The word ‘Trinity’ (which means three-fold), does not appear in the Bible. The concept of God as Three Persons in One Being is, however, found throughout the Bible. Both God and the Spirit of God are said to be active in the creation of the universe.1 It is clear that the Word of God, whom we know as Jesus, the Son of God, was also present at the creation.2 The Trinity is God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit. When God says, "Let US make man in OUR image" it is easy to understand that one member of the Trinity is talking to the other members.
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Jesus Himself refers to the members of the Trinity several times in John 14-16.4 Jesus was the Son, God in our flesh, and He knew that His human life was soon going to end. He told His followers that after He (Jesus) was gone, the Father would send the Holy Spirit to be with them and to guide them.5 The union of the Father, Son and Spirit is clear from Jesus’ teachings. He said, "I and the Father are one".6 Then He said, "The Spirit of Truth... goes out from the Father".
7 The Father, the Son, and the Spirit are all one.
It is very important to believe in the Trinity. One reason is that understanding the Trinity enables us to understand God’s nature. God can communicate and love within Himself without needing anyone else because God is in three persons. This means that when God decided to create the human race, He did not do so because He is incomplete without us. Nor did He create us to make slaves out of us. God created us in order to share His love with us. He will not force us to obey Him. Rather, He wants a willing commitment from us to a relationship with Him.
A second reason to believe in the Trinity is that unless Jesus is God, our salvation is incomplete. If He was only a human, Jesus was just another good man with His own ideas about how to find God. If that were true, Christianity would be no different from other old and new religions: Hinduism, Buddhism, Islam, Bahaism, Mormonism, and many others. Each of us would be left to make up for our own sins through some man made religion.
As God, Jesus died for our sin, not for His own. In Jesus, God has shown that His attitude toward us is not hate or indifference, but love. He is a loving Heavenly Father who is willing to take upon Himself the penalty for our sin.
The Trinity is not something that people have thought up. It is a result of how God has shown Himself to people in his actions in history:
1. God has shown Himself to be the Creator and Sustainer of all life. He supplies our physical and spiritual needs.
2. Through Jesus, God has shown Himself to us in our own human flesh. Through this perfectly obedient Son, God had shown us what human life is supposed to be. In Jesus, God has handled the problem with human sin by offering His Son, God in the flesh, as a sacrifice for our sin.
3. To those who accept this offer of forgiveness by accepting Jesus as King and Savior, God comes to live in them as the Holy Spirit of Holiness and Power. Through the work of the Holy Spirit in our lives, Christians live obedient, pure, loving lives through which God continues to reveal Himself to the world.
1. Genesis 1:1-2
2. John 1:1-3
3. Genesis 1:26
4. John 14-16
5. John 14:16-18,26
6. John 10:30
7. John 15:26
