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The trinity - The Bible teaches that there is one God
and only one God: “Hear, O Israel! The
Introduction to Christian Thought (D) (Liberty University)
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THE TRINITY
What the Bible does teach is stated in the doctrine of the Trinity as: there is one
God who has revealed Himself in three persons, the Father, the Son, and the Holy
Spirit, and these three persons are the one God.
Although this is difficult to comprehend, it is nevertheless what the Bible tells us, and
is the closest the finite mind can come to explaining the infinite mystery of the infinite
God, when considering the biblical statements about God’s being.
The Bible teaches that there is one God and only one God: “Hear, O Israel! The Lord
is our God, the Lord is one!” (Deuteronomy 6:4, NASB). “There is one God” (I Timothy
2:5, KJV). “Thus says the Lord, the King of Israel and his Redeemer, the Lord of hosts:
I am the first and I am the last, and there is no God besides Me’” (Isaiah 44:6, NASB).
However, even though God is one in His essential being or nature, He is also three
persons. “Let Us make man in Our image” (Genesis 1:26, KJV). “God said, ‘Behold, the
man has become like one of Us’” (Genesis 3:22, RSV). First does every man look alike?
No, so God could not being talking about physicalness, instead He is talking about three
persons in one. We are three persons in one we are: flesh, soul (which is life), and spirit
(which is our identity, it is what makes us who we are).
God’s plural nature is alluded to here, for He could not be talking to angels in these
instances, because angels could not and did not help God create. The Bible teaches that
Jesus Christ, not the angels, created all things (I John 1:3, NKJV) “that which we have
seen and heard we declare to you, that you also may have fellowship with us; and truly
our fellowship is with the Father and with His Son Jesus Christ.”; (Colossians 1:15,
NKJV) “He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation.” Firstborn
here refers to in the verb tense: an act of doing or the first to accomplish something. It
is not as we would think a noun: a person, place, or thing. (Exodus 4:22, NKJV) “Then
you shall say to Pharaoh, ‘Thus says the LORD: “Israel is My son, My firstborn” Here
Israel is the firstborn of God’s choice of a nation to be an example to the world.;
(Jeremiah 31:9, NKJV) “They shall come with weeping, And with supplications I will
lead them. I will cause them to walk by the rivers of waters, In a straight way in which
they shall not stumble; For I am a Father to Israel, And Ephraim is My firstborn.” In this
verse we know that God is talking about restoring Israel to the land in which they
dwelt as the Nation of Israel. We know this because in Chapters 30 and 31 God is
stating how He is going to restore Israel. We also know Ephraim was not the firstborn
of Joseph but the second son. (Genesis 41:50-52) So, in this God is not talking about
Ephraim as firstborn son or as the first tribe of Israel but rather the meaning of the
name “Ephraim” which means ‘Fruitfulness’.
Ps. 2:7; Col. 1:15, 18; Matt. 3:17; Mark 1:1, 11; Luke 3:22; John 1:18; Acts 13:33; Heb.
1:5; 5:5)
; Hebrews 1:2).
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In addition to speaking of God as one, and alluding to a plurality of God’s being, the
Scriptures are quite specific as to naming God in terms of three persons. There is a
person whom the Bible calls the Father, and the Father is designated as God the Father
(Galatians 1:1).
The Bible talks about a person named Jesus, or the Son, or the Word, also called
God. “The Word was God… ” (John 1:1, KJV). Jesus was “also calling God His own
Father, making Himself equal with God” (John 5:18, NASB).
There is a third person mentioned in the Scriptures called the Holy Spirit, and this
person—different from the Father and the Son—is also called God (“Ananias, why has
Satan filled your heart to lie to the Holy Spirit?… You have not lied to men but to God”
(Acts 5:3, 4, RSV).
The facts of the biblical teaching are these: There is one God. This one God has a
plural nature. This one God is called the Father, the Son, the Holy Spirit, all distinct
personalities, all designated God. We are therefore led to the conclusion that the Father,
Son, and Holy Spirit are one God, the doctrine of the Trinity.
“The doctrine of the Trinity is not ‘irrational’; what is irrational is to suppress the
biblical evidence for Trinity in favor of unity, or the evidence for unity in favor of
Trinity.
“Our data must take precedence over our models—or, stating it better, our
models must sensitively reflect the full range of data.
“A close analogy to the theologian’s procedure here lies in the work of the
theoretical physicist: Subatomic entities are found, on examination, to possess wave
properties (W), particle properties (P), and quantum properties (h).
“Though these characteristics are in many respects incompatible (particles don’t
diffract, while waves do, etc.), physicists ‘explain’ or ‘model’ an electron as PWh. They
have to do this in order to give proper weight to all the relevant data.
“Likewise the theologian who speaks of God as ‘three in one.’ Neither the scientist
nor the theologian expects you to get a ‘picture’ by way of his model; the purpose of the
model is to help you take into account all of the facts, instead of perverting reality
through super-imposing an apparent ‘consistency’ on it.
“The choice is clear: either the Trinity or a ‘God’ who is only a pale imitation of the
Lord of biblical and confessional Christianity.
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TRINITY — the coexistence of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit in the unity of
the Godhead (divine nature or essence). The doctrine of the trinity means that within the
being and activity of the one God there are three distinct persons: Father, Son, and Holy
Spirit. Although the word “trinity” does not appear in the Bible, the “trinitarian formula”
is mentioned in the Great Commission (Matt. 28:19) and in the benediction of the apostle
Paul’s Second Epistle to the Corinthians (2 Cor. 13:14).
God revealed Himself as one to the Israelites: “Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the
Lord is one!” (Deut. 6:4). This was a significant religious truth because the surrounding
nations worshiped many gods and had fallen into idolatry, worshiping the creation rather
than the true Creator (Rom. 1:18–25). “But when the fullness of the time had come,” Paul
wrote (Gal. 4:4), “God sent forth His Son, born of a woman, born under the law.” In the
New Testament, God revealed that He is not only one but a family of persons—an
eternal, inexhaustible, and dynamic triune family of Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, who
are one in will and purpose, love and righteousness.
The relationship of Father and Son is prominent in the gospels because Jesus, the
eternal Son who takes on human flesh, is most visible to us as He strikes a responsive
chord through the Father-Son relationship. All the while the Holy Spirit is in the
background, serving as our eyes of faith. The unity of Father, Son, and Holy Spirit is
portrayed by Jesus’ trinitarian teaching (John 14–16). This truth is expressed in the total
ministry of Jesus as recorded in all four gospels as well as in the rest of the New
Testament. The triune family cooperates as one in bringing the lost person home again
into a redeemed family of believers.
The most distinctive characteristic of the persons of the triune family is their selfless
love for one another. Each esteems and defers to the other in a way that makes the
original family of the trinity a model for the Christian family of believers in the church.
The Father gives all authority to the Son and bears witness to Him, as does Jesus to
Himself (John 8:18). Yet the Son claims nothing for Himself; He gives all glory to the
Father who has sent Him (John 12:49–50). The key to unlocking the mystery of the
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trinity is to observe how the persons of the triune family give themselves to one another
in selfless love. They are always at one another’s disposal.
The Father serves the Son; the Son serves the Father; Father and Son defer to the
Holy Spirit, who in turn, serves and defers to the Father and Son in a oneness that is
eternally dynamic and inexhaustible. The mutual love of the triune persons spills over
into the creation and is seen in their generous cooperation in saving the lost (John 14:15–
17, 25–26).
Since God is the original family-in-unity, so Christians are urged by Jesus and the
apostles to imitate the divine family in the believing fellowship, as Jesus taught so clearly
when He washed the disciples’ feet (John 13:14–15). The principal trait of the triune
family is speaking the truth in love; this encourages a spirit of generosity among
Christians as they reflect the divine family in calling the lost to come home.
The Trinity was at work in the incarnation of Jesus, the Son of the Most High, as He
was conceived in the womb of Mary by the power of the Holy Spirit (Luke 1:30–35). At
His baptism Jesus the Son received approval from the Father in the presence of the Holy
Spirit (Luke 3:21–22), fulfilling two Old Testament prophetic passages (Ps. 2:7; Is. 42:1).
The Trinity was also present in the temptation, as Jesus, full of the Holy Spirit, was led by
the Spirit for 40 days in the wilderness. The devil recognized Jesus as the Son of God
(Luke 4:3), but he tried to destroy the faithful relationship of the divine family.
In His preaching in the synagogue at Nazareth Jesus fulfilled Isaiah 61:1–2, claiming
that “the Spirit of the Lord is upon Me” (Luke 4:18) and indicating that the triune family
was at work in Him as the servant Son. At the transfiguration, the voice of the Father
spoke again in approval of Jesus the Son to the innermost circle of disciples (Luke 9:35).
Jesus rejoiced in the Holy Spirit and in the Father who had delivered all things to the
Son (Luke 10:21–22). He claimed to be acting in the place of God and through the Holy
Spirit’s power, which is the “finger” of God (Matt. 12:28; Luke 11:20). Jesus’ cleansing
of the Temple was a claim of identification with the house of God His Father (Luke
19:45–46) that paralleled His concern for being in His Father’s house at a much younger
age (Luke 2:41–51).
Jesus witnessed further to His authority as He sent forth the disciples, following His
resurrection, with the words, “Behold, I send the promise of My Father upon you” (Luke
24:49). He also told them to wait until they were empowered by the Holy Spirit (Acts 1:5,
8). Jesus claimed His Sonship not only from David but from David’s Lord (Matt. 22:42–
45), indicating His deity.
Following His resurrection, Jesus sent the disciples to baptize “in the name of the
Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit” (Matt. 28:19). The fulfillment of Jesus’
prophecy as spokesman for the Father and the Holy Spirit (Acts 1:4–8) occurred at
Pentecost. This continued throughout the Book of Acts when the Holy Spirit inspired
Peter and the apostles to preach a trinitarian gospel of Father, Son, and Holy Spirit (Acts
2:32–33; 5:29–32; 10:38).
Paul wrote from a sense of the triune family in Galatians, speaking often of Father,
Son, and Holy Spirit (Gal. 3:13–14; 4:6; 5:5–6, 22–24). In Romans he used a threefold,
trinitarian pattern to describe the plan of salvation (Rom. 1:18–3:20; 3:21–8:1; 8:2–
30). All the remaining New Testament books contain Trinity teaching except James
and 3 John.
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The triune family is God’s revelation of Himself as the ultimate truth about reality.
This family is the original pattern from which God creates all the families of earth with
their unity and diversity. The family of mankind, after losing its intimate relationship
with the divine family at the Fall, is restored to fellowship by God’s action. This happens
when its members acknowledge the generosity originating in the Father, expressed by the
Son, and energized by the Holy Spirit.
