To help clarify the issue of the Trinity, we should examine past heresies to know what God and his divine character is NOT. The two we shall examine is moldalism and tritheism.

Modalism denies the distinction of persons within the Godhead, claiming that the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit are just ways in which God expresses himself. Tritheism, the other extreme of the theological spectrum, falsely declares that there are three beings who together make up God.

Now the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit are defined as three persons of one essence. The term person does not mean a distinction in essence, but a different subsistence in the Godhead. There is a real or true difference between the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, but it is not an essential difference.

To truly understand the doctrine of the Trinity, it must first be known that we has humans cannot fully grasp of the character of God. So through his divine Word, the Trinity has been presented as a paradox, but NOT a contradiction. It is not a full explanation of God, but it is a boundary in which we should not traverse. So the Trinity defines the limits of our finite reflection.

As for the proof in the Scripture, let us consider the Word to refute all objections that the Trinity is not Biblical.

Matthew 3:16-17:

‘¹⁶As soon as Jesus was baptized, he went up out of the water. At that moment heaven was opened, and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and lighting on him. ¹⁷And a voice from heaven said, “This is my Son, whom I love; with him I am well pleased.”

Here we see all persons of the Trinity in full glory. Christ, in perfect obedience of his Father, was baptized to begin his ministry, and the Holy Spirit was given to the Son. Each person was distinct in that they had a distinct verb associated with them. The Father spoke (intransitive) and was pleased (linking verb), the Son went up (intransitive) and saw (transitive), and the Holy Sprit descended (intransitive) and lit (transitive).

Matthew 28:19:

‘¹⁹Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.’

Christ gave this final commandment to His disciples, and this shows us the deity of each of these persons of the Trinity. To baptize someone ‘in the name of’ something gives that specific object as sense of worship and praise. When we pray, we pray ‘in the name of Jesus,’ for He is the Mediator between us and the Father. To pray ‘in the name of Buddha’ or ‘in the name of Chuck Norris’ would be a sin giving false worship, for it is not reverence to the Son. We baptize in the name of ALL persons of the Trinity, because each and all deserve our worship and our lives.

2 Corinthians 13:14:

‘¹⁴May the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all.’

In his farewell of the second epistle to the Corinthians, Paul gives another glimpse into the Trinity. His blessing is that in which all persons of the Trinity bestow a virtue to the believers of Corinth: grace, love, and fellowship. A poetic and beautiful image purveys in this send-off which leaves us in terrific awe of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.

1 Peter 1:1-2:

¹Peter, an apostle of Jesus Christ, To God’s elect, strangers in the world, scattered throughout Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia and Bithynia, ²who have been chosen according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, through the sanctifying work of the Spirit, for obedience to Jesus Christ and sprinkling by his blood”

Finally, Peter gives us incredible insight into the nature and truinity of God. It is the Father that has chose us by grace, the Spirit that sanctifies us our entire natural life, and only because of the obedience and atoning work of Jesus the Son could this all be possible. Praise and glory be to all persons of the Trinity.