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The Doctrine of the Trinity

Benjamin Warfield defines the Trinity as follows, “There is one only and true God, but in the unity of the Godhead there are three coeternal and coequal Persons, the same in substance but distinct in subsistence.”[1]
Chafer states, “The Trinity is composed of three united Persons without separate existence—so completely united as to form one God. The divine nature subsists in three distinctions—Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.”[2]
Geisler, in giving the meaning of Trinity, he states, “It means that God is a triunity: He is a plurality within unity. God has a plurality of persons and a unity of essence; God is three persons in one nature. There is only one ‘What’ (essence) in God, but there are three ‘Whos’ (persons) in that one What. God has three ‘I’s’ in His one ‘It’—there are three Subjects in one Object.”[3]

The Athanasian Creed clearly sets forth the orthodox doctrine of the Trinity,
“That we worship one God in trinity and the trinity in unity, neither blending their persons nor dividing their essence. For the person of the Father is a distinct person, the person of the Son is another, and that of the Holy Spirit still another. But the divinity of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit is one, their glory equal, their majesty coeternal…
Thus the Father is God, the Son is God, the Holy Spirit is God. Yet there are not three gods; there is but one God.
Thus the Father is Lord, the Son is Lord, the Holy Spirit is Lord. Yet there are not three Lords; there is but one Lord.
Just as Christian truth compels us to confess each person individually as both God and Lord, so catholic religion forbids us to say that there are three gods or lords.”[4]

There are three common misinterpretations of the Trinity:
(1) The teaching that there are three God’s rather than three Persons within the Godhead (Tri-theism).
(2) The teaching that there is one God with three modes of existence or manifestations—Father, Son, and Holy Spirit (Sabellianism or Modalism).
(3) The teaching that denies the deity of Christ by teaching that He was a created being below God (Arianism).

Several points need to be emphasized if we are going to have a proper understanding of the Trinity:
(1) As to His essence, God is one (Deut. 6:4). This verse speaks to the uniqueness and unity of God (cf. James 2:9). God is a single God rather than three God’s. Enns states, “It means all three persons possess the summation of the divine attributes but yet the essence of God is undivided.”[5]
(2) With respect to Persons, God is three.
(3) The Father, Son, and Holy Spirit are equal in attributes, nature and glory.
(4) The Father, Son, and Holy Spirit are coequal and coeternal.

The Biblical Basis for the Trinity: Five Propositions[6]

1. There is one, and only one, God.
Deut. 4:35, 39; 6:4; 32:39; 2 Sam. 7:22; Ps. 86:10; Isa. 43:10; 44:6-8; 46:9; John 5:44; 17:3; Rom. 3:29-30; 16:27; 1 Cor. 8:4; Gal. 3:20; Eph. 4:6; 1 Thess. 1:9; 1 Tim. 1:17; 2:5; James 2:19; 1 John 5:20-21; Jude 25.
2. The Person of the Father is God.
John 6:27; Eph. 4:6; Col. 1:2-3; 2 Pet. 1:17.
3. The Person of the Son is God.
John 1:1; 5:17; 8:58; 10:30; 20:28; Phil. 2:6; Col. 2:9; Titus 2:13; Heb. 1:8; 2 Pet. 1:1.
4. The Person of the Holy Spirit is God.
Gen. 1:2; John 14:26; Acts 5:3-4; 13:2, 4; 28:25; Rom. 8:11; Eph. 4:30.
5. The Father, Son, and Holy Spirit are Distinct and Simultaneously Distinguishable Persons.
Matt. 28:19; Luke 3:22; John 15:26; 16:13-15; 2 Cor. 13:14.

Biblical Support for Deity of the Three Persons[7]

1. All Three Persons are Referred to as God.
Father (1 Pet. 1:2), Son (Heb. 1:8), Holy Spirit (Acts 5:3-4)
2. All Three Persons Possess Divine Attributes or Qualities.
Self-existence: Father (Acts 17:25), Son (John 5:26), Holy Spirit (Rom. 8:2)
Eternal existence: Father (Ps. 90:2), Son (John 8:58), Holy Spirit (Heb. 9:14)
Immutability: Father (James 1:17), Son (Heb. 13:8), Holy Spirit (2 Cor. 3:18)
Omnipresence: Father (Jer. 23:23-24), Son (Matt. 28:20), Holy Spirit (Ps. 139:7)
Omniscience: Father (Isa. 40:28), Son (Col. 2:3), Holy Spirit (1 Cor. 2:10)
Omnipotence: Father (Jer. 32:17), Son (Col. 1:16-17), Holy Spirit (1 Cor. 2:10-11)
Truth: Father (John 7:28), Son (John 14:6), Holy Spirit (1 John 5:6)
Holiness: Father (Lev. 11:44), Son (Acts 3:14), Holy Spirit (John 16:7-8)
Wisdom: Father (Ps. 104:24), Son (Col. 2:3), Holy Spirit (1 Cor. 2:10-11)
3. All Three Persons are Engaged in the Works of God.
Creation of the World: Father (Gen. 2:7), Son (John 1:3), Holy Spirit (Gen. 1:2)
Incarnation of Christ: Father (Heb. 10:5), Son (Heb. 2:14), Holy Spirit (Luke 1:35)
Resurrection of Jesus: Father (Acts 2:32), Son (John 2:19), Holy Spirit (Rom. 1:4)

 The Trinity is a historical, orthodox doctrine of the Church, it is what the Church has historically believed because it is what the Bible clearly teaches. The denial of this doctrine is the denial of one of the essential, fundamental, non-negotiable doctrines of Christianity. The denial of this doctrine is the result of the denial of other fundamental doctrines of the Faith such as the inspiration, inerrancy, and infallibility of the Bible, and will without a doubt result with the denial of most of, if not all, of the fundamental doctrines of the Faith such as the deity of Christ, the deity of the Holy Spirit, the biblical doctrine of salvation, and so on. If I deny the fundamentals, I’ve succeeded in doing one thing; I’ve confirmed the fact that I am not a Christian at all even if I believe myself to be one.

[1] Benjamin B. Warfield, “Trinity.” The International Standard Bible Encyclopedia, ed. James Orr (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1930), 5:3012.
[2] Lewis Sperry Chafer, Systematic Theology, 8 vols. (Dallas: Dallas Seminary, 1947), 1:276.
[3] Norman Geisler, Systematic Theology, 4 vols. (Minneapolis: Bethany House, 2003), 2:279.
[4] Athanasian Creed, in Ecumenical Creeds and Reformed Confessions (Grand Rapids: CRC Publications, 1988), 9-10.
[5] Paul P. Enns, The Moody Handbook of Theology (Chicago: Moody, 1989), p. 200.
[6] Kenneth Richard Samples, Without A Doubt (Grand Rapids: Baker, 2004), p. 67.
[7] Ibid., p. 70.

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