The Trinity
This work is devoted to revealing how the Father, Son, and the Holy Spirit can be three Persons and one God at the same time.
We know that God was not alone in the beginning when He made our world. “Let us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness (Gen. 1:26-27), “Behold, the man has become like one of Us, to know good and evil” (Gen. 3:22). “Let Us go down and confound their language (Gen. 11:7). Who will go for Us? (Is. 6:8)
Who was with God in the beginning when He created the heavens and the earth?
In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. The Father was there in the beginning because God is the Father. (Titus 1:4, Php. 2:11, and Col. 3:17).
The Holy Spirit was present with the Father in the beginning. “The Spirit of God was hovering over the face of the waters” (Gen. 1:2). The Holy Spirit is identified as God (Acts 5:3,4). The Spirit of God is holy. Thus, He is the ‘Holy Spirit’ of God (Gen. 1:2). The Holy Spirit is God because this is the same Holy Spirit who overshadowed Mary in the New Testament when she conceived Jesus, the Son of God (Luke 1:35; Matt. 1:18-20). This is the same Holy Spirit who was hovering over the face of the waters in the beginning because there are not two Holy Spirits.
The Son was with God in the beginning and at that time was called the Word.
In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.” He was in the beginning with God, creating with Him. Without the Word not anything was made that was made (John 1:1-3). It says very much the same thing in (Col. 1:15-17), further stating that through Him all things consist (Heb. 4:12) The Word became flesh and dwelt among us” (John 1:14). This is how we know the Word was Jesus. Both the Old Testament and the Gospel of John in the New Testament start with ‘In the beginning.’ In the beginning of the Old Testament, the Word had not yet become flesh to dwell among us. He existed eternally in a divine essence, and in time took on human nature (Heb. 1:3); (Col. 2:9).
God is one Being, who exists as three distinct persons, because His divine nature is not limited like human beings are.
He is omnipresent, omnipotent, and omniscient, and therefore not restricted by physical location, human power, or human knowledge.
The New Testament was written in Koine Greek, which was considered the "commoner" Greek. The Old Testament was written mainly in Hebrew, though certain portions were written in Aramaic as well. In Greek, the Word is defined as Logos (words, reason, wisdom, plan, thoughts, speech). These definitions relate to God’s means of communication to man through the Son, in addition to the role the Word played in creation ( Heb.1:2). That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our own eyes, which we have gazed upon and touched with our own hands—this is the Word of life (1 John 1:1). (Rev. 19:13). The Father and The Holy Spirit are invisible, (John 4:24), (1 Tim. 1:17), and Eph. 2:22). God said, “You cannot see My face, for no one can see Me and live (Ex. 33:20-21). We have neither heard His voice at any time nor seen His form (John 5:37). The Son is the image of the invisible God (Col. 1:1). Some have referred to Jesus as the God-man. He emptied Himself, taking the form of a servant, being made in human likeness. And being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself and became obedient to death-even death on a cross, (Phil. 2:6-8); the Son is the radiance of God’s glory and the exact representation of His nature, upholding all things by His powerful word (Heb. 1:3). Thus, Jesus had both a divine and human nature.
There is no other God before Me or after Me. I am the LORD; I will not yield My Glory to another (Isa. 42:8). There is one God and Father of all, and Jesus is the mediator between God and man (Heb. 9:15). No one has ever seen God, but the one and only Son who is Himself God and at the Father’s side has made Him known (John 1:18 and 1 John 4:12). The Father is greater in role (John 14:28). Jesus and the Holy Spirit came from the Father. (John 8:42), (John 15:26, John 16:28) and (1 John 4:14). Revelation 3:14 says Jesus is the originator of God’s creation, (Greek word ‘arche’=the origin, source, first place, or preeminent One). This proves His eternal supremacy and deity. He did not have a created beginning because He was before all things (Col. 1:17).
The question then becomes this: How can the Word be with God and be God at the same time when there is only one God? (John 1:1-2)
They are not three separate Gods because God makes it very clear that there is no other God but one (1 Cor. 8:4-6; Deut. 6:4; Isa. 43:10, and 45:5). Some religions dismiss this divine union by claiming, “God is not a three headed monster, which of course, He is not.
The Father, Son, and the Holy Spirit agree with each other. They have a plan, a bond, a purpose (Acts 2:23). Their plan is explained in (Gal 4: 4-6), “But when the time had fully come, God sent His Son, born of a woman, born under the law, that we might receive our adoption as sons. And because you are sons, God sent the Spirit of His Son into our hearts, crying out, “Abba, Father!” Our redemption is in their plan. They are one in spiritual essence. Just as humans share the same DNA essence, and human qualities, and other species have their own essences and natures, so the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit share in their own divine essence. Human begets human, bird begets bird, sheep beget sheep; and so on with all living things. In this sense we may say that God begets God—yet unlike earthly creatures, this divine begetting is eternal and not an event in time. The Son is the eternally begotten Son of the Father, fully sharing His divine nature and physiology (Col 2:9). The Father even calls Jesus God (Heb. 1:8-9). Jesus said to the Father, “I have given them Your word, and the world has hated them. For they are not of the world, just as I am not of the world” (John 17:14 and 16). Jesus is telling us He is not of this world. "For I have come down from heaven, not to do My own will, but to do the will of Him who sent Me" (John 6:38) The Father dwells in Christ (John 14:10-11), just like the Holy Spirit dwells in Christians. (1 Cor. 6:19-20); (John 14:16-17); (2 Tim. 1:14), (Gal. 4:6)
Jesus explains the meaning of oneness: Jesus said, “Holy Father, protect them by Your name, the name You gave Me, so that they may be one as We are one. While I was with them, I protected and preserved them by Your name, the name You gave Me, (John 17:11-12) “that all of them may be one, as You, Father, are in Me, and I am in You. May they also be in Us, so that the world may believe that You sent Me. I have given them the glory You gave Me, so that they may be one as We are one—I in them and You in Me—that they may be perfectly united, so that the world may know that You sent Me and have loved them just as You have loved Me. (John 17:21-23). "I and the Father are one." Philip said to Him, “Lord, show us the Father, and that will be enough for us." Jesus replied, “Philip, I have been with you all this time, and still, you do not know Me? Anyone who has seen Me has seen the Father. How can you say, ‘Show us the Father?’ Do you not believe that I am in the Father and the Father is in Me? The words I say to you, I do not speak on My own. Instead, it is the Father dwelling in Me, performing His works. Believe Me that I am in the Father and the Father is in Me—or at least believe on account of the works themselves (John 14:8-11).
Jesus of Nazareth was a man certified by God to you by miracles, wonders, and signs, which God did among you through Him, as you yourselves know (Acts 2:22). For God was pleased to have all His fullness dwell in Him (Col. 1:19). Because Jesus shares the same essence as God, but is distinct from the Father, He can be both God and with God. For in Christ all the fullness of the Deity dwells in bodily form (Col. 2:9).
‘Man’ is the name God gives to describe the plurality of humans, or Mankind (Gen.5:1-2; John 1:13). Male and female, He created them (Gen. 1:27). Therefore, a man shall leave his father and mother and become one flesh (Gen. 2:24). This does not mean that man and wife will merge into one person. It simply means they are joined together for life and are considered one. This is what God intended. They have a bond—one flesh, two persons with separate roles. The marriage analogy is a comparison explaining the concept of a shared relationship. Oneness of the church as a single entity with many members having different roles, is called ‘the body of Christ’ (1 Cor. 12:12-26; Gal. 3:28-29); (Rom. 12:4-6).
For the body is one and has many members, but all the members of that one body, being many, are one body (1 Cor. 12:12) Similarly, we can make a comparison with that scripture and say: For God is one and has three members, but all members of that one God, being three, are one God.
The word Trinity is a manmade term that man has applied to describe a triune (union of three in one) God. They are united together and have a powerful, and holy, love relationship. We are man. They are God. Jesus prayed to His Father saying, “And now Father, glorify Me in Your presence, with the glory I had with You before the world existed (John 17:5). Jesus is before all things, and in Him all things hold together (John 1:2; Col. 1:16-17). This makes Him co eternal with the Father and the Holy Spirit−one in purpose, in union, in unity—hence, tri-unity, the triune God, the Trinity.
Each is spoken of as God
All three persons are God (John 1:1-3) The passages in this research will reveal compelling proof of how scripture ascribes deity to the Father, Son, and the Holy Spirit. Some may argue that the word Trinity is not in the bible—neither is the word Jehovah in the bible; it is a translation of the Hebrew name for God (YHWH). Vowels were added by man to create the name Jehovah. A careful study of the scriptures will reveal to the reader undeniable evidence that establishes the truth of a Triune God. For this purpose, the Berean Bible translation has been chosen. The usage of the name ‘LORD’ in the Old Testament of some bibles (including the Berean bible), is used in place of God's name, which Jewish scholars used so they would not accidently pronounce God's sacred name. Any Christian bible translation is a matter of personal preference.