Doctrine Notes-Trinity Chapter One

Favorite Quotes

-p11 “we long for selfless, trustworthy, unending love from someone we can trust to be faithful and helpful”


-p25 “To be a Christian is also to be a member of the universal church. The church includes everyone from every nation, culture, language, and race whose saving faith is in Jesus Christ. Practically, this means that a Christian is part of a tremendous heritage and does not come to the Scriptures apart from community with all of God’s people from throughout all of the church’s history. Catholic, Orthodox, and Protestant Christians confess together that the God of the Bible is Trinitarian.”


Areas Of Disagreement

--p14 – Other “gods” as demons.

>>I think the authors overstate the case. I do believe in demons and I do think it’s possible that demonic activity could have caused people to worship false gods and idols. But, I think it is just as likely that these false gods were created by human imagination and speculation.


When Paul talks about the gods in the Greek and Roman pantheon and temples, he says this:


1 Cor 8:3-6 "But the man who loves God is known by God. {4} So then, about eating food sacrificed to idols: We know that an idol is nothing at all in the world and that there is no God but one. {5} For even if there are so-called gods, whether in heaven or on earth (as indeed there are many "gods" and many "lords"), {6} yet 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."


No mention of any spiritual forces at all. I think we need to be careful not to say any more than the Bible itself says.

--p21 – Jesus as the Angel of God in the Old Testament

>>There are several times in the OT when an angel appears and it is vague as to whether the angel is merely a messenger from God or God himself. It is clear that the people who met these messengers felt they were in the very presence of God. I think we should leave that as a mystery and not try to solve it by inserting Jesus.


In find, in general, efforts to ‘prove’ the existence of the Trinity in the OT unconvincing. Several places where God is referred to in the plural may simply be examples of what is called the “royal we”. In others, the word can be both singular or plural. And on page 19 the authors are simply mistaken about the “Targem Neofiti”, mis-translating a word that is actually ‘wisdom”.


While there may be echoes of God’s Trinitarian nature in the OT, it is not truly manifest until the ministry of Jesus and the fullness of God’s self-revelation.

--p31 – Modalism

>>While I agree Modalism is an error, I think the authors do a poor job of defining it. Modalism says that God is one, but that we experience, and thus know God in different ways: Creator/Father, Son/Savior, and Spirit/Sustainer. God never changes, only the way we encounter God does.


While this is an attractive idea and one that gets around the most difficult elements of the concept of the Trinity, I think it falls short of describing the Biblical picture of the nature of Jesus’ relationship to his Father.

Doctrine Study Notes - Revelation: Chapter Two

Favorite Quotes

-p38 “The opposite of revelation is speculation.”

-p39 “Common grace also allows people who are not connected to God through Jesus Christ to live seemingly decent normal lives of compassion and service, though their deeds are not in any way done to God’s glory as acts of worship.”

-p40 “God has written his morality on human hearts.”

-p41 “Scripture is God speaking his truth to us in human words.”

-p43 “…rightly interpreting particular sections of Scripture requires paying attention both to the immediate context and overall context of all Scripture.”

-p48 “People who were providentially prepared by God, and motivated and superintended by the holy Spirit, spoke and wrote according to their own personalities and circumstances in such a way that their words are the very Word of God.”

-p59 “In the end, it is perfectly reasonable to say that we do not have an answer for every question we may have…”

-p68 “sola scriptura…should not be confused with solo scriptura, which is the erroneous belief that truth is to be found only in Scripture and nowhere else…..(However) the Bible and the Bible alone teaches a complete Christian worldview that includes what we need to know about God, how to come into relation with (God), who Jesus is and what he did for our salvation…”

-p72-73 “The very best way to interpret the Bible is to read it….be aware of the type of literature you are reading and interpreting…You will want to ask, what is the author trying to accomplish?”

-p74 “We believe that Christians should do everything the Bible commands, not do anything the Bible forbids*, and where the Bible is silent, work from Biblical principles, conscience, wisdom, and godly counsel to determine what should and should not be done.

      *There are things in the Bible that have been are no longer effect in the New Covenant and some things that are so tied to a specific cultural practice, that we do not believe they are intended to be rules of all Christians, in all places, over all time – like making women cover their heads in church (1 Cor 11:5-6).

-p75 “Christians worship God, not the Bible”


Areas Of Disagreement

--p44 “…when Scripture is rightly interpreted, it is ultimately about Jesus as God, our Savior….”
“The Old Testament uses various means to reveal Jesus, including promises, appearances, foreshadowing types and titles.”
“…The Old Testament teaches about Jesus through appearances that he makes before his birth…”


>>Too often, New Testament Christians look for every possible verse or event in the Old Testament to be connected to Jesus. I feel that this is often mistake. There are many verses where someone finds some vague reference to Jesus or some person that has some of Jesus’ qualities, or any of his duties or authority – they then see that as a prediction or a “type” of the coming Jesus.

This is not to say that God’s plan for salvation or a savior are not the major flow and theme in the OT, only that not every specific element of the OT is directly about Jesus.

I am equally unconvinced that Jesus made and earthly appearances before his conception in Nazareth. The Bible does not makes this claim. I would specifically reject the idea that Jesus is the “angel of the Lord”, and idea that comes close to the ancient heresy of Arianism.

--p58 “Inerrant means that Scriptures are perfect, without any error.”

>Now don’t get me wrong, I don’t believe the Scriptures are filled with errors.

But I would put this differently. I would say that the purpose of the Scriptures is to bring us into relationship with Father, Son, and Holy Spirit and to teach us what we need to know about God and his will for us. In that, all it does is without error and perfect.

But, the Bible is not a science textbook. It’s not a modern newspaper or history textbook. If you try to use it for those purposes, parts of it don’t work very well. So I prefer to say Scripture is inerrant for the purpose God created it for.

--p71 “English Standard Version…”

>The ESV is a good translation, but not significantly better than the NIV, the NRSV, or a few others. I still use the NIV as my main Bible, but I do have the ESV as a second translation on my phone.

--Addational Notes
Six Rules of Biblical Hermeneutics*

(*rules to use when understanding Scripture)

E.J. Carnell, in The Case for Orthodox Theology, pp 53-65, the following six rules govern Biblical hermeneutics.


1. Revelation is Progressive


2. The New Testament interprets the Old Testament.


3. The Epistles Interpret the Gospels


4. Systematic Passages Interpret the Incidental

5. Universal Passages Interpret the Local


6. Didactic (teaching) Passages Interpret the Symbolic

Flaten Philharmonic

Erik and his friends delighted us with some amazing music last Sunday and I thought I'd share it with you.

Yes, I couldn't possibly have a worse angle for the videos. I'd much rather be looking at their faces. But, I didn't really have a choice. Close your eyes and enjoy. Thanks again to the Flaten Philharmonic!

Atheist's Don't Have No Songs

I've had a few people ask for the lyrics of this tongue in cheek song I used in my sermon last week. Here it is:



Christians have their hymns in pages,
Hava Nagila’s for the Jews,
Baptists have the rock of ages,
Atheists just sing the blues.

Romantics play Claire de Lune,
Born agains sing He is risen,
But no one ever wrote a tune,
For godless existentialism.

For Atheists,
There’s no good news,
They’ll never sing a song of faith.

For atheists,
They have a rule,
The “he” is always lowercase.
The “he” is always lowercase.

Some folks sing a Bach cantata,
Lutherans get Christmas trees,
Atheist songs add up to nada,
But they do have Sundays free.

Pentecostals sing they sing to heaven,
Coptic’s have the books of scrolls,
Numerologists can count to seven,
Atheists have rock and roll.

For Atheists,
There’s no good news,
They’ll never sing a song of Faith.

In their songs,
They have a rule,
The “he” is always lowercase.
The “he” is always lowercase.

Catholics dress up for Mass,
And listen to, Gregorian chants.
Atheists just take a pass,
Watch football in their underpants.
Watch football in their underpants.

Atheists, Atheists, Atheists,
Don’t have no songs!

Rev Hardum at General Assembly

I've had several requests for the comments of the Ecumenical Advisory Delegate to General Assembly, the Rev Hardum, an arch priest in the Orthodox Church of Belarus. Yes, it's a pretty good smackdown. This is not the whole speech, but his initial greeting and his final coments.

What Indiana Jones Was Looking For and Why Worship Still Matters

Concluding Thoughts:

One final note: I still think that today, we need places to worship. Places designed to take people out of this world and help them remember there is an unseen world that is easy to forget.

If you go into many new churches these days, you might never know there were God’s house. They look like theaters or auditoriums. They often lack any art or decoration with Christian themes or symbols. The chancels look more like stages, filled with microphones and music stands, than a place to focus worship. An ancient Hebrew would laugh if you told them this was place to meet God, because God seems almost intentionally left out.

We seem to be losing the sense of the sacredness of a worship space and I think that’s a greater loss than we understand.

And I know that mere surroundings don’t make worship happen. Europe is filled with majestic churches and cathedrals with empty pews, where it doesn’t feel like the Spirit of God has been present for 100 years. I have seen plenty of congregations worship their building and forget their God (Edifice Complex).

Nor does it mean we can’t embrace what is new. I remember visiting the Hanging Church in Cairo (because it sits suspended on an old Roman city wall). It is also known in Arabic as al-Muallaqah ("The Suspended"), and as Sitt Mariam or St. Mary's Church.

It was built in the 7th century, probably on the site of a 3rd or 4th century church and is an ancient and ornate Orthodox church in the distinctive Coptic style. But it is also the home for an existing congregation that still worshipped in the sanctuary and as I was looking around, what did I discover in the midst’s of the ancient icons and gold plated decorations…….A video projector hanging from the ceiling. You can mix old and new in a way that works.

I also know many people who will say “I don’t need church, I just worship God out in the mountains, or by the seashore, by myself.” Sure, you can do that. I’ve had some great times with God at a majestic viewpoint. But, let’s be honest: How many people do you know who actually do that? In all my life I’ve only met one person who regularly did that and that was probably because his job had him out in the mountains almost every day.
We can say we’ll worship God on our own, without a community to worship with and help us structure our worship. Without four walls to gather in. But almost no one really does this. It is simply a reasonable sounding dodge or excuse. We need Christian community as much as we need a place to worship.

Let me plead for a happy medium. We’re a lot more like the Israelites than we think. We’re flesh and blood people, who may worship God in Spirit, but it still helps us to have a place that lifts our spirits and draws us close to God.

PS... I was asked to post a link to the video I showed in church. You can find it here and your computer will need Apple Quicktime to play it (a free download):
http://www.glencairnmuseum.net/tabernacle/video.htm