Does the Bible say "Trinity"?

Firstly, it is absolutely true that the Bible does not specifically say the word "Trinity". This, however, does not mean that the concept we call the Trinity today is not taught. There is no dispute here about the fact the Bible teaches there is only one God. There is also no dispute that the Bible teaches that the Father is God. The dispute usually comes from whether or not Jesus is also God, and whether or not the Holy Spirit is God. Some religions also deny that the Holy Spirit is a distinct being from God himself, and others say he is not conscious.

 

Is Jesus God?

Both old and New Testaments clearly teach that Jesus is God. The most famous passage, cherished by Christians for centuries, is the first chapter of John. While it is rare for me to do so in apologetics, I am going to be referring exclusively to the KJV in this article, as the approach it takes in translation is so very literal and close to the original text, it cannot be claimed the translators ever added their own beliefs or ideas into the text. It was also translated long before several pseudo-Christian religions that reject the Trinity.

 

John 1:1-18 reads In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. The same was in the beginning with God. All things were made by him; and without him was not any thing made that was made. In him was life; and the life was the light of men. And the light shineth in darkness; and the darkness comprehended it not. There was a man sent from God, whose name was John. The same came for a witness, to bear witness of the Light, that all men through him might believe. He was not that Light, but was sent to bear witness of that Light. That was the true Light, which lighteth every man that cometh into the world. He was in the world, and the world was made by him, and the world knew him not. He came unto his own, and his own received him not. But as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name: Which were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God. And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth. John bare witness of him, and cried, saying, This was he of whom I spake, He that cometh after me is preferred before me: for he was before me. And of his fulness have all we received, and grace for grace. For the law was given by Moses, but grace and truth came by Jesus Christ. No man hath seen God at any time, the only begotten Son, which is in the bosom of the Father, he hath declared him.

 

In this passage, the very first verse should be more than enough to suggest that this "word", whoever he may be, was God. The passage goes on to describe who this "word" is. No matter how hard you try, there is no one else, in the Bible or otherwise, who fits the description. Jesus, however, does. It logically follows, then, that if the word is God and Jesus is the word, Jesus is God. This should be more than enough to convince any Bible believing Christian that Jesus is part of the Holy Trinity.

 

Reading further into the passage, we see that all things were made by him. If it was made, it was made by him. This is, again, an achievement that only God himself can boast in, as we see in the creation accounts given in Genesis 1 and 2. Colossians 1:16 also says of Jesus For by him were all things created, that are in heaven, and that are in earth, visible and invisible, whether they be thrones, or dominions, or principalities, or powers: all things were created by him, and for him: which again shows, beyond all reasonable doubt, that Jesus is the one and only creator God.

 

Staying in John's Gospel, we now turn to the very end of John, specifically chapter 20 verses 26-29. In this passage, Thomas and the disciples are gathered together when Jesus just pops up behind them. It reads And after eight days again his disciples were within, and Thomas with them: then came Jesus, the doors being shut, and stood in the midst, and said, Peace be unto you. Then saith he to Thomas, Reach hither thy finger, and behold my hands; and reach hither thy hand, and thrust it into my side: and be not faithless, but believing. And Thomas answered and said unto him, My Lord and my God. Jesus saith unto him, Thomas, because thou hast seen me, thou hast believed: blessed are they that have not seen, and yet have believed.

 

After seeing Christ walking around alive, after being brutally murdered, Thomas' immediate response is to call him God. Rather than correct him on his blasphemy, Jesus get's straight to the point and essentially says "Now you believe me."

 

Again in John, this time in chapter 14 verses 8 and 9. Philip saith unto him, Lord, show us the Father, and it sufficeth us. Jesus saith unto him, Have I been so long time with you, and yet hast thou not known me, Philip? he that hath seen me hath seen the Father; and how sayest thou then, Show us the Father? When Philip, one of Jesus' apostles, asks him to show him the father, Jesus says "Don't you recognise me?" Now, I don't know about you, but if someone asks me to show them my father, I don't usually respond with "Here I am." But this is what Jesus does. He tells Philip that, if he has seen him, he has seen the father. This is just one more passage that shows Jesus is no less God than the Father.

 

We turn now to Colossians 2:8-9 which says Beware lest any man spoil you through philosophy and vain deceit, after the tradition of men, after the rudiments of the world, and not after Christ. For in him dwelleth all the fulness of the Godhead bodily. This one is pretty self explanatory.

 

In Isaiah 9:6 we read For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given: and the government shall be upon his shoulder: and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace. Who is this child whom the government should be on? This child is Jesus, yet this passage calls him The mighty God, the everlasting Father, two things which only God could claim.

 

Then we turn to Zechariah 12:10 which reads And I will pour upon the house of David, and upon the inhabitants of Jerusalem, the spirit of grace and of supplications: and they shall look upon me whom they have pierced, and they shall mourn for him, as one mourneth for his only son, and shall be in bitterness for him, as one that is in bitterness for his firstborn. When was God ever pierced? It says in this verse that "they shall look upon me whom they have pierced". The only time mankind has EVER had the strength to pierce God is 2000 years ago, on the cross.

 

The last verse specifically relating to Jesus is 1 Corinthians 8:6 which reads But to us there is but one God, the Father, of whom are all things, and we in him; and one Lord Jesus Christ, by whom are all things, and we by him. As we will look at later on in this article, there is only one Lord. In Deuteronomy 6:4, for example, we read Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God is one Lord: If there is only one Lord (God), as Deuteronomy 6:4 says, yet there is only one Lord (Jesus Christ), as 1 Corinthians 8:6 says, we simply cannot claim Jesus is not God.

 

The passages above show, beyond all reasonable doubt, that Jesus is God, the "second" member of the Trinity.

 

Is the Holy Spirit God?

 

 

It is even more difficult to aim a case for the Godly nature of the Holy Spirit at a universal audience, as different religions have different ideas about him. Jehovah's Witnesses, for example, claim that the Holy Spirit is not a conscious being, but is instead God's "active force". Mormons, while they admit the Holy Spirit is a conscious being, simply do not accept him as a person of the Trinity. There are so many different views about what the Holy Spirit is, God himself is the only one capable of numbering them. In this article, however, I will present only what the scriptures say.

 

First, is the Holy Spirit a conscious being? Is he capable of thought or feeling, or is he just an "active force", as described by the Jehovah's Witnesses? Every time the scriptures reffer to the Holy Spirit, he is ascribed some type of personal attribute. For example, he speaks!

 

In John 16:13 we read Howbeit when he, the Spirit of truth, is come, he will guide you into all truth: for he shall not speak of himself; but whatsoever he shall hear, that shall he speak: and he will shew you things to come. Not only does Jesus describe the Holy Spirit as "he" rather than "it", a mistake that even some Christians struggle with today, but it says that he will speak to the apostles what he has heard from the Father and the Son, and that he will show the apostles things to come. We see an example of the Holy Spirit speaking, as Jesus said he would, in Acts 13:2, which says As they ministered to the Lord, and fasted, the Holy Ghost said, Separate me Barnabas and Saul for the work whereunto I have called them. This is not the behaviour of a force.

 

It is also possible to lie (unsuccessfully, of course) to the Holy Spirit, as we see in Acts 5:3-4. But Peter said, Ananias, why hath Satan filled thine heart to lie to the Holy Ghost, and to keep back part of the price of the land? Whiles it remained, was it not thine own? and after it was sold, was it not in thine own power? why hast thou conceived this thing in thine heart? thou hast not lied unto men, but unto God.

 

This verse deals a double barrelled blow to the "active force" belief about the Holy Spirit, as not only does it say the Holy Spirit can be lied to, but it also says that he IS God. I cannot lie to gravity. I cannot lie to friction. How would it hear? But I can lie to the Holy Spirit, and to God, as they are personal beings with the ability to hear and understand anything I say, aswell as assess their truth value.

 

We also see the personality of the Holy Spirit by the fact he can be grieved. In Ephesians 4:30 we read And grieve not the holy Spirit of God, whereby ye are sealed unto the day of redemption. Can a force feel emotion? Of course it can't. It cannot think, either, but in 1 Corinthians 2:10-11 we read But God hath revealed them unto us by his Spirit: for the Spirit searcheth all things, yea, the deep things of God. For what man knoweth the things of a man, save the spirit of man which is in him? even so the things of God knoweth no man, but the Spirit of God. And in 1 Corinthians 12:11 we read see that the Holy Spirit also has a will of his own.

 

Not one of these scriptures describes a simple force; all of them describe the Holy Spirit as a living, conscious being with thoughts, feelings and freedom of will. But still there is more. In Romans 8:26-27, we read Likewise the Spirit also helpeth our infirmities: for we know not what we should pray for as we ought: but the Spirit itself maketh intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered. And he that searcheth the hearts knoweth what is the mind of the Spirit, because he maketh intercession for the saints according to the will of God.

 

Twice in that passage we read that the Holy Spirit intercedes for us, and nevermind ascribing personal attributes to him, verse 27 flat out tells us, without any shadow of a doubt, that the Holy Spirit has a mind. This is, once again, not the behaviour of a force. As previously mentioned, not once does the Bible describe the Holy Spirit in anything other than a personal sense.

 

As we have seen above, in verses like Acts 5:3-4 and, more solidly, 1 Corinthians 1:11, the Holy Spirit is also God. He is not a force, he is a personal being, and he is God, thus making him the "third" member of the Holy Trinity.

 

Three in one

 

We have now established that yes, the Bible does, indeed, teach that each of the three persons of the Trinity are, in fact, God. We never disputed that the Bible also teaches there is one God and, as we saw earlier in Deuteronomy 6:4 (which Jesus also quotes in Mark 12:29) that there is only one Lord. As Ephesians 4:5-6 says, One Lord, one faith, one baptism,One God and Father of all, who is above all, and through all, and in you all. The three persons are all one God, which is why in Mark 12:29, Jesus doesn't tell the apostles to baptize in the names of the Father, Son and the Holy Spirit, only the name.
 

The scriptures presented above remove all reasonable doubt that God is a Triune God. Yes, the Bible does teach the Trinity, and has done so since before most of the religions that claim it doesn't even existed. Who, given the evidence above, could claim to be a Christian, yet reject the Trinity?

 

Thank you for reading. God bless.