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Let’s Start By Discussing The Trinity Of God

According to the Holy Bible, there is only one God, one Creator of all. The God of the Christian is both ONE and THREE. The Apostle wrote:

(1 Corinthians 8:5-6 NKJV) For even if there are so-called gods, whether in heaven or on earth (as there are many gods and many lords), [6] yet for us THERE IS ONE GOD, THE FATHER, OF {preposition ek} WHOM ARE ALL THINGS, and we for Him; and ONE LORD JESUS CHRIST, THROUGH {preposition dia} WHOM ARE ALL THINGS, and THROUGH WHOM WE LIVE.

Word Study: God the Father is the PLANNER and DIRECTOR of the Godhead. The Apostle emphasizes this with the phrase “OF {preposition ek} WHOM ARE ALL THINGS”. The preposition¹ ek used with God the Father shows that the Father is the Source, the First Cause of all things. We have life because the Father planned it, and ordered its execution.

Word Study: God the Son is the AGENT or CHANNEL of creation. The Apostle emphasizes this with the phrase “THROUGH {preposition dia} WHOM ARE ALL THINGS”. Though the Father planned and authorized creation, this plan went through Jesus Christ, the Mediator between God and man (1 Timothy 2:5). Jesus is the Mediator of the New Covenant (Hebrews 8:6; 9:15; 12:24), Who intercedes for us with the Father (Romans 8:34; 1 John 2:1). The Apostle explained His relationship in the Trinity in the text:

(Colossians 1:16 KJV) For BY {Preposition en} Him were all things created, that are in heaven, and that are in earth, visible and invisible, whether [they be] thrones, or dominions, or principalities, or powers: all things were created BY {Preposition dia} Him, and FOR {Preposition eis} Him:

A simple way to understand the difference in roles between God the Father and God the Son is that the Father is the PLANNER and SENDER. The Son ACCOMPLISHES the plan FOR GOD’S GLORY.

God the Holy Spirit MOVES on God’s creation. We see the Spirit of God moving across creation in the beginning:

(Genesis 1:1-2 KJV) In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth. [2] And the earth was without form, and void; and darkness [was] upon the face of the deep. And THE SPIRIT OF GOD MOVED upon the face of the waters.

In Creation, God the Father is its Source, its Planner. God the Son is the Mediator, the Agent of Creation. The Holy Spirit as the Third Person of the Trinity moves, applies God’s Will, empowers, teaches and comforts those who love Jesus. The Holy Spirit is a PERSON, not a POWER. These are the texts where Jesus taught us of the Holy Spirit:

(John 14:26 ESV) But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom THE FATHER WILL SEND IN MY NAME, He will TEACH YOU all things and bring to your remembrance all that I have said to you.

It is the Holy Spirit Who comes to and helps the believer in Christ. The Father SENDS the Spirit, as the Father is the SOURCE and PLANNER. The Spirit comes and TEACHES US THE WORD OF CHRIST.

(John 15:26 ESV) But when the Helper comes, WHOM I WILL SEND TO YOU FROM THE FATHER, the Spirit of truth, who proceeds from the Father, he will bear witness about me.

You cannot receive the Holy Spirit unless Jesus Christ knows who you are. Jesus must request the Father to send the Spirit. If you are not a true believer in Christ Jesus, you will not receive the Holy Spirit.

(John 16:13-14 ESV) When the Spirit of truth comes, He will GUIDE YOU INTO ALL TRUTH, for He will not speak on His own authority, but whatever He hears He will speak, and He will declare to you the things that are to come. [14] HE WILL GLORIFY ME, for he will take what is mine and declare it to you.

As Jesus Christ is our Mediator, our go between with God the Father, the Holy Spirit is the Mediator through Whom Jesus addresses us. The most abused Member of the Godhead is the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit is ignored. The Holy Spirit is misunderstood, for many call Him “IT”, like He is a light bulb or electricity. He is not. The Holy Spirit is often mimicked by people.

Do you know how to tell if the Holy Spirit is active? He always glorifies Jesus. He always teaches the truths of God’s Word.

In Acts 5:3-4 Ananias lied to the Holy Spirit, and died because of it. The Apostles told Ananias, “You have lied to GOD”. In Acts 8:29 the Holy Spirit speaks to Philip, telling him to witness to the Ethiopian Eunuch. In Acts 13:2 the Holy Spirit told the Apostles to send Paul and Barnabas out as missionaries. In Acts 16:6-7 the Holy Spirit told Paul and Barnabas to avoid preaching in Asia. In Romans 8:26-27 the Holy Spirit prays for the believer. And in

(Ephesians 4:30 ESV) And do not GRIEVE THE HOLY SPIRIT OF GOD, by whom you were sealed for the day of redemption.

It is the Trinity of God that makes Christianity unique. Both Judaism as well as Islam reject the concept of the Trinity. These faiths teach that God is strictly ONE. Judaism quotes what they call The Shema, recited by Jews twice a day:

(Deuteronomy 6:4-5 ESV) Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God, the LORD IS ONE. [5] You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might.

The reason that the Pharisees immediately rejected Jesus as the Christ is because He said:

John 10:30 I and the Father ARE ONE

When He said this, the Pharisees “picked up stones to stone (execute) Him”. When Jesus asked them why they wanted to kill Him, the Pharisees said:

(John 10:33 ESV) … because you, being a man, make yourself God.

The concept of the Trinity is not revealed very much in the Old Testament under the Old Covenant. In the Old Testament (which is the Old Covenant) you see hints of the Trinity. When God went to make humans, we read:

(Genesis 1:26 KJV) … And GOD (ĕlōhîm) said, Let US make man in OUR image, after OUR likeness: and let them have dominion …

Word Study: The word translated “GOD” is a Common Masculine PLURAL Absolute Noun in the Hebrew, the word ĕlōhîm. The Pharisees explain away this verse by saying:

“God addresses Himself to the angels and says to them, “Let us make man in our image.” It is not that He invites their help, but as a matter of modesty and courtesy, God associates them with the creation of man.”

Sadly, this is supposition, not a clear reading of the text. Elohim said He would make man in “OUR IMAGE, AFTER OUR LIKENESS”. In the very next verse we are told:

(Genesis 1:27 KJV) So God {ĕlōhîm} created man in HIS OWN IMAGE, in the image of God created He him; male and female created He them.

The Triune God Who spoke of Himself as US in verse 26 says that HE created man in “HIS OWN IMAGE”. We go from plural language to singular language referencing God (ĕlōhîm). It is clear that God is both SINGULAR (Unified) as well as PLURAL (more than One Person).

We see this type of thing at the Tower of Babel. God had commanded mankind to “multiply, and fill the earth” (Genesis 1:22), but sinful man following the Noahic Flood decided to rebel against God and stay in Babel. When they started their rebellion, the Bible tells us

(Genesis 11:6-8 KJV) And the LORD said, Behold, the people [is] one, and they have all one language; and this they begin to do: and now nothing will be restrained from them, which they have imagined to do. [7] Go to, LET US GO DOWN, and there confound their language, that they may not understand one another’s speech. [8] SO THE LORD SCATTERED THEM ABROAD from thence upon the face of all the earth: and they left off to build the city.

Yahweh – the Godhead – saw what people were doing. So Yahweh intervened, the Father, the Son, and the Spirit, for the sake of mankind.

One of the clearest examples of the Trinity of God is found in Isaiah 48:12-16. In this text God speaks to Israel:

(Isaiah 48:12-13 KJV) Hearken unto Me, O Jacob and Israel, MY CALLED; I AM HE; I AM THE FIRST, I ALSO AM THE LAST. [13] MINE HAND LAID THE FOUNDATION OF THE EARTH, and MY RIGHT HAND HATH SPANNED THE HEAVENS: [when] I call unto them, they stand up together.

God gives us an indication in this text which Member of the Godhead is speaking. It is clearly God, for He “LAID THE FOUNDATION OF THE EARTH” and His “RIGHT HAND HATH SPANNED THE HEAVENS”. But is this Father, Son, or Spirit? When God spoke to His people, He said “I AM HE”. Jesus applied this title of God to Himself. Jesus told the Pharisees when He spoke in the Temple Treasury:

(John 8:21, 23-24 KJV) Then said Jesus again unto them, I go My way, and YE SHALL SEEK ME, and SHALL DIE IN YOUR SINS: whither I go, ye cannot come. … [23] And he said unto them, Ye are from beneath; I AM FROM ABOVE: ye are of this world; I AM NOT OF THIS WORLD. [24] I said therefore unto you, that ye shall die in your sins: for IF YE BELIEVE NOT THAT I AM HE, YE SHALL DIE IN YOUR SINS.

Jesus Christ is the I AM HE speaking to Israel in Isaiah 48:12. The One speaking also says, “I AM THE FIRST, I ALSO AM THE LAST”. Our Lord Jesus used this same phrase for Himself when He told John the Revelator:

(Revelation 1:17-18 ESV) When I saw Him, I fell at His feet as though dead. But He laid His right hand on me, saying, “FEAR NOT, I AM THE FIRST AND THE LAST, [18] and the living one. I died, and behold I am alive forevermore, and I have the keys of Death and Hades.

And again in

(Revelation 22:13, 16 ESV) I am the Alpha and the Omega, THE FIRST AND THE LAST, the beginning and the end.” … [16] I, JESUS, have sent My angel to testify to you about these things for the churches. I am the root and the descendant of David, the bright morning star.

This is Jesus Christ speaking in Isaiah 48! It is Jesus Who says of His Israel:

(Isaiah 48:15-16 KJV) I, [even] I, have spoken; yea, I have called him (Israel): I have brought him (Israel), and he shall make his way prosperous (Jesus watches over Israel). [16] Come ye near unto Me, hear ye this; I have not spoken in secret from the beginning; from the time that it was, there [am] I: and NOW THE LORD GOD, and HIS SPIRIT, HATH SENT ME.

The One speaking in Isaiah is clearly God. The One speaking says that He called and watches over Israel. The One speaking then says that “THE LORD GOD, and HIS SPIRIT, HATH SENT ME”. There are numerous places in the New Testament where Jesus declares that The Father sent Him (John 3:17, John 4:34, John 6:38, and John 8:42). Isaiah 48 gives us a very clear picture of the Trinity of God.

The Trinity Is What Makes Christian Salvation Unique

The Father is the SOURCE, the Son is the AGENT, and the Holy Spirit the one Who MOVES and INSTRUCTS. Bringing this into salvation, the Scripture teaches us that:

The Father PLANNED our salvation.

(Ephesians 1:4-6 ESV) even as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before Him. In love [5] He predestined us for adoption to Himself as sons THROUGH JESUS CHRIST, ACCORDING TO THE PURPOSE OF HIS WILL, [6] to the praise of His glorious grace, with which HE HAS BLESSED US IN THE BELOVED.

(2 Timothy 1:8-9 ESV) Therefore do not be ashamed of the testimony about our Lord, nor of me His prisoner, but share in suffering for the gospel by the power of God, [9] WHO SAVED US and CALLED US TO A HOLY CALLING, not because of our works but BECAUSE OF HIS OWN PURPOSE AND GRACE, which HE GAVE US IN CHRIST JESUS before the ages began..

The Son AUTHORED our salvation, dying for our sins.

(Hebrews 12:1-2 NKJV) Therefore we also, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which so easily ensnares [us], and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, [2] LOOKING UNTO JESUS, the AUTHOR AND FINISHER OF OUR FAITH, who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.

Jesus as God Incarnate and Perfect Man was able to go to Calvary for us, giving His life for ours. If Jesus were a man like us, He would be a sinner like us (Romans 3:23), and not the “Lamb of God Who takes away the sin of the world” (John 1:29)

The Holy Spirit APPLIES our salvation to us. He causes us to be “born again”(John 3:5). He causes the washing of regeneration (Titus 3:5). He seals and indwells us (Ephesians 1:13).

This is why when the Christian is saved Jesus directed that they be baptized in water:

Matthew 28:19 In the name OF THE FATHER, and OF THE SON, and OF THE HOLY SPIRIT

The work of our redemption is carried out by the Triune God. We are told in

Ephesians 2:18 (KJV) For through Him [the Son] we both have access by one Spirit unto the Father.

A proper understanding of the Trinity helps the Christian to grow in their faith. I have heard preachers pray, saying things like

Jesus our Father, help us …

Jesus did say “If you have seen Me, you have seen the Father” (John 14:9). But Jesus did not mean He was the Father.

Jesus prayed to the Father (John 17; John 11:41-42; Matthew 26:39; Luke 23:34, 46).

Jesus instructed us to pray to the Father (Matthew 6:9).

Jesus was sent by the Father (John 8:42; John 3:17, John 4:34, John 6:38, John 17:3). Though Jesus and the Father are One in nature, they are two Persons.

When Jesus did miracles, He did so through the movement of the Holy Spirit (Matthew 12:28; Luke 4:14; Acts 10:38). The Holy Spirit led and empowered Jesus to do that which He did while on this earth (Matthew 4:1; Romans 8:11; Luke 4:1).

How does this effect how we live out our Christian lives? First, we are saved by repenting, and believing on the Name of the Lord Jesus. Peter preached:

(Acts 2:38 NKJV) Repent, and let every one of you be baptized in the NAME OF JESUS CHRIST FOR THE REMISSION OF SINS; and you shall RECEIVE THE GIFT OF THE HOLY SPIRIT.

We are saved by receiving Jesus as Lord and Savior. We are empowered by relying on the Holy Spirit of God. And when we pray, we pray to the Father.

May God touch your hearts. May the Holy Spirit guide you into understanding the wonderful God we serve. Amen.

1Webster’s states “A preposition is a word that shows the relationship between a noun or pronoun and another word in the sentence, often showing place, time, direction, or manner. Examples include in, on, at, to, from, with, and under.”