What is The Holy Trinity?

“May the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all.”

(2 Corinthians 13:14 - New International Version)

One of the hardest aspects of the Christian faith is understanding the concept of the Holy Trinity. The word “trinity” itself is derived from this Holy triumvirate and literally means the three persons of God: Father, Son and the Holy Spirit. The problem for humankind in understanding the Trinity is that it defies logical understanding, as there is nothing else in all of creation which can be used to make a 'perfect' and 'easy to understand' comparison.

Understanding the Trinity requires a leap of faith and thinking, trusting that what God, Jesus and the Apostles all said is true, even when it is hard to fully comprehend. We also need to recognise that the mind of God is far above our understanding.

“For, ‘Who has known the mind of the Lord so as to instruct him?’ But we have the mind of Christ.”

(1 Corinthians 2:16 - New International Version)

“Who can fathom the Spirit of the Lord, or instruct the Lord as his counsellor?”

(Isaiah 40:13 - New International Version)

The Bible is an account of and a revelation of God and God has NO LIMITS, unlike us. When we recognize this limitless nature of God we have to accept that we are going to come across concepts which we will find hard to grasp. We are dealing with an all-powerful God who exists in all places and at all times. This is not a cop-out or excuse, but an admission that God’s workings are not something we can always fully understand; we simply aren't as clever as He is!

Three and One – One and Three

The difficult part is understanding that the Trinity are three separate entities, with distinct and separate characters, yet are all part of one being (God) at the same time. This is not a form of multiple personality disorder, which some people jokingly dismiss it as in order to belittle Christian beliefs. Instead, the Trinity is a demonstration of the omniscience, omnipotence and omnipresence of God, that He can divide Himself into three distinct, yet inherently linked, parts which form a coherent whole.

“A mediator, however, implies more than one party; but God is one.”
(Galatians 3:20 - New International Version)

“For there is one God and one mediator between God and mankind, the man Christ Jesus”

(1 Timothy 2:5 - New International Version)

For example, in Galatians and 1 Timothy Jesus is referred to as a mediator, but as can be seen, although Jesus is an individual being, having individual characteristics and this specific mediation role, He remains part of one God. The trinity exists as three separate persons, yet with the same divine will, plan and abilities. Each one, despite having different roles, has the same essence and nature.

Jesus, in the way He spoke of the Trinity, identified its separate parts. In John 14 Jesus reveals to the Apostles that He will pray to His Father and ask for the Holy Spirit to come to them and live in them. Jesus also acknowledged that humankind would find the whole concept of the Holy Spirit, and therefore the Trinity, pretty complex and so many would reject it.

“And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another advocate to help you and be with you forever – the Spirit of truth. The world cannot accept him, because it neither sees him nor knows him. But you know him, for he lives with you and will be in you.”

(John 14:16-17 - New International Version)

Jesus was not praying to Himself, he was praying to the Father. In speaking of the Spirit, Jesus was not talking about Himself. This shows the separate entities of the Trinity.

Those who choose to believe in God feel the presence of the Holy Spirit and therefore are better able to accept the Trinity, despite (and maybe even because of) its complex nature. Why do I say because of? Perhaps it is because I see this complex tripartite nature as a revelation of God’s awesome power. My view is that there are so many things in the universe which humankind doesn't understand, but we don't deny them just because we don't understand them and we can marvel at them nonetheless.

A Quick Illustration

A simplistic way of thinking about the Trinity is in a similar way to the covenant of marriage, as it's described in the Bible. The man and woman, despite being two separate and distinct beings, become “one flesh” and from that moment on exist as a single entity with two parts.

The Trinity functions in a similar, but far more powerful and fundamentally linked way, where the three separate parts are ONE GOD.

The Father IS God

"So that with one mind and one voice you may glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.

(Romans 15:6 - New International Version)

Paul clearly identifies that God and Father are one entity. The first century Christian writers all acknowledged that the Father is God. Jesus calls the Father our "heavenly Father" in reference to Him being God.

“One God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all.”

(Ephesians 4:6 - New International Version)

This verse from Ephesians is just one of the many reiterations of this point, that the Father is God and God is the Father. 

Jesus IS God

“Hear, O Israel: the Lord our God, the Lord is one.”

(Deuteronomy 6:4 - New International Version)

“I and the Father are one.”

(John 10:30 - New International Version)

Jesus makes it very clear in this statement in John 10:30, as He does many other times, that whilst being a man and living among His people, He is always God. He is in a flesh and blood bodily form, but at the same time, He is God. He is the part of God which became flesh and blood, living and dying as a man to fulfil the plan of the redemption of sin. Again, Jesus separates His identity from that of His Father, identifying them as separate parts of the Trinity which comprise God.

The Holy Spirit IS God

“As soon as Jesus was baptised, he went up out of the water. At that moment heaven was opened, and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and alighting on him.”

(Matthew 3:16 - New International Version)

When writing his account of Jesus’ baptism Matthew referred to the Holy Spirit with a capital S, making it clear that the Spirit is a separate entity as well as being part of God. If the Spirit were not a separate entity then Matthew would have used ‘spirit’ with a lower case s. It is not a grammatical slip or typographical error; it is a considered linguistic choice used to make a deliberate point.

The ‘Mathematics of the Trinity’

Finally, for those of you who prefer mathematics, a way of thinking about the Trinity which I’ve seen (and that makes complete sense to me) is this:

It isn’t:  1(God) + 1(Jesus) + 1(Spirit) = 3(Trinity)

It is:       1(God) x 1(Jesus) x 1(Spirit) = 1(Trinity)