The Trinity

THE TRIUNE GOD

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

Go, therefore 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

The Trinity

The Scripture passages for much of The Trinity, The Holy Spirit is God, Equality, and Procession comes from Scripture by Topic.

The Problem: Some self-professed "Christian" sects, deny the Trinitarian nature of God, Three Persons, One God.

The Truth: The One God is Three Persons in One Divine substance, having one intellect, and one will. Within the Godhead, the Person of the Father is unbegotten and does not proceed from any other Person. However, the Father eternally pours Himself out, eternally begetting the Son, and the Holy Spirit, the eternal and complete outpouring of love between Father and Son, eternally proceeds from the Father and (or through) the Son. The procession of the Son from the Father gives two relations: the relations of paternity and filiation. The procession of the Holy Spirit from the Father through the Son also gives two relations: the relation of active spiration (the Father and Son actively spirate the Spirit) and passive spiration (the Spirit is passively spirated). Active spiration is opposed to passive spiration, but is not opposed to paternity and filiation, thus there are three opposing relations and three Persons. God is, therefore, one in indivisible Substance, containing Two Processions, between Three Persons, having Four Relations. This knowledge, available only through the revelation brought to us by Jesus Christ, is part of the inner life of God.

Deut 6:4-5 "Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God is one Lord; 5 and you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your might.

God is clearly one. However...

Gen 1:26 Then God said, "Let us make man in our image, after our likeness...

Gen 3:22 Then the Lord God said, "Behold, the man has become like one of us, knowing good and evil; and now, lest he put forth his hand and take also of the tree of life, and eat, and live for ever"

Gen 11:7 "Come, let us go down, and there confuse their language, that they may not understand one another's speech."

God is also a plurality in some sense.

Gen 1:27 So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them.

For...

Gen 2:18 ...the Lord God said, "It is not good that the man should be alone; I will make a helper fit for him."

God is one. God is Good, complete in Himself. Man is made in the image and likeness of God. However, when man is alone, it is not good. If it is not good for the creature made in the image and likeness of God to be alone, then God is somehow not alone. But God, by definition, lacks nothing, and did not need to create. Therefore, God must be a plurality. It is interesting to note that the word "Paraclete" may also be translated "helper."

Prov 8:22 The Lord created me at the beginning of his work, the first of his acts of old.

Christ is the eternally-begotten Son of the Father...

Sir 24:3-21 "I came forth from the mouth of the Most High, and covered the earth like a mist. 4 I dwelt in high places, and my throne was in a pillar of cloud. 5 Alone I have made the circuit of the vault of heaven and have walked in the depths of the abyss. 6 In the waves of the sea, in the whole earth, and in every people and nation I have gotten a possession. 7 Among all these I sought a resting place; I sought in whose territory I might lodge. 8 "Then the Creator of all things gave me a commandment, and the one who created me assigned a place for my tent. And he said, 'Make your dwelling in Jacob, and in Israel receive your inheritance.' 9 From eternity, in the beginning, he created me, and for eternity I shall not cease to exist. 10 In the holy tabernacle I ministered before him, and so I was established in Zion. 11 In the beloved city likewise he gave me a resting place, and in Jerusalem was my dominion. 12 So I took root in an honored people, in the portion of the Lord, who is their inheritance. 13 "I grew tall like a cedar in Lebanon, and like a cypress on the heights of Hermon. 14 I grew tall like a palm tree in En-gedi, and like rose plants in Jericho; like a beautiful olive tree in the field, and like a plane tree I grew tall. 15 Like cassia and camel's thorn I gave forth the aroma of spices, and like choice myrrh I spread a pleasant odor, like galbanum, onycha, and stacte, and like the fragrance of frankincense in the tabernacle. 16 Like a terebinth I spread out my branches, and my branches are glorious and graceful. 17 Like a vine I caused loveliness to bud, and my blossoms became glorious and abundant fruit. 19 "Come to me, you who desire me, and eat your fill of my produce. 20 For the remembrance of me is sweeter than honey, and my inheritance sweeter than the honeycomb. 21 Those who eat me will hunger for more, and those who drink me will thirst for more.

Mt 3:16-17 And when Jesus was baptized, he went up immediately from the water, and behold, the heavens were opened and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove, and alighting on him; 17 and lo, a voice from heaven, saying, "This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased."

Mt 28:19 Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit,

Scripture asserts we should baptize in "the name" but then gives THREE names, not one.

Lk 1:35 And the angel said to her, "The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you; therefore the child to be born will be called holy, the Son of God.

Jn 14:16,26 And I will pray the Father, and he will give you another Counselor, to be with you for ever,... But the Counselor, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, he will teach you all things, and bring to your remembrance all that I have said to you.

Jn 15:26 But when the Counselor comes, whom I shall send to you from the Father, even the Spirit of truth, who proceeds from the Father, he will bear witness to me...

Acts 2:33 Being therefore exalted at the right hand of God, and having received from the Father the promise of the Holy Spirit, he has poured out this which you see and hear.

2 Cor 13:14 The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ and the love of God and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all. .

Gal 4:6-7 And because you are sons, God has sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, crying, "Abba! Father!" 7 So through God you are no longer a slave but a son, and if a son then an heir.

Eph 2:18 for through him we both have access in one Spirit to the Father.

Eph 3:14-17 For this reason I bow my knees before the Father, 15 from whom every family in heaven and on earth is named, 16 that according to the riches of his glory he may grant you to be strengthened with might through his Spirit in the inner man, 17 and that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith; that you, being rooted and grounded in love,

1 Jn 4:13-14 By this we know that we abide in him and he in us, because he has given us of his own Spirit. 14 And we have seen and testify that the Father has sent his Son as the Savior of the world.

God alone is truth. The Spirit must be God. The coming of the Holy Spirit is also foreshadowed in the Old Testament...

Jude 20-21 But you, beloved, build yourselves up on your most holy faith; pray in the Holy Spirit; 21 keep yourselves in the love of God; wait for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ unto eternal life.

Ezek 3:12,14 Then the Spirit lifted me up, and as the glory of the Lord arose from its place, I heard behind me the sound of a great earthquake...14 The Spirit lifted me up and took me away, and I went in bitterness in the heat of my spirit, the hand of the Lord being strong upon me;

Ezek 36:26 A new heart I will give you, and a new spirit I will put within you; and I will take out of your flesh the heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh.

Joel 2:28-32 "And it shall come to pass afterward, that I will pour out my spirit on all flesh; your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, your old men shall dream dreams, and your young men shall see visions. 29 Even upon the menservants and maidservants in those days, I will pour out my spirit. 30 "And I will give portents in the heavens and on the earth, blood and fire and columns of smoke. 31 The sun shall be turned to darkness, and the moon to blood, before the great and terrible day of the Lord comes. 32 And it shall come to pass that all who call upon the name of the Lord shall be delivered; for in Mount Zion and in Jerusalem there shall be those who escape, as the Lord has said, and among the survivors shall be those whom the Lord calls.

Mk 1:11 and a voice came from heaven, "Thou art my beloved Son; with thee I am well pleased."

Christ is called God's only Son.

Is 62:4-5 You shall no more be termed Forsaken, and your land shall no more be termed Desolate; but you shall be called My delight is in her, and your land Married; for the Lord delights in you, and your land shall be married. 5 For as a young man marries a virgin, so shall your sons marry you, and as the bridegroom rejoices over the bride, so shall your God rejoice over you.

But only Christ was called the Bridegroom.

Mt 9:15 And Jesus said to them, "Can the wedding guests mourn as long as the bridegroom is with them? The days will come, when the bridegroom is taken away from them, and then they will fast.

In the Old Testament, the terms "spouse" and "shepherd" (Ezekial 34) were strictly divine, yet Matthew refers to Christ as the Bridegroom, and John 10 speaks of Christ as the shepherd.

Lk 5:20-21 20 And when he saw their faith he said, "Man, your sins are forgiven you." 21 And the scribes and the Pharisees began to question, saying, "Who is this that speaks blasphemies? Who can forgive sins but God only?"

Christ forgives sin...

Mk 2:5-7 And when Jesus saw their faith, he said to the paralytic, "My son, your sins are forgiven." 6 Now some of the scribes were sitting there, questioning in their hearts, 7 "Why does this man speak thus? It is blasphemy! Who can forgive sins but God alone?"

...and forgives on his own authority.

Mt 5:17 "Think not that I have come to abolish the law and the prophets; I have come not to abolish them but to fulfil them.

He perfects and completes the Law.

Mt 12:8 For the Son of man is lord of the sabbath.

Mk 3:1-6 Again he entered the synagogue, and a man was there who had a withered hand. 2 And they watched him, to see whether he would heal him on the sabbath, so that they might accuse him. 3 And he said to the man who had the withered hand, "Come here." 4 And he said to them, "Is it lawful on the sabbath to do good or to do harm, to save life or to kill?" But they were silent. 5 And he looked around at them with anger, grieved at their hardness of heart, and said to the man, "Stretch out your hand." He stretched it out, and his hand was restored. 6 The Pharisees went out, and immediately held counsel with the Herodi-ans against him, how to destroy him.

He is Lord of the Sabbath...

Mt 25:31 "When the Son of man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, then he will sit on his glorious throne.

Rom 2:16 on that day when, according to my gospel, God judges the secrets of men by Christ Jesus.

He is supreme judge of all men...

Mt 11:27 All things have been delivered to me by my Father; and no one knows the Son except the Father, and no one knows the Father except the Son and any one to whom the Son chooses to reveal him.

He has unique, intimate, knowledge of the Father, and the Father reciprocates it...

Rom 9:5 to them belong the patriarchs, and of their race, according to the flesh, is the Christ, who is God over all, blessed for ever. Amen.

Tit 2:13 awaiting our blessed hope, the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ...

Paul calls Christ God...

2 Pet 1:1 Simeon Peter, a servant and apostle of Jesus Christ, To those who have obtained a faith of equal standing with ours in the righteousness of our God and Savior Jesus Christ...

So does Peter.

Jn 14:16, 26 And I will pray the Father, and he will give you another Counselor, to be with you for ever,... But the Counselor, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, he will teach you all things, and bring to your remembrance all that I have said to you

The Holy Spirit teaches all Christ taught.

Jn 16:13-15 When the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all the truth; for he will not speak on his own authority, but whatever he hears he will speak, and he will declare to you the things that are to come. 14 He will glorify me, for he will take what is mine and declare it to you. 15 All that the Father has is mine; therefore I said that he will take what is mine and declare it to you.

The Spirit speaks and announces..

Gal 2:17 But if, in our endeavor to be justified in Christ, we ourselves were found to be sinners, is Christ then an agent of sin? Certainly not!

Christ justifies us...

1 Cor 6:11 And such were some of you. But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and in the Spirit of our God.

The Spirit justifies us...

1 Cor 1:2 To the church of God which is at Corinth, to those sanctified in Christ Jesus, called to be saints together with all those who in every place call on the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, both their Lord and ours...

Jesus sanctifies us...

Rom 15:16 to be a minister of Christ Jesus to the Gentiles in the priestly service of the gospel of God, so that the offering of the Gentiles may be acceptable, sanctified by the Holy Spirit.

The Spirit sanctifies us...

Eph 1:13 In him you also, who have heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, and have believed in him, were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit,

Jesus seals us...

Eph 4:30 And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, in whom you were sealed for the day of redemption.

The Holy Spirit seals us...

Gal 4:4-6 But when the time had fully come, God sent forth his Son, born of woman, born under the law, 5 to redeem those who were under the law, so that we might receive adoption as sons. 6 And because you are sons, God has sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, crying, "Abba! Father!"

God sent the pre-existent Son into the world...

Rom 8:15-16 For you did not receive the spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but you have received the spirit of sonship. When we cry, "Abba! Father!" 16 it is the Spirit himself bearing witness with our spirit that we are children of God,

God sent the pre-existent Spirit into the world.

Early Christians' comments on the One God in Three Persons

More Early Christians' comments on the One God in Three Persons