ONE GOD IN THREE PERSONS

A missionary writes from Brazil, “A lady who studied with me had trouble accepting God in three persons. How do you see the doctrine of the Trinity?”

* * *From first to last in Scripture, God reveals himself as the One and only true God, beside whom there is no other (Deut. 6:5; Isa. 43:10; James 2:19). Jesus was a strict monotheist, as all faithful Jews since Abraham have been. Yet Jesus claimed a unique oneness with the Father (John 14:8-11; 17:3-5, 20-23) — a claim that would be quite blasphemous were it not true (Matt. 26:63-65). Before leaving the earth, Jesus also promised to come again in the Spirit, through whom believers could enjoy intimate fellowship with both Jesus and the Father (John 14:16-23).

Throughout the First Testament, the Jews knew the one God, sometimes revealed to them as Father. When Jesus came, his followers saw the grace and glory of God in him as well, and they confessed that, in some inexplicable way, God had come among humankind in this man Jesus of Nazareth. After Pentecost, believers experienced God’s presence in yet another way. Strangely, by the Spirit, God lived inside each Christian man or woman as well as in the church community as a whole.

How does one speak of such a God? As Father, Son and Holy Spirit — both in the New Testament and throughout church history since (Matt. 28:19; 2 Cor. 13:14; Eph. 4:4-6; Rev. 1:4-5). That is simply the truth of the Church’s experience, whether one uses the word “Trinity” or not. Equal and divine? Absolutely! One with each other? Yes, again — and what a comfort! What is God like? Look at Jesus and you will see. And who is this Holy Spirit? Why, the very spirit of the Risen Jesus, who himself discloses God the Father. With that we can rest content, for the truth is revealed to our hearts even while our minds confess and ponder the mystery of it all.