The Trinity Part 2

This is part two of my notes on the Trinity that I used during Sunday School:

In some circles the Holy Spirit is seen a force that can be thrown around like a tennis ball. However, the Holy Spirit is not a impersonal force or power. The Holy Spirit is a person that uses power. A question to ask is, how do know the Holy Spirit is a person and not an impersonal force?

John 14:15-31 gives us a good understanding of the Holy Spirit. Notice verse 26, "But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, He will  teach you all things and bring to remembrance all that I have said to you." Notice, the Holy Spirit is given the pronoun He not it, but He.

 As we close this section on the Trinity the question must be asked, is this really important? Does the Trinity affect the way I live? Am I changed because of the Trinity? This should affect the way you worship our God.  

Here are six reasons for the importance of the Trinity. These are not my own thoughts but are taken from Wayne Grudem's book Systematic Theology and can be found on page 247.

 First: it is essential to the atonement. If Jesus is merely a created being and not fully God, then it is hard to see how he, a creature could bear the full wrath of God against all of our sins.

Second: If Jesus is not fully God we have no justification by faith. If Jesus isn’t God then he can’t save us. (John 14:6)

Third: If Jesus is not infinite then we shouldn't pray to him. Who, but an infinite and omniscient God could hear and respond to all the prayers of all god’s people?  Who but God is worthy of Worship? It would be idolatry to worship anything but God, yet the New Testament commands us to (Phil 2:9-11, Rev. 5:12-14). 

Fourth: If Christ is a created being and is able to save us then this begins to attribute credit for salvation to a creature and not God himself. Scripture never allows us to do this.

Fifth: If there is no Trinity then there is no interpersonal relationships within the being of God before creation, and, without personal relationships, it is difficult to see how God could be genuinely personal or be without the need for a creation to relate to.

Sixth: The unity of the universe is at stake. If there is no perfect plurality and perfect unity in God himself, then we have no basis for thinking there can be any ultimate unity among the diverse elements of the universe either.