Simple understanding of the trinity

The word ‘trinity’ is not found in the Bible, but the idea it presents is seen everywhere in Scripture, from the use of the plural ‘us’ in Genesis 1:26: ‘Then God said, Let us make man in our image,' to the baptismal formula of Matthew 28:19: 'baptising them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.' 'Trinity' means ‘threeness’ and speaks of God as Father, Son and Holy Spirit. We do not believe in three Gods. Scripture is clear that there is only one God (Deuteronomy 6:4; 1 Timothy 2:5).

There is no doubt that this is a very difficult doctrine to understand. Augustine, one of the great Christian leaders of the fifth century, gave a great deal of time to thinking about the doctrine of the Trinity. 

One day, as he was walking along the seashore, he saw a boy digging in the sand. He asked him what he was trying to do, and the youngster replied that he wanted to empty the sea into his hole in the sand. 

This set Augustine thinking: Am I not trying to do the same thing as this child, in seeking to exhaust with my reason the infinity of God and to collect it within the limits of my own mind?’

One God—three persons

Christians have been accused, particularly by the followers of Islam, of worshipping three Gods, but, as we have seen, that is not true. God is so great and glorious that it is impossible, as Augustine discovered, for the mind of man to grasp all that he is. 

Our minds are limited, and in order to try and explain the Trinity we have come up with various illustrations of one substance in three forms—water, ice and steam, or the three leaves on a shamrock. These may help, but not much, because there is nothing in human experience to compare with God in his Trinitarian form.

The word ‘person’ does not help either. If we think of a person, he will have his own identity and being, so three persons will be three individuals. Language, even though we must use it, cannot do justice to the majesty of God. 

When it comes to God, we are simply left with what he chooses to tell us about himself in the Bible. There we find God revealed as Father, Son and Holy Spirit—one God in three persons.

The Trinity is not a matter for debate or even attempted explanation but for a reverent acceptance.

The Trinity at work

In the Trinity there is a certain order: first is the Father, then the Son and then the Holy Spirit. Yet at the same time the three persons are all God, equal with each other and as important as each other. One is no more superior than the other two, but they have a different work or function. We can see this in God’s works of creation and salvation.

In creation, God is said to have created the heavens and earth (Genesis 1:1). But also we are told that he did this through the Son. And if we go back to Genesis 1:2 we see that the Holy Spirit was involved in creation, hovering over the waters or bringing into existence what God had ordained. 

This would be in accord with Psalm 104:30: ‘When you send your Spirit, they are created, and you renew the face of the earth.’ So God the Father created the world, and he did it through the Son and by the means of the Holy Spirit.

In salvation we can again see the whole Trinity at work. God the Father planned it. It was he who loved the world and, out of this love, sent Jesus the Son to be our Saviour. Without this initial act of the Father, there would be no salvation. Jesus makes this very clear in John 6:37–38: ‘All that the Father gives me will come to me, and whoever comes to me I will never drive away. For I have come down from heaven not to do my will but to do the will of him who sent me.’

God the Son died in our place on the cross. Jesus ‘was delivered over to death for our sins and was raised to life for our justification’ (Romans 4:25).

God the Holy Spirit makes all this real and applies to us the merits of Christ’s death. Paul acknowledged that what saved the Christians at Corinth was not the persuasive words he preached but the Holy Spirit demonstrating divine power by using the message preached.

Peter brings all this together: To God’s elect … who have been chosen according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, through the sanctifying work of the Spirit, for obedience to Jesus Christ and sprinkling by his blood’ (1 Peter 1:2).

‘We are deeply conscious that the Trinity is a mystery beyond our comprehension. The glory of God is incomprehensible. There are no analogies for what we have been describing. There is no way we can picture this truth. You can have three men, each of whom is equally human and distinct from the other. But at the end of the day you will have three men, and not one. The three persons of the Godhead are each equally God and distinct from each other. The mystery is that you still have but one God (Stuart Olyott).

Think about it

1. If the word ‘person’ does not help in our thinking about the Trinity, why do we use it?

2. As you consider the work of the Trinity in salvation, would it be possible for a sinner to be saved if any one of these three acts of God was missing?