Three Gods or One? The Characterization of the one Triune God
In this section we will describe, within the insight that the Bible allows, the infinitely mysterious triune relationship that exists among the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.
God Is One.
Deut. 6:4-9
4 "Listen, O Israel! The Lord is our God, the Lord alone. 5 And you must love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, and all your strength. 6 And you must commit yourselves wholeheartedly to these commands that I am giving you today. 7 Repeat them again and again to your children. Talk about them when you are at home and when you are on the road, when you are going to bed and when you are getting up. 8 Tie them to your hands and wear them on your forehead as reminders. 9 Write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates.
Holy Bible, New Living Translation
God Is Three.
Matt. 28:19-20
19 Therefore, go and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. 20 Teach these new disciples to obey all the commands I have given you. And be sure of this: I am with you always, even to the end of the age."
Holy Bible, New Living Translation
The Bible reveals emphatically and repeatedly that God is one. First Corinthians 8:4 proclaims that “there is no God but one.” God Himself declares in Isaiah 45:5, “I am Jehovah, and there is no one else; Besides Me there is no God.” Yet throughout
Scripture this unique, singular God also attests to His own plurality. He said in Genesis 1:26, “Let
Us make man in
Our image, according to
Our likeness” (italics added). Isaiah 6:8 testifies to the same plurality: “Whom shall I send? Who will go for
Us?” Though this plural aspect is alluded to in the Old Testament, not until the New Testament is God explicitly revealed in His Trinity. The clearest proclamation appears in Matthew 28:19, where the Lord Jesus charged the eleven apostles to disciple and baptize the nations “into the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.” On one hand, the use of the singular noun “name” in this verse, rather than the plural “names,” denotes that the Three are the one unique God into whom the discipled nations are baptized. On the other hand, the specific enumeration of all three–the Father, the Son, and the Spirit–underscores Their mutual distinction.
The Father Is God.
Eph. 1:16-17
16 I have not stopped thanking God for you. I pray for you constantly, 17 asking God, the glorious Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, to give you spiritual wisdom and insight so that you might grow in your knowledge of God.
Holy Bible, New Living Translation
The Son Is God.
Heb. 1:8-12
8 But to the
Son he says,
"Your throne, O God, endures forever and ever.
You rule with a scepter of justice.
9 You love justice and hate evil.
Therefore, O God, your God has anointed you,
pouring out the oil of joy on you more than on anyone else."
10 He also says to the Son,
"In the beginning, Lord, you laid the foundation of the earth
and made the heavens with your hands.
11 They will perish, but you remain forever.
They will wear out like old clothing.
12 You will fold them up like a cloak
and discard them like old clothing.
But you are always the same;
you will live forever."
NLT
The Spirit Is God.
Acts 5:1-11
1 But there was a certain man named Ananias who, with his wife, Sapphira, sold some property. 2 He brought part of the money to the apostles, claiming it was the full amount. With his wife's consent, he kept the rest.
3 Then Peter said, "Ananias, why have you let Satan fill your heart? You lied to the
Holy Spirit, and you kept some of the money for yourself. 4 The property was yours to sell or not sell, as you wished. And after selling it, the money was also yours to give away. How could you do a thing like this? You weren't lying to us but to
God!"
5 As soon as Ananias heard these words, he fell to the floor and died. Everyone who heard about it was terrified. 6 Then some young men got up, wrapped him in a sheet, and took him out and buried him.
7 About three hours later his wife came in, not knowing what had happened. 8 Peter asked her, "Was this the price you and your husband received for your land?"
"Yes," she replied, "that was the price."
9 And Peter said, "How could the two of you even think of conspiring to test the Spirit of the Lord like this? The young men who buried your husband are just outside the door, and they will carry you out, too."
10 Instantly, she fell to the floor and died. When the young men came in and saw that she was dead, they carried her out and buried her beside her husband. 11 Great fear gripped the entire church and everyone else who heard what had happened.
NLT
　
Without a doubt, the divine Father is God. In Ephesians 1:17 Paul prays to “the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory,” who is the “one God and Father of all” (Eph. 4:6). The Bible also reveals that the Son is God. Addressing the Son, Hebrews 1:8 states, “Your throne, O God, is forever and ever.” Initially, the
Word, who was God, became flesh in the man Jesus which gives claim that Jesus was, is and always shall be a part of God before, during and after he lived on earth as the man (John 1:1-14
1:1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.
2 The same was in the beginning with God. 3 All things were made by him; and without him was not any thing made that was made. 4 In him was life; and the life was the light of men. 5 And the light shineth in darkness; and the darkness comprehended it not.
6 There was a man sent from God, whose name was John.
7 The same came for a witness, to bear witness of the Light, that all men through him might believe. 8 He was not that Light, but was sent to bear witness of that Light.
9 That was the true Light, which lighteth every man that cometh into the world.
10 He was in the world, and the world was made by him, and the world knew him not.
11 He came unto his own, and his own received him not.
12 But as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name:
13 Which were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God. 14 And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth.
KJV). Throughout His human living, the man Jesus was the very God manifested in the flesh. After
Christ’s death and
resurrection, Thomas worshipped Him confessing, “My Lord and my God!” (John 20:28
28 "My Lord and my God!" Thomas exclaimed.
NLT).
Rom. 9:5 (5 Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob are their ancestors, and Christ himself was an Israelite as far as his human nature is concerned. And he is God, the one who rules over everything and is worthy of eternal praise! Amen).
Furthermore, the Holy Spirit is God, as indicated in (Acts 5:3-4, where Ananias was told that in deceiving the Holy Spirit, he was lying to God.) Yet the Father, the Son, and the Spirit, though distinct, are not three separate Gods. The Father is God, the Son is God, and the Holy Spirit is God, they are not three Gods but one God.
　
　
The Father and
the Son Are
Inseparable.
John 14:10-11;
8:29; 16:32
Though the Three are distinct in their eternal coexistence, They are by no means three separate Gods. Rather, They coinhere mutually and inseparably; that is, They indwell one another. Throughout the Gospels, the Lord Jesus took many opportunities to reveal to the disciples His mysterious coinherent relationship with the Father. For example, in John 14:11, the Lord responded to Philip’s desire to see the Father by assuring him of Their intrinsic oneness: “Believe Me that I am in the Father and the Father is in Me.” Thus the Son, while physically on the earth, mystically dwelt in the Father and the Father in the Son. In addition, the Lord declared in John 6:46, “Not that anyone has seen the Father, except Him who is
from God, He has seen the Father.” The Greek preposition
para, translated “from” in this verse, literally means “from with.” Hence, the Son sent
from God was simultaneously sent
with God. The Lord testified of this intimate inseparability: “He who sent Me is with Me; He has not left Me alone” (John 8:29).
The Son
and the
Spirit Are
Inseparable.
John 14:16-18
2 Cor. 3:17
17 For the Lord is the Spirit, and wherever the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom
　
John 14 also witnesses to the same inseparable coinherence between the Son and the Spirit. In verses 16 and 17, the Son asks the Father to send the
Spirit of reality to abide with and in the disciples. Yet in verse 18, the Son promises that
He Himself is the One who will come to the disciples. The Spirit’s coming to the disciples after the resurrection of Christ was therefore actually the Son’s coming. This is confirmed in verse 26 where the Spirit sent by the Father came in the Son’s name. Since the Son’s name is equivalent to His person, the Holy Spirit’s coming in the Son’s name is tantamount to the Son’s coming. Hence, when the Holy Spirit comes, the Son comes both at the same time because The Father, The Son and the Holy spirit are all One (Think of it if you can as emotions, a Human can be sad, happy then angry in a matter of seconds from each distinctive feeling yet each one of those emotions come from one part of the human brain it does not take 3 or more brains to produce the emotion yet all at the same time those very different feelings can show up, sometime so quick it seems to be at the same time. Ever laughed so hard you cry or found it so pitiful being sad that it made you laugh it is a similar effect which expresses but a glimpse of the wonderful mysteries of God.) I have to admit even that description does not really reveal the true wonder of One God with three personalities but it is how I understand it.
The Father and
the Spirit Are
Inseparable.
John 15:26;
26 "But I will send you the Advocate—the Spirit of truth. He will come to you from the Father and will testify all about me. 27 And you must also testify about me because you have been with me from the beginning of my ministry. (NLT)
Matt. 10:20
20 For it is not you who will be speaking—it will be the Spirit of your Father speaking through you.
John’s Gospel goes similarly to show that the Father is inseparable from the Spirit. In 15:26, the same Spirit of reality, who proceeds from the Father, was to be sent to the believers by the Son from the Father. Again, both occurrences of the preposition “from” in this verse derive from the Greek
para, literally “from with.” Hence the Spirit who was sent to us from the Father and proceeds from the Father was also sent
with the Father and proceeds
with the Father.
By comparing John 14:26 and 15:26, it becomes apparent that the Spirit was sent by both the Son and the Father; in addition, the Spirit who was sent from the Father came not only in the Son’s name but also came with the Father. These verses highlight the inseparability of the Three of the Triune God.
One can’t help marveling at the mysterious oneness of the Father, Son, and Spirit, especially as manifested by the Lord Jesus in His human living. Yet the Lord prayed before His impending crucifixion, in John 17:21 “That they all may be one; even as You, Father, are in Me and I in You, that they also may be in Us; that the world may believe that You have sent Me” (John 17:14-26)
14 I have given them thy word; and the world hath hated them, because they are not of the world, even as I am not of the world.
15 I pray not that thou shouldest take them out of the world, but that thou shouldest keep them from the evil. 16 They are not of the world, even as I am not of the world.
17 Sanctify them through thy truth: thy word is truth. 18 As thou hast sent me into the world, even so have I also sent them into the world. 19 And for their sakes I sanctify myself, that they also might be sanctified through the truth.
20 Neither pray I for these alone, but for them also which shall believe on me through their word; 21 That they all may be one; as thou, Father, art in me, and I in thee, that they also may be one in us: that the world may believe that thou hast sent me.
22 And the glory which thou gavest me I have given them; that they may be one, even as we are one: 23 I in them, and thou in me, that they may be made perfect in one; and that the world may know that thou hast sent me, and hast loved them, as thou hast loved me.
24 Father, I will that they also, whom thou hast given me, be with me where I am; that they may behold my glory, which thou hast given me: for thou lovedst me before the foundation of the world. 25 O righteous Father, the world hath not known thee: but I have known thee, and these have known that thou hast sent me.
26 And I have declared unto them thy name, and will declare it: that the love wherewith thou hast loved me may be in them, and I in them. KJV ).
This prayer clearly conveys the Triune God’s desire that man share and enter into fellowship and relationship in unity with the Divine Trinity. Through Christ’s death and resurrection, the Triune God now dwells in His believers His children whom serve and worship (
them God almighty) Ultimately, God desires that all His believers be built up into the one Body of Christ as the house of God to express the oneness of the Triune God.
(One Body which are collectively, individual believers in one accord, obedient to the terms and conditions of God’s Kingdom of
Order and his Will)
