Fundamental to the understanding of God’s triune nature, who He is, His attributes and abilities our acceptance of the truth of all scriptures. Denial of God’s truth is tantamount to denying one or more of God’s natures which must be considered rebellion, period. Denying truth never eliminates truth. God’s truth is always our foundation, we start there.
When we consider that the discernment of God’s inerrant word is imparted only to those who believe and trust Him, we realize our faith in God underscores all possible understanding of His Word and who He is.
“In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth…And the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters” (Genesis 1:1, 2).
In the very first verse of the book of Genesis, God plainly states that He created the Heavens and the earth. Then He goes on to say that His spirit was upon the face of the waters. What’s so hard about understanding those two statements? Denying any portion of God’s truth is rebellion to God and will fog or distort ones biblical understanding. God said it, so believe it, period.
When we read a little further down the page we find one of God’s natures, His triune nature, staring us square in the face.
“And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness” (Genesis 1:26).
What’s that He said? In Our image? After Our likeness? Who do those who deny the Trinity suppose God was speaking to here? His angels? Scripture never tells us that God created the angels in His image. So who else would be in view here? Could it be His only begotten Son and His Holy Spirit? There is no other explanation; after all, man was only a twinkle in God’s eye at this point.
For many, it really won’t matter what God says about His triune nature. Rebellion, stubborn pride, even arrogance and ignorance, will always form a very significant barrier against understanding truth. Since the word “trinity” is nowhere found in our English Bibles there will never be enough proof to support God’s declaration that He is fully capable of the most supernatural of manifestations, that of three distinct God’s in One.
The word trinity doesn’t need to appear in our English Bibles. At least not to establish the truth since Hebrew was the language in which the Old Testament scriptures were originally written.
“In the beginning God.” The word God was translated into English from the original Hebrew word “Elohiym” which is a plural masculine noun. The Holy Spirit placed this Hebrew word “Elohiym” in the original text for a very specific reason, to show all who would read His word that God has a very unique ability apart from all the “man invented” gods.
From the beginning, God intended for His creation to understand that He is one God with a very significant and quite unique attribute. Our One God, through His own confessed supernatural ability and nature, is able to manifest Himself into three different personages, which are God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit. By reading the Hebrew text, we find within the first four words of the first verse of the Bible God telling us He is a triune God.
God had no intention of hiding this ability from His creation; it’s only His creation who insists on denying Him and His Son as well as His Holy Spirit as being One triune God. Many deny God altogether and they, we are told, are without excuse.
“For the invisible things of him from the creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even his eternal power and Godhead; so that they are without excuse” (Romans 1:20).
Clearly, those who insist on denying God’s triune nature by re-interpreting scripture to fit the box they wish to place God into are equally without excuse.
“I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the ending, saith the Lord, which is, and which was, and which is to come, the Almighty” (Revelation 1:8).
Who is speaking in this verse? The apostle John tells us whose revelation this is in the very first verse. “The Revelation of Jesus Christ…” (Revelation 1:1).
So Jesus Christ is speaking. He’s giving instructions to the Apostle John. Jesus Christ is God Almighty as He clearly states in verse 8 above.
I’ve received numerous letters from folks who reject any notion of a triune God, and who consistently point to the Catholic Church as the inventors of this doctrine. Others choose Constantine as the culprit who instilled this supposedly erroneous concept into the minds of the believers.
This whole approach as a way to write off the truth about God’s triune nature is in itself a corruption of God’s word. The Scriptures declare an eternal triune God. The Catholic Church did not write the scriptures nor did Constantine.
“And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth” (John 1:14).
Here in the very first chapter of the book of John we are told that the Word (referring to Jesus Christ) became flesh and dwelt among us. This verse indicates that the Word had to have been in existence before becoming flesh and blood. And yet Jesus is referred to as the Son of God. Undeniable proof of a Father and Son relationship intertwined within the Godhead.
“And Jesus, when he was baptized, went up straightway out of the water: and, lo, the heavens were opened unto him, and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove, and lighting upon him: And lo a voice from heaven, saying, This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.” Matthew 3:16.
Here in this straight forward verse God is fully revealed in His triune nature. God the Son (Jesus the Christ), God the Holy Spirit descending and lighting upon Jesus, and God the Father announcing from Heaven how pleased He is of His beloved Son.
Again, there are numerous verses that declare the truth of how God reveals Himself at different times in different natures both in the Old Testament and the New Testament. In the book of Isaiah we read the same Hebrew word that was used in Genesis 1:1 – Elohiym.
“Remember the former things of old: for I am God, and there is none else; I am God, and there is none like me” (Isaiah 46:9).
Simple as this verse reads in the English the Hebrew has a few more surprises for those who will diligently seek them. First of all, the first reference to God in this verse is the Hebrew word “EL” which is always used as a singular masculine noun.
Here we see God declaring He alone is God and there is none else. In other words, God says there is only one God not many gods. For example, the “man invented” moon god, Allah of the Muslim faith, is not our God. He is simply a manifestation out of the minds of those who are deceived.
Then God takes us a little further into revealing His triune nature. He says “I am God, and there is none like me.” In this instance the Hebrew word used to represent our English word for God is “Elohiym” which is the plural form of the same masculine noun.
None like me” again, all those false gods which continually pop up on the scene are created out of the minds of men, yet time after time they are shot down by our one and only true triune God. By God referring to Himself as Elohiym, He stakes claim to having a triune nature and a nature that is not possible for any of those false gods to replicate. Only God Almighty can manifest Himself in three different personages.
But still, when folks are predisposed with the idea that the Trinity is a false doctrine there are not many who can convince them otherwise. God Himself, try as He does through His very own words, is very often rejected or dismissed as only mankind’s misunderstanding, or misrepresentation of scripture. Those who rebel at the idea of the Trinity are too often saying “Don’t confuse me with facts.”
Another couple of verses that clearly reveal God’s triune nature, yet become bones of contention while being interpreted erroneously, are John 1:1 and Colossians 1:16-18. In John’s Gospel, John refers to Jesus Christ as the Word. That fact is for the most part universally understood.
“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.” John 1:1.
In denying the Trinity many people will use a book that the Jehovah’s Witnesses have written themselves using their own fallible re-interpretation so the scriptures adhere to their own manmade doctrines. In their corrupting of the verse in question they’ve inserted an “a” between the God inspired words “was” and “God” in order to prove their point that Jesus was only a god not God Almighty.
This is an obviously slanted and biased attempt to diminish Jesus’ deity. And as it would seem, many believe that that is precisely what the original Greek states. But in fact the “a” is not to be found in any of the original Greek manuscripts. Consequently what has occurred is just another case of corrupting God’s inerrant word for the purpose of promoting man’s doctrines over God’s truth.
Further analysis of the text in the following two verses of John chapter 1 gives conclusive evidence that Jesus Christ is God Almighty, the Creator Himself.
“The same was in the beginning with God. All things were made by him; and without him was not anything made that was made” (John 1:2-3).
John, still referring to Jesus Christ as the Word, states that “the same was in the beginning with God” and that everything made was made by Jesus Christ, thus Jesus Christ is God the Creator of everything, while co-existing from the beginning with God the Father and God the Holy Spirit.
To emphasize the truth of Jesus Christ as our Creator God, the Apostle Paul adds:
“For by him were all things created, that are in heaven, and that are in earth, visible and invisible, whether they be thrones, or dominions, or principalities, or powers: all things were created by him, and for him: And he is before all things, and by him all things consist” (Colossians 1:16-17).
Wow, what more could anyone want in regards to Jesus’ deity and His triune nature. Alas these two verses prove nothing in the skeptic’s eyes.
Why? This next verse gets in their way.
“And he is the head of the body, the church: who is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead; that in all things he might have the preeminence” (Colossians 1:18).
In the Greek, the word for firstborn is “prōtotokos”. Firstborn – from protos, meaning “first,” and tikto, meaning “to beget” – is used in His relationship to the Father, expressing His priority to, and preeminence over, creation, not in the sense of being the “first” to be born.
“Who is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of every creature” (Colossians 1:15).
Here is where Christ’s eternal relationship with the Father is in view, and the clause means both that He was the “Firstborn” before all creation and that He Himself produced creation.
On and on it goes as scripture after scripture declare the triune nature of our awesome Creator God, Jesus the Christ. At the top rung of the ladder of rebellion stand those who fundamentally reject God’s inerrant and infallible word. They are those who wish, through corruption of His word, to influence, disrupt, and lead astray those simple minded who have no drive or inclination of studying for themselves to ascertain the truth. They simply parrot what they’ve heard.
“I said therefore unto you, that ye shall die in your sins: for if ye believe not that I am he, ye shall die in your sins” (John 8:24).
This verse is so very important for all those who remain in their stubborn rebellion to God. Why? Because by denying God’s triune nature they deny Jesus’ deity. In the verse above, Jesus is speaking and in no uncertain terms is telling all those who refuse to believe that He is God, that they will surely die in their sin. Be careful folks.
God the Father, God the Son, God the Holy Spirit are One. That’s the truth.
God bless your all,
Ron Graham