The LayPreacher's Theology
A DEFENSE OF THE TRINITY

We believe in one God in Trinity and Trinity in Unity. Neither confounding the Persons, nor dividing the Substance. For there is one Person of the Father, another of the Son, and another of the Holy Ghost. But the Godhead of the Father, of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost is all One, the Glory equal, the Majesty Co-eternal. Such as the Father is, such is the Son, and such is the Holy Ghost. The Father Uncreated, the Son Uncreated, and the Holy Ghost Uncreated.The Father Incomprehensible, the Son Incomprehensible, and the Holy Ghost Incomprehensible. The Father Eternal, the Son Eternal, and the Holy Ghost Eternal, and yet they are not Three Eternals, but One Eternal. As also there are not Three Uncreated, nor Three Incomprehensibles, but One Uncreated, and One Incomprehensible.

So likewise the Father is Almighty, the Son Almighty, and the Holy Ghost Almighty.  And yet they are not Three Almighties but One Almighty. So the Father is God, the Son is God, and the Holy Ghost is God.  And yet they are not Three Gods, but One God.  So likewise the Father is Lord, the Son Lord, and the Holy Ghost Lord.  And yet not Three Lords, but One Lord.  For, like as we are compelled by the Christian verity to acknowledge every Person by Himself to be God and Lord, so are we forbidden by the Catholic Religion to say, there be Three Gods or Three Lords.  The Father is made of none, neither created, nor begotten.  The Son is of the Father alone; not made, not created, but begotten.  The Holy Ghost is of the Father and of the Son, neither made, nor created, nor begotten, but proceeding.

So there is One Father, not Three Fathers; One Son, not Three Sons; One Holy Ghost, not Three Holy Ghosts.  And in this Trinity none is afore or after Other.  None is greater or less than Another, but the whole Three Persons are Co-eternal together, and Co-equal.  So that in all things, as is aforesaid, the Unity in Trinity, and the Trinity in Unity, is to be worshipped.  He therefore that would be saved must thus think of the Trinity.

Furthermore, it is necessary to everlasting Salvation, that he also believe rightly the Incarnation of our Lord Jesus Christ.  For the  right Faith is, that we believe and confess, that our Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of God, is God and Man.

God, of the substance of the Father, begotten before the worlds; and Man, of the substance of His mother, born into the world.  Perfect God and Perfect Man, of a reasonable Soul and human Flesh subsisting.  Equal to the Father as touching His Godhead, and inferior to the Father as touching His Manhood.  Who, although He be God and Man, yet He is not two, but One Christ.  One, not by conversion of the Godhead into Flesh, but by taking of the Manhood into God.  One altogether, not by confusion of substance, but by Unity of Person.  For as the reasonable soul and flesh is one Man, so God and Man is one Christ.  Who suffered for our salvation, descended into Hell, rose again the third day from the dead.  He ascended into Heaven, He sitteth on the right hand of the Father, God Almighty, from whence He shall come to judge the quick and the dead.  At whose coming all men shall rise again with their bodies, and give account for their own works.  And they that have done good shall go into life everlasting, and they that have done evil into everlasting fire.  This is the Catholic Faith, which except a man believe faithfully and firmly, he cannot be saved.

        The only problem I have with this document (and it is a small one) is found at the beginning of the final paragraph, which declares God to have been “begotten before the worlds.”  While a proper understanding of the text recognizes the emphasis on the pre-existence of God, let it be made clear that God was not begotten at all.  For if He had been begotten, then there would have to be some being, even greater than He, from whence He was begotten.  However, the clear teaching of Scripture is that there is none greater than God, and that there was no other before Him.

Now, before moving on to the subject matter at hand, allow me to make one clarification.  The Athanasian Creed includes a number of references to the “Catholic Faith.”  Let us not think that this must refer specifically to the Roman Catholic Church.  I myself am a Baptist, and yet I believe in the content of this creed, as do believers of many denominations.  Furthermore, the word “Catholic” means “Universal.”  So it can be said that the claim of this document is that all who would call themselves Christian must believe in the Trinity.

Unfortunately, there are those who consider themselves to be followers of Jesus Christ and yet deny the Trinity.  My observation is that most of them deny it because they do not understand it.  Had I the chance, I would ask them, “Do you believe in Einstein’s Theory of Relativity?”.  Presumably, the answer would be yes.  Then my follow-up question would be “Do you understand Einstein’s Theory of Relativity?”.  To a large extent, the answer would be no.  And this makes my point.  A lack of understanding does not necessitate the rejection of that which is not understood.

Those who reject to the concept of the Trinity often argue that the word “Trinity” does not appear in the Scriptures, and they are right.  Nowhere in the Bible can the word “Trinity” be found.  It is a Latin term, whereas the Bible was written in Hebrew & Aramaic (Old Testament), and Greek (New Testament).

However, the fact that the word “Trinity” does not appear in the Bible does not indicate that the truth of it is not found there.  For the formulated statements of belief in the Trinity (i.e. the Nicene Creed and the Athanasian Creed) were a long time coming and, in essence, evolved over the first few centuries of Christian history.  Over the years, a number of groups, such as the Gnostics and the Arians, came into the Church, propagating false doctrines about God, Jesus Christ, and the Holy Spirit.  In refuting these falsehoods, the Church turned to the clear teachings of Scripture.  Then, during the fourth century, the Church saw fit to combine all these truths into one concise statement regarding the nature of God, the result being a declaration of belief in the Trinity.

The purpose of this article is to demonstrate that the individual components of the doctrine of the Trinity are indeed set forth in the Scriptures.  Unfortunately, most theological works on the subject that I have seen do not adequately accomplish this task.  A good majority of them simply affirm their respective authors’ faith in the Trinity and then turn to nature for analogies to help us understand the Trinity.  While these analogies may assist us in our attempt to better understand the Trinity, they do not adequately defend it from the Scriptures.  Such an approach, I believe, would be a better approach to take, and it is the one that will be taken here.

The Trinity is comprised of four truths.  I will now list them for you and then proceed to demonstrate that each is taught by the Scriptures.

1.      There is but One God.

2.      The Father is God. However, the Father is not the Son, and the Father is not the Holy Spirit.

3.      The Son is God. However, the Son is not the Father, and the Son is not the Holy Spirit.

4.      The Holy Spirit is God. However, the Holy Spirit is not the Father, and the Holy Spirit is not the Son.

        A summary of these truths reads as follows:  There is but One God.  The Father is God, the Son is God, and the Holy Spirit is God.   And yet, the Father is not the Son is not the Holy Spirit.

        This last component shall be discussed at the end of this article.  Were I to show that each member of the Trinity is neither of the other two, one at a time, it would require a great deal of unnecessary repetition.  Therefore, I will first of all demonstrate the Oneness of God, then show that each member of the Trinity is God, and then, finally, illustrate the collective distinctions between the Persons of the Trinity.

The Oneness of God

That there is only One God is hardly disputed within Christendom, even among those who are not Trinitarian.  In fact, some argue against the Trinity because they mistakenly understand it to be a belief in three gods.  I once read an article published by the Watchtower Society, rebutting belief in the Trinity, which at first properly summarized the Trinity as a belief in One God existing as Three Persons.  However, in making their case against it, they pointed out that they believe in One God, not three.

The Oneness of God is one of the weightiest themes in Scripture.  To illustrate, I offer the following verses:

● Deut. 4:35—To you it was shown, that you might know that the Lord HimHHHimself

   is God; that there is no other besides Him.

● Deut. 6:4—Hear O Israel:  The Lord our God, the Lord is one!

● Deut. 32:39—Now see that I, even I am He,

                          And there is no God besides Me;

                          I kill and I make alive;

                          I wound and I heal;

                          Nor is there any who can deliver from My hand.

● II Sam. 7:22—Therefore You are great, O Lord God.  For there is none like

   You, nor is there any God besides You, according to all that we have heard with

   our ears.

● I Chron. 17:20—O Lord, there is none like You, nor is there any God besides

   You, according to all that we have heard with our ears.

● Psalm 83:18—That they may know that You, whose name alone is the Lord,

   are the Most High over all the earth.

● Psalm 86:10—For You are great and do wondrous things; You alone are God.

● Isa. 43:10—You are My witnesses, says the Lord, and My servant, whom I

   have chosen, that you may know and believe Me, and understand that I am He.

               Before Me there was no God formed, nor shall there be after Me.

● Isa. 44:6—Thus says the Lord, the King of Israel, and His Redeemer, the Lord

   of hosts: “I am the First and I am the Last; besides Me there is no God.”

● Isa. 45:21—And there is no other God besides Me, a just God and a Savior;

   there is none besides Me.

● Isa. 45:22—Look unto Me, and be saved, all you ends of the earth!  For I am

   God, and there is no other.

● Mark 12::29-30—Jesus answered Him, “The first of all the commandments is:

   ‘Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is one.  And you shall love the

   Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, and

   With all your strength.’  This is the first commandment.”

● I Cor. 8:4—Therefore concerning the eating of things offered to idols, we know

               that an idol is nothing in the world, and that there is no other God but one.

● Eph. 4:4-6—There is one body and one Spirit, just as you were called in one

   hope of your calling; one Lord, one faith, one baptism; one God and Father of

               all, who is above all, and through all, and in you all.

● I Tim. 2:5—For there is one God and one Mediator between God and men,

   the Man Christ Jesus.

        Now, we have established, from the Scriptures, that not only are we to worship only one God, but also that only one God exists.  There are those people, though certainly not Christian, who theorize that there is some unknown number of gods in existence.  It’s just that we are to worship only the God that created this world.  In stark contrast, however, I Corinthians 8:4 tells us that “There is no other God.”  Similarly, in Isaiah 43:10, God says, “Before Me there was no God formed, nor shall there be after Me.”

Having established the Oneness of God, we now turn our attention to demonstrating that, according to the Scriptures, each Person said to be within the Godhead (Father, Son, and Holy Spirit) is declared to be God; beginning with the Father.

Like the Oneness of God, the deity of the Father is seldom questioned.  This is true largely because, throughout the Scriptures (particularly in the New Testament”), the term “Father” is used interchangeably with “God.”  For example, the Bible clearly teaches that God is the only one to whom we are to pray.  This is taught by example more than anything else.  As you go through the Old Testament, all of the prayers recorded therein are addressed to God.  And yet, when giving His disciples a model prayer, Jesus opened with the words, “Our Father in heaven” (Matt. 6:9).

Toward the end of Matthew 6, Jesus is instructing His followers not to worry about their daily needs.  Within that passage, He uses “God” and “Father” interchangeably.  In verse 30, Jesus points out that God clothes the grass of the field and that He will therefore also clothe us.  Then, in verse 32, He tells us that our heavenly Father knows what our daily needs are, and He will meet them.  In the parable of the prodigal son, God is depicted as the loving father who patiently waits for his lost son to come home.  Furthermore, in Christ’s teaching on service and prayer, early in Matthew 6, He makes the statement, “And your Father who sees in secret will reward you openly,” twice.

In His conversation with the Samaritan woman, Jesus made the following remarks:  “Woman, believe Me, the hour is coming when you will neither on this mountain, nor in Jerusalem, worship the Father.  You worship what you do not know, we know what we worship, for salvation is of the Jews.  But the hour is coming, and now is, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth; for the Father is seeking such to worship Him.  God is spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth” (John 4:21-24).  We find here, as well, an excellent example of Jesus using the terms “Father” and “God” interchangeably.

Similarly, in John 20:17, Jesus instructs Mary Magdalene to tell His disciples that He is about to ascend “to My Father and your Father, and to My God and your God.”  Here, the use of the word “and” does not indicate that He is ascending to two different people.  The proper understanding of this verse is that Christ was about to ascend to God, who is His Father, and that, thanks to Jesus’ death and resurrection, His Father is now also every Christian’s Father.

Jesus was not the only one to use the terms “God” and “Father” interchangeably.  Paul began each of his epistles with a standard greeting, which was, in essence, a brief prayer that grace and peace would be bestowed upon his readers.  In Romans, I Corinthians, II Corinthians, Ephesians, Philippians, Colossians, I Thessalonians, II Thessalonians, I Timothy, II Timothy, and Philemon, this blessing of grace and peace comes “from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.”  In Galatians and Titus, it is bestowed upon us by “God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.”

Further examples of the interchangeable use of terms are found in Romans 15:6 and I Peter 1:3, wherein Paul and Peter, respectively, offer praise to “the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ."

Based on these and other verses in the Bible, there can be no other conclusion than that the Father is God.  And, as stated earlier, finding anyone who would say that the Father is not God may prove to be difficult.  The deity of the Son, however, is a point of great contention.  In fact, it is my belief that most of those who deny the Trinity do so because they cannot accept that Jesus is God.

Some of these people have even gone so far as to come up with their own translations, which are worded in such a way as to fit their beliefs.  The clearest example of this is found in John 1:1, which reads, in most translations, “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.”  The New World Translation, however, reads differently.  It says, “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was a god.”  This is a small difference in wording, but a huge difference in meaning.

The Watchtower Society, which published the New World Translation, believes that, before His incarnation, Jesus existed as the highest of the archangels. They claim either that He existed as the angel Michael or that He was perhaps Michael’s superior, I cannot remember which.  Nonetheless, they do believe that Christ did exist as an archangel, the first of God’s created beings.

Now, why the difference in translation?  Well, the Greek language’s definite article is ό (pronounced “ho”). The definite article in English, of course, is “the.”  The Greek word for “God” is “thĕŏs.”  In the clause being considered, ‘ό’ does not appear before “thĕŏs.”  It does appear before “lŏgŏs”, Greek for “word.” In fact, the entire Greek phrase is "kai thĕŏs ēn  ό lŏgŏs." The Watchtower Society argues that the absence of the definite article indicates the presence of an indefinite article.  Hence, the rendering, “the Word was a god.”

However, William Mounce’s book, Basics of Biblical Greek, gives us a different reason for the absence of ‘ό’ before “thĕŏs.”  He points out that in the English language, the subject of a sentence always appears before the verb or clause.  In the sentence, “Jim is a carpenter,” “Jim” is the subject of the sentence, since “Jim” appears before “is.”

Within the Greek language, however, the word order does not indicate the subject and the predicate of the sentence.  It is employed for the sake of emphasis.  A word placed before either the verb or the clause is placed there for emphasis.

Therefore, the subject of a sentence written in Greek may be found either before or after the verb or clause.  How, then, are we to determine the subject of a sentence written in Greek?  Mounce tells us that it is indicated by the presence of the definite article, ό.

In the sentence from John 1:1, which we are considering, “thĕŏs” appears at the beginning of the sentence, and ‘ό’ appears before “lŏgŏs”.  Again, it reads, “and thĕŏs was the lŏgŏs.”  According to what we have just learned from William Mounce, “lŏgŏs” is the subject of the sentence, because it is preceded by ‘ό’.  Thus, even though a literal translation from Greek into English renders “and God was the Word,” modification for the rules of English grammar renders “and the Word was God,” not “and the Word was a god.”  In fact, Mounce points out that in order for the translation to be “and the Word was a God,” John would’ve had to write “and the lŏgŏs was thĕŏs.”  In this case, the argument that the absence of the definite article indicates the presence of the indefinite article would have been correct.

The Jehovah Witnesses argue against the deity of Christ by claiming that He was the Son of God, but not God.  This argument, however, is fruitless.  For even just saying that He was the Son of God gives testimony to His deity.  According to John 5:18, the Jews wanted to kill Jesus because He “said that God was His Father, making Himself equal with God.”  Earlier, we established that God has no equal.  Therefore, Jesus Christ could not possibly be equal with God without being God.

There is another place in the Scriptures, in fact, in this same gospel of John, wherein Jesus makes an unmistakable claim to deity.  In chapter 8, while speaking to the Jewish leaders, He said, “Your father Abraham rejoiced to see My day, and he saw it and was glad” (v. 56).  In response, they asked Him, “You are not yet fifty years old, and have You seen Abraham?”.  Then, in verse 58, Jesus makes the astonishing statement, “Most assuredly, I say to you, before Abraham was, I AM.”

Some of those who deny the deity of Christ claim that Jesus was referring to His pre-incarnate existence as an angel, created before the world was created.  However, Jesus was invoking the holy Name of God, by which God revealed Himself to Moses, and applying it to Himself.  He was saying, “Before Abraham was, Yhwh.”  The response of the Jews, indicate that they clearly understood what Christ was saying.  They attempted to stone Him to death for committing blasphemy.  This is evident in chapter 10, verse 33, where they said to Him, “You, being a man, make Yourself God.”

So, we have the testimony of Jesus Himself, stating that He is God.  Admittedly, claiming to be God and actually being God are two different things.  However, here is where they who deny Christ’s deity are caught in a contradiction.  They say He was a good man.  They say He was a good teacher, and even a prophet.  But, they say, He was not God.  Here they find themselves facing a quandary.  Why would a good man, a good teacher, even and especially a prophet of God, ever claim to be God.  There are only three possible explanations.  Either Jesus was a liar, a lunatic, or God.

Jesus either knew He wasn’t God, but knowingly claimed to be God; or He was delusional, and actually believed He was God, even though He wasn’t; or, finally, He was and is, in fact, God.  Either of the first two options immediately nullifies the notion that He was a good teacher/prophet.  For if He lied about who He was, then how could He be trusted to speak the truth about anything else?  And, who would ever listen to the teachings of a madman and take Him seriously?  Our conclusion, then, must be that if He was a good teacher, then He was also who He claimed to be… God.

The apostle Paul also gives us clear teaching regarding the deity of Christ.  In Colossians 1, he tells us that Christ created all things and sustains all things (vv. 16-17).  Now, Genesis tells us that God is the Creator of all things.  Thus, by the use of simple logic, we can come to the conclusion that, if Jesus created all things, and if God created all things, then Jesus is God.  It is the simplest of all logical equations.  If A = B, and B = C, then A = C.  And they do.  The author of Hebrews echoes this line of reasoning, stating that the world was created through Christ (1:2).

In Philippians 2:6, Paul says that Christ, “being in the form of God, did not consider it robbery to be equal with God.”  The Greek word translated “form” is “morphé”.  According to A.T. Robertson, this word “means the essential attributes shown in the form.”  In other words, Christ possessed all of the same essential attributes that are possessed by God.  Here we may ask; how can Jesus possibly possess the attributes of God without being God? A parallel verse would be Colossians 2:9, wherein Paul says, “For in Him dwells all the fullness of the Godhead bodily.” This verse speaks for itself, and its meaning is unmistakable. Jesus Christ is God.

There are two other verses written by Paul, which I will present as evidence of his testimony to the deity of Christ. Again, they need no explanation. The first is I Timothy 3:16: “And without controversy great is the mystery of godliness: God was manifested in the flesh, justified in the Spirit, seen by angels, preached among the Gentiles, believed on in the world, received up in glory.” The second is Romans 9:5, which falls right in the middle of a sentence in which Paul is speaking of the Israelites, “of whom are the fathers and from whom, according to the flesh, Christ came, who is over all, the eternally blessed God. Amen.”

One of the most powerful passages in Scripture attesting to Christ’s deity is found in Hebrews 1, which annihilates the argument that, before the incarnation, Jesus was nothing more than an angel. This chapter establishes Christ’s supremacy over the angels. Verse 5 introduces the subject by asking the rhetorical question, “To which of the angels did He (God) ever say, ‘You are My Son. Today I have begotten You’?”. Verse 6 then tells us that, speaking of Christ, God says, “Let all the angels of God worship Him.”  Then, in verses 8 and 9, we have one of the most startling statements in all the Bible. It contains a statement from God directed toward the Son: “Your throne, O God, is forever and ever; A scepter of righteousness is the scepter of Your kingdom. You have loved righteousness and hated lawlessness; Therefore, God, Your God, has anointed You with the oil of gladness more than Your companions.”

Did you catch the awesome dichotomy in this passage? The truth found in these two short verses is mind-boggling. First, we have God calling the Son God. He says to Him, “Your throne, O God, is forever and ever…” Then, at the end of the statement, we find that God is the Son’s God! “God, Your God, has anointed You…” How the Son can be God, and yet have a God, is one of the great mysteries of the Trinity which we will never fully comprehend.

Finally, we come to one of my favorite proof texts regarding the deity of Jesus Christ; the first chapter of Revelation. In this passage, John says that when he was in the Spirit, he heard a voice speaking to him, saying, “I am the Alpha and the Omega, the First and the Last” (v.. 11).  This echoes verse 8, which, without referring to any vision  of John’s, simply reads, “ ‘I am the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End,’ says the Lord, ‘who is and who was and who is to come, the Almighty.’ “

So, we see that God is the Alpha and the Omega, and the person speaking to John in verse 11 identifies Himself as the Alpha and the Omega. Thus, the One speaking to John is presumably God. Furthermore, John’s description of the speaker certainly sounds like a description of God.  He had hair as white as wool, eyes like a flaming fire, and a voice sounding like many waters.

John’s response to seeing the One speaking to him is reminiscent of Isaiah’s in the sixth chapter of his book. He fell at His feet, as if he were dead. Then, in Revelation 1:17-18, we read these wonderful words: “But He laid His right hand on me, saying to me, ‘Do not be afraid; I am the First and the Last. I am He who lives, and was dead, and behold, I am alive forevermore. Amen. And I have the keys of Hades and Death.’ “

As seen earlier, the One speaking to John identifies Himself as God in verse 11. He does the same here in verse 17. But then in verse 18 He makes the astonishing declaration, “I was dead, and now I am alive forevermore.” Now, let me ask you, reader, when did God die? Was it not Jesus who died and was then resurrected back to life? Yes, indeed, it most certainly was. And the only conclusion to be drawn from this verse is that Jesus is in fact God.

The Deity of the Holy Spirit

The deity of the Holy Spirit is no less real and no less significant than either the deity of the Father or the deity of the Son. And the Scriptures do declare the Holy Spirit to be God. However, the deity of the Holy Spirit is not as overtly stated within Scripture as is the deity of the Father and the deity of the Son. There is no verse that says, "In the Holy Spirit dwells all the fullness of the Godhead." Therefore, we must rely on other means of demonstrating His deity.

As evidence that the Scripture declares the Holy Spirit to be God, let me first of all mention the names given Him in the Bible. In I Corinthians 6:11, He is called "the Spirit of our God." And in Acts 16:7, He is referred to as "the Spirit of Jesus." It would be illogical to say that the Spirit of God is not God. Furthermore, Galatians 4:6 says, "And because you are sons, God has sent forth the Spirit of His Son into your hearts, crying out, 'Abba, Father!'" This verse parallels Romans 8:15, which declares the Holy Spirit to be "the Spirit of adoption, by whom we cry out, 'Abba, Father.'" Adoption is the process by which one is given status as the son or daughter of the one adopting him/her. Thus, it is the Holy Spirit who gives that status to all believers. And yet, only God can give us status as His children. Therefore, this is a clear indication that the Holy Spirit is God.

Jesus' words in John 3:6 parallel the words found in John 1:12-13, which reads "But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, to those who believe in His name: who were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God." To be born of the Spirit is to be born of God. Hence, the Holy Spirit is God.

Other passages declaring that the Holy Spirit is God include II Corinthians 3:16-17, in which Paul says that "when one tunrs to the Lord, the veil is taken away. Now the Lord is the Spirit." Also, we can point to Acts 5:3-4. In verse 3, Peter asks Ananias, "Why has Satan filled your heart to lie to the Holy Spirit?" Then in verse 4, he says, "You have not lied to men but to God." Peter equated lying to the Spirit with lying to God.

And then there is I Corinthians 3:16, which says, "Do you not know that you are the temple of God and that the Spirit of God dwells in you?" Here again, we find that the One who dwells in us is the Spirit of God. And yet, in John 14:23, we find Jesus saying, "If anyone loves Me, he will keep My word; and My Father will love him, and We will come to him and make Our home with him." Jesus declared that God Himself would dwell within believers. Paul said that the Holy Spirit dwells in us. This is clear indication, once again that the Holy Spirit is God.