Our GOD, WHO is THREE in ONE
The doctrine of Trinity states that God is one but three persons. When we think of the TRINITY, we do not refer to the idea of “modalism” - that declares God manifests Himself in 3 ways: as the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. It teaches the idea of multi-tasking or wearing 3 different hats. This is not the way God revealed Himself in the Bible.
The idea of God being three does not teach “Tritheism” - a belief in 3 Gods of equal status and importance. This is polytheism.
We are not also Unitarian, who believes in Unitarianism; that God is one Jehovah God. Christ is only a prophet, and not equal with the Father, the only true God; and the Holy Spirit is an energy and power.
As TRINITARIANS, we believe in what the Bible declares that the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit are ONE.
People are having difficulty understanding this teaching because primarily, they refuse to believe what the Bible says. How can they believe if they do not even consider what God reveals in His Word. Faith comes by hearing the Word of God. (Romans 10:17) It is therefore futile to use the scripture to convince them for they will never understand, more so if the believers do not know how to guide them.
On the other hand, majority of Christians believe and have faith in this doctrine based on what the Bible declares. It is wonderful that their faith is strong enough to believe. However, the truth is not only for us to know. It is for us to share. That means in sharing, we have to know how to explain, demonstrate, and guide others to ubderstand this doctrine.
Let me say that no one can fully fathom the Triune God. When we declare that we fully know God and His mind, then we now claim to be like Him. We are not God and we can never comprehend God. But since He revealed that He is One yet Three, we have a responsibility to make that truth known.
In our attempt to explain this truth, let us not think of God and place Him in the same box (limited and finite) where we are. In doing this we make Him like us and will try to understand Him based on how we know ourselves. Rememebr that He is outside of our space and time. He is the Creator and we are His creatures.
Faith is not only believing what we cannot see and cannot understand. Because the faith that God gives will “substantiate” or provide proof or evidence of the unseen and will make us confident of what we cannot fathom. This includes the Doctrine of Trinity. (Hebrews 11:1)
Through faith, we are experiencing the presence and the power of God. We experience the works of the three persons in our lives. Isn’t that fact proof enough to believe in everthing God declares Himself to be? Why do we believe in His promises that benefit us and remain ambivalent in the truth that He is One but three?
When we describe or identify somethings or some individuals as one; we seem not having a problem with the idea. Like for example: the husband and wife being ONE. How about One family, One nation, One body but many members. We consider the idea as acceptable but when it comes to God, there seems to be a problem. Well, because we need to describe God accurately; some would say. Does the Bible gives an inaccurate description of God since it declares that He is one but Three? Did Jesus Christ lie when He declared Himself equal with the Father?
Let us strat to define the neaning of ONE. When the Bible says He is three but One; it refers to their divine essence or being one in substance. It is not about the quantity, but the quality of their divine essence. They are ONE in essence and in substance. They are also One in divine Purpose and will. They are 3 separate persons, having different responsibilities and positions, but they are One God. This is the reason why we are social beings, it is because we were created in His image. God is ONE but He is not alone for they are always Three interacting, communicating, and planning together in all eternity.
Genesis 1:26 KJV
[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.
Because God is three but One; He created man as a tripartite being, composed of Spirit, soul, and body.
The same way with God. He is the Father, the very soul of the Godhead: God the Son, the God-man, the Lord Jesus Christ; and He is the Holy Spirit, the power, the comforter. In the Old Testament Jesus Christ was revealed as the Word and as the Son of Man. The Holy Spirit is revealed as the power in helping the saints to serve God. As separate individual Persons, our Triune God is perfect, complete, holy, and pure. He is the eternal Being with no beginning and no ending.
Conclusion:
Nobody created God and nobody made them into three. Our Triune God is self-existing and eternal. There is nobody greater than Him. Let us be careful in ascribing and following the some false teachings of men. Some say that the three Persons will eventually become One in eternity in the person of Jesus Christ. The immutability of God is true in the 3 persons of the Godhead. The triune God is three in one from the past eternity to the future eternity.
How then would we see or recognize the Triune God in Heaven. The Bible says, the Father, who is Spirit sits on His throne but His glory is revealed. The Lord Jesus Christ with His glorified Body and in Person sits at the right hand of the Father. The Holy Spirit remains dwelling in all God’s people forever.
I am sure in eternity we will know more of Who God is. In this life, let us be completely satisfied with how the Triune God revealed Himself and How He described Himself. Right now our finite mind cannot and will never (even how much we try), totally fathom the greatness of our Sovereign Triune God.