Table of Contents: 
Why Should I Care  
Thinking About the Trinity  
Is the Trinity found in the Bible?  
The Three Foundations  
God is One  
God is Three  
The Three are Equal

How do you think you would do trying to defend your faith against someone who was in a cult that denied the Trinity? Most of them are well trained to argue their beliefs. Are you?

Why do you believe what you believe? Is it just because your parents told you to believe it? Is it just because your church believes it? Or is it because the Bible teaches it?

If the Bible teaches it, WHERE does it teach the Trinity? If you don't know, how do you REALLY know that the Bible teaches it? Knowing about the Trinity is knowing about WHO GOD IS! This affects salvation! This is something that we need to get right!

Make a commitment now to learn about the Trinity and to memorize the main reasons why it is true and how you can back it up with Scripture.

Sadly, most Christians can't explain the Trinity at all, much less defend that teaching from Scripture. Also, many of the common illustrations we use are actually more screwed up than helpful! Sure, they may help us see how something can be both 1 and 3, but sometimes they still miss the mark pretty badly.

Figuring out the Trinity is tough! Why? Because it is NOT like anything we have ever experienced.

• How would you explain the color red to someone who has been blind from birth?
• Describe what the color ultra-violet looks like?
• If you were Mario from the original Super Mario Brothers and always lived in a 2D world, could you imagine living in a 3D world?
• Could you, yourself, imagine living in a 5D world?

That's kind of what it's like trying to think about the Trinity. God is like nothing else. We don't have anything to compare Him to. Sure, Mario knows what it's like to live as a 2D person, so he can "kind of" think what it would be like to live as a 3D person. But he can't REALLY imagine what it would be like any more than we can imagine what it would be like to live in a 6D world. In the same way, we know what it is like to be one person, but we can't accurately imagine what it would be like to be a triple person.

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It is also tough thinking about the Trinity because in many ways the Trinity is a paradox. There is a big difference between a paradox and a contradiction! A paradox is not "two doctors." A paradox is an apparent contradiction, not a true contradiction.

A contradiction is something that can never be true at all! Not even God could make it true, because it is logically meaningless. For example, even God could not make a married bachelor. Why? I thought God could do anything? Yes, he can... but a "married bachelor" is something that could not even possibly exist. (It's LITERALLY non-sense.) If you're a bachelor, you're not married. If you're married, you're not a bachelor. (They cancel each other out.) Someone could be a bachelor and THEN be married, but no one can be married and a bachelor at the same time.

It would be a contradiction if we were trying to say that God is both 1 and 3 in the same sense at the same time. But that is NOT what were saying. What we ARE saying is that in one sense, God is one and in another sense, He is three.

Consider this question: Is it a contradiction if I say that a Smurf is totally blue and totally not blue at the same time? If I'm trying to say that the Smurf is totally the color blue and totally NOT the color blue in the same way at the same time, then that is a contradiction. If the Smurf is blue, it can't be not-blue. (Duh.) BUT, if I'm saying that the Smurf is blue (in color) but not blue (sad) then that still can make sense.

What's the point of this? Well, if Christianity is trying to say that God is three and yet only one, in the same way at the same time, then we're crazy. That is irrational and there is no way you should believe it. Instead, what we ARE saying is that God is "one" in a certain way, and "three" in another way.

This will all be explained more later on, but for now what you need to know is that God is ONE "essence", or "being" and THREE "persons."

That depends what you mean. The word "Trinity" is not found anywhere in the Bible. HOWEVER, the teaching about the Trinity is definitely found in the Bible!

The Bible does not have a specific passage that says, "God is a Trinity. There is one God, but He exists as three persons, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit." Maybe it would have been nice if it did... but it doesn't. Instead, the Bible (especially the New Testament) assumed that the Trinity is true. In fact, it's the only way that the New Testament could make sense!

The Bible DOES specifically teach all the elements (parts) that make up the teaching of the Trinity. When we put together the parts, we have the full teaching.

So, the Trinity is in the Old Testament, but we didn't have the light to see it until the New Testament was written.

There are three parts, or foundations for the teaching of the Trinity.

In addition, we DO NOT believe that Jesus Christ is God the Father, or that The Holy Spirit is God the Father, or that God the Father is the Holy Spirit.

God is TRIUNE.

A tricycle as how many wheels?

A unicycle has how many wheels?

So, "triune" means that God is 3 in 1

Basic definition of TRINITY: "Within the one being that is God, there exists eternally three co-eternal persons, namely the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit." -James White, The Forgotten Trinity, p. 26

Each morning, faithful Jews would recite the Shema, a prayer taken from Deuteronomy 6:4 which defined their faith. "Here, O Israel! The Lord is our God; the Lord is one!" Thus at the core of the Jewish faith was the belief in only one God. (In part, that is why it was hard for so many Jews to accept that Christ was God.) As Christians, we don't deny the Shema. We too believe it. We believe in only ONE God.

However, Deuteronomy 6:4 is NOT saying that God can't be a triple-person. (That's not even something they would have ever thought of anyway.) What it IS saying is that GOD is the ONLY God. There are no OTHER Gods besides God. When the Shema says that, "The Lord is one" the main point it is trying to make is that the Lord is ONE OF A KIND.

Consider these verses also:

"Before Me there was no God formed, and there will be none after Me". -Isaiah 43:10

"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. Who is like me? Let him proclaim and declare it; yes, let him recount it to Me in order, from the time that I established the ancient nations. And let them declare to them the things that are coming and the events that are going to take place. Do not tremble and do not be afraid; have I not long since announced it to you and declared it? And you are my witness. Is there any God besides Me, or is there any other Rock? I know of none." -Isaiah 44:6-8

There is only one God. The Trinity is not just the name of a "club" that three separate Gods have a membership in. God? 's ONENESS goes much deeper than that.

Don't think of God as three Gods. He is one. But remember, God is one of a kind. He's special and different than we are. Somehow, God IS able to be a triple-person while still being one. It is better to think of God as being three LINKED persons rather than three SEPARATE individuals. If you're familiar with computers, here is an illustration: God is more like a network of three computers (all on one network) than He is like three PCs by themselves.

God is one WHAT and three WHOs. He is one being, but three persons.

By the way, when we use the word "persons" we don't mean "human being." (Yes, Jesus became a human being, but the Father and Holy Spirit didn't.) What we mean by "person" is someone with mind, emotion and a will. A rock is not a person. A force is not a person. A computer is not a person. Animals aren't really persons either. (Yes, they have emotions and will, but they don't have a "self aware" mind like we do.) Human beings are persons. Angels are persons, and each member of the Trinity is a person. (No, angels and God are not "people," but they are "persons.")

Probably the closest we could come to this (in one verse) is in Matthew 28:19, "Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit."

First notice that this verse mentions all three members of the Trinity all together. There is (1) The Father, (2) The Son, and (3) The Holy Spirit. It is also important to note that the verse does NOT say to baptize them in the names (plural) of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Instead, it says to baptize them in the name (singular). So this verse really shows God's unity (being one) as well as His being three.

But rather than a single passage that says that God is "three" what the Bible does is this:

(Later on, we will prove that each of these statements is true.)

The Bible makes it clear that the Father is not the Son, the Son is not the Holy Spirit, and the Holy Spirit is not the Father. They talk to each other! They have relationships with each other. (You can't have a real relationship with yourself.)

Take Matthew 3:16-17 for example,

In Matthew 3:16-17 you have all three members of the Trinity.

As you can see, they are not the same people. Jesus is not being a ventriloquist. The Father is talking to Him.

Jesus also is constantly praying to the Father. Jesus wasn't psycho. He wasn't praying to Himself. God the Father and Jesus are part of a triple-person, not the same person. To use the computer analogy again, God is like three computers, linked on a network. They share information perfectly, but are not just one individual computer.

There is also the illustration that God is like H²0. Sometimes H²0 is water, sometimes it is ice and sometimes it is a gas, but it's just one element. That illustration gives the impression that God changes from being the Father one moment, to being the Son the next moment, and then the Holy Spirit. That can't be true! All three were present at Jesus' baptism. An actor can't play three parts ALL AT ONCE!

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Remember, this is confusing because God is NOT like us. God is not exactly like one normal person, and He's not exactly like three normal people. He's a triple-person.

Here's a way to think about it: Imagine that you are a line. You are a line, and all of your friends are lines. In fact, your name is Mr. Line. Everyone you've ever meet is a line. Everyone you know is one-dimensional. Your whole world is one-dimensional. You have length, but you don't have height or depth. In fact, you can't even imagine what height and depth are. All you know is length.

One day, you're watching the X-Files on TV and they have an episode about a weird creature called a triangle. The idea of a triangle seems bizarre to you because you've never dreamed of anything like that before. On the show, they describe the triangle as being three lines, but just one shape! That's crazy! You know it can't be true. A shape is always one line, and one line is always one shape. You know that because that is what you've always experienced!

After the show is over, you start thinking about the triangle. It's tough because you don't really know what it would be like. But nonetheless, you try and imagine what it would be like.

Your first idea is that the triangle must actually be three individual, separate lines that are just pretending to be the one shape. Obviously, three lines can't really be the same shape!

Another idea you have is that the triangle must really be one line who is telling people that he is really three different lines. He's pretending to be three lines. Maybe he can move super fast and make it look like he is three lines, but he must be just one shape. It is a contradiction to be one and three at the same time!

The point is this: Mr. Line can't imagine the difference between being a shape and a line. To him, they are the same thing... a line is always a shape and a shape is always a line. But if he were able to think in 2D, rather than just 1D, he would be able to see how a triangle can be both one shape and three lines.

In the same way, we can only think in 1D when it comes to this topic. We can't really imagine what it would be like for someone to be one being but three persons. For us, one person is always one being, and one being is always one person. Human beings are always 1D.

God is not 1D. If we can try to imagine a 2D person, we can come closer to imagining what the Trinity is actually like. In some ways he is one individual, but in another way he is three individuals. (He is one "shape" but three "lines.")

Mr. Line also has a tough time trying to figure out the difference between the meanings for "shape" and "line." To him, they are always the same. For us, we have a hard time figuring out the difference between being a "being" and a "person." For us, they are always the same too!

Mr. Line sounds crazy to his friends. They think he is describing someone who is three lines but still just one line, or, one shape but also three shapes. They can't think "shape" without also thinking "line." They also can't think "line" without also thinking "shape." To try to help them, Mr. Line takes out a piece of paper and tries to draw them a picture. Now, in Mr. Line's world, even paper is just a line, so Mr. Line can't even draw a triangle. Whenever he tries, it either comes out looking like just one line, or it comes out looking like three lines.

In the same way for us, our illustrations of the Trinity always fall short. Our illustrations will either look more like one individual, or they will look more like three individuals.

All of this is just to say that since we're limited in our thinking, we need to be careful not to "over do" God?s being one, or "over do" His being three.

F: The Father is 1/3 God, the Son is 1/3 God, and the Holy Spirit is 1/3 God.

T: The Father was always God.

F: Jesus and the Holy Spirit were not always God.

F: The Father is more powerful than Jesus.

T: The Father, Son, and Holy Spirit always agree.

T: The Father is all knowing, and all wise. The Son is all knowing and all wise. And the Holy Spirit is all knowing and all wise.

T: If all three members of the Godhead (Trinity) always know everything and always have the most perfect and wise thoughts, then they must all have the same opinions.

T: God the Father knows perfectly what it would be like to be the Son, except that He knows that He (the Father) is not the Son.

T: Each member of the Trinity knows the other member's thoughts, because they all share them. And because they are all perfect, they think the same thoughts (except that The Son knows that He is the Son and not the Father or the Holy Spirit, The Father knows that He is the Father and not the Son, etc.)

T: Because the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit are each all knowing, all wise and perfect, they can be "one" even though they are also three.

F: It is possible for three normal humans to be one and three in the same way that the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit are three.

F: All three members of the Trinity do the same things.

F: Doing different jobs always means having different levels of importance.

F: If the Son of God willfully submits to the Father's authority, it means that the Father is "better" than the Son.

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It is true that the different members of the Godhead do different things. With God's plan of salvation, God needed to be a Trinity! Let me explain: When Christ became a man, He was still God, but He didn't act like God. He was still morally perfect, but He didn't use all His powers, rights and privileges while He was on earth. (It seems that the miracles that Jesus did were by the power of the Holy Spirit rather than His own.) Jesus lived like a human and died like a human so that He could take our sin-debt and pay for it on the cross. Now, if God was NOT a Trinity, who would be running the world while God was on earth not using His powers?

Each member of the Trinity has volunteered to do different things. They always cooperate and work together, and work on the same projects, but with different assignments that they volunteered for.

For a good example, read Ephesians 1:3-14 and see the things that each member of the Trinity does in the work of salvation.

If we were going to keep doing the computer analogy, we would have to point out that all three computers on the network are all exactly the same. None is faster than another. None has more RAM. None has more software loaded on it. The ONLY DIFFERENCE between the three computers would be that one computer is designated "computer #1" another is designated "computer #2" and the last is designated "computer #3." The computers may have agreed to do different areas of the job they are working on, but as far as WHAT THEY ARE, they are exactly the same.

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