We have already seen that God is One. The second part of the definition of the Trinity is this: God is three persons. God has eternally existed as Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. The biblical evidence for this fact is clear.
Matthew 3:16-17 After his baptism, as Jesus came up out of the water, the heavens were opened and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and settling on him. And a voice from heaven said, “This is my dearly loved Son, who brings me great joy.”
In the baptism of Jesus, we see all three members of the Trinity at work.
Matthew 28:19 Therefore, go and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit.
Jesus commands his followers to be baptized in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. This would have been a blasphemous thing for Jesus to do unless all three persons were in fact fully God, just like God the Father.
Genesis 1:26 Then God said, “Let us make human beings in our image, to be like us. They will reign over the fish in the sea, the birds in the sky, the livestock, all the wild animals on the earth, and the small animals that scurry along the ground.”
Even in the Old Testament, we find hints that there is more to God than we realize. In this verse God uses first person plurals to refer to himself. New Testament revelation teaches us that he refers here to the members of the Trinity.
To say that God is three persons means this about the Father, Son, & Spirit:
- They are distinct persons. The Father is not the Son. And the Son is not the Spirit.
- They perform different actions. The Father didn’t die on the cross (Jesus did). The Son doesn’t give us a new heart (That’s the Holy Spirit’s job).
- They work in perfect unity. As one God, the three persons work together perfectly. There is no 2 to 1 vote in the Trinity.
