Holy Trinity: Understanding God as Father, Son, and Holy Spirit

John 1:1-2

1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2 He was with God in the beginning. (NIV)

The Word, Jesus Christ, was God and was with God in the beginning. These are two seemingly opposing concepts. At first glance, it seems impossible for a person to be both fully themselves and simultaneously with themselves; this illustrates the mystery of the Holy Trinity Father Son Holy Spirit. Jesus is God, and He is the Son of God. God is a singular community of Father, Son, and Spirit. He is one, but He is also three, all at the same time. The term “Holy Trinity Father Son Holy Spirit” describes the relationship of our one God who exists as three persons. This concept runs throughout Scripture.

Deuteronomy 6:4

4 Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God, the LORD is one. (NIV)

There is one God, yet there is also one mediator.

1 Timothy 2:5

5 For there is one God and one mediator between God and mankind, the man Christ Jesus. (NIV)

Though the Holy Spirit is not included in this week’s passage, He is also referred to as God. Christ taught us to baptize in the singular name of three persons—Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. They all share the one name. They are one God in three persons. Understanding the Holy Trinity Father Son Holy Spirit matters because it explains how God interacts with us and how we are saved.

The Holy Trinity: Father, Son, Holy Spirit

The Bible teaches us that God is Holy, God is Love, and God desires to be in communion with us. God is said to be too pure to look upon sin. If God were only holy, without also being loving and communal, sinful humans would have no hope of salvation. But holiness is also, by definition, love. The Bible defines love as sacrificial for the benefit of the other. If God were love alone, but not holy or communal, our communion with Him would not transform us or bring us closer to His purposes. Because He is also holy, we have the hope of Heaven, where sin does not exist—and therefore neither do pain, sorrow, or any of this life’s struggles. But if God were communal only, without love and holiness, He would simply become one of us without any ability to save us.

All three persons of the Holy Trinity Father Son Holy Spirit reflect all three attributes of holiness, love, and communion. However, in the Father, we see His holiness at its purest. In the Son, we see His love at its purest. In the Spirit, we see communion at its purest. The Father is holy—too holy to look upon sin. But the Father is also the Son, who not only looks upon sin but becomes a friend of sinners and takes sin upon Himself at the cross. The Father and the Son are also the Spirit, who, because of Christ’s sacrifice, can enter into the heart of every believer despite our imperfection and sin.

The Father is God over us. The Son is God with us. And the Spirit is God in us. Through the three persons of the Holy Trinity Father Son Holy Spirit, we can be rescued from our sin and enter into a place without sin with God after death. But the Holy Trinity also makes it possible to have the Spirit of God in us, guiding us and helping us to live His way, so we can experience more of Heaven even now in this life.

There is no one like our God. There is no other god conjured up in any religion that exists in this way. He is unique, with a higher existence than any god man has created throughout our history. He alone is God—fully, eternally, and as the Holy Trinity Father Son Holy Spirit.