Talking Trinity-Part 1

We began last night going through a 3-week series on the Trinity called "3-in-1." Our objective was to take a "fly-by" of Scripture and discover how the Trinity is found throughout the Bible. We don't start with God the Father in the Old Testament, discover Jesus in the Gospels, and then get introduced to the Holy Spirit when Jesus ascends into heaven. The Father, the Son, and the Spirit have existed this way from eternity past.

This week I plan to both review last Sunday night's message and preview where I'm headed this Sunday night. I hope that you can be there, but if you miss any of the messages, click on the message archive to the left and you can get caught up.

The most important thing to get a grip on is the three core truths of the Trinity:

The Father, Son, and Holy Spirit are distinct persons.

The Trinity is NOT just three different ways to think about God. God sent His Son into the world. The Son returned to the Father. The Father and Son sent the Holy Spirit. The Father isn't the Son and the Son isn't the Spirt and the Spirit isn't the Father. They are all distinct persons that have existed this way throughout eternity.

Each person is fully God.

Trinity doesn't divide God into three parts. The Bible says that "in Him (Jesus) all the fulness of Deity dwells in bodily form" (Colossians 2:9, ESV). So Jesus isn't one-third God, neither is any other member of the Godhead. These fit well with human logic, but the third core truth doesn't--

There is only one God.

There is no other god besides me, a righteous God and a Savior; there is none besides me. "Turn to me and be saved, all the ends of the earth! For I am God, and there is no other." Isaiah 45:21-22 (ESV)

So how do we reconcile God's "oneness" with His "three-ness?" Is it a contradiction? How can God truly be one when He is also three? Stay tuned. We'll talk about that tomorrow.