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- The Mystery of the Holy Trinity -
This is a Bible study a friend prepared for her housegroup meeting, and she asked if I would be willing to help in its preparation. We used the Spirit Filled Life Bible (New King James version), © 1991 Thomas Nelson, Inc. along with the very helpful notes it provides.

Introduction
Before we start, it is worth noting that the term "Trinity" is not in fact a biblical word, and it is worth bearing this in mind when discussing this issue with members of groups that do not believe in the Trinity. The term "Godhead", however, is.

The Trinity is one of the greatest theological mysteries. There are some that think that because we believe in one God (monotheism) we cannot accept the concept of the Trinity. Yet the Bible illustrates that the Godhead consists of 3 divine Persons: Father, Son and Holy Spirit, each fully God, each showing fully the divine nature.

Let's begin by looking at all three Persons of God individually.

Who is God the Father?
Gen 1:1 "In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth."
The kingdom of God is the Bible's opening verse. Here we meet with the Sovereign of the universe whose Realm, Reign and Regency are described at the outset.

Deut 6:4 "Hear, O Israel: the LORD our GOD, the Lord is one!"
This is the creed of Judaism. The word "God" (Elohim) is used here in its plural from the Hebrew text. Thus, "our God, the Lord is one" likely emphasises the Christian doctrine of the Trinity, 3 Persons of the same substance in the one Godhead [this understandably however, would not have been apparent to the people of the OT].

Deut 6:4-6 "Hear, O Israel: the LORD our GOD, the LORD is one! You shall love the LORD your GOD with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your strength. And these words which I command you today shall be in your heart."
This scripture is the most important text in the OT. Jesus called it the greatest commandment of scripture, and it remains the central confession of Judaism today.

The foundational truth for world redemption is that there is one God who created and redeems, and yet the NT shows that God is Father, Son and Holy Spirit. Compare the unity of God to the unity of man made in His image: man comprises of spirit, soul and body (1 Thess 5:23 "may your whole spirit, soul and body be preserved..."). Man is not 3 "beings" but "one being" with physical, emotional and spiritual elements.

Who is God the Son?
John 1:1-3 "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things were made through Him, and without Him nothing was made that was made."
"In the beginning" directly mirrors what is written in Gen 1:1 with the intention of linking Jesus, the Word, with the God of creation. The Word (Logos) is Jesus Christ, the eternal, ultimate expression of God. In the OT God spoke the world into existence; in the gospel God spoke His final word through the living Word, His Son. The phrase "the Word was God" attributes Deity to the Word without defining all of the Godhead as "the Word".

Gen. 15:7 "I am the Lord."
This illustrates the Lord revealing Himself and assuring Abraham that He is God.

John 8:58 "Jesus said to them, 'Most assuredly, I say to you, before Abraham was, I AM.'"
I am certain that Jesus reiterating the exact use of wording attributed to the God of the OT is no accident. The Jews would have been familiar with the terminology in which the Lord chose to address Abraham, the significance of which would not have been lost on the Jews of the day. Otherwise, why would the Jews have wanted to stone Him for blasphemy if He was not claiming to be God? See John 8:59, "Then they took up stones to throw at Him..."
Furthermore, in the text "Before Abraham was" the verb "was" would have been better translated "was born", indicating that Abraham's life had a specific beginning. This stands in sharp contrast to Jesus' self-claim, "I AM". In other words, He was without beginning, the ever-present one.

John 10:30 "I and My Father are one."
This is further illustration that Jesus is the Christ and is asserting Himself as being God. See also John 10:38 where Jesus says, "...the Father is in Me, and I in Him". This gives support to the principle that there is one Godhead comprising of more than one Person.

Col. 1:15-17 "He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation. For by Him all things were created that are in heaven and that are on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or principalities or powers. All things were created through Him and for Him. And He is before all things and in Him all things consist."
Again there is a direct correlation with that which is written in Genesis 1:1 and John 1:1. Furthermore, In the Greek, the word "image" means an exact revelation and representation. This is emphasised in Heb 1:3, "who being the brightness of His glory and the express image of His person, and upholding all things by the word of His power."
The word "by" can be translated as the word "in". Christ did not merely speak the Word of God; He was the Word (Logos).

Further references to this can be found in:
This again illustrates that Jesus was God in the flesh and by the term "Godhead" it is inferred that there is more than one Person of God.
Who is God the Holy Spirit?
Gen. 1:2, "The earth was without form, and void; and darkness was on the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God was hovering over the face of the waters."
The Spirit of God was there in the beginning, and took an active part in the creation process. Thus, all three Persons of the Godhead were present at the beginning of creation (Gen. 1:1-2; John 1:1).

2 Cor. 3:17, "Now the Lord is the Spirit; and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty."
This is not a 'proof text', more like a scripture affirming that God is also the Spirit, therefore asserting the third Person of the Godhead.

John 14:16, "Jesus said, 'And I will pray to the Father, and He will give you another Helper, that He may abide with you forever.'"
The Greek word for another is "allos" meaning one besides, another of the same kind. Jesus' use of allos for sending another Comforter equals "One besides Me and in addition to Me but one just like Me. He will do in My absence what I would do if I were physically present with you". The Spirit's coming assures continuity with what Jesus did and taught.

John 14:17 "the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees Him nor knows Him; but you know Him, for He dwells with you and will be in you."
Here, Jesus is asserting that God reveals Himself to those who believe and revelation comes through God the Holy Spirit, the giver of truth. It is He who makes this possible.

John 14: 25-26, "These things I have spoken to you while being present with you. But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in My name, He will teach you all things, and bring to you remembrance all things that I said to you."
The emphasis here is that the ministry of the Holy Spirit is predominantly Christ-oriented, a part of which is to teach and remind the disciples of what Jesus taught in person. The Spirit, then, is never self-serving.

The scriptures show the Holy Spirit in uniquely and distinctly at work as both the Author of the OT and of the New and also as the OT Anointer. The Holy Spirit is the one who operates in the church, hence continuing the work of Jesus.

The Holy Spirit is not impersonal. He has all the characteristics of a personality.

The Holy Spirit is a Person
The scriptures teach that the Holy Spirit is a Person, not an impersonal force; He possesses all the attributes of a personality.

  1. He has all the characteristics of a person: He possesses the attributes of
  2. He engages in such activities as:
  3. He has a relationship with human beings: He can be:
  4. The Holy Spirit possesses the divine attributes of the Godhead: He is:

Therefore, the scriptures state clearly that the triune Godhead operates co-equally, co-eternally and co-existently as one unit. However, it also suggests that in this unity of activity there should be acknowledgement of the special functions attributed to each member of the Trinity:

Godhead
The Scriptures infer that each member of the Godhead has a distinct role. Foundationally, human life is given by the Father (Gen. 2:7, "And the Lord God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living being."), who also gave His only begotten Son as the Redeemer for mankind (John 3:16, "for God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.").

Redemptively, Jesus is the giver of eternal life (John 10:28, "And I shall give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; neither shall anyone snatch them out of my hand."): He gave His life and shed His blood to gain that privilege (John 10:17 "Therefore My Father loves Me because I lay down My life that I may take it again.") Furthermore, the Father and the Son have jointly sent the Holy Spirit (Acts 2:33, "Therefore being exalted to the right hand of God and having received from the Father the promise of the Holy Spirit, He poured out this which you now see and hear.") to advance the work of redemption through the church's ministry, growth and evangelism.

Thus, the Father is the fountainhead of the Trinity, the creator, the first cause. He is the primary thought, the concept of all that has been and will be created. Jesus said "My Father has been working until now, and I have been working." (John 5:17).

The Son is the "Logos" or expression of God, the "only begotten" of the Father and He Himself is God. Furthermore, as God incarnate, He reveals the Father to us (John 14:9 "Jesus said to him, "Have I been with you so long and yet you have not known me Philip?" He who seen Me has seen the Father; so how can you say "Show us the Father?""

The Son of God is both the agent of creation and mankind's only redeemer.

The Holy Spirit, the third Person of the Trinity, proceeds from the Father and is worshipped and glorified together with the Father and the Son. He inspired the scriptures, empowers God's people and convicts the world "of sin and of righteousness and of judgement" (John 16:8).

All three Persons of the Godhead are eternal. The Father exists and has existed forever. With Him always existed His expression, the Son. Always the Father loved the Son, and the Son loved and served the Father. From their relationship of love exists the Spirit of God, who is eternal and has existed forever. The Father did not exist first, then later the Son and then later still the Spirit. They all three have existed from before there was anything that could begin three distinct persons all functioning as One.

Upon the occasion of Jesus' baptism, all three Persons of the Trinity were present and active. The Father spoke from heaven, the Son was fulfilling all righteousness, and the Spirit descended upon the Son like a dove. (Matt 3:16-17 "When He had been baptised, Jesus came up immediately from the water; and behold the heavens were opened to Him; and He saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and alighting upon Him. And suddenly a voice came from heaven, saying, "This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.").

The Biblical "mystery" of the Holy Trinity
Clearly there is evidence in the Scriptures to support the doctrine of the Holy Trinity (i.e. the three Persons of the one Godhead). Why then are the Scriptures unclear or vague or in other words shrouded in mystery about the Trinity?

Matt 13: 10, 11 and 13
"And the disciples came and said to Him, "Why do You speak to them in parables?" He answered and said to them, "Because it has been given to you to know the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven, but to them it has not been given I speak to them in parables, because seeing they do not see, and hearing they do not hear, nor do they understand."

In Biblical thought the term "mystery" means something formerly hidden, but now revealed, which people cannot understand except by divine revelation. "The mystery of the Kingdom of God" means that the Kingdom of God has come in the person of Jesus of Nazareth, in His words and works, a kingdom which began to penetrate the human situation in a new way, in and through His ministry, which continues to do so through the church and which awaits ultimate consummation at the end of the age. Only by faith can one recognise in the lowly figure of Jesus of Nazareth the manifestation of Gods rule.

This is further supported through examining the use of the Greek word "musterion" which means to "initiate into the mysteries", hence a secret known only to the initiated, something hidden requiring special revelation. In the NT the word denotes something that people could never know by their own understanding and that demands a revelation from God. The secret thought, plans and dispensations of God remain hidden from unregenerate mankind, but are revealed to all believers. In non-Biblical Greek "musterion" is knowledge withheld, concealed or silenced. In Biblical Greek it is truth revealed.

Col 1:26, "the mystery which has been hidden from ages and from generations, but now has been revealed to His saints."

Conclusion
In attempting to unravel the doctrine of the Holy Trinity through the examination of scripture, I started to question why God would keep certain teachings a "mystery". The mysteries are not meant to be unfathomable truths. However, revelation can only come through the Spirit of God, the giver of truth, as we enter into and develop an on-going relationship with God.

I believe that relationship is what lies at the very heart of the doctrine of the Trinity. Scripture clearly shows the relationship between the Father, Son and the Holy Spirit, which also reflects the desire God has to be in relationship with man. This is illustrated right at the beginning of creation whereby God created Adam in His own image, and there existed at the very outset a relationship between mankind and the Creator. Just as in human relationships between individuals, as trust develops, knowledge and understanding of each other is attained. This same principle is reflected in mans' relationship with God. As our relationship with Him deepens, then the mysteries that were once beyond our natural capacity to understand, begin to be unveiled.

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