Question: Can you please explain the Trinity?
Your question is one that falls into the realm of mystery. I want to be clear about what I mean when I say “mystery”. This is not to say that we can not know anything about the subject, but that we can not know it completely or fully because it directly relates to the nature of God. All knowledge that we have about the nature of God has been revealed to us by Him through general revelation (Romans 1:19, 20) and/or His special revelation (Hebrews 1:1, 2). Having said this we may never fully understand God, but we can know Him because He desires us to know Him.
Also, this topic has been discussed for thousands of years. I am humble enough to recognize that I probably will not be able to answer it in one blog post. So, I’ll attempt it in two! ;-) (Just kidding) I will start by defining the orthodox Christian view of the Trinity. In the second blog posts I will briefly touch on some common misunderstanding/heresies about the Trinity.
Trinity is a term used by theologians to describe the distinctions that are found or made in the Scriptures that describe God as Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Read that sentence again slowly. It summarizes something that is commonly misunderstood about the doctrine of the Trinity. That is this, “The doctrine of the Trinity did not come first and the passages second. The passages came first, and the doctrine of the Trinity came as a best effort of devout, cautious, and thoughtful believers to harmonize the passages.”1
I would also say this, distinctions DO NOT indicate division. The word Trinity literally means “Triunity”. Why do I make this point? Because the orthodox definition of Trinity is this:
“God is three persons in one essence.”
Maybe a simpler way of looking at this would be: In God there are three WHOS and one WHAT. The WHAT is exactly the same in the WHOS.2
Some might be saying, “That hurt my head Jae!” I’m with you! It’s been hurting my head for years. Let’s look at Scripture together to see how we came to this definition for Trinity.
The Jewish Shema in the Old Testament proclaims, “Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one.” (Deuteronomy 6:4) Jesus, in the New Testament when asked what the greatest commandment is starts His answer with the Shema (Mark 12:29) affirming His agreement with it. This statement is a bold declaration of monotheism. (Only one God).
Yet, Jesus claims to be God multiple times in the New Testament. But, you need to understand something from the original language here. When Jesus claims to be God, He doesn’t just say, “Yeah, I’m God.” in the general sense of the word. He claims that He is Yahweh God. That’s a really big deal!
Exodus 3:14
“God said to Moses, “I am who I am. This is what you are to say to the Israelites: ‘I am has sent me to you.’”
John 8:58
“Very truly I tell you,” Jesus answered, “before Abraham was born, I am!”
He is not just claiming to have existed before Abraham here. He is claiming equality with the, “I AM” in the Exodus passage. There is no mistaking what Jesus meant here because of what is recorded to have happened next. They picked up stones to kill him. Why? His audience understood that He was claiming equality with God.
Jesus also is credited for doing things only God can do. Forgive sins, change water to wine, heal the sick, cast out demons, raise the dead, and control the powers of nature.
The Holy Spirit is also called God in the Scriptures (Acts 5:3-4) and attributed to have all the same qualities as God the Father and the Son. (Psalm 139:7-12; Genesis 1:2; John 3:5-6, 14:26, 16:7-13; 1 Corinthians 2:10, 11) The Holy Spirit is hands down the central figure in the book of Acts guiding the expansion of the Kingdom through the Church.
Also, each member of the Trinity has special functions that help us to identify them. (In my opinion this is the reason for the distinctions.) For example, the Father planned salvation (John 3:16; Eph. 1:4); the Son accomplished it on the cross (John 17:4; 19:30; Heb. 1:1-2) and the resurrection (Rom. 4:25; 1 Cor. 15:1-6) and the Holy Spirit applies it to the lives of the believers (John 3:5; Eph. 4:30; Titus 3:5-7)
Having observed all of this from the scriptures we come a couple of conclusions:
- There is one God.
- There are three distinct persons who are God: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.3
One WHAT, three WHOS. How can this be? I don’t know. It is a mystery. There are things about God that are beyond my comprehension and there are things about God that He has revealed about Himself that I can know (1 Corinthians 13:12). He is truly awesome in the very literal sense of the word.
Now, there are attributes or characteristics of God (His essence) that make Him God. To name a few He is eternal, immortal, all powerful, all knowing, unchangeable, etc. When talking about the Trinity it is important to understand that the Persons in it share in these things perfectly & equally. I say this because many of the heresies and misunderstandings about the Trinity will remove in some way the equality among the Persons. Which changes the Essence (What) within that Person (Who). That is why in the beginning I was careful to stress that making a distinction does not mean we are making a division.
Understand, if we make a division in the Unity of the Godhead then we end up with polytheism (multiple gods) and that is not taught in the Scripture.
I will give you an illustrations of the Trinity, but with this caution. No illustration or analogy of the Trinity is perfect. (Remember, it is not completely understood.) But, some are better than others. The one I am pulling from comes from Augustine. “He suggested of how God is both three and one at the same time. The Bible informs us that, “God is love” (1 John 4:16). Love involves a lover, and beloved, and a spirit of love between lover and loved. The Father might be likened to the Lover; the Son to the One loved, and the Holy Spirit is the Spirit of Love. Yet love does not exist unless these three are united as one.”4
Great question! I hope this gives you a good start as you consider and ponder the Trinity. Believe me, it is something that you will touch on the rest of your of walk with Jesus. Next week I will touch on some common misunderstandings and/or heresies concerning the Trinity from the past & today.
- Just the FAQs about God - pgs 44-47 Thomas Nelson publishing ISBN 0-7852-4760-2
- The Doctrine of the Trinity Study guide from R.C. Sproul -digital copy from Ligonier Ministries
- Baker Encyclopedia of Christian Apologetics - Norman Geisler pgs. 730-737
- Baker Encyclopedia of Christian Apologetics - Norman Geisler pgs. 730-737
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