“Then God said, ‘Let us make mankind in our image, according to our likeness.’”   
Genesis 1:26

One of the most mysterious and difficult doctrines to understand in the Bible is that we have a God who is three persons in one –  God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit.

Three completely separate persons with different ways of manifestation, yet the Bible also says that they are all one God. How can this be explained?

Well, here are a couple of ways people try and explain the inexplicable concept of the Trinity:

• WATER: Water has three states: solid, liquid, gas. We know the liquid state as water, the gas as steam, and the solid as ice. While very different forms, they are all the same compound – H2O. It’s fascinating that the solid version of H2O will actually float in the liquid form of the same compound. People sometimes offer this concept as a way to understand the complexity of the trinity…but in reality, it’s totally inadequate. Why? Because the Trinity is about three persons.
• ROLES: I am the father of my three sons. They know me one way. I’m also the son of my parents and they know me another way. At the same time, I am the husband of my wife, Anne, and she knows me another way. I am the same person but have three different roles. Some use this analogy to help us understand the Trinity of God in three persons, but it, too, is totally inadequate.

How is it that God the Son could pray to God the Father in heaven?

Really, the doctrine of the Trinity, to the human finite mind, is inexplicable. However, the doctrine of the trinity is taught in Scripture from the very first verse in the Bible and is central in understanding the fullness, the greatness, and the uniqueness of God.

From the beginning, we realize that the God of Scripture:

• Is not Allah of the Quran.
• Is not one of the thousands of gods that you find in Hinduism, because, the God of Scripture is three persons in one. That is blasphemy in Islam. The One True God is blasphemy in Hinduism.
• Is completely contrary to the god you read about in cults like Mormonism and Jehovah’s Witness.

This is not to be critical of other religions. It’s simply a statement of fact. Because we live in a culture today where often very highly educated people say, “all religions are about believing in one god, the same god. They just have different ways of getting to him.”

But that is a statement of astounding ignorance because of what the Scriptures tell us about God. If you and I are to have the full picture of God, we must understand there is one God in three persons.

When God said, ‘Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness.’” The word for God is “Elohim,” which, in Hebrew, means ‘God in plurality.’

One God in three persons, in perfect harmony, completing and fulfilling the will of God.

I hope you believe in this one true God.

Written by Bryant Wright, Founder, RFTH

DIG DEEPER
Read “The Infinite Mystery of the Trinity” by Bryant Wright