About The Trinity of God

What is The Trinity?

The word "trinity" is a term used to denote the Christian doctrine that God exists as a unity of three distinct persons, it's also known as the Godhead: God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit or Holy Ghost. Each of the persons is distinct from the other, yet identical in essence. In other words, each is fully divine in nature, yet they are not three gods, but one Almighty God.

Keep in mind that the word "Trinity" is not used in Scripture. This is a term that is used to attempt to describe the triune God or Godhead, the fact that there are 3 coexistent, co-eternal persons that make up God. Understand that this is NOT in any way suggesting 3 Gods. The Trinity is One God made up of 3 distinct persons.

The Trinity is a concept that is impossible for any human being to fully understand, let alone explain. However, God does give us a way to understand it, "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.

God is infinitely greater than we are, therefore, we should not expect to be able to fully understand the Godhead. However, living by faith in the Bible teaches that the Father is God, Jesus is God, and the Holy Spirit is God too. The Bible also teaches that there is only one God, but is in the form of all three. Though we can understand some facts about the relationship of the different persons of the Trinity to one another, ultimately, it is incomprehensible to the human mind. However, this does not mean it is not true or not based on the teachings of the Bible.

The most simplest form I have ever learned about explaining the Trinity is by describing an egg. An egg has three different parts, the shell, the white, and the yolk. Each part is different, yet is a complete egg.

What Do These Three Forms Of God Represent?

God, The Father
God in one God, the Almighty, creator of heaven and earth, of all that is seen and unseen. These are the first words of our Creed. This great gift of believing in God without seeing Him is the gift of our Faith, it has been given by God Himself because all gifts come from Him. God is the source of all things, in fact in Him we move, we live and we have our being. "For in him we live, and move, and have our being; as certain also of your own poets have said, For we are also his offspring." - Acts 17:28

God is One, but He is also three persons. God the Father is the uncreated Spirit, infinite source of existence, eternal being with no beginning or end, the causeless cause. He lives in heaven surrounded by His Majesty and perfections, He is clothed with unreachable light. He is the Almighty, all knowing and all loving God. He is Father of all, the Omnipotent (all powerful).

God has spoken through the person of His Son, Who is the Word of God, emanated or eternally generated from the Father and yet united to Him in such intimate Love that they are always One and they are always together.

God is not separated or divided because He is One, He merely appears as different persons in order to express His infinite fullness which is incomprehensible by finite creatures. Just as a man can not divide his body from his mind, soul and spirit; God is not divided. His works are perfect, His thoughts and ways are above those of all His creatures, His Majesty and power is unequaled, His infinite merciful Love is unfathomable and it is the gift by which we are saved.

God is omnipresent, meaning He can be in several places all at once, meaning He can hear all who pray to Him all at once, meaning He is able to be in heaven and on earth at the same time.

Jesus (God, The Son)
God is Jesus in the flesh, His Infinite Love seeing the misery of His creation, has condescended to redeem us from this curse and in the Person of His Son, Jesus Christ. He took it upon Himself to be the punishment due to us for our sins. In order to save us, He has offered His works, His body, His sufferings and His life as a sacrifice to be an atonement for our sins so that in Him we can find eternal Life. "Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made a curse for us: for it is written, Cursed is every one that hangeth on a tree: That the blessing of Abraham might come on the Gentiles through Jesus Christ; that we might receive the promise of the Spirit through faith." - Galatians 3:13-14.

God spoke through the prophets and foretold a liberation for all His people, He promised a new way of life, something similar to the first liberation of the Jews from the slavery of the Egyptians. When the time had arrived according to the Divine Providence the awaited Messiah came into the world, born of the Blessed Virgin Mary and conceived by the Power of the Holy Ghost. “Now the birth of Jesus Christ was on this wise: When as his mother Mary was espoused to Joseph, before they came together, she was found with child of the Holy Ghost...But while he thought on these things, behold, the angel of the Lord appeared unto him in a dream, saying, Joseph, thou son of David, fear not to take unto thee Mary thy wife: for that which is conceived in her is of the Holy Ghost. And she shall bring forth a son, and thou shalt call his name JESUS: for he shall save his people from their sins.” - Matthew 1:18-21.

Jesus, God, the Son has come to save the humble, the poor, those who accept His Wisdom and not that of the world. He has come to those who accept that they are sick and need his healing, He has come silently to those who reject the world and decide to come to Him, He has come to those who accept His humanity as well as His Divinity. He came proclaiming the Good News of the Kingdom of Heaven, asking everyone to repent, to turn away from evil and to come to God through Him. He said: no one can come to the Father except through me. I am the Way, the Truth and the Life. As a great teacher, He taught us how to live for Him and how to love God by loving others.

Jesus is our Lord, our God, our Savior, The Messiah, the Redeemer, The King of Kings, The Alpha and the Omega, the Good Shepherd and much more. Jesus is God, Jesus reigns, Jesus is Alive.

Holy Spirit (God, the Holy Spirit)
The Holy Spirit is the Spirit of God, it is God, it is His powerful action that permeates creation with Love and Life. It is existence itself. We know Him also as the third person of the Holy Trinity.

As we look at the attributes of God, who is One, we may say that God, the Father is the Absolute Power and Will, God, the Son is His Word and command, God, the Holy Spirit is the action of God which is Love. The Holy Spirit is a fire of Divine Love that comes to touch us and refine us in a desire to know God. It gives us a passion for God, it destroys all the earthly affections because it opens our spiritual eyes to see how precious God is.

The Holy Spirit (Holy Ghost) is the Spirit of God the Father and of God the Son, so it moves us to cry Abba which means "daddy" and as children of God we come to trust God more than we have known to trust Him before, it also moves us to accept Christ in our lives as our model, way, truth and life. The fire of the Holy Spirit kindles the little flame of Love that is in every heart, it raises the soul to soar in the freedom of God, it feeds the soul with food from Heaven, it gives courage to overcome all human weaknesses, it grants complete trust in God so that we can say with St. Paul, it is no longer I who lives, but Christ who lives in me.

The Holy Spirit is not visible to our eyes, but we can feel His Presence within us, He grants Peace, Love and Joy to our hearts and by His action we learn to recognize Him. No one can say that Jesus is Lord unless He is moved by the Holy Spirit “Wherefore I give you to understand, that no man speaking by the Spirit of God calleth Jesus accursed: and that no man can say that Jesus is the Lord, but by the Holy Ghost.” - I Corinthians 12:3”. So this Spirit abides in every one who acknowledges that Jesus is Lord, but this doesn't guarantee that that person is holy, it merely activates his faith by that conviction, so we still need a continuous guidance of the Holy Spirit to attain holiness. We must be born of the Spirit to become spirit, and we must let Him come like a gentle breeze and bend our wills to His holy inspirations, “The wind bloweth where it listeth, and thou hearest the sound thereof, but canst not tell whence it cometh, and whither it goeth: so is every one that is born of the Spirit.” - John 3:8.

What is born of the flesh is flesh, but what is born of the Spirit is Spirit, “That which is born of the flesh is flesh; and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit.” - John 3:6, so in baptism we are born of the Spirit and we are challenged to prove that we are Spirit. The Holy Spirit will teach us what we need to say, He reveals the Wisdom of God, because He reveals the teachings of the Word of God into our hearts, He is also described as the Counselor and Advocate or The Comforter, “But the Comforter, which is the Holy Ghost, whom the Father will send in my name, he shall teach you all things, and bring all things to your remembrance, whatsoever I have said unto you.” - John 14:26. No one can become holy on his own so he needs the influence of the Holy Spirit, He is like a gentle dove that gets scared at the least movement of sin. So we must be very gentle in the Presence of God who has vouchsafed to come to dwell in us.

We have to deny ourselves the influence of our own human spirit in order to allow the Spirit of God to take control of our lives, this is only achieved by a life of prayer and detachment. We must yield humbly to the powerful Holy Spirit in order to correspond to His Grace, we must make a decision to lead an interior life where we give up our private judgment, the light of reason in exchange for the Light of God which comes only through faith. Only through this complete annihilation of the self can we allow the Spirit of God to possess us; to think otherwise is only presumptuous, because our pride will always desire praise for our works, but God's work in our souls is the only way to make us holy.

The spiritual man is also called a man of God, because he truly belongs to Him, He doesn't look for personal rewards, He doesn't resist God's Will whether that may bring him trials, temptations, contradictions or humiliations. God knows best, so the man of God yields completely to Him just like Job. Any temporal gifts are for the Praise and Glory of God not for his own, when any gifts material or spiritual are taken away from him, He will gladly accept God's will, “Naked came I out of my mother's womb, and naked shall I return thither: the LORD gave, and the LORD hath taken away; blessed be the name of the LORD.” - Job 1:21. He will live his life in the example of Christ who always yielded to the Will His Heavenly Father, “Father, if thou be willing, remove this cup from me: nevertheless not my will, but thine, be done.” - Luke 22:42.