What is the Trinity of God?
Christians speak of one God who has made Himself known as Father, Son and Holy Spirit. The word itself never appears in the Bible, which raises the obvious question: where does the teaching come from, and what difference does it make?
One God, not three
Writers are careful about the term while defending what it stands for. Pollock notes that we rightly use words that Scripture does not use, so long as they carry what Scripture teaches:
A J PollockOur title at the head of this paper is one such. Yet there is plenty of teaching in the Holy Scriptures that God reveals Himself as Father, Son and Holy Spirit — not three Gods, but a Triune God. Scripture teaches that the Father is God, the Son is God, the Holy Spirit is God, yet one God, indivisible.
The three are not ranked, and they are never at odds:
A J PollockSo we must be careful, when we use the terms first, second and third Persons in the Trinity, not to think there is any difference in importance… There can be only one God, supreme and unique… the three Persons in the Godhead with one will, one purpose, each fully sharing every thought and desire and purpose in the minds of the others.
Where Scripture shows it
The clearest single scene is the baptism of Jesus, where all three are present at once. One reference work gathers the evidence:
Morrish Bible DictionaryA word only used to convey the thought of a plurality of Persons in the Godhead. This was revealed at the baptism of the Lord Jesus. The Holy Spirit came down "like a dove" and rested on Him, and God the Father declared, "This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased." That the Father is a distinct Person and is God is plainly stated, as in John 20:17. Many passages prove that the Lord Jesus is God… That the Holy Spirit is a Person and is God, these passages clearly prove: Gen. 1:2; Matt. 4:1; John 16:13… The three Persons are also named in the formula Christ instituted for baptism, Matt. 28:19. Yet there is but one God, 1 Tim. 2:5.
Hinted at, then revealed
The Old Testament does not spell this out. Commentators point to the plural Hebrew word for God, Elohim, as a hint rather than a statement:
F. B. HoleGod has revealed Himself in a variety of ways through the ages, but only in these last days, when He has spoken to us "in Son," has He been revealed in Trinity. The Old Testament gives indications of three Persons in the Godhead, by using the word for God, Elohim, which is plural. Indications, yes; but no revelation. In the New Testament the Trinity stands fully revealed, as Father, Son and Holy Spirit, and ONLY thus.
Relationships that had no beginning
"Father" and "Son" are not job titles taken up when Jesus was born. Each name depends on the other, so if one is eternal, so is the other:
Norman AndersonHis Sonship did not begin with His Incarnation. Scripture teaches us the Incarnation of the Son, NOT Sonship by Incarnation. He brought into Manhood the relationship in which He had eternally existed. There were relationships, with the affections that belong to them, in the Godhead before time began, and they will continue when time has ceased to be… The Scripture that has helped to confirm me in the truth of the eternal Sonship of our Lord Jesus is John 17:24, "Father… you loved me before the foundation of the world."
Each Person, His own part
Being one in nature does not flatten the three into sameness of action. Scripture assigns distinct work:
E. C. HadleyGod, the Father, is seen as the author and source of all things, the One who chooses, predestines, calls and justifies, and works all things after the counsel of His own will… The Son is seen as the workman by whom all things are made and upheld, the One in, by and through whom all the counsels of the Triune God are realised and made secure, the work of redemption is accomplished, and who, in coming in the flesh, makes God known to man… The Spirit of God is seen as the One who works directly in power upon and in the creature.
For adoring, not for solving
Every commentator here admits the same limit — this is beyond us. The counsel is not to stop thinking, but to stop speculating:
E. C. HadleyWe cannot reason these things out. They are beyond the reach of human reason to speculate about. But we can receive them in simple faith as glorious facts on the unquestionable authority of His divinely inspired Word, and worship and adore. Such worship, and the devoted service that flows from it, will expand our hearts and enrich our lives; but to speculate about His unsearchable person will shrivel up our souls.
What it means in practice
This is not abstract. All three Persons are involved every time a believer comes to God:
An Outline of Sound WordsWe could never have enjoyed this high and holy privilege if the Son, who died for us, had not come in the Gospel to preach peace, so that our spirits might be at rest before God and the Father; but the Holy Spirit has also been given to us as the power by which we could enter God's presence. Here the whole Trinity is involved in bringing us before the Father.
Summary
- One. The Father is God, the Son is God, the Spirit is God — yet there is only one God, undivided, with one will and one purpose.
- Revealed. The Old Testament hints at plurality; the New Testament states it plainly, above all at Christ's baptism and in the baptismal formula of Matthew 28:19.
- Eternal. Father and Son are not roles taken up in time. The names depend on each other, so the relationship never began.
- Distinct. The Father purposes, the Son accomplishes and reveals, the Spirit works in power — three Persons, one work.
- Adored. Receive it by faith and worship; speculation past Scripture shrinks the soul instead of feeding it.