The Trinity of God is one
of the most confusing
concepts in the Bible.
Representing the Father,
Son and Holy Spirit, the
Trinity still describes
one God.
Confused? Read on!
Our human minds aren't
like God's. We say
they are finite, or
limited. God's mind
and knowledge on the other
hand are infinite, or
unlimited. Think of
it this way...You're
online right now, so you
obviously know your way
around a computer.
Have you ever tried to
explain the internet or
computers to someone who
has never even tried one?
Explaining terms like
download, upload,
megabyte, gigabyte, cpu,
rss feed, email, Myspace
and even right click are
almost impossible because
the "computer-unsavvy"
have no frame of reference
to work from.
In a similar way, we are
"spiritually unsavvy."
God's mind and knowledge
are so much greater than
ours. We have no
spiritual frame of
reference to begin with,
so......ideas like the
Trinity seem strange to
us.
The Bible describes it
this way in
Isaiah 55:8,9..."For my
thoughts are not your
thoughts, neither are your
ways my ways, saith the
LORD. For as the heavens
are higher than the earth,
so are my ways higher than
your ways, and my thoughts
than your thoughts."
There are some concepts
we'll never grasp this
side of eternity. So
there's nothing weird or
illogical about believing
in one God who just
happens to be three
Persons...Father, Son and
Holy Spirit. For Him
it's normal! Of
course, we can't say
something without some
proof of it. Get your
Bible. All right,
ready to go?
I.
Let's state one thing
first...We serve one God!
We need to be perfectly
clear on that issue.
We don't serve three
separate gods. The
Bible clearly states this
fact in a number of places
both Old and New
Testament.
*
Isaiah 45:5 tells us..."I
am the LORD, and there is
none else, there is no God
beside me: I girded thee,
though thou hast not known
me."
* Isaiah 44:6 God
says..."Thus saith the
LORD the King of Israel,
and his redeemer the LORD
of hosts; I am the first,
and I am the last; and
beside me there is no
God."
It's pretty clear from
these verses that God is
the only God. But
the classic verse that
talks about the "oneness"
of God is found in
Deuteronomy 6:4..."Hear, O
Israel: The LORD our God
is one LORD."
Jesus quoted this verse in
Mark
12:29
reinforcing the idea of
the "oneness" of God.
Other New Testament
passages also reaffirm
this truth. In
I Corinthians 8:4
Paul says..."As
concerning therefore the
eating of those things
that are offered in
sacrifice unto idols, we
know that an idol is
nothing in the world, and
that there is none other
God but one."
So here Paul repeats what
Christ and the Old
Testament says of God.
There is no doubt who God
is. He's the only
One. So we know that
there is only one God.
God does not share His
greatness or power with
anyone else. He is
unique as Creator and
Sustainer of the universe.
There is only one God.
It seems pretty cut and
dry. These verses
can't be interpreted any
other way. It all
seems clear..., that is,
until we do a further
study of the Scriptures.
II.
Then, like a water balloon
on a freezing day, we get
hit with things like
this..."There
is one body, and one
Spirit, even as ye are
called in one hope of your
calling; One Lord, one
faith, one baptism, One
God and Father of all, who
is above all, and through
all, and in you all."
(Ephesians 4:4,5)
Notice Paul mentions the
Spirit, the Lord (Jesus)
and the Father all in the
same breath. Is the
idea of the "oneness" of
God at stake? And
Jesus said this in
Matthew 28:19..."Go ye
therefore, and teach all
nations, baptizing them in
the name of the Father,
and of the Son, and of the
Holy Ghost."
As we can see here, Jesus
gives us a "formula" for
the baptism of new
believers. He
mentions three names...
--- the Father...
--- the Son...
--- the Holy Ghost.
So which is true. Is God
one, or is God three.
The answer is......both!
God is a Trinity!
Now at first blush it
seems that the the New
Testament writers
contradicted the Old
Testament and themselves,
such as in the case of
Paul who affirmed the Old
Testament idea of one God
in I Corinthians, and then
seemed to say the opposite
in the Ephesians passage.
Also, Jesus seems to give
two different answers in
quoting Deuteronomy but
then says that baptism is
done in the Father, Son
and Holy Ghost. How
can the Old Testament "one
God" and the New Testament
idea of the Trinity be
reconciled. Maybe a
closer look at the Old
Testament will help here.
The Trinity in the Old
Testament
There's some proof of the
Trinity right at the
beginning of the Bible.
An interesting example of
the Trinity in the Old
Testament is the word
"God." This word in
the Hebrew, "Elohim," many
times refers to the one,
true God. But this word is
also sometimes translated
"gods" in some Bible
passages because the word
is actually plural
(showing more than one.)
This is a good example of
how God had already
revealed the idea of the
Trinity to us in the Old
Testament.
In
Genesis 1:26
we read..."And
God said, Let US make man
in OUR image, after OUR
likeness: and let them
have dominion over the
fish of the sea, and over
the fowl of the air, and
over the cattle, and over
all the earth, and over
every creeping thing that
creepeth upon the earth"
(emphasis mine)
Notice the use of the
plural pronouns "us" and
"our." Many believe
this refers to an early
allusion to the Trinity of
God. Also, in
Isaiah 6:8,
God asks the writer this
question..."Whom
shall I send, and who will
go for US?"
(Emphasis mine.)
Notice "I" shows one, but
the pronoun "we" means
more than one. This
seems to show the
"oneness" and the Trinity
all in the same verse.
Some see the idea of the
Trinity as polytheistic,
or a believing in more
than one God. They
say that these plural
references were used by
the writers only to show
God's "majesty."
He's so great it takes
more than just a regular
word to describe Him.
There are two problems
with this idea...
The first is that the
Isaiah passage above
clearly uses singular and
plural pronouns at the
same time when speaking of
God. If the writer
were showing respect to
God, he would have used
plural pronouns in both
instances.
The second problem with
this argument is that
there are other proofs in
the Old Testament of the
Trinity. Let's look
at
Deuteronomy 6:4
a little more closely.
Here it is again..."Hear,
O Israel: The LORD our God
is one LORD."
We can see that this
passage proves there is
only one God. But
does it prove that God is
only one or is He three
Persons dwelling in
perfect unity as one
Being. The proof of
the Trinity in this verse
is found in the word
"one." There are
actually two different
words in the original
language of the Old
Testament (Hebrew) for the
word "one."
The first is yacheed which
means one all by itself.
It's an absolute word for
one. It can never
mean more than one.
It's interesting to note
that this is not the word
used in the Deuteronomy
passage above. In
fact this word is never
used to describe God in
any of the passages
describing God's
"oneness." Those
passages use the word
echad which means a group
acting as one single unit.
Some modern examples would
be "one dozen," "one
bunch" and "one herd."
Biblical examples include
Genesis 11:6
which reads..."And
the LORD said, Behold, the
people is one."
It's obvious God isn't
speaking of one person.
He's only noting the unity
of the group. This
is the word used in
describing God's
"oneness." So, as we
can see, even the Old
Testament passages that
tell us God is one, still
make sure we know He is
three Persons.
The Trinity in the New
Testament
We've already seen
examples of the Trinity in
the New Testament in
Matthew and Ephesians.
Let's look at one more.
Baptism of Christ
This is probably one of
the clearest examples of
the Trinity in the whole
Bible. This is a
passage every Bible
student should know.
We find Christ's baptism
in
Matthew 3:16,17..."And
Jesus, when he was
baptized, went up
straightway out of the
water: and, lo, the
heavens were opened unto
him, and he saw the Spirit
of God descending like a
dove, and lighting upon
him: And lo a voice from
heaven, saying, This is my
beloved Son, in whom I am
well pleased."
Here we see a clear
picture of the three
separate Persons of the
Trinity working in unison.
We see Christ, the Son,
coming out of the water.
We see the Spirit coming
in the form (not as) a
dove and landing on Jesus.
Then God, the Father,
calls from Heaven
commending Jesus, the Son.
Notice there are three
distinct Persons
represented here.
But they all work in
unison. Christ obeys His
Father. The Spirit
comes as proof of Who
Christ is. Then the
Father audibly praises His
Son.
All Three were in perfect
agreement! That is
very simply who God is.
He is one. Yet, He
is three.
By William J. Brown
http://www.bible-student-online.org/index.html
