This Sunday, we are starting our new believers class during first service.
This first week, we will be thinking about who Jesus is and what he has done. But as we think about Jesus, that quickly leads to us to the question of the Trinity. Let’s go ahead and get that question out of the way now-since I’m sure everyone will read this before the class 🙂
The Bible is pretty clear about a few important points:
- The Father is God.
Grace to you, and peace, from God our Father . . . (1 Thess 1:1)
- The Son is God.
In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God (John 1:1)
- The Holy Spirit is God.
. . . to lie to the Holy Spirit . . . You have not lied to man but to God (Acts 5:3-4)
So does this mean there are three Gods?
No, the Bible-both Old and New Testaments-is crystal clear that there is one God (Deut 6:4; 1 Tim 2:5; James 2:19).
The Bible is also clear that the Father is not the Son (since the Son prays to the Father) and the Father is not the Holy Spirit (since the Father sends the Spirit in Jesus’ name in John 14:26). All three of them are doing different things, and in those things, they bring glory to each other.
While we cannot explain why or how all of this is true, we must, along with our brothers and sisters around the world and through the centuries, confess that they are true and put ourselves under the revealed Word of God.
This is why we can joyfully affirm with Christians through the ages the words of the Apostles’ Creed:
“I believe in God the Father, Almighty, Maker of heaven and earth . . . And in Jesus Christ, his only begotten Son, our Lord . . . I believe in the Holy Spirit.”
I’ve found this diagram from Justin Taylor a helpful way to plot out the Bible’s teaching on the three persons of the Trinity. Our glorious God is beyond our full comprehension, but he is worthy of our full adoration!
