From the TeachingtheWord Bible Knowledgebase

Part 29 of a series. Read part 28.

Many self-described Evangelicals are no more orthodox in their beliefs about Jesus than the Pharisees during His days on earth. To deny the Messiah of the Trinity is to deny the God of the Bible.

For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given, and the government shall be upon His shoulder; and His name shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor, the mighty God, the Everlasting Father, the Prince of Peace. (Isaiah 9:6)

In our last article we began to examine the significance of the statement that the Messiah is "the Everlasting Father." We saw that the unbelief of the religious leaders during Jesus' days on earth was rooted in their unwillingness to believe His declaration that "I and the Father are one" (John 10:30).

Many of those unbelievers, the Pharisees in particular, were considered to be the religious conservatives of their time. Likewise, in our time many purportedly conservative Evangelicals effectively deny the Trinity. A recent survey showed that over half of self-described Evangelicals believe that Jesus Christ was created by God.[1] This heresy is also the false teaching of cults like Mormonism and the Jehovah's Witnesses. It is also essentially no different from the Pharisees' assertion that Jesus was "born of fornication" (John 8:41).

Many people are also under the impression that the doctrine of the Trinity is only a New Testament teaching. But the Old Testament also includes many Trinitarian statements. Isaiah 48:16-17 is one such passage. The Lord says,

" 'Come near to Me, hear this: I have not spoken in secret from the beginning; from the time that it was, I was there. And now the Lord God and His Spirit have sent Me.' Thus says the Lord, your Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel: 'I am the Lord your God, Who teaches you to profit, Who leads you by the way you should go.' "

This is a prophetic passage. Here the Messiah, the Lord Jesus Christ, speaks of Jehovah God the Father as having sent Messiah into the world, and having sent His Spirit with Him. The Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit are mentioned together as a single entity, but performing different functions in the plan of redemption.

If You Do Not Believe in the Trinity, You Do Not Believe in the God of the Bible

Why is the doctrine of the Trinity, and the place of the Messiah in the Trinity, so important? The answer is that the doctrine of the Trinity is not merely a technicality. It is essential, cosmic, truth. To believe in the God of the Bible is to believe in the Trinity. If you do not believe in the Trinity, you do not believe in the God of the Bible.

To believe in the First Person of the Trinity, God the Father, is to believe in the One who raised Jesus the Messiah from the dead. As Peter preached to the unbelieving Jews on the Day of Pentecost,

Men and brethren, let me speak freely to you of the patriarch David, that he is both dead and buried, and his tomb is with us to this day. Therefore, being a prophet, and knowing that God had sworn with an oath to him that of the fruit of his body, according to the flesh, He would raise up the Christ to sit on his throne, he, foreseeing this, spoke concerning the resurrection of the Christ, that His soul was not left in Hades, nor did His flesh see corruption. This Jesus God has raised up, of which we are all witnesses.

Therefore being exalted to the right hand of God, and having received from the Father the promise of the Holy Spirit, He poured out this which you now see and hear. For David did not ascend into the heavens, but he says himself: "The Lord said to my Lord, 'Sit at My right hand, Till I make Your enemies Your footstool.' " Therefore let all the house of Israel know assuredly that God has made this Jesus, whom you crucified, both Lord and Christ [Messiah]. (Acts 2:29-36)

To believe in God the Father is to believe in the One who has delivered believers from the power of darkness and conveyed them into the kingdom of the Messiah:

 ...giving thanks to the Father who has qualified us to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in the light. He has delivered us from the power of darkness and conveyed us into the kingdom of the Son of His love, in whom we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins. (Colossians 1:12-14)

To believe in the Second Person of the Trinity, God the Son, is to believe that Jesus the Messiah is the eternal God made flesh, and thus he is qualified to be the perfect sacrifice to redeem sinners from the curse, through His blood. To believe in the Lord Jesus Christ is to believe in the One who now reigns in Heaven. In Acts 7:55-56, we read that as Stephen was being martyred for the faith,

he, being full of the Holy Spirit, gazed into heaven and saw the glory of God, and Jesus standing at the right hand of God, and said, "Look! I see the heavens opened and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God!"

That is where Jesus the Messiah is today.

Therefore He is also able to save to the uttermost those who come to God through Him, since He always lives to make intercession for them. (Hebrews 7:25)

To believe in Jesus the Messiah is to believe in the One who is the Head of the church:

And He is the head of the body, the church, who is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that in all things He may have the preeminence. (Colossians 1:18)

To believe in Jesus the Messiah is to believe in the One who is preparing an eternal dwelling place for believers:

Let not your heart be troubled; you believe in God, believe also in Me. In My Father's house are many mansions; if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you to Myself; that where I am, there you may be also. (John 14:1-3)

To believe in Jesus the Messiah, the Second Person of the Trinity, is to believe in the One who will come again to judge the world, as we read in Matthew 25, beginning at verse 33. Jesus said,

When the Son of Man comes in His glory, and all the holy angels with Him, then He will sit on the throne of His glory. All the nations will be gathered before Him, and He will separate them one from another, as a shepherd divides his sheep from the goats. And He will set the sheep on His right hand, but the goats on the left. Then the King will say to those on His right hand, "Come, you blessed of My Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world"... Then He will also say to those on the left hand, "Depart from Me, you cursed, into the everlasting fire prepared for the devil and his angels"...And these will go away into everlasting punishment, but the righteous into eternal life.

Likewise, to believe in the Third Person of the Trinity, God the Holy Spirit, is to believe in the One who is the Author of all Scripture, as we read in 2 Timothy 3:16 and 2 Peter 1:20 and 21. To believe in God the Holy Spirit is to believe in the One who brought about the virgin birth of the Messiah, as read in Matthew 1:20 and elsewhere.

To believe in God the Holy Spirit is to believe in the One who brings every believer to life in Christ, as we read in John 3:5-6 and Titus 3:4-7, and many other places. To believe in God the Holy Spirit is to believe in the God who lives in every believer. As Paul says in 1 Corinthians 3:16, "Do you not know that you are the temple of God and that the Spirit of God dwells in you?" And, to believe in God the Holy Spirit is to believe in the One who has been sent by the risen Messiah to instruct every believer in the true faith, as read in First Corinthians chapter two.

Do You Believe the Truth About the Messiah?

Having put the doctrine of the Trinity positively, let me also now emphasize it negatively. Any church, or any preacher or teacher, who denies or diminishes the Trinity, or teaches a doctrine of the Trinity that is contrary to the doctrine as taught in the pages of Scripture, teaches a false god. Any church that neglects the doctrine of the Trinity, or does not teach the Trinity in its fullness, robs its people of the essential understanding of the God they worship and serve, and it places them in danger of falling into deeper error, and departure from the faith.

There are preachers in so-called Evangelical pulpits today, and preachers on the radio and television, who deny the doctrine of the Trinity by introducing various damnable heresies (2 Peter 2:1). They are preaching a false god and a false gospel. Beware of such men. Do not listen to them. Cling to the Word of God. Hold fast to the truth as it is found in Jesus the Messiah, who is the very image of God, and place your faith in His written Word.

And dear reader, if you are not a Christian, my prayer is that you will heed the Messiah's warning of coming judgment that you read a few moments ago. Turn to the Lord Jesus Christ. Understand that you are a sinner. Confess your sins to God. Confess that you need to be saved from the wrath to come. Ask God to save you. Repent of your sins, and seek to walk in newness of life by relying on God's Word. I say to you, not on my own authority, but on the authority of the Word of God, that

it shall come to pass that whoever calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved. For in Mount Zion and in Jerusalem there shall be deliverance, as the Lord has said, among the remnant whom the Lord calls. (Joel 2:32)

References:

1. For further information on this survey, see our Bible Knowledgebase article, "New Survey Reports Rampant Unbelief Among Self-Described Evangelicals," at http://www.teachingtheword.org/apps/articles/?view=post&columnid=5449&articleid=146208

Next: The Prince of Peace

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