One of the most attacked Biblical doctrines is the Scriptural teaching that the Father is God, Jesus is God, the Holy Spirit is God so that there are three persons in the Godhead of one essence.
One reason why the Trinity is attacked is because it is so mysterious. A Biblical mystery is not a puzzle to be solved, or a secret to be discovered. A Biblical mystery is a truth that seems to be contradictory. For example, “How can God be three in one?” “How can the Son pray to the Father and not be talking to Himself?”
Such a mystery cannot be explained, or understood by human intellect alone. God must reveal any truth that is to be given.
In trying to understand the concept of the Trinity, some have used the image of an egg, which is a single thing but has a shell, a white, and a yoke. However, the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit are not just three parts of one God. Rather, they are each a distinct person.
Others have likened the Trinity to water, which is one substance which can appear in three distinct forms all at the same time: ice, liquid, and steam.
However, this analogy is not satisfactory because God is a person, Christ is a person, and Holy Spirit is a person.
While the Doctrine of the Trinity remains a great mystery, it expresses the historic faith of the Church in her Creeds, and in her songs.
Let all the people of God confess the faith and say:
Father
I believe in God the Father Almighty,
maker of heaven and earth;
Son
And in Jesus Christ his only Son our Lord:
who was conceived by the Holy Spirit,
born of the Virgin Mary,
suffered under Pontius Pilate,
was crucified, dead, and buried;
the third day he rose from the dead;
he ascended into heaven,
and sitteth at the right hand of God the Father Almighty;
from thence he shall come to judge the quick and the dead.
Holy Spirit
I believe in the Holy Spirit,
the holy catholic* church,
the communion of saints,
the forgiveness of sins,
the resurrection of the body,
and the life everlasting. Amen
*universal
Let all the people of God sing:
Holy, holy, holy! Lord God Almighty!
Early in the morning our song shall rise to thee;
holy, holy, holy! merciful and mighty,
God in three persons, blessed Trinity!
Holy, holy, holy! All the saints adore thee,
casting down their golden crowns around the glassy sea;
cherubim and seraphim falling down before thee,
who wert and art and evermore shalt be.
Holy, holy, holy! Though the darkness hide thee,
though the eye made blind by sin thy glory may not see,
only thou art holy; there is none beside thee,
perfect in power, in love, and purity.
Holy, holy, holy! Lord God Almighty!
All thy works shall praise thy name, in earth and sky and sea;
holy, holy, holy! merciful and mighty,
God in three persons, blessed Trinity!
Tragically, there are people who attack the Doctrine of the Trinity. Some are outside the Church structure; others pretend to be Christians and remain inside the Church.
The truth of the matter is that to deny the Doctrine of the Trinity, is to be outside the sphere of saving faith. While salvation is planned by the Father, and secured by the redemptive work of Jesus at Calvary, it is the Holy Spirit who regenerates the soul. We are born of the Spirit.
“That which is born of the flesh is flesh; and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. 7 Marvel not that I said unto thee, Ye must be born again. 8 The wind bloweth where it listeth, and thou hearest the sound thereof, but canst not tell whence it cometh, and whither it goeth: so is every one that is born of the Spirit” (John 3:6-8).
“Elect according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, through sanctification of the Spirit, unto obedience and sprinkling of the blood of Jesus Christ: Grace unto you, and peace, be multiplied” (1 Peter 1:2).
One of the most vociferous attackers of the Doctrine of the Trinity is Christian Science, a religious cult founded by Mary Bakker Eddy (1821 – 1910).
“The theory of three persons in one God, that is a personal Trinity, or Tr-unity, suggests heathen gods rather than the One ever present I Am” (Maker Bakker Eddy, Science and Health).
Christian theology has never taught there is more than one God. The Great Shama has always affirmed there is one God.
“Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God is one Lord” (Deut. 6:4).
What Christianity does teach is that God manifests Himself as these three persons: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. That is the revelation of Scripture. Every divine attribute ascribed to the Father is ascribed to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit. For this reason, Christians disciples are baptized in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost (Matt. 28:19).
No one had to tell the writers of the gospel and the epistles, there is a mathematical impossibility of there being three in one. Luke the physician knew the difference between one patient and three. Matthew the tax collector knew the difference between one coin and three. Peter the fisherman knew the difference between one fish and three. Nevertheless, when these authors met Christ, they bowed and called Jesus their Lord and their God while affirm the Great Shema.
In order to embrace the Biblical doctrine of the Trinity, there has to be a concession that within complexity there is diversity and the more diversity that is allowed the more complexity there will be.
A person who believes in a flat earth will understand the earth in a limited way. There will be movement right and left, and backward and forward. But if the dimension of up and down is added to an understanding of the earth, there is more diversity and complexity in the relationships. If another dimension is added to these three, there is still greater complexity and diversity.
In the person of God there is complexity and diversity, that is beyond the comprehension of man, as he constitutes only body and soul.
Additional complexity in God is that dimension in Him which spoke before the universe, angels, or man were created. But to whom did God speak if there was not a relationship when He said, “Let us make man in our image” (Gen. 1:26). God listened, but who did He hear if there is not a complexity of diversity within the person of God that moral man has yet to comprehend. The Bible says that God is love, but whom did God love if there is not some relationship within the Tri-unity.
Christians bow before the Scriptures, and affirm which is revealed believing that our verse salvation is rooted in how God reveals Himself, not how we want Him to be. God is incomprehensible, said the theologians, and they are right.
There is unity, diversity, and community in the majesty and mystery of the Godhead. For now, it is enough to pray to the Father, believe in His Son, Jesus Christ, and be filled with the Holy Sprit based upon regeneration.
