Our Lord and God is the Holy Trinity. As Christians we must be Trinitarian because our God and Savior is One God in Three Persons, Blessed Trinity! The Holy Scriptures testify of the Triune God:
“Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit,” (Matthew 28:19)
“So Jesus said to them again, “Peace be with you; as the Father has sent Me, I also send you.” And when He had said this, He breathed on them and *said to them, “Receive the Holy Spirit.” (John 20:21-22)
“And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Helper, to be with you forever, even the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees him nor knows him. You know him, for he dwells with you and will be in you,” (John 14:16-17)
“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 that I have said to you,” (John 14:26)
“But when the Helper comes, whom I will send to you from the Father, the Spirit of truth, who proceeds from the Father, he will bear witness about me,” (John 15:26)
“I and the Father are One,” (John 10:30) and “Jesus then breathed on them ans they received the Holy Spirit,” (John 20:20-22)
“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)
“And when Jesus was baptized, immediately he went up from the water, and behold, the heavens were opened to him, and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and coming to rest on him; and behold, a voice from heaven said, “This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased.” (Matthew 3:16-17)
“For in him the whole fullness of Godhead dwells bodily,” (Colossians 2:9 NKJV)
“For God in all his fullness was pleased to live in Christ,” (Colossians 1:19)
“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)
“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,” (Ephesians 4:4-6)
“All things have been handed over to me by my Father, and no one knows who the Son is except the Father, or who the Father is except the Son and anyone to whom the Son chooses to reveal him,” (Luke 10:22)
“this time, Philip, and yet you still don't know who I am? Anyone who has seen me has seen the Father! So why are you asking me to show him to you? Don't you believe that I am in the Father, and that the Father is in me? The words I say to you I do not speak on my own authority. Rather, it is the Father, living in me, who is doing his work.” (John 14:9-10)
“And Jesus, full of the Holy Spirit, returned from the Jordan and was led by the Spirit in the wilderness,” (Luke 4:1)
“And we know that the Son of God has come and has given us understanding, so that we may know him who is true; and we are in him who is true, in his Son Jesus Christ. He is the true God and eternal life.” (1 John 5:20)
“He saved us, not because of works done by us in righteousness, but according to his own mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewal of the Holy Spirit,” (Titus 3:5)
“And Mary said to the angel, “How will this be, since I am a virgin?” And the angel answered her, “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you; therefore the child to be born will be called holy—the Son of God,” (Luke 1:34-35)
“Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ, 4 just as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before Him in love, 5 having predestined us to adoption as sons by Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the good pleasure of His will, 6 to the praise of the glory of His grace, by which He [a]made us accepted in the Beloved.
7 In Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of His grace 8 which He made to abound toward us in all wisdom and [b]prudence, having made known to us the mystery of His will, according to His good pleasure which He purposed in Himself, that in the dispensation of the fullness of the times He might gather together in one all things in Christ, both which are in heaven and which are on earth—in Him. In Him also we have obtained an inheritance, being predestined according to the purpose of Him who works all things according to the counsel of His will, that we who first trusted in Christ should be to the praise of His glory.
In Him you also trusted, after you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation; in whom also, having believed, you were sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise, who is the guarantee of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession, to the praise of His glory.” (Ephesians 1:4-14)
“Long ago God spoke many times and in many ways to our ancestors through the prophets. 2 And now in these final days, he has spoken to us through his Son. God promised everything to the Son as an inheritance, and through the Son he created the universe. 3 The Son radiates God’s own glory and expresses the very character of God, and he sustains everything by the mighty power of his command. When he had cleansed us from our sins, he sat down in the place of honor at the right hand of the majestic God in heaven. 4 This shows that the Son is far greater than the angels, just as the name God gave him is greater than their names. For God never said to any angel what he said to Jesus:
“You are my Son.
Today I have become your Father.”
God also said,
“I will be his Father,
and he will be my Son.”
6 And when he brought his supreme Son into the world, God said,
“Let all of God’s angels worship him.”
7 Regarding the angels, he says,
“He sends his angels like the winds,
his servants like flames of fire.”
8 But to the Son he says,
“Your throne, O God, endures forever and ever.
You rule with a scepter of justice.
9
You love justice and hate evil.
Therefore, O God, your God has anointed you,
pouring out the oil of joy on you more than on anyone else.”
10 He also says to the Son,
“In the beginning, Lord, you laid the foundation of the earth
and made the heavens with your hands.
11
They will perish, but you remain forever.
They will wear out like old clothing.
12
You will fold them up like a cloak
and discard them like old clothing.
But you are always the same;
you will live forever.”
13 And God never said to any of the angels,
“Sit in the place of honor at my right hand
until I humble your enemies,
making them a footstool under your feet.”
Therefore, angels are only servants—spirits sent to care for people who will inherit salvation.” (Hebrews 1:1-14)
“And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth,” (John 1:14)
“Then God said, “Let us make human beings in our image, to be like us. They will reign over the fish in the sea, the birds in the sky, the livestock, all the wild animals on the earth, and the small animals that scurry along the ground,” (Genesis 1:26)
“And the LORD God said, "The man has now become like one of us, knowing good and evil. He must not be allowed to reach out his hand and take also from the tree of life and eat, and live forever." (Genesis 3:22)
“Come, let us go down and there confuse their language, so that they may not understand one another's speech,” (Genesis 11:17)
“The Lord appeared again to Abraham near the oak grove belonging to Mamre. One day Abraham was sitting at the entrance to his tent during the hottest part of the day. He looked up and noticed three men standing nearby. When he saw them, he ran to meet them and welcomed them, bowing low to the ground.
“My lord,” he said, “if it pleases you, stop here for a while. Rest in the shade of this tree while water is brought to wash your feet. And since you’ve honored your servant with this visit, let me prepare some food to refresh you before you continue on your journey.”
“All right,” they said. “Do as you have said.”
6 So Abraham ran back to the tent and said to Sarah, “Hurry! Get three large measures[a] of your best flour, knead it into dough, and bake some bread.” 7 Then Abraham ran out to the herd and chose a tender calf and gave it to his servant, who quickly prepared it. 8 When the food was ready, Abraham took some yogurt and milk and the roasted meat, and he served it to the men. As they ate, Abraham waited on them in the shade of the trees.
9 “Where is Sarah, your wife?” the visitors asked.
“She’s inside the tent,” Abraham replied.
10 Then one of them said, “I will return to you about this time next year, and your wife, Sarah, will have a son!”
Sarah was listening to this conversation from the tent. 11 Abraham and Sarah were both very old by this time, and Sarah was long past the age of having children. 12 So she laughed silently to herself and said, “How could a worn-out woman like me enjoy such pleasure, especially when my master—my husband—is also so old?”
13 Then the Lord said to Abraham, “Why did Sarah laugh? Why did she say, ‘Can an old woman like me have a baby?’ 14 Is anything too hard for the Lord? I will return about this time next year, and Sarah will have a son.”
15 Sarah was afraid, so she denied it, saying, “I didn’t laugh.”
But the Lord said, “No, you did laugh.” (Genesis 18:1-15)
“And I heard the voice of the Lord saying, “Whom shall I send, and who will go for us?” Then I said, “Here am I! Send me,” (Isaiah 6:8)
“Draw near to me, hear this: from the beginning I have not spoken in secret, from the time it came to be I have been there.” And now the Lord God has sent me, and his Spirit.” (Isaiah 48:16)
“The word of the Lord came to me: “Son of man, take up a lament concerning the king of Tyre and say to him: ‘This is what the Sovereign Lord says,” (Ezekiel 28:11)
The highest point of theology is the Trinity, and sadly this fundamental belief of the church is often glossed over because its complicated to explain. The truth is the Holy Trinity Godhead challenges us and forces us to face that we are the creation and He is the Creator. God being One but Three, One essence and yet three distinct persons and personalities and minds and voices. Our finite minds feel small when we are confronted with the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit; the fact is when we face The Trinity we come face to face with God and we feel a tad uncomfortable because we can’t fully fathom how He operates, how He can be One God but Three, how the Father and Son are One, the Father in the Son and working through Him (John 14:9-10) and the Son in the Father (John 17:20-22), and the Holy Spirit proceeding from both (John 14:26, John 15:26); and yet each person of the Trinity has a mind, emotions, and personality and still is One God and in full unity. The Trinitas tampers with our ability to put God in our microscopic box and define Him in a pseudo-intellectual algorithm or to make God like mathematics, easy to figure out and put in pattern that is one dimensional like a god that is singular and has limited dimensions, like a god that makes the sea roar, i.e. Poseidon. The Pater, Fili, and Spiritus Sancti takes our proud ego and sense of superiority as a species and humble us, “But God foolish things of the world to shame the wise; God chose the weak things of the world to shame the strong. God chose the lowly things of this world and the despised things--and the things that are not--to nullify the things that are, so that no one may boast before him.” (1 Corinthians 1:27-29). To face the Holy Trinity eye to eye is to face that He is the Almighty and we are His children made in His image. The complexity of the Triune Persons can confound our brain, and this is crucial because if we can “fully understand God then we would become god,” and yet this the attitude that theologians have. They believe they can make God fit their understanding. While it is true we can define things about the Triune God, that He is love, truth, grace, and merciful, and that the Gospel is simple, believe in Jesus Christ and confess He is Lord and Son of God and you shall inherit eternal life. We can learn a great deal about the Triune God from the Holy Bible, it helps us connect with Him and know Him; but it would be a mistake to say we can fathom all that is the Trinity, “Now we see things imperfectly, like puzzling reflections in a mirror, but then we will see everything with perfect clarity. All that I know now is partial and incomplete, but then I will know everything completely, just as God now knows me completely.” (1 Corinthians 13:12 NLT). There is much we can be certain of and know (gnosis and ginosko) about our Lord God Trinity. He is not a mysterion (mystery that cannot at all be fully fathomed, though He has mysterious ways and cannot fully understand all), a cosmos of unknowing, on the contrary the Almighty became human flesh and relates to us (John 1:1-17). The Father, Son, and Holy Spirit want to know us in a personal relationship, for they all three who are One live inside us Christians, “Anyone who confesses Jesus Christ is the Son of God, God lives in them and they live in God.” (1 John 4:15). We live in the Holy Trinity! And The Holy Trinity lives in us! So make no mistake, He is not distant God intent to stay in Empyrean Throne Room, He came down and humbled himself fo be with us (Philippians 2:4-11); but make no mistake He marginalized Himself a bit so that we can withstand His presence, for the apostle John around Jesus in his humbled humanity rested on Christ’s bosom, “There was reclining on Jesus' bosom one of His disciples, whom Jesus loved,” (John 13:23 NASB), but when He saw Jesus Transfigured as Alpha and Omega in all Almighty Glory he fell down as if dead, “When I saw him, I fell at his feet as though dead. Then he placed his right hand on me and said: "Do not be afraid. I am the First and the Last.” (Revelation 1:17 NIV). I am not saying be terrified of God, He loves us and wants to be close to us and can be close to us, He loves in us! But in His full gloria and non-marginalized state our weak and sinful flesh falls down. Christ covers and cloaks our sins (Ephesians 1:7), but we still have a body that has rebellion at work, and the fullness of the Almighty Trinity’s glory can caste our flesh down.
We can be close in the presence of God the Trinity because the Son has torn the veil, “And when Jesus had cried out again in a loud voice, he gave up his spirit. At that moment the veil of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom. The earth quaked and the rocks were split, (Matthew 27:50-51) and we may enter the presence of the Father by His blood, “Therefore, brothers, since we have confidence to enter the Most Holy Place by the blood of Jesus,” (Hebrews 10:19) and be baptized by the Holy Spirit, “He said to them, “Did you receive the Holy Spirit when you believed?” And they said to him, “No, we have not even heard whether there is a Holy Spirit.” And he said, “Into what then were you baptized?” And they said, “Into John’s baptism.” Paul said, “John baptized with the baptism of repentance, telling the people to believe in Him who was coming after him, that is, in Jesus.” When they heard this, they were baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus. And when Paul had laid his hands upon them, the Holy Spirit came on them, and they began speaking with tongues and prophesying. There were in all about twelve men.” (Acts 19:2-7). We can draw close to the Trinity because of what Christ has done on the cross, there is no barrier now, in fact the whole Trinity was at the Cross, In fact, contrary to popular opinion Christ was not alone at the cross, The Father is present at the Crucifixion of His Son, as is the Holy Spirit. This actually has Scriptural support, “For in Him dwells all the fullness of the Godhead bodily,” (Colossians 2:9), and “For God in all his fullness was pleased to dwell in Christ,” (Colossians 1:19). The fact is God the Father dwells in Jesus and He in Jesus (John 10:30, John 14:9-10), and the Holy Spirit dwells in Father and Son and they in Him, and the Spirit comes from both Father and Son (John 14:26, John 15:26, John 20:21-22). So the Trinity cannot be separated, it is One God in three persons, Blessed Trinity. Jesus has a unique individuality, a unique and individual personality, unique mind, and etc; as does The Father and Holy Spirit, and yet the are One, “Don't you believe that I am in the Father, and that the Father is in me? The words I say to you I do not speak on my own authority. Rather, it is the Father, living in me, who is doing his work,” (John 14:9-10) and “While he was still speaking, a bright cloud covered them, and a voice from the cloud said, "This is my Son, whom I love; with him I am well pleased. Listen to him!” (Matthew 17:5, cross ref Matthew 3:17). The way we get to whole Trinity is Jesus, because only faith in Jesus allows us access to the Father, “I am the way, the truth, and the life!" Jesus answered. "Without me, no one can go to the Father.,” (John 14:6), and this makes sense because the Father and Son are One! (John 10:30, John 14:9-10). The door to the Triune God is Jesus Christ, for if you see Christ you see the Father and only through Jesus can you approach the Father (John 14:6) because Jesus and the Father are One and only the blood of Christ can cleanse you to be with whole Trinity. Jesus is the gate (John 10:9) and eternal life (John 6:40, John 3:16) comes from faith and confessing Jesus as Lord (He is the Lord God of Israel, so is the Father and Holy Spirit) and Son of God (His designation in the Trinity). Amen.
We as Christians are compelled to believe in the Triune God, even when we focus on Jesus we see the Father and Holy Spirit, “Jesus answered: "Don't you know me, Philip, even after I have been among you such a long time? Anyone who has seen me has seen the Father. How can you say, 'Show us the Father'?Don't you believe that I am in the Father, and that the Father is in me? The words I say to you I do not speak on my own authority. Rather, it is the Father, living in me, who is doing his work.
” (John 14:9-10) and “So Jesus said to them again, “Peace be with you; as the Father has sent Me, I also send you.” And when He had said this, He breathed on them and *said to them, “Receive the Holy Spirit.” (John 20:21-22). What is disturbing however is how teachers tend to avoid teaching about the Godhead and leading believers to face The One True God of Father, Son, and Holy Spirit as affirmed in the Scriptures (see above). When we approach Christ we approach the Father and Spirit, because they are One. Yes the Father has elevated the Son to highest place of honor and given Him name above all names, “Therefore, God elevated him to the place of highest honor, and gave him the name above all other names,that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue declare that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.” (Philippians 2:6-11) and salvation comes only when we believe and confess Jesus Christ as Lord and Son of God (John 3:16-18, John 6:40, 1 John 4:15), and that there is salvation by only His Name, “Let me clearly state to all of you and to all the people of Israel that he was healed by the powerful name of Jesus Christ the Nazarene,[a] the man you crucified but whom God raised from the dead. 11 For Jesus is the one referred to in the Scriptures, where it says,
‘The stone that you builders rejected
has now become the cornerstone.’[b]
12 There is salvation in no one else! God has given no other name under heaven by which we must be saved.” (Acts 4:10-12), but we must remember the Father is in Jesus (John 14:9-10) and is the Holy Spirit (Luke 4:1), and so when Jesus is elevated so is the Father and Holy Spirit!
Make no mistake Jesus is front snd center as Savior, a person cannot believe in the Father and not believe in the Son, “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him. Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because they have not believed in the name of God’s one and only Son.” (John 3:16-18). To be counted as saved you must confess Jesus, “If you declare with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord,” and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you profess your faith and are saved.” (Romans 10:9-10), and “Anyone who confesses Jesus Christ as Son of God, God lives in them and they live in God” (1 John 4:15). There is no loophole, Jesus is the only way to the Father and eternal life, “I Am the Way, The Truth, and the Life, none may come to the Father except through Me” (John 14:6) and “This is the Will of my Father, that everyone should look to the Son and believe in Him and they shall have eternal life and I will raise them up at the last day” (John 6:40). Only by acknowledging and confessing the Son of God can a person acknowledge the Holy Trinity and believe! Likewise a person cannot believe in the Holy Spirit but reject the Christ, for Jesus and the Holy Spirit are together (John 20:21-22, Luke 4:1). Jesus is the Way (John 14:6), the Gate (John 10:9), and Truth (John 1:17). But make no mistake, you must believe Jesus is a Person of the Holy Trinity, all the passages testify that you must believe Jesus Christ is also One with Father and Holy Spirit (John 3:16-28, John 6:40, John 14:6, John 20:21-22, John 17:20-23, John 14:9-10).
To put it bluntly if you do not believe in the Jesus who is One with the Father and Holy Spirit, Blessed Trinity, then you do not believe in the True Jesus and are not a Christian. To be a Christian is to believe in Jesus Christ our God and Lord, and to believe He is the Son of God of the Holy Trinity; this is why the apostle John emphasized confessing Jesus as Son of God, “Anyone who confesses Jesus Christ as Son of God, God lives in them and they live in God” (1 John 4:15), because it acknowledges that God is the Trinity, just as Jesus said to, “” (Matthew 28:19). To call Jesus the Son isn’t to deem He less than the Father, they are co-equals, it describes His relationship and designation in the Holy Trinity who is God.
To actually become a Christian and follow the Real Jesus you must acknowledge the Real Jesus is the Son of God, that He is the Son in The Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, One God in Three Persons (John 3:16-18, John 14:6-10, John 20:21-22). Without Jesus as the Triune God, without acknowledging the Trinity you have no true Christianity. So when Bible teachers shirk teaching the Holy Trinity they shirk the Gospel and teaching the True Jesus.
Make this confession if you have not:
“I believe in God the Father, I believe in God Jesus Christ, I believe in God the Holy Spirit, I believe in The Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, the Godhead, One God in Three Persons, The Holy Trinity. I believe Jesus was born of the Virgin Mary, that Jesus according to the flesh was Son of David but according to the Spirit Son of God, I believe He suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified and dead, buried and on the third day rose from the dead by the power of God. I believe Jesus Christ was seen risen from the dead by the apostles and his followers for forty days, then He ascended into heaven to sit at the right hand of the Father. I believe in Jerusalem in the upper room the Holy Spirit descended on the apostles and gave them power. I believe Jesus Christ is returning again on the clouds of heaven to judge the nations, and that He will created a New Heaven and Earth, and we will be with Him for eternity. I believe in inerrancy of Scripture, that both Old and New Testaments of the Holy Bible are God breathed and all that is necessary for correct theology, doctrine, and all that pertains to Christian faith and living. I believe in the gifts of the Holy Spirit and the Baptism of the Spirit, that God works his power through all who believe these truths. I believe I shall be raised from the dead by Christ and receive a new body, I will not remain a-disembodied spirit. I believe through faith in the Son of God, Jesus Christ who is Lord that God lives in me and I in God, and that He is not a distant and harsh God, but full of love, grace, mercy, truth, and justice. I believe there are no others gods, there is Only One God who is the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, Blessed Trinity. Amen.”
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