The focus of this podcast is on understanding the Trinity and how it is represented throughout the Bible. We explore the notion that God wants us to know Him, and the Bible serves as a primary means of that communication, especially regarding our salvation and relationship with Him. Diving into the complexities of the Trinity, we discuss how the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit are each distinct yet unified, emphasizing that this concept isn't as hard to grasp when we look closely at Scripture. This episode marks the third part of our series, where we connect the dots from the Old Testament to the New Testament, revealing how the Trinity interacts with humanity across different contexts. Join us as we unpack these theological insights and clarify the roles of each member of the Trinity, making sense of their significance in our faith journey.

Takeaways:

• The Bible serves as a crucial medium through which God communicates His desire for a personal relationship with us.
• Understanding the Trinity is made easier when we explore how it is described throughout the Bible, especially in the Old Testament.
• The recurring use of the plural term 'Elohim' in the Old Testament suggests a complex unity within the Godhead, hinting at the Trinity.
• The appearances of God in the Old Testament are often understood as manifestations of the pre-incarnate Christ, clarifying the roles of the Trinity.
• Each member of the Trinity has distinct roles yet works together in significant events, illustrating their unity and purpose in Scripture.
• The Holy Spirit, while present in the Old Testament, empowers all believers after Christ's resurrection, marking a significant change in God's interaction with humanity.

Links referenced in this episode:

• bible805.com
• Bible805Academy.com

Welcome to the Bible 805 podcast.

God wants us to know him and the Bible is one of the ways he's communicated everything we need for our salvation and a closer, more personal walk with him now and forever.

In this podcast, which comes out every Wednesday morning with supporting materials published by Friday each week on www.bible805.com I take sometimes difficult sounding Bible topics and them easy to understand and apply. At least that's what my students tell me.

See for yourself as we get started on our topic today, which is this is part three of our series on the Trinity, the Trinity throughout the Bible. The series was entitled it's not hard to understand the Trinity when you understand what the Bible has to say about it.

As a review, let's look at our previous lessons. In the first one we talked about the three persons of the Trinity, how the Father, Son, Holy Spirit are uncreated, co equal and eternal persons.

In the second one we talked about the substance of the Trinity, how the attributes of the Trinity are shared by the members of the Trinity and what that means to us.

And now in this one, the third part, we're going to talk about the Trinity throughout the Bible, the descriptions of the Trinity and the roles of each member in the Old and New Testaments. Now for notes, videos, podcasts, charts, all the associated materials. The links for all of this will be on the www.bible805.com website.

And then if you want to teach the lesson, the source materials to do that are all free, editable and there's no need to attribute them to either myself or to Bible 805. And those are all available on the Bible 805 Academy, which is www. Bible 805 Academy. Now let's get into our lesson.

From the beginning, the Old Testament talks about the Trinity. Many people are familiar with Genesis 1:1 where it says in the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.

Where the word God is in plural format, that's the Hebrew word elohim. It is a plural masculine noun made. The Hebrew word bara is a singular verb. So here we have a plurality acting as one entity.

It's also the same word used in the passage where it says where God said in Genesis 1:26 Let us make human beings in our image to be like us. And again, here God is clearly a plurality of persons.

Now people get so excited when they see that in the Old Testament because they say that is a good that's good evidence of the Trinity. But what about the Shema, the defining phrase of the Jewish faith And let me read that to you.

That comes from Deuteronomy 6, 4, 5, where it says, hear O Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is one. Love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your strength.

Now, at first reading, it's hard to see any evidence of the Trinity in this verse. And many use this verse to deny the existence of the Trinity. But let's look a little more closely at what the verse actually says.

First, let's dig deeper into the word one. A closer look at the Hebrew word for one in this verse.

It's the Hebrew word Ehad one is used in the Shema can be used to contain multiple entities in the oneness that makes them one. Now here's some examples of it. In Genesis 11:6 and the Lord said, Behold, the people is one.

Now from the Hebrew word use, we can see that the word one can contain more than one entity talking about a group of people talking about Pharaoh's dreams. Now what kind of oneness could there be with God if it is not a oneness of person?

Well, it's the oneness of substance, of attributes, as in our chart. And please look this up on the Bible805 website.

The chart of attributes of the Trinity where we have all of the different things that make up God's substance, which we talked about in the last lesson, that he's holy, just, merciful, all of that. All of the members of the Trinity have that. That's the one substance, but it is eternal.

Each of these characteristics are eternally shared by all three persons. This is part of the term una substantia trace personae, meaning one substance, three persons, which was clarified by Tertullian in 2:13.

But now, did people in the Old Testament have any sense of that?

Even though by the definitions of the words used that it is clear now there's another word used in the Shema that gives us a hint that they did it is the word God in the phrase the Lord our God, the Lord is one. This is the plural noun elohim that we used previously to talk about the plurality of God.

It is the same plural noun that is used in Genesis 1:1 and Genesis 1:26, where it is clearly talking about a plurality of persons. This is the same word that is used in the Shema. But these three places are not. This is.

This is what was just blew my mind when I really did a deep study on this. Because these three places are not only places where the same plural word Elohim is used in Genesis.

You can go to the Blue Letter Bible for a listing of all of the different references, but this is actually the words that used again and again and again for God. The use of the word Elohim, the plural word for God, is used throughout the Old Testament.

If God is the author of Scripture and we believe and know he is.

In the use of this word Elohim, God was consistently communicating something about Himself, that his oneness was not that of a solitary entity, but a plurality of persons, what we know as the Trinity. But who are they? Who are the persons of the Trinity and how are they revealed in the Old Testament?

To answer, let's overview the Old Testament to see what it says about God and how it describes his encounters with people. Here is a challenge at the start, because the Bible says God can't be seen.

He has seen the Father Clearly. Both Old and New Testaments tell us that God the Father cannot appear to humans.

But then how do we explain the following verses where it says that God did appear to humans? In Genesis 17:1 it says, now when Abram was 99 years old, the Lord appeared to Abram and said to him, I am God Almighty.

Walk before me and be blameless.

And then in Genesis 18:1, it says, then the Lord appeared to him by the terrible trees of Mamre, as he was sitting in the tent door in the heat of the day.

In Joshua 5, 13, 15, it says, When Joshua was near Jericho, he looked up and saw a man standing in front of him with a drawn sword in his hand as the commander of the army of the Lord, I have now come. Then Joshua fell face down to the ground in reverence and then in Judges 6:22, now Gideon perceived that he was the angel of the Lord.

So Gideon said, alas, O Lord God, for I've seen the angel of the Lord face to face.

And then of course, one of my favorite passages there in Daniel where Nebuchadnezzar says, look, I see four men loose walking in the midst of the fire and they're not hurt. And the form of the fourth is like the Son of God. What's going on in these passages where the Old Testament characters clearly say they saw God?

Understanding the Trinity as we previously discussed it explains it. If there is a plurality of persons, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, these appearances are of the second Person of the Trinity, God the Son.

In addition to his participation at creation, he appeared at various times in the Old Testament as what theologians refer to as the pre incarnate Christ. What this means is that Jesus before he was permanently incarnated or enfleshed when he was born as a baby in Bethlehem.

He is also called in the Old Testament the Angel of Jehovah or the angel of the Lord in many passages.

Clarification here the word angel is the Hebrew word malak, meaning a messenger or representative, not the current cultural idea of some cute little creature with wings. And the emphasis on the angel of the Lord is God the Father's unique representative, God the Son in his pre incarnate form.

Now this view is shared by many theologians. I'm just going to read you two comments that are from the Precept Austin site.

These are two of the many entries on the angel of the Lord that all agree with the same thing.

The first one is from John Walvoord, who is highly respected for his exposition of the prophetic sections of Scripture, and he was also the former president of Dallas Theological Seminary.

He lists these arguments in supporting the conclusion that the appearances of the angel of Jehovah or the angel of the Lord represent what he calls Christophanies, or visible appearances of our Lord Jesus prior to His Incarnation. And here are his arguments. The angel of Jehovah of the Old Testament no longer appears after the Incarnation of Christ.

Both the angel of Jehovah and Christ are sent by the Father. The angel of Jehovah could not be either the Father or the Holy Spirit, for the Father and the Spirit are invisible to man.

The second comment is from Warren Wiersbe and if you haven't read his writings, he is such a kind commentator and I think this is a reflection of his style.

Wiersbe goes on to say these pre incarnation visits of Jesus Christ to the earth were to meet special needs and to accomplish special tasks. The fact that the Son of God took on a temporary body, left heaven and came down to help a rejected servant girl surely reveals his grace and love.

We know now who it is who appears to humanity Jesus, the second Person of the Trinity in his pre incarnate form. Now let's look at the God who cannot be seen at him in the Old Testament.

God the Father, the first person of the Trinity is the one who speaks, decrees, demands and initiates many of the actions of the Bible. He is the one who gives messages to the prophets who then speak God's words to the people. Here's an example of it.

So far we've seen in the Old Testament, God the Father, the first Person of the Trinity is the one who commands, gives the law, speaks to the prophets who speak to the people who cannot be seen. God the Son.

The second person of the Trinity is the preincarnate Christ, also known as the angel of the Lord, who takes on human form at significant times in the lives of his chosen people. Now what about the third person of the Trinity, the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit came on people for specific tasks in the old testament.

And then in Exodus 31 it says, See, I have chosen Bezalel and I have filled him with the Spirit of God, with wisdom, with understanding, with knowledge, and with all kinds of skills to make artistic designs. The Spirit guided the prophets.

Though invisible to human eyes, he initiates, inspires, speaks, and acts.

The second person of the Trinity, God the Son, appeared as the head of the Lord's armies and the angel of the Lord at specific times and was also looked forward to as the coming Messiah.

The third person of the Trinity, God the Holy Spirit, empowered those chosen by God for holiness and service, but was not universally and permanently given to believers as he will be in the New Testament. Though separate persons, they all work together in significant events in the Old Testament following the Exodus from Egypt.

Here's how the three persons of the Trinity interacted with the children of Israel. God the Father speaks to the people at Sinai, gives them the law.

God the Son, the pre incarnate Jesus is the God Moses speaks to face to face and who appears to Joshua as the commander of the Lord's armies.

God the Holy Spirit inspires and gifts with skills the builders of the tabernacle in their obedience to God's commands, though not as explicit as it is in the New Testament.

In other words, there's no passage that spells out clearly what each person of the Trinity is doing at the same time as there is in the baptism of Jes. Yet if you are intentionally looking for it, you can clearly see the work of the various members of the Trinity as you read the Old Testament.

Then in the New Testament, of course, the three persons of the Trinity are more clearly seen and please again review Lesson one.

A primary example, of course, is in the Baptism of Jesus when it says, when Jesus was baptized, immediately he went up from the water and behold, the heavens were open to him, and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove, love and coming to rest on him. And behold, a voice from heaven said, this is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased. Jesus is baptized, the Father speaks, the Spirit descends.

All three are present doing different actions, all initiating the ministry of Jesus. After the baptism of Jesus Jesus continued interactions with God the Father and the Holy Spirit.

Jesus was clearly in constant communication with God His Father as he prayed for healing, for miracles, and simply interacting about everything as he did when he got up early each day to pray. The Spirit was also involved. As this passage describes, Jesus began his ministry in the power of the Spirit.

Then Jesus returned in the Power of the Spirit to Galilee and news of him went out throughout the surrounding region.

And at the end of his earthly ministry, the work of the Spirit in Jesus life is described in this way where it talks about the Spirit of Him who raised Jesus from the dead. Not only did the Holy Spirit raise Jesus from the dead, but he now has a new relationship with us.

Today, all believers, not just those with a special task to do, have a new relationship with the Holy spirit.

He again promised the Holy Spirit just before his ascension into heaven, where he says on one occasion while he was eating with them, he gave them this command, this is Jesus speaking again. Do not leave Jerusalem, but wait for the gift my father promised which you have heard me speak about.

For John baptized with water, but in a few days you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit and you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you. And you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria and to the end of the earth. A clarification is important here.

The Christians indwelling by the Holy Spirit is not a second blessing. The Holy Spirit is given to all believers at the moment of salvation.

We do not receive the Spirit as a second blessing as evidenced by speaking in tongues or the laying on of hands or any other action.

Acts is a historical book, not a doctrinal one, and many of the events in it record that many of the events it records are historically accurate but not normative for the Church today.

However, there is a difference between being indwelt by the Holy Spirit, which every believer is, and being filled or controlled by the Holy Spirit, which is a condition based on our obedience. To further clarify, to be filled with the Spirit means controlled, empowered by the Holy Spirit.

Ephesians 5:18 talks about this where it says, do not get drunk with wine, for that is debauchery but be filled with the Spirit and it goes on. In the living Bible it puts it this way, don't drink too much wine, for many evils lie along that path.

Be filled instead with the Holy Spirit and controlled by Him. We can limit the Holy Spirit's power in our life and we can make him sad by our behavior.

Remember, in Ephesians 4:30 it says, don't cause the Holy Spirit sorrow by the way you live. Remember, he is the one who marks you to be present on that day when salvation from sin will be complete.

Now here please take time to look at an infographic on being filled with the Spirit. It will be available to you with the handouts and on the Bible805 website. And here it just let me describe it to you. I have three circles.

The first one, there's a throne there.

It kind of illustrates your life and an unsaved person has me on the throne and all the rest of life is like kind of all crazy and mixed up and not in any kind of order. Then once someone becomes a Christian, the Holy Spirit should be in control of your life, should be on the throne of your life.

And then the different parts of life are starting to get organized and controlled as you're growing more like Jesus. But oh my goodness, then sometimes we just lose it and we grab back control of our life. The Holy Spirit's still there, but we're just a mess.

Everything's out of control and disorganized and all that. But the growing Christian, filled or controlled by the Holy Spirit has the Holy Spirit on the throne of their life.

We're there, but the Spirit's in control and all the parts of life are in line with God's will.

Another important clarification by saying that the Holy Spirit is given to all believers at the moment of salvation, and that we do not receive the Spirit as a second blessing, as evidenced by speaking in tongues or laying on of hands or any other action, does not mean that these gifts or actions are not important or have ceased. Though Christians of goodwill can differ on this.

I believe all the gifts of the Spirit, tongues, healing, miracles, prophecy, all of those things are still operative today, and they're distributed as the Spirit wills.

And just as with the more commonly accepted gifts such as that of teaching or administration, not everyone gets the same gift or more miraculous gifts or sign gifts. Not everybody's given the gift of tongues or of healing. Not everybody's a teacher, not everybody's a healer.

The potential is there as the Spirit chooses. But you can't rate anybody's spirituality by the gift that they have now.

The theological term for the viewpoint that I just expressed is continuationist. For someone who believes the gifts of the Holy Spirit continue. And the term cessationist is yous who believe the miraculous gifts have ceased.

Now, we can differ on these things, but that's a secondary issue.

All the opinions, whether we're a continuationist or a cessationist, we can hold one another in loving, accepting to review and summarize about the Trinity and many other biblical truths.

God doesn't tell his people everything at once, but he can be trusted to reveal all that needs to be revealed in its proper time, as he did in the progressive revelation of the Trinity in the Old Testament. God the Father instructed and cared for his people. He was not seen, his voice was heard and message communicated through the prophets.

Prophets Jesus, God the Son assumed human form in special circumstances, though primarily he was looked forward to as a Messiah.

In a similar way, God the Holy Spirit only came upon special people to equip them for specific tasks and would only be given to all believers after the Messiah's death and resurrection. All three persons of the Trinity in their various roles are shown throughout the Old Testament.

In the New Testament we see the members of the Trinity more clearly differentiated. Jesus while remaining fully God, became incarnate in human flesh and secured our salvation by his death on the cross.

Jesus was in constant contact with the Father, asking for his intervention in healing, wisdom and help in many areas. God the Father was constantly directing Jesus in His ministry.

The Holy Spirit empowered Jesus for his work and now indwells every believer immediately upon acceptance of Jesus, Savior and comforts, strengthens and gifts believers for service and spiritual growth. As the Trinity was progressively revealed, we get to know our triune God better and better as we walk with Him.

I trust this brief study of the Trinity has helped you better understand your triune God, a Father, Son and Holy Spirit.

Please download the charts and related materials and share them with others as the Trinity is truly not a doctrine that's difficult to understand or explain. Our God wants to be known and has revealed Himself in His Word. We simply need to look at it carefully to understand.

But as wonderful as this revelation of our triune God is to us, when we study His Word in reality, it's still through a glass darkly. Think how much more wonderful it will be when someday we experience God the Father and the Spirit more fully and when we see our Savior face to face.

Then we will begin to truly understand the Trinity, though through all eternity will never grasp the fullness of it. That's all for now.

Please check out the show notes, a complete downloadable transcript, graphics mention and related materials at www.bible805.com until next time, I'm Yvonne Pryn, your fellow pilgrim, writer and teacher for Jesus, and I'd like to close with this benediction.

May you know the invitation of God to move from confusion to clarity, from wandering to rest, from loneliness to knowing you are loved, from turmoil to peace, from wherever you are in your spiritual journey to a growing knowledge of God's word and in your personal relationship with the Father, Son and Holy Spirit. Amen.