First, we discussed God’s punishment of the serpent, Eve, and Adam, and mentioned that God began the plan of salvation in a prophetic way, and continued to discuss the concept of obedience. Then we talked about the concept of substitution in the plan of salvation, and saw that being similar to God means having the same logical deduction. Finally, we talked about the meaning of God being a trinity, its biblical basis, and why from the perspective of both God and man, there are exactly three. Although the Bible does not explicitly use the word trinity, it definitely has this concept.
1. God’s punishment on the serpent, Eve, and Adam and His plan of salvation
“The LORD (H3068, singular) God (H430, plural) said to the serpent, “Because you have done this, Cursed are you more than all cattle, And more than every beast of the field; On your belly you will go, And dust you will eat All the days of your life; And I will put enmity Between you and the woman, And between your seed and her seed; He shall bruise you on the head, And you shall bruise him on the heel.” To the woman He said, “I will greatly multiply Your pain in childbirth, In pain you will bring forth children; Yet your desire will be for your husband, And he will rule over you.” Then to Adam He said, “Because you have listened to the voice of your wife, and have eaten from the tree about which I commanded you, saying, ‘You shall not eat from it’; Cursed is the ground because of you; In toil you will eat of it All the days of your life. “Both thorns and thistles it shall grow for you; And you will eat the plants of the field; By the sweat of your face You will eat bread, Till you return to the ground, Because from it you were taken; For you are dust, And to dust you shall return.” Now the man called his wife’s name Eve, because she was the mother of all the living.”(Genesis 3:14-20)
First of all, we notice that LORD God is in singular and plural separately. What exactly does this mean? We will leave it to the last part to share. Now let’s look at the rest of the scriptures. This serpent is the ancient serpent, which is what the Scripture says, “…the serpent of old, who is the devil and Satan, …”(Revelation 20:2) Some people may be confused about the punishment of the serpent, which is to eat dust for the rest of their lives, because some snakes are seen coiled on trees, but they hunt on the ground by walking on their bellies, so how can they not eat dust for the rest of their lives?
Then, “And I will put enmity Between you and the woman, And between your seed and her seed; He shall bruise you on the head, And you shall bruise him on the heel.”(Genesis 3:15) The Scripture says very clearly, “Now the promises were spoken to Abraham and to his seed. He does not say, “And to seeds,” as referring to many, but rather to one, “And to your seed,” that is, Christ.”(Galatians 3:16) Jesus Christ finishes the plan of salvation is a big blow to Satan in his head, then Satan can only bruise her offsprings on the heel by prowling “…around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour.”(1 Peter 5:8) This is because God is a gracious and merciful God, so He began the plan of salvation in the form of prophecy at that time. Therefore, the Old and New Testaments must be added together before we can possibly get a glimpse of the full picture of the salvation plan, which means that what we can do is to give an introduction to it. Therefore, we are doing this in “1063 Introduction to the Christian Faith.” Please go to the website “https://a-christian-voice.com/” and click “Understanding of Spiritual Life” to find this article. In this article, the article itself and the notes are integrated, but in the hope that both non-Christians and Christians can understand this introduction, it is divided into two parts. The article itself can be regarded as an expanded large summary, and the details that Christians should know are placed in the notes.
The punishment of women is the pain of pregnancy and childbirth, but the scriptures say that there are exceptions to this, “But women will be preserved through the bearing of children if they continue in faith and love and sanctity with self-restraint.”(1 Timothy 2:15) As for “Wives, be subject to your own husbands, as to the Lord.”(Ephesians 5:22) Speaking of obedience, we have to talk about this verse, “Every person is to be in subjection to the governing authorities. For there is no authority except from God, and those which exist are established by God. Therefore whoever resists authority has opposed the ordinance of God; and they who have opposed will receive condemnation upon themselves.”(Romans 13:1-2) In fact, we do not have to obey under all circumstances, but must follow the principles stated by Peter and John, “But Peter and John answered and said to them, “Whether it is right in the sight of God to give heed to you rather than to God, you be the judge; for we cannot stop speaking about what we have seen and heard.””(Acts 4:19-20)
Let’s take a look at the situation at that time said in this verse, “…And on that day a great persecution began against the church in Jerusalem, and they were all scattered throughout the regions of Judea and Samaria, except the apostles.”(Acts 8:1) Because they made this choice to escape, the gospel was spread and God’s will was fulfilled. Being persecuted is not a good thing from the viewpoint of human, but it is just as the scripture says, ““For My thoughts are not your thoughts, Nor are your ways My ways,” declares the LORD. “For as the heavens are higher than the earth, So are My ways higher than your ways And My thoughts than your thoughts.”(Isaiah 55:8-9)
Based on this principle, it goes on to say, “For the husband is the head of the wife, as Christ also is the head of the church, He Himself being the Savior of the body.”(Ephesians 5:23) Whether the husband or the wife is obeying the Lord, so the wife chooses to obey her husband means choosing to obey the Lord’s words. But this verse does not mean that the husband as the head can do whatever he wants and that the wife should listen to her in everything. In fact, the Bible has more requirements for husbands, “Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ also loved the church and gave Himself up for her.”(Ephesians 5:25) When Paul said, “This mystery is great; but I am speaking with reference to Christ and the church.”(Ephesians 5:32), it does not mean that husbands should not have self-sacrificing love, but the Bible often uses the relationship between husband and wife to illustrate the relationship between Christ and the church, such as “Let us rejoice and be glad and give the glory to Him, for the marriage of the Lamb has come and His bride has made herself ready.”(Revelation 19:7) Some say that this means that the husband must put to death the old self, as Paul said in two passages, “Therefore consider the members of your earthly body as dead to immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire, and greed, which amounts to idolatry.” (Colossians 3:5) And “for if you are living according to the flesh, you must die; but if by the Spirit you are putting to death the deeds of the body, you will live.”(Romans 8:13) But this is what every Christian should do on the road to sanctification, and it has nothing to do with the position of husband or wife. This usually does not refer to real death, although the husband must have this rare determination and really do it when necessary.
The reason for Adam’s punishment was because he did not obey God, but had “…listened to the voice of your wife, …”(Genesis 3:17). The earth was also cursed because of Adam, which is what the scripture says, “For the creation was subjected to futility, not willingly, but because of Him who subjected it, …”(Romans 8:20) The earth only then grew thorns and thistles, which is the best proof. After a man sins, he usually has to work hard all his life to get enough food and clothing. Before he sinned, he only needed to reach out and pick fruits. It also said that now he can eat vegetables from the field, not just fruits. Like Adam, people will return to the dust after death, because “then the dust will return to the earth as it was, and the spirit will return to God who gave it.”(Ecclesiastes 12:7)
2. The plan of salvation and logical deduction
“The LORD God made garments of skin for Adam and his wife, and clothed them. Then the LORD God said, “Behold, the man has become like one of Us, knowing good and evil; and now, he might stretch out his hand, and take also from the tree of life, and eat, and live forever”— therefore the LORD God sent him out from the garden of Eden, to cultivate the ground from which he was taken. So He drove the man out; and at the east of the garden of Eden He stationed the cherubim and the flaming sword which turned every direction to guard the way to the tree of life.”(Genesis 3:21-24)
The plan of salvation did begin at that time, “The LORD God made garments of skin for Adam and his wife, and clothed them.”(Genesis 3:21) That is, animals were sacrificed for them, “And according to the Law, one may almost say, all things are cleansed with blood, and without shedding of blood there is no forgiveness.”(Hebrews 9:22) So we see that the animal substituted them because of their sin. When Abraham offered Isaac, it was the ram that substituted his son (see Genesis 22:13). The same is true for sacrifices, the sacrifices died for the Israelites. Today, it is Jesus who went to the cross and substitute us, because Jesus is the one who did “…not through the blood of goats and calves, but through His own blood, He entered the holy place once for all, having obtained eternal redemption.”(Hebrews 9:12) So Paul said very well, “I have been crucified with Christ; and it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself up for me.”(Galatians 2:20)
Then they were driven out of the Garden of Eden, because “…he might stretch out his hand, and take also from the tree of life, and eat, and live forever.”(Genesis 3:22) Some people may ask, wouldn’t it be great if people could live forever? Please note that when the Scripture says, “For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life.”(John 3:16) The eternal life here does not only mean to live forever, but to live forever in Jesus Christ, because everyone will live forever after the judgment of the great white throne, “And if anyone’s name was not found written in the book of life, he was thrown into the lake of fire.”(Revelation 20:15) Hence, those people will live forever in hell and suffer.
The problem is that people who are tainted by sin can only know but not do the truth, just as Paul said, “For I know that nothing good dwells in me, that is, in my flesh; for the willing is present in me, but the doing of the good is not. For the good that I want, I do not do, but I practice the very evil that I do not want. But if I am doing the very thing I do not want, I am no longer the one doing it, but sin which dwells in me.”(Romans 7:18-20) Paul is not making excuses, it is indeed the sin in us that does it. Evil is so evil that we can only say, “Wretched man that I am! Who will set me free from the body of this death?”(Romans 7:24) Fortunately, we will not stop there, because “Therefore there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has set you free from the law of sin and of death.”
(Romans 8:1-2) So in salvation, it is Christ Jesus who substitutes us. Let’s look at what actually happened and we will know that it is indeed the case that sinners do not die is terrible. Before the flood, “Then the LORD saw that the wickedness of man was great on the earth, and that every intent of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually.”(Genesis 6:5) It is confirmed that it is a terrible thing for people who have committed sins to live forever.
Let’s look at the verses that say “…the man has become like one of Us, …”(Genesis 3:22) The verses clearly say that the similarity is because of “…knowing good and evil; …”(Genesis 3:22) So how do we know good and evil? We use our logic. Mathematical logic is divided into two parts: axioms and logical deduction. What we can see are always limited examples, and we must expand and generalize them to be valid for infinite examples. This is the axiom of logical deduction input. Although different fields have different axioms, everyone’s logical deduction is the same all over the world, so people who do research can publish articles. If it is a personal decision, we can regard it as expanding personal views to be applicable to all situations, that is, having personal axioms for a certain thing as the input of logical deduction. In terms of good and evil, everyone’s standards of good and evil are different. For example, cannibals will not regard cannibalism as evil, even though cannibalism is absolutely evil according to our general standards. This is equivalent to different personal axioms of logic. Once set, we will use the same logical deduction to judge good and evil, and there will be different results.
Logical deductions were created by God and discovered by us, so our logical deductions are the same as God’s, because “Then God said, “Let Us make (H6213) man in Our image, according to Our likeness; …”(Genesis 1:26) Here, the word “make (H6213)” is used, and it means that it is made from existing things. So the logical deduction already existed in God and thus man had it, but God’s axioms and our personal axioms are absolutely different. For example, as far as performing miracles is concerned, God has absolute sovereignty to perform miracles, and we can at most become a channel for performing miracles, so at most we can only be similar to God, and we cannot be the same as God. As long as God opens our eyes and allows us to see things we have never seen before, our personal axioms will be changed accordingly! For example, God opened the eyes of Elisha’s servant, so that he could see the mountains full of chariots of fire and horses surrounding Elisha, and then his personal axioms could include this fact after this event. (See 2 Kings 6:8-17) Although he told others, the others would most likely not believe it, because they didn’t see it, but his personal axiom now includes the fact that Elisha was surrounded by chariots of fire all over the mountain.
Finally, I want to give a small testimony about the Holy Spirit leading us to study the Bible, which is related to logical deduction discussed before. I used to believe that our logical deduction is the same as God’s logical deduction, but I have never found direct evidence in the Bible. When preparing for the similarity topic in the topicwise Bible study, I could only pray to God and say that if there is no direct evidence, I really can’t share like this. God made me see this just shared verse, “Then God said, “Let Us make (H6213) man in Our image, according to Our likeness; …”(Genesis 1:26) Then, I had the direct evidence about this.
That the Holy Spirit leads us to study the Bible is the promise in the Bible, and what we need to do is to truly open our hearts. In the Book of Revelation, the church in Laodicea locked Jesus out, but He still promised, “Behold, I stand at the door and knock; if anyone hears My voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and will dine with him, and he with Me.”(Revelation 3:20) He not only dines, but also works, otherwise there would not have “He who overcomes, I will grant to him to sit down with Me on My throne, …”(Revelation 3:21) Please note that this promise does not mention the time about when. God has absolute sovereignty, and He will choose the best time to do it.
I am not giving this testimony to say that I am special, but just want to give you an example to show that the promises in the Bible are true. This is what we have constantly said, topicwise Bible study can only bring knowledge at most. If a person wants the Holy Spirit to lead the Bible study, he must go before God himself, because life can only come from God, which is what Paul said, “I planted, Apollos watered, but God was causing the growth. So then neither the one who plants nor the one who waters is anything, but God who causes the growth.”(1 Corinthians 3:6-7)
3. The meaning of God being a Trinity and its biblical basis
The word ‘LORD (H3068, singular) God (H430, plural)’ appears repeatedly because there is only one God, so it is singular, and God is three, namely, God the Father, Jesus Christ, and the Holy Spirit, so it is plural, that is, God the Father is God, Jesus Christ is God, and the Holy Spirit is also God, this is the Trinity.
It is unquestionable that God the Father is God. There are many scriptures about Jesus Christ being God, we will only give two examples. In the New Testament, such as “I (Jesus) and the Father are one.”(John 10:30) In the Old Testament, we give a more complex example that shows that “What God tells us through the Bible is consistent”, which is in the verse, “In the year of King Uzziah’s death I (Isaiah) saw the Lord (H136, singular) sitting on a throne, lofty and exalted, with the train of His robe filling the temple. Seraphim stood above Him, each having six wings: with two he covered his face, and with two he covered his feet, and with two he flew. And one called out to another and said, “Holy, Holy, Holy, is the LORD of hosts, The whole earth is full of His glory.””(Isaiah 6:1-3)
The meaning of the word Lord (H136) can be seen from this typical verse, “Abram (Abraham) said, “O Lord (H136) GOD (Jehovah, H3069), what will You give me, since I am childless, and the heir of my house is Eliezer of Damascus?””(Genesis 15:2) And this word Jehovah (H3069) is just a variant of Jehovah (H3068), with the same meaning, so the word Lord (H136) is God. This singular Lord Jehovah refers to Jesus, because “…Moses said to the LORD (H3068), …”(Exodus 33:12) “…You cannot see My face, for no man can see Me and live!”(Exodus 33:20) So Moses could only “…see My
(Jehovah’s) back, but My face shall not be seen.”(Exodus 33:23) That Jehovah refers to God the Father. And Isaiah was still alive and well after seeing this Jehovah in Isaiah 6:1-3, so He cannot refer to God the Father, but can only refer to Jesus Christ. No wonder the New Testament says, “These things Isaiah said because he saw His (Jesus’) glory, and he spoke of Him.”(John 12:41) Haven’t we seen an example of “what God tells to us through the Bible is consistent”?
Regarding the Holy Spirit being God, these verses directly say, “But a man named Ananias, with his wife Sapphira, sold a piece of property, and kept back some of the price for himself, with his wife’s full knowledge, and bringing a portion of it, he laid it at the apostles’ feet. But Peter said, “Ananias, why has Satan filled your heart to lie to the Holy Spirit and to keep back some of the price of the land? While it remained unsold, did it not remain your own? And after it was sold, was it not under your control? Why is it that you have conceived this deed in your heart? You have not lied to men but to God.””(Acts 5:1-4)
Let’s look at the verses about one God, “Hear, O Israel! The LORD (H3089, singular) is our God (H430, plural), the LORD (H3089) is one (H259)!”(Deuteronomy 6:4) Paul also repeatedly said that there is only one God (see 1 Corinthians 8:4; Galatians 3:20; 1 Timothy 2:5).
Finally, we will discuss why it is a Trinity, rather than more persons. Let’s first look at this from God’s perspective. We have already discussed in “1. Creation of the heaven on the second day” of “1144 Made, created and separation principle – Genesis(1)6-25,” that the three persons are all related to the creation of today’s world, so I will not say more. You can find this article in the same way as I mentioned before.
When Jesus was baptized, we know that the three persons were all involved. “After being baptized, Jesus came up immediately from the water; and behold, the heavens were opened, and he saw the Spirit of God (Holy Spirit ) descending as a dove and lighting on Him, and behold, a voice out of the heavens (God the Father ) said, “This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well-pleased.””(Matthew 3:16-17) There was an order in the incarnation, the Father sent the Son, as the scripture says, “So Jesus said to them again, “Peace be with you; as the Father has sent Me, I also send you.””(John 20:21) And “……if I (Jesus) do not go away, the Helper will not come to you; but if I go, I will send Him to you.”(John 16:7) “…the Helper …is the Spirit of truth who proceeds from the Father, …”(John 15:26) This is also exactly three.
Looking at this matter from a human perspective then, the plan of salvation is in human time, and the three persons each have their own duties. God the Father is the source of everything, just as the scripture says, “yet for us there is but one God (G2316, singular), the Father, from whom are all things and we exist for Him; and one Lord (G2962, singular), Jesus Christ, by whom are all things, and we exist through Him.”(1 Corinthians 8:6) That is what the Book of Revelation says, “Worthy are You, our Lord (G2962, singular) and our God (G2316, singular), to receive glory and honor and power; for You created all things, and because of Your will they existed, and were created.”(Revelation 4:11) Please note that the Strong’s Concordance does not have the word our God (G2316). This word here is also in the other original version I mentioned, which is based on the version of “https://interlinearbible.com/“. It is Christ rather than God the Father that is mentioned here. According to what God tells us through the Bible being consistent, we will clearly know that the Strong’s Concordance is correct here. Because there are different versions of the original text, we still need to discern even with the original text.
Let’s look at Jesus’ incarnation. He completed salvation. He was crucified for us and died. He was resurrected three days later. “He who was delivered over because of our transgressions, and was raised because of our justification.”(Romans 4:25) In other words, Jesus said it was accomplished on the cross, which means that the death part of salvation was accomplished (see John 19:28-30). During this period of time, He and God the Father were different, because the Bible clearly says, “But of that day and hour no one knows, not even the angels of heaven, nor the Son, but the Father alone.”(Matthew 24:36) The Holy Spirit “…comes, He will guide you into all the truth; for He will not speak on His own initiative, but whatever He hears, He will speak; and He will disclose to you what is to come.”(John 16:13) Every Christian has the indwelling Holy Spirit as said in this verse, “Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God, and that you are not your own?”(1 Corinthians 6:19) Everyone has the indwelling Holy Spirit, three are just right, why do we need a fourth?
Some people try to explain the concept of the Trinity with examples. A common example is that water can exist in three different forms, namely ice, water vapor, and ordinary water, and under certain pressures and temperatures, all three can co-exist at the same time, and each is water, similar to the Trinity, but it cannot be said that they are connected by love. The Trinity is like this, as the scripture says, “…You loved Me before the foundation of the world.”(John 17:24) As far as I know, under normal temperature and pressure, only humans are composed of three parts: soul, spirit, and body. In ” 1. Creation of man on the sixth day to govern and manage the earth” of “1145 God created man in His image and likeness and Sabbath – Genesis(1)26-(2)3,” we discussed in detail why the Bible says that when a person’s physical life dies, the spirit goes first, then the soul goes, and then the body dies. Therefore, the trichotomy is correct.
Please note that this applies to both Christians and non-Christians. In the end, “…the dust will return to the earth as it was, …”(Ecclesiastes 12:7) The difference between Christians and non-Christians is that non-Christians only have the old dead spirit, while Christians will be like Ezekiel prophesied, “Moreover, I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you; and I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. I will put My Spirit within you and cause you to walk in My statutes, and you will be careful to observe My ordinances.”(Ezekiel 36:26-27) It does not say that it is the revival of the old spirit, so Christians have not only the old spirit, but also the new spirit and the indwelling Holy Spirit. Because all are given by God, so “…the spirit will return to God who gave it.”(Ecclesiastes 12:7) This also reminds me of Jesus on the cross, “And Jesus, crying out with a loud voice, said, “Father, into Your hands I commit My spirit.” Having said this, He breathed His last.”(Luke 23:46) He only said about spirit not soul. From what God tells us through the Bible being consistent, we can see that God the Father does not have a soul.
In this example, we cannot say that any one of the soul, spirit, and body is a person, but all three of the Trinity are God. In short, there is no example that can fully explain what the Trinity is. This is a mystery to us. We are finite, and God is infinite. We don’t know how God is accomplished this, and we can only believe in what the Bible says by faith. We know that although the Bible does not explicitly use the term Trinity, as we have discussed, there is definitely this concept.
(Verses refer to those in NASB95 unless otherwise specified.)
(You can get all articles in “https://a-christian-voice.com/” under “On spiritual understanding about life.”)
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