We read throughout the Bible that God is Triune. He is three in one. We can allow this fact about Him to intimidate us, or we can press into the joy, mystery, and reality of how He describes Himself.
Have you ever pondered the deity of God? It is incredible what is revealed to us in Scripture about His character, His being, and His glory. We read throughout the Bible that God is Triune. He is three in one. We can allow this fact about Him to intimidate us, or we can press into the joy, mystery, and reality of how He describes Himself.
Today, we will look at five lesson about the Trinity.
1. God Values Community
God’s nature is one of community. He is three-in-one. This is a core belief in God because He defines this about Himself. He is One God with three equal persons.
Matt Perman from Cru shares, “The Bible speaks of the Father as God (Phil. 1:2), Jesus as God (Titus 2:13), and the Holy Spirit as God (Acts 5:3-4).” He continues, “Notice that although the three divine Persons are distinct, we are baptized into their name (singular), not names (plural). The three Persons are distinct, yet only constitute one name. This can only be if they share one essence.”
Father, Son, and Spirit all are perfectly One. He is God. He is three in one. We as the Church (the body of Christ) are commanded to love the Lord with all of our being and to love our neighbors as ourselves. We are all different parts that make up one body. We are to follow His example of community.
2. God Is Beyond Our Comprehension and Personal
The concept of the Trinity is very humbling to us. We, who have finite minds, crave knowledge and understanding. But part of the joy of Scripture is the mystery of it. God is above and beyond what we can fully comprehend, however He has provided us with the Scriptures, which reveal His nature, His plan for salvation and His love for us. He is unknown, yet we can know Him. He is unseen, yet He has opened the eyes of believers to see Himself. He is King of kings, yet He came down and lived the life of a poor carpenter’s son.
Have you ever tried to figure out something that you knew was simply above your ability to fully understand? In all honesty, it can be very challenging to believe in the Trinity, even though we cannot perfectly comprehend it. We can wrestle with the concept, and that is welcome. Jeremiah 29:13 says, “You will seek me and find me, when you seek me with all your heart.” We are invited to seek out God. That is part of the joy of being a Christ follower. We are called into child-like faith. This means we trust that God is who He says that He is and we take Him at His Word.
Stephen Wellum from The Gospel Coalition says, “To say that God is incomprehensible is to gladly acknowledge that the glorious triune God of Scripture is in a category all by himself and that as such, he is unfathomable in his nature, knowledge, and works. However, due to his gracious self-disclosure, in general and special revelation, we can know the incomprehensible God truly but never fully or exhaustively.”
3. God Has Different Roles
God as Father
From the beginning (Genesis 1:1), we read of God the Father as Creator. He is Love (1 John 4:7-21). He is Our Judge (Isaiah 33:22). He spiritually adopts us through the death and resurrection of Jesus, and anyone who believes in Jesus has the right to become a child of God (John 1:12-13).
God as Son
Jesus is the incarnation of God who was born of a virgin (Matthew 1:22-23). Jesus is both fully God (John 8:58) and fully man (Matthew 1:25). He is the Savior and the only way to heaven (John 14:6). He is at the right hand of the Father on the throne in Heaven. Jesus lived the perfect life (1 Peter 2:22).
God as Spirit
The Spirit of God dwells within the hearts of all believers (Romans 5:5). He enables mere humans to have spiritual gifts (1 Corinthians 12:27-28). He empowers us to live out His fruit (Galatians 5:22-23). We read in Genesis 1:2 that the Spirit of God hovered over the water, and the Holy Spirit is heavily tied to baptism. We read of the Baptism of the Holy Spirit in Mark 1:8. And then, we also read during the baptism of Jesus that the Holy Spirit descended upon Him in the appearance of a dove (Mark 1:10).
4. The Trinity Teaches Perfect Submission
The word submission can be triggering for some. However, God created the concept of submission. Jesus Himself submitted to the Father’s will. We read in Matthew 26:39, “Going a little father, He fell facedown and prayed, ‘My Father, if it is possible, let this cup pass from me. Yet not as I will, but as you will.’” Jesus in His fullness of humanity did not want to be killed. He asked that God the Father would “let this cup pass.”
Philippians 2:5-11 teaches about the significance of Jesus’ submission. “Adopt the same attitude as that of Christ Jesus. Who, existing in the form of God, did not consider equality with God as something to be exploited” (Philippians 2:5-6). Verse 11 continues, “and every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.”
Ephesians 5 addresses the concept of submission in a multifaceted way. The church body is called to submit to Jesus (Ephesians 5:24). As Jesus’ followers, we are all called to submit to one another (Ephesians 5:21), and wives are called to submit to their husbands (Ephesians 5:22-23).
If you notice the portion of Scripture found directly before verses 22-33, every part of the Trinity is mentioned. Believers are encouraged to be filled with the Holy Spirit (Ephesians 5:18), to give thanks to God the Father in the name of Jesus (Ephesians 5:20). Part of submitting to God the Father, Son, and Spirit is glorifying Him for all that He is – three-in-one.
5. The Trinity Points to the Deity of God
The Trinity is the divine nature of God. The fact that the Trinity exists and cannot be compared to anything else is a great support for the holiness and deity of God.
“For this is what the LORD says — the Creator of the heavens, the God who formed the earth and made it, the one who established it (he did not create it to be a wasteland, but formed it to be inhabited) — He says, ‘I am the LORD, and there is no other’” (Isaiah 45:18).
I love that the Lord is Triune. I love that He is set apart because He is God. There is no other. There is no person who is three-in-one. God is holy and sovereign and glorious. He is the first and the last (Isaiah 44:6, Revelation 1:8, Revelation 1:17-18). The Creator of the universe is worthy of praise. He is perfect in His roles, unmatched. He is the King of kings and Lord of lords.
The Trinity is masculine. God the Father, Jesus the Son, and the Holy Spirit are all described as He is in the Scriptures. It would be incorrect to say that any part of the Trinity was not masculine because God is three in one (1 John 5:7). He is I Am (John 8:58). He is who He says that He is (Exodus 3:14).
“Then God said, ‘Let us make man in our image, according to our likeness. They will rule the fish of the sea, the birds of the sky, the livestock, the whole earth, and the creatures that crawl on the earth. So God created man in His own image; He created him in the image of God; He created them male and female’” (Genesis 1:26-27, emphasis added).
We notice the plural word our paired with the singular word image. “Our image” indicates multiple within singular. “Our likeness” again is plural. However, as you read the end of verse 27, it says “His own image.” This implies a masculine singular form. God is our and God is He. He is and has always been three-in-one.
I am personally thankful that God relates to us and understands us. I am floored by His goodness to live in perfect community and to share Himself with us through His Holy Word. He is Alpha and Omega. He is King of Kings. Yet He is also the Good Shepherd, our Friend, and a Good Father. He has various roles and purposes, yet He is perfectly united. We can worship Him for being the Triune God now and always.
Photo credit: ©Getty Images/Julia Sudnitskaya
