The Mystery of the Three in One

And without controversy great is the mystery of godliness: God was manifested in the flesh, justified in the Spirit...

- I Timothy 3:16

Everybody loves a good mystery. You curl up in a comfortable chair, suspend disbelief, immerse yourself in an exotic world full of odd twists and turns, and try to figure out whodunit before you reach the last, satisfying page. Most often your guess is off the mark, but sometimes you actually get it right. And then you can't help but think triumphantly, Sherlock Holmes, beware!

The Scripture has its own mysteries - just as intriguing, just as captivating as any mystery crafted by the latest best-selling author, yet they are infinitely more baffling. No human mind can plumb their depths. Who can fully explain how God can be sovereign and yet give men and women free will? How could Jesus be both 100 percent human and 100 percent divine? A thousand such puzzles confront us throughout the pages of the Bible. But perhaps the greatest biblical mystery of all is the Trinity

The Greatest Mystery of All

As we consider the Trinity (or the triunity) of God, we first of all must recognize from the Scripture that it is indeed a mystery. In I Timothy 3:16, Paul declared, "Without controversy great is the mystery of godliness: God was manifested in the flesh, justified in the Spirit..."

So great is this mystery that our minds can't fully wrap themselves around its reality. We simply can't understand the mystery of the Godhead. But this should be no surprise. We must remember that we are dealing with an infinite God, and when we try to understand Him with our finite minds, we are bound to run into insurmountable difficulties. How can we talk about one God and yet three Persons of the one God? Yet that is what the Scriptures present to us.

I have no intention of trying to explain the Godhead. It is beyond the capacity of the human mind to fully comprehend. We must simply accept what the Scriptures tell us: There is one God who is manifested in three Persons, the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit.

G. Campbell Morgan explained a big part of our problem in understanding the Trinity He declared, "The idea of one essence subsisting after a threefold manner and in a trinity of relationships finds nothing in the phenomenon of nature upon which it can fashion as a sufficient symbol." That is, there isn't any symbol in the physical universe that can adequately picture the triunity of God.

Yet we do try to find one. We're always attempting to find some kind of symbol by which we can make an analogy describing the Godhead. But as Morgan said, there just isn't anything in nature that can adequately depict the triunity of God. Paul called it a mystery and, because it is a mystery, we cannot expect to reduce it to logical precepts.

Our finite minds rebel against this. They say, "The Trinity is a contradiction; how could there be one God and yet three Persons in that one God?" Because of the difficulty of comprehending the Trinity, there will always be those who jump in and deny the three Persons of the one Godhead. But beware! Denial of the Trinity always brings the denial of the deity of Jesus Christ and the personality of the Holy Spirit.

Some people have suggested that the Trinity is a mathematical absurdity. One plus one plus one, they point out, equals three. But this proves nothing. One times one times one equals one. You can't disprove the Godhead mathematically.

No, we must stick to what the Bible declares about the nature of God. And it says the Holy Spirit is God. It teaches us there is one God, manifested in three Persons: the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.

The Westminster Confession says it like this: "There is but one living and true God. In the unity of the Godhead there are three persons. One God of one substance, power and eternity. God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit."

In the Old Testament

The triunity of God is not nearly as clear in the Old Testament as it is in the New. Nevertheless, in the Old Testament we surely have indications, hints, and declarations of the three Persons of the Godhead.

The Holy Spirit is mentioned just under 80 times in the Old Testament, most often by the names "the Spirit of the LORD," "the Spirit of God," or "the Holy Spirit."

The first mention of the Holy Spirit by name comes in Genesis 1:2: "The earth was without form, and void; and darkness was on the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God was hovering over the face of the waters." Already by the second verse in the Bible we are introduced to the Holy Spirit.

But there may be a hint of the Spirit's existence even in the very first verse of the Bible. Genesis 1:1 says, "In the beginning God." The Hebrew word translated "God" is Elohim, a plural form (the singular is EI). It is interesting that the first mention of God in the Bible uses a plural rather than a singular form.

Some have sought to explain this plural Elohim by calling it a "plural of majesty" or the "plural of emphasis." But that explanation appears to have no basis in either grammar or usage. Just a few verses later, the Scripture tells us, "Then God [Elohim] said, 'Let Us [plural pronoun] make man in Our image, according to Our likeness"' (1:26). Just who was God talking to? God said let "Us," after "Our" image and "Our" likeness. The plural pronouns used here concerning God should effectively wipe out any need for a concept such as "plural of majesty"

Other equally intriguing hints about the Trinity may be found in the Old Testament. I believe the rallying cry of ancient Israel points to the Trinity. Deuteronomy 6:4 - "Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God, the LORD is one!" - is called the Shema by the Jews (shema is the Hebrew word for "hear"). It was chanted over and over during worship at the temple, especially during feast days. Worshipers would cry out repeatedly, "Shema Ysrael Yahweh Elohim achad Yahweh." Over and over they affirmed that "the LORD our God is one Lord." The oneness of God was the foundation of the whole Hebrew religion.

Yet the very wording of the Shema is telling. Yahweh is the covenant name of God used by the Jews, while Elohim is the plural form of El, which means "God." Now, the word achad indicates a compound unity, not a singular unity. For example, when God created Eve out of Adam, He said, "And they shall become one [achad] flesh" (Genesis 2:24), a compound unity.

A different Hebrew word - yachad - is required when a singular unity is meant. Had this term been used in the Shema instead of achad, we would have no basis from the Old Testament to accept the idea of a Trinity. But the fact that the plural Elohim is paired with the achad - even within the monotheistic chant of the Hebrews - suggests the triunity of God.

Later, when Moses instructed Aaron on how to place the blessings of God upon the people, he was instructed to say, "Yahweh bless you and keep you; Yahweh make His face shine upon you, and be gracious to you; Yahweh lift up His countenance upon you, and give you peace" (Numbers 6:24). Notice the threefold declaration of Yahweh. One Yahweh - but why should the name be repeated three times? The Lord had said, "You will put my name on the children of Israel and I will bless them." This is the trinity of blessing in unity.

Centuries later when Isaiah saw his vision of the Lord, high and lifted up and sitting on the throne, he heard the seraphim say, "Holy, holy, holy is the LORD of hosts; the whole earth is full of His glory!" (Isaiah 6:3). Why repeat the "holy" three times? Once more it is a threefold witness, this time to God's holiness.

In the prophecy of Isaiah 48:16, the Messiah says, "Come near to Me, hear this: I have not spoken in secret from the beginning; from the time that it was, I was there. And now the Lord GOD and His Spirit have sent Me." The Revised Standard version reads, "The Lord God has sent me and his Spirit," which more literally reflects the original Hebrew. Notice that the Messiah, Jesus, is saying that the Lord God and His Spirit have sent Him. This is a prophecy of the coming of the Messiah, and later the coming of the age of the Holy Spirit.

In the New Testament

In the New Testament, of course, the triunity of God is taught from Matthew to Revelation. Matthew 3:16 says, "When He had been baptized, [Jesus] came up immediately from the water, and behold, the heavens were opened to Him, and He saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and alighting upon Him." While Jesus was being baptized and the Spirit of God descended upon Him like a dove, a voice from heaven said, "This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased." Jesus was baptized, the Spirit descended, and the Father spoke from heaven. All three members of the Godhead are clearly at work here.

In John 14:16,17, Jesus said, 'And I will pray the Father, and He will give you another Helper, that He may abide with you forever, even the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees Him nor knows Him; but you know Him, for He dwells with you and will be in you." At the request of Jesus, the Holy Spirit was to be sent from God. This same promise is repeated in John 14:26: "But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in My name..." Note again, all three members of the Godhead are clearly present.

When Jesus commissioned His disciples to go and teach all nations, He told them to baptize new converts "in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit" (Matthew 28:19). Notice that they were to baptize these new disciples in "the name" (singular) of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Again, all three are included.

When Peter spoke in Acts 10 to the group that had gathered at the house of Cornelius, he declared "how God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and with power" (verse 38). Note once more, all three are mentioned.

In his letter to the Ephesians, Paul said, "There is one body and one Spirit, just as you were called in one hope of your calling; one Lord, one faith, one baptism; one God and Father of all, who is above all, and through all, and in you all" (Ephesians 4:4-6). Once more the Trinity is being proclaimed: one Spirit, one Lord, one God. One times one times one equals one.

It's interesting that in passages such as those just cited the Spirit usually is mentioned third, behind the Father and the Son. This explains why He is commonly referred to as the third Person of the Trinity. But in case anyone might be tempted to think that this practice implies inferiority, in the Ephesians passage the normal order is reversed. The Spirit is mentioned first, Jesus second, and God the Father third.

In a similar way, Paul in Romans 15:30 said, "Now I beg you, brethren, through the Lord Jesus Christ, and through the love of the Spirit, that you strive together with me in your prayers to God for me." Here we see the three members of the Trinity once more, but this time Jesus is mentioned first, the Holy Spirit is second, and the Father is third.

Allow me to give one more example proving that order of mention has nothing to do with superiority or inferiority. In Paul's benediction to Second Corinthians, the apostle writes, "The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the communion of the Holy Spirit be with you all. Amen" (13:14). Here he mentions Christ first, God the Father second, and the Holy Spirit third. The order is irrelevant.

The weight of evidence allows us to say with confidence that the New Testament teaches one God, manifested in three coequal Persons. The Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit are one, yet are distinct and separate. This means that the Spirit is every bit as divine as the Father and the Son.

Attributes of Deity

Another way to see the deity of the Spirit is to note the many divine attributes the Scriptures declare Him to have.

He is eternal. Hebrews 9:14 says, "How much more shall the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered Himself without spot to God, purge your conscience from dead works to serve the living God?" Notice that the blood of Christ through the eternal Spirit purges your conscience from dead works to serve the living God. Once more, a reference to the Trinity.

The Holy Spirit is omnipresent. David asked in Psalm 139:7-10:

Where can I go from Your Spirit? Or where can I flee from Your presence? If I ascend into heaven, You are there; if I make my bed in hell, behold, You are there. If I take the wings of the morning, and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea, even there Your hand shall lead me, and Your right hand shall hold me. The Spirit of God is everywhere present. In heaven He is there; in hell He is there; in the uttermost parts of the sea He is there. We cannot flee from the Spirit because He is everywhere.

The Spirit is omniscient. Paul tells us in I Corinthians 2:10,11:

But God has revealed them to us through His Spirit. For the Spirit searches all things, yes, the deep things of God. For what man knows the things of a man except the spirit of the man which is in him? Even so no one knows the things of God except the Spirit of God.

The Spirit knows all things, even the deep things of God. Whatever God knows, the Spirit knows. And since God knows everything, so does the Spirit. He is omniscient.

The Holy Spirit is omnipotent. When an angel announced to Mary that God had chosen her as the vessel to bring the Messiah into the world, she asked how that could be, since she was a virgin. The angel answered her, "The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Highest will overshadow you; therefore, also, that Holy One who is to be born will be called the Son of God" (Luke 1:35). The angel made it clear that the Holy Spirit is the power of the Highest. All three members of the Godhead worked together in what has been called "the immaculate conception." And the result was the incarnation of the Son of God.

Divine References

Divine references also are made concerning the Holy Spirit. For example, in Acts 5:3, Peter first accuses Ananias of lying to the Holy Spirit, then quickly adds, "You have not lied to men but to God."

Peter reasons that if someone has lied to the Spirit, he has lied to God. The two are equal; the Spirit is God.

In II Corinthians 3:18, Paul speaks of our being transformed from glory to glory "by the Spirit of the Lord." The newer translations have more correctly and literally rendered the phrase, "By the Lord, the Spirit" (in Greek, hupo kurios pneumatos). He means the Lord is the Spirit, or the Spirit is the Lord. They are one and the same.

Works of Deity

Works of deity also are ascribed to the Holy Spirit.

The Scriptures teach that all three Persons of the Godhead were active in the creation. In Genesis 1:1 we learn, "In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth," and in verse 2 we further learn that "the Spirit of God was hovering over the face of the waters." And in John 1:3 we discover that Jesus was also involved: 'All things were made through Him [Christ], and without Him nothing was made that was made." Paul adds in Colossians 1:16,17:

For by Him [Jesus] all things were created that are in heaven and that are on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or principalities or powers. All things were created through Him and for Him. And He is before all things, and in Him all things consist.

In the Psalms we read more about the Holy Spirit's part in creation: "By the word of the LORD the heavens were made, and all the host of them by the breath of His mouth" (Psalm 33:6). The word breath in Hebrew is ruach, which means "wind," or "spirit." So Psalm 33:6 could very well be translated, "By the word of the Lord [and Jesus, of course, is the Word of the Lord] were the heavens made, and all the host of them by the Spirit [or breath, ruach] of His mouth."

God Speaks in the Spirit's Voice

Another line of evidence that the Holy Spirit is God may be found in noting how the New Testament uses some Old Testament texts. Very often an Old Testament scripture about God is ascribed to the Holy Spirit in the New Testament, thus making the Holy Spirit and God one.

Consider Isaiah 6:8,9, which reads, "Also I heard the voice of the Lord, saying: 'Whom shall I send, and who will go for Us?' Then I said, 'Here am I! Send me.' And He said, 'Go, and tell this people: "Keep on hearing, but do not understand; keep on seeing, but do not perceive."' Paul quotes this passage in Acts 28:25,26, where he says, "The Holy Spirit spoke rightly through Isaiah the prophet to our fathers, saying, 'Go to this people and say: Hearing you will hear, and shall not understand; and seeing you will see, and not perceive."' Here Paul quite clearly attributes to the Holy Spirit an Old Testament scripture ascribed to God.

In Jeremiah 31:31,32 the prophet said, "Behold, the days are coming, says the Lord, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah - not according to the covenant that I made with their fathers in the day that I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt, My covenant which they broke, though I was a husband to them, says the Lord." Yet in Hebrews 10:15 the writer says, "The Holy Spirit also witnesses to us; for after He had said before, 'This is the covenant that I will make with them after those days, says the Lord."' The New Testament declares it was the Holy Spirit who inspired Jeremiah, even though the prophet himself said it was the Lord who spoke these things. In other words, the Holy Spirit is the One who inspired the writing of the Bible.

That is why in II Timothy 3:16 we read, 'All Scripture is given by inspiration of God," and yet Peter says in II Peter 1:21, "For prophecy never came by the will of man, but holy men of God spoke as they were moved by the Holy Spirit."

Notice: Paul says all Scripture is given by the inspiration of God, yet Peter declares that holy men spoke as they were moved by the Holy Spirit. Is there a problem? No, none at all. Why not? Because the Holy Spirit is God.

That is why Jesus in Mark 12:36 could say, "For David himself said by the Holy Spirit..." And it is why Peter, speaking about a fulfilled prophecy of David, said, "Which the Holy Spirit spoke before by the mouth of David" (Acts 1:16). When God spoke, it was the Holy Spirit talking. The Holy Spirit is God. He is the third member of the Godhead.

Here to Help

The Holy Spirit, the blessed third Person of the Trinity, is the great gift God has given to you and to me. He has come to be our Comforter, our paracletos.

He is ready to come alongside of you to help you in your Christian walk.

He is ready to come alongside of you to guide you in the way of truth.

He is ready to come alongside of you to strengthen you.

God, in the Person of the Holy Spirit, has been sent by the Son to indwell you so that you might be empowered to be conformed into the image of Jesus Christ.

Such is the marvelous gift that God has freely bestowed upon you and me. We will never receive a better gift. Other gifts may thrill us, delight us, even astonish us. But no other gift will ever supersede this gift - because the gift is God Himself.