"The following passage is taken from "Answers to Tough Questions", by Josh McDowell, pgs. 71-73, Here's Life Publishers, 1980.
One of the most misunderstood ideas in the Bible concerns the teaching about the Trinity. Although Christians say that they beleive in one God, they are constantly accused of polytheism (worshipping more than one God).
The Scriptures do *not* teach that there are three Gods; neither do they teach that God wears three different masks while acting out the dramas of history. What the Bible does teach is stated in the doctrine of the Trinity: There is *one* God who has revealed Himself in three persons, the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit, and these three persons are the one God.
Although this is difficult to comprehend, it is nevertheless what the Bible tells us, and this is the closest the finite mind can come to explaining the infinite mystery of the infinite God.
The Bible teaches that there is one God, and only one God:
"Hear, O Israel! The LORD is our God, the LORD is one!" (Deuteronomy 6:4, NASB)
"There is one God" (1 Timothy 2:5, KJV)
"Thus says the LORD, the King of Israel and his Redeemer, the LORD of hosts: 'I am the first and I am the last, and there is no God besides ME'" (Isaiah 44:6, NASB)
However, even though God is one in His essential being or nature, He is also three persons:
"Let us make man in our image (Genesis 1:26, KJV)
"God said, Behold, the man has become like one of us" (Genesis 3:22, RSV)
God's plural nature is alluded to here, for He could not be talking to angels in these instances, because angels could not and did not help God create. The Bible teaches that Jesus Christ, not the angels, created all things.
"Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made." (John 1:3, NIV)
"He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation." (Colossians 1:15, NIV)
"But in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son, whom he appointed heir of all things, and through whom he made the universe." (Hebrews 1:2, NIV)
In addition to speaking of God as one, and alluding to a plurality of God's being, the Scriptures are quite specific as to naming God in terms of three persons. There is a person whom the Bible calls the Father, and the Father is designated as God the Father.
"Paul, an apostle-sent from men nor by man, but by Jesus Christ and God the Father, who raised him from the dead." (Galatians 1:1, NIV)
The Bible talks about a person named Jesus, or the Son, or the Word also called God.
"In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God." (John 1:1, NIV)
Jesus was "...even calling God his own Father, making himself equal with God." (John 5:18, NIV)
There is a third person mentioned in the Scriptures called the Holy Spirit, and this person-different from the Father and the Son-is also called God ("Ananias, why has Satan filled your heart to lie to the Holy Spirit?...You have not lied to men, but to God" (Acts 5:3,4, RSV).
The facts of the biblical teaching are these: There is one God. This one
God has a plural nature. This one God is called the Father, the Son, the
Holy Spirit, all distinct personalities, all designated God. We are
therefore led to the conclusion that the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit are
one God, and that comprises the doctrine of the Trinity.
*End quote*
I hope that this offers some help in addressing the issue of the Trinity. I would welcome any responses, but cannot guarantee perfect answers, as I am not a theologian, nor am I a scholar.
In His name,
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