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ThinkingAbout theTrinity:
One What and Three Whos
 by Kenneth Richard Samples
Christians should use their reasoning to furtherreflect upon God’s revealed truths. The ancientchurch father Augustine called this process “faithseeking understanding.”The doctrine of the Trinity is an essential Christiandoctrine that allows the creature to peer ever soslightly into the window of God’s infinite nature andpersonhood. The Trinity may also be the most dis-tinctive of all Christian teachings, setting Christian-ity apart from all other religions, including othermonotheistic religions (such as Judaism and Islam).Because the Christian vision of God is unique,mysterious, and inscrutable to the finite mind, itis often misunderstood and misrepresented. Thisarticle will briefly explore what historic Christianityteaches concerning the Trinity by summarizing thedoctrine’s most salient points, and by responding tosome critical questions concerning its origin, intel-ligibility, coherence, and importance.
The Historic Christian Doctrine ofthe Trinity
The Athanasian Creed, the longest and most philo-sophical of the ancient ecumenical creeds, enunci-ates the orthodox doctrine of the Trinity in thefollowing manner:That we worship one God in trinity and the trinityin unity, neither blending their persons nor dividingtheir essence. For the person of the Father is a dis-tinct person, the person of the Son is another, andthat of the Holy Spirit still another. But the divin-ity of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit is one, theirglory equal, their majesty coeternal….Thus the Father is God, the Son is God, the HolySpirit is God. Yet there are not three gods; there isbut one God.Thus the Father is Lord, the Son is Lord, the HolySpirit is Lord. Yet there are not three lords; there isbut one Lord.Just as Christian truth compels us to confess eachperson individually as both God and Lord, so catho-lic religion forbids us to say that there are threegods or lords….1The word “trinity” means “tri-unity” (three in one),thus conveying the revealed truth that there isplurality within the unity of God’s nature (one Godin three persons). The doctrine of the Trinity shouldproperly be understood within the broader contextof the Christian theistic view of God.2 The God un- veiled in the Bible and later expressed in the historiccreeds and confessions of Christendom is the onesovereign and majestic Lord. Historic Christianitythus affirms belief in one infinitely perfect, eternal,and personal (or superpersonal) God, the transcen-dent Creator and sovereign Sustainer of the uni- verse. This one God is Triune, existing eternally andsimultaneously as three distinct and distinguish-able persons: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. All threepersons in the Godhead, or Divine Being, shareequally and completely the one divine nature, andare therefore the same God, coequal in attributes,nature, and glory.God has revealed Himself as one in essence orsubstance (being), but three in subsistence (person-hood). In terms of what God is (essence), God isone; in terms of who God is (subsistence), God isthree. Philosophically speaking, God is therefore“one What” and “three Whos.” To put it in the nega-tive, it is not three different gods (tritheism), forthat would divide the essence. Rather it is only oneGod (monotheism). And it is not one single solitaryperson (monarchianism, modalism), for that wouldblend or confound the persons. Rather it is threedistinct and distinguishable persons (triune).
Ten Essential Points about theTrinity
The following ten points convey essential infor-mation about the Trinity, and will help one think
 
through the most important elements concerningthe doctrine.31. There exists only one God (one divine essenceor being). Trinitarianism is a unique typeof monotheism, and the underlying truth of monotheism is grounded in the Old and NewTestament Scriptures. Orthodox Trinitarian-ism therefore rejects polytheism in generaland tritheism in particular for they divide thedivine essence.2. The three persons of the Godhead are eachfully divine, all sharing equally and fully theone divine essence (God the Father, God theSon, and God the Holy Spirit). The deity of these three persons is also grounded in the Oldand New Testament Scriptures.3. The three persons of the Trinity should notbe understood as three “parts” of God. Eachperson is fully divine and equally possesses allof God’s being.4. The term “person” in reference to the Trinityshould not be understood to refer to a separateentity or being, for this would divide the divineessence.5. Unlike all finite creatures, God possesses plural-ity of personhood within His one infinite being.This is one example of the theological principleknown as the Creator-creature distinction.6. The members of the Trinity are qualitativelyequal in attributes, nature, and glory. WhileScripture reveals a subordination among thedivine persons in terms of position or role (e.g.,the Son submits to the Father, the Holy Spiritproceeds from the Father and Son), there ex-ists absolutely no subordination (inferiority) of essence or nature. The persons are thereforeequal in being, but subordinate only in role orposition.7. The members of the Trinity are both eternallyand simultaneously distinct as three persons.In other words, the Godhead has forever been,is now, and will forever subsist as three per-sons: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. None of thepersons came into being or became divine at agiven moment in time. Orthodox Trinitarian-ism therefore rejects all forms of Arianism (thatmakes the Son a creature and often denies theHoly Spirit’s personality and deity).8. The three members of the Godhead are dis-tinct persons and can be distinguished fromeach other (e.g., the Father is not the Son, theFather is not the Holy Spirit, and the Son isnot the Holy Spirit). Orthodox Trinitarianismtherefore rejects all forms of modalism (thatblends or confounds the persons by definingthem as mere modes of existence).9. God’s “oneness” and “threeness” are in differentrespects. In other words, the way in which Godis one (essence) is different from the way Godis three (subsistence). Christian theologiansand philosophers through the centuries haveargued that it is crucial to distinguish betweenGod’s essence on one hand, and God’s subsis-tence on the other.10. The way in which God is one does not violatethe way in which God is three, and vice versa. With these essential points in mind, let us now con-sider four important questions about the doctrine of the Trinity.
Four Critical QuestionsAbout The Trinity
1
 
Since the word “Trinity” doesn’tappear
anywhere in the Bible, did theearly church simply invent the doctrine outof thin air?Linguistically, the term “trinity” comes from theLatin “trinitas.” This term was used by the churchfather Tertullian (c. A.D. 160-230) who wrote about“a trinity of one divinity, Father, Son and HolySpirit.” While it is true that the formulation of thedoctrine of the Trinity progressively developed inchurch history, that doesn’t mean that the churchinvented the doctrine without reference to the Bible.Some are troubled that the word “trinity” doesn’tappear anywhere in the Bible. But while the termis not contained in the Bible, this in no way in- validates it as a biblical doctrine. First of all, many
 
important terms are not contained in the Bible. Forexample, the word “Bible” is not contained in theBible. But while the actual word “trinity” doesn’tappear in the Bible, the doctrine is clearly revealedin Scripture. The following is a brief summary of the biblical basis for the doctrine of the Trinity.There are literally hundreds of passages that can bemarshaled to support the Trinity doctrine.4
The biblical doctrine of the Trinitycan be expressed in five propositions:
1
 
There is
one, and only one, God (Deut.4:35, 39; 6:4; Isa. 43:10; 44:6-8; 2 Tim. 2:5;James 2:19).
2
 
The person
of the Father is God (Col. 1:2-3; 2 Pet. 1:17).
3
 
The person
of the Son is God (John 1:1;5:17; 8:58; 10:30; 20:28; Phil. 2:6; Col. 2:9;Tit. 2:13; Heb. 1:8; 2 Pet.1:1).
 4
 
The person
of the Holy Spirit is God(Gen. 1:2; John 14:26; Acts 5:3-4; 13:2,4;28:25; Rom. 8:11; Eph. 4:30).
5
 
The Father,
Son, and Holy Spirit aredistinguishable persons: (Matt. 28:19; Luke3:22; John 15:26; 16:13-15; 2 Cor. 13:14).The logical inference from these five biblical propo-sitions is as follows. If there is only one God, andthe three distinguishable persons are all called God,then the three persons must be the one God. Thedoctrine of the Trinity was not invented out of thinair by the church at the Council of Nicea (A.D. 325)or at any other time. What really happened was thatthe fathers of the church saw the doctrine of theTrinity as a necessary inference from Scripture. Thedoctrine developed in the early church because of the overwhelming scriptural evidence supportingboth the deity of Jesus Christ and the deity of theHoly Spirit. Evangelical theologian Alister E. Mc-Grath explains:The doctrine of the Trinity can be regarded asthe outcome of a process of sustained and criticalreflection on the pattern of divine activity revealedin Scripture, and continued in Christian experience.This is not to say that Scripture contains a doctrineof the Trinity; rather, Scripture bears witness to aGod who demands to be understood in a Trinitar-ian manner…. Historically, it is possible to arguethat the doctrine of the Trinity is closely linked withthe development of the doctrine of the divinity of Christ.…The starting point for Christian reflectionson the Trinity is, as we have seen, the New Testa-ment witness to the presence and activity of God inChrist and through the Spirit.5 While no formal or dogmatic statement appears inthe Bible concerning the Trinity, the truths thatproduce the doctrine find their origin uniquelyin the pages of Holy Scripture. The language andcontext of the four following passages give clear in-dication that the apostles were well aware that theirtraditional Jewish monotheism had to be qualifiedto include the reality of three divine persons.“Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, bap-tizing them in the name of the Father, and of theSon and of the Holy Spirit …” (Matt. 28:19, NIV)
“May the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all.” (2Cor. 13:14, NIV)“As soon as Jesus was baptized, he went up out of the water. At that moment heaven was opened, and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and lighting on him. And avoice from heaven said, ‘This is my Son, whom I love; with him I am well pleased.’” (Matt. 3:16-17, NIV)“Peter, an apostle of Jesus Christ, to God’s elect … chosen according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, throughthe sanctifying work of the Spirit, for obedience to JesusChrist and sprinkling by his blood.” (1 Pet. 1:1-2, NIV)
These passages place the Son and the Holy Spiriton an equal level with the Father, and are open toexplicit Trinitarian interpretation.
2
 
Isn’t the Trinity a mysterious,unintelligible doctrine, andtherefore an absurdity?
 As creatures, human beings will never, not even inthe next world, know and understand God as Godunderstands Himself. And while the Trinity doctrineis to some degree mysterious and ultimately incom-prehensible to the finite mind, that doesn’t meanthat we can’t speak of the doctrine in a meaningful way, or that it is an absurdity. The Trinity is certain-ly meaningful and understandable as a teaching, butit simply cannot be fully fathomed by human beings.
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