Triadic passages in the New Testament

I have sought to compile a list of Triadic passages in the New Testament, which mention the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit together in close succession. There are several such lists online but none seemed exhaustive enough. It is noteworthy that most of the triadic formulas are in the epistle to the Romans, when this epistle says so little of theology proper. Samuel Clarke has a fine discussion of triadic texts in his treatise on the Trinity.

Matt. 12:28;  28:19; Luke 1:35; John 15:16; John 15:26; Acts 2:33; 7:55; 10:38; Rom. 1:1-4; 5:5-6; 8:9; 8:11; 15:15-16; 15:18-19; 15:30; 1 Cor. 6:11; 12:3; 12:4-6; 2 Cor. 1:21-22; 3:3; 13:14; Gal. 4:6; Eph. 1:17; 2:18; 4:4-6; 2 Thess. 2:13-14; 2 Tim. 1:7-8; Titus 3:4-6; Heb. 2:3-4; 9:14; 1 Pet. 1:2; 1:18; 3:18; 4:14; 1 John 4:2-3; 4:13-14; 5:5-6; 5:7 (Spurious); Jude 20-21; Rev. 1:9-10.

Arranged according to the books of the New Testament. 

Matt. 12:28; 28:19;

Luke 1:35;

John 14:16; 15:26;

Acts 2:33; 7:55; 10:38;

Rom. 1:1-4; 5:5-6; 8:9; 8:11; 15:15-16; 15:18-19; 15:30;

1 Cor. 6:11; 12:3; 12:4-6;

2 Cor. 1:21-22; 3:3; 13:14;

Gal. 4:6;

Eph. 1:17; 2:18; 2:21-22; 4:4-6;

2 Thess. 2:13-14;

2 Tim. 1:7-8;

Titus 3:4-6;

Heb. 2:3-4; 9:14;

1 Pet. 1:2; 1:18; 3:18; 4:14;

1 John 4:2-3; 4:13-14; 5:5-6; 5:7;

Jude 20-21;

Rev. 1:9-10.

Each text quoted from the NASB (1995) with the exception of 1 John 5:7, of which I have offered my own translation of the spurious longer reading.

Matt. 12:28

But if I cast out demons by the Spirit of God, then the kingdom of God has come upon you

Matt. 28:19

Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit,

Luke 1:35

“The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you; and for that reason the holy Child shall be called the Son of God.

John 14:16

I will ask the Father, and He will give you another Helper, that He may be with you forever;

John 15:26

“When the Helper comes, whom I will send to you from the Father, that is the Spirit of truth who proceeds from the Father, He will testify about Me,

Acts 2:33

Therefore having been exalted to the right hand of God, and having received from the Father the promise of the Holy Spirit, He has poured forth this which you both see and hear.

Acts 7:55

But being full of the Holy Spirit, he gazed intently into heaven and saw the glory of God, and Jesus standing at the right hand of God;

Acts 10:38

 You know of Jesus of Nazareth, how God anointed Him with the Holy Spirit and with power, and how He went about doing good and healing all who were oppressed by the devil, for God was with Him.

Rom. 1:1-4

Paul, a bond-servant of Christ Jesus, called as an apostle, set apart for the gospel of God, which He promised beforehand through His prophets in the holy Scriptures, concerning His Son, who was born of a descendant of David according to the flesh, who was declared the Son of God with power by the resurrection from the dead, according to the Spirit of holiness, Jesus Christ our Lord,

Rom. 5:5-6

and hope does not disappoint, because the love of God has been poured out within our hearts through the Holy Spirit who was given to us.

For while we were still helpless, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly.

Rom. 8:9

However, you are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God dwells in you. But if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he does not belong to Him.

Rom. 8:11

But if the Spirit of Him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, He who raised Christ Jesus from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through His Spirit who dwells in you.

Rom. 15:15-16

But I have written very boldly to you on some points so as to remind you again, because of the grace that was given me from God, to be a minister of Christ Jesus to the Gentiles, ministering as a priest the gospel of God, so that my offering of the Gentiles may become acceptable, sanctified by the Holy Spirit.

Rom. 15:18-19

For I will not presume to speak of anything except what Christ has accomplished through me, resulting in the obedience of the Gentiles by word and deed, in the power of signs and wonders, in the power of the Spirit; so that from Jerusalem and round about as far as Illyricum I have fully preached the gospel of Christ.

Rom. 15:30

Now I urge you, brethren, by our Lord Jesus Christ and by the love of the Spirit, to strive together with me in your prayers to God for me,

1 Cor. 6:11

Such were some of you; but you were washed, but you were sanctified, but you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and in the Spirit of our God.

1 Cor. 12:3

Therefore I make known to you that no one speaking by the Spirit of God says, “Jesus is accursed”; and no one can say, “Jesus is Lord,” except by the Holy Spirit.

1 Cor. 12:4-6

Now there are varieties of gifts, but the same Spirit. And there are varieties of ministries, and the same Lord. There are varieties of effects, but the same God who works all things in all persons.

2 Cor. 1:21-22

Now He who establishes us with you in Christ and anointed us is God, who also sealed us and gave us the Spirit in our hearts as a pledge.

2 Cor. 3:3

being manifested that you are a letter of Christ, cared for by us, written not with ink but with the Spirit of the living God, not on tablets of stone but on tablets of human hearts.

2 Cor. 13:14

The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit, be with you all.

Gal. 4:6

Because you are sons, God has sent forth the Spirit of His Son into our hearts, crying, “Abba! Father!”

Eph. 1:17

that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give to you a spirit of wisdom and of revelation in the knowledge of Him.

Eph. 2:18

for through Him we both have our access in one Spirit to the Father.

Eph. 2:21-22

in whom the whole building, being fitted together, is growing into a holy temple in the Lord, in whom you also are being built together into a dwelling of God in the Spirit.

Eph. 4:4-6

There is one body and one Spirit, just as also you were called in one hope of your calling; one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all who is over all and through all and in all.

2 Thess. 2:13-14

But we should always give thanks to God for you, brethren beloved by the Lord, because God has chosen you from the beginning for salvation through sanctification by the Spirit and faith in the truth. It was for this He called you through our gospel, that you may gain the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ.

2 Tim. 1:7-8

For God has not given us a spirit of timidity, but of power and love and discipline.

Therefore do not be ashamed of the testimony of our Lord or of me His prisoner, but join with me in suffering for the gospel according to the power of God,

Titus 3:4-6

But when the kindness of God our Savior and His love for mankind appeared, He saved us, not on the basis of deeds which we have done in righteousness, but according to His mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewing by the Holy Spirit, whom He poured out upon us richly through Jesus Christ our Savior,

Heb. 2:3-4

How will we escape if we neglect so great a salvation? After it was at the first spoken through the Lord, it was confirmed to us by those who heard, God also testifying with them, both by signs and wonders and by various miracles and by gifts of the Holy Spirit according to His own will.

Heb. 9:14

How much more will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered Himself without blemish to God, cleanse your conscience from dead works to serve the living God?

1 Pet. 1:2

According to the foreknowledge of God the Father, by the sanctifying work of the Spirit, to obey Jesus Christ and be sprinkled with His blood: May grace and peace be yours in the fullest measure.

1 Pet. 1:18

Knowing that you were not redeemed with perishable things like silver or gold from your futile way of life inherited from your forefathers,

1 Pet. 3:18

For Christ also died for sins once for all, the just for the unjust, so that He might bring us to God, having been put to death in the flesh, but made alive in the spirit;

1 Pet. 4:14

If you are reviled for the name of Christ, you are blessed, because the Spirit of glory and of God rests on you.

1 John 4:2-3

By this you know the Spirit of God: every spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God; and every spirit that does not confess Jesus is not from God; this is the spirit of the antichrist, of which you have heard that it is coming, and now it is already in the world.

1 John 4:13-14

By this we know that we abide in Him and He in us, because He has given us of His Spirit. We have seen and testify that the Father has sent the Son to be the Savior of the world.

1 John 5:5-6

Who is the one who overcomes the world, but he who believes that Jesus is the Son of God? This is the One who came by water and blood, Jesus Christ; not with the water only, but with the water and with the blood. It is the Spirit who testifies, because the Spirit is the truth.

1 John 5:7 (Spurious)

For there are three that testify: The Father, the Word, and the Holy Ghost. These three are one.

Jude 20-21

But you, beloved, building yourselves up on your most holy faith, praying in the Holy Spirit, keep yourselves in the love of God, waiting anxiously for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ to eternal life.

Rev. 1:9-10

I, John, your brother and fellow partaker in the tribulation and kingdom and perseverance which are in Jesus, was on the island called Patmos because of the word of God and the testimony of Jesus. I was in the Spirit on the Lord’s day, and I heard behind me a loud voice like the sound of a trumpet,

Presuppositional Apologetics Fails

Presuppositional apologetics is an entirely failed enterprise and my stalking horse will be Greg Bahnsen, who was perhaps the most well known popular defender of this apologetic method. Every man who seeks for truth must assume that his cognitive faculties and senses are generally reliable. But the Presuppositionalist is committed to denying this fundamental truth. He seeks to subordinate sense perception and even reason itself to Divine Revelation, this position is labeled as Revelational Epistemology (RE). This theory of epistemology prohibits any reasoning from logical or empirical grounds towards the existence of God, and claims that believers must instead presuppose the existence of God. 

 “So then, positively the Christian apologist presupposes the self-attesting authority and truth of Scripture, refusing to answer criticism in terms of secular premises, standards, and method; negatively, he performs an internal critique of the unbeliever's system of thought in order to demonstrate its vanity.” (Greg L. Bahnsen, Presuppositional Apologetics: Stated and Defended, printed in Georgia by American Vision Press, 2008, pp. 76.)

It is impossible to begin with the presupposition of the truth of Scripture or even the existence of God, because this requires the assumption that one’s cognitive faculties are reliable and capable of ascertaining truth. Perhaps someone did not actually receive any divine revelation but is merely deluded into thinking that they have. Or perhaps a divine revelation was indeed given, but misinterpreted by the fallen and created intellect of the recipient. The only tools for evaluating whether some claim of divine revelation is valid are reason and sense data. 

“Every system must have some unproven assumptions, a starting point not antecedently established, with which reasoning begins and according to which it proceeds to conclusions. Therefore, all argumentation over ultimate issues of truth and reality will come down to an appeal to authorities which, in the nature of the case, are ultimate authorities.” (Ibid. pp. 87.)

This primary unproven assumption could only be of our own cognitive faculties. There is no way to get outside of your own head and check whether your faculties work properly and are capable of attaining knowledge of the divine accurately. To develop any argument for anything you must assume that your senses and capacity for reasoning are at least generally reliable in the pursuit of truth. To believe any claim as true or any divine revelation as true, you must first comprehend what that divine revelation is then decide to believe it. 

Suppose that God revealed to me the sentence, “I am the Lord God, and I exist.” I must first make sense of that sentence using my faculties of reason before I can decide whether or not to believe this claim, and I must decide whether or not the origin of this revelation is in fact divine. In other words, one must presuppose the reliability of their own powers of reason when one accepts any divine revelation as true. In contradiction to this obvious fact,  Bahnsen claimed, 

“Faith must necessarily start with the clear, authoritative, self-attesting, special revelation of God in Scripture coordinated with the Holy Spirit's inner testimony to the regenerated heart.” (Ibid. pp. 4, 5.) 

But what does this claim amount to? There is no way for any written document to be “self-attesting” because every man must use his own senses, and reasoning when reading any written document. He must see the words on the pages and recall the meanings of words he sees while comprehending the grammar of the passages he ponders. Any divine revelation must still be comprehended by a created intellect. Bahnsen goes so far to say that our very reasoning and use of logic must be subordinate to Scripture, 

 “We are under obligation to submit every facet of our lives to Scripture—whether it be morals, vocation, emotions, deliberations, reasoning, or even the use of logic.” (Ibid. pp. 22.)

But this would obligate us to the view that even if the Scriptures asserted logical absurdities, such as, “there is a married bachelor,” or “red is a number,” we ought to accept them as true, because our use of logic must be subordinate to whatever the text says. Of what use is such an obligation? The Bible does not contain such logical absurdities, and we ought to admit, if the Bible did command believers to assent to logical absurdities, then this would be problematic! 

Suppose someone brought forth a book claiming to be the word of God himself, in written form but this book also contained the claim “2 + 2 = 7.” When pressed on this mathematical absurdity, the man defending this book shouts, ‘We must subordinate our logical and mathematical intuitions to his book! The equation is actually true, even if it appears false!’ Nobody would take him seriously. And rightly so. Neither should RE be given any weight. Natural theology, arguing for the existence of God from the most general features of the world, is something affirmed implicitly at various places in the New Testament. (Rom. 1:19-20; Acts 17:20-28, et al)

Underlying all presuppositional apologetics is the assertion that Christianity is true because of the “impossibility of the contrary.” Or as Bahnsen put it, “Christianity as an absolute presupposition for all predication, reasoning, evaluation, and thought.” (Presuppositional Apologetics: Stated and Defended, printed in Georgia by American Vision Press, 2008, pp. 260.) Elsewhere I have summarized why the epistemology underlying this apologetic method is absurd, but here I will present direct objections to their arguments. 

Not surprisingly, the presuppositionalists are not fans of spelling out their arguments in the form of syllogisms. Nor are they careful and analytic in their expositions. So I must endeavor to spell out the argument formally in their behalf, 

1. It is true that objective morals, and rational thought exist. 

2. There is an explanation for why objective morals and rational thought exist.

3. The Christian God is the only possible explanation for the existence of objective morals and rational thought. 

C. Therefore, the Christian God exists. 

The second premise seems most dubious. It may simply be that morality is necessary and requires no further explanation. God is supposed to be an unembodied mind who has been rational from eternity, but his rational thought has no further explanation because God is a necessary being—therefore, we might suppose that if the Universe were necessary that rationality may be a necessary feature of the world itself. There are also numerous other alternative models, for example Platonic theology. 

Plato believed in the existence of a Creator God but he did not claim that morality, logic, and ethics depended upon the existence of this Creator. Plato argued that universals (which he called “forms”) like the laws of logic existed necessarily, outside of the physical world and independently of the Creator God. Universals are conceived as necessarily existing abstract objects which are co-eternal with the Demiurge. (Timaeus 49a, Republic 6.508b-c) Therefore, although Plato believed in objective morality, he did not ground it in the Deity. The Presuppositionalist must demonstrate that all such explanations are impossible or premise three also falls. 

But there is certainly no logical contradiction inherent in any of these alternative explanations. Or perhaps these objective morality and rational thought are brute contingencies, an unwelcome but logically possible scenario. Recall that their claim is that no other worldview or explanation could possibly account for these things. Van Til was fond of the maxim, “the impossibility of the contrary.” If another explanation is even logically possible (i.e. does not entail an express contradiction) then the central argument of presuppositionalism is false. Note how logical possibility is invoked by Bahnsen, 

“Refusing to presuppose the sovereign God revealed in the Bible as the source of all material and logical possibility, and hence failing effectively to challenge or internally criticize the very feasibility of knowledge, logic, factuality, interpretation, or predication as based on the boasted autonomy of "free-thinkers," apologists found their defenses razed by those who (likewise) postulated that bare possibility was a principle more ultimate than God.” (Ibid. pp. 23.)

It is absurd to suppose that God is somehow the “source” of “logical possibility” because the God of the apostles is subject to logical constraints. God is immortal, which entails that he cannot commit suicide because it would be a contradiction for an immortal being to kill himself. St. Paul says that “God cannot lie,” because it would entail a contradiction for a morally perfect being to lie. (Titus 1:2) How can God be the source of logical possibility if he is himself subject to it? God himself is rational and logical, he is not somehow ‘above logic,’ because such a claim could have no meaning. 

Humans are finite things. Humans can reason from their partial knowledge of the world to the existence of some particular deity, but it makes no sense to speak of absolute certainty or the impossibility of contrary hypotheses in this regard. Our Savior offered miracles as evidence of his claims, these miracles are called “signs,” which signifies that they were visible and empirical evidence of his powers, tangible proofs of his dominion over the laws of nature. (Joh. 2:11, 18, 23; 6:26; 9:16) Nicodemus confessed, 

“Rabbi, we know that You have come from God as a teacher because no one can do these signs that You do unless God is with him.” (Joh. 3:2) 

The miracles of Christ are themselves an instance of evidential apologetics, because they were performed as signs or demonstrations with the purpose of causing people to believe his claims. And what is the function of Messianic prophecy in the New Testament except evidence for Christian claims? 

A rather bizarre claim on the part of many presuppositionalists is their strange reading of Romans 1:18-21 from which they argue that there are no genuine atheists. They reason that even the most ardent atheist knows deep down that God exists, 

“Although he outwardly and vehemently denies the truth of God, no unbeliever is inwardly and sincerely devoid of a knowledge of God. It is not a saving knowledge of God to be sure, but even as condemning knowledge natural revelation still provides a knowledge of God…. If the unbeliever were a total idiot he would be free from guilt. But Paul’s point in Romans 1 is that the unbeliever’s rebellion is willful and knowledgeable; he sins against his better knowledge and is thus “without excuse” (vv. 20-21). And while he suppresses this better knowledge in unrighteousness (v. 18), that knowledge provides a foundation of his (limited, but real) understanding of God’s world.” (Greg Bahnsen, Always Ready: Directions for Defending the Faith, published in Texas by Covenant Media Press, 1996, pp. 33, 34.)

Bahnsen claimed that the opening chapter of Romans proves unbelievers and believers alike have a “knowledge of God.” For the unbeliever this is not a salvific knowledge, but it is a “natural revelation,” innate in all of mankind, but surely this is a misinterpretation of St. Paul who elsewhere says that “not all have faith.” (2Thess. 3:2) The opening chapter of Romans is merely asserting that the existence and general attributes of God are evident from the general features of the world. There are many passages elsewhere in the Scriptures which describe people who truly do not believe that God exists, 

“The fool says in his heart: “There is no God.”” (Psalm 14:1) 

The man described by the Psalmist does not believe there in God, in his very heart of hearts, he says that there is no such being. The word which signifies belief or faith is πίστις and it is used at Jas. 2:19,

 “You believe that God is one; you do well. Even the demons believe—and shudder.”

This verse signifies that even wicked spirits believe in the existence of God although they rebel against him, but the Bible also speaks of men who lack any belief in God whatsoever, they are called “faithless (ἀπίστοις),” that is, lacking belief, literally, “belief-less” or “faith-less.” (Rev. 21:8)

Mathematical Arrangements in Matthew

 James Moffatt, An Introduction to the Literature of the New Testament. Edinburgh, Clark, 1911, p 248-249:

Groups of 3:

Three divisions in the genealogy (Matt 1:2-17) 

Three angel- messages to Joseph in dreams (Matt 1:20, Matt 2:13, Matt 2:19)

Three temptations (Matt 4:1-11)

A triple description of the mission (Matt 4:23 see above)

A triple illustration in Matt 5:22 (cp. Matt 5:34-35, Matt 5:39-41)

The threefold definition of Matt 6:1-4, Matt 6:5-15, Matt 6:16-18 (cp. also Matt 6:9-10, Matt 7:7-8, 22, 25, 27)

Three miracles of healing (Matt 8:1-15)

Three further miracles (Matt 8:23 – Matt 9:9)

Three other miracles of healing (Matt 9:18-34)

The triple rhythm of Matt 11:7-9 (cp. Matt 12:50)

The threefold attack of the Pharisees (Matt 12:2, 10, 24)

Three parables of sowing (Matt 13:1-32)

Three instances of Verily I say to you (Matt 18:3, 13, 18)

Three classes of eunuchs (Matt 10:12),

The threefold rhythm of Matt 20:19 and Matt 21:9

Three parables (Matt 21:18-22:14)

Three questions put to Jesus (Matt 22:15-40)

Three warnings (Matt 23:8-10, cp. Matt 23:20-22)

Three herbs vs. three virtues (mint and dill and cumin, justice and mercy and faithfulness) of Matt 23:23

Three clarifications of prophets and wise men and scribes of Matt 23:34 

The three men of the parable (Matt 25:14)

Three prayers in Gethsemane (Matt 26:36-45)

Three denials of Peter (Matt 26:69)

Three questions of Pilate (Matt 27:17-22)

Three mockeries of the crucified (Matt 27:39-44)

Three women, specially mentioned at the cross (Matt 27:56)

The threefold rhythm of Matt 28:19

Groups of 5, 7, or 10:

Five occurrences of the formula “and when Jesus had finished these sayings” (Matt 7:28, Matt 11:1, Matt 13:53, Matt 19:1, Matt 26:1)

The fivefold antithesis of Matt 5:21-48

The fivefold rhythm of Matt 10:7-8 (cp. Matt 10:9-10)

The seven evil spirits of Matt 12:25

The sevenfold forgiveness of Matt 18:21-22 (cp. Matt 22:25)

The seven loaves and baskets (Matt 15:34, 37)

The sevenfold woe of Matt 23.

Ten OT citations (Matt 1-4:11) before the beginning of the Galilean mission

Ten miracles in Matt 8:1 – 9:34