Does the Bible teach the doctrine of the Trinity?
By Moses Flores
First, I would like to thank you for this opportunity of correspondence on what I believe an essential doctrine of the Christian faith: the basic understanding of the nature and being of God. I hope that this debate will prove to be fruitful for all of us and will not just be a battle of wits and personal attacks. I submit to you that my sole authority in matters of faith and doctrine are the God-breathed Scriptures alone as the inerrant and infallible Word of God. I do not believe that any “tradition” has authority to define what Scripture means in any way. Christianity is a revealed religion. I believe that God has spoken clearly through the pages of Scripture and that word is preserved for us still in its pages.
Before I get started with my assertions I would like to define the issue at hand. That is, I am not arguing for the word “Trinity”. I am, rather, arguing for the doctrine that is known as the Trinity. Not for a word, which I admit is not found in Scripture, but for concepts that I believe are clearly taught in Scripture. As Benjamin B. Warfield said, “it is better to preserve the truth of Scripture than the words of Scripture” (The Biblical Doctrine of the Trinity). He bases this on the belief that the “sense of Scripture is Scripture.” This is to say that the truth of God and the Word of God may be transmitted in words not given in Scripture so long as those words are faithful to the intended meanings and doctrines of Scripture. I hope that my argumentation will not be dismissed on the assertion that a mere word (Trinity) is not found in Scripture, for there are many words that are used in Christian theology and lingo that are not found in Scripture (doctrines like the “Rapture” “millennialism” “dispensationalism” – of which I am not arguing for or against here at all). I will begin, thus, by defining the doctrine of the Trinity that there may be no misunderstandings.
The doctrine may be defined in a few points: 1) that there exists only One True God 2) within the being that is God, there subsists three distinct persons –not distinct beings – which are the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit 3) these three persons each possess the essential nature of God (co-equality and co-eternity) 4) that the Church has confessed the doctrine of the Trinity to be a great mystery beyond the comprehension of man. I must admit at this point that there are few Christians – especially among professing Trinitarians – who can accurately define the doctrine of the Trinity. This is a doctrine of high mystery and one that is not to be engaged lightly. It requires careful thought and much study of Scripture. I believe these points, do, however, accurately reflect the historical doctrine of the Trinity.
Of these points, I do not believe that point 1 is debatable for I think we are on common ground that there exist only one true God (cf. I Kings 8:60; I Cor. 8:6; I Tim. 2:5; Deut. 6:4; Exo. 15:11). I do believe, though, that it is essential to demonstrate that the Son, Jesus Christ, and the Holy Spirit do possess the nature of God in their being (point 3) as well as to demonstrate the distinction of their persons within the Godhead (point 2).
We ask therefore, of the Scriptures, Is Jesus Christ God? I believe that there are myriads of Scriptures that do testify that Jesus Christ, in His essential nature, is fully God (as well as fully man). One of the clearest texts that convinces me of the Deity of Christ is found in Hebrews 1:8-12. These texts make reference to two Old Testament passages that describe the nature and character of YHWH God in Psalm 45:6,7 and Psalm 102:25-27. Psalm 45:6-7 says,
“Your throne, O God, is forever and ever;
A scepter of righteousness is the scepter of your kingdom.
You love righteousness and hate wickedness;
Therefore God, Your God, has anointed You
With the oil of gladness more than Your companions.”
And Psalm 102:25-27 says,
“Of old You laid the foundation of the earth,
And the heavens are the work of Your hands.
They will perish, but You will endure;
Yes, they will all grow old like a garment;
Like a cloak You will change them,
And they will be changed.
But You are the same,
And Your years will have no end.
Psalm 45:6-7 is about the coming Messiah who is described as God. Psalm 102:25-27 is clearly about YHWH God as He is praised as the Creator and the Psalmist exalts God in declaring the eternal and immutable nature of God. These are characteristics of the one true God. For only one God has created all that there is, and only one God is the eternal and unchanging God. Now, the author of Hebrews says of these passages that God (v1) speaks them to and about Jesus Christ, “the Son” (v8). The significance of such an application is that God the Father is describing Jesus Christ, the Son, in equal terms as Himself (Creator, Eternal, and Immutable). The only sound conclusion one may draw from this Is that Christ is equally God in nature as the Father is. They are co-equal and co-eternal. Christ is “very God of very God.”
Another forceful passage that proves the co-equality and co-eternity of Christ with the Father as well, as the distinction of persons, is found in the prologue of the Gospel of John particularly 1:1-3 and 18. John 1:1 reads,
“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God and the Word was God.”
’En a;rch h\n ov lovgoS kaiv ov lovgoS h\n pro;S to;n qeo;n kaiv qeo;S h\n ov lovgoS
The Greek text is the most revealing about the nature of the Logos. The Greek verb “to be” is here in the imperfect tense (h\n) which denotes continuous action in the past. The text should be understood then as, “In the beginning the Word always was…” This is to say that as far back as one wishes to say when “the beginning” was (it would only seem obvious, though, that this is a reference to creation, cf. Gen.1:1) the Word of God was already in existence. That is, before Creation was, the Word already was.
The same verb tense is used in the rest of the verse: “and the Word was always with God…” Notice, now, that two persons are in view here and described as eternal, for both their existences precede “the beginning” and they are “with” - pro;S , literally “face to face with”- each other, thus, asserting their co-eternity. By way of implication, what is eternal by nature is God. Thus, the Word is co-equal with God. The last proposition of the verse is more explicit on this point as it asserts the nature of the Logos more plainly: literally, in the Greek reading, “and God was always the Word.” The Word of God was always God! That there be no questions that two persons share the nature of Deity, John says in verse 2, “He (the Logos) was in the beginning with God.” Following the pronouns, the “He” in verse 2 is referencing to the “Word” and is clearly distinct from, yet equal to God [the father]. And that there be no questions that the Word of God is responsible as equally for creation as God the Father, John adds, “All things were made through Him, and without Him nothing was made that was made” (v3).
The final verse of the prologue is just as emphatic on the co-equality and distinction of persons in the Godhead as the above. In verse 18, we read,
“No one has seen God at any time. The only begotten Son, who is in the bosom of the Father, He has declared Him.” (NKJV)
There is actually a textual variation from older Greek manuscripts that must be strongly considered here. If you have an NKJV version of the Bible, you will probably notice that there is a letter on your Bible on the word “Son” pointing you to the margin notes and says that “Son” should read “God” according to older, more reliable, Greek texts. Other, more recent versions of the Bible have this translation. For instance,
“No one has ever seen God, but God the One and Only, who is at the Father’s side, has made Him known.” (NIV)
“No one has seen God at any time; the only begotten God who is in the bosom of the Father, He has explained Him.” (NASB)
“No one has ever seen God; the only God, who is at the Father’s side, He has made Him known.” (ESV)
The significance of the variation hardly needs explanation. Jesus Christ is God! Secondly, again we see two persons are in view here: “the begotten God” (the Son) and “the Father” (the non-begotten God). Following the pronouns, it is the “begotten God” that has declared “the Father”. Such a passage would make no sense if the Father and the Son are the exact same person. How would we understand one person being in their own bosom? How would we understand the invisibility of the Father if the same person is now visible as the Son? This is a contradiction! Clearly, only two persons can be in view here. One is invisible and the other is the “image” (cf. Col. 1:15) or “revealer” of the other person. But both clearly share in the same being that is God for both are called “God” in this same text – one begotten and the other is eternally generating the other.
Also, that
Christ is the revealer of the God the Father is significant. Notice the first proposition of verse 18: “no
one has seen God at any time (cf. I Tim. 1:17;
“Therefore they could not believe, because Isaiah said again,
‘He
has blinded their eyes and hardened their hearts,
Lest
they should see with their eyes
Lest
they should understand with their hearts and turn,
So that I should heal them.’
These things Isaiah said when he saw His glory and spoke of Him.”(emphasis mine)
The question we must ask of the text is, who is “Him” that Isaiah saw here a reference to? No doubt, Isaiah saw “the Lord of Hosts”, YHWH God, but it is clear that the pronoun reference is to the “He” and “Him” of verse 37, which is a reference to none other than Jesus Christ. Isaiah, thus, did not see the glory of God the Father, but of God the Son! He saw the glory of Christ.
To John, Jesus was clearly the eternal God in His very being yet distinct from God the Father in person only. These passages and their exegesis alone provide sufficient grounds for believing that Jesus Christ is the eternal God and Creator of the Universe. They also provide sufficient grounds for believing in the distinction of the persons of the Father and the Son. Many other passages, as well, could be offered in support here. These include, but are not limited to, Philippians 2:5-11, Colossians 1:15-17; John 14:28 and Matthew 3:16-17.
So far, two persons have been clearly distinguished between and identified as equally God. The Scriptures also categorize the person of the Holy Spirit as equally God with the Father and the Son. One classic text comes from Acts 5 in the story of Ananias and his wife Saphira. After withholding a promised amount of money from the Apostles, Ananias is told by the Apostle Peter that Satan has filled his heart to “lie to the Holy Spirit.” After reasoning with Ananias momentarily, Peter then reveals to Him, “you have not lied to men, but to God.” Peter, thus, makes the connection that the person of the Holy Spirit is God. The Holy Spirit is not, as I hope we are on common grounds here, an impersonal force or a mere “it,” but a person. I will not attempt to prove the personage of the Holy Spirit since it is implied in His Deity, though I can do so if it needs to be done. The focus, as mentioned in the introduction, will be in the distinct personality of the Spirit from the Father and the Son.
Psalm 139 also proves the Deity of the Spirit. The psalmist here declares the inescapable presence of the Spirit of God, or the omnipresence of God. Omnipresence is an attribute of the one true God alone (incommunicable attribute). Thus, the Spirit of God is, in essence, God. I Corinthians 2:10-11 also states the omniscience of the Spirit in saying:
“But God has revealed them to us through His Spirit. For the Spirit searches all things, yes, the deep things of God. For what man knows the things of man except the spirit of man which is in him? Even so, no one knows the things of God except the Spirit of God.” (emphasis mine)
Omniscience is an attribute of God alone. The Deity of the Spirit of God is proven by the fact that He is omniscient since He knows the “things of God”. That is, the Spirit of God has perfect knowledge of God. But we also see the distinction of persons between God (implied, the Father) and the Spirit of God. The distinction is that one proceeds from the other, namely the Spirit proceeds from the Father which is why He is often called the Spirit of God (John 15:26). The same Spirit also proceeds from Christ (cf. “Spirit of Christ” Romans 8:9,11).
Time prevents me from continuing on with scriptural proofs for the Deity and distinct person of the Holy Spirit. But these passages are clear. The Holy Spirit is God and the Holy Spirit is distinct from the Father and from Christ yet has the nature of Deity in common with them.
To summarize, I would like to provide two passages of Scripture that distinguish between all three persons of the Godhead. First, in Matthew 3:16-17, at the baptism of Jesus, we read:
“When He had been baptized, Jesus came up immediately from the water; and behold, the heavens were opened to Him, and He saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and alighting upon Him. And suddenly a voice came from heaven, saying, ‘This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.’”
The “voice” is that of the Father as the relation is implied when He declares that Christ is His “Son.” Jesus sees the Holy Spirit resting upon Himself. Here, all three persons of the Godhead (Trinity) are present. If God was not triune in His essence, then this text would be very difficult to understand as the sense would be:
“And when He had been baptized, Jesus came up immediately from the water; and behold, the heavens were opened to Him, and he saw Himself as a Spirit descending like a dove and resting on Himself. And suddenly His own voice came from heaven, saying, ‘This is Myself in whom I am well pleased.’”
There is no sense in such an understanding. The plain sense of Scripture is that there are three different persons in view here that are, as proven earlier, co-equally and co-eternally the One true God.
Another passage is John 14:16 which reads:
“And I will pray the Father, and He will give you another Helper, that He may abide with you forever-”
Here, Jesus is the one speaking to his disciples about His upcoming departure from the world. He is the “I” of the text. But notice He will pray – not to Himself – but to “the Father”. The Father, in turn, who always hears the Son, will send “another Helper” – the Spirit of truth (v17). Three different persons is the only way to understand this passage. Jesus prays to the Father, and the Father responds by sending the Spirit; the Spirit proceeds from the Father to us. Again, trying to understand this in a Modalistic sense would sound like,
“And I will pray to Myself, and I will send you Myself, that I may abide with you forever-”
If we have this understanding, then wouldn’t Jesus be contradicting what He has just been saying about Himself going away (John 14:1-4)? If the one and same person was not going away, why would He say He was? Isn’t that a contradiction, or worse yet, a lie? Since Jesus is the spotless Lamb of God, it is not possible that He should lie. Rather, I would assert that Jesus clearly is distinguishing between Himself, the Father and the “other helper” who is the Holy Spirit.
Other problems that a Modalistic understanding of the text would be include these: If Jesus was the same person as the Father, why would Jesus even mention that he would pray to the Father when He is the Father? That is, why mention His petition when He would not have to petition Himself? Could He not have just asserted to His disciples, “I will send you…”? Also, how should one understand the words “another helper” if Jesus really had Himself in mind? How is the Holy Spirit “another” helper if it is really Jesus, who would ontologically be the same helper and person?
Conclusion
Returning
to the definition of the doctrine of the Trinity that I set out to prove, I
asserted, 1) that there exists only One True God 2) within the being that is
God, there subsists three distinct persons
–not distinct beings – which are the
Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit 3) these three persons each possess the
essential nature of God (co-equality and co-eternity). Focusing on the second and third points, I
believe the Scriptures have spoken clearly that there are three distinct
persons in the Godhead: the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit and that each
of these possesses the nature of God, and thus, they each share in the One
Being, or substance, that is God. The
people of God have witnessed to this truth and even given their lives for
it. I stand on the Scriptures with this
doctrine and repeat the Trinitarian blessing of the apostle Paul, “The grace of
the Lord Jesus Christ, and the love
of God, and the communion of the Holy Spirit be
with you all. Amen.” (2 Corinthians
13:14)