to use the traditional theological term, as a Trinity - is found in I John 5, which states, in relevant part:

Posted : 24 Jan, 2012 11:17 AM

The single clearest declaration of the existence of God as Father, Son and Holy Spirit - i.e, to use the traditional theological term, as a Trinity - is found in I John 5, which states, in relevant part:



Whoever believes that Jesus is the Christ is born of God. Whoever loves the Father also loves the child who is born of him. By this we know that we love the children of God, when we love God and keep his commandments. For this is the love of God, that we keep his commandments. His commandments are not grievous. For whatever is born of God overcomes the world. This is the victory that has overcome the world: your faith. Who is he who overcomes the world, but he who believes that Jesus is the Son of God? This is he who came by water and blood, Jesus Christ; not with the water only, but with the water and the blood. It is the Spirit who testifies, because the Spirit is the truth. For there are three who testify in heaven: the Father, the Word, and the Holy Spirit; and these three are one. And there are three that testify on earth: the Spirit, the water, and the blood; and the three agree as one. If we receive the witness of men, the witness of God is greater; for this is God's testimony which he has testified concerning his Son. He who believes in the Son of God has the testimony in himself. He who doesn't believe God has made him a liar, because he has not believed in the testimony that God has given concerning his Son. The testimony is this, that God gave to us eternal life, and this life is in his Son. He who has the Son has the life. He who doesn't have God's Son doesn't have the life... We know that the Son of God has come, and has given us an understanding, that we know him who is true, and we are in him who is true, in his Son Jesus Christ. This is the true God, and eternal life.

I John 5:1-12, 20 & marg. (WEB)

The italicized language in the above passage directly asserts that the Father, the Word and the Holy Spirit are one. Unfortunately, this language is also found only in the margin of most modern translations, attached to a notation indicating that it is not found in extant Greek texts which date earlier than the Sixteenth Century. However, even if the questioned language is treated as if it had been added by Medieval monks (a historical conclusion with which this author disagrees), the existence of God as Father, Son and Holy Spirit, three yet one, can be demonstrated in at least three other ways.



First, even if the language italicized above is ignored, the remainder of I John 5 is of unquestioned authenticity and clearly teaches the concept of the Trinity. Only the person who believes that Jesus Christ is the Son of God overcomes the world, is born of God and has life. Anyone who does not believe this calls God a liar. Yet in verse 20, both God and his Son are called "him who is true" and "the true God." Furthermore, in verse 7 the Spirit is called "the truth," and in verses 8 through 10 the testimony of the Spirit, the testimony of the water and the blood by which Christ came and the testimony of God are equated.



Second, numerous other scriptures either directly teach or depend upon the concept. For instance, "the mystery of God, and of the Father, and of Christ" is referred to in Colossians 2:2, and in I Corinthians 12:3-6, the Spirit of God and the Holy Spirit are equated, his work in our lives is identified as God's work, and is identified as the only power by which we can say "Jesus is Lord." Similarly, Jesus' own words are said to be God's words because God gives the Spirit to him without measure. John 3:34-35. It was God who anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Ghost and power. Acts 10:38. Likewise, in several places Jesus promises to send his followers the Holy Spirit from the Father, to comfort, teach and empower them and to guide them into all truth. John 14:16-17, 26; 15:26; 16:7. Indeed, all things that the Father has belong to the Son, and Jesus promised to send the Spirit to show them to his disciples. John 16:14-15. After his resurrection, the scriptures indicate that Jesus kept this promise, receiving the gift of the Holy Spirit from the Father and pouring it out on his followers who were gathered together. Acts 2:33.



In the same way, we have seen in previous chapters that Jesus, the Word, was with God and was God in the beginning, and without him nothing was made that has been made. (1). Yet the Genesis account identifies three actors as present at creation: God, the Spirit of God hovering over his work, and the words God spoke to bring things into existence. Genesis 1:1-3. In a similar way, in the human events which led to the birth of Jesus, God first sent an angel (a spiritual messenger) to speak his words to Mary, and when she submitted to those words and received them, the Holy Spirit came upon her and the words God had spoken were conceived in her womb, resulting in the conception of the Son of God as Son of Man. Luke 1:29-38. Moreover, while the angel told Mary that the baby she would bear would be the Son of God, her cousin Elizabeth, when "filled with the Holy Spirit," called Mary's unborn baby her "Lord." Luke 1:32, 35, 41-42. Likewise, Elizabeth's husband Zechariah, "filled with the Holy Spirit," prophesied that his son John, as a "prophet of the Most High," would "go on before the Lord to prepare the way for him" - exactly as John later did for Jesus. Luke 1:76; Mark 1:1-3. Thus, all three members of the Godhead are seen to have been active both in the creation and in the events which led to the human birth of the Son of God.



The Son eternally comes from the Father and they share the Spirit. All three act together.

Third, the central mystery of the Gospel cannot be understood without an understanding of the mystery of the Trinity. As was previously shown, at both the creation of all things and the conception of Jesus, the Word came forth from the Father and was acted upon by the Spirit, which brought the Father's work into existence by the Word he had spoken. This is the invariable relationship between the three. The Son is always seen to come forth from the Father, the "firstborn over all creation," the radiance of the Father's glory and the exact representation of his being, and is the one by whom the Father creates and sustains all things. Hebrews 1:1-3, 8-12; Colossians 1:15-17. While equal with the Father, he submits to the Father and does only what he sees his Father doing. John 5:19; Philippians 2:5-6. Though he submitted to be made human, "a little lower than the angels," to bring salvation and understanding friendship to humanity, in substance he is one with his Father (2).



But God is spirit. John 4:24. Thus, it can be no surprise that the substance which the Father and the Son share is spirit. Jesus was anointed with the Holy Spirit. Acts 2:38. Indeed, John the baptizer attested that God gives the Spirit to Jesus without measure. John 3:34-35. As it is only the spirit of a person which truly knows that person's mind, so it is only the Spirit of God which searches even the deep things of God and knows God's mind. I Corinthians 2:10-11. Jesus said that the Spirit would show Jesus' things to us because all things that the Father has also pertain to Jesus. John 16:14-15. The "Spirit of God," the "Spirit of Christ," the "Spirit of Jesus," the "Holy Spirit," the "Spirit of holiness," the "Spirit of life," the "Spirit of him who raised Christ from the dead" and simply the "Spirit" are equated in Acts 16:6-7, Romans 1:3-4 and Romans 8:1-17. Further, in 1 Corinthians 12:3-7, the "Spirit of God" and the "Holy Spirit" are identified with the "same Spirit" who gives gifts, the "same Lord" who receives our service and the "same God" who works in each of us.



The Spirit of God is a distinct personality.

However, that spiritual substance which the Father and the Son share is not an impersonal substance or a mindless force, but is throughout scripture attributed a separate personality. For instance, in Genesis 1:1-2, God speaks out his Word while the "spirit of God" hovers over the waters. Likewise at the Incarnation, the angel spoke the words of the Father and the Holy Spirit came upon Mary to conceive the Son. Luke 1:29-38. The Holy Spirit has spoken to people, and continues to speak, directly and personally (3). The Spirit also, as a distinct person, has a mind and experiences emotions (4).

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