Mark Chapter 1 Verse 9

• Now this is an interesting scene. Jesus comes to John the Baptist and we know from Matthew’s Gospel, in the third Chapter, (see how fast paced Mark is? Mark gets here in Chapter 1, the ninth verse!), we know from Matthew that John had a cow! He tried to prevent Him, saying, “I need to be baptized by You, and You are coming to me?”

• But Jesus answered and said to him one of the most intricate Greek sentences I’ve ever looked at. In the English, your Bible may read as mine does there in Matthew Chapter 3 verse 15, “Permit it to be so now, for thus it is fitting for us to fulfill all righteousness.” Now that is translated quite well but it is chocked full of mystery and demands further research!

• Why would Jesus request of John to “permit?” Why not just tell him what to do? Something is odd there. Why would He say for us to fulfill all righteousness? How can John fulfill righteousness? Only Jesus can, right? Yes! So again, further digging is required. So the translators did a great job in breaking this down but when you look at it in the Greek, the original language, what we just talked about, those two points of mystery, are just the tip of the iceberg!

• Look, Jesus comes to John, John see’s Him coming and according to the Gospel of John, he announces to the crowd, “Behold, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world! This is He of whom I said, ‘After me comes a Man who is preferred before me, for He was before me.’” And then as Jesus draws near, He says to John, “dunk Me bro!” (Sorry that’s the New Matt Translation!)

• And then John says, “What!? I should be baptized by You!” And then in the Greek, Jesus answers, “Suffer through this John and let this happen for this is for the sake of what man ought to be and for the sake of justice.” I’m still confused, Matt. Let me explain. Jesus did not need to be baptized. He Himself was without sin. So why was Jesus baptized? The mystery is revealed in that little word, “us” there in Matthew 3:15…

• Jesus was baptized in keeping with His entire mission on earth: to identify with sinful man…to become “us” with man…with you and me. Jesus didn't have to be baptized. He also didn't have to die on a cross in our place. He did both things to express His solidarity with fallen man for the sake of saving us and showing us what we ought to be and for the sake of justice man…

• So today, must we be baptized to be saved? The answer is no. All that is required for salvation is faith man…for you to hear the Gospel and respond. To open your heart to the truth and receive the Holy Spirit. But, should we be baptized? Absolutely! For the sake of declaring we are now as we ought to be, cleansed…we will be filled with and led by love…we will be gentle, longsuffering, and selfless. We will walk in integrity, virtue, purity of life, rightness, correctness of thinking feeling, and acting. (All of those aspects are translations of the word “righteousness” there in Matthew Chapter 3 verse 15. How cool is that?)

• And so we declare that we will follow Jesus and strive to live as He lived, in a manner that honored and glorified God and in that we follow His example right into baptism. And so Jesus was baptized by John and then check out what happened next…

Mark Chapter 1 Verses 10 – 11

• Did you see it? Did you catch that? Who came out of the water? Jesus! Who descended upon Him? The Holy Spirit. Who spoke from heaven? God the Father! One scene, one moment, One God, Three Persons. Do you see that?

• And so very early on, once again, in our study verse by verse through Mark, we come to another foundation of the faith. A Christianity 101 subject. The doctrine of the Godhead, the Trinity!

• You see the Bible sets forth a mystery, from the very very beginning, that God is One, yet at the same time Three. What do you mean ‘from the beginning?’ Well, this mystery is literally mentioned in the very first sentence of the Bible. Turn over to Genesis Chapter 1, verse 1.

• Now, my intention is to introduce you to the doctrine of the Trinity for the next few minutes. Christianity 101 style. There’s no way I can cover this theological subject in one study. In fact, Bible Colleges devote whole semesters to the study of the Trinity. But what I want to do with you today is level-set you on the doctrine, the idea of the Trinity and then show you just a few very compelling examples from the Word that powerfully support why we believe what we believe.

• Genesis 1:1. “In the beginning God…” Right, very familiar. In the beginning God created…but it’s interesting what Moses actually wrote here under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit. In the Hebrew, this reads, “reshyith (in the beginning) elohiym.” God? Well yes but a specific representation. It’s called the intensive plural in the Hebrew. It could be translated “gods” but a correct translation is indeed God as it denotes more than One, in One!

• What? I’m lost!? Hang with me now. J The singular form of the word “god” in Hebrew is “El.” Moses doesn’t use that here. He opens up the Word of God with a mystery and uses the word “Elohiym” or a “plural God.” You see from the get-go, the Trinity is revealed! The Godhead, Three in One. Father, Spirit, Son.

• But how can it be? What can it be? Are there three forms of One God who are all a part of a larger form? No, that’s Power Rangers. Captain Planet stuff (‘by your powers combined, I am Captain Planet!’) Theologically speaking that is a heresy called Modalism. Well then does the Trinity mean that God is like the sun with the star, the light and the heat yet all one sun? No, that’s actually Arianism. Another heresy that speaks of one being lesser than another, or even created…

• The correct answer is that the “how” is and will remain a mystery. That is why human illustrations all fall short. The “what” is discernible. The theological doctrinal fact of the Trinity is viewable, discernible in the Bible…but the “how” is a God thing man…the “how” isn’t comprehendible by finite understanding, and so…this is cool…faith is required!

• Awesome! You mean that in order for the truth to be revealed, I gotsta have faith? Yes! Are we still talking about the Trinity? HA! One could say no because man that is Christianity 101! Faith is required for any infinite God-thang revelation to arrive!

• The best I find the doctrine of the Trinity described, the “what” that is, is within the Athanasian Creed which was written by Athenasius, Bishop of Alexandria…a long time ago. Around 300 AD. This creed states, “We worship one God in Trinity, and Trinity in Unity, neither confounding the persons, nor dividing the substance. For there is one Person of the Father, another of the Son, and another of the Holy Spirit. But the godhead of the Father, of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, is all one, the glory equal, the majesty co-eternal. Such as the Father is, such is the Son, and such is the Holy Spirit. The Father uncreated, the Son uncreated, and the Holy Spirit uncreated. The Father incomprehensible, the Son incomprehensible, and the Holy Spirit incomprehensible. The Father eternal, the Son eternal, and the Holy Spirit eternal. And yet they are not three eternals, but one Eternal. As also there are not three incomprehensible, nor three uncreated, but one Uncreated, and one Incomprehensible. So likewise the Father is Almighty, the Son Almighty, and the Holy Spirit Almighty. And yet they are not three almighties, but one Almighty.

• The “what” clearly stated, the “how”…mind-boggling! But lemme give it a shot. Just for clarity purposes. First, a little math. If you try to add 1 + 1 + 1 then what do you get? Three! Right. Yet God is three 1’s and yet 1. So mathematically one could say 1 * 1 * 1, right! Pretty neat, why? Because if you depict that mathematically with letters representing numbers, you could depict it almost as one object. In other words 1=a, 1=b, and 1=c. Then mathematically you could say, “abc=1!” Get it! Ok, overly dorky I know…

• Here’s one I like. Think about time. Time is always in three distinct objects. The past, the present and the future, right? Well I could argue, and some very astute physicists may very well agree, that the past, present and future although all completely distinct, all completely time, are all completely transpiring simultaneously. That this moment, right now is the past, present and future, at the same time! The sound I just made, as it came to pass, was not transforming, was not a smaller part of a whole, but was indeed, all at the same time, the past, the present and the future…and also, all time…not bad, huh? Again, human finite examples fall flat.

• So, we leave the “how” because it is mystery and we leave the “what” since we’ve accomplished that one, and now let’s look at the Word at some powerful scriptures that show us clearly the doctrine of the Trinity. What a minute, Matt. That word doesn’t show up anywhere in the Bible. True, but neither does the word “Bible!” HA! Neither do the words omniscient, omnipotent, or omnipresent which mean all knowing, all powerful, and always present…would your argument work there? Is God not all three of these?

• You’re right, the word is not to be found, but the word “Godhead” is. The Hebrew word Elohyim is…the concept definitely is…

• 51 Verses, that’s my count so far in my 8 years of Bible study. 51 verses clearly and practically reveal the Trinity. We only have time today to look at a few and then we’re through. First, who raised Jesus from the dead? Turn over to Acts 2:24. What does it say there? “Whom God raised up…” Ok very interesting.

• Turn over to Romans 8:11. What does it say there? The Spirit raised Jesus! VERY interesting. Now turn over to John 10:17-18. What does it say there? Jesus raised Jesus! Uh oh! Mystery alert, follow the clues! Who raised Jesus from the dead? God the Father? Yes. God the Son? Yes. God the Holy Spirit. Yes! How can Three do one thing…bingo…the Three are indeed One. Awwwww yeah!

• Let’s look at one more. We simply don’t have time to look at all 51 but you look for them as you continue to study your Bibles…turn over to Revelation Chapter 1. Look at verse 8. Who is that speaking? The Lord! Correct, He identifies Himself there in that verse yet look how He describes Himself. The “Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End, the Almighty.” That is very clearly a description of God, right? The beginning? The Almighty! Of course.

• Can’t win the argument at this point that this in Anyone but God Himself. Turn over to Isaiah 41:4…see that? Same description. Flip over to Isaiah 48:12. See that? Same description. So who is this speaking in Revelation Chapter 1 verse 8. God? Ok yea, I’m with that…now turn over to Revelation 21:6. Who is speaking there? Hold that thought and look at Revelation 22:12-13 and 16…

• You see there’s a problem here. In comparing Isaiah 41, Isaiah 48, Revelation 1 and Revelation 21 and 22…either we have two Almighties, two firsts, two lasts, two beginnings and two ends…or we have a mystery of Jesus and God the Father being One…so cool eh?

• So you see the doctrine of the Trinity is clear in the pages of the Bible…from the very first chapter…to the very last…and much more to cover on this topic but sufficient for Christianity 101, we now see that…we now know that…it is a Biblical fundamental, a Theological Truth, a practical mystery and Mark jumps right out and nails it there by showing us the Three distinct persons of the Trinity all in one place, at one time in one scene in Chapter one of his gospel…and it says there in verse 12…

Mark Chapter 1 Verses 12 – 13

• Mark doesn’t give us the details here as the other gospels do as to how Jesus defeated the temptations of Satan during those forty days but we know how He did it don’t we? The Word of God man…Jesus used the Word of God alone and defeated the ridiculous onslaught of the enemy.

• That is what we do here…simply teaching the Word of God, line upon line so that when the enemy attacks, we are well equipped to not defend, but go on the offensive! In Jesus’ name!