he Godhead eternally exists in three, co-equal Persons, Father, Son and Holy Spirit and these three are one God.
The teaching of the Trinity has been an area of contention from the beginning of the Church. This is
understandable when one considers the great emphasis in the Scriptures on the unity of God and the
mental gymnastics needed to try to accommodate in the human mind the concept of three being one.
And Patrick's shamrock illustration will not really do since each part of the leaf is not the whole leaf, whereas
each Person of the Godhead is wholly and fully God. The nearest analogy is the human triune nature of
body, soul and spirit (see I Thess. 5 v 23).
However, the thing is more than a head matter - it must be revealed to the heart and received in faith. How can
the finite human mind hope to surround and contain in its understanding, truths about the infinite and eternal
One? Moreover, the teaching of the Trinity is not a mere invention of the Church under the influence of the
thoughtforms of its day. No! Its foundation is laid quite surely in Scripture and its importance is fundamental to
the work of salvation, for on it depends the Deity of Jesus Christ and the Holy Spirit.
The teaching proclaims that there are three Persons, 'Personalities', with different functions (but where one
Person operates the whole Godhead is involved).
Thus the Father is seen as the fount of all Deity. (Read Ephesians Chapter 1 vv 4 - 11). The Son eternally
reveals the Father whether it be in the Old Testament appearances (the so-called theophanies) or in the
Incarnation in the New Testament. (Study Matt 11 v 27; Hebrews 1 vv 1 - 3; Colossians 1 vv 12 - 15). The
Holy Spirit, who proceeds from the Father and the Son (See John chapters 14 v 26, 16 v 7 and 15 v 26),
glorifies the Son (John 16 vv 13, 14). It is the Father's love that sets in motion the work of salvation
(John 3 vv 16, 17; I John 4 vv 9 & 10). It is the Son who was willing to come that through Him we might be
reconciled to God, having redeemed us through His blood (Ephesians 1 v 7). Hence the Scriptures affirm that
"God was in Christ reconciling the world unto Himself…" (II Cor. 5 v 19). Having experienced this work of
salvation in our own lives, we too become sons of God our Father (John 1 v 12; I John 3 vv 1, 2), and brethren,
heirs and joint-heirs with Christ (Romans 8 vv 14 - 17). It is the Holy Spirit who pleads with the hearts of men and
women to be reconciled (John 16 v 8). The Son ever lives to intercede before the Father for us. (Hebrews 7 v 25).
He is our advocate, should we sin, to plead on our behalf, for His blood was shed to cover all our sin.
(I John 1 vv 9 - II John 2 v 1). The Holy Spirit is the Comforter, the Paraclete, or the One who indwells believers
and who 'calls' to us on behalf of the Father to guide us into all Truth (John 16 v 13), to teach us all things
(I John 2 v 27; I Cor. 2 v 12), and to enable us to live lives of prayer and power (Read Romans Chapter 8 and
Acts 1 v 8) - the Christ-life.
Yet they are not separate Beings but One in essential nature and where One is so are all. The Word 'Person' in
this sense, it actually taken from the Latin word persona which was the role an actor played (cf. the term
dramatis personae) or, more precisely, the mask which, in ancient times, he would have worn to portray
a character in drama. This, however, falls far short when applied to God for the Bible does not suggest that the
Trinity is simply God playing three separate roles at different stages. That heresy has long been repudiated since
it denies the three distinct personalities of the Godhead. Neither dare we swing to the other extreme by holding
that there are three separate Beings. In essential Being God is One. The best of which human language is
capable is to present the matter in a seemingly illogical way, that God is three Persons in One essential nature
and Being. But it is important for us to grasp this by faith.