jews got the point because they "picked up stones to throw at Him" (v. 59). The apostle John records other incidents of the Jesus revealing to the Jewish people that He was deity. He said, "My Father is working until now, and I Myself am working" (5:17). "For this cause therefore the Jews were seeking all the more to kill Him, because He not only was breaking the Sabbath, but also was calling God His own Father, making Himself equal with God" (v. 18). At the Feast of Dedication, Christ told the Jews, "I and the Father are one" (10:30). Again, those standing around listening got the point. They too picked up stones to stone Jesus. He asked why. They answered, "for blasphemy; and because You being a man, make Yourself out to be God" (v. 33). The New Testament. Other references in the epistles are important. Jeremiah 23:6 calls God "THE LORD OUR RIGHTEOUSNESS." Paul picks up on this and writes, "Christ Jesus, who became to us … righteousness" (1 Cor. 1:30; 2 Cor. 5:21). David writes of God as a Conquering Hero, "Thou hast ascended on high. Thou hast led captive Thy captives" (Psa. 68:18). Paul applies this to the Lord Jesus in Ephesians 4:8-10. Psalm 102 uses the name Jehovah eight times. It also is quoted in Hebrews 1:10 in direct reference to Christ. Isaiah 8:13-14 speaks of God as the Lord of hosts, the Stone of stumbling." Peter takes up these verses and writes that Christ is the "stone of stumbling, and a rock of offence" (1 Pet. 2:7-8). Isaiah sees God as "the Lord of hosts," the "King, the Lord of hosts" (Isa. 6:3, 5), who will bring judgment upon rebellious Israel. John the apostle refers to this judicial blindness coming upon the Jews with whom Jesus spoke. John quotes verses 10-11 from Isaiah 6. The apostle then comments: "These things Isaiah said, because he saw [Christ’s] glory, and he spoke of Him" (John 12:41). Confirming that He is indeed very God, Jesus added, "And he who beholds Me beholds the One who sent Me" (v. 45). Barackman summarizes:
The Preexistence of Christ and His Eternal Sonship – The Son of God Since it has been shown that Jesus Christ is very God, His preexistence seems obvious. All the passages above prove His deity. It stands to reason then that He has always existed. However, specific verses can be added to support this fact. Before the Son came to earth to be born, the Lord said to Him, "Thou art My Son, today I have begotten Thee" (Psa. 2:7). The Son was spoken to in this manor just before ascending to earth to take on flesh. He is called "the Eternal Father" (Isa. 9:6b), and the One whose "goings forth are from long ago, from the days of eternity" (Micah 5:2). It is said that "in the beginning," or "at the head of all things," as the Word (Logos), He was (John 1:1). As an imperfect, or past tense in the Greek text, was means that before creation, He was in the past continually existing.. The same imperfect or past tenses follow in verses 2. "The Word was [in the past] with God, the Word was [in the past] God, He was [in the past when creation began] with God." His eternal existence is also expressed in the book of Hebrews: "Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today, yes and forever" (Heb.13:8). Related to Isaiah 41:4, God the Father says in Revelation 1:8: "’I am the Alpha and the Omega,’ says the Lord God, ‘who is and who was and who is to come, the Almighty.’" Using the nearly the same words, the Lord Jesus says at the end of the book, "I am the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end" (21:6), and "I am the Alpha and the Omega, the first and the last, the beginning and the end" (22:13). These verses, speaking of God the Father and of God the Son, show the eternal existence of both persons of the Godhead. His preexistence is tied to the fact that He created all things. Hebrews says that Jesus is "the radiance of His glory and the exact representation of His nature, and upholds all things by the word of His power" (Heb. 1:3). Paul writes
The concept of the Word (the Logos) (John 1:1-14) comes into focus again in terms of Christ’s preexistence.
All orthodox and conservative theologians believe that the Second Person of the Godhead is an eternal person, because He is the very eternal God. But some belief He was not designated the Son of God until His birth, or certainly until His resurrection. Besides the verses above, other evidences prove that before the Son came to earth He was noted as the Son of God. John says God "gave His only begotten Son" (John 3:16). This is the same One "whom God has sent" to speak the words of God (v. 34). From Psalm 2, it must have been common knowledge that God would send from heaven His Son to come to earth. Early on the disciple Nathanael said when meeting Jesus, "You are the Son of God" (1:49). John the Baptist, using the Greek imperfect, or past tense of the to be verb said of Christ, "He was continually existing before me" (v. 15). And John the apostle wrote that the Son of God is characterized right then as continually existing (present participle) in the bosom of the Father (v. 18). Such a statement pictures the Son resting on the chest of His Father in peaceful repose. Jesus spoke of the fact that He came from heaven. He refers to God His Father, "the One who sent Me. I have come as light into the world" (12:45-46), and He said I "had come forth from God, and was back to God" (13:3). He added, "I came forth from the Father, and have come into the world; I am leaving the world again, and going to the Father" (16:28), and "I came forth from Thee (Father), and they (My disciples) believed that Thou didst send Me" (17:8). These and many other passages would indicate that the Second Person of the Trinity had a Father-Son relationship before He came to earth. Those who argue that Christ was not "declared" as the Son of God refer to Romans 1:4: The descendant of David "who was declared the Son of God with power by the resurrection from the dead." The argument is that Jesus was not proclaimed God’s Son until His resurrection had taken place. But the force of the passage is that He "was declared the Son of God possessing power as shown by the resurrection! Ellicott notes that the resurrection simply brought about a ratification and confirmation of Christ’s Sonship. He writes, "The particular act in which the Sonship of Christ was most conspicuously ratified and confirmed was His resurrection from the dead."12 Alford says the resurrection only manifested the Lord’s Sonship; it did not cause it or bring it about.13 Robertson concludes:
The Only Begotten Son of God In the sense of coming forth from, and related in the sense of very essence, God has only One Son, the Lord Jesus Christ. One of the most important words to affirm this is monogenes. The word is a compound from mono=only, unique, special, and genes=born, brought forth, one becoming. The word is used four times to indicate an only born child of a human parent, or of a special relational child (Luke 7:12; 8:42; 9:38; Heb. 11:17). The expression "only begotten son" is used to describe the special covenant relationship that Isaac had with his father Abraham (Heb. 11:17; Gen. 22:1-10). While other sons would be born to the patriarch, Isaac was the son of promise in the viewpoint of the Lord. In this sense Isaac was special. While the angels are called "sons of God" in Job 1:6 and 2:1, the meaning is only that God is their Creator. They do not have a filial relationship with Him, nor are they related in any form or fashion to His deity and divine nature. Righteous Israelites were called "sons of the living God" (Hosea 1:10) and Jews who were peacemakers were to be called "sons of God" (Matt. 5:9). And in the dispensation of grace, the believers in Jesus are called "sons of God" (Rom. 8:14). By obedience, the righteous are seen as God’s children. By faith believers become God’s sons (Gal. 3:26) and receive an adoption to sonship (4:5). This adoption comes about because we have been predestinated to this position (Eph. 1:5). What is being focused on here concerns the unique relationship that the Lord Jesus, the Son of God, has with God the Father (John 1:14, 18; 3:16, 18; 1 John 4:9). In the Trinitarian relationship, Christ is known as the only begotten of the Father (John 1:14, 18), and He was sent as the only begotten to die on the cross and to give believers eternal life (3:16, 18). Some theologians have seen in this expression an "eternal generation" by which the Son of God is continually coming forth from the Father. This idea is set forth in Scripture in reference to the Holy Spirit. Using a present tense in the Greek text, the Spirit is said to be coming out continually from, proceeding from ("ekporeuomai") the Father (15:26). This has been termed "the spiration" of the Holy Spirit. Walvoord writes,
The First-born Son of God While not used in the Old Testament, the expression firstborn has its support from Psalm 2:7 where God addresses the Messiah, "Thou art My Son, … I have begotten Thee." The Greek word for "First begotten" is prototokos, proto=first or preeminent and tokos=birth, offspring. Jesus is called "the first begotten" or "firstborn" is in seven passages (Matt. 1:25; Luke 2:7; Rom. 8:29; Col.1:15, 18; Heb. 1:6; Rev. 1:5). This is a descriptive name of Christ.
Because Christ is the first one ever to receive a resurrected body, Paul: The Image of God One of the most outstanding demonstrations of the deity of Christ is that He exists in the image of God. Paul speaks of "the light of gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God" (2 Cor. 4:4). The apostle continues and says "He is the image of the invisible God, the first-born of all creation. For by Him all things were created, both in the heavens and on earth, visible and invisible" (Col. 1:15-16a). Further, "He is before all things, and in Him all things hold together" (v. 17). The Greek word for image is eikon and is translated likeness, form, appearance. Though taking on flesh, the second person of the Trinity reflects the "invisible" nature of God Himself. Jesus then is the Declarer of the Father. Colossians 1:15 works together with Philippians 2:6 were it is revealed that the Son subsisted in the form of God. With both verses, the apostle Paul is saying that what is seen in the Son is the reflection of the person of the Father.
When on earth, the Lord Jesus confirmed this mysterious truth about His deity and His relationship with His Father. Lenski notes:
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