Behold Your God — Unity and Trinity
We have examined many things about the being, power, and existence of Almighty God. He is the One True and Living God and He has revealed Himself in such a way that is clearly understood. Throughout the Bible, God has demonstrated Himself to be holy, worthy, and mighty. In the Book of Mark, one of the scribes asked Jesus “Which is the first commandment of all?” Jesus responded with the first part of the Shema (shuhMAH) from Deuteronomy 6:4-9.
Mark 12:29-30 NKJV Jesus answered him, “The first of all the commandments is: ‘Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is one. And you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, and with all your strength.’ This is the first commandment.
The Shema discloses the unity of God and the importance of loving the Lord your God with all your heart, soul and mind. God is not susceptible to division for the Lord our God, the Lord is one and the divine nature is eternally one. This is the oneness and simplicity of God; the nature of God is undivided and indivisible, infinite, and perfect Spirit, simple and singular, (Deuteronomy 4:35-39). Scripture clearly states that the triune Godhead operates coequally, coeternally, and coexistent as one unit. This unity of activity is recognized in the special function of each member of the Trinity. The simplicity of God indicates that the Almighty God cannot be divided into parts. As a result, all of the various aspects of God’s nature, attributes and essence are combined into one indivisible whole. There is no distinction in God between any of His essential attributes, being, or characteristics. We cannot separate God’s power, holiness, love, wisdom, etc. from His being. The Old Testament constantly insists on the essential unity and oneness of God, that there is only one God, the self-revealed Creator, Who must be worshiped and loved exclusively (Deuteronomy 6:4-5; Isaiah 44:6– 45:25). The New Testament agrees (Mark 12:29-30; 1 Corinthians 8:4; Ephesians 4:6; 1 Timothy 2:5) but speaks of three personal agents, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit working together to bring about salvation (Romans 8; Ephesians 1:3-14; 2 Thessalonians 2:13-14; 1 Peter 1:2).
How can God be a trinity and be one God?
The Divine Trinity is progressively revealed in Scripture. Human language cannot adequately describe the relationship of the persons of the Trinity. The word “Person” refers to the subsistences or individuality of the Trinity in distinction, relation, and mode. This emphasizes the individual personality of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Each person possesses the same essence and fullness of God, yet have distinct relationships.
- The Father is not begotten nor does He proceed from the Son or the Holy Spirit.
- The Son is eternally begotten from the Father (John 1:18; 3:16,18; 1 John 4:9).
- The Holy Spirit proceeds from the Father and the Son (John 14:26; 16:7).
This procession of the Holy Spirit refers to the relationship of the Father and Son sending the Holy Spirit. None of these terms indicate an inferiority in any way. Due to His infinite being, nature, attributes, and essence, it is impossible to fully understand the truth of the Trinity that is found throughout the Scriptures.
The word “Trinity” is not found in the Bible — while the truth of the Trinity is found throughout.
The word “trinity” comes from the Latin: “TRINITAS” which means “threefold or the threefold manifestation of God.” The statement of the Christian faith and creeds regarding the trinity became common as far back as 160 A.D. The Bible is a pure self-revelation from God. There is only one God, not three. God is — God the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. God, the eternal Father did not make the Son and Holy Spirit as His creations at His set time.
God the eternal Father, the eternal Son, and the eternal Holy Spirit have always been.
The Godhead is a Trinity in Unity, or Tri-Unity. They are three-in-one. All three persons of the Trinity possess the sum total of the divine attributes, yet the essence of God is not divided. The Oneness in essence (nature) emphasizes the unity of God in action. All three Persons of the Godhead possess the sum total of the divine attributes, but the essence of God is not divided.
Each Person in the Godhead is fully God.
God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit is fully God. The three Persons of the Trinity do not act independently of each other, (John 5:19; 8:28; 12:49; 14:10) but in perfect unity. The concept of the Trinity is not “tri-theism,” or the belief in three Gods, for the Lord our God is One God. In all ways the authority of the Trinity is equal. What may be said of the Father is equally said of the Son and the Holy Spirit.
God is the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.
God eternally and necessarily exists as the Trinity.
John 17:5 NIV And now, Father, glorify Me in Your presence with the glory I had with You before the world began.
John 17:24 NIV Father, I want those You have given Me to be with Me where I am, and to see My glory, the glory You have given Me because You loved Me before the creation of the world.
God, the trinity in the Old Testament
This truth is revealed in the names of God in the Old Testament. “In the beginning God (Elohim) created the heaven and the earth,” (Genesis 1:1). The name “Elohim” is a plural noun. In English, a plural means two or more. In the Hebrew, we have three terms referring to a grammatical number: singular, means one; dual, equaling two; plural, meaning three or more. “Elohim” is a plural noun meaning three or more. So, in the first verse of the Bible we see God, Elohim three or more in the act of creation. The three were God the Father, God the Son, God the Holy Spirit. Moses used the name “Elohim” 500 times in the Pentateuch. “Elohim” is mentioned 2,605 times in 2,249 verses.
Genesis 1:26-27 And God (Elohim) said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness so God (Elohim) created man in His own image, in the image of God created He them.
This verse indicates the Trinity at work in the creation. At the same time, it indicates one God in the phrase, “in His own image.”
In the Hebrew, God’s name is “Jehovah.”
“Jehovah,” the personal name of God was used only after the fall of man. “Jehovah” always relates to man in a redemptive way. At the tower of Babel God said, “Let US go down and there confound their language,” (Genesis 11:7). Then the “Lord” (Jehovah) scattered them over the earth. This is God speaking to God, the Trinity is involved.
Isaiah 6:8 NIV Then I heard the voice of the Lord saying, “Whom shall I send? And who will go for Us?” And I (Isaiah) said, “Here am I. Send me!”
God the Holy Spirit is introduced in Genesis 1.
Genesis 1:2 NIV Now the earth was formless and empty, darkness was over the surface of the deep, and the Spirit of God was hovering over the waters.
In the prophecy about the coming Messiah, the Holy Spirit was shown coming upon the Christ.
Isaiah 11:1-2 NIV A shoot will come up from the stump of Jesse; from his roots a Branch will bear fruit. The Spirit of the Lord will rest on Him— the Spirit of wisdom and of understanding, the Spirit of counsel and of power, the Spirit of knowledge and of the fear of the Lord—
The relationship between God the Father and Son is proclaimed in Psalms 2.
Psalm 2:6-7 NKJV “Yet I have set My King On My holy hill of Zion. I will declare the decree: The Lord has said to Me, ‘You are My Son, Today I have begotten You.” (today I reveal you as My Son)
There is a clear declaration of the Trinity in the New Testament.
The Old Testament frequently introduced a truth which is illuminated and made clearer in the New Testament. Therein the Trinity is clearly declared by the fact that the names of Father, Son and Holy Spirit are used separately as well as together.
John 5:36-37 NIV I have testimony weightier than that of John. For the very work that the Father has given Me to finish, and which I am doing, testifies that the Father has sent Me. And the Father who sent Me has Himself testified concerning Me. You have never heard His voice nor seen His form,
John 8:18 NIV I am One Who testifies for Myself; My other witness is the Father, Who sent Me.
John 1:1 NIV In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.
John 1:32 NIV Then John gave this testimony: “I saw the Spirit come down from heaven as a dove and remain on Him.”
John 3:34 AMP For since He Whom God has sent speaks the words of God, God does not give Him His Spirit sparingly or by measure, but boundless is the gift God makes of His Spirit!
As Jesus was praying in John 17, He made references to the Father and Son relationship.
The Trinity is evident in the birth of Christ.
Luke 1:35 NIV The angel answered, “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you. So the Holy One to be born will be called the Son of God.
The Trinity is also revealed in the account of the Lord’s birth in Matthew 1:20-23.
The Trinity is revealed in the Lord’s baptism.
Matthew 3:16-17 NKJV When He had been baptized, Jesus came up immediately from the water; and behold, the heavens were opened to Him, and He saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and alighting upon Him. And suddenly a voice came from heaven, saying, “This is My beloved Son, in Whom I am well pleased.”
After Jesus was baptized and was raised up from the water by John (verse 16). The Spirit of God descending as a dove (verse 16). The Father speaking (verse 17). The baptism of Jesus is described in Mark 1:9 11; and Luke 3:21-22.
On the Mount of Transfiguration, God the Father spoke the same words about His Son.
Matthew 17:5 NIV While He was still speaking, a bright cloud enveloped them, and a voice from the cloud said, “This is My Son, whom I love; with Him I am well pleased. Listen to Him!”
Before Jesus ascended back into glory, He gave specific instructions to His eleven disciples and to the Body of Christ.
Matthew 28:18-20 NIV Then Jesus came to them and said, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to Me. 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, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.”
Take note “baptizing them in the name (singular) of the Father, and the Son and the Holy Spirit.” He did not say, “in the names of.” Jesus declared one – singular – name but three persons: Father, Son and Holy Spirit. The church, His body, has used the formula ever since, regardless of denomination or label.
It is impossible here to list all of the times the Trinity is referred to throughout the Epistles.
Paul declares the Trinity throughout his epistles.
Romans 8:3 NIV For what the law was powerless to do in that it was weakened by the sinful nature, God did by sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful man to be a sin offering. And so He condemned sin in sinful man,
Romans 8:11 NIV And if the Spirit of Him who raised Jesus from the dead is living in you, He Who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through His Spirit, Who lives in you.
Romans 8:16-17 NIV The Spirit Himself testifies with our spirit that we are God’s children. Now if we are children, then we are heirs—heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ, if indeed we share in His sufferings in order that we may also share in His glory.
Ephesians 2:18 NIV For through Him we both have access to the Father by one Spirit.
These are sufficient to indicate Paul’s teaching of the Trinity.
(Romans 1:3-4; 1 Corinthians 1:3-4; 1 Corinthians 2:10-13; 2 Corinthians 13:14; Galatians 4:6; 2 Corinthians 13:14; Ephesians 4:4-6; Ephesians 5:18; Ephesians 5:20; Colossians 1:9; 1 Thessalonians 5:18-19; 2 Thessalonians 2:13-14; 1 Timothy 3:16; Titus 3:4-6)
The General Epistles and Revelation show the Trinity.
1 Peter 1:2 NIV Who have been chosen according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, through the sanctifying work of the Spirit, for obedience to Jesus Christ and sprinkling by His blood: Grace and peace be yours in abundance.
1 John 4:12-13 NIV No one has ever seen God; but if we love one another, God lives in us and His love is made complete in us. We know that we live in Him and He in us, because He has given us of His Spirit.
1 John 4:14-15 NIV And we have seen and testify that the Father has sent His Son to be the Savior of the world. If anyone acknowledges that Jesus is the Son of God, God lives in him and he in God.
Revelation 1:4-6 NIVJohn, To the seven churches in the province of Asia: Grace and peace to you from Him Who is, and Who was, and Who is to come, and from the seven spirits before His throne,
The seven spirits refers to the fullness of the Holy Spirit.
Revelation 1:5-6 NIV and from Jesus Christ, Who is the Faithful Witness, the Firstborn from the dead, and the Ruler of the kings of the earth. To Him Who loves us and has freed us from our sins by His blood, and has made us to be a kingdom and priests to serve His God and Father—to Him be glory and power forever and ever! Amen.
We have seen how the Divine Trinity has been active throughout eternity and how God the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit will be active in our eternal life in heaven.
‘Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is one. And you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, and with all your strength.’ Deuteronomy 6:5-6
