Father, Son, and Holy Spirit — One God in Three Persons

The Doctrine of The Trinity

As humans, we struggle to understand the width and breadth of God’s all-encompassing nature.1 The unity of purpose that exists and operates within the three persons of God is equally beautiful and mysterious. In John 7, Jesus revealed that He spoke on behalf of His Father. He promised the indwelling Holy Spirit as the source of living water to satisfy the soul-thirst of all who believe in Him. The unity among God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit continues to humble and baffle us.

The Bible clearly upholds the union of the three persons of the Godhead. Though distinct, all three are fully God and work harmoniously with one another to accomplish God’s plan. As God reveals His truth to us, we increasingly come to appreciate the majesty of the triune God we worship. God the Father sent God the Son into the world to save sinners.2 God the Holy Spirit sparks new life within believers; seals them as God’s children; and provides ongoing, indwelling power to live for God.3 The past, present, and future aspects of salvation involve all three persons of God.4

Anyone who fails to appreciate the beautiful cooperation and community among the three persons of God misses an awesome glimpse of God Himself. Though human limitations do not allow us to grasp the totality of wonder surrounding God, whatever we understand is more than enough to humble us before His greatness. Many attempt the impossible—to confine God to the boundaries of their intellect or personal approval. In Jesus’s day and ours, most people reject truth they cannot understand.

Jesus came representing His Father’s heart, accomplishing His Father’s will, and demonstrating His Father’s authority. The Holy Spirit draws us to Christ and gives us the power to surrender with obedience to the Father. Believers can rejoice in the boundlessness of God that exceeds the confines of their own minds. The simple unity, complex diversity, and amazing cooperation within the three persons of God should lead us to worship a God who surpasses us in every way. If you are a believer, will you marvel at all God has done to save you? If you have not yielded to God, in all His infinite wisdom and wonder, will you do so today?

1. God’s higher ways: Isaiah 55:8-9
2. The Father sent the Son: 1 John 4:14
3. The Holy Spirit: Acts 2:38; 2 Corinthians 1:21-22; Ephesians 1:13; 4:30
4. Three persons: Matthew 28:18-20; Acts 2:30-36; Ephesians 1:3-10; Colossians 1:15-20; Hebrews 1:1-4

Resource: Bible Study Fellowship, People of Promise: Kingdom Divided, Lesson 11, The Gospel of John

“Rightness” Before God

The Doctrine of Righteousness

Righteousness refers to the perfect and unblemished “rightness” of all God is and does. God’s perfect righteousness means that He cannot tolerate sin. Jesus Christ is the only person who has lived a perfectly sinless life.1 Everyone else has sinned and continues to sin.2 When Jesus offered His followers Living Bread, He offered them Himself. Through Jesus’s achievement and not their own, those who believe in God’s Son receive eternal life.

Believers continue to sin like all other humans, but Jesus’s blood and righteousness cover their sins. People who believe in Jesus are justified—declared right with God and thus able to have eternal life in His kingdom. The indwelling Holy Spirit empowers believers to recognize and repent from sin. Through this ongoing process, called sanctification, the Holy Spirit imparts practical righteousness as God’s children grow to be more like Jesus.

People often fail to recognize the seriousness of their own lack of true righteousness. Comparing themselves to others and not God, they feel satisfied if they deem themselves better than someone else. No one realizes their need of Jesus as Savior without first acknowledging their inability to live up to God’s righteous standards. This serious matter should not be deflected or ignored.

In love and grace, God sent His own Son to rescue us from our desperate state. Jesus paid sin’s penalty on behalf of all who put their faith in Him.3 The Holy Spirit awakens dead hearts to recognize their debt of sin and turn to Jesus for salvation.4 Through Jesus, believers gain right standing with God, not because of what they offer, but based on Jesus’s perfect righteousness. In Jesus, God provided the righteousness He requires that we could not offer. For eternity, God’s people will praise His Son for His indescribable gift.5

1. Jesus’s sinlessness: 1 Peter 1:18-19, 2:22; 2 Corinthians 5:21; Hebrews 4:15; 1 John 3:5
2. Everyone sins: Romans 3:10; 1 John 1:8
3. Jesus’s sacrifice: John 3:16; Romans 5:8
4. Holy Spirit’s conviction: John 16:7-8
5. God’s indescribable gift: 2 Corinthians 9:15

Resource: Bible Study Fellowship, People of Promise: Kingdom Divided, Lesson 10, The Gospel of John

Chosen by the Father

The Doctrine of Election

Jesus said, “All those the Father gives me will come to me, and whoever comes to me I will never drive away” (John 6:37). God’s providential sovereignty stands behind the challenging doctrine of election. Before God created the world, He chose those who would respond in faith.1 Romans 8:29 says, “For those God foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son….” However, God’s sovereignty in election does not negate each person’s responsibility to believe.2 God offers an invitation for all to believe. When God draws people through His Spirit, He works through their individual faith.3 

Sin has so ruined humanity that no one truly seeks God.4 Our fallen state renders us utterly unable to respond to the gospel in faith unless God first enables us.5 Consider salvation as a door. A bold invitation is emblazoned on the outside of the door: “Whoever will may come.” Those who take hold of God’s promise walk through the door by faith to see another bold sign inside the door: “All those the Father gives me will come to me.”

God’s ways are inconceivably bigger, higher, and more perfect than humans comprehend. We easily miss the harmony between the twin truths of divine election and human responsibility. We should not dismiss infinite truths we cannot fully understand. God’s choice in eternity past does not remove personal responsibility for unbelief in the present. The seriousness of rejecting Christ remains a sober warning. 

The wonder of salvation humbles and amazes us. God imparts life to dead hearts. Knowing this truth compels us to confidently share the gospel with others. Salvation, from start to finish, is God’s work. All glory belongs to God. However, the responsibility to turn to Christ for salvation is ours. Will you trust God who loves perfectly and always acts righteously?

1. Chosen before time: Ephesians 1:3-14
2. Human responsibility: Psalm 81:11-12; John 8:24
3. Call to faith: Matthew 11:25-30; John 6:37-40
4. Sin’s damage: Psalm 14:2-3; Ecclesiastes 7:20; Romans 3:10-18
5. Drawn to faith: John 6:44

Resource: Bible Study Fellowship, People of Promise: Kingdom Divided, Lesson 9, The Gospel of John

God’s Rightful Rule as King of Creation

The Doctrine of the Sovereignty of God

God is sovereign. This means God alone controls everything. He rules every sector of the universe He created.1 God’s decrees govern history.2 God’s sovereignty includes the calling of those who will be saved by Him.3 God determines the outcome of all things according to His wise purposes. God controls and guides all events for His glory and our good.

Like their ancestors centuries earlier, the people of Israel desired a king.4 They recognized Jesus’s authority and correctly speculated about His identity. However, they wanted a king who ruled on their terms and satisfied their desires. They stood before eternity’s sovereign King seeking to mold His agenda to meet their demands. Because of humankind’s inherited sinful nature,5 we long to exercise sovereignty that belongs only to God. People long to control what only God controls. We desire autonomy more than submission. God rules rightly, justly, compassionately, and eternally. His sovereignty remains steadfast despite our rebellion and utter failure to understand His character and purposes.

Without a proper understanding of God’s absolute rule over time, history, and every earthly event, we flounder in uncertainty. People’s whims, the world’s constantly changing landscape, and our own lives seem to careen randomly forward. Certainly legitimate questions arise as we attempt to interpret the chaos around us. However, failure to recognize God’s present purposefulness leaves us without the rudder we need to direct our lives.

The truth about God’s sovereignty stabilizes our thinking in many ways. We do not need to fully comprehend what God expressly controls. When our understanding fails to grasp all that God is doing, we trust the infinite perfections within His character. Knowing that God will one day eradicate evil, end injustice, and reign without rival offers hope when current events trouble us.6 Recognizing God’s right to reign over everything helps me relinquish my own desire to rule what I cannot control or to mold God to fit my image of Him. Surrendering to the Sovereign God who rules time and eternity is always right. How will you find comfort today recognizing God’s wise rule over this world and your life?

1. God’s authority: 1 Chronicles 29:11-12; Psalm 47:7
2. God governs history: Daniel 4:34-35; Acts 2:23; 17:24-27
3. God’s call: Romans 8:29-30; Ephesians 1:4; 1 Peter 1:2
4. Israel’s desire for a king: 1 Samuel 8:4-5
5. Sinful nature: Genesis 3; Isaiah 53:6; 59:12-13; Romans 7:14; 8:7
6. God’s eternal rule: Revelation 21-22

Resource: Bible Study Fellowship, People of Promise: Kingdom Divided, Lesson 8, The Gospel of John

The Father and Son—Equal in Power and United in Purpose

The Doctrine of God the Father

How can we understand what God is like? God the Father, the author of creation, can only be known and understood through His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ.1 The unity of God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit represents a mystery that transcends human understanding. Jesus came to earth to reveal His Father’s heart and accomplish His work of redemption on our behalf. Out of abounding love, Christ’s costly sacrifice made a way for sinners to enjoy restored fellowship with their Creator. Believers delight in calling God “Abba, Father,” the same name for God that Jesus Himself used.2

Failure to look to Christ for salvation means living life and facing eternity with a broken relationship with God. Our heavenly Father created every human with an eternal soul designed for communion with Him. Words cannot fully capture the present and eternal loss that results from rejecting God’s love through Christ. You cannot know God without receiving Christ as His Son and your Savior.

God created all people in His image—made to be in relationship with Him. Knowing, worshiping, and glorifying God represents your highest calling and greatest joy. You can intimately know God’s immeasurable greatness, unconditional love, and amazing grace when you come to Him through His Son. How has Jesus opened your eyes to His provision of rich fellowship with God the Father? In what ways does Jesus’s sacrifice reveal God’s infinite majesty to you? The Holy Spirit awakens our hearts to embrace Jesus’s sacrifice, which opens the way for rich fellowship with God the Father. What amazing truth! What an amazing God!

1. Jesus reveals the Father: Matthew 11:27; John 1:14, 18; 14:6-11; Philippians 2:6-11; Colossians 2:9-10; Hebrews 1:2-3
2. Abba, Father: Mark 14:36; Romans 8:15; Galatians 4:6

Resource: Bible Study Fellowship, People of Promise: Kingdom Divided, Lesson 7, The Gospel of John

God’s Lavish Blessings to the Undeserving

The Doctrine of Grace

Everything God does reflects all that He is. His actions toward humanity reveal His character. By nature, God is gracious—inclined to offer blessings and favor to the undeserving. God’s grace refers to His bestowing of benefits that are not earned or merited by human effort. By God’s grace, the beauty of His creation reveals His creative power and majesty to all humanity. Believers and unbelievers alike experience sunrises, sunsets, and rain that waters dry ground. The most powerful expression of God’s grace is seen in the sacrifice of God’s Son to redeem people enslaved by sin and death. God extends grace to the unworthy by offering salvation and spiritual blessings that cannot be earned.

Salvation in Christ comes by grace through faith.1 If human goodness or works could earn salvation, it would not be by grace. Because God is the author of salvation and provides everything a sinner needs to receive eternal salvation, all the glory goes to Him. Sinners are saved because of God’s unmerited favor toward us in Christ—which cannot be earned.2 God’s grace not only brings sinners salvation, but also sustains them in life and for eternity.3

To fail to understand or appreciate God’s grace means living life trying to earn God’s favor or completely ignoring Him. Because the best we can offer God is flawed and inadequate, attempts to earn His favor will always come up short. We try to feel better by comparing ourselves to others we deem worse than we are. Without seeing God as inherently gracious, we wrongly think He is harsh and punitive rather than kind and welcoming.

God’s posture toward humanity is utterly gracious. He knows the depth of our neediness. He moves toward us to meet us where we are and give us what we need. To relish God’s grace, we must realize we deserve nothing but judgment. When God opens our eyes to recognize His grace, we see His ongoing care and provision in salvation and daily life. Proper understanding of God’s grace regularly moves our hearts toward humility and worship. We experience peace because of God’s grace. We depend on God’s grace and trust Him for all we truly need. By grace, when God looks at a believer, He sees only Christ’s imparted righteousness, which cannot be earned. All praise and glory belong to the God of all grace!

1. Grace in salvation: Romans 3:21-24; Ephesians 2:8-9; 2 Timothy 1:9; Titus 2:11
2. Salvation cannot be earned: Romans 4:1-8
3. Sustaining grace: John 1:16; 1 Corinthians 15:10; 2 Corinthians 12:9; Hebrews 4:16; 2 Peter 3:18

Resource: Bible Study Fellowship, People of Promise: Kingdom Divided, Lesson 6, The Gospel of John

Transformed Into New Life - Part 2

The Doctrine of Redemption

The Samaritan woman lived an empty life carrying an empty jar. Then she encountered
Jesus—the One who offers life to the full. Enslaved by her sin and seeking fleeting
satisfaction, this outcast woman’s life seemed to offer little value in a broken world. Yet Jesus found this woman precious in His sight, and He graciously gave of His time, His love, and His life. Like this woman, all people are broken by sin and ripe for redemption.

The term “redemption” comes from the ancient world of commerce where enslaved people were bought and sold. Jesus has purchased, or redeemed us, from sin’s slavery. Jesus died in our place. His blood frees us from sin’s penalty and power—and ultimately sin’s presence. He transforms our lives, declaring us righteous in His sight.

The Old Testament story of Hosea’s purchase of Gomer exemplifies this transaction.1 In the New Testament, Peter advances this truth in 1 Peter 1:18-19: “It was not with perishable things such as silver and gold that you were redeemed from the empty way of life handed down to you from your ancestors, but with the precious blood of Christ, a lamb without blemish or defect.” At the moment of our redemption, we become Christ’s possession.2 We are redeemed from our empty lives and for belonging to Jesus.

Failure to accept Christ’s redemption leads to an empty life void of God’s forgiveness and unable to experience God’s love or wisdom. Those who refuse Christ’s sacrifice remain under God’s wrath and will live separated from God forever.3

Understanding the price Christ paid for our redemption magnifies His grace for sinners. God did not abandon us to our helpless estate.4 Only through faith in God’s Son, Jesus Christ, can our lives be redeemed and transformed. The Holy Spirit seals and indwells believers, who are reborn into a new life and can live a life filled with joy even in the most difficult circumstances. God’s children live as salt and light on earth,5 sharing the good news of the gospel. The redeemed are assured they will worship in God’s presence forever.

1. Hosea and Gomer: Hosea 3:1-2
2. Christ’s possession: Romans 6:22- 23; 1 Corinthians 6:19-20; Ephesians 1:7
3. Eternal separation: Mark 16:16; John 3:18, 36; 5:28-29; 8:24; 15:6; Revelation 21:8
4. God did not abandon us: John 3:16-18
5. Salt and light: Matthew 5:13-16

Resource: Bible Study Fellowship, People of Promise: Kingdom Divided, Lesson 5, The Gospel of John