Understanding the Trinity

Let’s start with a good video from The Bible Project to introduce the concept of the God in Three (Father, Son and Holy Spirit).

The word “trinity” is not found in scripture. The first known use of the Greek word τριάς is found in the writing of Theophilus of Antioch around AD 180. The early church father to first use the term trinity was Tertullian.  However, even though the word is not in the Bible, the idea of God as three is clearly presented in a number of ways.

A prominent and well known use is in Matthew 28:18-20 when Jesus says at the end of this gospel:

All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.

It took some time for the church to develop language that explained what they read in scripture so that the doctrine could be understood. This led to some unusual statements that should not be given much weight. It was, after all, a concept that we still struggle to explain.Tertullian, for example, had Jesus subservient to the Father, and Origen had the Son subservient to the Father and the Spirit subservient to the Son. As the understanding developed the early church primary focus was to maintain the clearly stated view of scripture that God is One. At the same time we need to put that understanding into the equally clear view of the Bible that God has a Father, Son and Holy Spirit division that somehow needs to fit into God still being one.

The Westminster Confession of Faith (1647) summarizes the doctrine by saying, “In the unity of the Godhead there be three persons, of one substance, power, and eternity: God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Ghost.”

Both the Old and New Testaments tell us that God is one. Deuteronomy 6:4 says: “Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God, the LORD is one.” Isaiah 44:8 tells us: “Thus says the Lord, the King of Israel and his Redeemer, the Lord of hosts: ‘I am the first and I am the last; besides me there is no god.'” Paul affirms the view that God is one in Ephesians 4:6, Galatians 3:20 and 1 Timothy 2:5.

When we speak of God as One in trinitarian language, we are saying that God is of one essence while at the same time being three persons. “The Bible speaks of the Father as God (Philippians 1:2), Jesus as God (Titus 2:13), and the Holy Spirit as God (Acts 5:3–4)” (Matt Perman, Desiring God). BY three persons, we are not saying that God is one person with three roles, but actually three persons.

The members of the Trinity are distinguished one from another in various passages. In the Old Testament, “LORD” is distinguished from “Lord” (Genesis 19:24; Hosea 1:4). The LORD has a Son (Psalm 2:7, 12; Proverbs 30:2-4). The Spirit is distinguished from the “LORD” (Numbers 27:18) and from “God” (Psalm 51:10-12). God the Son is distinguished from God the Father (Psalm 45:6-7; Hebrews 1:8-9). In the New Testament, Jesus speaks to the Father about sending a Helper, the Holy Spirit (John 14:16-17). This shows that Jesus did not consider Himself to be the Father or the Holy Spirit. Consider also all the other times in the Gospels where Jesus speaks to the Father. Was He speaking to Himself? No. He spoke to another Person in the Trinity—the Father. (Got Questions)

Or as Perman says it:

The fact that the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit are distinct Persons means, in other words, that the Father is not the Son, the Son is not the Holy Spirit, and the Holy Spirit is not the Father. Jesus is God, but he is not the Father or the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit is God, but he is not the Son or the Father. They are different Persons, not three different ways of looking at God.

When Jesus refers to the Father, and when he prays, he is not speaking to himself. He has a relationship with the Father that indicates this distinction. They are One but distinct. So, Jesus can talk to the Father as someone else, but at the same time says, “I and the Father are one” (John 10:30).

What about the Holy Spirit? Some say they can see the personhood of the Father and the Son, but they see the Holy Spirit as something less personal, and more of a non-personal force, like an extension of the personhood of the Father or Son. But the Bible refers to the Holy Spirit in personhood terms as well. “He speaks (Hebrews 3:7), reasons (Acts 15:28), thinks and understands (1 Corinthians 2:10–11), wills (1 Corinthians 12:11), feels (Ephesians 4:30), and gives personal fellowship (2 Corinthians 13:14). These are all qualities of personhood (Perman, ibid.).”

To say that each member of the Trinity is a “person” does not mean that God the Father or God the Spirit became human beings. Rather, it means that each member of the Trinity thinks, acts, feels, speaks, and relates because they are persons and not impersonal forces. Further, each member of the Trinity is equally God, which means that they share all the divine attributes, such as eternality, omniscience, omnipotence, and omnipresence. (Doctrine, Mark Driscoll & Gerry Breshears)

Just in case all of this is confusing, it might be helpful to hear it explained. Although in this video below he talks pretty fast, so you may it may still be lost in translation:

In the next lesson we are going to take a more detailed look at how the scriptures support the trinitarian view of God – both the Old and New Testaments.