Tackling the Trinity is impossible, but I have realized this week just because it’s tough to grasp and it will never fully be understood that I should not ever use that as an excuse not to study our God’s nature. I praise Him for the mystery and hope in expectation to understand it when we see Him “face to face.” With that being said, I will hardly scratch the surface on Trinitarianism.
As Christians, we have something different- belief in a real God; all other religions believe in a god that does not exist. We have a relationship with a God that eternally exists. Oh, how that makes my heart leap for joy! We trust in a God who is real and who has existed forever and will exist forever. He has chosen to revealed Himself to us through His word, the world, and His Son, the Word of God. Our eternally existing God is three in one: Father, Son, and Spirit. “Now when all the people were baptized, and when Jesus also had been baptized and was praying, the heavens were opened, and the Holy Spirit descended on him in bodily form, like a dove; and a voice came from heaven, ‘You are my beloved Son, with you I am well pleased.’” (Luke 3:21-22)
Now at this point many people (including myself about a week ago) would try to explain the Trinity as an egg (yoke, egg white, shell) or as water (solid, liquid, gas) but I’ve learned this week this is not the case, for that would mean our God is 3 separate gods, and He is not; He is one in three at the same time. Man tries to put the Trinity into an illustration, but there is not one illustration that could describe the Trinity. According to our speaker, Dr. Glenn Krieder, he put it like this: “The Father is God, but God is more than the Father. The Son is God, but God is more than the Son. The Spirit is God, but God is more than the Spirit.” The three are equal but have different functions. Each has existed together forever as one, before the creation of the world. “In the beginning, God created...and the Spirit of God was hovering over the face of the waters.” (Gen 1:1-2) “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, the glory of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth.” (John 1:1, 1:14)
We took three days to discuss this; I understand it a little bit more but will be able to study this and seek it out in Scriptures the rest of my life. The Bible’s pages are filled with the truth and teaching of the Trinity, although the Trinity is not revealed until the New Testament, after Christ came, ascended to heaven, and sent the Spirit to indwell believers on the Day of Pentacost (Acts 2). Old Testament believers saw God, talked with God, ate with God, were filled with the Spirit of God, and prophesied about God’s Son, but they did not know that each was God. But when God became man, God incarnate, His chosen people, the Jews did not believe that Jesus was God. Some did believe and walked with the God man. Before Christ was crucified, He told His followers that He would leave but that the Father would send the Spirit in His name. “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) Not long after Jesus left this earth, the Spirit of God, the Holy Spirit indwelled believers.
In the Old Testament, believers were saved like people are today, by grace through faith but they did not have the promised Helper, the Holy Spirit. What an incredible blessing we have not only to have the Scriptures but the indwelling of God himself, the Holy Spirit every second of every day. I praise God, the plan and will of the Father to send His Son and His promise of the Holy Spirit. I am so thankful for the truth of the Trinity and the oneness of our God and that He’s chosen to reveal Himself in His word, His world, and His Word.
*Much of my information came from our speaker this week, Dr. Glenn Krieder, professor at Dallas Theological Seminary.
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