Trinity: What the Bible says about the triune God

EXPLORING CHRISTIANITY - THE TRINITY

THE BIBLE
Can we trust a book written 2000 years ago?

EYEWITNESS
Did the writers of the New Testament get their picture of Jesus right?

GOD - MAN
Is Jesus really God?

RESURRECTION
Did Jesus really rise from the dead?

RELIGIONS
With so many religions, why Christianity?

SUFFERING
If there is a God, why is there so much suffering?

TRINITY
Understanding the Trinity.

SCIENCE
The complementary nature of Science & Christianity.

FORGIVENESS
What it is and why it matters?

GUIDANCE
How does God guide?

REPENTANCE
What it is and why you can't get to heaven without it.

BORN AGAIN
What does it mean to be converted and born again?

SAVING FAITH
The kind of faith that will get you to heaven

ASSURANCE
Can I know for sure that I am going to heaven?

TRUTH
What is truth and does it matter?

MORALITY
Does it matter how we live? A Christian view of morality.

THE CHURCH
God's vision for his family, the Church. A call to the churches of the new millennium.

PURPOSE
How can I find a great purpose for living?

IDENTITY
Who am I; Finding my true identity as a human being and as a child of God.

SELF-ESTEEM
How can I feel good about my self? The Christian basis for proper sel-esteem.

LIFE AFTER DEATHChristianity's Hope & Challenge.

THE CROSS
Why did Jesus Die? What the Bible says about the Cross.

Grace
The importance of grace in the New Testament.

PART 1
What the Bible says about the triune God

The Bible story tells us how God began to reveal himself over a period of time through appearances to individuals, beginning with Abraham (Genesis 12), and through certain historical events, chiefly concerning Abraham's descendants, the Israelite (Jewish) people. The Jewish people were very strong in the belief that the God who had brought them out of slavery in Egypt, met with them at Mount Sinai, given them his commandments, and who had brought them into the promised land, was the one true living God of all the earth. This was in contrast to the many gods that the surrounding nations worshipped.

Over the years God foretold through the prophets, particularly from the eighth century BC onwards, that a figure would arise among them who would bring many blessings to God's people, whether they were Israelites or from among the nations of the world. "The virgin will be with child and will give birth to a son, and will call him Immanuel" (Isaiah 7:14 - Immanuel means "God with us" in Hebrew). "For to us a child is born, to us a son is given, and the government will be on his shoulders. And he will be called Wonderful Counsellor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace" (Isaiah 9:6). "I ...will make you to be a covenant for the people and a light for the nations" (Isaiah 42:6).

Several centuries later, during the reign of the Roman emperor Caesar Augustus, a child was born in the Jewish village of Bethlehem. At the age of 30 this individual, Jesus, began his public ministry and astounded people, both with his miracles of healing and with his claims*. These claims included the assertion that he was the one foretold through the Old Testament writings (e.g. John 5:39,40). He said many things about himself that the Jewish religious leaders rightly recognised as putting himself on a level with God. On a number of occasions they were ready to stone him for blasphemy for making such claims. At the same time he often talked about his "Father" in heaven who had sent him into this world. Of course, if the claims of Jesus are true, then God is no longer one person, but two!

However, before Jesus was crucified, he promised his disciples that he would ask the Father to send them "another Counsellor to be with you forever - the Spirit of truth. The world cannot accept him, because it neither sees him nor knows him. But you know him, for he lives with you and will be in you" (John 14:16,17). It is interesting that the Greek** word "another" that is used here implies "another like me". This "Spirit" that Jesus spoke of came to indwell the disciples of Jesus fifty days later on the Jewish Day of Pentecost.

Now all this complicates the matter even further, for if the Spirit is also God and distinct from the Father (and we will explore this later), then we now have not just two persons, but three! For Jews who had been steeped in the Jewish tradition of one God, this must have been all rather confusing. But as the rest of the New Testament indicates, after Pentecost the early disciples of Jesus, particularly those he had trained for leadership in this new community, got it all sorted out reasonably quickly. To this evidence we now turn.

In the following pages we will look at what the New Testament has to say about the following questions: