In this series, we have explored a simple definition of the Trinity: There is one God who exists eternally in three persons. This mystery is beyond human comprehension, but we believe it because the Bible supports each element of the definition. For example, we’ve seen how the Bible teaches the existence of only one God, and how it portrays the Father, Son and Holy Spirit as three distinct persons. In today’s topic, we’re going to add the final piece of biblical evidence that undergirds the doctrine of the Trinity, and here it is: At the heart of the Trinity is the claim that all three persons – Father, Son and Holy Spirit – are fully God.
As we’ve seen, there is a tension between the ideas of “one God” and “three persons”. Many people feel a need to resolve the tension, and some have done so by denying that all three persons are fully God. Yet if all three persons do not share the full nature and attributes of God, the doctrine of the Trinity does not hold up. No one debates the deity of the Father, but historically the deity of the other persons has been contested. Yet the Bible supports the deity of both Jesus and the Holy Spirit. Let’s look at the Holy Spirit first:
The Holy Spirit has all the attributes of God. The Bible clearly equates the Spirit with God.
The Bible describes the Holy Spirit as having qualities that only God has. He is eternal (Hebrews 9:14), omnipresent (Psalm 139:7-10), all-knowing (1 Corinthians 2:10-11), and all-powerful (Luke 1:35). The Holy Spirit also does things that only God can do, such as creating the world (Genesis 1:2), authoring scripture (2 Peter 1:21), and imparting life (Romans 8:11)..
No Bible verse flatly states that the Holy Spirit is God. But it does equate the Holy Spirit with God in Acts 5. In the early church, many people sold property and gave the money to the church to help the poor. When Ananias did that, he kept some of the money for himself, while claiming that he gave the full amount. In Acts 5:3, Peter confronted him about his deceit: “You lied to the Holy Spirit, and kept some of the money for yourself.” In the next verse, Peter added, “You weren’t lying to us but to God!” The apostle Peter clearly thought of the Holy Spirit as God.
There is even more evidence for the deity of the Son:
The biblical writers claim that Jesus is fully equal to the Father. Jesus himself makes the same claim.
The beginning of John’s gospel provides just one example of how the biblical authors viewed Jesus. John 1:1-3 opens by referring to someone called “the Word.” John says three key things about him. First, he existed with God from the beginning. Second, he himself was God. Third, together with the Father, he created everything. Then, in verse 14, John identifies who this is when he says “the Word became human” as “the Father’s one and only Son.” So “the Word” is revealed as Jesus, the second person of the Trinity, before his human birth. He was (and still is) God.
Other biblical writers agree. Romans 9:5 says, “He is God, the one who rules over everything and is worthy of eternal praise.” Hebrews 1:3 says that “the Son radiates God’s own glory and expresses the very character of God.” The Bible also attributes to Jesus works that only God can do, such as creating the world (Colossians 1:15-20; 1 Corinthians 8:6), forgiving sin (Matthew 9:2-7), judging humanity (John 5:22-30), and providing salvation (Titus 2:11-13).
The Bible’s writers believed this in large part because Jesus himself claimed equality with God. Several passages show this, including John 8. There Jesus is talking with Jewish leaders about their relationship with Abraham, the founding father of Judaism. In the climax of the conversation (John 8:58), Jesus declares “I tell you the truth, before Abraham was even born, I AM!” Thus Jesus claimed that he existed more than 2000 years prior, even before the time of Abraham. More strikingly, he called himself by one of the most important names of God in the Old Testament. In Exodus 3, God appeared to Moses and commissioned him to lead his people out of slavery. Moses asked, “Who shall I tell them sent me?” God replied, “Say this to the people of Israel: I AM has sent me to you” (Exodus 3:14). So Jesus identified himself as the same being who appeared to Moses. This was clear to the people he was addressing: “At that point they picked up stones to throw at him” (John 8:59). Death by stoning was the punishment for blasphemy. Jesus’ hearers understood that he was making himself equal to God. If that’s not what he meant, Jesus could have easily corrected their misunderstanding. But even though his life was threatened, he didn’t take back his claim.
There is no doubt that Jesus claimed to be God. But not everyone has accepted the implications of that claim.
Some try to resolve the paradox of the Trinity by denying that Jesus is fully God.
About 250 years after the ministry of Jesus, a debate about his nature and identity rocked the early church. A teacher named Arius claimed that Jesus was not fully God. His approach, called Arianism, asserted that Jesus was a special created being – but not equal to God. The council of Nicea rightly condemned Arianism, but it became very popular, not because it is biblical, but because it simplified the paradox of the Trinity. Groups today that also deny the deity of Jesus include Unitarianism and the Jehovah’s Witnesses.
In response to Arianism, advocates of the biblical doctrine made two important points that are still valid today. First, if Jesus is not fully God, then he is not worthy of our worship. It would be idolatry to offer worship to him as a created being. Yet Christians everywhere have always worshiped Jesus. More importantly, the Bible ascribes worship to him (Hebrews 1:6-8; John 20:28). Second, if Jesus is not fully God, then he is not able to save us. Salvation is always an act of God (Jonah 2:8-9). A lesser being could not have fulfilled all the requirements of righteousness on our behalf (Romans 8:3-4). Nor could a creature offer a sacrifice big enough to cover the sins of the entire world. An infinite sacrifice requires an infinite being. And as we saw above, only God can forgive sins. So if Jesus was anything less than God, he would not be a trustworthy Savior.
The testimony of the Bible is clear. The Father is fully God. The Son is fully God. The Holy Spirit is fully God. Yet there is only one God.
