Day 4 – What is the Trinity
I don’t claim to have all the answers – especially to a foundational doctrine such as this. However, what I can do is to provide and point you to the Scriptures, which will help to explain what the Scriptures have to say about the Trinity.
The Scriptures teach there is one God (Ephesians 4:6). However, God shows Himself to us in different ways: Father, Son and Holy Spirit.
~Matthew 3:16-17 And Jesus, when he was baptized, went up straightway out of the water: and, lo, the heavens were opened unto him, and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove, and lighting upon him: 17 And lo a voice from heaven, saying, This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.
~Matthew 28:19 Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.
There are so many verses which point to a Trinity. We are not left to imagination or invention:
~2 Corinthians 13:14 The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the communion of the Holy Ghost, [be] with you all. Amen.
~1 Peter 1:2 Elect according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, through sanctification of the Spirit, unto obedience and sprinkling of the blood of Jesus Christ: Grace unto you, and peace, be multiplied.
~Jude 1:20-21 But ye, beloved, building up yourselves on your most holy faith, praying in the Holy Ghost. 21 Keep yourselves in the love of God, looking for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ unto eternal life.
One of the best verses, in my opinion, which portrays the Trinity is found in the King James Bible. All other versions skip right over this verse and make a comment that it is not found in the “originals.” How convenient! Satan has attempted to corrupt the word of God since the Garden of Eden and hasn’t quit yet.
~1 John 5:7 For there are three that bear record in heaven, the Father, the Word, and the Holy Ghost: and these three are one.
I once heard a message on this topic which really helped me to understand the concept of the Trinity. Just as I have a body, soul and spirit, I am still one person. I have three roles, I am a daughter, I am a mother and I am a grandmother. However, I am still one person. Another good example is water. Water contains two atoms of hydrogen and one atom of oxygen. When water is exposed to high temperatures, it becomes steam. When it is exposed to low temperatures, it becomes ice. All three have two atoms of hydrogen and one atom of oxygen, right? All three are water – some form of water but yet each has a different role.
So is the Trinity. There is one God: the Father, Son and Holy Spirit. Jesus Christ is referred to as the Son. He is God manifested (1 John 4:9) in the flesh to be our redeemer. In this manifestation, Christ was also referred as the Word of God (John 1:1). Christ brought God’s words to man kind by becoming man. He brought mankind salvation through His birth, life, death, and resurrection!
When Christ left this earth, the Father sent us His Holy Spirit to dwell amongst us (John 14:26, John 15:26, John 16:7). It is this Holy Spirit who dwells within the born-again Christian – He teaches us – He comforts us – He reveals God’s will to us – He prays to the Father for us when we can’t seem to find the words! He is with us always and never leaves us!
Was the Trinity present in the Old Testament? I respond with an emphatic YES! Genesis 1:26 reveals this in “Let us make man in our image, after our likeness”! Genesis 3:22 also reveals this “Behold, the man is become as one of us”. Another is Genesis 11:7 “Go to, let us go down, and there confound their language”. Isaiah 6:8 reveals “Then I heard the voice of the Lord, saying, ‘Whom shall I send, and who will go for us?”
So many verses reveal God’s triune nature. We may not fully understand but we can believe by faith. (Romans 1:17) The Bible leads us to the truth – then it’s up to us to believe by faith.
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