"What does the Bible say?"

Submitted by Lactantius Jr (United Kingdom), Dec 11, 2006 at 09:53

To Sohail

The concept of the God of the Bible's Unity in Triunity, is a fair and consistent description of the Bible's teaching concerning His nature, presenting an "understanding" that is most consistent with the teaching of the Bible.

The first and most important thing to know about God, is that we can only know of Him what He graciously chooses to reveal of Himself to us, and the formulation of Trinitarian doctrine, was a reverent attempt to accept and understand what He has revealed about Himself in the pages of the Bible.

With acknowledgements to CARM (Christian Apologetics and Resource Ministry), I use this chart of theirs, published at http://www.carm.org/doctrine//trinity.htm which summarises Biblical references to each person of the Triune God of the Bible.

The chart below should help you to see how the doctrine of the Trinity is systematically derived from Scripture. The list is not exhaustive, only illustrative.
The first step is to establish the biblical doctrine that there is only one God. Then, you find that each of the persons is called God, each creates, each was involved in Jesus' resurrection, each indwells, etc. Therefore, God is one, but the one God is in three simultaneous persons. The idea of a composite unity of persons is spoken of by God in Genesis (Gen. 2:24).

There is only one God

The first step is to establish how many Gods exist: one! Isaiah 43:10; 44:6,8; 45:5,14,18,21,22; 46:9; 47:8; John 17:3; 1 Cor. 8:5-6; Gal. 4:8-9

• "I am the LORD, and there is no other; besides Me there is no God" (Isaiah 45:5).

• "Thus says the Lord, the King of Israel And his Redeemer, the Lord of hosts: ‘I am the first and I am the last, And there is no God besides Me," (Isaiah 44:6).

• "I am the Lord, and there is no other; besides Me there is no God," (Isaiah 55:5).

The Trinity

FATHER

SON

HOLY SPIRIT

Called God

Phil. 1:2

John 1:1,14; Col. 2:9

Acts 5:3-4

Creator

Isaiah 64:8

John 1:3; Col. 1:15-17

Job 33:4, 26:13

Resurrects

1 Thess. 1:10

John 2:19, 10:17

Rom. 8:11

Indwells

2 Cor. 6:16

Col. 1:27

John 14:17

Everywhere

1 Kings 8:27

Matt. 28:20

Psalm 139:7-10

All knowing

1 John 3:20

John 16:30; 21:17

1 Cor. 2:10-11

Sanctifies

1 Thess. 5:23

Heb. 2:11

1 Pet. 1:2

Life giver

Gen. 2:7: John 5:21

John 1:3; 5:21

2 Cor. 3:6,8

Fellowship

1 John 1:3

1 Cor. 1:9

2 Cor. 13:14; Phil. 2:1

Eternal

Psalm 90:2

Micah 5:1-2

Rom. 8:11; Heb. 9:14

A Will

Luke 22:42

Luke 22:42

1 Cor. 12:11

Speaks

Matt. 3:17; Luke 9:25

Luke 5:20; 7:48

Acts 8:29; 11:12; 13:2

Love

John 3:16

Eph. 5:25

Rom. 15:30

Searches the heart

Jer. 17:10

Rev. 2:23

1 Cor. 2:10

We belong to

John 17:9

John 17:6

. . .

Savior

1 Tim. 1:1; 2:3; 4:10

2 Tim. 1:10; Titus 1:4; 3:6

. . .

We serve

Matt. 4:10

Col. 3:24

. . .

Believe in

John 14:1

John 14:1

. . .

Gives joy

. . .

John 15:11

John 14:7

Judges

John 8:50

John 5:21,30

. . .

Therefore, the doctrine of the Trinity is arrived at by looking at the whole of Scripture, not in a single verse. It is the doctrine that there is only one God, not three, Who exists in three persons: The Father, The Son, and The Holy Spirit.

You say Sohail, "I stand by the Torah because it doesn't say that they are trinity." http://www.danielpipes.org/comments/68044 and that being so, I recommend the following books by Chris Wright to you, "Knowing Jesus Through The Old Testament" ISBN 1854247018 "Knowing the Holy Spirit through the Old Testament" ISBN 0830825916 Dr Wright's third book in the trilogy, "Knowing God the Father through the Old Testament" being not yet published.

With kind regards and best wishes

Lactantius Jr.

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