The Trinity: the mysterious nature, difficult to understand but does the Bible teach it?

The Trinity is one of the most difficult to understand for Christians and non-Christians alike. And yet it is one of the cornerstones to Christian beliefs. Simply, the Trinity is God the Father, God the Son (Jesus) and God the Holy Spirit. God exists three in one. They are consubstantial as they come from the same source and of the same substance. There are relational distinctions as in three distinct realities in relation with each other, but subsist in one being. Confused so far? The nature of the Trinity is mysterious and we can only know in part as full understanding is beyond us, at least for now, as I believe we will fully understand in heaven. What exactly is the Trinity? What does the Bible teach about it? Why is it so difficult to understand?

As stated above, the Trinity consists of three parts: God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit. First, God the Father is acknowledged throughout Scripture. In Deuteronomy 1:31, Moses calls God a father who carried his son through the desert to the promised land. In Psalm 103:13-14, God is the father who has compassion on those who fear him. In 2 Corinthians 1:3, Paul calls God the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ as well as the Father of compassion and of all comfort. Second, Jesus is God the Son saves the sinners. He is truly God and truly man (Philippians 2:6-8), born of a woman, born under the law to redeem those under the law (Galatians 4:4-5). Jesus also claimed an eternal existence as in John 8:58, he states “Truly, truly I say to you, before Abraham was, I am!” The “I am” statement, referring to Exodus 3:14, would not have been lost on the Jewish audience that they tried to stone him and Jesus left the temple (John 8:59). Third, God the Holy Spirit who adopts and unites the believer with God the Father. The Holy Spirit guides, testifies, speaks, discloses and glorifies. In 1 Corinthians 2:11, Paul writes that the Holy Spirit knows the thoughts of God. How can the Holy Spirit know the thoughts of God if he was not God? The image below is a conceptual diagram to give a visual of how the Trinity works. 

Trinity does not appear in the Bible as the term was first used by Tertullian (c AD 160-230) meaning TRI-UNITY (Kou, 2023, Winger, 2019). However, the concept can be seen throughout the Scriptures. In Genesis 1:26, God spoke in the plural: “Let us make man in our image.” John 1:1-18 summarizes the creation in Genesis: how God spoke, how his Word (Jesus) as the agent of creation, did the work (John 1:1-4) and how his Spirit hovered over the waters (Genesis 1:2). There is also a plurality in God. One of the many names of God, Elohim, is plural in Hebrew (Kou, 2023). There are three core elements of the Trinity (McGarry). First, they are equal. No one is greater than the others and they are equal in honor and eternality. Many skeptics who know the Scriptures might stop here and interject with “didn’t Jesus say “the Father is greater than I?” Yes, he did in John 14:28. However, Jesus willingly submitted to God the Father and while on earth, submitted to the limitations of his physical form. It is also temporary as Jesus also prayed in John 17:5 that he be glorified in the Father’s presence as he had before the world began. Second, they are distinct as Ephesians 1:3-14 states God the Father chooses us “before the creation of the world” (verse 4). Jesus as God the Son did the work to accomplish our salvation (verses 5,9). God the Holy Spirit is the one who secures our salvation like a seal (verses 13-14). Each person has a particular role and works together in perfect cooperation as they are one. Three, they are united. They are not isolated from each other. In John 17:20-26, Jesus prays for believers’ unity as he is united with the Father. 

I think The Trinity is so difficult to understand because we do not have a perfect analogy to help explain it. Sometimes the Trinity is taught as one person has different relationships. For example, I am one person; however, to my husband, I am a wife, to my daughters, I am a mother and to my mother, I am a daughter. However, this analogy fails to fully encapsulate the Trinity. Since my birth, I have always been a daughter, but not a wife and a mother. While I was born a daughter, the expressions of a wife and mother, I took on as I married and had children. As God is “a unity of three persons, not one person with three expressions” (McGarry). There are plenty of other bad analogies. One in particular is the egg analogy. The shell, yolk and egg white are all components of the same egg. However, this is faulty as the shell is discarded to use the yolk and the egg whites and even the yolk can be separated from the egg whites. Since the components can be separated and are not equal in value where every Person of the Trinity is equal in value and cannot be separated from one another. As James White wrote “Within the one Being that is God, there exists eternally, three co-equal and co-eternal persons, namely, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit” (Forgotten Trinity, 26). There are three persons, Father, Son and Holy Spirit, that share one essence or being of God (Winger, 2019). 

In conclusion, the Trinity is a unique concept that our human brains cannot easily wrap itself around and we may never truly be able to explain it to the satisfaction of skeptics and detractors. Our job as believers is not to fully understand and comprehend all things; but, to trust what God has revealed at this time. However, the question we have to ask ourselves is: do we believe the Bible teaches it? Yes? Then that is enough at this time as God may reveal more to help us understand in the future. It may be seen as a cop out to some but I can honestly say that I understand more now than I did when I first became a believer, so who can say what God will reveal to me as I study His Word and seek Him? 

References

Kou, Christopher (April 4, 2023). The Trinity 101: What Every Christian Should Know. Logos. https://www.logos.com/grow/nook-what-is-the-trinity-doctrine-101/. Retrieved December 1, 2024. 

McGarry, Mike (October 11). Teaching the Trinity to Students. Youth Pastor Theologian. https://www.youthpastortheologian.com/blog/teaching-the-trinity-to-students. Retrieved December 1, 2024. 

White, James (1998). The Forgotten Trinity: Recovering the Heart of Christian Belief. Revised and updated edition, November 5, 2019. 

Winger, Mike (2019). The Trinity: Can We Defend it Biblically? Bible Thinker. https://www.youtube.com/live/p0cLKtR5kfE?si=WUU3plLpG7Qbxb9X. Retrieved December 1, 2024.