Trinity Series - Small Group Notes #10

If you have not been following this series, please go to the post for January 22 where an explanation of the format is given. Happy studying!

All of God:
Exploring the Mystery of the Trinity
Jesus IS God, Week of May 3, 2009

Ø There is a difference in the way believers are called to deal with false prophets in the church and with those who are trapped in a false religion. In 2 Timothy 2:14-26, we see both groups. Read this passage and discuss the prescribed treatment for false prophets and for those who are confused about Jesus.

This passage begins with Paul’s call to Timothy to study the Word diligently (v 15) so that he will be an approved workman before the Lord. It would be necessary for Timothy to recognize truth and error, for there was already error in the body (16-19). That is not surprising b/c in a large house, there are all kinds of vessels, some for good use, some for not so good use! In the church, there will be honorable and dishonorable leaders. Timothy was encouraged to purge the dishonorable (false prophets) leaders from the church (See also 2 Timothy 3:1-9)

In the verses that follow (2 Timothy 2:22-26) however, it is clear that Paul did not want to cut off everyone who didn’t believe just like he believed. Paul urged patience and trust in God to turn them around. When it comes to teaching in our church, there are essentials and non-essentials. It is essential that GCC members believe in the Trinity and the authority of Scripture and that salvation comes by grace through faith. It is not essential that we agree on the mode of baptism in order to commune with our brothers and sisters in Christ. Discuss “essentials” and “nonessentials” if you would like – you can access our Church Constitution on the web to see what our church considers to be in each category.

Ø In the first 18 verses of John 1, the Apostle John makes a clear case for the doctrine that Jesus is God, although many try to point to the Greek of the first verse to deny Jesus’ equal status with God. John used the title “Word” for Jesus to make his point. In 1:14, John makes it clear that the “Word” to whom he is referring is Jesus. This verse could be literally translated, “The Word became flesh and pitched His tabernacle among us.” Read Exodus 33:7-34:35 to see some of the connections John was making between God and Jesus.
From D.A. Carson: “The ‘tent of meeting’ was the place where the Lord ‘would speak face to face, as a man speaks with his friends’ (Ex. 33:11). In Exodus Moses hears the divine name spoken by God Himself, and this is followed by God’s word written on two stone tablets. Now, John tells us, God’s Word, His Self-expression, has become flesh. He donned our humanity, save only our sin. God chose to make Himself known, finally and ultimately, in a real, historical man.

“The Word made His dwelling among us. More literally translated, the Greek verb ‘skenoo’ means that the Word pitched His tabernacle, or lived in His tent among us. For Greek-speaking Jews and other readers of the Greek Old Testament, the term would call to mind the ‘skene,’ the tabernacle where God met with Israel before the temple was built. The tabernacle was erected at God’s command: ‘Then have them make a sanctuary for Me, and I will dwell among them’ (Ex. 25:8).”

Clearly, Jesus is God and has chosen to speak to us not only through the written Word, but also by the living Word, Jesus, who is God in every way.

Ø During Sunday’s message, we talked about one way to engage Jehovah’s Witnesses through Scripture. Jehovah’s Witnesses seek to establish that in the Greek, the last phrase should read “and the Word was a god” rather than “and the Word was God.” In Jesus’ prayer on the night He was arrested, He acknowledged that the Father is the one true God in John 17:3. Ask a Jehovah’s Witness if there is only one true God. He will almost certainly agree. Then ask how it is consistent to call Jesus a god at all. Look at all of these claims that Jesus made about His equality with God in the gospel of John alone and discuss the implications of these verses: John 8:58; 10:30 (in both cases, the reaction of the religious leaders indicates that they knew He was claiming to be God); 14:9-11

If you are willing to engage in a discussion of the grammar found in John 1:1, you can use the following excerpt from the sermon as a guide – please feel free to call for clarification:

Perhaps you are familiar with the way that those who ostensibly derive their doctrine from Scripture and yet deny the deity of Christ interpret John 1:1. Let’s look again at the way we read this verse in English: “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God and the Word was God.” But, Jehovah’s Witnesses and Mormons like to point out that this is an improper translation from the Greek. They point out that there is not a definite article before the last word in the sentence.

Now, since I do not want to put the actual Greek up on the screen, I will do the next best thing and show you in English how some think this verse should look in the Greek since it is translated the way it is. At the end of the sentence, they say, if we are going to use the English translation, “the Word was with God and the Word was God” that it should say in the Greek “the Word was with God and the Word was the God.” It should have the definite article “the” in front of the word “God.” Since there is no definite article in the Greek text, some say that it should be translated this way: “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God and the Word was a god.”

I can imagine that what we have been covering for the last few minutes is quite confusing for some, if not many, of you. So, I understand why you are unwilling to engage someone on your doorstep who is telling you all about the Greek structure of this sentence. The fact is, though, that they do not know what they are talking about.

Do you know what a predicate noun is? A predicate noun is a noun that follows a “to be” verb, like “is” or “was.” A predicate noun renames the subject of the sentence. An example of a predicate noun would be to say that Barak Obama is the US President, or, for those of you with different political inclinations, John Roberts is Chief Justice of the US Supreme Court. The predicate noun, “President,” is renaming the subject of the sentence, “Barak Obama.”

That is what is happening in John 1:1: “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.” In fact, in the Greek the absence of a definite article in this structure can actually add emphasis to what is being stated, so that we could say “the Word was with God and the Word was absolutely God.”

Ø Spend some time in prayer asking God to give you a heart for evangelism and the understanding necessary to engage those who claim to have a relationship with God, yet deny the doctrine of the Trinity.