The Mystery of Trinity fathomed

INTRODUCTION: 

†What is Trinity? Trinity is derived from the two words, tri– means three + unity means oneness; is a doctrine of the Catholic Church that teaches that God has three persons (the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit) in one Godhead. The person referred in the Holy Trinity does not mean individual man, but, it does mean form or appearance of God when He introduced Himself to men. A lot of religious groups or individuals could not grasp what is the Holy Trinity as taught by Catholicism based on the Holy Scripture. Some might have perceived it but they just purposely distorted the truth either for principle’s sake or for fear of losing adherents in their own church. It is difficult to understand the Trinity specially when you are lazy in studying the Bible. Islam accuses Catholicism for practicing polytheism which is contrary to what is proclaimed in the Holy Scripture that God is one [Isaiah 45:18]. Though the mystery of Divine Trinity is hard to fathom specially for the ordinary-minded ones, it is undeniable that this mystery is manifested in the Holy Scriptures many times. The Holy Scripture teaches us that God the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit are interrelated to each other. The Father is God [Psalm 68:5, Isaiah 64:8, & 1 Corinthians 8:6], the Son is God [Psalm 2:11-12, John 1:1-18, & Hebrews 1:8-9], and the Holy Spirit is also God [Acts 5:3-4 & Hebrews 3:7-11]. But they are one in nature [Deuteronomy 6:4]. This triune Godhead stirs different interpretations among groups or individuals, and became one of the causes of Christian apostasies. Some Christian denominations teach that the Son and the Father are separate in nature _resulting to two Gods. This belief contradicted God’s claim that He is one. Some teach that Jesus is only a man thus he is not God. It appears that their founders were not sharp enough to comprehend the contents of the Holy Scripture, or they did perceive but just deliberately twisted the truth for personal gain.

TRINITY REVELATION IN THE BIBLE:

†There are many verses in the Bible that emphasize the three persons of God. The following are some of the verses that revealed Trinity, let us read and interpret each;

1. [Isaiah 9:6] For to us a child is born, to us a Son is given, and the government will be on his shoulders. And He will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.

COMMENT: Isaiah 7:14 is another verse of the book of Isaiah that also predicts the birth of a Son; it says, Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign: The virgin will be with child and will give birth to a son, and will call him Emmanuel.  ‘Emmanuel’ is a Hebrew word which means “God with us”. These prophesies by Isaiah were fulfilled in Jesus about 700 years later; the angel said to Mary, “Do not be afraid Mary; for you have found favor with God. And behold, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you shall name Him Jesus” [Luke 1:30-34]. ‘Jesus’ is a transliteration derived from the word ‘Iesous’, a Greek transliteration for Hebrew word ‘Yeshua’ which means “God saves”. Isaiah 9:6 describes the Son (Jesus) as the Counselor, Mighty God, and the Everlasting Father. In John 15:26, Jesus says that this Counselor is also the Spirit of Truth; He says, “When the Counselor comes, whom I will send to you from the Father, that is the Spirit of truth who goes out from the Father, He will testify about me”.  Isaiah 9:6 is a resounding evidence that God the Father, the Son (Jesus), and the Holy Spirit are one being; this verse declares Trinity.

2. [Isaiah 48:16] “I have not spoken in secret from the beginning; from the time that it was, there I am; and now the Sovereign Lord has sent Me with his Spirit“.

COMMENT: The speaker of this verse claimed that He already existed from the beginning, so it means He is God. And then He proceeded, “. . . and now the Lord has sent Me with His Spirit”; so the speaker God is sent by Sovereign Lord with His Spirit. Notice that there are three persons mentioned in this verse: the speaker God who is sent, the Sovereign Lord who is the sender, and the Spirit of the Sovereign Lord. The sender Lord is the source (Father) of the Spirit, and the messenger God is the emanated Spirit (Son) who came to Earth and dwelt a man Jesus [Luke 1:35]. The speaker God could simply just say, “the Sovereign Lord has sent me”, but He mentioned about “Spirit” who accompanies Him. Therefore, God emphasizes the interrelation among the Father, the Son, and the Spirit. Isaiah 48:16 portrays Trinity.

3. [John 14:6] Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father but through Me“. 

COMMENT: “Way” signifies Salvation. Since mankind was cut-off from God’s grace due to sin, God provided a bridge for us to cross to His Holy abode. This bridge or way is Jesus, that whoever believes in Him will have eternal life. “Truth” signifies the Spirit of Truth who will attest Jesus’ testimony.  He will prove to mankind that what Jesus promised and warned are true. “Life” signifies the Father God who is the fountain of life [Psalm 36:9]. The Lord Jesus demonstrated the Trinity.

4. [John 15:26] Jesus says, “But when the Counselor comes whom I will send to you from the Father, that is the Spirit of Truth who goes out from the Father, He will testify about me”. 

COMMENT: Notice that in this verse Jesus is the one who will send the Counselor, and this Counselor is the Spirit of Truth who goes out from the Father. Who is this Counselor (Spirit of Truth) that Jesus will send from the Father? It is He who will testify about Jesus. But referring to [John 8:18], Jesus Himself will testify about Himself. For He says, “I am the one that bear witness of myself, and the Father that sent me bear witness of me”. Therefore, the mentioned Spirit of Truth is Jesus Himself. The Father spirit is the source of the spirit of the Son and the Spirit of Truth, so they are one nature. In this verse, Jesus demonstrates the holy Trinity.

5. [John 14:15-17] If you love me, you will obey what I command. “And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Counselor to help you and be with you forever, that is the Spirit of truth. 

COMMENT: Jesus tells that He will ask the Father another Counselor to be with His people forever; why another Counselor? because Jesus himself is the Counselor whom sent by the Father and dwelt among the people. After Him, will follow another Counselor who is the Spirit of Truth. But referring back to [John 8:18], we are told that this Spirit of Truth is also Jesus Himself who will return on the Last Day. And in [Isaiah 9:6], we know that the Counselor is also the Everlasting Father. Therefore, the Father, Counselor (Jesus), and the Holy Spirit (Spirit of Truth) are one being. Jesus demonstrates the Holy Trinity. 

6. [Matthew 28:19] “Therefore go and make disciples of all nations baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit”. 

COMMENT: Prior to ascension of Jesus to Heaven, He commanded His disciples to baptize His followers using the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. This formula strongly signifies interrelation among the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Why it should be the three of them? because they symbolize the three phases of God’s appearance to men: the God (as Father) on the Creation period; the God (as the Son or Jesus) on the Salvation period; and the God (as Spirit of Truth) who will appear on the Resurrection period. Jesus emphasizes the importance of the Holy Trinity in baptism.

7. [1 John 5:7] For there are three that bear witness in heaven, the Father, the Word, and the Holy Spirit: and these three are one. 

COMMENT: The “Word” is also Jesus according to John 1:14, it says; “The Word became flesh and made His dwelling among us. We have seen His glory, the glory of the one and only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth”.  ‘1 John 5:7′ clearly emphasizes the Trinity.

8. [1 John 5:6-8] This is the One who came by water and blood, Jesus Christ; not with the water only, but with the water and with the blood. It is the Spirit who testifies, because the Spirit is the truth. For there are three that testify: the Spirit and the Water and the Blood; and the three are in agreement. 

COMMENT: . . . For there are three that testify . . . Notice that the writer John specifies about three testifiers (‘testifier’ means person who testifies); they are the Spirit, the Water, and the Blood. The “Spirit” signifies the Spirit of Truth, who is the testifier of the truth about Jesus [John 15:26]: the “Water“signifies the fountain of living water, the source of life [Jeremiah 2:13 & Psalm 36:8-9], the Father God who is the testifier of Jesus [John 12:18]: and the “Blood” symbolizes the sacrificial Lamb who is Jesus, and testifier of the Father [John 5:36]. And these three persons of God are in agreement.

9. [2 Corinthians 13:14] The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ and the love of God and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all. 

COMMENT: God is the source (Father) of Jesus (Son) and the Holy Spirit. This verse clearly emphasizes the Holy Trinity.

10. [Revelation 1:8] “I am the Alpha and the Omega,” says the Lord God the almighty, “Who is, and Who was, and Who is to come“.

COMMENT: In this verse, the speaker Lord Jesus declares that He is the Alpha (First) and the Omega (Last) equaling what God the Father’s claim in [Isaiah 41:4]. He is not pointing that His reign has First and Last for He is eternal being, but He is referring to the Beginning of Creation through out the Last Day.

“Who is“, describing Himself as the present God, the Son, who appeared to men in the form of Jesus on the Salvation period; the center of the three stages of God’s appearance to men;

“Who was“, describing Himself as the God in the Creation period who is the Father God, the first stage of God’s appearance to men.

“Who is to come“, describing Himself as the coming God on the ‘Resurrection’ period, this is the Spirit of Truth, who will return to the world to punish the sinners, and bring His devoted followers to Heaven; the last stage of God’s appearance to mankind on earth. Again, God emphasizes the significance of the Holy Trinity. 

TRINITY ANALYSIS: 

†The truth is that there is only one God, He is naturally spirit [John 4:24], but He can scattet Himself into many. He made the heavens and all living things but He took favor on humans, probably because He created them after His image [Genesis 1:26]. These humans are unique from His other living creations. They are intelligent and wise, the reason why they disobeyed His commandment and succumbed to Satan’s temptation, because they wanted to compete God’s lordship [Genesis 3:4-6]. Even until today, there are many skeptics who keep challenging God’s claim of the universe.

Why God came to the World through human birth? 

†When Adam and Eve transgressed God’s law and fell from the glory of God [Genesis 3:1], they became impure since they had committed a sin _thus they’re condemned to eternal punishment which is death [Genesis 2:16-17]. Because of the first sin, man became mortal and doomed to perish. Mankind was cut-off from God’s grace [Isaiah 59:2]. Heaven is holy, impure creation has no place in there; God is holy He won’t live with impure creation [Leviticus 11:44 & Deuteronomy 23:14]. Man can’t enter into Heaven by himself because of his sin. God is so angry with the sins of the world, that’s why He determined to destroy the world [Ezekiel 22:31]. He searched for the one among the people who would stand as the mediator between Him and mankind, but He found no one [Ezekiel 22:30], all people are sinners [Micah 7:2]. But because God so loved the world [John 3:16], and since He is the only one who can bring the pure from the impure [Job 14:4], He sent forth an amount of His Spirit to destroy the works of the devil through His death [Isaiah 48:16, 1 John 3:8, & Hebrews 2:14]. This emanated Spirit is the radiance of God’s glory and the exact representation of His nature [Hebrews 1:3]. God called the sender Spirit as ‘the Father’, while He called the messenger Spirit as ‘the Son’ [Isaiah 9:6]. The messenger Spirit descended to the world and became flesh through human birth _ thus He’s called “Immanuel, Jesus, and Son of God/Man” [Isaiah 7:14, Luke 1:35, & Matthew 26:24]. 

†Jesus’ mission was to save the world from condemnation by purifying it with His pure nature _ thus He’s called ‘Jesus or Savior’ [Titus 2:13 & Isaiah 62:11].  He’s the only sinless man on Earth, making Him eligible to stand as a mediator between God and mankind _ thus He’s called a ‘Mediator or Counselor’ [Isaiah 9:6].  He showed His great love for mankind by giving up His life for the sins of the world [1 John 2:2]. His deed was like a sacrificial lamb prepared by men to atone their transgressions against God _ thus He’s called ‘lamb of God’.  By the saving blood of Jesus, man could regain his eternal life and became qualified to enter into Heaven. To follow Jesus’ teaching is the way or bridge of mankind to Heaven _ thus He is also called the ‘Way’ [John 14:6]. The savior (sent spirit) needed to be a pure man, since death entered the world through a man, therefore, the resurrection of the dead comes through a man [1 Corinthians 15:21]. And after the saving mission of Jesus on Earth, He ascended to Heaven and rejoined with the source Spirit, the Father God [Mark 16:19]. He promised to return on the Last Day to punish the ancient Serpent and his angels [Revelation 12:9], as well as, to punish the unrepentant human sinners [Revelation 20:15], and to bring His devoted followers into His Holy abode, the Heaven [John 14:1-3]. 

The Son of God meaning 

†Biologically, Jesus could not be called the son of God because He was not formed in the womb through sperm or sexual contact. In another sense, “father” could also mean “source or author”, for instance “Satan is the father of lies”. While the word “son” could also mean “product or emanation” that is something coming from a source, for instance; “son of soil”, ‘son of the Demon’. In [John 15:26], Jesus says that the Spirit of Truth goes out from the Father _ so this Spirit is an emanation from God the Father. And this is the Spirit who came upon Mary and dwelt in the flesh who was named Jesus, also called the Son of God [Luke 1:35] or Son of Man [Daniel 7:13 & Matthew 16:27].

How come a Spirit goes out from a Spirit? 

†Before I answer this question, I want to share with you a short story; “When I was a teenager, I met a faith-healer, he’s nickname was ‘Migo’. He confessed to me that he had an angel friend. One day right after his marriage, he had experienced a supernatural event. He narrated that while he was talking to his parent-in-law inside the house, the angel came and took him outside. To his amazement, while they were talking each other with the angel, he saw his body also talking to his parent-in-law inside the house”. At a young age, I regarded that event as impossible to happen, but not until in my early thirties. In my mid-twenties, I became somewhat curious about Spiritual Faith, I started scanning the Holy Bible occasionally. Though I was born Catholic, I didn’t go to Church to attend Mass often. I became doubtful about Trinity and using of images of Catholicism, because these had been the prevailing objections raised by many Christian denominations, and for me, they seemed had Biblical truths. I often watched Eli Soriano’s Bible Exposition on television, I admired him for his Bible adeptness, he could answer your query right away through quoting of Bible verses, as if he had memorized the whole contents of the Bible. His argument about the Son and Father God whom, for him, are different beings, was convincing on my part. But still I had a feeling left somewhere within me that there must be some explanations behind the accusations because Catholicism is the original Christian Church founded by Christ Himself, hence this should not be fallible. Thanks to the internet age! we can now scan verses comfortably in the Bible that we want to read or consult. I now understand much of the Trinity.

†The main problem why people could not comprehend the Trinity in the Bible is because they regard the capability of God as of human, remember that God is the greatest supernatural being, His capability is unlimited, hence all things are possible to Him [Matthew 19:26]. He is not human that depends only on his limited resources. The claim of ‘Migo’ is very possible because a spirit has power. We can divide or fold even our being into many through the power of God’s spirit. We are still in physical world yet, hence we don’t know about spiritual characteristic but the Bible gives us several verses relating spirits and their capabilities for us to formulate ideas about them. The following are verses about spirits and their capabilities, let us read and interpret each of them;

1. [Numbers 12:25-26] Then the Lord came down in the cloud and spoke with him, and he took some of the power of the Spirit that was on him and put it on the seventy elders. When the Spirit rested on them, they prophesied—but did not do so again. However, two men, whose names were Eldad and Medad, had remained in the camp. They were listed among the elders, but did not go out to the tent. Yet the Spirit also rested on them, and they prophesied in the camp. 

ANALYSIS: ” . . . He took some of the power of the Spirit . . “. God took some of the power of His Spirit and put it on seventy elders so that they prophesied including Eldad and Medad who were distant from the seventy elders. Now, if God could take out some power of His Spirit and put it upon numerous bodies in order to prophesy, how much more on one body? Therefore, it is very possible for God to take an amount of His powerful Spirit and sent it to the world to become a man. Jesus claimed that the Spirit of God is upon Him [Luke 4:18], and even it dwells in Him [John 14:10]. So, the spirit in jesus is the exact representation of God’s being [Hebrews 1:3]. 

†Actually, a spirit could transform into a human body anytime, and vice versa. God appeared to Abraham in three men [Genesis 18:1-2]; Jacob wrestled with God in the form of an ordinary man [Genesis 32:24]; and Jesus transformed into light [Matthew 17:2]. When Jesus ascended to Heaven, He was in the human form, since He was raised from the dead. Jesus’ body transfigured into brightness and shone like the sun. This is an indication that His body could transform into light or spirit, and vice versa. In light of these facts, a physical thing like a human body could ascend to the heavens. And also, a physical thing could disappear through the power of God. The birth of the sent spirit to a woman is to make him eligible to save mankind. 

2. [Revelation 5:6] Then I saw a Lamb, looking as if it had been slain, standing at the center of the throne, encircled by the four living creatures and the elders. The Lamb had seven horns and seven eyes, which are the seven spirits of God sent out into all the Earth.

ANALYSIS: ” . . the seven spirits of God sent out into all the Earth”. This verse is very evident that God could divide His Spirit into many. Therefore, no doubt that God could emanate another Spirit from His powerful Spirit and send to the world to become our purifier. God could fold His eyes into many, the same way, He could fold His Spirit into many because nothing is impossible to Him [Luke 1:37 & Job 42:2]. These Spirits could detach from each other, and even talk to each other. God has the power to fold Himself into many, and reversely converge them into one being, that’s why He could sometimes be singular or plural as described in the Bible.  “Revelation 5:6” solidifies the belief on Trinity.

CONCLUSION:  

†I wonder why those people who have read the Bible completely, still are skeptic about the holy Trinity, for there are verses in the Bible that so emphasize it. God is one being but He has the capability to divide His Spirit into many. Just like water, one nature, but it has the capability to scatter upon different places of the Earth, and reversely, it has the capability to converge from different corners into one body. God could pour His Spirit on all people [Joel 2:28]; meaning, He could distribute His Spirit on all people. Just like an electricity, one nature but it could be distributed to Billions of households. Indeed, God could approach us not just with His three persons, but even with His countless persons. He could appear and talk to all humans at the same time at different venues. Jesus appeared to His more than 500 believers at the same time [1 Corinthians 15:3-9]. God works all things in all persons [1 Corinthians 12:5], let us not limit the capability of God. 

ENCOURAGEMENT AND WARNING: 

†For those who are ignorant of the Holy Scriptures (Tanakh and New Testament), I encourage you to read them. There are lots of them available on internet today. You only waste your own intellect and education if you just depend your Godly knowledge on the rhetoric of your religious leaders. Remember that your spiritual life is put at stake here. Do you not dream of having eternal life in Heaven? Isn’t to achieve eternal life is far better than the most precious thing on Earth? Heaven and Earth will pass away but the word of God will endure forever [Mark 13:31 & Luke 21:33]. Therefore research about God, and do not rest your salvation on religious leaders, because if they are blind, then all of you will fall into the abyss. You would be easily misled by their lies if you are ignorant of the Holy Scriptures. The Bible warns us, “false prophets also arose among the people, just as there will also be false teachers among you, who will secretly introduce destructive heresies” [2 Peter 2:1-3]. This means that the original Church would deal false prophets and heresies. And these false prophets and teachers are now among us who have misled billions of people.

†And for those people who have read the whole Scripture but still denying Jesus as God, you help Satan spreading his lies; “who is a liar? It is whoever denies that Jesus is the Christ. Such a person is the anti-Christ—denying the Father and the Son” [1 John 2:22]. You let the father of lies guide your heart in exchange of earthly pleasures, so prepare yourselves for the coming fiery lake; “But the cowardly, the unbelieving, the vile, the murderers, the sexually immoral, those who practice magic arts, the idolaters and all liars—they will be consigned to the fiery lake of burning sulfur. This is the second death” [Revelation 21:8]. 

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