by Phillip Smyer

Created on: October 05, 2008

There is much confusion today about the nature of the Trinity and exactly what it is among both the churched and the unchurched. Those in the church have come up with many analogies to try to explain the Trinity (i.e. water being a liquid, solid, and gas) but all these fall short of truly explaining the Trinity. And the confusion of those outside the church is truly great, many Muslims actually believe that Christians say the Trinity is God, Jesus, and Mary. So what is the Trinity and more importantly, does the Bible teach such a thing?

The doctrine of the Trinity basically states that there is one God: God the Father, Jesus and the Holy Spirit and together they make up the Godhead. One God in three persons. But this simple definition falls far short of explaining the relationship between them and how it works, however, just because we cannot easily explain it does not mean that it is false or that it is not taught in the Bible. Rather, if we believe the Bible to be inerrant, it teaches that some things of God are a mystery and that we cannot comprehend it. The Trinity is one of those mysteries; we will never truly understand how it works, but we believe by faith.

However, many will object and say that the Bible does not teach the doctrine of the Trinity and that the word is never used in Scripture. This is simply not true, the Bible affirms over and over again that God the Father, Jesus and the Holy Spirit are all God. In Matthew 28:19; Jesus says, "Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit" Here Jesus mentions all three persons of the Trinity in the same breath, giving equality to each. Why would Jesus command His followers to baptize people in the name of all three if all three were of different stature, or were not God at all? In 1 Corinthians 12:4-6; Paul writes, "Now there are varieties of gifts, but the same Spirit. And there are varieties of ministries, and the same Lord. There are varieties of effects, but the same God who works all things in all persons."In this passage Paul is talking about spiritual gifts because there was some strife in the Corinthians church about some gifts being better than others. But Paul assures them that all the gifts are equal, they each have different functions but all are from God. In verses 4-6 Paul mentions all three persons of the Trinity as being the ultimate source of their gifts. Why would Paul say Spirit, Lord, and God as if they are

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