The Triune God

In this post I am going to continue to look at some basics that we as Christians must believe. None of these posts are meant to be exhaustive by any stretch, therefore, I encourage you to be a diligent student of the Word of God yourself (2 Timothy 2:15). 

Next on the list is that God is eternally existent in three separate persons: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Actually, it is this belief that separates Christianity from all others. Any group that rejects the Triune Godhead cannot identify themselves as truly Christian. However, this subject cannot be adequately addressed without acknowledging the Deity of Christ. That is to say that Jesus is God. Not a God. He is the one and only God, Maker of Heaven and Earth. We believe that Jesus was and is the God-Man. All God. All human. Son of God and Son of Man. That is what the word "incarnate" implies. God poured into flesh almost 2000 years ago. To deny the Triune Godhead or the Deity of Christ is to make Jesus merely a man or something other than God. For example, Islam says that he was merely a prophet and not God. Mormonism says that he is actually Michael the Archangel and not God. Jehovah's Witnesses say that he and Lucifer are actually brothers and not God. Sorry, but neither of these can be found in the Bible.  

No, it is not something that the early church fathers just pulled out of a hat at a council, instead, it is found throughout the Bible. I believe that it starts in the very first verse of Genesis when it says, "In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth." The Hebrew word used for God is "Elohim" which is in the plural form. The singular is "El" or "Eloi". However, it is the "im" at the end of this word that makes it plural. We see this with other words in the Bible as well. For example, the plural of the word Cherub is Cherubim. The plural of the word Seraph is Seraphim. The plural of the word Anak is Anakim. So, the name "Elohim" is plural, and in it, we see the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. 

We see this more clearly as we work our way through the first three chapters of Genesis. In 1:26-27, it says, "And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness: and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth. So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them." Do you see the plural personal pronouns? Also, in 3:22, it says, "And the LORD God said, Behold, the man is become as one of us, to know good and evil." 

To further the point, God created man in His own image. As God is a Superior Trinity: God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit; man is an inferior trinity: Man the soul, Man the body, and Man the spirit. God is to the Soul (mind), as Jesus is the Body, and the Holy Spirit is to the Spirit. Do you see how these two church doctrines go together? They must both be believed. 

We see it proven further in John 1:1-5; 14 where it says, "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. The same was in the beginning with God. All things were made by him; and without him was not any thing made that was made. In him was life; and the life was the light of men. And the light shineth in darkness; and the darkness comprehended it not." And then John goes on to identify the "Word" that he is talking about in v.14 when he says, "And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth." The Word is Jesus. Jesus is God. Not a God, not only a prophet, not the brother of Lucifer, and not an archangel, but God!  

That is why John wrote later in the book of Revelation, “And I saw heaven opened; and behold, a white horse, and He who sat upon it is called Faithful and True; and in righteousness He judges and wages war. And His eyes are a flame of fire, and upon His head are many diadems; and He has a name written upon Him which no one knows except Himself. And He is clothed with a robe dipped in blood; and His name is called The Word of God” (Revelation 19:11-13). The Bible clearly teaches the Triune Godhead and the Deity of Christ. These, we believe.