The Trinity

The Trinity is one topic that, if you're like me, makes your head hurt trying to comprehend how the Godhead can be three distinct persons - Father, Son and Holy Spirit, being of one substance, power and eternity. But then again, we're talking about Jehovah God - the true God! Not only do I get a headache trying to understand the Trinity, my mind gets tired just trying to come up with adjectives to describe this most marvelous King of kings and Lord of lords!

While volumes can be written about the Trinity and while I try my best to keep my blogs short (I can hear my wife saying "yeah right" at this very moment!), I wanted to bring up a portion of this topic because of the confusion surrounding it. On a web site from one of the largest church's in America it states that God is

"one God, Creator of all things, infinitely perfect, and eternally existing in three manifestations: Father, Son and Holy Spirit." (emphasis mine)

While much of this statement is true, there is a HUGE error here. God does not manifest Himself into other identities but rather He exists as three separate persons - Father, Son, Holy Spirit. To deny this is to deny the deity of Christ! The thinking that God exists in three manifestations is a doctrinal error called Modalism. Basically, this doctrine claims that there is one person who appears to us in three different forms (or modes). At various times people have taught that God is not really three distinct persons but only one person who appears to people in different "modes" at different times. The United Pentecostal Church holds to this modalistic doctrinal position.

Here is one of the best quotes as to why we MUST get this doctrine right:

While there are many shortcomings of modalism, its ultimate danger is that it loses the heart of the doctrine of atonement - that is, the idea that God sent his Son as a substitutionary sacrifice and that the Son bore the wrath of God in our place, and that the Father, representing the interests of the Trinity, saw the suffering of Christ and was satisfied (Isaiah 53:11)

(Systematic Theology, 1994, Wayne Grudem)

There are three statements that summarize the Biblical teaching on this topic:

1. God is three persons
2. Each person is fully God
3. There is one God

The Father is not the Son; they are distinct persons. It also means that the Father is not the Holy Spirit, but that they are distinct persons. And it means that the Son is not the Holy Spirit. These distinctions are seen in a number of passages in the Old Testament as well as in the New Testament. And while all three persons are distinct, each person is fully God!(time for some Excedrine?)

What does this all mean and why is it so important to get it correct? Answer: It means that our God is an amazing God and that no other god throughout the history of the world is like our God! The Trinity is one of the great distinctions among all the other world religions (Salvation by Grace alone is also unique to Christianity). And while the word "Trinity" is not found in Scripture, God made sure to reveal to us through His Word that this truth exists. It doesn't mean we must understand the Trinity completely - I dare say no human has been able to fully grasp this attribute of God. However, it is important for us to know that God doesn't manifest Himself into different beings, but rather He reveals Himself in three persons - The Father, The Son & The Holy Spirit. This is Scriptural and that's why it's so important.