102. What is the Trinity? Is God three persons or one person?
What three people are mentioned
in Romans 8:14-17?
Look at Genesis 1. God spoke all things into being. Look at Genesis 1:1-2. There are actually three people here:
The Father, The Spirit and The Word.
Elohim, the word used
in Genesis for God in Hebrew, infers multiple and more than two. In Genesis 1:26 God said, “‘Let Us make
man in Our image, according to Our likeness.” In Matthew 3 Jesus was baptized. The dove came upon Him, and the Father spoke from
Heaven. Here are the three in one
in action.
Mark 1:9-11
shows the work of all three: the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit.
There is only one God.
The Bible clearly states that there
is only one God, and that He is a “Trinity”, or is manifested in three
different persons, yet He is still one.
The Jews who use
the Old Testament think this is the reason why we Christians are wrong. They are taught Deuteronomy 6:4 (KJV)
which says, “Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God is one Lord.” They are correct, but only partially.
During the time
of the Reformation when people learned to read again, around 1500 AD or so, the
Church leaders began to write “creeds” and tried to explain the Trinity in
terms that people could understand.
Their efforts were noble and correct, however, they fell short of an
adequate explanation.
How could
it be?
The book “Beyond
the Cosmos,” by Christian author Dr. Hugh Ross, gives some good advice. He explains that we are
four-dimensional creatures: 3 dimensions in space (length, width, and height)
and 1 dimension in time. In space,
we are height, width and length, or 3 dimensions. In time, we are 1 dimension, a line from start to finish of
our life.
However, God is
not 4 dimensions like we are, and we are not confined to our 4 dimensions
forever. God lives in eternity,
which is the absence of time, and He has more than 3 dimensions of space (Jesus
walked through walls after His resurrection).
Dr. Ross gives
the example of people, like you and me, trying to show a two-dimensional figure
in a TV set what we, three-dimensional people, are like. If they saw our finger pointing at them
all they would see is a dot; if we turned it sideways they would see a
bar. They would not understand
that we are both dot and bar at the same time.
Dr. Ross stated
that God is, at least, 7 dimensions (7D) greater than us, and probably even
more. Mathematically, the stick
figure in the TV set would underestimate us by 1D, or a math figure of ONE
TRILLION. Now convert that
underestimation to 7D, and you would get a figure that could not be written in
all the books tightly packed in all the galaxies in the universe (in small 6pt
typing). That is an example of how
much greater God is than our reasoning.
The apostle Paul
had some insight into God being more than 4 dimensions. How many dimensions do you count in
Ephesians 3:18 which says, “[that you] may be able to comprehend with all the
saints what is the width and length and depth and height.” Do you count four? Well, we only have three space
dimensions. What is God saying in
this verse? I think He is saying
that He is much higher than our little minds can understand.
The
good news is that God reveals these things to us, not to our minds, but to our
spirits, and we as mere humans can comprehend.
Question.
Sometimes in order to have a good
answer, we need a good question first.
What is the
reason for three in one?
What
is the reason that God is manifested as three persons? Let’s
take a look.
1. Father:
The very nature of a Father is Pater and Abba.
W.E. Vine’s
Dictionary defines the Greek word Father, as Pater from a root signifying a nourisher, protector,
upholder, the nearest ancestor, the progenitor of the race of people; the
originator of a family or company of persons animated by the same spirit as
himself.
Titus 3:5 says
that he saved us, not because of righteous things we had done, but because of
His mercy. He saved us through the
washing of rebirth (regeneration) and renewal by the Holy Spirit.
Regeneration, or rebirth, comes from a combination of two
words: “palin” means again, and “genesis” means birth. “Palingenis,” regeneration, is actually
changing who your Father is.
We need an
Abba for care.
W.E. Vine also
defines the word “Abba” as an Aramaic word used by infants to call their
daddy. It betokens unreasoning
trust, while Father, or Pater, expresses an intelligent apprehension of the
relationship. The two together
express the love and intelligent confidence of the child.
The two
main attributes of a Father are:
1. Pater.
He has the potential to reproduce and make a family of sons and daughters
2. Abba.
He has the intense desire to take care of, love and have a “cuddly”
relationship with the kids He produced.
1 Timothy 5:8 (KJV)
says, “But if any provide not for his own, and specially for those of his own
house, he hath denied the faith, and is worse than an infidel.”
2. Son:
If a Father is to reproduce a
family He needs a Son.
If God is a
Father then He needs the ability to reproduce, and one can only do that by
starting with two other things, a son and a spirit. Why? Obviously
He would need a son, otherwise, how could He have more children? Jesus (in the flesh) came from Israel,
and the Bible says that Israel is God’s wife. However, in the beginning God started with a Son and the
wife came later.
The
Son is the Word. Why the
Word? That is how God reproduces,
through Words.
1 Peter 1:23 (Amplified
Bible) says “You have been
regenerated (born again), not from a mortal origin (seed, sperm), but from one
that is immortal by the ever living and lasting Word of God.”
There are many
religions and cults that believe in a god, but they do not believe that Jesus
is who He claimed to be – God in a human body. Not just a son of God, like my human son is to me; no, He is
Jehovah, the Almighty!
John 1:1-2, 14
says, “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word
was God. He was in the beginning
with God. [14] And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld His
glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and of
truth.”
He spoke it all
into being in Genesis 1:2-3, 26 which says, “The earth was without form, and
void; and darkness was on the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God was
hovering over the face of the waters. Then God said, ‘Let there be light;’ and
there was light. [26] Then God
said, ‘Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness; let them have
dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over the
cattle, over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creeps on the
earth.’”
He was spoken
about in every Old Testament book as God. In Isaiah He was foretold as the
Messiah who would bear our sins for us.
Isaiah 53:3-5 says, “He is despised and rejected by men; a Man of
sorrows and acquainted with grief.
And we hid, as it were, our faces from Him; He was despised, and we did
not esteem Him. Surely He has
borne our grief and carried our sorrows; yet we esteemed Him stricken, smitten
of God, and afflicted. But He was wounded for our transgressions; He was
bruised for our iniquities; the chastisement of our peace was upon Him; and by
His stripes we are healed.”
Peter
found out Who He was.
Matthew 16:15-17
says, “He said to them, ‘But who do you say that I am?’ Simon Peter answered
and said, ‘You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.’ Jesus answered and said to him,
‘Blessed are you, Simon Bar-Jonah, for flesh and blood has not revealed this to
you, but My Father who is in heaven.’”
He told
the Jews Who He was.
John 8:51, 56-59
says, “Most assuredly, I say to you, if anyone keeps My Word he shall never see
death. [56] ‘Your father Abraham rejoiced to see My day, and he saw it and was
glad.’ Then the Jews said to Him,
‘You are not yet fifty years old, and have You seen Abraham?’ Jesus said to them, “Most assuredly, I
say to you, before Abraham was, I AM!’
Then they took up stones to throw at Him; but Jesus hid Himself and went
out of the temple, going through the midst of them, and so passed by.”
Paul knew Who He
was. Colossians 2:9 says, “For in
Him dwells all the fullness of the Godhead bodily.”
The
resurrection proved He was God in the flesh.
Matthew 28:9 (KJV)
says, “And as they went to tell his disciples, behold, Jesus met them, saying,
all hail. And they came and held him by the feet, and worshipped him.”
He
revealed to John that He was God in the flesh.
Revelation 1:8
says, “‘I am the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End,’ says the
Lord, ‘who is and who was and who is to come, the Almighty.’”
3. Spirit:
If a Father is to reproduce He
needs a Spirit.
Why? He needs the Spirit, otherwise how
could He put His character into His children? Children are like their parents because of their spirit. If we are born with the spirit of our
natural parents and their spirits came from their parents and so on back to
Adam, then we must be born with Adam’s spirit.
What does
that get us? A life separated from God – a cursed life.
How can we get a
new spirit? We have to be born
again. How?
The spirit is in
the blood. So, therefore, the only
way we can be changed is by a blood covenant.
How can we
have a blood covenant with someone who is not cursed? Jesus
was the only human that was not under a curse because His Father was God and
not Joseph (Virgin Birth). How can
we enter into a blood covenant with a man who died two thousand years ago? He did not stay dead, He is still alive
today.
Okay, but
how can we get to Him to get His spirit through a blood covenant?
Look at John 6:63 which says, “It is the
Spirit who gives life; the flesh profits nothing. The words that I speak to you
are spirit, and they are life.”
We can enter
into a blood covenant with Jesus and God through the Word and get a new spirit
and enter into a new family.
WOW! It says so in 1 Peter
1:23. The Word of God is the
sperm. “You have been regenerated
(born again), not from a mortal origin (seed, sperm), but from one that is
immortal by the ever living and lasting Word of God” (1 Peter 1:23, Amplified
Bible).
Here is the question again.
Sometimes in order to have a good
answer, we need a good question first.
What is the
reason for three in one? What is
the reason that God is three persons?
Let’s take a look.
If you look at what we have said, the
reason for the Trinity is God’s desire to have a family to love.
He loves
us so much that He desires closeness and communion with us.
If God just
wanted to be some supreme being over a group of other kind of beings, then He
could have just been God, One without the Trinity. Just think, if you had a family of Golden Retriever dogs,
you could love them, you could feed them, you could train them and they could
love you. The one thing that you
could not do is to have communion with them.
The word
communion means “common union.” It
means intimacy. It is the actual
mingling of one life with another life.
This is normally done with words and blood. Words are the means by which we have common union, and blood
is the means to have legal relationship.
Jesus said in John 6:53-56, 63 “‘Most assuredly, I say to you, unless
you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink His blood, you have no life in
you. Whoever eats My flesh and
drinks My blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up at the last day. For My flesh is food indeed, and My
blood is drink indeed. He who eats My flesh and drinks My blood abides in Me,
and I in him.’ [63] It is the
Spirit who gives life; the flesh profits nothing. The words that I speak to you
are spirit, and they are life.”
Most people do not give enough
value to relationships and common union (communion).
Real
people invest in relationships! (You too, men.)
So many people
do not want to take time to communicate with each other. The world has led us
to believe that “doing” and “relaxing” are more important. Males especially do not see the value
in reading or hearing each other’s words. Lack of communication is the biggest
cause of marriage failure. Our
relationship to the Lord is compared to a marriage. So many people do not want
to take time to have common union with their Creator by reading His Word.
Thirty minutes of communion with Jesus can do more in your life than working
for thirty hours.
Read these Scriptures and look for
the Trinity in them. Do you see
all three: The Father, The Son and The Holy Spirit in here?
Romans 8:14-17
says, “For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, these are sons of God. For you did not receive the spirit of
bondage again to fear, but you received the Spirit of adoption by whom we cry
out, ‘Abba, Father.’ The Spirit
Himself bears witness with our spirit that we are the children of God, and if
children, then heirs – heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ, if indeed we
suffer with Him, that we may also be glorified together.”
Genesis 1:1-2
says, “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. The earth was
without form, and void; and darkness was on the face of the deep. And the
Spirit of God was hovering over the face of the waters.”
Genesis 1:26
says, “Then God said, ‘Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness;
let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and
over the cattle, over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps
on the earth.”
Mark 1:9-11 says, “It came to pass in those days that
Jesus came from Nazareth of Galilee, and was baptized by John in the
Jordan. And immediately, coming up
from the water, He saw the heavens parting and the Spirit descending upon Him
like a dove. Then a voice came from
heaven, ‘You are My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.’”
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