How is your growth in the knowledge of your Triune God?

            As a believer, you are to grow in grace, and in the knowledge of Christ, and of the Triune God revealed through Christ (2 Peter 3:18, etc.)  You are to love your God with all your mind, as well as all your soul and all your strength.  How well do you know the Triune God?  The following review questions, part of the students’ preparation for the final exam in the course I (relatively) recently finished teaching on the Trinity may give you a sense of your knowledge of God the Trinity.  For answers to these questions, watch or listen to the class audio or video, and examine the linked and uploaded class materials, here.

1.) List twelve passages where Trinitarianism is assaulted by the modern critical Greek text, and provide brief justification for the Textus Receptus in these passages.  Provide a more lengthy defense of the text that speaks of the three heavenly witnesses in the writings of John.

2.) State what the identifying particularities of the Persons in the ontological Trinity are, and prove these from Scripture.  Give significant exegetical evidence.

3.) Explain carefully the Oneness Pentecostal view of God.  What does this cult mean when it speaks of the “Father,” and what when it speaks of the “Son,” and when it speaks of the “Holy Spirit”?  What is the Oneness Pentecostal doctrine of salvation?

4.) What do Arians mean, and what do Oneness Pentecostals mean, when they speak of the “Son of God” in relation to His preincarnate existence?

5.) Prove the preexistence of the Son, contra modalism, from the Old Testament.

6.) Prove the eternality of the Son from the New Testament, contra both modalism and Unitarianism.

7.) What false doctrines should you specifically attack, and what should you make sure a Oneness Pentecostal understands you believe, when witnessing to him?

8.)  Explain the concept of the “burden of proof” as it relates to proof-texts.

9.) Prove the Personal distinction between the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ with at least five categories of evidence.  What is the central argument Oneness Pentecostals employ to attempt to evade this distinction?  Why does their attempt fail?  Also, provide at least four categories of evidence that distinguish between the Lord Jesus Christ and the Holy Spirit.

10.) Refute Sabellianism and Arianism from John 1—deal with attempts by these heresies to get out of the teaching of the passage.

11.) Refute modalism and Arianism from John’s Gospel, using texts not employed elsewhere in this assignment. Be detailed.

12.) Refute modalism and Unitarianism from Colossians, Philippians, and Hebrews.  Deal with their objections to your proof-texts.  Be detailed.

13.) Refute both the Arian and the modalist view of the Son from the book of Hebrews.

14.) Prove the Personal distinctions among the Trinitarian Persons with at least five lines of evidence from portions of the canon not mentioned in the three immediately preceding questions.

15.) State and refute both the modalist and Arian view of John 10:30.

16.) State and refute the modalist view of 2 Corinthians 3:17.

17.) State and refute the modalist argument that since the Father, Jesus Christ, and the Holy Spirit have the same functions, they are the same Person.  Why is this argument invalid for modalism, but of value for Trinitarianism against Arianism?

18.) A Oneness Pentecostal asks you, “Do you think when people get to heaven they will see one throne, with one God seated on the throne, or three thrones, with three gods seated on them?  We believe the former, while the Trinity teaches the latter.”  Refute this argument.

19.) State and refute in detail the modalist argument from Isaiah 9:6.

20.) Explain and refute the Oneness Pentecostal view of Acts 2:38.

21.) Prove the Personality and Deity of God the Father.  Why is the Father called “God” more often than the other two Trinitarian Persons?

22.) Who is the Angel of the LORD?  Prove it from Scripture, using at least five passages.  What relevance does the Angel of the LORD have for the OT testimony to the Trinity?

23.) What does the word “angel” fundamentally mean in the Old and New Testaments?  How is this relevant for the identity of the Angel of the LORD?

24.) Which Person or Persons of the Godhead appeared in bodily form in the Old Testament?  Prove this fact from Scripture, and explain why it was peculiarly appropriate for this Person (or these Persons) to appear.

25.) Provide five arguments from the Old Testament for the Deity of Christ, in addition to whatever arguments were discussed in the immediately preceding questions.

26.) Discuss, and provide evidence for, the Deity of Christ from the book of Isaiah, from the Psalter, and from the rest of the Old Testament.

-TDR