1Thessalonians 3:11 Now God himself and our Father, and our Lord Jesus Christ, direct our way unto you.
With over 20,000 references to God in Scripture, we get to know all we need to know about the subject. If we will take the Bible literally as to what it says about Him, as we do with other things the subject will be very clear; but if we make God a mystery, ignoring the plain statements of Scripture about Him, and refusing to believe the many descriptions of God given by those who have seen one, two, and three separate persons called “God,” then we will remain in ignorance.
There are indeed a few figurative statements about God in Scripture, as there are about man and other things, but shall we do away with the reality of man and these other things because of a few figures of speech? Let us make man mere salt and lights (Matt. 5:13-14) if we are going to do away with God because of a few figures of speech.
We submit the following facts in Scripture to prove a Divine Trinity of separate persons in the Godhead: The word “one” means one in unity as well as one in number. It means unity in 1 John 5:7, as it does in John 17:11, 21-23, and yet these three Persons, the Father, the Word, and the Holy Spirit, are spoken of as one each in number and individuality in Scripture. There is one God the Father, one Lord Jesus Christ, and one Holy Spirit (1Cor. 8:6; Eph. 4:3-6). Thus, there are three separate Persons in divine individuality and divine plurality. The Father is called God (1Cor. 8:6), the Son is called God (Isa. 9:6, 7; Heb. 1:8; John 1:1-2; 20:28), and the Holy Spirit is called God (Acts 5:3-4). As individual persons each can be called God and collectively, they can be spoken of as one God because of their perfect unity. The word “God” is used either as a singular or a plural word, like sheep.
Everything that could be spoken of God collectively applies equally to each member of the Godhead as an individual, but some things are said of each person of the Deity as to position, office, and work that could not be spoken as of the other members of the Godhead. The Father is the head of Christ (1Cor. 11:3); the Son is the only begotten of the Father (2Jn. 1:3), and the Holy Spirit proceeds from both the Father and the Son (John 14:16, 26; 15:26; 16:7-15; Acts 2:34).
To be continued…
Living the Word 