Understanding the Trinity
Kevin Probst
8/2/2025
In summary:
God is three persons
Each of these persons is fully God
There is one God
God is three persons: Many believe that God is only one person.
But he presents himself in different ways; he plays various roles.
Kevin is the father of Matt, Justin, Kameron, and MacKenzie
Kevin is the son of Leslie
Kevin is the husband of Shannon
This one, Kevin, performs three different functions. This belief leads to a denial of the three persons in the Godhead. However, this is not what the Bible teaches about the Trinity. The Trinity is not one God performing three different operations. It is three separate persons, distinct from one another, performing three separate functions.
2. Each of these persons is fully God
The Father is fully God.
One person is no better than the other. This is a faulty concept of the Trinity. The Father wears the gold medal, the Son wears the silver, and the Holy Spirit comes in third, wearing the bronze. This smacks of Arianism, the heretical belief that the Son and the Holy Spirit were created beings, placing them on the same level as created humans.
The Father is fully God; this is not generally questioned.
2. The Son is fully God.
Let’s look one more time at John 1:1: “In the beginning was the Word and the Word was with God and the Word was God…” We are satisfied that this teaches the unity of the nature of God and the diversity of the three persons of the Trinity.
However, our Jehovah's Witness friends interpret this verse differently. They have rewritten John 1:1 to read: “In the beginning was the Word and the Word was with God and the Word was a God…” Although there is no advanced, modern Greek scholar who agrees with them.
Jehovah's Witnesses believe in one God, Jehovah, but they reject the belief that he exists as three co-equal persons. They believe Jesus to be a separate, subordinate being NOT equal to God. They also believe the Holy Spirit is not a person, but rather an active force of God.
Doubting Thomas refused to believe in the resurrection of Christ unless he witnessed the wounds on his body. When that happened, Thomas said: “My Lord and my God.” (John 20)
Why did John write his gospel? (John 20:30-31) “that you may believe that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God…”
Isaiah said: (Isaiah 9:6) “For a child will be born for us, a son will be given to us, and the government will be upon his shoulders. He will be named Wonderful, Counselor, Mighty God, Eternal Father, Prince of Peace.”
All of God’s fullness is found in Christ. Christ, the Son, is fully God.
3. The Holy Spirit is fully God.
Let us return to the Great Commission: “Go, therefore, and make disciples…baptising them in the name of the Father, Son and the Holy Spirit." It does not say the “names of”. There is only one name. God, as one unified entity, has but one name. The three persons share the same qualities, the same attributes, and the Holy Spirit is on the same level as the Father and the Son.
What was Annanias and Saphira’s trouble? (Acts 5:3-4) Not that they had lied to the people, but rather that they had “lied to the Holy Spirit”. When you lie to the Holy Spirit, you lie to God. Lying to God earned them the penalty of death. The Holy Spirit is fully God.
1 Corinthians 3:16 “Don’t you yourselves know that you are God’s temple and that the Spirit of God lives in you?” The indwelling of God is accomplished through the Holy Spirit.
Father, Son, and Holy Spirit are not three separate entities or three separate gods. There are three persons in one entity, and each of them is
fully God.
3. There is One God.
Deuteronomy 6:4 “Hear, O Israel, the LORD our God is one God.”
I Kings 8:60 “May all the peoples of the earth know that the LORD is God. There is no other.”
Isaiah 45:5 “I am the Lord, and there is no other, there is no God but me.”
Isaiah 45:22 “Look to me and be saved, all you ends of the earth. For I am God and there is no other.”
Salvation is not complicated. We are saved when we look to the One who declares himself the one and only God. We can look within ourselves, but salvation is not there. We can look at all the gods and idols around us, but salvation is not there. Jesus said, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.” - John 14:6
There is Blessed Assurance to those who will look to him. They shall be saved. “Look to me and be saved.” How far does this salvation of the one and only God extend? To the “ends of the earth.” Whosoever believeth in him and confesses their sin, “He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins.” 1 John 1:9
Why is it important to believe that there is only one God? Because it is crucial to our salvation.
Why is it important to believe in the persons of the Trinity? Because it is crucial to our salvation.
Why is it important to teach the Trinity in our families, in our Christian schools and universities, in our churches? Because it is the only means by which they might be saved, eternally saved.
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