Is the Trinity mentioned in the Bible? How can there be three in one?
Before we go into the Trinity of God, we need to have clear understanding of the Unity of God in the Scriptural sense. The Hebrew Word for one in such scriptures as Dt 6:4-6; Mal. 2:10 is a compound word which signified ‘one in unity’.
This is seen in some other scriptures marriage pair, Gen. 2:24, Matt. 189:5,6; Eph. 5:31. Obviously this text does not mean that the husband and the wife are one person but “one flesh” signified one in unity. This also can be seen in passages like Gen. 11:6 where the whole man of the world are called one. And in Eph. 2:14; 15; 4:13 where the whole church (consisting of many distinct persons) is spoken of as one.
In the process of revelation the one true God appears clearly in the New Testament as existing in three divine Persons: name here: ‘the Father”, and “the Son”, and the “Holy Spirit”. This set forth in the following scriptures, Matt. 3:16-17; I Cor. 12:4-6; II Cor. 13:14; Eph. 4:4-6.
The Father is called God, Rom. 1:17, the Son, Jesus Christ is called God, Is. 9:6-7; Hebrews 1:8 and the Holy Spirit is called God Acts 5:3-4. This does not mean we have three Gods but it means One God is manifesting in three distinct persons. Though we may not understand it fully yet, we can believe it since it is being taught by the Lord Himself both in picture and in precept – Matt. 3:16, 17, 28:19.
Also, study of some of Old Testament texts gives us some traces of Trinity. Gen1:26; 3:22; 11:6, Is 6:8.
However, we must beware of some erroneous teachings, which says Jesus is the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. This is fallacy. In order to guard against error let us hold fast to divine revelation that
(a) with respect to His being or essence God is one;
(b) with respect to His Personality God is three
(c) we must neither divide the essence nor confuse the persons.
CONCLUSION: Don’t be troubled if you cannot understand this doctrine of Trinity. “He who would try to understand the Trinity fully will loose his mind. But he who would deny the Trinity will loose his soul. – Lindsell and Woodbridge.
It is a mystery and will remain a mystery until we meet the Lord in glory. However, this does not mean we cannot believe it. We must believe it. God is so different from us. He is a Spirit and wise are human beings. We believe that God is honored and made happy by our believing this doctrine.
Let us worship this great God – who is so superior to us. Let us thank each member of the Trinity for that which they have personally done for us – The Father loves and gives. – The Son Redeems and Advocates – The Spirit Enlightens, indwells and Assists. Praise the Living God.
Have you really been born of the Spirit? Except you are born again you cannot see the Kingdom of God – John 3:7
You must be born again today!
Rev Debo Adeyemo
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The word ‘Trinity’ is not mentioned in the AV which I use. However, it is quite plain that there are three personages in the Godhead and that all three are required for our salvation. Here are some verses referring to the three personages of the Godhead.
Matthew 28:19-AV Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost:
John 14:26-AV But the Comforter, [which is] the Holy Ghost, whom the Father will send in my name, he shall teach you all things, and bring all things to your remembrance, whatsoever I have said unto you.
John 15:26-AV But when the Comforter is come, whom I will send unto you from the Father, [even] the Spirit of truth, which proceedeth from the Father, he shall testify of me:
2 Corinthians 13:14-AV The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the communion of the Holy Ghost, [be] with you all. Amen. [The second [epistle] to the Corinthians was written from Philippi, [a city] of Macedonia, by Titus and Lucas.]
1 Peter 1:2-AV Elect according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, through sanctification of the Spirit, unto obedience and sprinkling of the blood of Jesus Christ: Grace unto you, and peace, be multiplied.
It is not possible for a human mind to fully understand just what ‘God’ is. As an entity He is so vast. Consider some of the things we are told. He lives outside of linear time which He created. The whole universe, so vast we can only see a small part of it, was created from the energy of His mind. If here on earth a leaf falls to the ground, and on the other side of the universe, beyond our telescopes, an atom collides with another, He is aware of both events. There is one line of thought that admits the possibility of scale within creation. For instance the atoms and molecules and the forces that bind them together, that go to make up matter in our world, are the same on a smaller scale as the universe in which we live. This line of thought would have us existing on an electron of an atom in a larger dimension. These are mind boggling thoughts and we are told that;
1Corinthians 2:9-AV But as it is written, Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for them that love him.
But then, many consider that we too, are triune beings with body, mind and spirit, making up the whole person.
In the Trinity we have three distinct personages which function differently but which have a common mind and intelligence. I sometimes picture the Father as the central intelligence, the Son as the part that gets things done, the visible manifestation if you like, and the Holy Spirit as the energy and awareness that links everything together. They are one, yet they are three.
All three parts of the Godhead are necessary for our salvation. The Father who made the laws we have transgressed, whose providence it is to forgive us for our sins. The Son, The Word of God, Jesus Christ, our Creator, who became flesh and lived a pure life, who permitted Himself to be offered as a sacrifice for our sins, so that His perfect blood sacrifice could be offered as a substitute for us, permitting us to be reconciled to the Father. And the Holy Spirit or Holy Ghost, whose function it is to make us aware of our shortcomings and bring us to repentance. Having done this, the Spirit co exists with us, teaching us, guiding us, and making us a little more God like every day we live.
At this point I would like to ask you, dear reader, if you have listened to the voice of the Holy Spirit, convicting you of your sin, and drawing you to repentance? Have you confessed your sins to Jesus who will apply his shed blood as payment for your crimes? Have you claimed forgiveness from the Father through the sacrifice of His Son? Is the Holy Spirit dwelling in you, keeping you on the right path and teaching you of all things? It is something you can choose to do. All it requires is for you to surrender your life to Jesus, to become His to do with as He pleases, and to be sorry enough for your sins to want to give them up. Go in peace…
Should anyone desire a full study on this topic, showing all bible references, too large for this newsletter, please email me and I will send to you.
Lance Wearmouth
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Although the word Trinity is not used in the Bible, there is much Biblical support for this concept. In Genesis, God says “Let US make man in OUR image” (emphasis mine). However, there is not more than one God (Isaiah 48:9-12) So, how can this be? The word for God often used in the Old Testament, Elohim, is a plural term. So, it is possible to conclude that God is present in three persons who are NOT separate Gods. Jesus Himself stated that before Abraham existed, “I AM”. He would not have been accused of blasphemy by the religious leaders if He were implying that He was a created being separate from the Father.
There are many references in the New Testament equating Jesus Christ with God. The Holy Spirit, too is equated with God. (Jn 14:16-17) Probably one of the best verses to support the Trinity is Matthew 28:19 “Go out and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.” God probably would not have asked people to be baptized in those names if they were not one with God. The Trinity is a perfect example of a holy mystery. We can’t fully understand it, but by faith we can believe it to be true.
If asked to describe the concept to a non-Christian, the best example I could think of is what St. Patrick used to teach the Irish; the shamrock has separate leaves that are part of the rest of the plant. It’s an imperfect analogy, but the best explanation I can think of. I would also recommend the creed of St. Athanasius. Though it is an old document, it explains the nature of the Trinity quite well. YSIC,
AJ Demers
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How can there be three in one? This is hard to grasp and we must pray for faith and understanding. I see the simple side of three in one as in many of us. I am a mother, a grandmother and an aunt as well as many more titles. When my grandson asked me about this I explained and his response was, just like, Father, Son and Holy Spirit. So sometimes we understand through a child.
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In Genesis 1:26 the word says let Us make man in Our image. In Genesis 18:17 One member of the Godhead is asking the other” Shall I hide from Abram what I am about to do?” Concerning the Trinity; in Genesis 18:2 three men stood next to Abraham’s tent and he called them a singular Lord. This indicates three in one God. The Hebrew plural noun echad (one). I hope this helps your question. In His grace,
Allan Mann
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Matthew 28:16-20 refers to the trinity by saying: When the eleven disciples went to Galilee, to the mountain where Jesus had told them to go. When they saw him, they worshiped him; but some doubted. Then Jesus came to them and said, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.”
Titus 3:5-7 says: He saved us through the washing of rebirth and renewal by the Holy Spirit, whom he poured out on us generously through Jesus Christ our Savior, so that, having been justified by his grace, we might become heirs having the hope of eternal life.
JOB 33:4 The Spirit of God hath made me, and the breath of the Almighty hath given me life. {Creator}
1 CORINTHIANS 2:10-13 But God hath revealed {them} unto us by his Spirit: for the Spirit searcheth all things, yea, the deep things of God. (11) For what man knoweth the things of a man, save the spirit of man which is in him? even so the things of God knoweth no man, but the Spirit of God. (12) Now we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the spirit which is of God; that we might know the things that are freely given to us of God. (13) Which things also we speak, not in the words which man’s wisdom teacheth, but which the Holy Ghost teacheth; comparing spiritual things with spiritual.
1 CORINTHIANS 3:16 Know ye not that ye are the temple of God, and {that} the Spirit of God dwelleth in you? {cf. to 1 Cor 6:19}
2 CORINTHIANS 3:6,17-18 Who also hath made us able ministers of the new testament; not of the letter, but of the spirit: for the letter killeth, but the spirit giveth life . . . (17) Now the Lord is that Spirit: and where the Spirit of the Lord {is}, there {is} liberty. (18) But we all, with open face beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord, are changed into the same image from glory to glory, {even} as by the Spirit of the Lord.
HEBREWS 9:14 How much more shall the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without spot to God, . . .
ROMANS 8:26-27 Likewise the Spirit also helpeth our infirmities: for we know not what we should pray for as we ought: but the Spirit itself maketh intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered. (27) And he that searcheth the hearts knoweth what {is} the mind of the Spirit, because he maketh intercession for the saints according to {the will of} God.
1 JOHN 4:12-16: If we love one another, God dwelleth in us, and his love is perfected in us. (13) Hereby know we that we dwell in him, and he in us, because he hath given us of his Spirit. (14) And we have seen and do testify that the Father sent the Son {to be} the Saviour of the world. (15) Whosoever shall confess that Jesus is the Son of God, God dwelleth in him, and he in God. (16) And we have known and believed the love that God hath to us. God is love; and he that dwelleth in love dwelleth in God, and God in him.
GALATIANS 4:6 And because ye are sons, God hath sent forth the Spirit of his Son into your hearts, crying, Abba, Father.
JOHN 14:20 At that day ye shall know that I {am} in my Father, and ye in me, and I in you.
JOHN 17:23 I in them, and thou in me, that they may be made perfect in one.
Deedee
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Those who do not accept the Trinity doctrine reject it in part because the word “Trinity” is not found in Scripture. Of course, there is no verse that says “God is three Persons” or “God is a Trinity.” This is all quite evident and true, strictly speaking, but it proves nothing. There are many words and phrases that Christians use, which are not found in the Bible. For example, the word “Bible” is not found in the Bible.
More to the point, opponents of the Trinity doctrine claim that a Trinitarian view of God’s nature and being can’t be proven from the Bible. Since the books of the Bible are not written as theological tracts, this may seem on the surface to be true. There is no statement in Scripture that says, “God is three Persons in one being, and here is the proof. . .”
However, the New Testament does bring God (Father), the Son (Jesus Christ) and the Holy Spirit together in such a way as to strongly imply the Trinitarian nature of God. Three Scriptures are quoted below as a summary of the many other biblical passages that bring together the three Persons of the Godhead. One Scripture is from the Gospels, another is from the apostle Paul and a third is from the apostle Peter. The words in each passage referring to each of the three Persons are italicized to emphasize their Trinitarian implication: All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit [Matthew 28:19]. May the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all [2 Corinthians 13:14]. To God’s elect. . .who have been chosen according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, through the sanctifying work of the Spirit, for obedience to Jesus Christ and sprinkling by his blood [1 Peter 1:1-2].
Here are three passages in Scripture, one on the lips of Jesus, and the other two from leading apostles, each bringing together the three Persons of the Godhead in an unmistakable way. But these are only a sampling of other similar passages. Among others are the following: Romans 14:17-18; 15:16; 1 Corinthians 2:2-5; 6:11; 12:4-6; 2 Corinthians 1:21-22; Galatians 4:6; Ephesians 2:18-22; 3:14-19; Ephesians 4:4-6; Colossians 1:6-8; 1Thessalonians 1:3-5; 2 Thessalonians 2:13-14; Titus 3:4-6. The reader is encouraged to read each of these passages and note how God (Father), Son (Jesus Christ) and the Holy Spirit are brought together as instruments of our salvation. Certainly, such passages show that the New Testament faith is implicitly Trinitarian. Of course, it’s true that none of these passages say directly that “God is a Trinity. . .” or “This is the Trinitarian doctrine. . .” But they don’t need to.
As mentioned above, the books of the New Testament are not formal, point by point treatises of doctrine. Nonetheless, these and other Scriptures speak easily and without any self-consciousness of God (Father), Son (Jesus) and Holy Spirit working together. The writers show no feeling of strangeness in joining these divine Persons together as a unity in their salvific work. Systematic theologian Alister E. McGrath makes this point in his book Christian Theology:
The foundations of the doctrine of the Trinity are to be found in the pervasive pattern of divine activity to which the New Testament bears witness. . .There is the closest of connections between the Father, Son, and Spirit in the New Testament writings. Time after time, New Testament passages link together these three elements as part of a greater whole. The totality of God’s saving presence and power can only, it would seem, be expressed by involving all three elements. . . [page 248]. Such New Testament Scriptures answer the charge that the Trinity doctrine was only developed well into the church age and that it reflects “pagan” ideas, and not biblical ones.
If we look at Scripture with an open mind regarding what it says about the being we call God, it’s clear that he is shown to be Triune in nature. We can confidently say that the Trinity, as a truth regarding God’s essential being, has always been a reality. Perhaps it was not completely clear in the dim ages of man, including even in the Old Testament. But the Incarnation of the Son of God and the coming of the Holy Spirit revealed that God was Triune. This revelation was made in concrete fact, in that the Son and the Holy Spirit broke into our world at definite points in history.
The fact of the Triune revelation of God in historical time was only later described in the word of God we call the New Testament. James R. White, a Christian apologist, says in his book The Forgotten Trinity: “The Trinity is a doctrine not revealed merely in words but instead in the very action of the Triune God in redemption itself! We know who God is by what He has done in bringing us to himself!” (page 167).
Written by Paul Kroll, 1999
Bailey Gertrude E NSSC
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NO, the trinity is not mentioned in the bible. (If you believe that God is one in three persons.) If you do believe that God is one (Duet. 6:4) however, you can see how he manifests Himself in different ways. As I am a son, father and husband, I also am considered to act differently when I am playing the role of each of these differently. I serve in different ROLES….not PERSONS. Jesus Christ was 100% God – 100% man. The FULLness of the godhead dwelt in Jesus bodily. Hence, what you see is what you get. Just as (doubting) Thomas only saw the role of the son in Jesus, he didn’t accept his role also as the father until after his resurrection…”my lord AND MY GOD.” I believe this is a subject that must be REVEALED, not merely taught by man’s wisdom. Just as we are commissioned to baptize in the name of the father and of the son and of the holy spirit (not names), we see the apostles understanding when they baptized in the NAME OF JESUS. For he was the begotten son in flesh, but also the father and holy spirit on location…FOR HE IS ONE. Check the “Christian” history books yourself. The term “trinity” was invented by the Catholic Church (as well as infant baptism…scary!!!) Stay on guard. Read the bible for yourself. The ONE God manifested himself in THREE different major roles, not THREE persons in ONE GOD.
God Bless. May the Lord lead and guide all of us in His truth,
Rev. Jeffrey L. Smith
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The word Trinity is not found in the Bible. The concept however is. A lot of people get confused about the Trinity. I explain it like this. The Trinity is like an egg. There is know difference in the way they work. An egg is made up of egg shell, egg white, and egg yoke. Now matter how you slice them they are egg. The shell is egg, the white is egg, the yoke is egg. You can have just the shell and it is still egg. You can have just the white , and it is still egg. you can have just the yoke and still it is egg. Separate they are egg, together they are egg. The Trinity is the same. God the Father, God the Son And God the Holy Ghost. The father is God, The son is still God and the Holy Spirit is God. They are all God regardless of being together or separate. But we must also realize just because the egg yoke is egg, the yoke can be nothing but egg and yoke, the yoke cannot become shell, the shell cannot become white, the white cannot become yoke. They can all be Egg but they cannot take on the individual identity of the other.
The same is with the Trinity. They are all God. But the Father is not the Son, the Son is not the Holy Spirit, and the Holy Ghost is not the Father. Jesus is God but Jesus is not the Father or the Holy Spirit. The Father is God, but the Father is not Jesus or the holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit is God, but The holy Spirit is not the Father or Jesus. They are three separate entities in one GOD! Only God has the power to be all of them and give them all the power to be him and still they do not become each other. That is why Jesus identified each one separately. He knew he could never be His Father or the Holy Spirit. But He knew that He wanted all to be present and accounted for when it came to Baptism. Justas all three were there when He was Baptized. Of course Jesus was there, And The Heavens opened and The Father was there because He said “this is my beloved Son in who I am well pleased. And the Holy Spirit was there in the form of the Dove. God gave us this example, to follow because He wants us to know that they can all be God but they cannot be each other.
Sandra Evans
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The Trinity is mentioned in the Bible. It is the Father, Son and Holy Ghost. How there can be three in one has been a mystery to me.
Dave Schiefele
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The three-in-one concept is one of God’s great mysteries. To think about it, once boggled my mind, until one day a person suggested I liken it to an egg. There is the shell, the white and in the middle, the yolk. By the very same reasoning it is three-in-one, so it is with the Trinity. The “Trinity”, like the term “rapture” is never used directly in the Bible but it does make many references to the Father being in the Son and the Son being in the Father. In Genesis, the term “we” is used before man was created. Man was created on “our” image. Who comprises “our”? Who is “we”? Father, Son, and the Holy Spirit.
B. Thorbjörnsson