Reflections on the Holy Scripture

There is only one God (Deuteronomy 6:4), but He exists in three distinct persons: the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit (Genesis 1:26, Matthew 28:19). The three persons are not three separate Gods but are all the same God, and each person is equally important; no person is subordinate to another. It's like a triangle: a triangle is considered to be a single shape, but each side is separate from the other. Similarly, the three persons of God are individual, but together they are one God.

The Father

God the Father is the "planner," the mastermind of all Creation and Time. He is called "Father" for a couple of reasons. First, the relationship between the Father and the Son has the Son submitting to the will of the Father (John 5:19). Also, Christians are sometimes referred to as "the children of God", as in John 1:12:

12But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, to those who believe in His name:

NKJV

So, as Christians, God is our Spiritual Father, as well as the head of the Trinity.

The Son

Main Page: Jesus

The Son is the "doer", the active Word of God; it is through Him that all things were created (John 1:1-3). It is through the Son's sacrifice that we are redeemed, and we can be saved from our sin by God Romans 8:1-3. Jesus Christ is the "Son" of the Father in terms of their relationship dynamic; it is a relationship of love, and within this relationship, the Son willingly submits to the will of the Father.

The Holy Spirit

Main Page: The Holy Spirit

The Holy Spirit is the "counselor", who's role is to be active in the world today, guiding Christians in their relationship with God (John 16:13-14). When Jesus the Son left the earth and returned to heaven, He sent the Holy Spirit to indwell all of His disciples (Acts 2:4). The Holy Spirit equips every believer with spiritual gifts so we can each carry out the will of God the way we are meant to (1 Corinthians 12:4-6).

Challenges of the Trinity

Biblically speaking, there is only one way to correctly perceive the Trinity. The Trinity is one God of three persons, and each person is fully God. Some sects try to say that there is a single person of God with three roles, but this is incorrect. Otherwise, God wouldn't refer to Himself with plural pronouns, as below:

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.”

~ Genesis 1:26 NKJV

Additionally, some sects have the misconception that Chirstianity is a tritheism and that each person is a separate God. Numerous times throughout the Bible, however, God explicitly says that there is only one God, as in Deuteronomy 4:35 (NKJV).

35To you it was shown, that you might know that the LORD Himself is God; there is none other besides Him.

NKJV

A third misconception concerning the Trinity is that there is a subordination of the persons (i.e., the Son being subordinate to the Father, and the Holy Spirit subordinate the Son). This, likewise, is not true. The Son is seen to be God as much as the Father is in John 1:1 (NKJV).

1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.1;

NKJV

Likewise, we can know the Holy Spirit is equally God by reading 1 Corinthians 2:10 (NKJV).

10But God has revealed them to us through His Spirit. For the Spirit searches all things, yes, the deep things of God.

NKJV

If the Holy Spirit is not God, He would not be omniscient as described in 1 Corinthians. Since the Holy Spirit is omniscient, He is clearly God.

Scripture taken from the New King James Version. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

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