Hello everyone. Praise the Lord!
Three-Fold Principle
This is one way that God sets forth truth and
highlights certain points of His Truth in a Three-Fold manner. A misunderstanding of this principle has led
to the false doctrine of a trinity of God’s nature. This principle is actually, instead, an
example of the fullness of God’s Word.
Salvation: We are saved from sin in a three-fold
manner. This was all accomplished at Calvary by Jesus Christ.
1. The penalty of sin. Are past has been justified by the Blood of
Christ. The penalty of sin no longer applies to the Christian because Jesus
Christ has laid all of our sin upon Himself, “He was wounded for our
transgressions.” God knows that we can
never get right with God on our own; the Law of Moses has proven his for all to
see. So He provided the Cross! We are saved from the wrath of God (John
3:36; Romans 1:8; 3:23).
2. The power of sin. We have the indwelling of the Holy Spirit in
the present dispensation (Acts 2). God
knows that we are too weak to walk with Him. The Holy Spirit can keep us free
from the bondage of sin that we were once confined (Romans 7:15).
3. The presence of sin. In the future we will be transformed into the
likeness of Jesus Christ. God knows that
our sin-nature body is not acceptable to Him.
Are immortal bodies in Glory will not be in the presence of sin that we
currently live (Romans 6:23).
The Three-Fold Work of Jesus Christ:
God shows man the work of Jesus
Christ consistently in a three-fold way.
1. Titus 2:11-13: “For the grace of God that
bringeth salvation…Teaching us…Looking for…”. In Titus 2:11-13 we have a snap shot of the
three-fold work of Jesus Christ. We can see the Cross which is in the past.
Jesus is still today teaching us to walk righteously. We also have the hope of His return.
2
Corinthians 1:10: Who delivered us…doth
deliver…he will yet deliver….” In 2
Corinthians. 1:10 we have the same message but compacted into only one
verse. “Who delivered us from so great a
death, and doth deliver: in whom we trust that he will yet deliver. “
3.
1 Thessalonians 1:3:
Remembering…hope in our Lord…in the sight of God…. “In 1 Thessalonians
1:3 it is also compacted in only one verse. “Remembering without ceasing your
work of faith, and labor of love, and patience of hope in our Lord Jesus
Christ, in the sight of God and our Father.”
Jesus’
Resurrection: In order to prepare us
for the coming Resurrection, Jesus raises three different people from the dead
during His ministry. This is to show His
followers that resurrection from the dead is indeed possible.
1.
Widows son- Luke 7:11-17.
2. Ruler’s daughter- Matthew 9:18-25.
3. Lazarus- John 11.
The Great Supper- Luke
14:16-24: In a Three-Fold manner
this refers to the successive ministries connected with the invitations to “the
great supper.”
1. “A
certain man” sends “his servant” to those who had been previously
“bidden.” This was Peter’s first
ministry (Acts 2-7).
2. The “master of the house” sends him again to
“the streets and lanes of the city.”
This is Peter’s second ministry (Acts 10-12).
3. Then “the lord” send out another servant to
“the highways and hedges,” This is Paul’s ministry to the great Gentile world
(Acts 13-28).
Scripture
Highlighting: It has always been a custom among
man, even in American society, that if we want to emphasize something, we
simply repeat it. And most commonly we
repeat it three times. This is how the ancients
emphasized anything they wanted to bring to attention. Today’s English language we have punctuation
to make our words stand out. Ancient
Hebrew and Greek did not have punctuation, so the repeated a word, words, or a
sentence to stress its importance. This
literary technique should not be used in numerology or proving the existence of
a trinity in the Godhead. It was never
intended for that. Here are some
examples of the use of this technique.
1. Isaiah 6:3. “And one cried unto another,
and said, Holy, holy, holy, is the Lord of hosts: the whole earth is full of his glory.”
2. Revelation 1:8. “I am the Alpha and the
Omega, the beginning and the ending, saith the Lord, which is, and which was,
and which is to come, the Almighty.”
3. Revelation
4:8. “And the four beasts had each of them six wings about him; and they
were full of eyes within: and they rest
not day and night, saying Holy, holy, holy, Lord God Almighty, which was, and
is, and is to come.”
4. Revelation
22:11. “He that is unjust, let him be unjust still: and he which is filthy, let him be filthy
still: and he that is righteous, let him
be righteous still: and he that is holy,
let him be holy still.”
5.
Revelation 22:13. “I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the
end, the first and the last.”
God has had three relationships to
man: God has dealt with mankind in
three different ways. The Father, the
Son, and the Holy Spirit. This is not to
be confused with a trinity, which was an invention that occurred over the centuries. God has dealt with man in three separate
relationships in order to do His will.
There is only one God, but He has related to us in three different
forms.
1. Father.
Jesus is Yahweh. Many Old
Testament statements by or about Yahweh (Jehovah)are specifically fulfilled in
Jesus (Isaiah 40:3,5; 45:23; 52:6; Jeremiah 23:5-6; Zechariah 11:12; 12:10;
John 8:58; Philippians 2:9-11).[1]
2. Son. Jesus Christ is the one God
incarnate. “In him dwelleth all the
fullness of the Godhead bodily “(Colossians 2:9). “God was in Christ, reconciling the world
unto himself” (2 Corinthians 5:19).
Jesus accepted Thomas’s confession of Him as “my Lord and my God” (John
20:28-29). And many other Scriptural
passages reveal the identity of Jesus as God.
(Isaiah 7:14; 9:6; 35:4-6 with Matthew 11:1-6; Micah 5:2; Matthew 1:23;
Acts 20:28; Romans 9:5; 2 Corinthians 4:4; Colossians 1:15; 1 Timothy 3:16;
Titus 2:13; Hebrews 1:2; 2 Peter 1:1; 1 John 5:20).[2]
3. Holy Spirit.
The Holy Spirit is literally the Spirit that was in Jesus
Christ. “The Lord is the Spirit” (2
Corinthians 3:17, NKJV). (See also John 14:17-18; 16:7.) The New Testament ascribes the following
works both to Jesus and to the Holy Spirit:
moving the prophet of old, resurrection of Christ’s body, work as the
Paraclete, giving of words to believers in time of persecution, intercession,
sanctification, and indwelling of believers.[3]
Three heavenly places: God has created three separate
places. Heaven, Hell and the Earth. All three will change according to the age,
but there will always be three.
1. Heaven.
All parts of the Spirit realm occupied by the Angelic and the redeemed.
2. Hell.
All parts of the Spirit realm occupied by Satan and demons and wicked
men.
3. Earth.
The physical world in which we live in today that we can touch, feel and
see.
The
Three-Fold “opening” that Jesus Christ gave to two disciples on the road to
Emmaus:
1.
They experienced open eyes. “And their
eyes were opened, and they knew him...”
(Luke 24:31).
2.
They heard the open Scriptures. “...and while he opened to us the scriptures?”
(Luke 24: 32).
3.
They had opened their understanding. “Then
opened he their understanding, that they might understand the scriptures,”
(Luke 24:45).
Jesus warns Peter of his three
denial's: Jesus Christ at the Last
Supper warns Peter that he will deny him three times before the rooster
crows. “And he said, I tell thee
Peter, the cock shall not crow this day, before that thou shalt thrice deny
that thou knowest me. (Luke
22:34). This was fulfilled in verse
fifty!
Peter's rejection of unclean animals: The Apostle Peter had received a vision
of unclean animals on a large sheet that descended from heaven. Peter heard a voice that said to kill and
eat. Peter rejected this commandment
three times.
“But
Peter said, not so, Lord; for I have never eaten anything that is common or
unclean.” (Acts 10: 14).
“And the
voice spake unto him again the second time, What God hath cleansed, that call
not thou common.” (Acts 10:15).
“This was
done thrice: and the vessel was received
up again into heaven.” (Acts 10:
16).
Three
ethnic divisions: The Bible is a book about three different groups of
people that make up the world. The Jews,
Gentiles, and the Church. We must always
know to whom God is addressing while studying Scripture.
1. Jew.
Jewish people descendants of Abraham.
2. Gentile.
All non-Jews who are not part of the Church.
3. Church.
Jew and Gentile believers in Jesus Christ as the Messiah, forming one
unified body.
The
Revelation given to John: In order
to understand the end of times and the book of Revelation we need to understand
and keep in mind the Three-fold Principle.
Here are some examples.
David’s
Son: Jesus Christ, David’s Son, was
to have a three-fold role.
1. Priest.
He was not to be a priest like the Levites, but instead after the order
of Melchizedek. David was not a priest,
nor could he ever be one since he was of the tribe of Judah. Jesus Christ would be a priest, but a
different kind of one, an eternal priest.
2. King.
Jesus Christ is King of King and Lord of Lords.
3. God.
Jesus Christ was and is God wrapped in flesh who has redeemed all of
mankind.
The Three Applications of the Seven
Letters: Jesus Christ told the
Apostle John to write letters to the seven churches in Revelation 2-3. These letters have a threefold application.
1. They apply to the actual churches they were
addressed to.
2. They apply to churches in general.
3. They have a prophetic history of the entire
Church age. The Church age will last
two-thousand years, from the time of Christ’s crucifixion to the rapture of the
Church.
The Three Roles of Jesus in
Revelation: In the book of
Revelation, Jesus Christ will play three different roles.
1. King.
John seen Jesus Christ in heaven sitting on the throne as King of Kings
and Lord of Lords. We read this in
Revelation 4:2. Here God is showing us that He is ruler of the universe and is
in control of all that is happening.
2.
Lamb. In Revelation 5 we see Him
as the Lamb slain for the sins of mankind.
His purposes the Lamb was to open the seals revealing God’s judgment on
the world. As King sitting on the
throne, or as the Lion of Judah, He cannot do this, but as the
Lamb of God, slain and sacrificed as our “Passover” (1 Corinthians 5:7), He
both can and does.
3.
Lion. As the Lion of Judah Jesus
plays the role of judge. A defender of
His Jewish and Christian children. A
destroyer of the wicked, and the eternal judge of Satan and all of mankind.
The Kingdom of the Son: The coming Kingdom of Jesus Christ will
be set up in a three-fold way.
1. Decent.
The Kingdom will begin by the descent of the Lord from heaven to the
mount of Olives, splitting it in half.
2. Judgment.
Jesus Christ will come the second time as judge, and He shall judge the
whole world.
3. Rule.
Jesus Christ will rule the entire world from New Jerusalem.
The Kingdom: The Kingdom of God here on earth will
have a three-fold aspect.
1. The second coming of Jesus Christ will mark
the beginning of His Kingdom on this earth. Psalms 96:9-10; 98:9.
2. He will rule over the nation of Israel, the
Jews, God’s chosen people. Psalm
78:8-11.
3. Jesus Christ will have rule over the entire
world. Psalm 78:8-11.
Distress: In the days of Jesus, it was customary
for Jews to pray the same prayer three times.
A good example of this is found in Matthew 26:36-44 where Jesus was in
distress and prayed three times, “O my Father, if this cup….”
God’s Calling: God revealed to Jeremiah that God called him
in a three-fold manner in
Jeremiah 1:5. “…I knew thee…I sanctified thee…I ordained thee….”
God revealed through the apostle Paul that God
calls us in a three-fold manner in Galatians 1:15-16. “…who separated me…and called me…that I might
preach Him….”
Christian Life: Paul seems to say in Philippians 3:10-11 that
there is a three-fold aspect to the Christian life. “That I may know Him…fellowship of His
sufferings…attain unto the resurrection….”
First, the learning of Christ and His Word soon after salvation. Second, enduring persecution that always
follows a public conversion. Third, a
hope of resurrection to heaven after death.
[1] David K.
Bernard. The Oneness view of Jesus Christ. Word Aflame Press, Hazelwood, MO. P. 13.
[2] Ibid. p. 12.
