What
does the Bible teach about the Trinity?
Question: "What does the Bible
teach about the Trinity?"
Answer: The most difficult thing about the Christian concept of the Trinity
is that there is no way to adequately explain it. The Trinity is a concept that
is impossible for any human being to fully understand, let alone explain. God is
infinitely greater than we are; therefore, we should not expect to be able to
fully understand Him. The Bible teaches that the Father is God, that Jesus is
God, and that the Holy Spirit is God. The Bible also teaches that there is only
one God. Though we can understand some facts about the relationship of the
different Persons of the Trinity to one another, ultimately, it is
incomprehensible to the human mind. However, this does not mean the Trinity is
not true or that it is not based on the teachings of the Bible.
The Trinity is one God existing in three Persons. Understand that this is not in
any way suggesting three Gods. Keep in mind when studying this subject that the
word “Trinity” is not found in Scripture. This is a term that is used to
attempt to describe the triune God—three coexistent, co-eternal Persons who
make up God. Of real importance is that the concept represented by the word
“Trinity” does exist in Scripture. The following is what God’s Word says
about the Trinity:
1) There is one God (Deuteronomy
6:4; 1
Corinthians 8:4; Galatians
3:20; 1
Timothy 2:5).
2) The Trinity consists of three Persons (Genesis
1:1, 26;
3:22;
11:7;
Isaiah
6:8, 48:16,
61:1;
Matthew
3:16-17, 28:19;
2
Corinthians 13:14). In Genesis
1:1, the Hebrew plural noun Elohim is used. In Genesis
1:26, 3:22,
11:7
and Isaiah
6:8, the plural pronoun for “us” is used. The word Elohim and the
pronoun “us” are plural forms, definitely referring in the Hebrew language
to more than two. While this is not an explicit argument for the Trinity, it
does denote the aspect of plurality in God. The Hebrew word for God, Elohim,
definitely allows for the Trinity.
In Isaiah
48:16 and 61:1,
the Son is speaking while making reference to the Father and the Holy Spirit.
Compare Isaiah
61:1 to Luke
4:14-19 to see that it is the Son speaking. Matthew
3:16-17 describes the event of Jesus' baptism. Seen in this passage is God
the Holy Spirit descending on God the Son while God the Father proclaims His
pleasure in the Son. Matthew
28:19 and 2
Corinthians 13:14 are examples of three distinct persons in the Trinity.
3) 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.
4) Each member of the Trinity is God. The Father is God (John
6:27; Romans
1:7; 1
Peter 1:2). The Son is God (John
1:1, 14;
Romans
9:5; Colossians
2:9; Hebrews
1:8; 1
John 5:20). The Holy Spirit is God (Acts
5:3-4; 1
Corinthians 3:16).
5) There is subordination within the Trinity. Scripture shows that the Holy
Spirit is subordinate to the Father and the Son, and the Son is subordinate to
the Father. This is an internal relationship and does not deny the deity of any
person of the Trinity. This is simply an area which our finite minds cannot
understand concerning the infinite God. Concerning the Son see Luke
22:42, John
5:36, John
20:21, and 1
John 4:14. Concerning the Holy Spirit see John
14:16, 14:26,
15:26,
16:7,
and especially John
16:13-14.
6) The individual members of the Trinity have different tasks. The Father is the
ultimate source or cause of the universe (1
Corinthians 8:6; Revelation
4:11); divine revelation (Revelation
1:1); salvation (John
3:16-17); and Jesus' human works (John
5:17, 14:10).
The Father initiates all of these things.
The Son is the agent through whom the Father does the following works: the
creation and maintenance of the universe (1
Corinthians 8:6; John
1:3; Colossians
1:16-17); divine revelation (John
1:1, 16:12-15;
Matthew
11:27; Revelation
1:1); and salvation (2
Corinthians 5:19; Matthew
1:21; John
4:42). The Father does all these things through the Son, who functions as
His agent.
The Holy Spirit is the means by whom the Father does the following works:
creation and maintenance of the universe (Genesis
1:2; Job
26:13; Psalm
104:30); divine revelation (John
16:12-15; Ephesians
3:5; 2
Peter 1:21); salvation (John
3:6; Titus
3:5; 1
Peter 1:2); and Jesus' works (Isaiah
61:1; Acts
10:38). Thus the Father does all these things by the power of the Holy
Spirit.
There have been many attempts to develop illustrations of the Trinity. However,
none of the popular illustrations are completely accurate. The egg (or apple)
fails in that the shell, white, and yolk are parts of the egg, not the egg in
themselves, just as the skin, flesh, and seeds of the apple are parts of it, not
the apple itself. The Father, Son, and Holy Spirit are not parts of God; each of
them is God. The water illustration is somewhat better, but it still fails to
adequately describe the Trinity. Liquid, vapor, and ice are forms of water. The
Father, Son, and Holy Spirit are not forms of God, each of them is God. So,
while these illustrations may give us a picture of the Trinity, the picture is
not entirely accurate. An infinite God cannot be fully described by a finite
illustration.
The doctrine of the Trinity has been a divisive issue throughout the entire
history of the Christian church. While the core aspects of the Trinity are
clearly presented in God’s Word, some of the side issues are not as explicitly
clear. The Father is God, the Son is God, and the Holy Spirit is God—but there
is only one God. That is the biblical doctrine of the Trinity. Beyond that, the
issues are, to a certain extent, debatable and non-essential. Rather than
attempting to fully define the Trinity with our finite human minds, we would be
better served by focusing on the fact of God's greatness and His infinitely
higher nature. “Oh, the depth of the riches of the wisdom and knowledge of
God! How unsearchable his judgments, and his paths beyond tracing out! Who has
known the mind of the Lord? Or who has been his counselor?” (Romans
11:33-34).
Recommended Resource: Making
Sense of the Trinity: Three Crucial Questions by Millard Erickson and The
Forgotten Trinity by James White.
Below is the best symbol for the Trinity we are aware of (click to expand):
This page is also available in: Simp-Chinese,
Arabic,
Română,
Indonesia,
Hebrew,
Korean,
Deutsch,
Slovenčina,
Ukrainian,
Français,
Greek,
Srpski,
Magyar,
Russian,
Bulgarian,
Espańol,
Italiano,
Cesky,
Polski,
Hrvatski,
Hindi,
Trad-Chinese,
Thai,
Latviešu,
Belarusian,
Bosanski,
Dansk,
Shqip,
Jawi,
Việt,
Slovenščina,
Svenska,
Nederlands,
Portuguęs,
Türkçe,
Afrikaans,
Tagalog,
Farsi,
Urdu,
Suomi,
Sh-Punjabi,
eesti,
Azerbaijani,
Japanese,
Armenian,
Lietuvių,
Kiswahili,
Sesotho,
Pashto,
Kazakh,
Mongolian,
Malayalam,
Sindhi,
Sinhala,
Yorůbá,
íslenska,
Melayu,
Samoan,
O’zbek,
Nepali,
Hausa
From - http://www.gotquestions.org/Trinity-Bible.html
Bring me back to Trinity
Bring me back to the Character of GOD
Bring me to Trinity 2,
Trinity 4
