The Trinity

The Trinity. Matthew 1 - 2

Walking past her table at Women of Passion, I heard my name and turned with a look of inquiry on my face. ‘Oh, you’re here,” she said, “what in the world did you mean when you wrote ‘Jesus is the only person who ever lived before he was born!’?” I looked back into her beautiful bewildered eyes, and said, “Well . . . Jesus has always been, he just was not always a human being, right?” The bewildered look did not disappear. Then I knew I had to teach on the mysterious subject of the Trinity.

Hmmm . . . how to explain the Trinity. It is not easily explained or understood, especially for those who are new to the faith, or to the study of the beloved Scriptures. And so we humbly ask, ‘Dear Father, please open our minds and enable our ability to understand you—who you are, a triune God, yet one. Amen.’

It is of great value to have knowledge of our three-in-one God as we study about the life of Jesus in Matthew; Jesus takes on the form of a man but does not give up his perfection as the Son of God. Jesus is fully God, and also fully man. Again—not easily grasped, as we cannot imagine a human being who is flawless or sinless.

Yet that is what was required for his mission on earth—

Jesus Christ, our Messiah,

was the perfect Lamb of God,

crucified on our behalf.

The only person fit for the task.

One cannot look up trinity in a biblical concordance because the word is not found in the Bible, yet God clearly makes this part of himself known in the scripture. Indeed, since the beginning of the written words of God, from the time of Creation, the triune godhead is evident. Take a look: “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. The earth was formless and empty, and darkness covered the deep waters. 2And the Spirit of God was hovering over the surface of the waters.”1

Then in his gospel, John refers to Jesus as the Word, noting his prior existence and participation at the time of creation: “In the beginning the Word already existed. The Word was with God, and the Word was God. He existed in the beginning with God. God created everything through him, and nothing was created except through him.”2 The Greek word for John’s name for Jesus as ‘the Word’ is from the word ‘logos’ and would have been familiar to his readers—both Greek and Hebrew. Logos was a description of Jesus being the personification of God to the world. Reread it then replacing Word/Logos with Jesus—In the beginning Jesus already existed … and further that God created everything through Jesus.

Paul further comments of Jesus, “He existed before anything else, and he holds all creation together.”4 Remember Paul, a Jew among Jews, knew this fit with what the Jewish people knew from the psalms about creation: “The LORD merely spoke, and the heavens were created. He breathed the word, and all the stars were born.”3

“The Lord merely spoke, and the heavens were created.He breathed the word, and all the stars were born,”4 a further explanation of what we read in Genesis chapter one. “Then God said, "Let there be light," and there was light.”5 Scripture affirming itself.

The preceding verses contain a lot of information, and may require several readings if the concepts are new. God created the heavens and the earth, and he chose to do so, by Jesus Christ speaking them into existence. The Spirit of God was present as Genesis 1 verse two clearly stated above.

God the Father, God the Son, God the Holy Spirit ~ three parts, or three personalities, but they form one being: God. So yes, dear Shannon, Jesus is the only person who ever lived before he was born!

Christine

1 – Genesis 1.1-2

2 – John 1.1-3

3 - Colossians 1.17

4 – Psalm 33.6

5 – Hebrews 11.3

6 - Genesis 1.3