Our God is unique, for we worship one God. In essence, He is One, yet exists eternally as three separate distinct persons; the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit.
A Watery Analogy
There have been many ways of imaging the nature of Trinity, but this is the one I like the best.
Water is always H2O on a molecular level. When a hydrogen atom combines with two oxygen atoms, water is always the result. Yet, this one substance appears in this image in multiple forms. Water vapor creates the clouds, liquid water fills the ocean, and freezing temperatures produce ice in the shape of a small iceberg.
It’s an imperfect analogy, because there is nothing in our natural world that looks like the Trinity. It’s hard to do anything but take the unique nature of our God by faith, based on the scriptural evidence. (See all the Scripture references under “Resources” below, proving that the Son, the Father and the Holy Spirit are each God.)
Our minds will never be great enough to understand everything about the Holy One we worship, but that’s not surprising.
Imagine trying to explain the complexity of a man or woman to an ant.
This image came from Pixabay.com.
Resources:
This odd Christian doctrine about the Trinity has deep biblical roots. I’ve included a few verses here, for those who are curious.
The Evidence for the Trinity in Scripture
Even in the 1st chapter of Genesis, God’s Triune nature is hinted at.
26 Then Elohim said, “Let us make humans in our image, in our likeness. Let them rule the fish in the sea, the birds in the sky, the domestic animals all over the earth, and all the animals that crawl on the earth.”
27 So Elohim created humans in his image.
In the image of Elohim he created them.
He created them male and female.Genesis 1:26-27 (NOG-Names of God Bible)
In Hebrew, God’s Hebrew name “Elohim” is always masculine plural.
My second piece of evidence for the Trinity is more straightforward. After His resurrection, when Jesus gave instructions about baptism, all three Persons in the Godhead were treated equally.
19 Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, (Matthew 28:19 NIV)
We have passed through a long period in church history where the Holy Spirit was hardly ever mentioned. Yet “Holy Spirit” is found 96 times in the scriptures; once in Psalms 51 and twice in Isaiah 63; after that, His name appears 27 times in the Gospels and 66 times in the New Testament.
Clearly, this Third Person of the Trinity is not inferior to the other two.
Verses speaking of only one God
4 Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. 5 Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength. (Deuteronomy 6:4-5 NIV)
22 “Turn to me and be saved, all you ends of the earth;
for I am God, and there is no other. (Isaiah 45:22 NIV)
“This is what the Lord says—Israel’s King and Redeemer, the Lord Almighty:
I am the first and I am the last; apart from me there is no God. (Isaiah 44:6 NIV)
A Verse Referring to Jesus is God
13 while we wait for the blessed hope—the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ, (Titus 2:13 NIV)
A Verse About God the Father
2 Grace and peace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. (Philippians 1:2 NIV)
Verses Announcing the Holy Spirit is God
3 Then Peter said, “Ananias, how is it that Satan has so filled your heart that you have lied to the Holy Spirit and have kept for yourself some of the money you received for the land? 4 …You have not lied just to human beings but to God.” (Acts 5:3-4 NIV)
The Spirit searches all things, even the deep things of God. 11 For who knows a person’s thoughts except their own spirit within them? In the same way no one knows the thoughts of God except the Spirit of God. (I Corinthians 2:10-11 NIV)
