biblical basis for ideas abt the trinity

NT

• Explicit identification of the three distinct persons of the Trinity in the New Testament 

• Son (JC) is referred to as God throughout the New Testament 

• in the name of the father the son and the holy spirit matthew 22

• At very start of Luke’s Gospel, the angel told Mary that the Holy Spirit would come upon her and that she would conceive the Son of God, by the power of the Most High 

• John 1:14. “the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us” 

NT → st paul

• St Paul appears to understand God as Trinity when he uses a Trinitarian formula to the Christinas at Corinth “The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, the love of God and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all” 

• Corinthians 8:6. “for us there is but one God, the Father, from whom all things came and for whom we live; and there is but one Lord, Jesus Christ, through whom all things came and through whom we live”. 

• Some theologians argue that revelation ‘develops’ from the Old to the New Testament, as human understanding becomes more sophisticated. 

• By time of St Paul, Christians seem to have a belief in God a Father, Son + HS  

• “In the baptism of Jesus, we see the Father speaking from heaven and the spirit descending from heaven in the form of a dove as Jesus comes out of the water” (Mark 1:10-11)  

development argument regarding jc’s divinity

• Hick argues that JC didn’t seem to believe he was divine 

• Historical JC didn’t teach nor “apparently believe that he was God, or God the Son, Second person of a Holy Trinity, incarnate, or the son of God in a unique sense.”  

• Hick points out that the label ‘son of God’ was a common title in Judaism when referring to a very special human chosen by God, not a truly unique divine person -> e.g. Adam was called the son of God. 

• John was the latest Gospel written and clear statements of Jesus’ divinity do not exist in the earlier  

• Hick’s argument is that Jesus being the son of God in a unique sense was a later invention and thus an idea of human origin.  

• Hick applies demythologisation to the idea of the incarnation, concluding that it conveyed the idea of embodying a conviction in life.  

• Jesus embodied ‘the goodness and love of God’. 

OT

• Evidence of revelation of the Trinity in the OT but no specific reference to Father, Son and HS 

• At creation in Genesis, God was portrayed as creator (father), the “Spirit of God” govering over the face of the water (HS) and God’s Word (logos- JC) 

• Psalm 33 the pslamist speaks of cretaion by referring to 3 diff aspects of God: his Lordhsip, his Word and the breath of his mouth 

• Use of ‘breath’ in greek is pneuma, the same word that is used for the Spriit of God in Genesis 

isaiah

• Prophesy about the Messiah in Isaiah 9: Thee Miessiah is called “Wonderful, counsellor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace”  

• Some see this verse as meaning the messiah will represent the Trinity on earth 

• This is bc couselor is title for HS, father is god the father + prince of peace is title of JC