I believe it’s fair to say that the Doctrine of the Trinity is the most attacked teaching of the church by unbelievers, whether it’s those from the monotheistic religions like islam, orthodox judaism or even multiple unitarian and oneness groups. Though all these religions have far more points to disagree with Christianity, the doctrine of Trinity sits on the top of the list of ammunition for these heretics. Therefore, it is vital for a Christian to be grounded in all core teachings of the faith, which includes the Trinity, but why? You may ask. Well, because He wants us to seek Him and know Him (Acts 17:27), knowing the Trinity also affects how we view other core doctrines of the faith, and the early church understood the importance of understanding the doctrine of Trinity even going as far as calling out those who denied the divinity and humanity of Christ.
So, if you are a newcomer to the faith and would like to know about the Trinity, you have come to the right place. By the end of this article, I hope you will at least be able to articulate your believe in the Triune God boldly. As everything to do with Christianity, we will use the Holy Bible as the source of defining and understanding who God is, as the God breathed word is sufficient (2 Tim 3:16-17).
Do we believe in One God?
The very first task we got on our hands is the very first pillar of the Trinity, is God One or more than One? Scripture gives us a clear statement for this question yet often contested between Trinitarians and anti-trinitarians. Deut 6:4 says
“Hear, O Israel! The LORD is our God, the LORD is one!
Deuteronomy 6:4 (NASB95)
it’s in this very statement that we ground our first pillar that we serve One God. Seems pretty clear right? Until you get that dreaded knock on the door from a JW and they start pointing to you all the plural terms given to God in our Bible and finally coming to the conclusion that we have a corrupted text in our hands and we are deemed heretics in their eyes. Anyway, don’t get too worried on answering objections now, and let’s first concentrate on understanding what scripture says regarding this. If you have read Genesis, you would be familiar with the verse that goes like this; “Let US make man in OUR image”, wait a minute, how could this be if God just said that He is One? Now let’s make it even more interesting, in Genesis 19:24 we find “Then the LORD rained on Sodom and Gomorrah sulfur and fire from the LORD out of heaven”, so now we have two LORD?, one on earth and one in heaven? There are many more passages like these that shows the plurality in regard to God yet God reminds His people that the Lord God is One Lord.
Therefore, now we come to the junction where we will ask this vital question, what did God mean when He said that He is One? Does God mean One as in absolute oneness or a composite oneness? Coming back to Deut 6:4, the word One or the Hebrew word echad simply means One but One what? Well, to see how the word was used in the early Hebrew text, we can go to Gen 2:24 where man and woman can come together and be ONE flesh.
For this reason a man shall leave his father and his mother, and be joined to his wife; and they shall become ONE flesh.
Genesis 2:24 (NASB95)
Again, the same word echad is used to describe the unity of two distinct person yet ONE flesh. Now, go to Gen 11:6 in the familiar account of the tower of babel where God says “Behold the people are ONE”,
The LORD said, “Behold, they are ONE people, and they all have the same language. And this is what they began to do, and now nothing which they purpose to do will be impossible for them.
Genesis 11:6 (NASB95)
again the word echad used prescribing to many people as being ONE yet we would never understand that passage as there only being one person that God was speaking about, rather we would understand it as the people are in unity or united, so the word echad or ONE here is used in a way to describe unity rather than absolute oneness.
So, up until now we can gather that the God we serve is ONE, and the word echad or ONE is not necessarily an absolute ONE and can be used as a composite One, but how do we know which one relates to God? Well, as pointed out above, throughout scripture we find passages that speak about the plurality of the Godhead but who are they? Which brings us to the next question.
Who is Jesus Christ?
This is probably an easy question for you to answer if you are already a Christian, obviously He is God!. You would probably even quote familiar passages like John 20:28 where Thomas confesses Jesus to be His Lord and God
27. Then He said to Thomas, “Reach here with your finger, and see My hands; and reach here your hand and put it into My side; and do not be unbelieving, but believing.” 28. Thomas answered and said to Him, “My Lord and my God!”
John 20:27–28 (NASB95)
or in 2 Peter 1:1
Simon Peter, a bond-servant and apostle of Jesus Christ, To those who have received a faith of the same kind as ours, by the righteousness of our God and Savior, Jesus Christ:
2 Peter 1:1 (NASB95)
where Peter starts his epistle by proclaiming Jesus as God and Saviour, yet most new believers will get dumbfounded at a challenge like, “Well if Jesus is God, why does He say that the Father is the Only True God in John 17:3? Though this is not the article where I will be going through this particular objection to the Trinity, but we have reached the point where we need to understand the relationship between Jesus and His Father.
What else does the new testament scripture say about Jesus? In John 1:1 we find that Jesus is proclaimed as God the Word yet we also find that the Word was with God.
In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God.
John 1:1–2 (NASB95)
How can it be possible that the Word was God yet the Word was with God? If you read further into the prologue of John you will find that the Word takes on flesh (John 1:14) who is Jesus and He is the one who is at the bosom of the Father and it is the Jesus, the only begotten Son who reveals the Father (John 1:18).
14 And the Word became flesh, and dwelt among us, and we saw His glory, glory as of the only begotten from the Father, full of grace and truth.
18 No one has seen God at any time; the only begotten God who is in the bosom of the Father, He has explained Him.
John 1:14,18 (NASB95)
Here, we find a clear distinction between the Father and Son. We find more distinction between the Father and the Son when we read the account of the baptism of Jesus in Matt 3:17 where the people heard an audible voice out of heaven that Jesus as His beloved Son, and not forgetting the visual manifestation of the Holy Spirit as a dove (pin this somewhere in your mind, we will come back to it real soon).
16. After being baptized, Jesus came up immediately from the water; and behold, the heavens were opened, and he saw the Spirit of God descending as a dove and lighting on Him, 17. and behold, a voice out of the heavens said, “This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well-pleased.”
Matthew 3:16–17 (NASB95)
It is clear thus far that scripture shows a clear distinction between the Father and the Son, so you may think until you get to John 14:9 where Jesus says that if you have seen Him, you have seen the Father. Wait, did Jesus just claim to be the Father? How is that possible if other passages clearly shows the distinction between the Father and the Son? These are all valid questions as you continue to seek God.
All these questions bring us back to the first point I was trying to make; does echad means absolute oneness or a unity or composite oneness. To keep this article as short as possible, let me give you a passage that will help you to at least have a good grasp on the relationship between the Father and the Son. In John 10:30 Jesus goes on to assert his deity by saying, “I and my Father are One”;
“I and the Father are one.”
John 10:30 (NASB95)
again the word One, so is Jesus saying that He is the Father or is Jesus saying that He and His Father are One, meaning in Unity as a composite one? If you were to look at the Greek, the term “are one” is from the Greek word esmen heis, where the term esmen is first person plural, simply put that phrase means, “I and My Father, WE ARE ONE”. Don’t take my word for it and do go check it out for yourselves in any free online interlinear resource like blueletterbible.org or biblehub.com.
Thus far we have already established that the God we serve is One and that The Father and His Son Jesus Christ is distinct to one another yet One in Unity as God; but we are yet to talk about the third person in the Trinity, The Holy Spirit.
Who is the Holy Spirit?
Now, lets come back the passage I referred to above, Matt 3:16-17 where we find all three persons of the Trinity, specifically at this point the person of the Holy Spirit visibly manifesting as a dove, visibly seen as being distinct to the Father and the Son. What else does scripture say about the Holy Spirit? In Gen 1:1 we find the Spirit of God as already in existence during the creation of heavens and the earth;
1. In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. 2. The earth was formless and void, and darkness was over the surface of the deep, and the Spirit of God was moving over the surface of the waters.
Genesis 1:1–2 (NASB95)
however we find most nontrinitarians resolve it by saying that the Spirit is the inanimate force of God rather than a person. Nevertheless, this is not what we find in scripture, in fact we find that the Holy Spirit can be rebelled against and be grieved as written in Isaiah 63:10, in Psalm 139:7-8 the psalmist goes on to proclaim the omnipresence of the Spirit,
But they rebelled And grieved His Holy Spirit; Therefore He turned Himself to become their enemy, He fought against them.
Isaiah 63:10 (NASB95)
7. Where can I go from Your Spirit? Or where can I flee from Your presence? 8. If I ascend to heaven, You are there; If I make my bed in Sheol, behold, You are there.
Psalm 139:7–8 (NASB95)
in Acts 5, Peter equates lying to the Spirit as lying to God Himself,
3. But Peter said, “Ananias, why has Satan filled your heart to lie to the Holy Spirit and to keep back some of the price of the land? 4. “While it remained unsold, did it not remain your own? And after it was sold, was it not under your control? Why is it that you have conceived this deed in your heart? You have not lied to men but to God.”
Acts 5:3–4 (NASB95)
in Psalm 104:30 the Spirit that brings life to creation,
You send forth Your Spirit, they are created; And You renew the face of the ground.
Psalm 104:30 (NASB95)
therefore it is clear that the Spirit is not an impersonal force rather it has attributes of God and even called God but now we come to this question, what is the relationship of the Holy Spirit to the person of the Father and Jesus Christ?
Let the words of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ clear that for you, in John 14:6 Jesus says that the Father will send another comforter and in John 16:7 Jesus Himself will send the Comforter who is the Holy Spirit.
16 “I will ask the Father, and He will give you another Helper, that He may be with you forever; 17 that is the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it does not see Him or know Him, but you know Him because He abides with you and will be in you.
John 14:16–17 (NASB95)
“But I tell you the truth, it is to your advantage that I go away; for if I do not go away, the Helper will not come to you; but if I go, I will send Him to you.
John 16:7 (NASB95)
If you were to look closer on John 16:7 you will realise that Jesus clearly shows the distinction between the Spirit and Himself. Jesus says that “…for if I do not go away, the Helper will not come to you. But if I go, I will send him to you”; clearly showing that He is not the Holy Spirit but the Spirit will be sent by Him once He goes back to the Father. Notice the distinction between the Father, Son and Holy Spirit yet all these three person are declared as being God throughout scripture, which brings us to this question, how do we harmonize all these passages?
How do we define the Trinity?
Christians throughout history have formulated a few ways of defining the Trinity, you may even be familiar with one of them which is the Nicene Creed, often read in church services in all apostolic churches. Nonetheless, lets try to sum up what we have established thus far.
Firstly, we can affirm that God is One.
Secondly, the Father is God who is unbegotten, whereas the Son, Jesus Christ is God the Word who is the only begotten Son of God who is sent by the Father, and finally the Holy Spirit who is God the life giver, proceeding from the Father and the Son.
Thirdly, the Father, Son and Holy Spirit though distinct from one another yet still unity and inseparable as One Being or the term that the early church used is essence or substance. All three person of the Trinity is of the same essence or substance, therefore being One God.
I understand that I have overlooked so many other important points (for instance the two natures of Christ, the attributes of God, what is the difference between Being and Person, etc.) but I hope this article will suffice to at least kick-start your journey in understanding the doctrine of Trinity, therefore do bookmark this site or add it to your RSS feed to be notified whenever I posts new articles on the Trinity. I will be spending the next few months exploring the Trinity, till then,
God Bless and keep Exploring Theology!