One God, Three Persons
The doctrine of the Trinity is the Christian confession that there is one God, and that this one God eternally exists as three persons: the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Each person is fully God. The persons are truly distinct from one another. Yet there are not three gods, but one.
God eternally exists as three persons, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Each person is fully and equally God, the persons are distinct from one another, and there is only one God.
The word Trinity comes from the Latin trinitas, threeness or tri-unity. It does not appear in the Bible, but the truth it names runs through the whole of it. The doctrine is not a puzzle invented by philosophers. It is a careful summary of what God has shown us about Himself, above all in the coming of the Son and the sending of the Spirit.
The doctrine can be stated in three plain sentences, each drawn directly from Scripture:
- There is one God. The Lord alone is God, and there is no other.
- The Father is God, the Son is God, and the Holy Spirit is God. Each person possesses the whole divine nature, not a portion of it.
- The Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit are distinct persons. The Father is not the Son, the Son is not the Spirit, and the Spirit is not the Father.
Deny any one of these statements and the doctrine collapses into error. Deny the first and you have three gods. Deny the second and the Son or the Spirit becomes a creature or a force. Deny the third and Father, Son, and Spirit become one person wearing three masks. The doctrine of the Trinity simply holds all three biblical truths together.
The Trinity is not a side doctrine. It is the identity of the God we worship and the shape of the salvation we receive.
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For Deeper Study
- On the TrinityAmazon Augustine of HippoThe classic Western treatment, written in the early fifth century.
- Making Sense of the Trinity: Three Crucial QuestionsAmazon Millard J. EricksonA brief, accessible introduction by a Baptist theologian.
- The Forgotten TrinityAmazon James R. WhiteA clear biblical case, with attention to Oneness and Jehovah's Witness objections.
- The Deep Things of God: How the Trinity Changes EverythingAmazon Fred SandersOn how the Trinity shapes the Gospel and the Christian life.
- The Holy Trinity: In Scripture, History, Theology, and WorshipAmazon Robert LethamA fuller survey of the biblical and historical development.
- The Oneness of GodAmazon David K. BernardA primary Oneness Pentecostal source, for understanding that view in its own terms.
- Foxe's Book of MartyrsAmazon John FoxeThe classic Protestant record of those who died for the faith, from the early church to the English Reformation.
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The Deity of Christ
Jesus Christ is eternally and fully God: the uncreated Son, one in nature with the Father and personally distinct from Him.
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