FOUNDATION TOPIC

What Is the Trinity?

The Trinity is a name that we give to God, meaning tri (three) + unity (one), because of the Bible’s revelation that God is one being, but three persons. The whole story of the Bible rests upon this truth about God's nature.

Related Topics

What's on this page?

God is relational

The Triune nature of God is a bedrock truth of the Bible, and what sets the God of the Bible apart from all others.

What is the Trinity?

Why does the Trinity matter?

Theme Verse

Ephesians 4:4-6 ESV

There is one body and one Spirit—just as you were called to the one hope that belongs to your call—one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all.

Short Content

The Trinity: How the Biblical God Is Different from All Others

Jesus said to him, “‘You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind.’ This is the first and great commandment. And the second is like it: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’” (Matthew 22:37-39 NKJV)

God is relational, not a force, not a power. God unfolds the truth throughout the Bible and redemptive history that he is three Persons: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.

This is the most significant way the God of the Bible differs from all other supposed gods. God’s nature is a unified relationship between three Persons. They are distinct but inseparable Persons united in one being, having different roles, but one will. We call him a “Trinity,” a three-person unity. One pastor put it this way: God is three “Who’s” and one “What.”

Though the word Trinity does not appear in the Bible, it’s the term we use to summarize the truth about God’s nature based on what he says about himself.

This truth about God explains our favorite concept: love. God is by nature a community— relational (1 John 4:8). He created us and the world not out of need, nor to exercise pure power, but in demonstration of his love. And, the greatest overflow of his love was his plan to save us from our own rebellion against him, which he could not have accomplished for us apart from being Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.

God’s triune nature also provides the explanation for his greatest command. For, God himself is love. And his greatest desire for us is that we would love him and love one another.

by Bibles.net

OPEN
YOUR BIBLE

God Identifies as Plural

“Then 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 birds of the heavens and over the livestock and over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.”
(Genesis 1:26 ESV)

God Declares that He Is One Being

“Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God, the LORD is one.”
(Deuteronomy 6:4 ESV)

Read Deuteronomy 6

The Spirit Proceeds from Both the Father and the Son

“When the Helper comes, whom I [Jesus] will send to you from the Father, that is the Spirit of truth who proceeds from the Father, He will testify about Me . . .”
(John 15:26 ESV)

We Are Baptized in the One Name of the Triune God

“Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit . . .”
(Matthew 28:19 ESV)

Read Matthew 28

Jesus Is Declared God’s Son through His Resurrection by the Spirit

“Who was declared the Son of God with power by the resurrection from the dead, according to the Spirit of holiness, Jesus Christ our Lord . . .”
(Romans 1:4 ESV)

Our Salvation from Sin Can Only Happen Because God is Three in One

How much more, then, will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself unblemished to God, cleanse our consciences from acts that lead to death, so that we may serve the living God!
(Hebrews 9:14 NIV)

The Three Persons of God Have One Purpose

According to the foreknowledge of God the Father, in the sanctification of the Spirit, for obedience to Jesus Christ and for sprinkling with his blood: May grace and peace be multiplied to you.
(1 Peter 1:2 ESV)

God Is Present with His People as Three Persons

The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit, be with you all.
(2 Corinthians 13:14 ESV)

Read 2 Corinthians 13

There Is Only One True God and One True Faith

There are different kinds of gifts, but the same Spirit distributes them. There are different kinds of service, but the same Lord. There are different kinds of working, but in all of them and in everyone it is the same God at work.
(1 Corinthians 12:4-6 NIV)

Read 1 Corinthians 12

What is the Trinity?

Devotional: 5 Min

What Does It Mean That God Is Trinue?

by Nancy Taylor and Phil Ryken, adapted by Bibles.net

Infographic

Athanasian Creed
Wallpaper

We have made a graphic so you can keep a portion of the Athanasian Creed on your phone as your background or screensaver!

Video: 8 Min

Who Is
the God of
the Bible?

by Bible Project

Quote

Should We Expect to Comprehend the Trinity?

by Vernon Grounds

Explain the Trinity? We can't even begin. We can only accept it—a mystery, disclosed in Scripture. It should be no surprise that the triune Being of God baffles our finite minds. We should be surprised, rather, if we could understand the nature of our Creator.

See quote source

Check Out the Apostles' and Nicene Creeds!

The truth that God is triune has been confessed, defended, and preserved in historical creeds for the church.

Infographic

Seven False Views of the Trinity

We've made this graphic for you to help you develop a right understanding of the Trinity. Feel free to save the graphic to your device and share it with others!

Article: 15 Min

Is the Trinity Three Different Gods?

by Jobe Martin at Answers in Genesis

Video: 6 Min

The Doctrine
of God

What do we believe about God the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit?

by J.T. English at The Village Church

Gospel

Father Jesus Spirit

by Fred Hammond

Article: 20 Min

The Trinity

Abstract: The Bible clearly affirms the existence of three distinct Persons that are all identified as the one God of the universe.

by Mark Bird at Answers in Genesis

Verse

Matthew 3:16-17 NKJV

When He had been baptized, Jesus came up immediately from the water; and behold, the heavens were opened to Him, and He saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and alighting upon Him. And suddenly a voice came from heaven, saying, “This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.”

Article: 25 Min

What Is the Doctrine of the Trinity?

by Matt Perman at Desiring God

Video: 8 Min

What Is the
Strongest
Evidence for
Christianity?

by Abdu Murray at Reasons to Believe

Hymns

All Praise to Him

by Sovereign Grace Music

Why Does the Trinity Matter?

Verse

Deuteronomy 6:4-5 NIV

Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength.

Article: 5 Min

No Trinity, No Love

by Jared C. Wilson at The Gospel Coalition

Quote

The Trinity Means God Is Love

by C.S. Lewis

The words “God is love” have no real meaning unless God contains at least two persons. Love is something that one person has for another person. If God was a single person, then before the world was made, he was not love.

Image

He who does
not love does
not know God,
for God is love.

1 John 4:8 NKJV

Verse

2 Corinthians 13:14 NIV

May the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all.

Quote

Without the Son, God
cannot truly be a Father;
thus alone,
he is not truly love.
Thus he can have no
fellowship to share with
us, no Son to bring us
close, no Spirit through
whom we might know him.

Michael Reeves

Praise & Worship

King of Kings

by Hillsong Worship

Verse

Galatians 4:4-7 NIV

But when the set time had fully come, God sent his Son, born of a woman, born under the law, to redeem those under the law, that we might receive adoption to sonship. Because you are his sons, God sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, the Spirit who calls out, “Abba, Father.” So you are no longer a slave, but God’s child; and since you are his child, God has made you also an heir.

Quote

It was the whole Trinity,
which at the beginning of creation said,
"Let us make man"
(Genesis 1:26).
It was the whole Trinity
again, which at the
beginning of the Gospel seemed to say,
"Let us save man"
(Matthew 3:16-17).

Rap

Triune Praise

by Shai Linne

Verse

Titus 3:3-7 NIV

But when the kindness and love of God our Savior appeared, he saved us, not because of righteous things we had done, but because of his mercy. He saved us through the washing of rebirth and renewal by the Holy Spirit, whom he poured out on us generously through Jesus Christ our Savior, so that, having been justified by his grace, we might become heirs having the hope of eternal life.

Quiz

What Do You Know About the Trinity?

TAKE A QUIZ!

Books

Delighting in the Trinity:
An Introduction to the Christian Faith

by Michael Reeves | Theology

Difficulty: Easy

Communion With the Triune God

by John Owen | Theology

Difficulty: Scholarly

There is none like you

among the gods, O Lord

Psalm 86:8 ESV