Trinity: Introduction

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Trinity: Introduction

12/18/01

Section: 1

Trinity

Author: Word Walker

(All scripture is based on the King James Version of the Bible)

2 Timothy 3:16 All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness:

What is Trinity?

Trinity. What is it? Does it serve any purpose? Does it really exist? I hear these questions a lot from different people. Or, if it's not the questions, than it's the denial. For this reason I write the following and thereby hope to better explain the concepts of Trinity.

What is Trinity? Trinity is the concept that God, Jesus and the Holy Spirit are all one and yet they are separate. The word Trinity comes from "Tri" which means three and "Unity" which means one. By placing these two words together we arrive at the concept of three in one. The very idea of such a notion can boggle the mind when applied to God. This essay will hopefully explain why we as Christians do so. One of the better descriptions, that I have read, comes from Dr. Gene Pritchard, teacher. Dr. Pritchard states this in his study on Trinity:

" We can sum up the doctrine of the Trinity like this: God is one God. The Father is God. The Son is God. The Spirit is God. The Father is not the Son. The Son is not the Spirit. The Spirit is not the Father. There is a distinction between the persons; then we have to assert that the Father is a person. The Son is a person. The Spirit is a person. They are not just a power or an influence but a person. If we depart from these truths, we depart from Christianity."

When Dr. Pritchard speaks of them as being a person, we are to understand that they are individuals in a divine sense, and not a human sense. A simpler way of looking at Trinity is like this; Take a flower, it is one flower, however it made up of three parts. The bud, the stem and the roots. These three separate parts make up the whole. Although they are three separate parts of the flower, the three parts make up the one flower. God, Jesus and the Holy Spirit however, are all conscious separate beings who are one. Still confused? I never promised that this would be an easy concept. Don't worry though, if you still don't understand then you are not alone. Another quote from Dr. Pritchard's study states:

' We do not fully understand the doctrine of the Trinity, because we cannot. We simply say what the Bible teaches. We accept it because God says it; but we cannot fully understand it.'

He then quotes Isaiah 55v8-9.

Isaiah 55:8&9 For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, saith the LORD. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts.

Does Trinity serve any purpose? Being inspired by God, the Bible cannot be contradictory. God is, was and always will be the same and so his word cannot contradict itself. Why then do we find so many verses that describe three 'persons' as being divine when the Bible is quite clear that there is only One true God? The answer lies in the subject, Trinity. Through Trinity these so called contradictions cease to exist. In the bible you will see many places that show these three 'persons' to be separate. Jesus praying to his Father God or God sending us the Holy Spirit (Comforter). And then at other times you will see they are the same. " John 10:30 I and [my] father are one." (Jesus speaking). So the answer to the question is, Yes the concept, or doctrine, of Trinity does serve a purpose. Its purpose is to help us understand the true nature of God.

Does Trinity exist? The word Trinity is not found in the King James Version of the Bible but, rather, is a name given to beliefs that so clearly make themselves known throughout scripture.

Why should we believe in the Trinity? That is the purpose of this essay, to show, using scripture, that Trinity truly does exist. You should believe because knowing about Trinity and understanding it will help you to know God just a little bit better. God wants us to know Him and about Him. He knows and loves each and every single one of us. He cares for us and wants us to spend eternity with Him. Shouldn't get to know Him a little bit better as well? In this essay I will attempt to show how each member of the Trinity is actually a divine individual of the one true almighty God. I have run into people before who do not believe that Jesus was divinity or that the Holy Ghost is anything more than the will of God. There are even people who don't believe in God at all. I will present each member of the Trinity as separate and, following this, how each are the one true God.

Incorrect Doctrines

One of the main things we need to focus on before discussing what Trinity is, is to show what Trinity is not. We do this by showing what some cult groups and other misguided factions have, over the centuries, tried to twist the scriptures into revealing. What is written below is some of their beliefs about the relationship between the Father, Son and Holy Ghost and the errors that they represent.

The Polytheistic View - This viewpint teaches that the Father is one God, the Son is another God while at the same time the Holy Spirit is a third seperate God. The scriptures teach that there is only "ONE" God. No other interpretation is possible.

Mark 12:32 And the scribe said unto him, Well, Master, thou hast said the truth: for there is one God; and there is none other but he:

Isaiah 44:8 Fear ye not, neither be afraid: have not I told thee from that time, and have declared it? ye are even my witnesses. Is there a God beside me? yea, there is no God; I know not any.

So you see, there cannot be three gods. The concept of Trinity does not support this theory. Neither can there be three Gods of greater or lesser glory, this too would be a polytheistic view (belief in more than one God) and is not supported by scripture.

A third wrong doctrine is that God is one, and that the Son and the Spirit are merely names for relations which God has with Himself. Thus, the Thought and Speech of God is called the Son, while the Life and Action of God is called the Spirit; but in fact -- in genuine actuality -- there are no such "realities in themselves" as the Son of God and the Spirit of God. Both are just metaphors for mere aspects of God. Again, however, in such a doctrine the Son and the Spirit have no existence and no life of their own. They are not real, but are mere illusions.

One wrong doctrine is that the Father alone is God and that the Son and the Holy Spirit are creatures, made "from nothing" like angels, men and the world. The Church answers that the Son and the Holy Spirit are not creatures, but are uncreated and divine with the Father, and they act with the Father in the divine act of creation of all that exists.

Another wrong doctrine is that God in Himself is One God who merely appears in different forms to the world: Now as the Father, then as the Son, and still again as the Holy Spirit. The Church answers once more that the Son and Word is "in the beginning with God"(Jn 1:12) as is the Holy Spirit, and that the Three are eternally distinct. The Son is "of God" and the Spirit is "of God." The Son and the Spirit are not merely aspects of God, without, so to speak, a life and existence of their own. How strange it would be to imagine, for example, that when the Son becomes man and prays to his Father and acts in obedience to Him, it is all an illusion with no reality in fact, a sort of divine presentation played before the world with no reason or truth for it at all!

Thus, the Church teaches that while there is only One God, yet there are Three who are God -- the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit -- perfectly united and never divided yet not merged into one with no proper distinction. How then does the Church defend its doctrine that God is both One and yet Three?

This site was last updated 12/18/01