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                          The Trinity: Is It Real?

 This paper is on the concept of the trinity or Godhead as some prefer to call it. Its purpose is to give the reader a clear understanding.  Since scripture is usually the mode of proof with those who are in debate in this subject, we are going to use it as the voice of authority in this paper.

First we shall look at what the word “Trinity,” means, trinity is derived from the Latin word trinitas, meaning “Threeness” and has been anglicized to trinity meaning the same thing as the original root word. In the Godhead the word Trinity is used to represent the three persons the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. According to this idea these three have existed since the beginning, all equal and never created, but fully God. Not three Gods, but one. This can seem confusing, because after all. How can three be one? A good example would have to be in Genesis 2:24, “Therefore a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and they shall become one flesh” When someone gets married do they kind of morph into their spouses person until there is one body? No! When someone is married they are still their own individual, they have their own likes, dislikes and preferences and different opinions. But what does happen is that in the couples love for each other they become like one in unity. So it is with the trinity, when the bible refers to the triune of persons in heaven it is speaking of three persons perfectly united in the mission of sustaining their creatures and in the service of one another and humanity.   

An objection to the concept of the Godhead or trinity that is often brought up is that the early Catholic Church was the first to teach it. This is often an issue with people because of their own personal biases towards the Catholic Church.

Some suggest that there is only One being of authority in heaven. This being God the Father, such people surmise that God the Father is capable of wearing many hats as it were and can “split” His character to do the things of Jesus and the Holy Spirit.  In order for us to know if this is true we need to look at the Son, Jesus first, and see what the Bible has to say about His status. John 2:23-25 gives us a clear idea of whether or not He is God. “Now while He was in Jerusalem at the feast of the Passover, a great number of people came to have faith in His name, after seeing the signs which he did. But Jesus did not have faith in them, because he had knowledge of them all. He had no need for any witness about man; for him himself had knowledge of what was in man.” He knew man’s hearts before He was told. This verse plainly tells us that Jesus is God.  Luke 10:22 makes it clear that Jesus is separate of the Father. “All things have been given to me by my father:  and no one has knowledge of the Son, but only Father: and of the Father, but only the Son, and he to whom the son will make it clear.” This shows the Son (Jesus) as being separate of God the Father. Another great example is in Matthew 10:32-33 “To everyone, than, who gives witness to me before men, I will give witness before my father in heaven. But if anyone says before men that he has no knowledge of me, I will say that I have no knowledge of him before my Father in heaven.”  Clearly Jesus is His own being, but works in unity with the Father. Thus, although Jesus is a separate being from the Father, they are one in the unity of love and service.

While it can be easy to believe that Jesus and God are two distinct persons, the Holy Spirit can create a lot of confusion among believers. Some misunderstand Him as an impersonal force or vessel by which the Lord gets things done. Some sort of drone that is remote controlled by God to save the world. John 16:13 says. "However, when He, the Spirit of truth, has come, He will guide you into all truth” the Holy Spirit leads you. If, He was impersonal and merely a machine than why would John call him “he”? This pronoun is used to make the point that the Spirit is NOT a “thing” but a living, breathing being. John 14:16 makes the same point.  “And I will pray the Father, and he shall give you another Comforter, that he may abide with you forever” Now, who is going to be comforted by a lifeless machine? Nobody! Logically only a loving, living, laughing thing can comfort. And why would Jesus send some lifeless creature to replace Him? According to this he wouldn’t, He’d send the best gift He could. Ellen White in her book Desire of Ages puts it this way.

“The Holy Spirit was the highest of all gifts that He could solicit from His Father for the exaltation of His people. The Spirit was to be given as a regenerating agent, and without this the sacrifice of Christ would have been of no avail. The power of evil had been strengthening for centuries, and the submission of men to this satanic captivity was amazing. Sin could be resisted and overcome through the mighty agency of the Third Person of the Godhead, who would come with no modified energy, but in the fullness of divine power.” (Chapter 73)

 When reading this it seems clear that Jesus sent us the Holy Spirit as another member of the Godhead, not as a special force. The Holy Spirit is represented as being His own being, working in unity with Jesus and God the Father.  Another example is found in scripture:

"Therefore I say to you, every sin and blasphemy will be forgiven men, but the blasphemy against the Spirit will not be forgiven men. Anyone who speaks a word against the Son of Man, it will be forgiven him; but whoever speaks against the Holy Spirit, it will not be forgiven him, either in this age or in the age to come” (Matthew 12:31, 32)

In this passage Jesus makes it clear that blasphemy against the Holy Spirit is an unpardonable sin. If the Holy Spirit A.) Didn’t exists or B.) Was just a special force, why would Jesus say it was a capital sin to speak against it? Can a person blasphemy an idea? A falsehood? No! Obviously not. Thus the argument can be made that a person could not blasphemy against something unless it is the truth. It is the same with the Holy Spirit. It can only be blasphemed if it was the truly a person. We can conclude with the assurance that the Holy Spirit is a very real part of the Godhead.

Now that we have established that there are three distinct persons in the Godhead and that all three are fully God, we must look at the source of the misunderstanding that confuses many sincere Christians. The argument is brought up that Jesus is a lesser God because of His time on earth as a man. This idea stems from a misunderstanding of the incarnation of Jesus. "God sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, and for sin, condemned sin in the flesh" (Romans 8:3). Here it is clear that Jesus’s glory was removed and he was made humble when on earth. But after the resurrection there is a change.” And now, O Father, glorify thou me with thine own self with the glory which I had with thee before the world was" (John 17:5). After the resurrection the glory which He had lost was restored as seen in this verse.

According to what we have discussed, there are three persons in the Godhead and each is separate from the other, yet they work in unity for one common cause. This concept is not new, at home, at work, or just in the community, people unite with one another in order to accomplish a single task. This enables the work to get done quicker, better, and more thoroughly than if one person did the chore alone. So it should make since that the Godhead is a unity between three different persons focused on one purpose.

In conclusion, it seems that the Bible is very clear on the issue of the Trinity. It is not a simple topic in the least and can be very hard for finite minds to contemplate. That is why the apostle Paul said "O the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are his judgments, and his ways past finding out!" (Romans 11:33). We will never fully understand the complexity of the Godhead. But God in His infinite understanding has made just enough clear to allow us to have a feeble grasp on the concept.