God is ONE, yet GOD is three? The Trinity Exposed.

The Trinity refers to the tri-unity that is God.  God is one, yet God is three persons.  God is:

1. the creator or Father,
2. the redeemer, savior, or Son, and the
3. sustainer, sanctifier, or Holy Spirit.

All three persons are co-eternal, co-equal, co-exist in perfect unity, and share the same being or nature--yet they are distinct.

The Trinity is a mystery.  It is hard for many to fathom.  It is perhaps the most difficult and least understood teaching of the historic Christian faith.  It is a doctrine that is apprehended in the way in which God reveals himself and acts in Holy Scripture.  The word "Trinity" is not found in the Bible.  Yet, this doctrine has been upheld as a central teaching of Christianity since the earliest times--affirmed by the three ecumenical creeds of the early undivided Church: The Apostles, Nicene and Athanasian Creeds.

Someone might well ask: What does the Trinity have to do with my salvation?  Where is it mentioned as a doctrine in the Scriptures?

The Rev. James T. Batchelor writes:  "Both creation and salvation show that the Father, Son and the Holy Spirit are completely seperate persons who always work together as a team--each one taking a role in every gift that God gives us.  We can't possibly begin to understand how this all works.  Fortunately, God does not ask us to understand, but only to believe--and even the faith that believes is a gift from the Holy Spirit."

He goes on to say that "the Father sends the Son into the world, the Son redeems the world, and the Holy Spirit that gives redemption to the world through the gift of faith," adding that "the three persons of one of God work together in perfect harmony to bring salvation to us."

How well do we understand God?  "Most people's understanding of God is way too small,"  says the Rev. Karen Siegfeldt.   "The doctrine of the Trinity,"  she continues, "is basically an expanded notion of God.  Its purpose is to help us see and understand God in a more comprehensive way.  And because we have a tendency to limit God, we need a way to explore the fullness of the mystery of God.  The doctrine of the Trinity is one way: Three persons, ONE God, working together in love."

"The idea of the Trinity tells us something about how God is revealed to us, how God works in human events,"  explains the Rev. Richard Fairchild.  He continues: "It doesn't fully tell us WHO or WHAT God is ... but it tells us some important stuff nonetheless.  ... It helps us identify God."

God is one, yet God is three.

Nice.  But where is the biblical evidence for the Holy Trinity, the tri-unity that is God? 

My favorite place to start is John's Gospel.  It opens with these words.

"In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.
He was with God in the beginning.  Through him all things were made; without him
nothing was made that has been made"(John 1:1-3).

• In John 10:30, Jesus says: "I and the Father are one."

• Then, in John 14:16 and 15:26, Jesus says this about the Holy Spirit.

"And I will ask the Father and he will give you another Counselor to be with you
forever. ... When the Counselor comes, whom I will send to you from the Father,
the Spirit of truth who goes out from the Father, he will testify about me."

The following verses from other New Testament writers also attest to the tri-unity of God, starting with the command Jesus gave for baptism. 

• Go, therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son,
  and of the Holy Spirit (Matthew 28:19).

• Great indeed, we confess, is the mystery of godliness: He was manifested in the flesh, vindicated
  by the Spirit, seen by angels, proclaimed among the nations, believed on in the world, taken up
  in glory (1 Timothy 3.16).

• How much more shall the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without
  spot to God, purge your conscience from dead works to serve the living God (Hebrews 9:14)?

• According to the foreknowledge of God the Father, in the sanctification of the Spirit, for obedience
  to Jesus Christ and for sprinkling with his blood: May grace and peace be multiplied to you
  (1 Peter 1.2).

I shall close with a Trinitarian blessing given by the Apostle Paul as he closes his second letter to the Church at Corinth.

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).

Colby 

*/ Sources /*

• Feast of the Holy Trinity: Sermon on Genesis 1:1-3 by the Rev. James T. Batchelor
• Grace, Love and Communion:  A Sermon on the Trinity by the Rev. Karen F. Siegfriedt