THE TRIUNE GOD

"But you, beloved, building yourselves up on your most holy faith, praying in the Holy Spirit, keep yourselves in the love of God, looking for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ unto eternal life" (Jude 20, 21, NKJV).

In Scripture, there are three separate but interrelated types of evidence for the Trinity, or tri-unity of God: (1) evidence for the unity of God, that God is one; (2) evidence that there are three Persons who are God; (3) subtle textual hints of God’s three-in-oneness.

The “eternal heavenly dignitaries—God, and Christ, and the Holy Spirit,” as Ellen G. White calls them (Evangelism, p. 616), are equal but not identical or interchangeable.

THE ONENESS OF GOD. ¹⁴ God said to Moses, “I AM WHO I AM.^[a] This is what you are to say to the Israelites: ‘I AM has sent me to you.’”

There is but one God, the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and not many gods as the nations and tribes around the Hebrews believed. In this sense, the religion of the Bible was unique.

^{Deut. 6: 4} Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God, the LORD is one.

“Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one” (Deut. 6:4, ESV). Compare that verse with Genesis 2:24(ESV), “Therefore a man shall leave his father and his mother and hold fast to his wife, and they shall become one flesh.” What might it mean that the same Hebrew word for “one” appears in both texts?

The same word, echad, for “one,” is used of God in the “Shema” of Deuteronomy 6:4. This word echad for oneness does not imply a mathematical sum but a complex unity instead. Something is being affirmed here about a unity of distinct parts. Husbands and wives are to be “one” (echad) according to Genesis 2:24, just as in Deuteronomy God is “one.
^{James 2: 19} You believe that there is one God. Good! Even the demons believe that—and shudder.
^{1 Cori. 8: 4} So then, about eating food sacrificed to idols: We know that “An idol is nothing at all in the world” and that “There is no God but one.”

IT TAKES ALL THREE. THE MYSTERY OF THE GODHEAD REVEALED. John Wesley wrote the following to help us understand the Trinity: “Here are three candles, yet there is but one light. Explain this and I will explain the Three-One God.”

^{Matt.28: 19} 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,

However, the Hebrew root word for God in this verse, Elohim, is plural. A triune God is in many ways a mathematical absurdity.1 When you think about it, the belief in a Supreme Being who is responsible for creating the world, but yet Himself remains uncreated, is a mystery on its own. Charles A. Tapp, College Park, Maryland, États-Unis

John 1: ¹ In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.

“With the advent of the Holy Spirit, he came even closer as the indwelling presence of God within the com­munity of believers and within the intimacy of their individual lives.” Gilbert Bilezikian, Christianity 101, 1993, p. 88

THE DEITY OF CHRIST. Phil.2: ⁶ Who, being in very nature^[a] God,
   did not consider equality with God something to be used to his own advantage;

Heb.1: ⁸ But about the Son he says,  “Your throne, O God, will last for ever and ever; a scepter of justice will be the scepter of your kingdom. ⁹ You have loved righteousness and hated wickedness; therefore God, your God, has set you above your companions by anointing you with the oil of joy.”

^{Matt.13: 41} The Son of Man will send out his angels, and they will weed out of his kingdom everything that causes sin and all who do evil.

^{Marc 2: 7} “Why does this fellow talk like that? He’s blaspheming! Who can forgive sins but God alone?”… ¹⁰ But I want you to know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins.”
Who else but God could, rightfully, do that?

^{Matt. 14: 33} Then those who were in the boat worshiped him, saying, “Truly you are the Son of God.”

^{Acts 14: 11} When the crowd saw what Paul had done, they shouted in the Lycaonian language, “The gods have come down to us in human form!”…¹³ The priest of Zeus, whose temple was just outside the city, brought bulls and wreaths to the city gates because he and the crowd wanted to offer sacrifices to them. ¹⁵ “Friends, why are you doing this? We too are only human, like you. We are bringing you good news, telling you to turn from these worthless things to the living God, who made the heavens and the earth and the sea and everything in them…^.18 Even with these words, they had difficulty keeping the crowd from sacrificing to them.

^{John 1: 1} In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. ² He was with God in the beginning. ³ Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made.

^{John 1:14} The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the one and only Son, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth.

^{John 1: 15} (John testified concerning him. He cried out, saying, “This is the one I spoke about when I said, ‘He who comes after me has surpassed me because he was before me.’”) ¹⁶ Out of his fullness we have all received grace in place of grace already given. ¹⁷ For the law was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ. ¹⁸ No one has ever seen God, but the one and only Son, who is himself God and^[b] is in closest relationship with the Father, has made him known.
^{Matt.26: 63} But Jesus remained silent. The high priest said to him, “I charge you under oath by the living God: Tell us if you are the Messiah, the Son of God.” ⁶⁴ “You have said so,” Jesus replied. “But I say to all of you: From now on you will see the Son of Man sitting at the right hand of the Mighty One and coming on the clouds of heaven.”

Take some time to dwell on the life of Jesus and, as you do, focus on the fact that He was God Himself, the Creator of the universe. What does this tell us about God’s love for the world? Why should you draw much comfort and hope from this amazing truth?

GOD IS ONE, BUT THREE. Deut.6: ⁴ Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God, the LORD is one.


^{1 John 5: 7} For there are three that testify: ⁸ the^[a] Spirit, the water and the blood; and the three are in agreement. (Myself, I believe God is the Brain, Jesus Christ is the Mind working with the flesh and in contact with the blood, and the Spirit is the Intelligence. Caution though, just my personal thought) In Christ, God literally became flesh and blood. Charles A. Tapp, Isaiah 53:  ⁵ But he was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was on him, and by his wounds we are healed. (This was foreseen by Isaiah long before the fact: the reality and the power of God!)

“From the days of eternity the Lord Jesus Christ was one with the Father; He was ‘the image of God,’ the image of His greatness and majesty, ‘the outshin­ing of His glory.’ Ellen G. White

“The Comforter that Christ promised to send after He ascended to heaven, is the Spirit in all the fullness of the Godhead, making manifest the power of divine grace to all who receive and believe in Christ as a personal Saviour.” Ellen White

THE HOLY SPIRIT.  Gen.1: ² Now the earth was formless and empty, darkness was over the surface of the deep, and the Spirit of God was hovering over the waters.

^{Matt.28: 19} 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,

1. When announcing the birth of Christ, the angel tells Mary that her Child will be called “Holy” because the Holy Spirit will come upon her (Luke 1:35). ³⁵ The angel answered, “The Holy Spirit will come on you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you. So the Holy one to be born will be called^[a] the Son of God.

 2. Jesus claimed that the Spirit of the Lord was upon Him, anointing Him to preach (Luke 4:18). ¹⁸ “The Spirit of the Lord is on me, because he has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners and recovery of sight for the blind, to set the oppressed free,

3. He also claimed to be driving out demons by the Spirit of God (Matt. 12:28). ²⁸ But if it is by the Spirit of God that I drive out demons, then the kingdom of God has come upon you.

4. The Spirit, who is to carry on Christ’s work after His departure, is another Counselor of the same kind (John 14:16). ¹⁶ And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another advocate to help you and be with you forever

 5. Jesus breathed out the Holy Spirit upon His followers (John 20:22). ²² And with that he breathed on them and said, “Receive the Holy Spirit.

6. New Christians will have both the indwelling Holy Spirit (John 14:17) and also the Spirit of Christ (Gal. 2:20, Col. 1:27). John 14: ¹⁷ the Spirit of truth. The world cannot accept him, because it neither sees him nor knows him. But you know him, for he lives with you and will be in you.

Gal.2: ²⁰ I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I now live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.

^{Col.1: 27} To them God has chosen to make known among the Gentiles the glorious riches of this mystery, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory.

Christ and the Holy Spirit are intimately linked with each other’s ministry. Moreover, there are biblical references that identify the Holy Spirit as God. Read Acts 5:1–11. How does this incident help us understand the deity of the Holy Spirit, as well? ³ Then Peter said, “Ananias, how is it that Satan has so filled your heart that you have lied to the Holy Spirit and have kept for yourself some of the money you received for the land? ⁴ Didn’t it belong to you before it was sold? And after it was sold, wasn’t the money at your disposal? What made you think of doing such a thing? You have not lied just to human beings but to God.”

ELOHIN: THEY IS/ ADNONAI: WE AM. Creation also exemplifies the plurality of God—air, water, and dry land make one world. It teaches us that “God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them” (Gen. 1:27).

(1)     To see Jesus is to see the Father. (2) The Father loves us as much as Jesus does. (3) The Spirit will be sent to teach us what we don’t understand, and to help us to remember what we have learned.

“for them also which shall believe on me through their word; that they all may be one; as thou, Father, art in me, and I in thee, that they also may be one in us” John 17: 20, 21

As you study the Trinity, may “the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the communion of the Holy Ghost, be with you all. Amen” (2 Cor. 13:14). Crystal Hatcher, Berrien Springs, Michigan, U.S.A. Collegiate Quarterly

IN UNITY AND EQUALITY. ²⁶ Then God said, “Let us make mankind in our image, in our likeness, so that they may rule over the fish in the sea and the birds in the sky, over the livestock and all the wild animals,^[a] and over all the creatures that move along the ground.”

^{Gen.11: 7} Come, let us go down and confuse their language so they will not understand each other.”

^{Isaiah 6: 8} Then I heard the voice of the Lord saying, “Whom shall I send? And who will go for us?” And I said, “Here am I. Send me!”

^{Acts 2: 33} Exalted to the right hand of God, he has received from the Father the promised Holy Spirit and has poured out what you now see and hear.

^{2 Cor.1:21} Now it is God who makes both us and you stand firm in Christ. He anointed us, ²² set his seal of ownership on us, and put his Spirit in our hearts as a deposit, guaranteeing what is to come.

^{2 Cor.13: 14} May the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all.

^{LIVING A TRINITY-INSPIRED LIFE. John 1: 14} The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the one and only Son, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth.

God created us to glorify Him. He made us in His image. Sin, however, has corrupted the clarity of God’s reflection in us. Yet following Christ’s example can help to en­sure that other people glimpse God through us. Daniel Alexander Granderson

^{John 13: 35} By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.”

Don’t just talk about it; be about it.! Love as God loves.

When you look into your spiritual mirror (the Bible), what simple but significant adjustments do you feel you can make to better reflect the image of God?

^{Rom.3: 16} For I am not ashamed of the gospel, because it is the power of God that brings salvation to everyone who believes: first to the Jew, then to the Gentile.

Remember the main verse: “But you, beloved, building yourselves up on your most holy faith, praying in the Holy Spirit, keep yourselves in the love of God, looking for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ unto eternal life”  Jude 20, 21

THE TRINITY AND SALVATION. Read Christ’s prayer in John 14–16 and count the number of references to the three Persons of God.

The whole point of the gospel is that it was God Himself on the cross bearing the sins of the world. Anything short of this would denude the atonement of everything that made it so powerful and effective.

Sin itself would not be so bad if all it took were the death of a creature and not the Creator to atone for it. The fact that it took God Himself, in the Person of Christ, to remedy sin presents powerful evidence of just how serious sin is.

But with God, the Creator, sacrificing Himself for our sins . . . it’s all but blasphemous to believe anything we do could supplement that sacrifice. Thus, were Christ not divine, the atonement would be fatally compromised.

Think for a moment: the Creator of the universe died in your stead, in your place, so you could have the promise of eternal life in Him. How can you learn to draw hope and assurance from this amazing truth? In light of this reality, what else really matters? 
 Jo Ann Davidson is a professor of Theology

EL SHADDAI: THE REAL SUPER-HERO. Most people don’t like to think of the Trinity as their greatest Rescuer. They want God to be a deity who creates, exists, and observes without meddling in their earthly affairs.

In this world, we each are brought face to face with challenges and powerfully wicked spirits that shake the foundation of our lives.

Why do we insist on limiting God’s power when Scripture is obvious about His superhero status? This is why I think that the concept of God as a being who just sits on a throne without defending the weak is so horrific.

From what daily struggles and demons do you need to be delivered? How can you allow the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit to do so? Juan-Jose D. Garza



FURTHER STUDY. In the doctrine of the Trinity, we do not find three different divine roles displayed by one Person (that is modalism). Nor are there three gods in a cluster (that is tritheism or polytheism).

^{Phil.2: 8} And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to death—even death on a cross!

^{Heb.5: 8} Son though he was, he learned obedience from what he suffered ⁹ and, once made perfect, he became the source of eternal salvation for all who obey him

These statements reveal that the subordinate role Jesus played resulted from the Incarnation, which was crucial to the plan of salvation.

“‘His name shall be called Immanuel, . . . God with us.’ ‘The light of the knowledge of the glory of God’ is seen ‘in the face of Jesus Christ.’ From the days of eternity the Lord Jesus Christ was one with the Father; He was ‘the image of God,’ the image of His greatness and majesty, ‘the outshining of His glory.’ It was to manifest this glory that He came to our world.” Ellen G. White
^{John 8: 58} “Very truly I tell you,” Jesus answered, “before Abraham was born, I am!”

If we want to deepen our love for the great infinite God we serve and be drawn to worship Him, we first must try to grasp what He tells us about Himself. The Trinity is a mystery, but in Scripture “mysteries” are deep truths that an infinite God reveals to us on a finite level. Thus, we can safely speak of God only from our knees. “ ‘Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one!’ ” (Deut. 6:4, NKJV).

ABBA, SAVIOR AND COMFORTER. He is One, and He is Three. They are Three, but They are One….Even though this is one of the things about God we can’t explain, we ac­cept it because this is the way our Creator has introduced Himself. Maybe if we could fully comprehend God, He wouldn’t be God. So maybe the most important thing isn’t explaining the truth, but experiencing the truth.

^{Matt.28: 19} 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, ²⁰ and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.”