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 Triune nature of God is a bedrock truth of the Bible, and what sets the God of the Bible apart from any other god. God being triune is what makes him personal, and what makes the story of the Bible so glorious.

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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 Himself as a Plurality of Persons

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)

Read Genesis 1

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)

Read John 15

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)

Read Romans 1

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)

Read Hebrews 9

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)

Read 1 Peter 1

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

Theme Verse

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.