What Does The Bible Say About…The Trinity?

And when Jesus was baptized, immediately he went up from the water, and behold, the heavens were opened to him, and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and coming to rest on him; and behold, a voice from heaven said, “This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased.” (Matthew 3:16-17; ESV)

No doctrine causes as much general confusion amongst Christians as the doctrine of the Trinity.  I am of the opinion that most Christians reflexively adhere to the doctrine of the Trinity, but haven’t the foggiest as to what it teaches or how to explain it.  To be sure, the doctrine of the Trinity isn’t easy for the human mind to grasp, but it can be apprehended if not completely comprehended.  In fact, I would go so far as to say that every mature Christian ought to be able to explain the Trinity to a new Christian or an unbeliever.  The Apostle Peter calls us to be “prepared to make a defense to anyone who asks you for a reason for the hope that is in you” (1 Peter 3:15), and if we can’t even give limited explanation of the Trinity, then we’re not doing our part to defend and explain the faith.

Why are we, as a whole, unable to adequately articulate the doctrine of the Trinity?  I believe the answer to that is indicative to a larger problem within the church.  I believe there is a trend with contemporary evangelicalism that downplays the teaching of sound doctrine in favor of more therapeutic or more pragmatic solutions.  In an effort to be ‘relevant,’ the church tries to cater to the shifting sands of popular culture.  The church has bought into the cultural redefinition of sin.  What used to be an issue of sin needing atonement is now either a problem needing therapy or a challenge needing a solution.  As such, the gospel is now no longer about God’s gracious solution to our sin problem, but rather a ’self-help’ manual to be a better you or a guide through the trials of life.

Another problem within the church that leads to a de-emphasis of doctrine is the quest for unity within the church.  As the old canard goes, “doctrine divides.”  If you scan the statements of faith on many church websites, what you will see is pretty vanilla.  The following is a statement of faith from a local (from my perspective) ‘mega-church.’  This church boasts an average weekly attendance of well over 10,000 people:

The sole basis of our belief is the Bible, which is uniquely God-inspired, without error, and the final authority on all matters on which it bears. As the Bible teaches, there is one God, eternally existing in three persons – Father, Son, and Holy Spirit – each possessing all the attributes of Deity.

God created humans to have fellowship with Him, but they defied God by sinfully going their own way. As a result, we need God’s saving grace to end our alienation from Him. Salvation comes only through God’s saving grace – not human effort – and must be received personally by repentance and faith.

Jesus Christ, second Person of the Trinity, lived a sinless life on earth and voluntarily paid for our sin by dying on the cross as our substitute. This accomplishes salvation for all who receive grace by trusting in Him alone. He rose from the dead and is the only mediator between us and God. He will return to earth to consummate history.

The Holy Spirit draws sinners to Christ and equips believers for personal growth and service to the church. The church’s role is to glorify God and serve those in need. At the end, everyone will experience bodily resurrection and the judgment. Those forgiven through Christ will enjoy eternal fellowship with God.

There is nothing un-Biblical about this statement, but there is nothing distinctive about it either.  There are no doctrinal stands on the end times, on church polity, the creation/evolution debate, judgment, hell, etc.  I understand that this statement of faith majors on the majors and not the minors, but we can still have convictions on the secondary doctrines (as they are called).  It’s refreshing to see a church take a stand on secondary issues; it lets a person know where this church stands on such issues.  However, in an effort to be ‘inclusive,’ most churches would rather not take a stand on such doctrinal issues.  They would rather focus on what unites rather than what divides.

The consequence of all this is that we, as Christians, become doctrinally illiterate.  Our churches are heavy on application without providing the proper theological foundation for that application.  As Michael Horton puts it in his recent book Christless Christianity, our churches basically teach “do more, try harder.”  We avoid the hard doctrines or the divisive doctrines in order to be relevant and keep people happy all the while turning Christianity into just another ‘world religion.’

OK, that’s the problem, what’s the solution?  The solution is to teach doctrine, and since we’re talking about the Trinity, we need to know what the doctrine of the Trinity teaches because, as we will see, there are several errors regarding the Trinity that we can easily fall into.  So without further ado, what does the Bible say about the Trinity?

The Bible essentially makes four truth claims regarding the Trinity:

1. There is one and only one true and living God.
2. This one God eternally exists in three persons-God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit.
3. These three persons are completely equal in attributes, each with the same divine nature.
4. While each person is fully and completely God, the persons are not identical.[1]

The following diagram gives a pictorial representation of the above four propositions.

Let’s Biblically analyze each claim.

There is one and only one true and living God. The classic Biblical passage to establish this claim can be found in Deuteronomy 6:4.  This passage is referred to as the Shema, and reads as follows:  “Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one.”  With this statement, the ancient Israelites, who were about to conquer and populate the Promised Land, established themselves as monotheistic.  This would set them apart from their neighbors who were all polytheistic.

Furthermore, it’s not as if God is demanding that the Israelites worship him only as opposed to the gods of their surrounding neighbors.  The monotheism of Israel is a strict monotheism; i.e., there is only one God and Yahweh is it (“I am the Lord, and there is no other, besides me there is no God”).  One can debate the point as to whether or not the Israelites understood their monotheism to be a strict monotheism, but it is clear that Yahweh is claiming to be the one and only true and living God.

Lest we think this was solely an OT belief, keep in mind that Jesus (who also claimed to be God, as we shall see) affirmed the monotheism of Judaism by quoting the Shema in Mark 12:29.  The Apostle Paul, who wrote some of the greatest Christological passages in the NT, also affirmed a strict monotheism (1 Timothy 2:5).  Monotheism is a doctrine that is clearly taught in both the OT and the NT.

This one God eternally exists in three persons-God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit. Now we get into the crux of the issue regarding the doctrine of the Trinity.  This monotheistic God exists in three persons.  The key to understanding this is balance between unity and distinction within the divine being.  There is a unity in essence (or ontology) and a distinction in person (or function).  As the Bible Answer Man, Hank Hanegraaf, likes to phrase it:  The Trinity defines God as one what (essence) and three who’s (person).

While many like to think of the Trinity as a NT doctrine, we do see evidence of it in the OT.  We see the Holy Spirit “hovering over the face of the waters” in Genesis 1:2.  There is also a hint of the Trinity in the use of the Hebrew word ‘elohiym for “God.”  This word is actually plural in form.  We also have the use of plural pronouns in certain verses in which God refers to himself.  For example, Genesis 1:26 states, “Then God said, ‘Let us make man in our image, after our likeness.’”  (Other examples are Genesis 3:22; 11:7; Isaiah 6:8).

Another indication of plurality of persons within the Godhead is seen with the unusual character called “the Angel of the LORD.”  In several OT passages, this character is seen as being distinct from God at one point, then being identified with God at another point (cf. Genesis 16:7, 10-11, 13; 18:1-33; Exodus 3:1-4:31; 32:20-22; Numbers 22:35, 38; Judges 2:1-2; 6:11-18).

While the Trinity is hinted at in the OT, we see it more clearly taught in the NT.  The best example of the plurality of persons within the Godhead in the NT is at the baptism of Jesus (quoted above).  As Jesus is being baptized, we see the Spirit descending on him in the form of a dove and the voice of the Father speaking from heaven declaring his approval of the Son.  Other NT examples of plurality are the many uses of the Trinitarian formula in the epistles (e.g., 2 Corinthians 13:14).  Finally, we have the famous baptismal formula used in Jesus’ Great Commission (“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“).

These three persons are completely equal in attributes, each with the divine nature. The next truth claim about the Trinity is the equality of the three persons within the Godhead.  This speaks to the concept of unity mentioned in the previous point.  This is a unity of essence or ontology.  When theologians speak of God, they often refer to God’s attributes; those qualities of God that can be ascribed to him and define him.  Some examples of God’s attributes would be omnipotence (all-powerful), omniscience (all-knowing), omnipresence (everywhere at once), holiness, justice, goodness, wisdom, knowledge, etc.  When we say that the three persons of the Trinity denote a unity in essence, we mean that they each fully possess attributes that can be predicated of God.

Does the Bible confirm this truth claim?  The first person of the Trinity, God the Father, is the person we most associate with ‘God;’ so we can safely assume that God the Father possesses all the attributes of deity.  How about the second person of the Trinity, God the Son?  One of the best passages on the deity of Christ is the prologue of John’s gospel.

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 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…No one has ever seen God; the only God, who is at the Father’s side, he has made him known. (John 1:1-4, 14, 18; ESV)

In this passage we see divine attributes such as eternality (“In the beginning was the Word”), equality (“and the Word was God”), omnipotence (“All things were made through him”), the ability to possess and give life (“In him was life”).  We also learn that the eternal Word took on human flesh and dwelt among us.  Other classic Christological passages are Colossians 1:15-19; 2:9; Philippians 2:5-11; Hebrews 1:3.  All of these passages affirm that Jesus Christ possesses the full attributes of deity.

What about the ’silent partner’ in the Godhead-God the Holy Spirit?  Does the Holy Spirit possess the full attributes of deity?  The Scriptures tell us that the Spirit is eternal (Hebrews 9:14).  The Spirit also possesses the attribute of omnipresence (Psalm 139:7-10).  We also learn that the Spirit is omniscient (1 Corinthians 2:10-11), omnipotent (Luke 1:35-37) and holy (Romans 1:4).  The weight of Scriptural evidence supports the full deity of the third person of the Trinity.

While each person is fully and completely God, the persons are not identical. The fourth and final truth claim regarding the doctrine of the Trinity speaks to the distinctions that within the Godhead.  The distinctions in the Godhead relate to function, not essence.  In other words, there is a hierarchy of function within the Godhead.  In creation we see that God the Father speaks forth the creation, God the Son is the agent of creation (John 1:1-3) and that God the Holy Spirit superintends the creation (Genesis 1:2).

We also see a hierarchy of function when it comes to salvation.  The Apostle Peter speaks of this when he writes, “To those who are elect…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” (1 Peter 1:1-2).  In salvation, it is God the Father who elects us unto salvation, it is God the Son who provides the atonement for salvation, and it is God the Holy Spirit who sanctifies those who have been elected and atoned for.

With the doctrine of the Trinity being established Biblically, let’s discuss some common errors that surround this doctrine.  In general, all errors regarding the doctrine of the Trinity originate from an over-emphasis of one of the four truth claims discussed above at the expense of the others.  These four truth claims must be held with equal conviction in order to avoid error.

The first error to avoid is tritheism.  This error comes from an over-emphasis of the distinctions within the Godhead at the expense of their ontological equality.  In essence, tritheism asserts that the Father, Son and Holy Spirit are three distinct gods.  This clearly contradicts the first truth claim of the Trinity; namely, there is one and only one true and living God.  The second error to avoid is called modalism.  This is the opposite extreme of tritheism.  Modalism is an over-emphasis of the unity of God at the expense of the distinction of persons within the Godhead.  Modalism will teach that there is one and only one God who manifests himself at various times as Father, Son and Holy Spirit.  The third and final error is Arianism (named after the 3^rd century monk, Arius).  This error denies the third truth claim by making the Son and Holy Spirit lesser created deities (similar to Jehovah’s Witnesses).  It’s easy to see how an unbalanced view of the Trinity can lead to errors.

Finally, let’s look at some practical implications of the Trinity.

1. The doctrine of the Trinity makes revelation of God possible.  The incarnation of the Second Person of the Trinity in Jesus Christ of Nazareth makes God known to us (John 1:18).  Matthew quotes Isaiah 7:14 in which Isaiah predicts that the Christ child will be called Immanuel (“God with us”).
2. The doctrine of the Trinity makes the atonement possible.  The concept of the atonement is the substitutionary sacrifice of Christ to appease the wrath of God against the sin of mankind.  If modalism or Arianism were true, how is atonement possible?
3. The doctrine of the Trinity establishes the fact that God is, and has always been, personal and relational in his own being.  This helps us to refute the error that God created humanity out of some ‘unmet’ need to be in relationship.  God is completely self-sufficient and independent of his creation.
4. Finally, the doctrine of the Trinity provides the perfect model for human relationships.

Bottom Line: The doctrine of the Trinity is not an easy doctrine to understand.  As mentioned earlier, it cannot be completely comprehended.  However, that doesn’t excuse us from getting as good a handle on this doctrine as humanly possible.  The doctrine of the Trinity is an essential doctrine.  It is a revelation of God’s divine and mysterious nature, and we are commanded to worship the God who is and who reveals himself in Scripture.  In other words, to deny the Trinity is to fall outside the sphere of Christian orthodoxy and a failure to worship the true and living God.