Trinity One God, Three Persons A Bible Study Course for Adults by Norman F. Burger Jr. Leader s Guide Lesson One How Can We Know God?... 2 Lesson Two I Believe in God... 9 Lesson Three The Father and the Son Are God... 14 Lesson Four The Holy Spirit Is God... 22 Lesson Five The Trinity: Three Persons, One God... 29 Lesson Six Some Ancient Errors and Their Modern Counterparts... 35 Lesson Seven We Believe: Creeds and Confessions... 43 All rights reserved. Second printing, 2008 Northwestern Publishing House 1250 N. 113th St., Milwaukee, WI 53226-3284 2003 by Northwestern Publishing House Published 2003 Printed in the United States of America ISBN 978-0-8100-1567-8 Scripture is taken from the HOLY BIBLE, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION. NIV. Copyright 1973, 1978, 1984 by International Bible Society. Used by permission of Zondervan. All rights reserved.
Trinity Leader s Guide Page 2 Lesson One How Can We Know God? (Trinity pp. 7-20) Goals 1. To better understand that everyone has a natural knowledge of God. 2. To realize that God can truly be known only through the revealed knowledge of God. Opening Prayer Heavenly Father, open our eyes to see all the evidence creation gives us that you exist. But above all, open our hearts to receive the truth you have revealed in Scripture about who you are and what you have done for us. Renew our joy and peace in knowing you as a God of great love and mercy through your Son and our Savior Jesus Christ. We ask this in his name. Amen. Introduction Friedrich Schliermacher (1768 1834) has been called the father of modern theology. In his book of systematic theology, The Christian Faith, he did not treat the doctrine of the Trinity in the actual text but only in an appendix! What does this suggest about the place of the doctrine of the Trinity in modern theology? It is not considered to be a central doctrine or even an essential one. Many church leaders conclude that a doctrine like that of the Trinity is too irrational to be taken seriously. Many would also argue that, in this age of tolerance for all beliefs, the doctrine of the Trinity defines God too narrowly, leaving no room for other concepts of God. Many undoubtedly regard it as a relic of a past age when the concept of God was in an early stage of development in the Christian church. Why do Christians consider the doctrine of the Trinity a central and essential doctrine of the Christian faith? The Bible clearly teaches the doctrine of the Trinity. For example, it occupies a central place in the Sacrament of Baptism (... baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit [Matthew 28:19]). Our salvation rests on the work of the triune God. If we abandon the doctrine of the Trinity, we give up our salvation, since all three persons of the Trinity are revealed as taking part in our salvation. The purposes of this study are 1. to make us more familiar with what Scripture tells us about the Trinity,
Trinity Leader s Guide Page 3 2. to strengthen our conviction in the doctrine of the Trinity, 3. to prepare us to defend the Trinity as a clear teaching of Scripture, and 4. to help us grow in faith in the triune God for our great personal, spiritual benefit. May the Lord so bless us by his grace! Is there a God? 1. If you were to stop one hundred people at random on a busy city street and ask them if they believe in God, what would they say? What percentage would respond with each of the following answers? Sure. Absolutely not. I m not sure. About 75 percent would say there is a God. Close to 25 percent would say they think there is a God but are not sure. Few would conclude that God does not exist. 2. How do the following passages help explain why most people know God exists? Psalm 14:1 The fool says in his heart, There is no God. They are corrupt, their deeds are vile; there is no one who does good. The Bible says that only a fool would conclude that there is no God. Evidence of God is all around us, as the following passages make clear. Romans 1:19,20 What may be known about God is plain to them, because God has made it plain to them. For since the creation of the world God s invisible qualities his eternal power and divine nature have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that men are without excuse. There is no excuse to conclude that God does not exist. God has revealed his power and his divine nature in creation. Our world is highly intricate and complex, ordered and structured, filled with awesome beauty and design. All this points to the fact that some higher power created it. Acts 14:17 He has not left himself without testimony: He has shown kindness by giving you rain from heaven and crops in their seasons; he provides you with plenty of food and fills your hearts with joy. God is kind and merciful. He reveals that kindness by providing rain to grow crops and by providing the seasons necessary for growing the food we eat. Ecclesiastes 3:11 He has made everything beautiful in its time. He has also set eternity in the hearts of men; yet they cannot fathom what God has done from beginning to end. God built into the human heart a desire to know him and to live with him in eternity. Built into the human heart is also the notion that there has to be more to life than merely what we see and experience in our mortal existence.
Trinity Leader s Guide Page 4 The Bible never attempts to prove that there is a God. It assumes the existence of God. This is true beginning with the first verse of Scripture: In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth (Genesis 1:1). The testimony of creation 3. What in the created world leads us to acknowledge the existence of God? Psalm 19:1,2 The heavens declare the glory of God; the skies proclaim the work of his hands. Day after day they pour forth speech; night after night they display knowledge. The beauty of the sky, the heavenly bodies, space itself, the orderliness of the planets in relation to one another, and the vastness of space all testify to a God of great power and wisdom. Psalm 139:14 I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, I know that full well. The human body is a masterpiece of design. Anyone who believes that such a complex and intricate machine is simply a product of chance is denying the clear facts. Psalm 145:15,16 The eyes of all look to you, and you give them their food at the proper time. You open your hand and satisfy the desires of every living thing. There is a food chain. Who set it up? Who keeps it going? Who provides for all things? There can be only one answer: God! Hebrews 3:4 Every house is built by someone, but God is the builder of everything. We know that every house has a builder. Houses do not spring into existence. Someone has to design and build each house. What is true of a house is certainly true of this world and universe. 4. The theory of evolution assumes that what exists developed by chance. How does nature show the weakness of the theory of evolution? Things are too highly ordered to have developed by chance. There is incredible design and engineering even in what we would consider rather insignificant creatures. Such design and engineering can in no way be attributed to mere chance. The testimony of conscience 5. Paul gives us an additional reason to acknowledge a higher power. Romans 2:15 They show that the requirements of the law are written on their hearts, their consciences also bearing witness, and their thoughts now accusing, now even defending them.
Trinity Leader s Guide Page 5 What is written on every human heart? The requirements of divine law are written on every human heart. How does a person s conscience use this knowledge? The conscience is an evaluator. It compares a person s thoughts, desires, motives, and actions with what a person knows he or she should be doing. It determines if a person s behavior is right or wrong, and, based on its findings, it either condemns those actions or defends them as right. How does the law written on human hearts prove the existence of God? There must be a God who is so concerned about right thinking and behavior that he would give everyone a conscience. Furthermore, there must be a God who has placed in all human hearts, no matter when or where each human lives, the same basic understanding of what his will is. How does the activity of our consciences prove that there is a God? The conscience shows there is a higher power who is concerned about good and evil. It points directly to a holy God, who wants to encourage holiness and discourage sin. 6. We call the knowledge of God we gain from the created world and from conscience the natural knowledge of God. We call it this because it is derived from nature and comes to us naturally. From nature we conclude that God is wise. powerful. holy. But is this knowledge enough? The reason why God gave all people this natural knowledge 7. If we were perfect, it would be enough to know that God is wise, powerful, and holy. But we are sinners. We need to know more. What more do we need to know? In this world people worship many different gods. The natural knowledge of God does not tell us who the true God is. And in a world where our consciences keep telling us that we have failed God and deserve to be punished, the natural knowledge of God does not tell us that God forgives sins and saves sinners. 8. So what good is the natural knowledge of God? Paul reveals the purpose for the natural knowledge of God. Acts 17:26,27 From one man he made every nation of men, that they should inhabit the whole earth; and he determined the times set for them and the exact places where they should live. God did this so that men would seek him and perhaps reach out for him and find him, though he is not far from each one of us. What should the natural knowledge of God lead us to do?