DEFINING THE TRINITY
1Jn 5:5 Who is he that overcometh the world, but he that believeth that Jesus is the Son of God?
1Jn 5:6 This is he that came by water and blood, even Jesus Christ; not by water only, but by water and blood. And it is the Spirit that beareth witness, because the Spirit is truth.
1Jn 5:7 For there are three that bear record in heaven, the Father, the Word, and the Holy Ghost: and these three are one.
1Jn 5:8 And there are three that bear witness in earth, the Spirit, and the water, and the blood: and these three agree in one.
In my experience the only reason why the issue of the trinity, (or the issue of God’s triune nature and being), is difficult for someone to understand is because the person thinks that God should be able to be easily described, and should not to be complex in His being, or intricate in nature, or any such thing. In other words I find that most people who either reject the doctrine of God’s triune nature, or express any serious consternation about it, do so because they think that they ought to be able to ‘fully explain’ God in the sense that there ought not be anything about Him that cannot be fully described and fully understood; or they think that there ought not be anything about God that does not make complete sense to them, or that they cannot personally relate to and see the logic of.
Isa 40:3 The voice of him that crieth in the wilderness, Prepare ye the way of the LORD, make straight in the desert a highway for our God.
Isa 40:9 O Zion, that bringest good tidings, get thee up into the high mountain; O Jerusalem, that bringest good tidings, lift up thy voice with strength; lift it up, be not afraid; say unto the cities of Judah, Behold your God!
Wherefore on the basis of their own criteria for determining what God is, and what He should be like, they reject anything that does not fit into their own preconceived criteria. Or to put it another way, instead of letting God Himself tell them what He is like and believing what God says about Himself, (regardless of whether it meets with their approval or not, or seems to be logical to them or not), they approach the Bible with their own preconceived notions of what they think that God has to be like, and they then go about making what they find in the Bible conform to their preconceived ideas and dictates.
Job 11:5 But oh that God would speak, and open his lips against thee;
Job 11:6 And that he would shew thee the secrets of wisdom, that they are double to that which is! Know therefore that God exacteth of thee less than thine iniquity deserveth.
Job 11:7 Canst thou by searching find out God? canst thou find out the Almighty unto perfection?
Job 11:8 It is as high as heaven; what canst thou do? deeper than hell; what canst thou know?
But the truth of the matter is that there are things that God says about Himself, (as well as about a whole lot of other things), which He expects us to accept and believe regardless of whether or not they seem to make sense unto us. (In fact part of the essence of faith is the issue of believing what God says regardless of whether it ‘makes sense’ or not.) As Job acknowledged, the truth of the matter is that ‘by searching. God cannot be found out,’ and one ‘cannot find out the Almighty unto perfection.’ Therefore simply because of who God is in being Almighty God, (and not being a creature but the Creator), there are things about Him that neither angels nor men can know ‘unto perfection.’
Joh 14:6 Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me.
Joh 14:7 If ye had known me, ye should have known my Father also: and from henceforth ye know him, and have seen him.
Wherefore there are things about Him that naturally are not going to necessarily conform to our finite logic and ability to comprehend. In fact as Job also repeatedly speaks about, (which I now paraphrase), ‘if the ways of God are not something that any man can fully explain, or fully understand, how much more God Himself?’ Now of course what Job says is perfectly true. In connection with this I find it almost comical that those who reject the doctrine of God’s triune nature because they say that it cannot be logically understood nor fully explained, have to admit that they believe other things that neither they nor anyone else can logically understand or fully explain.
Joh 14:8 Philip saith unto him, Lord, shew us the Father, and it sufficeth us.
Joh 14:9 Jesus saith unto him, Have I been so long time with you, and yet hast thou not known me, Philip? he that hath seen me hath seen the Father; and how sayest thou then, Shew us the Father?
Joh 14:10 Believest thou not that I am in the Father, and the Father in me? the words that I speak unto you I speak not of myself: but the Father that dwelleth in me, he doeth the works.
Joh 14:11 Believe me that I am in the Father, and the Father in me: or else believe me for the very works’ sake.
For example, they cannot fully explain HOW God created things. They believe He did create all things, but they are not able to explain at all just how He did it. All they can say, (along with any Bible believer), is that God says He spoke and things were created. But this does not ‘fully explain’ how God created. This does not explain how when words came out of God’s mouth things came into existence that had never existed before. So even though the ‘trinity rejecter’ cannot give one whit of a logical explanation or understanding as to how it is that God created things, he believes it nonetheless. And yet when it comes to the issue of God’s very own nature and being, he says that he cannot and will not believe anything about God that cannot be logically explained and understood. So then this means that he is nothing but an outright carnal hypocrite.
Joh 16:7 Nevertheless I tell you the truth; It is expedient for you that I go away: for if I go not away, the Comforter will not come unto you; but if I depart, I will send him unto you.
What’s more, he is not only an hypocrite, but he is deceiving himself and refusing to be honest with his own professions. But even worse, he has exalted his own mind to the position of being the judge when it comes to determining what is truth and what is not. But this is exactly what men do when they operate on their pride. So it is actually the issue of men being ‘puffed up by their own fleshly minds’ that has them thinking and saying that we should be able to logically explain and/or understand God’s being and nature without any need to admit that some things about God are not able to be fully or logically explained.
Joh 14:26 But the Comforter, which is the Holy Ghost, whom the Father will send in my name, he shall teach you all things, and bring all things to your remembrance, whatsoever I have said unto you.
Now I have said these things to underscore where it is that a person’s difficulty with the doctrine of the trinity comes from. His difficulty does not come from what the Bible says. It comes from his own preconceived and exalted thinking that says that he being a mere man, and finite by nature, should be able to fully perceive and understand Almighty God, who is infinite by nature. Once again this is purely the result of his own personal pride. So then when it comes to us understanding and appreciating the issue of God’s Being and Nature, (or anything that God says for that matter), we are to go by what God says about Himself in His word regardless of whether or not it seems logical or reasonable to us. And when we do this, the fact that God is a ‘trinity,’ or has a triune nature,’ is inescapable.
Psa 139:2 Thou knowest my downsitting and mine uprising, thou understandest my thought afar off.
Psa 139:3 Thou compassest my path and my lying down, and art acquainted with all my ways.
Psa 139:4 For there is not a word in my tongue, but, lo, O LORD, thou knowest it altogether.
Psa 139:5 Thou hast beset me behind and before, and laid thine hand upon me.
Psa 139:6 Such knowledge is too wonderful for me; it is high, I cannot attain unto it.
Now even though the word ‘trinity’ itself does not occur in the Bible, (which is often pointed out by ‘trinity rejectors’), this does not mean that the word does not accurately and legitimately describe the Godhead. For example, neither the word “omniscient” nor “omnipresent” occur in the Bible; but they both accurately describe these attributes that belong to God and that God says in the Bible that He possesses. David in Psalm 139, for example, refers to the fact that God both knows all things, and knows what is going on in all places. And in view of what David says our words “omniscient” and “omnipresent” correctly, accurately, and legitimately describe these attributes of God that David is speaking about, even though David himself did not use either of the words.
Act 20:27 For I have not shunned to declare unto you all the counsel of God.
Act 20:28 Take heed therefore unto yourselves, and to all the flock, over the which the Holy Ghost hath made you overseers, to feed the church of God, which he hath purchased with his own blood
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What’s more this is true for a number of other words that we can use, and do use, to accurately and legitimately describe things that God sets forth in the Bible, including the word ‘trinity.’ (In fact this is another place where ‘trinity rejecters’ often prove themselves to be nothing but carnal hypocrites. For when they themselves talk about God being “omniscient” and “omnipresent,” and then it is pointed out to them that these words are not found in the Bible, they quickly say that though this is true the words do accurately describe these two attributes of God, and this is why they use them.) Briefly put, therefore, when it comes to the issue of the Being of God and how He describes Himself as the Being that He is, it is evident right from Genesis chapter one that God not only describes Himself as the Creator of all things, and as an intelligent Creator with a specific plan and purpose, but it is evident that God also describes Himself as being composed of more than one Person.
Gen 1:26 And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness: and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth.
For example, as the first part of Genesis 1:26 states, “And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness:…” In connection with the creation of man. God talks both to and with Himself and says, “Let US make man in OUR image, after OUR likeness.” God says “us” and “our” because there is more than one Person to His Being. What’s more it then becomes evident as one progresses on through the Bible that God in His Being is composed of three distinct and identifiable Persons, for which the word ‘trinity,’ therefore, can be used to accurately describe God’s makeup. For that is what the word “trinity” means. It means ‘three items or things integrally joined in union one with the other.’ And this is what God is in His Being. He is three identifiable Persons integrally joined in union one with another.’
Joh 1:1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.
Joh 1:2 The same was in the beginning with God.
Joh 1:3 All things were made by him; and without him was not any thing made that was made.
Joh 1:4 In him was life; and the life was the light of men.
Now it is also evident right from Genesis chapter one that though there is more than one Person to God’s Being, one of those Persons predominates in speaking, acting, and the like. This Person of the Godhead is the expressive Person of God who, for example, did the actual work of creation, appeared to and talked with Adam, later on also appeared to Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Moses, Joshua, and many of the prophets. Being the expressive Person of the Godhead, He in particular is called “the Word.” And as John 1:1–14 sets forth, He is the one who in accordance with the name “Jehovah” “was made flesh” in fulfillment of the covenant that God had made with David. In fact if God in His Being was not composed of more than one Person, it would be impossible for Him to do what His name “Jehovah” stands for. God’s “Jehovahness” only exists because He is a ‘trinity,’ and it is God’s “Jehovah-ness” that manifests His triune nature to the greatest degree.
Joh 1:5 And the light shineth in darkness; and the darkness comprehended it not.
Joh 1:6 There was a man sent from God, whose name was John.
Joh 1:7 The same came for a witness, to bear witness of the Light, that all men through him might believe.
Joh 1:8 He was not that Light, but was sent to bear witness of that Light.
Joh 1:9 That was the true Light, which lighteth every man that cometh into the world.
Joh 1:10 He was in the world, and the world was made by him, and the world knew him not.
Joh 1:11 He came unto his own, and his own received him not.
Joh 1:12 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:
Joh 1:13 Which were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God.
Joh 1:14 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.
So then in accordance with God’s triune nature and “Jehovahness” the expressive Person of the Godhead, “the Word,” “was made flesh” and became a man as “the son of David” in order to do and fulfill all that God’s name “Jehovah” says that He would do and fulfill. When “the Word” “was made flesh” in accordance with the dictates of the Davidic Covenant, He was given the name “Jesus” (Jehovah The Saviour) and is called “the Son of God” in connection with Him being Adonai Jehovah the Saviour in human flesh; and He is called “the Christ” being “the son of David” in fulfillment of the Davidic Covenant. Hence, since the time when He “was made flesh,” “the Word” (the expressive Person of the Godhead) is called the Lord Jesus Christ. And this is exactly who the Lord Jesus Christ is: He is the expressive Person of the Godhead, Who took upon Himself human flesh to do all that the name “Jehovah” says that God could do and would do. So then all three Persons of the Godhead (The Father, The Son, and The Holy Ghost) are God in nature and Being, while being separately identifiable Persons at the same time. This is what God is like in His Being, and this is what the word ‘trinity’ accurately expresses.
Keith Blades
Enjoy The Bible Ministries