Trinity

 There’s something appealing about the mysterious. The mystery of life fascinates our minds. The mysteries related to the universe around us, such as black holes or the forces of gravity, magnetism, and light stretch our imaginations. The greatest mystery of all involves the nature of God. God exists in trinity. The Bible reveals this mystery of the triune nature of God.

The word “trinity” means tri-unity, that is, three in one. There is only one true and living God. Deuteronomy 6.4 settles the question. “Hear, I Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one.” Jesus affirmed this truth by quoting this verse in Mark 12.29. Likewise, the New Testament clearly supports the fact that God is one. Romans 3.30 states, “There is only one God,” and 1 Timothy 1.17 says, “Now to the King eternal, immortal, invisible, the only God, be honour and glory for ever and ever.”

While we know that there is only one true God, the Bible also refers to three distinct persons as God, the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. First Corinthians 8.6 identifies the Father as God, saying, “For us there is but one God, the Father, from whom all things come and for whom we live.” We also learn that the Son, Jesus Christ, is God as stated in Titus 2.13, “We wait for the blessed hope, the glorious appearing of our great God and Saviour, Jesus Christ.” Acts 5.3-4 indicates that the Holy Spirit is God, saying first that Ananias had “lied to the Holy Spirit” and then saying that he had lied to God. The Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit are each declared to be God. Yet these three persons are distinct from one another. In Matthew 28.19 Jesus instructed His followers to baptize new believers in the one, unified name of the triune God. He commanded, “Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.”

Because God is one and because three distinct persons are called God, we can only conclude that God exists in tri-unity. The doctrine of the trinity is admittedly beyond our comprehension. It’s a mystery of the faith. Furthermore, there’s nothing like it in the observable universe, so all illustrations of the trinity fail at some level. However, we can conceive of unity in plurality. Light possesses properties of both particles and energy wave. In marriage, two become one.

Ultimately, we should be pleased to realise that our God is so great that He defies our comprehension. Wouldn’t it be disappointing to worship a God who can fit within our limited categories and concepts? Instead, we worship an awesome God who exists as three in one.