The word trinity does not imply three different Gods; instead, it means that the Father, Son, and Spirit are one: three persons but one being. The trinitarian doctrine presents a triune God made up of God the Father, God the Son (Jesus) and God the Holy Spirit. It’s a major doctrine that often confuse non-believers or those that have not studied the subject to conclude that it’s a veiled polytheism. Nothing can be far from the truth. It is vital that we get the doctrine of the Trinity right. Any hazy understanding of this concept may negatively impact the quality of and individuals Christianity.
We start with the concept of God. God is self-existing, all powerful, all knowing being. The question: who created God falls flat on itself as the God of the Bible if uncreated and self-existing. The God of the Bible is a being. A being is a living entity (physical or spiritual) with personality, intelligence, and form. So, we have human beings and spirit beings. The last part is a bit controversial for skeptics but that is ok. Let us agree at least that each human being is a person. So, while we have billions of human beings, each human being is a person. In the case of the God of the Bible, the ‘God’ is not his name but the being – the what is it? In his case the God-being have three persons ONLY, eternally co-existing and coequal. We will come back to this thought later.
God, one being existed as the Father, the Word and Spirit with distinct persons yet co-existing as one. In the fullness of time the Father created the world (seen and unseen) by the Word and the Power of the Spirit. The Word was given to a virgin and took on flesh for the first time as Jesus. The Holy Spirit dwelt in Jesus and executed the will of the Father who is the administrator. Understand that in this union, they are co-equal though their roles and responsibilities in the affairs men may differ. No man can see the Father and live, yet men saw Jesus. The Father is in heaven, Jesus could only minister in one place at a time, but the Holy Spirit can be at multiple places at the same time without diminishing in power or personality. The Holy Spirit is the third person of the Godhead. Saying He is the third person is just a human description of eternal qualities that we lack words to express. It is not a description of his position.
In the beginning, you may not immediately see how this could be, yet it is logically correct though easily misunderstood. People tend to look at the Trinity as 1+1+1= 3 instead of 1*1*1=1 (one to the third power). [1] Please understand that the math is for illustration and not meant to reduce the subject of the godhead to mathematical formula. The triune God of the Bible is God the Father, Jesus, and the Holy Spirit. Notably, the names, God the Father and the Holy Spirit are descriptive of their personality and not their names. The revealed names are Yahweh and Jesus (Yeshua).
Love must be expressed otherwise it is not love. Only in the Trinitarian God does love [2] finds expression in eternity and towards his creation. This stems from the fact that before God created other beings, he existed alone in eternity at some point. In eternity, a triune God could express love in their triune nature. A monad could not truly be love! Only a triune God could self-exist and truly express love in His triune nature. This is because, if God is love, and He is, whom did He love before He created the angels, heaven, other beings, and the universe? Those that do not believe the triune God would have to answer that question coherently. For the Bible identifies the Father (Yahweh), Jesus (Word), and the Holy Spirit collectively and individually as God. It also credits them with proven divine attributes.[3] Although the plurality of God is implied in the Bible; the word trinity does not exist in the Bible. However, several verses support this doctrine so well that it is irrefutable.[4] A close study of the first book of Scripture presents the plurality of God in the Hebrew word Elohim – meaning Gods(Genesis 1:1 and 26).
Again, the doctrine of the Trinity is explained in simple terms, as one in being and three in person. The being is the “what-ness” (that quality which makes you what you are—nature and essence as a human being or God being). A person is the “whom-ness” (that quality that makes you whom you are—name, personality, character).[5] If I ask who you are, your response should logically be, “I am John or some other name”. Then you would tell me things about you (tall, handsome etc). Like you, I am a human being but a different person from you. On earth, we are all human beings but different persons. However, unlike you and me, God is one being but three persons. Therefore, in nature and essence, Jesus is God, as is Yahweh and the Holy Spirit. Regarding whom they are, they are three distinct persons (Father, Son and Spirit).
Father, Son, and Holy Spirit are eternally co-equal and co-existing. They are who they are because of their personalities and their role in the Godhead. This is the doctrine of the Trinity. It is not polytheistic or contradictory. Additionally, the preceding rational and logical explanation does not negate the fact that you will have to accept this by faith through revelation as it remains a mystery all the same. Question, will God truly be God if His creation could understand all that He is 100%?
For emphasis, scriptures emphatically support the concept that God the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit eternally exist. Three personalities but one God with distinct roles are revealed to us throughout Scripture. Right from Genesis chapter 1, the Bible says, “In the beginning Elohim (Gods – plural of God in Hebrew) created the heaven and the earth.” Additionally, Genesis says, “let us create man in our image.”[6] Whom was God having a discussion with that prompted the use of the pronoun us? This could not have been a man, angels, or other beings because no other creature assumes the position of co-Creator. While the Scriptures do not explicitly say God the Father is God number one, the Son is God number two, and the Spirit is God number three as in a numerical sequence, the triune God remains the most logical and rational conclusion, based on available scripture and observed evidence. Three Scriptures among so many throughout the Bible are presented to strengthen this point.
Firstly, “Come near to Me, listen to this: From the beginning I have not spoken in secret, From the time that it happened, I was there. And now the Lord God has sent Me, and His [Holy] Spirit” (Isaiah 48:16, AMP).
“Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations [help the people to learn of Me, believe in Me, and obey My words], baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit” (Matthew 28:19, AMP).
“And I will ask the Father, and He will give you another Helper (Comforter, Advocate, Intercessor—Counselor, Strengthener, Standby), to be with you foreverthe Spirit of Truth, whom the world cannot receive [and take to its heart] because it does not see Him or know Him, but you know Him because He [the Holy Spirit] remains with you continually and will be in you” (John 14:16-17, AMP).
Finally let us bring in the argument that I started in the previous paragraph on the perfect nature of God’s love in eternity before creation. The position that God is love. If we reason that God is love, then love is essential to God (or God is essential to true, selfless Love). He loves because He is love or love exists because of God. Now if He loves, who in eternity was the beloved if the Godhead had only one person—the Father or Jesus or the Spirit? Who in eternity was worthy enough to receive, give and share in His perfect love before creation? How could this love be perfect throughout eternity, if there was no one whom to receive and express love? Note that for love to be true and perfect, it must be expressed between beings of the same capacity, quality, or likeness. Someone may love their dog, but can (ability to give, receive, share love) their dog fittingly or honestly loves them?
In the single-person (Monad) God that some believe exists, love is not fundamental because whom did that god love in the eternal past? If he were all by himself, power is then basic because it would have to come before love. This God-is-power being would have to use His power to create beings to love first before He could express love. This is because there would have been no one to love perfectly pre-creation. Even when the single-person God created other beings to love, this God would then have a need. A single-person God would, create people to love because of His need for love and to be loved out of necessity. However, to be God, He does not need, as He must self-exist, be self-sustaining, and be eternal to be God. The truth that God is love is only possible in the triune God of the Bible. Therefore, we see in the statement of Jesus below that the Father and the Son have always existed in glory, fellowship, and love.
“Now, Father, glorify Me together with Yourself, with the glory and majesty that I had with You before the world existed” (John 17:5, AMP)
God already was love and created us to share His love, not out of need but out of love. For Love, shares of Himself or in this case “Themselves.” In this reality, worship to God ceases to be our meeting God’s need (as some assume) but our worshiping Him because we now understand and appreciate His love for us. Worship comes out of our deep understanding of reality (truth) and love for God’s persons—Father, Son, and Spirit. [7]
Love only exists in a relationship between persons. The Father loved us so much that he sent Jesus. Jesus declared, greater love has no man than to lay down his life for his friend and laid down His life for you and me. The Spirit loved us so passionately that He came to dwell in us. This is the Gospel. That God loved us so much that he got rid of our offence and now invites us into a loving eternal relationship.
The delight of our salvation is that we serve a God of love who did not only love from a distant realm but came down to us to make Himself known. Not only to be known but to know us and share in our joy, laughter, pain, struggle on this temporal earth. He did this because it is native to His nature to love, care, guide, commune, share, give, bless, help, protect, save, and create. No other being fit this description. No other union is intrinsically love at its core. That which we all seek – to be seen, loved, helped, protected, and blessed is intrinsic to the God of the Bible. Abraham saw this. David perceived it. Isaiah prophesied it. Jesus demonstrated this union. Paul and the Apostles explained this mystery to us and now we live it. Amazingly, we have been called into this fellowship. Called into this fellowship of His son (1 Corinthians 1:9).
Excepts from Being Born again: called to inherit a blessing
Other References
- Zacharias. R, Geisler. N, (2003) Who Made God? And Answers to Over 100 Other Tough Questions. Zondervan, p29
- 1 John 4:8
- John 17:1-26, Matthew 28:19
- The Trinity consists of three Persons. Jesus clearly said He would pray to the Father to send the Holy Spirit. John 14:16-17.
- Qureshi.N, (2016), Nabeel Qureshi explaining the Trinity, Online: https://www.musiclib.website/yt/u0JpwOSKRC0/nabeel-qureshi-explaining-the-trinity.html.
- Genesis 1:1, 26; 3:22; 11:7; Isaiah 6:8, 48:16, 61:1; Matthew 3:16-17, 28:19; 2 Corinthians 13:14. In Genesis 1:1, the Hebrew plural noun Elohim is used. In Genesis 1:26, 3:22, 11:7 and Isaiah 6:8, the plural pronoun for us is used. The word Elohim and the pronoun us are plural forms, referring in the Hebrew language to more than two. The word Elohim clearly denotes the aspect of plurality in God. The Hebrew word for God, Elohim, allows for the Trinity.
- John 4:23
