Biblical Definition of the
Trinity
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The Doctrine of Triunity
(or Trinity)
has been historically stated as:
“God
is one in essence and three in person”1;
“There
is one and only true God, but in the unity of the Godhead there are three
eternal and co-equal Persons, the same in substance but distinct in
subsistence”2;
“There
is one God who has revealed Himself in three persons, the Father, the Son
and the Holy Spirit, and these three persons are the one God”3;
“There
is one God. This one God has a plural personality. This one God is called
the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit, all distinct personalities, all
designated God....The Father, Son and Holy Spirit are one God”4.
To put it in a simpler statement: God
is one and in a different sense He is three. We must be quick to add
what the Triunity does not say because what is mentioned above will be an insufficient description of the doctrine:
It
does not teach that there are three Gods; neither does it teach that
there are three Gods who are one in "purpose" or in one
"family." (This erroneous teaching may be mathematically
represented as, 1+1+1=3, is polytheism [worship of many gods].)
It
does not declare that the three beings together make up God; nor does
it teach three gods make up one God (tritheism may be represented as: 1+1+1=1, which is a false equation in basic mathematics).
It
does not teach that the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit are modes
in which God expresses Himself; neither does it teach that the Father
became the Son who became the Holy Spirit. (This error may be
represented mathematically as, A=B=C,
which is also called modalism [A.D. 250] or Sabellianism5.)
It
does not try to reconcile an obviously hopeless contradiction found in
the Bible.
It
does not teach that the one God is schizophrenic
(meaning, He is suffering
a psychosis and that, sometimes He withdraws from the reality of who
He is)--Absolutely not!
Many have
radically challenged the Doctrine of Triunity. They say, it is paganistic,
that, it is a man-made doctrine that makes God a strange God. Does it? To
those who do not believe in the Bible as the infallible Word of God (i.e.,
it cannot err) this is easy to profess. But to those who believe
otherwise, it would require a huge “covering” of the many truths in
the Scriptures. Thus, we have this material prepared.
The Triunity
of God is difficult to comprehend due
to the lack of human models by which we can visualize the doctrine.
Illustrations like the subatomic entities (i.e., the electron PWh
model); the psychology of man; the spirit, soul and body of man; man as a
son, husband and father at the same time; the essential
sun, its light, and its power manifesting at the same time; the shell,
yolk and white of an egg; or the Logical addition (AND), 1+1+1=1 (this by
the way is a true equation in computer logic, in contrast to mathematical
logic mentioned earlier) can be stated but they remain imperfect models.
This only goes to show that God is
holy. It highlights the fact that unlike us--God is unique, different,
separate, transcendent, and/or He is apart from everything. Bible
believers like us are commanded to be faithful (Titus 1:9) to the
Scriptural evidences presented to us unless of course we do not affirm and believe that the
Bible is the true Word of God.
Does the Bible
really teach that God is triune? A resounding, “yes,” can be answered
to this nagging question, “the Scripture has been consistent in implying
the triunity of the Godhead.”
The "tri" (or three-ness)
of God is implied by following scriptures:
The Father is God.
Grace and peace from God
the Father and Christ Jesus our Savior.
(Titus 1:4b, see
also John 6:27; Galatians 1:1; 1 Peter 1:2.)
The Son is God.
Thomas said to him,
"My Lord and my God!" (John
20:28.)
In the beginning was
the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.
(John 1:1, see also
Isaiah 9:6; John 1:2-3,14,18; Acts 20:28; 2 Peter 1:1; Revelation 5:8-14;
Titus 2:11-14.)
The Holy Spirit is God.
Then Peter said,
“Ananias, how is it that Satan has so filled your heart that you have
lied to the Holy Spirit and have kept for yourself some of the money
you received for the land? Didn’t it belong to you before it was sold?
And after it was sold wasn’t the money at your disposal? What made you
think of doing such a thing? You have not lied to men but to God.”
(Acts 5:3-4, see also Genesis 1:2; Job 33:4; Luke 1:35-37; Hebrews
9:14; 10:15-18 .)
Distinctions between the Father, Son
and Holy Spirit--a seeming plurality.
As soon as
Jesus was baptized, he went up out of the water. At that moment heaven was
opened, and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and lighting
on him. And a voice from heaven said, “This is my Son, whom I love;
with him I am well pleased.”
(Matthew 3:16,17.)
Anyone who
speaks a word against the Son of Man will be forgiven, but anyone who
speaks against the Holy Spirit will not be forgiven, either in this age or
in the age to come. (Matthew
12:32.)
After Jesus
said this, he looked towards heaven and prayed: “Father, the time has
come. Glorify your Son, that your Son may glorify you.... Now this is
eternal life: that they may know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ
whom you have sent. I have brought you glory on earth by completing the
work you gave me to do. (John
17:1,3-4.)
“Look,” he said,
“I see heaven open and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of
God.” (Acts 7:56.)
The "unity" (one-ness) of
God is also explicitly stated:
Did the
“Church Fathers” institutionalized, from these references, the concept
that God is triune? If we say, “yes,” they might have tried to
reconcile a seeming contradiction
from the Bible (as many unbelievers reason) No! The Bible made the
conclusion that God is triune:
Then God said,
"Let us make man in our image..." So God created man in
his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female
he created them. (Genesis 1:26,27.)
Therefore go and
make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the
Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit
(Matthew 28:19).
...yet for
us there is but one God, the Father, from whom all things came and for
whom we live; and there is but one Lord, Jesus Christ, through whom all
things came and through whom we live.
(1 Corinthians 8:6)
Therefore I
tell you that no one who is speaking by the Spirit of God says,
"Jesus be cursed," and no one can say, "Jesus is
Lord," except by the Holy Spirit. There are different kinds of gifts
but the same Spirit. There are different kinds of service, but the same
Lord. There are different kinds of working, but the same God works all of
them in all men. (1 Corinthians 12:3-7.)
May the
grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the fellowship of
the Holy Spirit be with you all. (2
Corinthians 13:14.)
...who have
been chosen according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, through the
sanctifying work of the Holy Spirit, for obedience to Jesus Christ and
sprinkling by his blood: Grace and peace be yours in abundance.
(1 Peter 1:2.)
But you,
dear friends, build yourselves up in your most holy faith and pray in the
Holy Spirit. Keep yourselves in God's love as you wait for the mercy of
our Lord Jesus Christ to bring you to eternal life. (Jude 20-21.)
See also Genesis 3:22,23; 11:5-8;
Isaiah 6:8; Zechariah 2:8-3:3; Matthew 3:16,17; Mark 1:9-11; Luke 1:35;
John 3:34-36; 14:26; 15:26; 16:13-15; Acts 2:32-39; Romans 15:16; 2
Corinthians 3:4-6; Ephesians 1:3-14; 2:18,22; 3:14-17; 4:4-6; Hebrews 1:8;
9:14; 10:7,10-15; 1 John 5:7.
A rational
believer cannot profess that Jesus, in essence, is God if he fails to
accept the teachings of the Bible about the triunity of God unless he
embraces polytheism (belief in many gods). On the otherhand, if a person
denies the full Divinity of Christ Jesus by saying, "He was only a
man," then he should also believe that Jesus cannot save him because
He (Jesus) lied; according to the Scripture there is only one Savior--our
God Yahweh (Isaiah 43:11).
Friend, the
Bible does not give us an option to selectively believe what we want to
believe. Nonetheless, it gives us a choice between believing and not
believing, whether we will have faith in it or not, and whether we will
trust in its promises or not. What we presented here is that the Bible is
consistently declaring the holiness (apartness) of God in Triunity. Here, it is a matter of preference (believing or not)
under the light of the evidences (of Scriptures).
Permit us to
enumerate the reasons why there are those who reject the Trinity (and the
Deity of Jesus Christ) despite the light of the Bible. Considering our
experience, these are the most common reasons:
-
They
do not really believe in God. Much less the Scriptures;
-
They
do not believe the Bible as the true Word of God. Or they have
embraced another authority
other than the Scriptures;
-
They
believe in the Bible but they “cover” other scriptural passages in
the sense that they prefer those scriptural passages that support
their biased doctrines and beliefs;
-
They
are content and satisfied with what their “ministers” have taught
them and never personally and seriously studied their Bible by heart;
-
The
doctrine is difficult to understand;
-
The
word “trinity” or “triunity” is not in the Bible.
Do you
believe in the trinity? Do you know God because He has revealed Himself to
you? Or, you know what you only want to know.
If
anyone chooses to do God’s will, he will find out whether my teaching
comes from God or whether I speak on my own
(John 7:17).
