Trinity

Trinity Explained

C. S. Lewis said of the Trinity that it is either the most farcical doctrine invented by the early disciples or the most profound and thrilling mystery revealed by the Creator Himself, giving us a grand intimation of reality. Lewis does a masterful job in helping us approach this mystery of divine personality by the use of analogy.

A good many people nowadays say, “I believe in a God, but not in a personal God.” They feel that the mysterious something which is behind all other things must be more than a person. Now the Christians quite agree. But the Christians are the only people who offer any idea of what a being that is beyond personality could be like. All the other people, though they say that God is beyond personality, really think of Him as something impersonal: that is, as something less than personal. If you are looking for something super-personal, something more than a person, then it isn’t a question of choosing between the Christian idea and the other ideas. The Christian idea is the only one on the market. You know that in space you can move in three ways—to left or right, backwards or forwards, up or down. Every direction is either one of these three or a compromise between them. They are called the three Dimensions. Now notice this. If you’re using only one dimension, you could draw only a straight line. If you’re using two, you could draw a figure: say, a square. And a square is made up of four straight lines. Now a step further. If you have three dimensions, you can then build what we call a solid body: say, a cube—a thing like a dice or a lump of sugar. And a cube is made up of six squares.

Do you see the point? A world of one dimension would be a world of straight lines. In a two-dimensional world, you still get straight lines, but many lines make one figure. In a three-dimensional world, you still get figures but many figures make one solid body. In other words, as you advance to more real and more complicated levels, you don’t leave behind you the things you found on the simpler levels; you still have them, but combined in new ways—in ways you couldn’t imagine if you knew only the simpler levels.

Ravi Zacharias, Can Man Live Without God, (Word Publ., Dallas: 1994), p. 149

The Trinity, Acting in Unity

1. In creation Gen. 1:1; John 1:4, Job 26:13

2. In incarnation John 3:16; Heb. 10:5; Luke 1:35

3. In redemption Heb. 9:14; 1 Peter 3:18; Gal. 2:20

4. In salvation Luke 15:4; 8; 22; Eph. 1:4; 7; 13

5. In communion Eph. 2:18; Rom. 8:27; 2 Cor. 13:14

6. In glory Rev. 1:4-5; Phil. 3:21; Jude 23

From the Book of 750 Bible and Gospel Studies, 1909, George W. Noble, Chicago

Trinity Explained

The word “trinity” is not found in the Bible. Nevertheless, it is a word used to describe one fact the Bible teaches about God: Our God is a Trinity. This means there are three persons in one God, not three Gods. The persons are known as the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit and they have all always existed as three separate persons. The person of the Father is not the same person as the Son. The person of the Son is not the same person as the Holy Spirit. The person of the Holy Spirit is not the same person as the Father. If you take away any one, there is no God. God has always been a trinity from all eternity: “From everlasting to everlasting, Thou art God” (Ps. 90:2).

God is not one person who took three forms, i.e., the Father who became the Son, who then became the Holy Spirit. This belief is known today as the “Jesus Only Movement.” It is taught by the United Apostolic and United Pentecostal churches, and is an incorrect teaching.

Nor is God only one person as the Jehovah’s Witnesses, the Way International, and the Christadelphians teach (These groups are classified as non-Christian cults). For proof that there is more than one person in the Godhead, see the Plurality Study.

The Bible says there is only one God. Yet, it says Jesus is God (John 1:1,14); it says the Father is God (Phil. 1:2); and it says the Holy Spirit is God (Acts 5:3-4). Since the Son speaks to the Father, they are separate persons. Since the Holy Spirit speaks also (Acts 13:2), He is a separate person. There is one God who exists in three persons.

The following chart should help you understand how the Trinity doctrine is derived.

	Father	Son	Holy Spirit
Called God	Phil. 1:2	John 1:1,14; Col. 2:9	Acts 5:3-4
Creator	Is. 64:8; 44:24	John 1:3; Col. 1:15-17	Job 33:4,26:13
Resurrects	1 Thess. 1:10	John 2:19, 10:17	Rom. 8:11
Indwells	2 Cor. 6:16	Col. 1:27	John 14:17
Everywhere	1 Kings 8:27	Matt. 28:20	Ps. 139:7-10
All knowing	1 John 3:20	John 16:30; 21:17	1 Cor. 2:10-11
Sanctifies	1 Thess. 5:23	Heb. 2:11	1 Pet. 1:2
Life giver	Gen. 2:7:	John 5;21 John 1:3; 5:21 2	Cor. 3:6,8
Fellowship	1 John 1:3	1 Cor. 1:9	2 Cor. 13:14; Phil. 2:1
Eternal	Ps. 90:2	Micah 5:1-2	Rom. 8:11; Heb. 9:14
A Will	Luke 22:42	Luke 22:42	1 Cor. 12:11
Speaks	Matt. 3:17;	Luke 9:25 Luke 5:20; 7:48	Acts 8:29; 11:12; 13:2
Love	John 3:16	Eph. 5: 25	Rom. 15:30
Searches the heart	Jer. 17:10	Rev. 2:23	1 Cor. 2:10
We belong to	John 17:9	John 17:6
Savior	1 Tim. 1:1; 2:3; 4:10	2 Tim. 1:10; Tit. 1:4; 3:6
We serve	Matt. 4:10	Col. 3:24
Believe in	John 14:1	John 14:1
Gives joy	John 15:11	Rom. 14:7

Judges

John 8:50

John 5:21,30

Charts of Christian Theology and Doctrine, H. Wayne House, (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan Publ. House, 1992), pp. 48-49

Resosurce

• Unraveling the Big Questions About God, K. Boa, Zondervan, 1988, pp. 41ff

CoEternal

Within his own mysterious being God is Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. The designations are just ways in which God is God. Within the Godhead there are three “persons” who are neither three Gods nor three parts of God, but coequally and coeternally God.

Christian Theology in Plain Language, p. 143

The Whole East Coast

While our friends from India traveled around California on business, they left their 11 year-old daughter with us. Curious about my going to church one Sunday morning, she decided to come along. When we returned home, my husband asked her what she thought of the service. “I don’t understand why the West Coast isn’t included too,” she replied. When we inquired what she meant, she added, “You know, in the name of the Father, the Son, and the whole East Coast.”

Ann Spivack in Reader’s Digest

Resources

• Herbert Lockyer, Selected Scripture Summaries from the Whole Bible, Volume One, (Baker Book House, Grand Rapids, MI; 1975), pp.142ff
• G. Archer, Encyclopedia of Bible Difficulties, pp. 357ff
• Studies in Theology, L. Boettner, Eerdmans, 1947, pp. 79-139
• Perspectives on Evangelical Theology, K. Kantzer, S. Gundry, Baker, 1979, “Process Trinitarianism,” Bruce Demarest, p. 15

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