Thinking about the Trinity

(This is something that I wrote awhile back for a graduate class on the Trinity. I adapted it slightly for a Foundations class I was teaching this past fall. I thought I'd go ahead and post it here, just for the heck of it.)


1. The Almighty God is made up of three persons.

The first thing we need to understand is that The Almighty God is made up of three persons, which is why the word 'Tri-nity' is used. This concept can get confusing because at first glance it may seem that 'God in three persons' is a contradictory statement. In fact, throughout church history, there have been some conflicting ideas about how exactly to describe the Trinity.

One of the two that I want to address is called Modalism. This particular view tries to emphasize the monotheistic (belief in only one God) view of God. People who adhered to Modalism thought that the 'three in one' was getting too close to going towards a polythesic (belief in multiple gods) faith. This idea suggests that God is like an actor, and he wears different masks at different times. For example, this view would say that God changed His 'mask,' or mode, from Jesus to the Holy Spirit when Jesus ascended to heaven and the Holy Spirit came to the disciples on Pentacost. This idea says that God is God, but He wears different masks according to what is needed and what is happening.

Have you ever seen or heard a Sunday School teacher use the analogy of the Trinity being like water? The teacher might have talked about how ice can turn into water and water can turn into steam... and that H2O has three different forms, but that it is still H2O. Well, that is an example of modalism. It's not an accurate analogy of the Trinity because in the example of H2O, when the water is water... it is not ice. When the ice is ice, it is not steam... and so on. The H20 is what it is under certain temperature conditions... but it is never all three at the same time. ALL three 'persons' in the Trinity are always present. God doesn't put on the mask of the Father... then change it to the Holy Spirit. All three 'persons' are present all the time!

There is another idea that was rejected by the early church called Tritheism. You can probably guess from the term that this view emphasized the THREE rather than the one. H. Ray Dunning writes that "This term refers to an interpretation that regards the Father, Son, and Spirit as 'three gods' and emphasizes the distinction of Persons in such a way as to obscure the unity of God." This teaching certainly went against Jesus' teaching when He said in John 10:30, "I and the Father are one."

My denomination's (Wesleyan) Discipline sums it up nicely: "We believe in the one living and true God, both holy and loving, eternal, unlimited in power, wisdom, goodness, the Creator and Preserver of all things. Within this unity there are three persons of one essential nature, power and eternity. The Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit."

God is one... but in His unity there are three persons. God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit. There are a few different passages which imply the Tri-unity of God. Mind you, the Bible never comes directly out and discusses this issue. But here are a couple of different examples of how the Trinity is communicated by different authors.

In Matthew 28:19, Jesus told His disciples: "Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit."

In 2 Thessalonians 2:13-14, Paul writes: "But we ought always to thank God for you, brothers loved by the Lord, because from the beginning God chose you to be saved through the sanctifying work of the Spirit and through belief in the truth. He called you to this through our gospel, that you might share in the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ."

In 1 Corinthians 12:4-6, Paul writes: "There are different kinds of gifts, but the same Spirit. There are different kinds of service, but the same Lord. There are different kinds of working, but the same God works all of them in all men."

In 2 Corinthians 13:14, Paul writes: "May the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and love of God, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all."

In 1 Peter 1:2, Peter writes: "...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..."

It is clear that Scripture included each 'person' of the Trinity in different benedictions and invocations... as well as explanations of practice like the baptismal formula and the spreading of gifts throughout the body of Christ. Our understanding of the Trinity starts with knowing that God is three, yet God is one.


2. Each 'person' of the Trinity is eternal.

The second thing we need to understand about the Trinity is that all three 'persons' are eternal. This is especially important when studying Jesus and who He was/is. Back in the early church, there was much debate about whether Jesus was eternal or was created by God the Father. There is a term, ADOPTIONISM, which basically suggests that Jesus was made by God... but that Jesus was never divine or was, in any sense, 'God' when He came to earth. This view suggests that at some point during His life on earth (probably His baptism) Jesus was elevated to a kind of divinity. This divinity did not originate within Himself, but rather was given to Him by God the Father.

Thankfully, this view was rejected. The doctrine of Jesus being fully man and fully God is one of the major tenants of our faith! Jesus was begotten by God, but I believe the Bible talks about begetting in concern to the incarnation. John 1:1-3 says, "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God. He was with God in the beginning. Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made." This verse seems to directly counter the adoptionist view. Later in the first chapter of John, it is written that the 'Word became flesh' (v. 14). The Word is Jesus, and in the beginning was the Word.

There is another interesting passage in John 8, where Jesus is talking about how Abraham would have 'rejoiced in seeing my day.' And the people said, "'You are not yet fifty years old,' the Jews said to him, 'and you have seen Abraham!' 'I tell you the truth,' Jesus answered, 'before Abraham was born, I am!' Jesus seems to claim his eternity here, thus countering the above adoptionist view. We need to understand that all three parts of the trinity are eternal... none have been 'created' by the other. All three have always existed as the unified God. Millard J. Erickson, in his book, Making Sense of the Trinity, writes this: "Rather than one member of the Trinity being the source of the others' being, and thus superior to them, we would contend that each of the three is eternally derived from each of the others, and all three are eternally equal."

3. Each 'person' of the Trinty is equal.

The third and final truth about the Trinity that we need to understand is that each 'person' of the Trinity is equal. Let me share with you one more heresy that tested the church's understanding of the Trinity. This is called the SUBORDINATIONIST VIEW. This idea says there is a 'chain of command' between the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. This view claims that the Father is in charge of the Son and that the Father and Son are in charge of the Holy Spirit.

The more accurate view would be the one that states that all three 'persons' in the Trinity are equal, and that the passage of scripture where Jesus said, "The Father is greater than I." (John 14:28) and others like it refer strictly to Jesus' time on earth, not for all eternity. Again I turn to Willard Erickson to help us understand what is at work here:

"This subordination is to be understood as a subordination of function, not of essence. What the three persons are is the same; they are completely equal. It is also a temporary subordination. It was for the period of Christ's earthly residence and ministry not for all time. The same is true of the Holy Spirit, who was sent to reside within believers from the time of Pentacost until the second coming, and who therefore carries out the directives of the Father and the Son."

In Philippians 2, Paul writes about Jesus, "Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be grasped..." (v. 6) This seems to imply that Jesus was equal with God before the incarnation. Another reason Jesus showed subordination to God the Father while on earth as a human may be because He also came to show us an example of how to live in our faith. He needed to show us how we ought to respond to God the Trinity.

But for all eternity, each Person in the Trinity is equal.

My prayer for each of you is that you would become thirsty to find more out about who God is and how He interacts within Himself and how He makes Himself known to us. He is an amazing God who is loving and caring. I make this promise: The more you get to know God, the more you'll WANT to get to know God... and the more you'll trust His motives and His character.