ACBC Theology Exam 7 - The Trinity
00:00:00.000 | Tonight, before I pray, I want to begin our study by reading from Ephesians 1-3-14.
00:00:09.640 | And this will sort of be our devotional thought for tonight, as well as I think a good lead-in
00:00:16.440 | to our study on the doctrine of the Trinity.
00:00:20.760 | Ephesians 1-3-14, and if you have your Bibles, go ahead and turn there.
00:00:28.440 | This is a, as you know, a wonderful celebration of our blessings of salvation.
00:00:35.440 | I remember over 20 years ago, I was in preaching lab at the Master's Seminary, and Pastor Alex
00:00:41.960 | Montoya was the evaluator in that preaching lab, and he was known for his direct critiques
00:00:47.400 | of the students' preaching styles.
00:00:51.200 | And I preached on Ephesians 1-3-14.
00:00:54.200 | I was so excited about this text.
00:00:57.040 | It was more heat than light.
00:00:59.280 | I was sort of so excited about the text, I didn't really have an organization or flow
00:01:05.120 | to what I was saying.
00:01:06.520 | And I remember after I finished, Pastor Montoya said to me, "You're like a little kid in a
00:01:13.280 | candy store.
00:01:14.840 | You're so excited about the candy, you're not sure which one to grab."
00:01:19.920 | And I took that critique humbly, and yet I confess that over 20 years later I'm here,
00:01:28.160 | and I still feel like a kid in a candy store when I read this passage.
00:01:32.080 | It's impossible to read Ephesians 1 without getting excited about what God has done in
00:01:38.280 | our lives.
00:01:39.280 | But just as we read this, what I want to do for tonight as we turn our focus to the doctrine
00:01:46.000 | of the Trinity is I just want you to note how many times specifically the persons of
00:01:53.280 | the Trinity are distinguished in this wonderful passage, how many times the work of God the
00:01:59.720 | Father is distinguished from the work of God the Son, how many times the work of God the
00:02:05.920 | Son is distinguished from God the Holy Spirit, and how an understanding of the roles and
00:02:13.200 | relationships within the unity of the Trinity is essential for us to understand the grace
00:02:22.960 | of God in our salvation.
00:02:24.420 | It's really essential for us to understand the greatness of God's plan and all that He
00:02:29.480 | has done for us in salvation.
00:02:31.800 | And so let me read this for us, and just note the ways that Paul distinguishes the work
00:02:39.640 | of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit as we read this text.
00:02:45.160 | Paul says in verse 3, "Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has
00:02:50.640 | blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ.
00:02:57.560 | Just as He," that is the Father, "chose us in Him," that is Christ, "before the foundation
00:03:05.160 | of the world, that we would be holy and blameless before Him.
00:03:11.240 | In love He predestined us to adoption as sons through Jesus Christ to Himself, according
00:03:18.320 | to the kind intention of His will, to the praise of the glory of His grace, which He
00:03:25.280 | freely bestowed on us in the Beloved," and that is Christ the Son.
00:03:32.520 | In Him," that is Christ, "we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of our
00:03:38.880 | trespasses according to the riches of His grace, which He lavished on us.
00:03:46.400 | In all wisdom and insight He made known to us the mystery of His will, according to His
00:03:52.000 | kind intention, which He purposed in Him, with a view to an administration suitable
00:03:57.960 | to the fullness of the times," that is the summing up of all things in Christ, things
00:04:03.600 | in the heavens and things on the earth.
00:04:07.320 | In Him also we have obtained an inheritance, having been predestined according to His purpose,
00:04:13.640 | who works all things after the counsel of His will, to the end, that we who were the
00:04:20.600 | first to hope in Christ should be to the praise of His glory.
00:04:26.840 | In Him you also, after listening to the message of truth, the gospel of your salvation, having
00:04:32.660 | also believed, you were sealed in Him with the Holy Spirit of promise, who was given
00:04:39.920 | as a pledge of our inheritance, with a view to the redemption of God's own possession,
00:04:46.320 | to the praise of His glory."
00:04:48.520 | And what a wonderful passage that is, that celebrates our salvation in Christ.
00:04:56.160 | You'll find here that this is not only a celebration of our salvation, it's really a celebration
00:05:02.840 | of the doctrine of the Trinity.
00:05:06.480 | You find in this passage the work of the Father explained and clarified, it is the Father
00:05:13.000 | who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in Christ.
00:05:19.360 | In this passage we find the work of the Son celebrated and unfolded to us, verse 7 says,
00:05:27.320 | "In Him, that is Christ, we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of our
00:05:33.000 | trespasses."
00:05:34.000 | So it's not the Father who died on the cross to save us from our sins.
00:05:41.760 | It's not the Spirit who died on the cross to pay for our sins.
00:05:46.960 | It is the work of the Son, the perfect substitute, the perfect Redeemer and mediator, in whom
00:05:55.400 | we have redemption, the purchase of our souls for eternity.
00:06:01.160 | So you have the work of the Father explained and clarified, the work of the Son, and then
00:06:06.200 | in verse 13 you have the work of the Spirit defined and recognized.
00:06:13.880 | Paul says, "In Him, you also, when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation,
00:06:18.240 | and believed in Him, were sealed with a promised Holy Spirit, who is the guarantee of our inheritance."
00:06:26.200 | So the Holy Spirit has come to live in us and to bear His fruit in us.
00:06:33.320 | Even in this one passage we make the observation that the Father is not the Son, the Son is
00:06:39.480 | not the Spirit, the Spirit is not the Father.
00:06:43.480 | There are distinct roles and relationships which exist within the unity of who God is.
00:06:53.520 | And yet we also find that there are not three gods, there is one God.
00:06:59.320 | And so we get the whole concept of triunity or trinity, that this is not a text that teaches
00:07:08.720 | polytheism, there is one God, and yet God the Father, God the Son, and God the Spirit
00:07:21.880 | are distinct.
00:07:23.200 | They are three persons, yet one God.
00:07:27.960 | Triunity or trinity.
00:07:30.720 | So the implication of Ephesians 1 is that we cannot understand the greatness of our
00:07:35.520 | salvation, we cannot understand the greatness of God's grace, we cannot understand the
00:07:41.360 | wonders of what God has done in our lives apart from an understanding of the trinity.
00:07:50.640 | We must understand the doctrine of the trinity to celebrate the wonders of God's amazing
00:07:56.000 | grace in our lives.
00:07:59.160 | And I would go one step further in saying that the entire Christian life is defined
00:08:04.160 | by our understanding of the trinity.
00:08:07.560 | Think about Christian worship.
00:08:10.640 | What is Christian worship is we come into the presence of God the Father, we come through
00:08:19.520 | the work of God the Son, who is the one substitute, who is the one mediator, who is the great
00:08:26.120 | high priest, he is the one who stands in between us and the Father.
00:08:33.520 | We come through the Son's perfect work into the presence of the Father, and we come as
00:08:40.120 | we are empowered by the Holy Spirit.
00:08:43.640 | It is the Spirit who lives in us and who leads us to embrace the fullness of all that the
00:08:51.220 | Son has accomplished for us, and by embracing through faith the Son's perfect work on our
00:08:57.960 | behalf, we come with boldness and with confidence into the presence of the Father who loves
00:09:04.280 | us and who embraces us.
00:09:08.080 | Think about Christian prayer.
00:09:13.280 | Romans 8 verse 15 says, "For you did not receive the spirit of slavery to fall back into fear,
00:09:19.640 | but you have received the spirit of adoption as sons, by whom we cry, 'Abba, Father!'"
00:09:27.760 | So there you have a Trinitarian understanding of prayer in Romans 8.
00:09:34.760 | It's as we're filled with the Holy Spirit of God, it says the Spirit of God leads us
00:09:42.720 | and empowers us, we are assured of the Son's perfect work on our behalf, and so we relate
00:09:51.040 | to God as Father.
00:09:54.640 | And this is not the – I always think of the Von Trapp family in that musical Sound
00:09:59.960 | of Music where they all lined up and they kind of had this formal, distant relationship
00:10:04.360 | with Mr. Von Trapp, the father, and they kind of said in a formal, distant way, "Father."
00:10:14.440 | That's not the type of spirit that Paul's talking about in Romans 8 verse 15.
00:10:19.160 | He's talking about the young child who eagerly and boldly runs into his or her father's presence
00:10:29.960 | knowing that the father will embrace the child and love the child.
00:10:35.520 | "Abba, Father!"
00:10:36.520 | That's the cry of intimacy, "Abba, Papa, Dada," the cry of a young child.
00:10:47.440 | The more a person is filled with a spirit, the more their prayer life looks like a child
00:10:53.960 | who is talking to a heavenly father.
00:10:58.640 | And this is the fruit of the Holy Spirit working in a believer's life.
00:11:04.680 | What about Christian evangelism?
00:11:07.840 | It is impossible without an understanding of the Trinity.
00:11:14.120 | We proclaim the Son and His saving work on our behalf as we are empowered by the Holy
00:11:22.920 | Spirit and we desire for men to be reconciled to God and to relate to God as their father.
00:11:33.980 | And then there is the ministry of biblical counseling.
00:11:37.720 | So I want to let you know that Theology Exam #7 is really critical for an understanding
00:11:46.160 | of biblical counseling.
00:11:47.160 | I mean, on one hand, I think ACBC put this essay in there because they want just to make
00:11:52.580 | sure that we're certifying theologically orthodox believers as biblical counselors, believers
00:12:01.560 | who believe in the Trinity as revealed in Scripture.
00:12:06.400 | But I think on the other hand, this has tremendous implications for counseling ministry.
00:12:13.840 | We are distinctly Trinitarian in our convictions about how ministry is to be done.
00:12:20.440 | And that distinguishes us from every other form of secular counseling that is out there
00:12:26.200 | in the world today.
00:12:28.880 | We desire to minister in the power of the Spirit.
00:12:32.880 | We desire to minister the truth of the Son, Jesus Christ.
00:12:38.440 | And we desire that men and women draw near to God as Father.
00:12:45.360 | We are distinctly Trinitarian in our conviction.
00:12:51.720 | And so my devotional encouragement to you really comes from Bruce Ware's excellent sermon.
00:13:00.440 | This was, I put this on your resource handout from the Dropbox folder.
00:13:07.160 | He has an excellent sermon called The Trinity of Persons.
00:13:10.040 | He actually has three messages from that conference, the Desiring God Conference 2005, that's available
00:13:17.040 | as a free download.
00:13:19.480 | But if you're going to listen to one, listen to The Trinity of Persons, that's message
00:13:23.720 | number one.
00:13:25.520 | And I'd encourage you to listen to that just to get pumped up to write this essay because
00:13:29.200 | it's an excellent treatment of the doctrine of the Trinity.
00:13:34.680 | Bruce Ware actually has a book that was published, it's called Father, Son, Holy Spirit, Roles
00:13:42.300 | and Relationships.
00:13:45.080 | It is out of print, but if you want to spend some time trying to find a used version of
00:13:51.200 | that, that book is worth its weight in gold just as a phenomenal job articulating the
00:13:57.160 | doctrine of the Trinity and its practical implications for a Christian life and ministry.
00:14:04.740 | But he writes this, or he says this in the sermon, "We need to put on our Trinitarian
00:14:09.120 | glasses as we read the Bible and notice Father, Son, and Spirit.
00:14:15.680 | When we do so, we'll find there is a richness that is there that we have not seen.
00:14:21.080 | May God help us and open our eyes to see more of his glory, more of his greatness, more
00:14:26.800 | of the richness of who God is as he is Father, Son, and Holy Spirit."
00:14:33.440 | So with that thought, let me pray for us and devote our time to the Lord.
00:14:38.200 | Father, we thank you that we can come to you with boldness, with confidence, because we
00:14:44.800 | come trusting in the perfect work of your Son, Jesus Christ, the one mediator between
00:14:51.480 | God and man.
00:14:52.480 | We thank you that we come to you not on the basis of our own merits, but on the merits
00:14:57.720 | of your Son who lived and died and who rose again on our behalf.
00:15:04.680 | And we thank you that you have given us your Spirit who lives in us that we might know
00:15:10.280 | Christ and that we might rejoice in the fullness of your blessings to us.
00:15:16.200 | And Father, we would pray that you would bless our time together.
00:15:20.340 | Thank you for each student joining on this webinar.
00:15:23.660 | Pray that you would bless their studies.
00:15:25.520 | Pray that our study of the doctrine of the Trinity would yield a greater understanding
00:15:31.160 | of who you are, a greater understanding of your amazing grace, and a greater understanding
00:15:37.480 | of how we are to minister in the ministry of biblical counseling.
00:15:42.400 | And so yield much fruit from this time, we pray in Jesus' name, amen.
00:15:48.080 | Okay, so tonight's topic is the doctrine of the Trinity, and we are looking at Theology
00:16:02.180 | Exam #7, which reads as follows, "Explain the doctrine of the Trinity and provide its
00:16:07.960 | biblical basis."
00:16:09.320 | So if you look at your handout on page 1 of your handout, I gave you some good reading
00:16:14.160 | on the doctrine of the Trinity.
00:16:15.760 | Paul Enns has an excellent section there in the Moody Handbook of Theology.
00:16:22.000 | Wayne Grudem probably has one of the most readable and clear sections on the doctrine
00:16:29.240 | of the Trinity that I've come across.
00:16:30.720 | I don't know how you're going to improve on just reading Grudem's work and doing some
00:16:38.600 | summary work there, footnoting some relevant sections from his systematic theology, but
00:16:44.560 | he has an excellent treatment on the doctrine of the Trinity.
00:16:47.760 | I'd encourage you to read that whole chapter and also read the parts where he distinguishes
00:16:54.800 | the theological errors of the Trinity.
00:16:58.280 | We'll touch on a little bit in this session, but he has an excellent work there.
00:17:03.080 | I commend that to you.
00:17:05.640 | And then Charles Ryrie has a good chapter on the Trinity as well.
00:17:10.320 | I also want to recommend the book Christ-Centered Biblical Counseling, which is a compilation
00:17:18.640 | of different writers writing on key themes on biblical counseling that was edited by
00:17:27.800 | Bob Kellerman and Steve Vires, and that is an excellent resource.
00:17:33.460 | Chapter four in that book was written by Kevin Carson and Jeff Forey.
00:17:39.180 | It's called The Unity of the Trinity.
00:17:42.260 | And if you want one chapter that really articulates the doctrine of the Trinity and then relates
00:17:48.380 | it to the ministry of biblical counseling, that would be the chapter to get.
00:17:53.860 | It's an excellent treatment of how the doctrine of the Trinity impacts and informs the ministry
00:18:02.820 | of biblical counseling, so I highly commend that to you.
00:18:06.700 | And I do want to quote from that chapter to introduce our study tonight.
00:18:10.020 | This isn't on your handout, but I put it on the screen there.
00:18:14.420 | The authors write, "A clear grasp of the relational model exhibited in the Triune God directly
00:18:21.900 | impacts the purpose and the practice of the biblical counselor."
00:18:26.740 | So implication is theology exam number seven is immensely practical.
00:18:33.900 | We're not just testing theological orthodoxy.
00:18:36.180 | We're trying to get at a doctrine that will be the foundation for your counseling ministry.
00:18:43.900 | They continue, "Regarding purpose, the counselor focuses on both the vertical and horizontal
00:18:49.500 | relationships of the counselee.
00:18:51.820 | The purpose of counseling is to help the counselee view life and trials in the light of a personal
00:18:58.340 | relationship with the Triune God.
00:19:01.740 | As the counselee understands this primary relationship in all areas of life, the counselee
00:19:08.100 | grows in horizontal relationship with others as well.
00:19:14.780 | When the process of counseling flows out of a Trinitarian model, the counselor and counselee
00:19:20.500 | share a rich, deep-rooted, tender, and united relationship with each other in Christ.
00:19:27.860 | All forms of detached, professional, solution-oriented, aloof therapy fail to satisfy the depth, intimacy,
00:19:35.900 | and energy demanded by the unity of the Trinity and unity among believers."
00:19:43.340 | I think that just scratching at the surface of how the doctrine of the Trinity has tremendous
00:19:48.820 | implications for counseling ministry, one of the points that they're bringing out is
00:19:53.700 | that there are relationships between the persons of the Trinity.
00:20:01.920 | God is relational not only in his relationships with believers, but you see in Scripture the
00:20:10.020 | relationship between God the Father and God the Son.
00:20:13.580 | You see the relationship between God the Spirit and God the Son.
00:20:16.860 | You see this perfect community within the unity of the Trinity, and at some point that's
00:20:25.700 | a mystery that is impossible for our finite minds to understand, and yet we can trust
00:20:32.900 | in and believe in the plain statements of Scripture that there are relationships that
00:20:38.480 | exist between God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit.
00:20:43.140 | The invocation of that is that to be a Christian who worships the Triune God is to be a Christian
00:20:51.580 | who is committed to relationships.
00:20:54.420 | You can't reflect the likeness of God unless you are committed to forming and developing
00:20:59.580 | relationships in the community of the body of Christ.
00:21:04.540 | And so what they're saying there in that quote is that if you believe in the doctrine of
00:21:08.500 | the Trinity, you will become a person who is highly relational, and that will inform
00:21:15.420 | your relationship with your counselee.
00:21:18.520 | So there are just a lot of implications here, I'm going to run out of time before I mentioned
00:21:25.580 | them all, but just to give you a start there, a taste of how this doctrine will inform your
00:21:32.340 | counseling ministry.
00:21:34.340 | They continue that the counselor is not primarily a doctor, professional, or technician.
00:21:40.420 | The counselor is a friend, brother, sister, and companion in Christ amid suffering and
00:21:45.180 | sin.
00:21:46.180 | So that's a good word and a great chapter to look at.
00:21:51.620 | So on your handout, let me move to page two of your handout, and this is the doctrine
00:21:58.460 | of the Trinity, I love that hymn, "Holy, holy, holy, Lord God Almighty, all thy work shall
00:22:06.860 | praise thy name in earth and sky and sea.
00:22:09.860 | Holy, holy, holy, merciful and mighty, God in three persons, blessed Trinity."
00:22:16.300 | And that's our confession of faith, we worship the Triune God.
00:22:20.620 | And as Sinclair Ferguson writes, "The Trinity is so vast in significance because it can
00:22:27.900 | bring comfort to men driven to the edge by the atmosphere of sorrow about to engulf them.
00:22:35.600 | The Triune One is greater in glory, deeper in mystery, and more beautiful in harmony
00:22:41.460 | than all other realities in creation.
00:22:44.940 | No tragedy is too big to overwhelm Him.
00:22:48.700 | Nothing incomprehensible to us is so to Him whose very being is incomprehensible to us.
00:22:56.300 | There is no darkness deeper than the depths of the in-being of God."
00:23:01.700 | Now, if that's not a quote that is relevant to counseling, I don't know what is.
00:23:09.940 | It's amazing how even, you know, theologians who aren't typically known as biblical counselors
00:23:16.780 | speak of themes here that are so relevant to counseling.
00:23:22.660 | He says, "No tragedy is too big to overwhelm Him.
00:23:27.260 | There is no darkness deeper than the depths of the in-being of God."
00:23:31.580 | So you're sitting with someone, a counselee, who's just going through the depths of the
00:23:38.020 | valley of despair.
00:23:41.500 | And Ferguson says that there's nothing more helpful than you can do for that person than
00:23:47.740 | to bring this person an understanding of the Triune God.
00:23:52.700 | And you can see how that might work out in counseling practice.
00:23:57.780 | You can sit with your counselee and just minister the truth that God is your Father, that you
00:24:05.780 | can cry out to Him, you are a child of God, you can come boldly into His presence, you
00:24:12.060 | can pour out your heart to Him.
00:24:16.820 | Even evil fathers will give good gifts to their children.
00:24:20.420 | How much more will your heavenly Father give you good gifts if you come into His presence
00:24:27.140 | and ask and seek and knock?
00:24:29.380 | I mean, that's a conversation you could have with a counselee that is rooted in your understanding
00:24:34.660 | of the doctrine of the Trinity.
00:24:36.220 | Or you could say to your counselee, "Christ is your Savior and He has died for you.
00:24:43.780 | You can rest in Him.
00:24:45.780 | He has loved you when you were His enemy.
00:24:49.840 | How much more will He love you now that you are His friend?"
00:24:55.260 | You can trust in His finished work at the cross.
00:24:58.900 | He has promised never to leave you or forsake you.
00:25:01.220 | I mean, those are themes you could bring out in a counseling session that are, again, rooted
00:25:05.840 | in your understanding of the doctrine of the Trinity.
00:25:09.300 | Or you could say to your counselee, "The Spirit of God is your comforter and He is your counselor."
00:25:18.580 | You see, there's just this ocean of truth that you can draw from to minister to someone
00:25:24.540 | who is dealing with great darkness.
00:25:29.060 | Jonathan Edwards has a quote in the middle of your handout, I'll just skip down there.
00:25:34.100 | He says, "God has appeared glorious to me on account of the Trinity.
00:25:39.480 | It has made me have exalting thoughts of God, that He subsists in three persons, Father,
00:25:45.140 | Son, and Holy Ghost.
00:25:47.300 | The sweetest joys and delights I have experienced have not been those that have arisen from
00:25:53.820 | a hope of my own good estate, but in a direct view of the glorious things of the gospel."
00:26:03.200 | I just want to pause at that point and just kind of encourage you a little bit.
00:26:09.240 | We want our counselors in biblical counseling ministry to know more than just correct information.
00:26:18.600 | We don't want to train counselors that just know the right facts.
00:26:23.880 | We want to train counselors who, in the words of Edwards, have a view of the glorious things
00:26:31.740 | of the gospel.
00:26:35.780 | There ought to be in every biblical counselor something of the peaceful trust and rest in
00:26:43.080 | knowing that God is your Father.
00:26:46.500 | Each of us who are in biblical counseling ministry or training to be biblical counselors
00:26:51.220 | ought to be able to look at this world, to look at all that's going on in our nation,
00:26:58.440 | to look at all that's going on in terms of a pandemic and economies and our own personal
00:27:05.200 | lives in the midst of all of that, and to be able to say, "God is my Father, and this
00:27:12.260 | is His world.
00:27:13.260 | This is His universe, and He's in complete control of all of this," and just be able
00:27:19.200 | to trust and to rest in that truth.
00:27:23.880 | There ought to be something of that trust and peace in every biblical counselor.
00:27:29.580 | There ought to be a sweet fellowship with Christ in every biblical counselor, just this
00:27:37.480 | love relationship that exists between the biblical counselor and Christ.
00:27:44.440 | There ought to be a sense of that statement where Paul said, "For me to live is Christ
00:27:50.320 | and to die is gain, and He is enough for me, and my joy is found in Him," and just a love
00:27:57.880 | for Christ.
00:27:58.880 | There ought to be that in every counselor, and there ought to be a dependence on the
00:28:04.880 | Holy Spirit.
00:28:07.920 | This doctrine ought to frame and shape our lives and our ministry, and what that does
00:28:14.080 | is it brings this sweetness, this flavor, this warm encouragement into the counseling
00:28:22.780 | room where the counselee can—I think it was Brad Bigney who said this—that a counselee
00:28:29.560 | can sense real quick if the counselor has a genuine relationship with Christ or if it's
00:28:38.480 | just spouting off correct information.
00:28:43.960 | There's a big difference there, and we want our counselors to know something of the sweetness
00:28:48.760 | of that fellowship of a relationship with the Triune God.
00:28:55.600 | If you look at that next quote there by Louis Burkhoff, he says, "It is especially when
00:29:01.400 | we reflect on the relation of the three persons to the divine essence," and here it is, "that
00:29:10.040 | all analogies fail us."
00:29:13.180 | You've heard the analogy that the Trinity is sort of like water is steam, and then water
00:29:20.000 | and ice.
00:29:22.080 | It's an analogy that may be well-intentioned, but it doesn't capture the fullness of what
00:29:29.840 | the Bible teaches about the Trinity, and really it is an inadequate analogy.
00:29:38.320 | He says, "All analogies fail us.
00:29:40.640 | We become deeply conscious of the fact that the Trinity is a mystery, far beyond our comprehension.
00:29:47.680 | It is the incomprehensible glory of the Godhead."
00:29:50.520 | In fact, I would say that the doctrine of the Trinity is one of the apologetics for
00:29:56.480 | the truth of the Bible.
00:29:58.920 | How would a human mind come up with this doctrine, and yet it is the incomprehensible glory of
00:30:07.680 | the Godhead that He is Triune, three persons, yet not three gods, one God, a holy Trinity.
00:30:19.160 | So let me move to, I'm going to skip some of this, but I'll move to page three on your
00:30:24.360 | handout, and I have there some truths that I just want to give you some encouragements
00:30:31.760 | from the doctrine of the Trinity.
00:30:36.440 | I think the writing of this essay, some of this is, I want to make sure that you're thinking
00:30:43.640 | through this doctrine in terms of how it would be used in counseling ministry, and here are
00:30:50.560 | three ways that I would use this to counsel my own heart, as well as to counsel others,
00:30:57.000 | and you can think of your own ways, but hopefully this is a framework for you to understand
00:31:01.460 | the importance of this doctrine.
00:31:05.240 | Number one, the supreme ruler over all the created universe is our Father.
00:31:12.880 | Supreme ruler over all the created universe is our Father.
00:31:19.200 | And do you think that has any relevance at all to counseling a believer who might be
00:31:26.720 | overwhelmed with care or overwhelmed with anxiety, a believer who's looking at the events
00:31:34.540 | of the nation and feeling despondent or feeling discouraged?
00:31:41.080 | Do you think that has any relevance at all to a counselee who's having extreme relational
00:31:46.320 | difficulties or disappointment with their family or feeling hopeless about their future?
00:31:53.080 | Do you think that has any relevance at all to say to that counselee, and just remind
00:31:58.360 | them from the truth of scripture that the one who has created all things and rules over
00:32:06.040 | this created universe relates to us as a gracious and loving heavenly Father?
00:32:16.320 | I know I need to hear that on a daily basis, and I'm sure my counselees need to hear that
00:32:22.040 | as well.
00:32:24.680 | The hymn writer said, "This is my Father's world, and to my listening ears all nature
00:32:29.040 | sings and around me rings the music of the spheres.
00:32:32.280 | This is my Father's world.
00:32:34.720 | I rest me in the thought of rocks and trees and skies and seas, his hand the wonders wrought."
00:32:44.240 | I think of the illustration that Jesus uses of, you know, even earthly fathers who are
00:32:55.040 | sinful and wicked know how to give good gifts to their children.
00:33:02.400 | And I just think of that often.
00:33:04.720 | You know, those of you who know my children know that they can be really bold.
00:33:09.960 | My daughter will come up to me at church and have no problem just saying, "Hey, Dad, I
00:33:17.240 | need money," or, "Dad, I'm going to Chipotle with my friends.
00:33:21.680 | I need you to pay for it."
00:33:24.000 | And she's very secure in my love for her because she has no problem just asking for things.
00:33:31.240 | She knows that Daddy loves me and that he's going to take care of me.
00:33:37.320 | And that's, in Jesus' analogy in Matthew 7, that's even a sinful, imperfect father knows
00:33:46.040 | how to give good gifts to their children.
00:33:49.480 | How much more does our Heavenly Father know how to give good gifts to those who love him?
00:33:57.720 | So one of the things you want to disciple into your counselees is this understanding
00:34:03.520 | of trust in and rest in and a drawing near to God as your Heavenly Father.
00:34:15.280 | This is at the bottom of your handout, the last quote there at the bottom, G. I. Packer.
00:34:23.280 | Wonderful statement there.
00:34:25.120 | It says, "God receives us as sons and loves us with the same steadfast affection with
00:34:30.560 | which he eternally loves his beloved only begotten.
00:34:35.920 | There are no distinctions of affection in the divine family.
00:34:38.800 | We are all loved just as fully as Jesus is loved.
00:34:42.040 | It is like a fairy story.
00:34:44.240 | The reigning monarch adopts waifs and strays to make princes of them.
00:34:49.040 | But praise God, it is not a fairy story.
00:34:51.960 | It is hard and solid fact.
00:34:55.440 | Founded on the bedrock of free and sovereign grace, this and nothing less than this is
00:35:00.240 | what adoption means.
00:35:02.800 | No wonder John cries, 'Behold, what manner of love when once you understand adoption,
00:35:11.100 | your heart will cry the same.'
00:35:13.080 | Nor is this all."
00:35:14.720 | Just a wonderful statement there.
00:35:19.080 | The supreme ruler over all creation is our father.
00:35:26.320 | Number two, the son in whom the father is well-pleased is our savior, substitute, mediator
00:35:31.920 | and friend.
00:35:34.300 | The son in whom the father is well-pleased is our savior, substitute, mediator and friend.
00:35:43.360 | This is talking about our focus on the work of Christ, his life, death and resurrection.
00:35:54.920 | By the way, I think the last time I taught this class, we got to this essay right around
00:36:01.160 | Good Friday and Easter.
00:36:02.160 | And I made a statement that I hope you understand that Good Friday and Easter are biblical counseling
00:36:09.200 | holidays.
00:36:11.440 | I hope you see the connection between the death of Jesus Christ on the cross, his triumphant
00:36:18.440 | resurrection from the grave and the issues and the problems that people are facing today.
00:36:26.120 | If you can't draw a connection from Good Friday and Easter to the counseling room, then you
00:36:33.840 | need to do some work on your theology and also how that relates to practical ministry.
00:36:40.640 | Because those are biblical counseling holidays.
00:36:43.400 | Whatever the issue is, Christ died to save us from our sins and he rose again to free
00:36:49.000 | us from the power of sin.
00:36:51.040 | And therefore, whatever the counseling issue is, we can make progress by the grace of Christ
00:36:56.440 | and become more like Jesus Christ in our everyday lives.
00:37:02.220 | So I gave you as a supplement on your handout, the statement by Ernie Baker, "Crushed humans,
00:37:08.560 | a crushed savior in the care of souls."
00:37:10.640 | I'm not going to have time to read through that right now in our class, but I just encourage
00:37:15.240 | you to read that.
00:37:16.240 | That's one of the, Ernie Baker used to teach biblical counseling at the Master's University.
00:37:23.440 | He is now the counseling pastor in Faith Church in Jacksonville or First Baptist Church in
00:37:30.920 | Jacksonville.
00:37:31.920 | And just a seasoned biblical counselor.
00:37:34.120 | And he did a reflection there on the implications of Good Friday to the issues that he sees
00:37:43.000 | in a counseling room.
00:37:44.000 | It's just an excellent word of encouragement that relates the work of the son to the issues
00:37:52.760 | we face in our counseling ministry.
00:37:57.600 | And then let me move to encouragement number three, which is on, I believe this is page
00:38:04.160 | five of your handout, that the spirit who bears witness to the son is our helper and
00:38:12.880 | our comforter.
00:38:16.180 | So I can't think of a more discouraging ministry than to try to do counseling ministry apart
00:38:26.260 | from the work of the Holy Spirit.
00:38:28.520 | I mean, if it's just you and the counseling's problems, and all you've got is your power
00:38:35.080 | and your resources, then I say we should probably close up our counseling ministry because I
00:38:42.040 | can't think of a more discouraging ministry than to do that apart from the Holy Spirit's
00:38:48.200 | power.
00:38:50.920 | But if we believe in the Holy Spirit, that it's the Holy Spirit who convicts, it's the
00:38:55.840 | Holy Spirit that brings understanding of the word to the counselee's life, it's the Holy
00:39:03.600 | Spirit that does a work of transforming and renewal and changing of the desires of a counselee's
00:39:11.360 | heart and we are given the fullness of the Holy Spirit's ministry that he lives in us
00:39:18.760 | and he bears his fruit in us and he empowers our ministry, then we can expect the Holy
00:39:24.000 | Spirit to do wonderful things in people's lives as we are faithful to minister his word.
00:39:31.560 | And what that does is that it does take some of the pressure off.
00:39:37.480 | I like John MacArthur's statement of he ministers in a state of relaxed desperation.
00:39:45.240 | And I think that's a good way to put it.
00:39:49.300 | There is a desperation in ministry because you are laboring and you are desiring that
00:39:57.820 | a life would be changed and you do understand what is at stake, but there's a relaxed desperation
00:40:03.960 | because you place yourself in the hands of the Holy Spirit and in the hands of the Savior
00:40:10.880 | and you trust that God is going to do a work for his glory as you're faithful to his word.
00:40:18.640 | So this is a truth that brings encouragement to our lives.
00:40:25.840 | So what I've given to you, I taught a theology class here at the church and we spent about
00:40:30.560 | four weeks looking at the doctrine of the Trinity and its implications for life and
00:40:36.560 | ministry and I've given you, this handout is basically a summary of those four weeks.
00:40:42.240 | But I want to move to page number six and you can read a lot of that material on your
00:40:48.000 | own and hopefully that'll be a encouragement to you.
00:40:52.660 | But I want to move to page number six because I know all of you are asking, this is all
00:40:59.760 | really good information, but how do I write my essay?
00:41:05.240 | Going back to the essay topic, what is a game plan to write this essay?
00:41:10.800 | So let's look at the question again.
00:41:13.160 | The question is, explain the doctrine of the Trinity and provide its biblical basis.
00:41:22.600 | So I think the best way to summarize the doctrine of the Trinity is Wayne Grudem's definition
00:41:30.720 | is probably the best thing out there.
00:41:33.560 | I don't know how to improve upon it.
00:41:37.120 | I think you would do well to quote that and footnote that is probably the most, the best
00:41:43.600 | summary statement of the doctrine of the Trinity and then he does a wonderful job walking through
00:41:48.640 | each of those affirmations.
00:41:52.160 | But he writes there that we might define the doctrine of the Trinity as follows.
00:41:57.360 | God eternally exists as three persons, father, son, and Holy Spirit, and each person is fully
00:42:03.880 | God and there is one God.
00:42:08.040 | So we may define the doctrine of the Trinity as follows.
00:42:11.520 | He has three affirmations there, which we'll walk through in a moment.
00:42:16.800 | Number one, God eternally exists as three persons.
00:42:20.580 | Number two, each person is fully God.
00:42:22.720 | And number three, there is one God.
00:42:25.200 | Those are three central affirmations that are at the heart of the doctrine of the Trinity.
00:42:30.720 | And if you deny any one of those affirmations, then you end up in theological error or what
00:42:38.560 | ACBC calls a fatal error in the grading of the essays.
00:42:45.500 | So there are rewrites with the ACBC essays, and then there are what they call fatal errors.
00:42:52.820 | And if you articulate an unorthodox view of the Trinity, then I'm sure that ACBC will
00:43:01.740 | award a fatal error.
00:43:03.220 | None of the students in my classes have ever had that.
00:43:06.620 | And so let's keep the record going there to keep us out of the fatal errors.
00:43:13.140 | And this is one doctrine you want to be careful to explain and to affirm.
00:43:18.740 | Those are just three central affirmations that are at the heart of an orthodox understanding
00:43:24.700 | of the Trinity.
00:43:25.700 | So let's walk through them one by one.
00:43:28.460 | The first affirmation is that God is three persons, three persons, not merely three modes
00:43:35.740 | or manifestations of one person.
00:43:40.860 | That would be the theological error of modalism, which we want to be careful to guard against.
00:43:46.740 | We believe that God is three persons.
00:43:49.500 | The father is not the son, the son is not the spirit, and the spirit is not the father.
00:43:58.300 | We see that in numerous texts of scripture.
00:44:02.020 | John 17 verse one would be an example of that.
00:44:05.780 | When Jesus has spoken these words, he lifted up his eyes to heaven and said, "Father, the
00:44:10.900 | hour has come.
00:44:12.540 | Glorify your son that the son may glorify you."
00:44:16.260 | And verse five says, "And now, Father, glorify me in your own presence with the glory that
00:44:21.580 | I had with you before the world existed."
00:44:25.340 | So the son, the son's prayers to the father do not make sense if the father is not a distinct
00:44:35.220 | person from the son.
00:44:38.740 | And you have there a great Trinitarian passage, Matthew three, verse 16, which, by the way,
00:44:49.060 | would be an excellent passage to use in your essay.
00:44:52.980 | If you want to see three persons of the Trinity in one scene, you can find that in Matthew
00:44:59.300 | three, verses 16 to 17, it says, "When Jesus was baptized, immediately he went up from
00:45:04.700 | the water and behold, the heavens were opened to him and he saw the spirit of God ascending
00:45:08.460 | like a dove and coming to rest on him.
00:45:10.460 | And behold, a voice from heaven said, 'This is my beloved son with whom I am well pleased.'"
00:45:17.020 | So you see the son being baptized, you see the spirit descending, you see the father
00:45:23.700 | well pleased with the son and his perfect character.
00:45:30.660 | In one passage, you have all three persons of the Trinity, three in oneness, three distinct
00:45:38.020 | persons, yet not three gods.
00:45:42.100 | So God is three persons, you see in the middle of your handout that the son is not the spirit.
00:45:48.100 | Acts four would be an example of how Peter was filled with the Holy Spirit and as an
00:45:55.020 | expression of the Holy Spirit's influence and ministry, Peter boldly proclaimed the
00:46:01.660 | message of the son.
00:46:03.380 | He boldly proclaimed the son's life, death, and resurrection because he was under the
00:46:08.980 | influence of the spirit.
00:46:12.220 | And that's a great example for all of us in Christian ministry.
00:46:16.420 | We want to be so filled with Holy Spirit that we are given a great love for the son and
00:46:23.220 | are given great boldness to minister the truth of Jesus Christ and the son's work.
00:46:31.540 | And then you have at the bottom of page six that the spirit is not the father.
00:46:38.140 | You see that in Romans 8, verse 26, it says, "Likewise, the spirit helps us in our weakness,
00:46:45.460 | for we do not know what to pray for as we ought, but the spirit himself intercedes for
00:46:50.980 | us with groanings too deep for words.
00:46:53.620 | And he who searches hearts knows what is the mind and spirit because the spirit intercedes
00:46:59.300 | for the saints according to the will of God."
00:47:04.300 | So that passage would not make sense either if the spirit was not a distinct person from
00:47:10.700 | God, the father.
00:47:13.980 | And so you have in throughout all of these great New Testament passages, the distinction
00:47:21.740 | made of three persons, the father, the son, and the Holy Spirit.
00:47:28.860 | Let me move to the next page on your handout.
00:47:31.100 | This is page number seven and move to affirmation number two.
00:47:41.300 | God is three persons was affirmation number one.
00:47:44.260 | Affirmation number two is that each person is fully God.
00:47:48.220 | Each person is fully God.
00:47:51.340 | The father is fully God.
00:47:54.620 | There's not much debate around that, Romans 1, verse seven, "He is the God and God our
00:48:01.620 | father.
00:48:03.540 | Grace to you and peace from God our father and the Lord Jesus Christ."
00:48:08.220 | And so the deity is ascribed to God, the father.
00:48:12.820 | We see the son is fully God, John 1, verse one, "In the beginning was the word and the
00:48:16.940 | word was with God and the word was God."
00:48:20.980 | That is from the very beginning of John's gospel, ascribing deity to the person of Jesus
00:48:26.020 | Christ.
00:48:27.020 | Titus 2, verse 13, "Waiting for our blessed hope, the appearing of the glory of our great
00:48:31.300 | God and savior, Jesus Christ."
00:48:34.500 | Another clear description of deity.
00:48:37.940 | Thomas's great confession of faith in John 20, verse 28, "My Lord and my God."
00:48:44.820 | And those are just very clear statements ascribing deity to the Lord Jesus Christ.
00:48:51.660 | You can also go through the information in Charles Ryrie's Basic Theology.
00:48:58.500 | Divine names are ascribed to Christ, divine characteristics ascribed to Christ, divine
00:49:03.420 | titles are ascribed to Christ.
00:49:06.220 | There's a whole wealth of information that you can bring to bear in supporting and in
00:49:11.380 | defending the deity of Christ.
00:49:13.060 | But those are just some very clear statements there that are found in scripture.
00:49:18.060 | And then we have the spirit is also fully God.
00:49:23.780 | Acts 5, verse three, "But Peter said, 'Ananias, why has Satan filled your heart?
00:49:27.820 | To lie to the Holy Spirit and to keep back for yourself part of the proceeds of the land.
00:49:33.020 | You have not lied to men, but to God.'"
00:49:35.580 | So to lie to the Holy Spirit is to lie to God.
00:49:42.180 | And then we see these great Trinitarian formulations and expressions at the bottom of page seven.
00:49:49.420 | Matthew 28, verse 19, "Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in
00:49:54.300 | the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit."
00:49:58.460 | Those formulations would be blasphemous if the Holy Spirit was not fully God and co-equal
00:50:07.380 | with the Father and the Son.
00:50:12.100 | But the spirit is also fully God.
00:50:17.140 | So that is the second affirmation that is at the heart of this doctrine.
00:50:21.740 | And then the third affirmation is there are not three gods, but one God, Deuteronomy 6,
00:50:27.100 | verse four, "Hero Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is one."
00:50:31.860 | And so we have three in oneness, triunity or trinity.
00:50:38.780 | Now Charles Ryrie, that is, has stated that no illustration can possibly capture all that
00:50:46.780 | is involved in the biblical revelation of the Trinity.
00:50:50.620 | Most are at best only parallels of a three-in-one idea.
00:50:54.300 | And yet he gives this illustration, which is kind of a common diagram that attempts
00:51:00.460 | to picture the Godhead as one.
00:51:02.940 | And you can find this picture in Ryrie's Basic Theology, but it's showing how each person,
00:51:08.860 | the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit is God.
00:51:12.140 | And yet how each person is distinct from the other persons of the Trinity.
00:51:19.980 | And so that is probably the best attempt at capturing in an illustration the doctrine
00:51:29.020 | of the Trinity.
00:51:32.060 | So how do we get into trouble for a few moments here at the end of this presentation?
00:51:38.100 | How do we get in trouble with the doctrine of the Trinity?
00:51:41.580 | How do we veer into theological error?
00:51:45.260 | Well, a great way to think about it is just what happens when you deny any one of those
00:51:51.540 | three affirmations.
00:51:54.420 | So let's say that you deny the first affirmation that God is three persons, and you end up
00:52:00.100 | with this idea that God is one person who manifests himself in three different ways
00:52:06.940 | or three different modes.
00:52:09.340 | You end up with a theological error known as modalism.
00:52:14.260 | Modalism says that God is one person who manifests himself in three different ways.
00:52:19.460 | So it's like how a man would be at the same time a father, a farmer, and a neighbor.
00:52:29.380 | And so he would show himself or express himself in society in three different modes or manifestations,
00:52:36.740 | but he is only one person.
00:52:39.580 | That would be the theological error of modalism.
00:52:45.220 | Modalism has also been called Sabellianism, named after one of the promoters of this idea
00:52:53.220 | in early church history.
00:52:54.820 | It's also known as modalistic monarchianism.
00:52:59.580 | And Wayne Grudem does a good job in his systematic theology dealing with those terms.
00:53:04.660 | But they're basically the same idea that God is not three distinct persons.
00:53:12.140 | Stephen Nichols has written that modalism is a heretical view that denies the individual
00:53:17.980 | persons of the Trinity.
00:53:20.260 | It views biblical terminology of God the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit as merely modes
00:53:25.180 | of existence or manifestations of the one God.
00:53:30.140 | And he continues that modalism held that there is one God who can be designated by three
00:53:36.220 | different names, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit at different times, but these are not distinct
00:53:39.900 | persons.
00:53:40.900 | Instead, they are different modes, thus modalism of the one God.
00:53:46.900 | Thus, according to modalism, God can be called Father.
00:53:51.340 | As creator of the world and lawgiver, he can be called Son, as God incarnate in Jesus Christ,
00:53:55.740 | and he can be called Holy Spirit, as God in the church age.
00:53:59.380 | Accordingly, Jesus Christ is God and the Spirit is God, but they are not distinct persons.
00:54:05.380 | So that's one theological error that arises from the fact that you deny the first affirmation.
00:54:16.320 | You end up in modalism.
00:54:17.420 | Let's move to a second theological error, and that's Arianism, named after a bishop
00:54:24.980 | of Alexandria in the early fourth century, Arius.
00:54:31.820 | Arius taught that God the Son was a created being, and so he denied the full deity of
00:54:41.500 | the Lord Jesus Christ.
00:54:43.580 | As Wayne Grudem explains, Arius taught that God the Son was at one point created by God
00:54:47.180 | the Father, and that before that time, the Son did not exist, nor did the Holy Spirit,
00:54:51.420 | but the Father only.
00:54:52.420 | Thus, though the Son is a heavenly being who existed before the rest of creation and who
00:54:57.060 | is far greater than all the rest of creation, he is still not equal to the Father in all
00:55:01.500 | his attributes.
00:55:02.500 | He may even be said to be like the Father or similar to the Father in his nature, but
00:55:06.860 | he cannot be said to be of the same nature as the Father.
00:55:12.380 | So the dispute really rose in Arius' time between the two Greek words homoousios, which
00:55:19.620 | means of the same nature, and homoousios, of a similar nature, and you notice that there's
00:55:27.020 | only one letter that distinguishes those two words.
00:55:32.540 | Arius was happy to say that Christ was of a similar nature as the Father, that Christ
00:55:38.740 | was created by God before the creation of the rest of the universe, but he did not want
00:55:44.420 | to confess that Christ was of the same nature as the Father, and the difference between
00:55:52.780 | the two words was the presence or absence of that Greek letter iota, and it marked the
00:56:01.980 | difference between biblical Christianity and a heresy that denied the full deity of
00:56:07.380 | Jesus Christ.
00:56:09.020 | The Nicene Creed in A.D. 325 condemned the views of Arius and used the word homoousios,
00:56:17.300 | being of one substance as the Father, in formulating an orthodox understanding of the deity of
00:56:25.180 | Christ, and in order to refute Arianism, you need to, I mean, you can easily refute it
00:56:33.540 | by the numerous texts of Scripture which set forth the full deity of Jesus Christ in the
00:56:38.820 | New Testament.
00:56:39.820 | So you have, if you deny the first one, you have modalism, you deny the second one, you
00:56:44.780 | have Arianism, and you deny a third statement, you have tritheism or polytheism, which ends
00:56:52.700 | up that you have three persons and you have three gods, and that would deny clear statements
00:57:00.660 | such as Deuteronomy 6, as we just mentioned, that there is one God.
00:57:06.860 | And so a good essay on this subject would, I mean, a good game plan is to go through
00:57:15.380 | the three affirmations and explain your understanding of how God is three persons, the Father is
00:57:23.300 | not the Son, the Son is not the Spirit, the Spirit is not the Father, and then just give
00:57:26.960 | biblical texts that support the reasons why you would distinguish between an understanding
00:57:33.100 | of God the Father and God the Son and God the Spirit.
00:57:37.820 | You would do well to do an essay, a paragraph on the second affirmation in defending the
00:57:47.020 | biblical understanding of each person is fully God, and defending the deity of the Father,
00:57:53.860 | deity of the Son, and the deity of the Holy Spirit through texts of Scripture, and there
00:57:59.300 | are many texts of Scripture that you can use to defend each of those assertions.
00:58:06.500 | And then a third affirmation, there are not three gods but one God, that would be worthy
00:58:11.700 | of a third paragraph there, of just the oneness of God, the unity part of the triunity, and
00:58:21.660 | that there are not a multiplicity of gods, but there is one true and living God.
00:58:31.620 | And then you would do well to do a brief overview of where you end up with, how do you end up
00:58:39.260 | in theological error, modalism, Arianism, polytheism, and just note what happens when
00:58:49.140 | you deny these affirmations.
00:58:53.220 | If you have further room, if you're still looking for things to write about, I would
00:58:58.420 | encourage you to do a paragraph on how does that impact counseling, how does that change
00:59:04.100 | your counseling ministry and practice, and what are some implications of how you would
00:59:09.980 | use that in counseling ministry.
00:59:12.580 | Okay, well, I am out of time, so what I'm going to do is I am going to close this in
00:59:20.820 | prayer, and you're free to go, but I'm going to hang on for about, you know, five or ten
00:59:25.260 | minutes.
00:59:26.260 | If you have any questions, I'll be happy to hang on and answer any questions, but I want
00:59:29.420 | to be respectful of your time and let you go if you need to get to dinner or have some
00:59:35.540 | plans.
00:59:36.540 | So let me pray for us and close our time.
00:59:39.180 | Father, thank you for the truth of who you are.
00:59:42.420 | We just praise you and thank you for this glorious truth that of the blessed trinity,
00:59:52.060 | God the Father, God the Son, God the Holy Spirit, yet not three gods, one God, blessed
00:59:58.820 | trinity.
00:59:59.820 | We just praise you at the wonder of who you are.
01:00:03.380 | Pray that we would read our Bibles, understanding the distinct roles and relationships that
01:00:09.500 | exist between the persons of the trinity, and Lord, that we would be able to use the
01:00:14.700 | truth of Scripture to encourage others.
01:00:16.940 | We thank you for the work of your Son, we thank you for the ministry of your Spirit,
01:00:22.100 | and just bless each person.
01:00:23.100 | Thank you for their faithfulness in joining us tonight.
01:00:25.660 | Bless each person, we pray, and give them a great week writing this essay.
01:00:30.540 | We pray this in Jesus' name.
01:00:32.860 | Amen.
01:00:33.860 | Okay, well, I'll hang on for a little bit.
01:00:36.380 | If you have any questions, feel free to use the chat function or the Q&A statement, but
01:00:41.140 | otherwise, Lord bless you, and thanks so much for being with us tonight.
01:00:48.060 | Okay, question came in, "Can we still pass this essay if we don't mention the implications
01:00:57.020 | of the trinity in biblical counseling, but strictly focus on laying out the doctrine
01:01:00.740 | of the trinity?"
01:01:02.460 | Yes, you can pass this essay if you've got plenty of material there to write about.
01:01:11.100 | If you just hit those three assertions and then the theological errors, that should get
01:01:14.580 | you to a page, page and a half.
01:01:18.460 | If you still have some room to fill, then go ahead and mention some implications for
01:01:24.260 | counseling.
01:01:25.260 | But I mentioned, I spent a lot of time on implications for counseling tonight because
01:01:30.160 | I found that students tend to approach this essay just more as kind of a theological test
01:01:36.260 | and just wanting to get the orthodox statements down, and I'm always trying to get you to
01:01:40.740 | think through, "Okay, how would these essays impact your counseling practice in real life?"
01:01:48.300 | Because if your theology doesn't make a transition to the actual ministry that you're doing,
01:01:53.860 | then I don't think we've accomplished what we want to with these essays.
01:01:58.700 | So great question, excellent.
01:02:04.900 | Another question came in, "How can we access prior class sessions?"
01:02:08.660 | So all of the prior class sessions are available on YouTube format, and if you need those links,
01:02:16.860 | email counseling@kinderchurch.org and Jacqueline Hernandez will get you those links.
01:02:23.080 | So those should have been sent out every week, or we're trying to send that out every week
01:02:28.200 | in case you can't make it on a Sunday night, but you're welcome to access those.
01:02:33.740 | The first two classes, we had technical problems.
01:02:38.380 | Well, I had technical problems because I run my own tech for Sunday night, so we didn't
01:02:44.460 | get the recordings for the first two sessions, but the rest of the session should be available.
01:02:49.580 | Great question.
01:02:52.500 | Then a question came in, "Can we still pass if we don't mention the different wrong views
01:02:57.800 | of the Trinity?"
01:02:59.900 | So you may be able to pass, but I would encourage you to, at least in a brief summary statement,
01:03:11.040 | mention what happens if you end up not affirming certain statements or truths about the Trinity.
01:03:20.620 | I think that would be a good, well-rounded essay.
01:03:23.180 | I think the counseling implications would be a bonus, but I think a good, like an A
01:03:28.700 | essay would mention some aspect of what happens, how do you end up in theological error with
01:03:37.220 | the Trinity, because there has been so much theological error in church history on this
01:03:42.980 | doctrine, and that would just give the reader an understanding that you understand this
01:03:49.980 | doctrine well enough to defend it from error or from wrong views.
01:03:59.360 | Great question.
01:04:01.180 | Okay, any other questions or anything else I can help you guys with?
01:04:05.460 | I hope you're doing well with the essays and that you're able to continue to work through
01:04:12.920 | and pressing on.
01:04:15.180 | We have another question came in, "What do we do with Christophanes or Theophanes?"
01:04:19.820 | Great question.
01:04:20.820 | Like, when Jacob wrestles with God, I don't think I can fully understand the Trinity even
01:04:26.900 | if I had years to study it.
01:04:30.140 | That's a great response.
01:04:31.180 | I feel the same way, that I cannot fully understand the Trinity, and I probably will never in
01:04:39.100 | this life fully understand the Trinity.
01:04:42.180 | I think that goes back to our understanding of God is incomprehensible, yet He is understandable.
01:04:53.780 | So there is an aspect of God can never fully be understood because He is infinite and beyond
01:05:00.680 | our understanding, but that does not mean we cannot understand true things about God,
01:05:08.980 | and I will never fully understand the Trinity, yet I can understand true things about the
01:05:17.420 | triune God and His nature.
01:05:20.180 | And so I appreciate that statement.
01:05:25.460 | I would just kind of give the balancing truth of please be humbled by the greatness of the
01:05:33.260 | mystery of the doctrine of the Trinity.
01:05:36.140 | That's a good place to be, but don't let that keep you from also stating true things about
01:05:42.380 | the doctrine of the Trinity as found in God's Word because I do believe that we can do that
01:05:47.740 | and we should do that.
01:05:50.360 | Regarding Christophanes or Theophanes, that is a study that is well worth your attention,
01:05:58.800 | you know, the Christophanes in the Old Testament.
01:06:03.700 | I would think that might be beyond the scope of writing a page and a half on the doctrine
01:06:08.460 | of the Trinity.
01:06:09.580 | I think you've got enough information that's there that will help you with that without
01:06:18.900 | going into the Christophanes, and I think there's enough information there that you
01:06:24.220 | probably need to wrestle through without opening that subject, although it is a wonderful study
01:06:31.020 | and I encourage you to do that if you have time for that.
01:06:36.100 | Okay, one last question was the name of the book by Ernie Baker.
01:06:43.420 | What was the name of the book by Ernie Baker you mentioned?
01:06:47.460 | So I actually gave you Ernie Baker's statement.
01:06:52.380 | I have put that in your Dropbox folder.
01:06:55.700 | Ernie Baker, I think he wrote that as a Facebook post.
01:07:00.140 | It was just his reflections, it's not a published work, but it's phenomenal and I've used that
01:07:06.860 | in some of my classes and many people have appreciated his reflections on Good Friday
01:07:12.220 | and how that ties into counseling ministry.
01:07:17.100 | And I think we do oftentimes make a big deal about Good Friday and Easter, but don't do
01:07:22.940 | enough work in tying together the central events of Good Friday and Easter to, okay,
01:07:29.780 | how does that apply to my marriage or how does that apply to how I handle my finances
01:07:34.420 | or how I relate to my kids or how I handle my anger problem?
01:07:39.180 | And that's the work that I think Ernie Baker is trying to do in tying together, okay, now
01:07:43.740 | that we're celebrating Good Friday, how does that impact all of these issues that we're
01:07:48.620 | seeing in counseling ministry?
01:07:49.860 | And he does a phenomenal job with that.
01:07:52.380 | So I think you'll be blessed by that and reading that Facebook post, which I just turned into
01:07:57.020 | a handout.
01:08:00.380 | Okay, wonderful.
01:08:05.300 | Okay, the Bruce Ware book, the question came in, maybe the question that was referred to
01:08:13.300 | was the Bruce Ware book that I mentioned.
01:08:17.300 | Yes, Bruce Ware has a book called Father, Son, Holy Spirit, Roles and Relationships.
01:08:28.460 | And maybe I'll send you that link.
01:08:30.980 | It's out of print, I believe, and so it'll cost you a little bit if you want to get it
01:08:36.100 | off Amazon.
01:08:37.100 | I think you're going to have to pay a little bit extra to get that.
01:08:41.540 | If somebody finds a way to get that in any other form, I have that on my bookshelf, and
01:08:48.940 | it was one of the most helpful things that I could read in terms of not just understanding
01:08:53.700 | the Trinity, but how does this impact my life?
01:08:57.060 | Why should I understand the doctrine of the Trinity?
01:09:00.080 | How does this make a difference in how I do family life and church life?
01:09:04.420 | And he does a phenomenal job in there.
01:09:07.280 | So I'll do some work on that and see if that's available, and maybe if you could research
01:09:12.180 | that as well.
01:09:14.080 | But right now it's out of print, and I think the only thing, only way you can get it is
01:09:19.100 | by looking at a used book resource, which maybe they have them on eBay or something
01:09:25.180 | like that.
01:09:27.180 | Okay, well, wonderful.
01:09:30.820 | God bless you all.
01:09:31.820 | Thank you so much for your faithfulness and for being a part of this class.
01:09:34.500 | It's a great encouragement, and it's a great joy to be able to have this time with you
01:09:39.660 | to study God's Word.
01:09:40.660 | I hope you have a blessed week.
01:09:42.580 | We'll be gathering next Sunday at 5 o'clock p.m. Pacific time, and we'll go through essay
01:09:49.100 | number eight in the theology exams.
01:09:51.460 | And until then, have a great week, and may the Lord bless you.
01:09:55.140 | Amen.
01:09:56.140 | Amen.
01:09:57.140 | Amen.
01:09:57.140 | [BLANK_AUDIO]