Understanding Trinity from Words of Jesus Christ

Trinity is one of the most confused and not easily understood. Here, we will try to understand this most difficult term from what Jesus Christ explained.

trinity
Source: Wikipedia

Trinity is commonly defined as one God, three persons (Father, Son, and Holy Spirit). It can be elaborated into 7 statements.

  1. There is One God
  2. Father is God
  3. Son is God
  4. Holy Spirit is God
  5. Father is not the Son
  6. Son is not the Holy Spirit
  7. Holy Spirit is not the Father

It is important for us to understand that the word ‘Trinity’ is never found in the Bible, nor the Bible directly say God is triune in nature. However, we can find indirect evidence suggesting that God is triune in nature.

The most authoritative evidence for Trinity comes from Jesus Christ.

Matt 28:19 “Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit

Jesus Christ in His great commission, instructs His disciples to baptize in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit – making their names equal to each other.

1. There is One God

Deut 6:4 Hear, Israel: YHWH is our God. YHWH is one.

Mark 12:29 Jesus answered, “The greatest is, ‘Hear, Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is one:

Jesus Christ declares that there is one God, reiterating the Shema from the law.

2. Father is God

John 6:27 “Do not labor for the food which perishes, but for the food which endures to everlasting life, which the Son of Man will give you, because God the Father has set His seal on Him.”

Jesus Christ declares Father is God

3. Son is God

John 10:30-33 “I and My Father are one.”  Then the Jews took up stones again to stone Him. Jesus answered them, “Many good works I have shown you from My Father. For which of those works do you stone Me?” The Jews answered Him, saying, “For a good work we do not stone You, but for blasphemy, and because You, being a Man, make Yourself God.”

Jesus Christ declares Himself as God, being one with the Father.

4. Holy Spirit is God

John 4:24 “God is Spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth.”

Jesus taught us that God is Spirit.

Matt 10:19-10 “But when they deliver you up, do not worry about how or what you should speak. For it will be given to you in that hour what you should speak; for it is not you who speak, but the Spirit of your Father who speaks in you.

Mark 13:11 “But when they arrest you and deliver you up, do not worry beforehand, or premeditate what you will speak. But whatever is given you in that hour, speak that; for it is not you who speak, but the Holy Spirit. Now brother will betray brother to death, and a father his child; and children will rise up against parents and cause them to be put to death.

When Jesus is referring to the Holy Spirit, the authors wrote in such a way that the Spirit of the Father is synonymous to the Holy Spirit.

This can be confirmed through what Jesus said about the day of Pentecost.

Joel 2:28 “And it shall come to pass afterward That I will pour out My Spirit on all flesh; Your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, Your old men shall dream dreams, Your young men shall see visions.

Acts 1:5 “for John truly baptized with water, but you shall be baptized with the Holy Spirit not many days from now.”

Here too, Jesus Christ is using the Father’s Spirit in the prophecy synonymous to the Holy Spirit. God is Spirit and Holy Spirit is a reference to God Himself.

5. Father is not the Son

John 16:28 “I came forth from the Father and have come into the world. Again, I leave the world and go to the Father.”

John 17:5 “And now, O Father, glorify Me together with Yourself, with the glory which I had with You before the world was.

John 8:29 “And He who sent Me is with Me. The Father has not left Me alone, for I always do those things that please Him.”

Jesus Christ declares that He was one with the Father before the world came into existence. He came into this world separated from the Father (but not left alone) and going back to the Father. Hence, the Father is not the Son.

6. Son is not the Holy Spirit

John 14:16,26 “And I will pray the Father, and He will give you another Helper, that He may abide with you forever– … But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in My name, He will teach you all things, and bring to your remembrance all things that I said to you.

Luke 24:39 “Behold My hands and My feet, that it is I Myself. Handle Me and see, for a spirit does not have flesh and bones as you see I have.”

Luke 12:10 “And anyone who speaks a word against the Son of Man, it will be forgiven him; but to him who blasphemes against the Holy Spirit, it will not be forgiven.

Jesus Christ taught about the Holy Spirit as another Helper. He also very clearly identified Himself as not a spirit. Christ also adds that blasphemy against Him will be forgiven but blasphemies against the Holy Spirit will never be forgiven. Hence, the Son is not the Holy Spirit.

7. Holy Spirit is not the Father

John 14:26 But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in My name, He will teach you all things, and bring to your remembrance all things that I said to you.

Jesus Christ explains that the Holy Spirit will be sent by the Father in His name, identifying the Holy Spirit separate from the Father.

Points to Consider …

Authority

John 12:49 “For I have not spoken on My own authority; but the Father who sent Me gave Me a command, what I should say and what I should speak.

Jesus Christ had not spoken in His own authority, but what the Father commanded that He should say.

Acts 1:7 And He said to them, “It is not for you to know times or seasons which the Father has put in His own authority.

Matt 20:23 So He said to them, “You will indeed drink My cup, and be baptized with the baptism that I am baptized with; but to sit on My right hand and on My left is not Mine to give, but it is for those for whom it is prepared by My Father.”

We also see that the Father’s authority is different from Christ’s authority.

authority

John 16:13-15 “However, when He, the Spirit of truth, has come, He will guide you into all truth; for He will not speak on His own authority, but whatever He hears He will speak; and He will tell you things to come. He will glorify Me, for He will take of what is Mine and declare it to you. All things that the Father has are Mine. Therefore I said that He will take of Mine and declare it to you.

Holy Spirit will not speak in His own authority, but whatever He hears, He will speak. While Jesus Christ said that the Holy Spirit will take what is His’s and declare it to us, it is unclear on who’s authority does the Holy Spirit speaks. If Holy Spirit speaks with the authority of Christ, Christ Himself will not speak on His own authority but in Father’s authority. Hence, all authority comes from the Father.

Source

John 10:30 “I and My Father are one.”

John 17:5 “And now, O Father, glorify Me together with Yourself, with the glory which I had with You before the world was.

John 16:28 “I came forth from the Father and have come into the world. Again, I leave the world and go to the Father.”

John 8:18 “I am One who bears witness of Myself, and the Father who sent Me bears witness of Me.”

Christ and His Father are one. He was one with the Father before the creation of the world. He came forth from the Father and going back to the Father.

John 14:26 “But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in My name, He will teach you all things, and bring to your remembrance all things that I said to you.

John 15:26 “But when the Helper comes, whom I shall send to you from the Father, the Spirit of truth who proceeds from the Father, He will testify of Me.

The Father will send the Holy Spirit in the Son’s name. Jesus also said, He will send the Holy Spirit from the Father, showing once again that He and the Father are one.

Hence, both the Son and the Holy Spirit proceed from the Father.

Blasphemy

Lev 24:16 ‘And whoever blasphemes the name of the LORD shall surely be put to death. All the congregation shall certainly stone him, the stranger as well as him who is born in the land. When he blasphemes the name of the LORD, he shall be put to death.

Whoever blasphemes the Father has no forgiveness or atonement in the law and must be stoned to death in this world.

Matt 12:32 “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.

Whoever blasphemes the Son has forgiveness but whoever blasphemes the Holy Spirit will not be forgiven in this age or the age to come.

Greater

John 14:28 “You have heard Me say to you, ‘I am going away and coming back to you.’ If you loved Me, you would rejoice because I said, ‘I am going to the Father,’ for My Father is greater than I.

Heavenly Father is greater than Jesus Christ.

Conclusion

It is important to note that the Son is not part of God but fully God, who was one with the Father, came from the Father to be born in this world as a normal man. Jesus Christ is not part human and part God, but fully human and fully God. The Holy Spirit is also not part of God but fully God, came from the Father to dwell on us. It is not possible for us, being a creation to understand our Creator who designed and created everything.

John 16:25 “These things I have spoken to you in figurative language; but the time is coming when I will no longer speak to you in figurative language, but I will tell you plainly about the Father.”

Time is coming when Christ will tell us plainly about the Father. Until then, we will never fully understand Trinity.

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