July 31, 2025 • 7 mins
How do we even begin to understand the Trinity and how three can be one?
More information about Beyond the Walls, including additional resources can be found at www.beyondthewalls-ministry.com
This series included graphics to illustrate what is being taught, if you would like to watch the teachings you can do so on Rumble (https://rumble.com/user/SpokaneBibleChurch) or on YouTube (https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLtV_KhFVZ_waBcnuywiRKIyEcDkiujRqP).
Jeremy Thomas is the pastor at Spokane Bible Church in Spokane, Washington and a professor at Chafer Theological Seminary. He has been teaching the Bible for over 20 years, always seeking to present its truths in a clear and understandable manner.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Welcome to Beyond the Walls with Jeremy Thomas and
our series on the New TestamentFramework.
Today a smaller, bite-sizedpiece from the larger lesson.
We hope you enjoy it.
Speaker 2 (00:10):
Now, this would indicate that the Father is
uniquely constituted to do somethings, the Son is uniquely
constituted to do other thingsand the Spirit others.
It's not that the Father couldhave been the one who came and
died for our sins, or the Spiritcould have.
It can't be that way, becausethat's not who God is.
In some sense, in some way,that's not who God is.
(00:32):
Now let's talk about that's theTrinity, with respect to
creation and time, and there areroles there that can be
distinguished.
But let's talk about Histhreeness as it refers to
eternity.
They call this the ontologicaltrinity.
That's a physics word, butanyway, not a physics word, a
philosophy word.
Ontological trinity okay, whatit looks at is God's
(00:55):
relationship within himself.
Who cares about creation?
Okay, this is not talking aboutcreation at all.
Forget us, it's just him.
There was a time when there wasjust God.
Okay, this is not talking aboutcreation at all.
Forget us, it's just him.
There was a time when there wasjust God, right?
Well, not really, because therewas no time.
See, did you catch thelimitations?
In human language, god doesn'texist in time.
(01:16):
So I can't really say there'stime before creation.
It's just a limitation.
But you know what I mean it'ssufficient.
We can communicate.
For example, god the Son didnot become the Son at the
incarnation, because theincarnation is something that
took place in time, right?
So the question is well, whendid the Son become the Son and
(01:38):
when did the Father become theFather?
Because doesn't a father becomea father at the birth of a son?
Okay, but there's no birth ofHis sonship.
He is eternally the Son,eternal sonship.
So this is talking about God inHis being.
Who cares about creation, justwho is God?
(01:58):
And God is Father and he is Sonand he is Spirit from all
eternity.
That didn't change at theincarnation when Jesus took to
Himself a humanity in the VirginMary.
There was no essential changein God.
When that happened was thereBecause God forever was Father
and Son.
He was forever Father and Sonand always will be Father and
(02:21):
Son.
So this is an ontologicaltrinity issue and it's really
based on this concept that Ihave here at the end of the
quote, where it says god neverchanges and he is a satiety.
Okay, a satiety.
This is the idea ofself-existence.
He just exists.
(02:41):
People say where did god comefrom?
Because what are they thinking?
Everything comes from somewhere.
Therefore, where does God comefrom?
That is, do what you take acreated category of coming into
existence.
Typically, we think of birth,and then we say we project that
(03:02):
on God and we say, well, god hadto come from somewhere, because
everything comes from somewhere.
Excuse me, excuse me,everything comes from somewhere.
How do you know that?
Well, because my experiencesays something everything comes
from somewhere.
(03:22):
Well, the whole point is thatGod didn't come from anywhere.
He is self-existing, he doesn'tneed anything outside of
himself.
He's self-sustaining and he hasself-existence.
This is the concept of aseity.
So, no, all things don't have abeginning and all things don't
(03:42):
come from somewhere.
Some things just are, in thiscase, a self-sufficient,
all-sufficient being.
So that's the ontological ideaabout God.
God exists in himself and he's.
Is he loving within himself,within the Trinity?
Yeah, is he sovereign withinhimself?
Yes, is he just within himselfsuch that he never sins?
(04:03):
Is he righteous within himselfsuch that he never?
Yes, is he just within himselfsuch that he never sins?
Is he righteous within himselfsuch that he never?
Yes, he's able in some way toexercise all of his attributes
within himself, whether or notthere's a creation.
What this means, then, is thatGod didn't need us, but it does
mean that, well, we do need him.
We very much need him.
Now.
(04:29):
I think this is a point.
I wanted to take you over toActs 17 real quick.
Well, let's just do it now.
Acts 17, because I actuallymissed this, but this is a good
point to inject it.
Acts chapter 17, when Paul's atAthens and he's talking to the
intellectually elite, thephilosophers of the age, those
who lived after Socrates andAristotle and Plato, and they'd
(04:52):
gone through the forms and blah,blah, blah, and all this stuff,
all this development of somekind of way of thinking, and
Paul is there in that city wherethey thrive.
Right, and notice what he saysin verse 27 and 28.
They, that's people, all men,would seek god.
(05:20):
If perhaps they might grope forgod and find him, though he's
not far from each one of us.
Now.
This is, then, talking aboutthe economical trinity, right,
his relationship to creation,says explanation verse 28 in him
we live and move and exist, aseven some of your own poets have
said and he quotes a coupleguys here, for we are also are
his children.
(05:42):
How is it that people are alwayscoming into contact with god?
In him we live and move andhave our being.
How is it?
And even that pagan poets like,reflected on reality and wrote
poems that portrayed that idea.
Because here's the thing Everytime we experience love down
(06:05):
here, right, or a concept ofjustice, where does it come from
?
Well, god is love, god is just.
That is why we have theseconcepts and that is why people
(06:29):
are always in contact with God,every time they move, every time
they speak, every time theybreathe, every time they move,
every time they speak, everytime they breathe, every time
they think they are having anexperience with god.
I didn't write this, okay, I Icouldn't have written this, but
paul wrote this underinspiration, the spirit.
He understood that everybodywas always in contact with God.
(06:52):
He says it's not far from eachone of us, see, but in him we
live and move and have our being, because God set the world up
this way and he is totallyinescapable.
Speaker 1 (07:06):
Thank you for joining us on Beyond the Walls with
Jeremy Thomas.
If you would like to see thevisuals that went along with
today's sermon, you can findthose on Rumble and on YouTube
under Spokane Bible Church.
That is where Jeremy is thepastor and teacher.
We hope you found today'slesson productive and useful in
(07:26):
growing closer to God andwalking more obediently with Him
.
If you found this podcast to beuseful and helpful, then please
consider rating us in yourfavorite podcast app, and until
next time, we hope you have ablessed and wonderful day.
Welcome to Beyond the Walls with Jeremy Thomas and
our series on the New TestamentFramework.
Today a smaller, bite-sizedpiece from the larger lesson.
We hope you enjoy it.
Speaker 2 (00:10):
Now, this would indicate that the Father is
uniquely constituted to do somethings, the Son is uniquely
constituted to do other thingsand the Spirit others.
It's not that the Father couldhave been the one who came and
died for our sins, or the Spiritcould have.
It can't be that way, becausethat's not who God is.
In some sense, in some way,that's not who God is.
(00:32):
Now let's talk about that's theTrinity, with respect to
creation and time, and there areroles there that can be
distinguished.
But let's talk about Histhreeness as it refers to
eternity.
They call this the ontologicaltrinity.
That's a physics word, butanyway, not a physics word, a
philosophy word.
Ontological trinity okay, whatit looks at is God's
(00:55):
relationship within himself.
Who cares about creation?
Okay, this is not talking aboutcreation at all.
Forget us, it's just him.
There was a time when there wasjust God.
Okay, this is not talking aboutcreation at all.
Forget us, it's just him.
There was a time when there wasjust God, right?
Well, not really, because therewas no time.
See, did you catch thelimitations?
In human language, god doesn'texist in time.
(01:16):
So I can't really say there'stime before creation.
It's just a limitation.
But you know what I mean it'ssufficient.
We can communicate.
For example, god the Son didnot become the Son at the
incarnation, because theincarnation is something that
took place in time, right?
So the question is well, whendid the Son become the Son and
(01:38):
when did the Father become theFather?
Because doesn't a father becomea father at the birth of a son?
Okay, but there's no birth ofHis sonship.
He is eternally the Son,eternal sonship.
So this is talking about God inHis being.
Who cares about creation, justwho is God?
(01:58):
And God is Father and he is Sonand he is Spirit from all
eternity.
That didn't change at theincarnation when Jesus took to
Himself a humanity in the VirginMary.
There was no essential changein God.
When that happened was thereBecause God forever was Father
and Son.
He was forever Father and Sonand always will be Father and
(02:21):
Son.
So this is an ontologicaltrinity issue and it's really
based on this concept that Ihave here at the end of the
quote, where it says god neverchanges and he is a satiety.
Okay, a satiety.
This is the idea ofself-existence.
He just exists.
(02:41):
People say where did god comefrom?
Because what are they thinking?
Everything comes from somewhere.
Therefore, where does God comefrom?
That is, do what you take acreated category of coming into
existence.
Typically, we think of birth,and then we say we project that
(03:02):
on God and we say, well, god hadto come from somewhere, because
everything comes from somewhere.
Excuse me, excuse me,everything comes from somewhere.
How do you know that?
Well, because my experiencesays something everything comes
from somewhere.
(03:22):
Well, the whole point is thatGod didn't come from anywhere.
He is self-existing, he doesn'tneed anything outside of
himself.
He's self-sustaining and he hasself-existence.
This is the concept of aseity.
So, no, all things don't have abeginning and all things don't
(03:42):
come from somewhere.
Some things just are, in thiscase, a self-sufficient,
all-sufficient being.
So that's the ontological ideaabout God.
God exists in himself and he's.
Is he loving within himself,within the Trinity?
Yeah, is he sovereign withinhimself?
Yes, is he just within himselfsuch that he never sins?
(04:03):
Is he righteous within himselfsuch that he never?
Yes, is he just within himselfsuch that he never sins?
Is he righteous within himselfsuch that he never?
Yes, he's able in some way toexercise all of his attributes
within himself, whether or notthere's a creation.
What this means, then, is thatGod didn't need us, but it does
mean that, well, we do need him.
We very much need him.
Now.
(04:29):
I think this is a point.
I wanted to take you over toActs 17 real quick.
Well, let's just do it now.
Acts 17, because I actuallymissed this, but this is a good
point to inject it.
Acts chapter 17, when Paul's atAthens and he's talking to the
intellectually elite, thephilosophers of the age, those
who lived after Socrates andAristotle and Plato, and they'd
(04:52):
gone through the forms and blah,blah, blah, and all this stuff,
all this development of somekind of way of thinking, and
Paul is there in that city wherethey thrive.
Right, and notice what he saysin verse 27 and 28.
They, that's people, all men,would seek god.
(05:20):
If perhaps they might grope forgod and find him, though he's
not far from each one of us.
Now.
This is, then, talking aboutthe economical trinity, right,
his relationship to creation,says explanation verse 28 in him
we live and move and exist, aseven some of your own poets have
said and he quotes a coupleguys here, for we are also are
his children.
(05:42):
How is it that people are alwayscoming into contact with god?
In him we live and move andhave our being.
How is it?
And even that pagan poets like,reflected on reality and wrote
poems that portrayed that idea.
Because here's the thing Everytime we experience love down
(06:05):
here, right, or a concept ofjustice, where does it come from
?
Well, god is love, god is just.
That is why we have theseconcepts and that is why people
(06:29):
are always in contact with God,every time they move, every time
they speak, every time theybreathe, every time they move,
every time they speak, everytime they breathe, every time
they think they are having anexperience with god.
I didn't write this, okay, I Icouldn't have written this, but
paul wrote this underinspiration, the spirit.
He understood that everybodywas always in contact with God.
(06:52):
He says it's not far from eachone of us, see, but in him we
live and move and have our being, because God set the world up
this way and he is totallyinescapable.
Speaker 1 (07:06):
Thank you for joining us on Beyond the Walls with
Jeremy Thomas.
If you would like to see thevisuals that went along with
today's sermon, you can findthose on Rumble and on YouTube
under Spokane Bible Church.
That is where Jeremy is thepastor and teacher.
We hope you found today'slesson productive and useful in
(07:26):
growing closer to God andwalking more obediently with Him
.
If you found this podcast to beuseful and helpful, then please
consider rating us in yourfavorite podcast app, and until
next time, we hope you have ablessed and wonderful day.
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