- About the Trinity
-
"Go
ye therefore, and teach all nations,
baptizing them in the name of the Father,
and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost."
Matthew 28:19
IS THE TRINITY BIBLICAL?
The
Trinity is a basic doctrine of orthodox Christianity.
Yet the word "Trinity" is not found anywhere in the Bible.
Is the doctrine of the Trinity really biblical?
The
doctrine of the Trinity says that there is one God who exists
eternally as three distinct persons, the Father, the Son, and the
Holy Spirit. I can assure you that the elements of this doctrine are
all
taken directly from the Bible.
The
first plank of the Trinitarian platform is that there is only one
God.
The Bible could not be more explicit on this point, which it states
explicitly about two dozen times. In Isaiah 44:8 God says that even
He does not know of any other gods!
Jesus
often spoke of God as His Father, and the apostles frequently
spoke of "God the Father." But the New Testament also insists
that
Jesus is God. For example, Thomas acknowledged Jesus as,
"My Lord and my God" (John 20:28), and both Peter and Paul
spoke of Jesus as "our God and Savior" (2 Pet. 1:1; Tit.
2:13).
Yet the New Testament also makes the distinction between the
Father and the Son as two very different persons. In fact they tell
us
that they love one another, speak to each other, and seek to glorify
each other (e.g., John 17: 1-26).
The
Old Testament refers often to the Holy Spirit as God at work in the
world, without distinction from the Father. But Jesus in John 14 to
16 explained that this Holy Spirit would be sent by the Father at
Christ's request. The Holy Spirit would teach and guide the disciples,
not
speaking on His own initiative, but speaking on Christ's behalf and
glorifying Christ. Thus, the Holy Spirit is revealed by Christ to
be a
third person distinct from the Father and distinct from the Son.
In
short, the doctrine of the Trinity is completely and totally biblical,
and it is essential that all Christians give assent to this doctrine.
