Bible Basics - Trinity - Part 3 Conclusion

Here is the conclusion of the posts on the Trinity. In the previous posts I have attempted to prove that Bible teaches the following:

A. The Father is God.
B. The Son, Jesus of Nazareth - the Christ, is God.
C. The Holy Spirit is God.
D. There is only one God.

The Doctrine of the Trinity is as attempt to systematize Biblical teaching - to help understand what the facts above mean. The Trinity doctrine says that God 3 persons in a single being. In English and Western thought, we don't make too much of a distinction between "being": and "person" but they are very different. I went through this in my first post on the Trinity. God is one "what" - one being and three "whos" or three persons. We tend to think of one being is one person. That is most certainly how we exist. This is where the confusion come in. Some people think that Trinitarians are not being honest when we claim monotheism.

Trinitarian detractors contend that 1 +1 + 1 cannot equal 1. I agree. One person plus another person plus another person cannot equal one person. They are claiming that we are saying that God is a "triplex" or a Triumverate, but that is not what we mean when we say God is "Triune". Mathematically we are asserting: one person (the Father) + one person (the Son, Jesus) + one person (the Holy Spirit) equals one being (the God of the Bible). The earlier equation where all three persons are equal to a single person mixes categories and misrepresents what the Bible teaches. Each of the three shares the same essence of the one being.

The Bible teaches us that God is Love. 1 John 4:17 says

And so we know and rely on the love God has for us. God is love. Whoever lives in love lives in God, and God in him.

By definition, love means nothing without relationship. It has to have an object to act on. There are some who teach that God made humanity because He needed to people to love. This contradicts all the scriptures that tells us that God does not need anything or anyone. Blasphemous idea that God needs us. He doesn't. He is complete in and of himself. The very name God used to identify himself to Moses means the He sustains himself with himself. We also know that God is eternal and has always exist. At one point there was no Angels and no universe. A void except for God. Was God still love then with no one to love? God never changes so He must have been love then too. So How with no one to love? The Old Testament has no answer for this, but Jesus revealed the answer: In the godhead, Father, son, and Holy Spirit co-equal and eternal - loving one another.

John 5: 20 says

For the Father loves the Son and shows him all he does. Yes, to your amazement he will show him even greater things than these.

John 14:30 -31 says

I will not speak with you much longer, for the prince of this world is coming. He has no hold on me, but the world must learn that I love the Father and that I do exactly what my Father has commanded me.
"Come now; let us leave.

Here are two scriptures that talk about God's immutability. Malachi 3:6 says

For I am the LORD, I change not; therefore ye sons of Jacob are not consumed.

Hebrews 13:8 says

Jesus Christ the same yesterday, and to day, and for ever.

If Jesus never changes in essence and character, He must be God, because humans do and we hope to improve. He doesn't need to improve his essence or character.

One last point: sometimes the Trinity is referred to as the "Godhead". In the King James, there are 3 times where the word is used.

Acts 17:29 (KJV) says

Forasmuch then as we are the offspring of God, we ought not to think that the Godhead is like unto gold, or silver, or stone, graven by art and man's device.

The NIV renders it thus

"Therefore since we are God's offspring, we should not think that the divine being is like gold or silver or stone—an image made by man's design and skill.

"Godhead" means "divine being". Let us look at Romans 1:20 (KJV)

For the invisible things of him from the creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even his eternal power and Godhead; so that they are without excuse:

The NIV renders the same verse as :

For since the creation of the world God's invisible qualities—his eternal power and divine nature—have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that men are without excuse.

In Romans 1:20 "Godhead" is referring to divine nature. And now back to Colossians 2:9 which the KJV renders as

For in him dwelleth all the fulness of the Godhead bodily.

While the NIV reads as

For in Christ all the fullness of the Deity lives in bodily form,

So we can see that "Godhead" merely refers to God's deity, nature, and being. In other words it is that shared essence among the persons of the Trinity. The one being is God.

I know what you might be asking now. What about all the scriptures about Jesus not knowing the day and the hour of his return? How can he be God and not know? What about when Jesus prayed...did He pray to himself? If, not how does that work? Three words: I don't know. The Bible does not tells us that part or answer the mechanics of Jesus' incarnation. It only says that is what happened and if you die in your sins you will go to hell. Deuteronomy 29:29 says

The secret things belong unto the LORD our God: but those things which are revealed belong unto us and to our children for ever, that we may do all the words of this law.

I realize that these ideas have been misexplained and glossed over so many times its no wonder folks think that we Christians believe in three Gods and we have just deluded ourselves into denial. Due to misunderstanding some think that we think God looks like the picture to the right. I blame us for not being clear in our explanation and making it a much bigger issue than what is really important. Without trusting in Jesus for the remission of our sins, you, me, and everyone will have to bear the full weight and penalty for those sins for eternity. Or we can trust in Jesus and have our sins paid for by his redeeming act on the cross. He bought us. The question is do you want Jesus to pick up the tab or do you want to pick up the tab? I'm glad He paid my bill.