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What does the Holy Bible teach about the Trinity?

The most difficult thing about the Christian concept of the

Trinity is that there is no totally understandable manner

and method to be used by which one can perfectly and

completely understand this concept of three divine entities

existing as one living being. Therefore, the Trinity is a

concept that can be impossible for any human being to

fully understand, let alone explain.

God is infinitely greater than we are; therefore, we should

not expect to be able to fully understand Him. The Bible

teaches that the Father is God, that Jesus is God, and that

the Holy Spirit is God. It also teaches that there is only one

God. Though we can understand some facts about the

relationship of the different Holy Persons or Divine

Entities of the Trinity to one another, ultimately, it is

incomprehensible to the human mind. However, this does

not mean the Trinity is not true or that it is not based on

the teachings of the Bible.

The Trinity, therefore, is biblically established as one God

existing in three Divine Persons. Understand that this is

not, in any way, suggesting three separate gods. Keep in

mind, when studying this subject that the word “Trinity”

is not found in Scripture. This is a term that is used to

attempt to describe the triune God—three coexistent, co-

eternal Holy Persons or Divine Entities who are (one)

God.

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The following is what God’s Word says about the Trinity:

(1) There is one God. ““Hear, O Israel: The Lord our

God, the Lord is one.” Deuteronomy 6:4 and “. . .there

is no God but one.” For although there may be so-called

gods in heaven or on earth—as indeed there are many

“gods” and many “lords”— yet for us there is one God,

the Father, from whom are all things and for whom we

exist, and one Lord, Jesus Christ, through whom are all

things and through whom we exist.” 1 Corinthians 8:4-

6. See also in Galatians 3:20-22 “Now an intermediary

implies more than one, but God is one. Is the law then

contrary to the promises of God? Certainly not! For if a

law had been given that could give life, then

righteousness would indeed be by the law. But the

Scripture imprisoned everything under sin, so that the

promise by faith in Jesus Christ might be given to those

who believe.” And again in 1 Timothy 2:5 “For there is

one God, and there is one mediator between God and

men, the man Christ Jesus.”

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(2) The Trinity consists of three Persons. I John 5:7-8

says, “For there are three that bear record in heaven,

the Father, the Word, and the Holy Ghost: and these

three are one. And there are three that bear witness in

earth, the spirit, and the water, and the blood: and these

three agree in one.” Again in Matthew 28:18-19 “And

Jesus came and spake unto them, saying, All power is

given unto me in heaven and in earth. Go ye therefore,

and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the

Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost.” And

again in 2 Corinthians 13:14 “The grace of the Lord

Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the communion of

the Holy Ghost, be with you all.”

(3) The members of the Trinity are distinguished one from

another in various passages. In the Old Testament,

“LORD” is distinguished from “Lord” See Genesis 19:24

and Hosea 1:4. The LORD has a Son found in Psalm 2:7,

Psalm 2:12 and again in Proverbs 30:2-4. The Spirit is

distinguished from the “LORD” Numbers 27:18 and from

“God” in Psalm 51:10-12. God the Son is distinguished

from God the Father in Psalm 45:6-7. In Hebrews 1:8-9

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(in the New Testament), Jesus speaks to the Father about

sending a Helper, the Holy Spirit. John 14:16-17 “And I

will ask the Father, and he will give you another Helper,

to be with you forever, even the Spirit of truth, whom the

world cannot receive, because it neither sees him nor

knows him. You know him, for he dwells with you and

will be in you.” This shows that Jesus did not consider

Himself to be the Father or the Holy Spirit. Consider also

all the other times in the Gospels where Jesus speaks to the

Father. Was He speaking to Himself? No. He spoke to

another Entity in the Trinity—the Father.

(4) Let’s be very clear that each member of the Trinity is

God. The Father is God John 6:27 “Do not work for the

food that perishes, but for the food that endures to

eternal life, which the Son of Man will give to you. For

on him God the Father has set his seal.” And in 1 Peter

1:2 “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.”

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The Son is God in John 1:1 “In the beginning was the

Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was

God.” John 1:14 “And the Word became flesh and dwelt

among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the

only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth.” And

again in Romans 9:5 “To them belong the patriarchs,

and from their race, according to the flesh, is the Christ,

who is God over all, blessed forever.” “See to it that no

one takes you captive by philosophy and empty deceit,

according to human tradition, according to the elemental

spirits of the world, and not according to Christ. For in

him the whole fullness of deity dwells bodily, and you

have been filled in him, who is the head of all rule and

authority.” And in Hebrews 1:8 “But of the Son he says,

“Your throne, O God, is forever and ever, the scepter of

uprightness is the scepter of your kingdom.” And in 1

John 5:20 “And we know that the Son of God has come

and has given us understanding, so that we may know

him who is true; and we are in him who is true, in his

Son Jesus Christ. He is the true God and eternal life.”

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The Holy Spirit is God. Acts 5:3-4 “But Peter said,

“Ananias, why has Satan filled your heart to lie to the

Holy Spirit and to keep back for yourself part of the

proceeds of the land? While it remained unsold, did it not

remain your own? And after it was sold, was it not at your

disposal? Why is it that you have contrived this deed in

your heart? You have not lied to man but to God.” 1

Corinthians 3:16-17 “Do you not know that you are

God’s temple and that God’s Spirit dwells in you? If

anyone destroys God’s temple, God will destroy him. For

God’s temple is holy, and you are that temple.”

(5) There is subordination within the Trinity. Scripture

shows that the Holy Spirit is subordinate to the Father and

the Son, and the Son is subordinate to the Father. This is

an internal relationship and does not deny the deity of any

Entity of the Trinity. This is simply an area which our

finite minds cannot understand concerning the infinite

God. Concerning the Son see Luke 22:41-44 “And he

withdrew from them about a stone’s throw, and knelt

down and prayed, saying, “Father, if you are willing,

remove this cup from me. Nevertheless, not my will, but

yours, be done.” And there appeared to him an angel

from heaven, strengthening him. And being in agony he

prayed more earnestly; and his sweat became like great

drops of blood falling down to the ground.”

And even more in John 5:30-47 wherein these verses you

can receive a fuller picture. “I can do nothing on my own.

As I hear, I judge, and my judgment is just, because I

seek not my own will but the will of him who sent me. If

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I alone bear witness about myself, my testimony is not

true. There is another who bears witness about me, and

I know that the testimony that he bears about me is true.

You sent to John, and he has borne witness to the truth.

Not that the testimony that I receive is from man, but I

say these things so that you may be saved. He was a

burning and shining lamp, and you were willing to

rejoice for a while in his light. But the testimony that I

have is greater than that of John. For the works that the

Father has given me to accomplish, the very works that I

am doing, bear witness about me that the Father has sent

me. And the Father who sent me has himself borne

witness about me. His voice you have never heard, his

form you have never seen, and you do not have his word

abiding in you, for you do not believe the one whom he

has sent. You search the Scriptures because you think

that in them you have eternal life; and it is they that bear

witness about me, yet you refuse to come to me that you

may have life. I do not receive glory from people. But I

know that you do not have the love of God within you. I

have come in my Father’s name, and you do not receive

me. If another comes in his own name, you will receive

him. How can you believe, when you receive glory from

one another and do not seek the glory that comes from

the only God? Do not think that I will accuse you to the

Father. There is one who accuses you: Moses, on whom

you have set your hope. For if you believed Moses, you

would believe me; for he wrote of me. But if you do not

believe his writings, how will you believe my words?” And in John 20:21 “Jesus said to them again, “Peace be

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with you. As the Father has sent me, even so I am

sending you.”

And 1 John 4:12-16 “No one has ever seen God; if we

love one another, God abides in us and his love is

perfected in us. By this we know that we abide in him and

he in us, because he has given us of his Spirit. And we

have seen and testify that the Father has sent his Son to

be the Savior of the world. Whoever confesses that Jesus

is the Son of God, God abides in him, and he in God. So

we have come to know and to believe the love that God

has for us. God is love, and whoever abides in love abides

in God, and God abides in him.”

Concerning the Holy Spirit. John 15:26 ““But when the

Helper comes, whom I will send to you from the Father,

the Spirit of truth, who proceeds from the Father, he will

bear witness about me.”

John 16:4-11 “I did not say these things to you from the

beginning, because I was with you. But now I am going

to him who sent me, and none of you asks me, ‘Where

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are you going?’ But because I have said these things to

you, sorrow has filled your heart. Nevertheless, I tell you

the truth: it is to your advantage that I go away, for if I

do not go away, the Helper will not come to you. But if I

go, I will send him to you. And when he comes, he will

convict the world concerning sin and righteousness and

judgment: concerning sin, because they do not believe in

me; concerning righteousness, because I go to the

Father, and you will see me no longer; concerning

judgment, because the ruler of this world is judged.”

(6) The individual members of the Trinity have different

tasks. The Father is the ultimate source or cause of the

universe: 1 Corinthians 8:6 “. . .there is one God, the

Father, from whom are all things and for whom we exist,

and one Lord, Jesus Christ, through whom are all things

and through whom we exist.” Revelation 4:11 ““Worthy

are you, our Lord and God, to receive glory and honor

and power, for you created all things, and by your will

they existed and were created.”

For the cause of divine revelation: Revelation 1:1 “The

revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave him to show

to his servants the things that must soon take place.” For

the cause of salvation: John 3:16-17 “For God so loved

the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever

believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.

For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn

the world, but in order that the world might be saved

through him.”

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Jesus Christ Our

Lord and Savior

And for the cause of Jesus' human works: John 5:17 “My

Father is working until now, and I am working.” John

14:10-11 “Do you not believe that I am in the Father and

the Father is in me? The words that I say to you I do not

speak on my own authority, but the Father who dwells in

me does his works. Believe me that I am in the Father

and the Father is in me, or else believe on account of the

works themselves.” The Father initiates all of these

things.

The Son is the agent through whom the Father does the

following works: the creation and maintenance of the

universe: 1 Corinthians 8:6. “Yet for us there is one God,

the Father, from whom are all things and for whom we

exist, and one Lord, Jesus Christ, through whom are all

things and through whom we exist.” And in John 1:1-4

“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with

God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning

with God. All things were made through him, and

without him was not any thing made that was made. In

him was life, and the life was the light of men.”

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And in Colossians 1:15-20 “He is the image of the

invisible God, the firstborn of all creation. For by him

all things were created, in heaven and on earth, visible

and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or

authorities—all things were created through him and for

him. And he is before all things, and in him all things

hold together. And he is the head of the body, the church.

He is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that in

everything he might be preeminent. For in him all the

fullness of God was pleased to dwell, and through him to

reconcile to himself all things, whether on earth or in

heaven, making peace by the blood of his cross.” In

divine revelation: John 1:1-4 “In the beginning was the

Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was

God. He was in the beginning with God. All things were

made through him, and without him was not any thing

made that was made. In him was life, and the life was the

light of men.” And in salvation: 2 Corinthians 5:14-19

“For the love of Christ controls us, because we have

concluded this: that one has died for all, therefore all

have died; and he died for all, that those who live might

no longer live for themselves but for him who for their

sake died and was raised. From now on, therefore, we

regard no one according to the flesh. Even though we

once regarded Christ according to the flesh, we regard

him thus no longer. Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he

is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the

new has come. All this is from God, who through Christ

reconciled us to himself and gave us the ministry of

reconciliation; that is, in Christ God was reconciling the

world to himself, not counting their trespasses against

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them, and entrusting to us the message of reconciliation.

The Father does all these things through the Son, who

functions as His agent.

The Holy Spirit is the means by whom the Father does the

following works: creation and maintenance of the

universe: Job 26:12-14 “By his power he stilled the sea;

by his understanding he shattered Rahab. By his wind

the heavens were made fair; his hand pierced the fleeing

serpent. Behold, these are but the outskirts of his ways,

and how small a whisper do we hear of him!

But the thunder of his power who can understand?”

Psalm 104:30 “When you send forth your Spirit, they are

created, and you renew the face of the ground.” By

divine revelation: John 16:12-15 “I still have many

things to say to you, but you cannot bear them now.

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. He will glorify me, for

he will take what is mine and declare it to you. All that

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the Father has is mine; therefore I said that he will take

what is mine and declare it to you.” And in Ephesians

3:4-5 “When you read this, you can perceive my insight

into the mystery of Christ, which was not made known to

the sons of men in other generations as it has now been

revealed to his holy apostles and prophets by the Spirit.” And again in “For no prophecy was ever produced by the

will of man, but men spoke from God as they were

carried along by the Holy Spirit.” 2 Peter 1:21

And for salvation: John 3:6 “That which is born of the

flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is

spirit.” And in Titus 3:4-7 “But when the goodness and

loving kindness of God our Savior appeared, he saved us,

not because of works done by us in righteousness, but

according to his own mercy, by the washing of

regeneration and renewal of the Holy Spirit, whom he

poured out on us richly through Jesus Christ our Savior,

so that being justified by his grace we might become heirs

according to the hope of eternal life.” And in Peter 1:2

“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.” and in Jesus'

works: Isaiah 61:1 “The Spirit of the Lord God is upon

me, because the Lord has anointed me.” And in Acts

10:38 “. . .how God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the

Holy Spirit and with power. He went about doing good

and healing all who were oppressed by the devil, for God

was with him.” Thus, the Father does all these things by

the power of the Holy Spirit.

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There have been many attempts to develop illustrations of

the Trinity. However, none of the popular illustrations are

completely accurate. An interesting example might be:

that an egg or an apple in its delicate shell has a white and

a yolk which are parts of the egg, not the egg in

themselves, just as the skin, flesh, and seeds of the apple

are parts of it, not the apple itself.

The Father, Son, and Holy Spirit are not parts of God; each

of them is God. The water illustration is somewhat better.

Liquid, vapor, and ice are forms of water, but the Father,

Son, and Holy Spirit are not forms of God, each of them is

God. So, while these illustrations may give us a picture of

the Trinity, the picture is not entirely accurate. An infinite

God cannot be fully described by any known or finite

illustration.

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The doctrine of the Trinity has been a divisive issue

throughout the entire history of the Christian church.

While the core aspects of the Trinity are clearly presented

in God’s Word, some of the side issues are not as explicitly

clear. The Father is God, the Son is God, and the Holy

Spirit is God—but there is only one God. That is the

biblical doctrine of the Trinity. Beyond that, the issues are,

to a certain extent, debatable and non-essential. Rather

than attempting to fully define the Trinity with our finite

human minds, we would be better served by focusing on

the fact of God's greatness and His infinitely higher nature.

“Oh, the depth of the riches of the wisdom and

knowledge of God! How unsearchable his judgments,

and his paths beyond tracing out! Who has known the

mind of the Lord? Or who has been his counselor?”

Romans 11:33-34

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Grasping this concept of three Divine Entities in one body

or “corpus oneness” is obviously of the very most difficult

aspects of Christian belief for someone to understand.

And that is for believers and non-believers. This concept

of a trinity living and existing together inside of one form

is an enigma of gigantic proportions for most people.

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So, the doctrine of the Trinity is a strict monotheism which

is the teaching that there exists in all the universe a single

being known as God who is self-existent and

unchangeable. Therefore, it is important to note that the

doctrine of the Trinity is not polytheistic as some of its

critics proclaim. Trinitarianism is monotheistic by

definition and those who claim it is polytheistic

demonstrate a lack of understanding of what it really is.

The Trinity o God is person entities.

o Each person is divine.

o There is only one God.

Many theologians admit that the term "person" is not a

perfect word to describe the three individual aspects found

in God. When we normally use the word person, or divine

entity, it is usually understood to mean physical

individuals who exist as separate beings from other

individuals. But in God, there are not three entities nor

three beings. God is a trinity of persons consisting of one

substance and one essence. God is numerically one. Yet,

within this single divine essence are three combined but

individual and separate existing entities that we call

persons.

Each of the three persons is completely divine in

nature, though each is not the totality of the

Godhead.

Each of the three persons is not the other two

persons.

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Each of the three persons is related to the other two

but are distinct from them.

Concluding thoughts:

To be able to totally understand this holy concept and

existence of the Trinity is all but almost impossible to fully

comprehend and be able to explain to others. It is even

more difficult to be able to write clear examples of what it

means to be this Trinity and clarify, illuminate, or

rationalize such a concept in the manner we think and

understand. It is best to allow each individual human

being to think through the picture and example of what and

who the Trinity is on their own. One should try to

incorporate the illustrative paradigm of such a Trinity

within one’s own mental model.

Deep thinkers may have considerable problems with the

concept and being of the Holy Trinity, while easier

thinkers will experience fewer problems. You don’t want

to make this any more difficult to fathom than what it

already is. Yet, many religious fringe denominations

claim that the Trinity is hogwash, and that each holy

entity, i.e, the Father God, the Son Jesus Christ, and the

Holy Spirit, are all separate beings or forces, and are in no

way combined.

Read and study your Bible verses and let the Bible

interpret itself. Before you begin to study this Holy

Trinity, pray for guidance and clear understanding and you

should be able to draw your own clear and committed

conclusion.

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Booklet Number 21

Covenant Christian Ministries

Belle Arden Run

488 Mountain View Drive

Mosheim, Tennessee 37818-3524

(423) 422-4711

www.thewatchmansentinel.org

Copyright 2017

Dahk Knox, Ph.D., Ed.D., D.Sc.

Jan Knox, Ph.D.

October 2, 2017

(Monetary contributions are welcomed and

appreciated for printing and postage expenses)

All Rights Reserved©