Slides: Father, Son, and Spirit (1 John)

Missing verse

For there are three that bear record in heaven, the Father, the Word, and the Holy Ghost: and these three are one. (1 John 5:7 KJV)

• Appears in Latin Vulgate.
• Not in any Greek text before 1300s.
• Still, the true God is three-in-one.

1 John 1
^1:2 The life appeared; we have seen it and testify to it, and we proclaim to you the eternal life, which was with the Father and has appeared to us… ³ Our fellowship is with the Father and with his Son, Jesus Christ… ⁷ The blood of Jesus, his Son, purifies us from all sin.

1 John 2
^2:20 You have an anointing from the Holy One, and all of you know the truth... ²³ No one who denies the Son has the Father; whoever confesses the Son has the Father… ²⁷ The anointing you received from him remains in you… his anointing teaches you about all things and is true.

1 John 3
^3:23 And this is his command: to believe in the name of his Son, Jesus Christ, and to love one another as he commanded us. ²⁴ Those who obey his commands live in him, and he in them. And this is how we know that he lives in us: We know it by the Spirit he gave us.

1 John 4
^4:13 We know that we live in him and he in us, because he has given us of his Spirit. ¹⁴ And we have seen and testify that the Father has sent his Son to be the Savior of the world. ¹⁵ If anyone confesses that Jesus is the Son of God, God lives in him and he in God. ¹⁶ … God is love. Whoever lives in love lives in God, and God in him.

1 John 5
^5:6 It is the Spirit who testifies, because the Spirit is the truth… ¹⁰ Anyone who believes in the Son of God has this testimony in his heart… ¹¹ And this is the testimony: God has given us eternal life, and this life is in his Son. ¹² He who has the Son has life; he who does not have the Son of God does not have life.

Father, Son, Spirit

• God is love
• Eternal loving within Trinity.
• Loves us by sending Son and Spirit.
• God is life: eternal life is love and glory of Father, Son, and Spirit.
• We must have Spirit to have Son.
 We must have Son to have Father.

God the Father

• God the Father (25x in Scripture)
• God our Father (11x)
• Father in heaven (14x)
• Jesus calls God “Father” 100+ times.
• Jesus: “I am ascending to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God.” (John 20:17)

God the Father

I believe in one God, the Father Almighty, Maker of heaven and earth, and of all things visible and invisible. (Nicene Creed)

• Father is his identity, not just a role. Father’s eternal nature is to give life, to love, and to delight in his Son.

Father’s love

Jesus saw the Spirit descending on him like a dove. And a voice came from heaven: “You are my Son, whom I love; with you I am well pleased.” (Mark 1:10-11)

Father, you loved me before the creation of the world. (John 17:24)

God the Son

The Word was God. (John 1:1)

The only begotten God (John 1:18)

God’s only begotten Son (John 3:16)

I and the Father are one. (John 10:3)

Whoever has seen me has seen the Father. (John 14:9)

I love the Father. (John 14:31)

My Lord and my God. (John 20:28)

The Son is the radiance of the glory of God and the exact imprint of his nature. (Hebrews 1:3)

Our Lord Jesus Christ, the Lord of glory. (James 2:1)

Our God and Savior Jesus Christ (2 Peter 1:1)

He was in the form of God. (Philippians 2:6)

He is the image of the invisible God… For in him all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell. (Colossians 1:15, 19) 

Christ is God over all, blessed forever (Rom 9:5)

Our great God and Savior Jesus Christ (Titus 2:13)

Only-begotten Son

I believe in one Lord Jesus Christ, the only-begotten Son of God, begotten of the Father before all worlds/ages; God of God, Light of Light, very God of very God; begotten, not made, being of one substance with the Father, by whom all things were made. (Nicene Creed)

God the Holy Spirit

I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Counselor, to be with you forever, the Spirit of truth… I will not leave you as orphans. I will come to you. (John 14:16-17)

Now the Lord is the Spirit. (2 Corinthians 3:17)

God the Holy Spirit

• Divine Person who knows, teaches, lives within, chooses, speaks, sends.
• Divine Person who can be lied to, resisted, grieved, blasphemed.
• Divine Person who is One with Father and Son. Spirit is called:
 God, Spirit of God, Spirit of Christ.

I believe in the Holy Spirit, the Lord and Giver of Life; who proceeds from the Father and the Son; who with the Father and the Son together is worshipped and glorified; who spoke by the prophets. (Nicene Creed)

Father, Son, Spirit

• Baptism: Baptize them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. (Matt 28:19)
• Blessing: The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ and the love of God and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all. (2 Cor 13:14)

Nothing compares

• Egg
• Three states of water
• Three-leaf clover
• Nile River: source, channel, delta

Social trinity?

• Likens Trinity to people in a family, community, or society.
• Wrongly projects human ways into the inner life of the Trinity.
• Too often serves a social agenda: socialism, gender, church order
• True insight: Trinity is one in love

Father, Son, Spirit

We worship one God in trinity and the trinity in unity, neither blending their persons nor dividing their essence. For the person of the Father is a distinct person, the person of the Son is another, and that of the Holy Spirit still another. (Athanasian Creed)

One God

The Godhead of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit is one, their glory equal, their majesty coeternal. What quality the Father has, the Son has, and the Holy Spirit has: uncreated… incomprehensible… eternal… almighty. (Athanasian Creed)

Three persons, one God

Thus the Father is God, the Son is God, the Holy Spirit is God. Yet there are not three gods; there is but one God.

Thus the Father is Lord, the Son is Lord, the Holy Spirit is Lord. Yet there are not three lords; there is but one Lord. (Athanasian Creed)

One God

Christian truth compels us to confess each person individually as both God and Lord [but] forbids us to say that there are three gods or lords. (Athanasian Creed)

• One in reign, one in action
• One mind, one will, one Being

Eternal relations

• The Father was neither made nor created nor begotten from anyone.
• The Son was neither made nor created; he was begotten from the Father alone.
• The Holy Spirit was neither made nor created nor begotten; he proceeds from the Father and the Son. (Athanasian Creed)

Eternal relations

• Eternal paternity: Father forever begets Son and breaths Spirit.
• Eternal generation: Son is forever begotten of the Father.
• Eternal spiration: Spirit is forever breathed out by Father and Son.

Coequal unity

Nothing in this trinity is before or after, nothing is greater or smaller; in their entirety the three persons are coeternal and coequal with each other. We must worship their trinity in their unity and their unity in their trinity. (Athanasian Creed)

^4:13 We know that we live in him and he in us, because he has given us of his Spirit. ¹⁴ And we have seen and testify that the Father has sent his Son to be the Savior of the world. ¹⁵ If anyone confesses that Jesus is the Son of God, God lives in him and he in God. ¹⁶ … God is love. Whoever lives in love lives in God, and God in him.

Father, Son, Spirit

• God is love
• Eternal loving within Trinity
• Loves us by sending Son and Spirit.
• God is life: eternal life is love and glory of Father, Son, and Spirit
• We must have Spirit to have Son.
 We must have Son to have Father.