Lesson Two

1. The Book is a revelation about Christ (v. 1). Christ is the key figure in the book. But he is also the revealer of the book.

2. Partner of Persecution (v. 9). Tribulation… kingdom and endurance… are apart of the believers’ share in God’s kingdom. Tribulations on the last day (Matt 24:21, 29; Mark 13:19,24). This tribulation includes: exile, imprisonment, social ostracism, slander, poverty, economic exploitation, violence, and constant threat of judicial action. The proper response is endurance (faithful obedience). To wait on God and stand up against the temptation and evil of the world. This a call to supreme steadfastness to God. The kingdom of God is the sphere in which our patient endurance is to function. The kingdom is referred to the in-breaking rule of God that began with his first advent but would not be consummated until the second coming. In the present we are both kingdom and priest (1:6; 5:10) in the midst of the kingdoms of evil (17:12, 17, 18). This is a model after Jesus (1:5). Christians suffer to participate in Christ sufferings.

3. Trinitarian introduction (v. 4)

a) χάρις ὑμῖν καὶ εἰρήνη ἀπὸ ὁ ὢν καὶ ὁ ἦν καὶ ὁ ἐρχόμενος, καὶ ἀπὸ τῶν ἑπτὰ πνευμάτων ἃ ἐνώπιον τοῦ θρόνου αὐτοῦ)

b) The Greek shows both the sevenfold Spirit (personal pronoun of Spirit in τοῦ θρόνου αὐτοῦ; cf. 3:1; 4:5), the Lamb (Son; 5:6), and the “who was, who is and who forever will be” (God, the Father) are described as distinct persons in the Godhead—one Being, three Persons.

c) This speaks against Unitarian and Binitarian doctrines of God cf. (1 Peter 1:1-2).

4. Historical and Theological Development of the Trinity:

a) This concept was not created in and of itself but out of a response in dealing with false teachings surrounding Christology (Who do men say that I am?). Critics of the Trinity today say that they don't believe in it because 1) it is too complicated to explain, 2) the term "Trinity" is not in the Scriptures, 3) it was the product of Greek thought i.e. mythology. However with proper historical research, it is easy to rebut each of these claims.

b) Mysteriousness of God. We need not to run from the mysteriousness of God. The minute we can explain God away, is the minute we make ourselves better than God. And what does that say about some of the things in creation that we can't explain i.e. mysteries of spacial relativity, speed of light, black whole etc. If we can't explain creation fully, how are we to explain God fully?

c) The term Trinity is not in the Scripture but the concept is. If you read John chapters 14 to 17, Jesus demonstrates and articulates very clearly the concept of the Trinity. And this is no different when the early church had to wrestle with worshiping Jesus. They could not understand how church leaders were saying to worship a man who was born human. This goes against their 10 Commandments. This caused false teachers to pop up and teach other heresies to resolves this Torah conflict. Some felt that Jesus was not human but only God to justify worshiping him (Gnosticism). Other's felt he was only human and not God to shun people from worshiping him (Arianism). But Paul said, "We preach Christ Crucified!" (1 Corinthians). He is both God (Christ) and Crucified (Human).

d) This was not a product of Greek thought but a product of defending Jesus' as being both God and Human. The Greeks thought Jesus was foolishness (Read 1 Corinthians 1). The reason is because they did not believe God could truly die. God is immortal. And the fact that Christian claim that Jesus died on the cross doesn't make sense to them. Rather than the Trinity coming out of Greek thought, it came out of defending Jesus' identity. a) Heretical teaching came about Jesus being a superhuman. This comes from Greek thought, where Jesus was a demigod i.e. like a Hercules who is have mortal and immortal. In other words, Jesus was like God but not God. Rather they claimed he was a great prophet. Jews and Muslims (and more recently Jehovah Witness and Mormons today) take this position of God. a) Others thought that Jesus was the same as the God of the Old Testament. He Just came in a different from. Sabellus taught this and was deemed as heretical because it doesn't explain Jesus praying to the Father in heaven in John 17 and Jesus standing beside the Father in heaven in Acts 7:55-56. Today "Jesus Only" Church continues to propagate this false doctrine. c) A third heretical teaching thought that Jesus was a God who was different from the God of the Old Testament (Marcion Heresy. The OT God was evil and Jesus the NT God is good. This teaching was aimed at justifying the persecution of the Jews. d) In all these efforts to defend Jesus' identity according to Scripture against all these heresies, the development of the term Trinity came about to help describe what they are seeing about Jesus in relation the Father and the Holy Spirit.

e) How to understand the Trinity. The doctrine of the Trinity describes God as ONE BEING and THREE PERSONS. One being speaks about God essence or DNA of who he is. And Persons speaks about the different experiences God can have at the same time. The best way to describe God is to understand water. Water's essence or nature is H2O. This is the chemical make up of water that never changes. This is the Being of water. The minute this changes, water stops being water. But while water has this unchanged essence about itself, it can be different elements at the same time. At freezing, it becomes solid/ice; at room temperature, it becomes liquid; and at 100 deg C, it becomes gas. So picture me put a cup full of ice into a pot of boiling water. Well for a short time, we have all three elements (ice, liquid, vapour) in one pot at the same time. All three are different but all three are still water. This is God.