Question posted on Yahoo! Answers: I am having trouble understanding the trinity, like god came down in the form of jesus right so they are the same person? Or are they different and can someone explain to me the whole trinity deal. Thank you in advance to everyone

I love history.  A fascinating history teacher once said that most of history is the history of the unintended.  We look back on how things happened and think that it all had to happen the way it did because it was inevitable.  Of course, things happen the way they do because God wants to achieve His desired result.  That’s called Providence.

Consider this nearly true story: A professor finds himself angered by the bad theology espoused by a shady faith healer who guarantees a healing in return for a seed-faith gift of only $100.  Now the professor knows his theology pretty well, and posts a notice on his blog asking his subscribers what they think about the faith healer.  Before you know it, the story is posted on the Drudge Report and the professor’s story is the hot news story of the day.

I called this a “nearly true” story because it really happened, but I took liberties with a few facts.  Nearly 500 years ago, an Augustinian monk was very unhappy about some shady business conducted by a guy named Tetzel, and he posted a notice on the door of his church.  A few college students read the posting, translated it into the local language, and printed up a few thousand copies on the newly invented Gutenberg press.  It is said that within 2 weeks all of Germany was in an uproar over the 95 Theses.  Martin Luther went from being a monk and professor to heretic and hero of the Christian faith.

At the risk of oversimplifying what started on the door of the Castle Church, I would like to share five major issues that were at the center of the Protestant Reformation.  They are nicely summarized in five expressions that are easily remembered and central to a proper understanding of our faith:

Sola Fide (Faith Alone): If the reformation was an earthquake, Sola Fide was the epicenter.  The Roman Catholic faith had become more corrupt and polluted over the centuries, built on the idea that one was justified (declared righteous) by faith PLUS good works.  Luther and the reformers understood that it was faith alone that resulted in justification, and that good works were the natural result of salvation.

Sola Gratia (Grace Alone): There is nothing we can do to merit our salvation; it is totally, wholly, and fully a free gift of God.  Our works do not impress God in the least.  He chooses those He will choose, and the basis for this choice is His will, determined long before the foundation of the earth.  Some people think that God will save them because they are, “a good person”, or because they prayed a prayer.  The problem with that picture is that the Bible says we are dead in our sins.  Imagine a corpse doing CPR on itself.  You can’t?  I’m not surprised.  A corpse is dead.

Sola Scriptura (The Scriptures Alone): Some people like to place Sola Scriptura first in the list of Solas, for the simple reason that scripture is the only source of authority for matters of faith.  Regardless of where it falls in the list, it is important to understand why this was a big deal in 1517 and why it is a big deal today.

In 1517, the scriptures were out of reach of ordinary people.  The church believed that people were unable to read it themselves and gain a true understanding of what it meant and how it applied to their lives.  The position of the church was that the Bible could be understood only when interpreted by the Roman church.  The authoritative voice of the church was spoken by the pope and by church councils, and this ultimately meant that the pope and these councils were more authoritative than the plain words of scripture.  This is evident in the faulty logic the Roman church used to explain the basis for salvation (Faith + Works = Justification).

Sola Scriptura did two things: it set aside the authority of popes and councils, and asserted that ordinary people could understand, interpret, and apply scripture to their own lives.

Sola Christus (Christ Alone): It is easy, in our post-modern age, to misunderstand the meaning of Sola Christus and its implications.  Our focus is not on the “many paths to god” heresy espoused by Oprah and her minions, but rather on three elements within the Roman church that robbed Jesus of His full glory:

1. The Roman church believed that the Mary, the mother of Jesus, was a mediator between God and man.  Catholics will explain that Mary represents someone vital to the life of Christ, sort of like a mother who will put in a good word with her son to gain His favor.
2. In the Roman church placed faith in the elements of communion (bread and wine).  Their belief was that these elements became, in substance, the flesh and blood of Jesus when the priest consecrated them.  By implication, the elements then were treated with the same reverence as the living Lord Jesus Christ – they were worshipped.  The reformers rightly rejected this as idolatry.
3. Another area in which the reformers and the Roman church disagreed was the area of the priesthood.  The Roman church believed it was the final and only means for grace to be delivered to the people.  The priesthood became, in effect, the means of access to God.

All of these alternatives (Mary, communion, the priesthood) were unnecessary because we have direct access to God the Father through His son, our Lord Jesus Christ.

Soli Deo Gloria: The final of the five solas is the summation of them all meaning Glory to God Alone.  Nothing we can do, have done, or ever will do, is worthy of glory.  Any works-based theological system, including Arminianism, attacks God’s glory by taking some part the glory that is rightfully God’s and placing it before man.  The Ordo Salutis, or order of salvation, as understood by the reformers, begins with God’s will (His decree) and bears fruit in His effectual calling, faith (His gift to us), justification (His declaration of our innocence, based totally on Christ’s atoning sacrifice), sanctification (the Holy Spirit working in us to make us more holy), and ultimately, our glorification (the fullness of salvation revealed in us, all as a result of His work). 

To the extent that we receive glory for any work of Christ, we are guilty of stealing God’s glory.  This would include assertions that we chose Christ of our own “Free Will”.

+ + + + + + + + + + +

It may appear that this short essay is a bit harsh on the Roman church, so allow me a short opportunity here at the end to mention a few things that God did in using the Roman church that positively benefit us today.  The concept of Providence is clearly illustrated in these examples.

1. When Christianity became the official religion of the Roman empire, it received the protection of the most powerful earthly kingdom of the day.  As a result, the church spread far and wide.
2. One of the side effects of being a state religion is that the heads of state tended to interfere in church affairs.  This wasn’t all bad – when a dispute arose among theologians, the government was in a position to help resolve the situation.  The Roman Emperor would send a call out to the bishops telling them to meet for a church council and the issues would be debated and decided.  Once the matter was put to rest, the Emperor would put his stamp of approval on the matter and no one would dare question it.  As a result, the church’s theological basis was established.
3. Bad theology didn’t keep popping up over and over again.  As a contrast, consider how many popular “Christian” teachers & musicians continue to receive wide support in the church despite their clearly unbiblical and heretical underpinnings.  The music group Phillips, Craig and Dean denies the Trinity, as does the popular teacher T.D. Jakes.  Many Word of Faith teachers hold aberrant beliefs but are well-received at Christian conferences.

Since it was vitally necessary for Christ to die to make atonement, what is the reason that the atonement was necessary? The atonement of Christ was necessary because of our sins. Two verses in the Book of Romans clearly set forth the desperate need we have for the atonement of Christ because of our sins. The first is Romans 3:23, All have sinned, and the second is Romans 6:23, The wages of sin is death. We have the absolute and utter need for atonement of our sin, first of all, because of the effects of original sin through Adam. It is because of original sin that we all have the legal standing of condemnation before God and have a personal nature that has been corrupted by sin (Romans 5:18-19). And, secondly, we have the vital need for atonement because of our own actual and personal sins. The Bible says that the punishment for sin is death. Because of this, unless a person’s sin is atoned for, he will be condemned to everlasting damnation and punishment in hell. It was because of the just consequences of our sins that Christ had to make atonement. This is concisely stated in I Corinthians 15:3, Christ died for our sins.

While our sins were the reason that it was necessary for Christ to die to make atonement, what was it that caused Christ to die for us to make atonement for our sins?  From the first book of the Bible, in chapter three of the Book of Genesis, to the last book of the Bible, the Book of Revelation, the Bible declares that the cause of the atonement was God Himself. God was the originator, initiator and provider of the atonement for our sins. This is explicitly declared by Abraham at the time he was commanded by God to sacrifice his son, Isaac, and he said, “God will provide for Himself the lamb…” (Genesis 22:8). In John 3:16 we are told, 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. Throughout His ministry Jesus said that He came to do the will of His Father. In John 6:38, He said, “For I have come down from heaven, not to do My will, but the will of Him who sent Me.” In quoting Psalm 40:7, the book of Hebrews 10:9-10 quotes Jesus and says, Then He said, “Behold, I have come to do Your will”…By this will we have been sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all. Perhaps the most sacred place in all of Scripture that demonstrates that the cause of the atonement was God Himself is in the words of the prayer of the Lord Jesus in the Garden before He was suffered and died. Matthew 26:39 says, And He went a little beyond them, and fell on His face and prayed, saying, “My Father, if it is possible, let this cup pass from Me, yet not as I will, but as You will.” The cause of the atonement was the will of God Himself.

When we look at what the Bible tells us about God being the cause of the atonement, there are three important things that need to be emphasized. These three things are: 

(1) God freely provided the atonement according to His grace

It is of the utmost importance for us to realize that there was nothing compelling God to provide the atonement. It was because of His free grace that He made it possible for people to be saved through the Lord Jesus Christ. When the Bible speaks of free grace, it does not mean that it costs us nothing. It refers to the choice of God, a choice that was not in any way compelled but was a choice that was free. This is true in two ways: 

(a) There was nothing outwardly compelling God to save people. God was not forced by some outside power to save anyone. This should be obvious since nothing is more powerful than God.

(b) There was nothing inwardly compelling God to save people. This is true in two ways.

1. First of all, there was nothing inwardly compelling God to provide the atonement because of a moral obligation. There was no moral obligation within the nature of God that required Him to save anyone. The only moral obligation within the righteous nature of God toward sinners that was required was that of justice. There was no moral obligation within Him to give grace or mercy. The only thing everyone deserved was justice. God could have given everyone justice if He chose to do so and this would have been righteous and good because justice would be rendered to all. But according to His free grace, and by no inward moral necessity, He chose to provide atonement for sins.
2. Secondly, there was nothing inwardly compelling God to save people because of some need within Him. There was not any kind of need within God such as the need for love or fellowship that human beings would fulfill which compelled God to provide the atonement. Sometimes, when people are evangelizing, they will say that God needs them and their love. In this way, they are actually saying people are doing God a favor and fulfilling a need in Him by coming to Christ. This is a great error for two reasons. This first is that God has no need that any human being would fulfill. God is eternally blessed in and of Himself as the Triune God eternally self-existing in the perfect love and fellowship of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit being and in need of absolutely nothing. The second reason is, perhaps, even more significant. When we say this, we utterly diminish the love and grace of God that was demonstrated in the atonement. God did not provide atonement for our sins because He needed us but rather because of His love and grace. When we see that it was free grace and love that motivated God to save us, we see how great the love of God is. Romans 5:6-8 states, “For while we were still helpless, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly. For one will hardly die for a righteous man, though perhaps for the good man someone would dare to die. But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.”

(2) In the atonement, all the glorious attributes of God are supremely displayed

There was no disharmony or cross-purpose in the working of God’s attributes in providing the atonement. God’s justice required that sin be punished and the debt paid and His love desired that sinners be saved.  God’s justice and love did not work against the other. To the contrary, in the atonement of Christ we see all the attributes of God wondrously expressed:  love, justice, wisdom, righteousness, holiness, power and more all displayed in glorious unity.

(3) The atonement is the result of all three Persons of the Trinity working in perfect unity

Sometimes people will wrongly characterize the saving work of Christ in His death as if He were the “good guy” who loved us and died to save sinners from the angry justice of the “mean, grumpy Father.” In this way, they in effect, pose the work of the Son as a kind of antagonism to the Father. However, the Scriptures teach that the atonement was the result of all three Persons of the Trinity working in perfect unity. They tell us that the Father sent the Son and the Son came, the Father gave the Son and the Son laid down His life, as well as the declaration of Hebrews 9:14 that says that Christ offered Himself up through the eternal Spirit. There was no disharmony in the Trinity, but rather perfect unity of purpose to accomplish the work of atonement.