Response:

I am not completely sure that I understand your question, but I will do my best with it.

First of all, the Bible clearly teaches that there is only one God. Deuteronomy 6:4 states: "Hear O Israel: The LORD (Jehovah) our God (Elohim) is one LORD (Jehovah). Isaiah 44:6,8 says, "...beside me there is no God...Is there a God beside me? yea, there is no God, I know not any". Isaiah 45:5 reads, "I am the LORD, and there is none else; there is no God beside me". From the New Testament, Ephesians 4:6 says that there is "one God". I Timothy 2:5 says that there is "one God, and one mediator between God and man, the man Christ Jesus".

At the same time, the Bible teaches that this one God is made up of three distinct Persons. In Deuteronomy 6:4, quoted above, the word "God" is a translation of the Hebrew word "Elohim", which is a plural noun. Therefore, when Jehovah calls Himself "God", He is clearly stating that there is more than one personality in the Godhead. It is interesting to note that while English grammar has only the singular and the plural, Hebrew also has the "dual", which is used when referring to something that comes in pairs. The use of the plural instead of the dual seems to indicate that the Godhead has more than two Persons in It.

Another proof of the Trinity is the use of the word "us" when making reference to God. In Genesis 1:26, at the time of creation, God said, "Let US make man in OUR image, after OUR likeness". In Genesis 3:22, God said, "The man is become as one of US". In Gen 11:7, at the tower of Babel, God said, "Let US go down, and there confound their language". When Isaiah had his vision of Jehovah in Isaiah 6:8, he heard the voice of the Lord saying, "Whom shall I send, and who will go for US"? Since God refers in these instances to Himself in the plural, the teaching of the Trinity is evident. In the same vein, in Ecclesiastes 12:1, and Isaiah 54:5, references to God as Creator are in the plural.

Another support for the Trinity is found in the fact that the members of the Godhead hold conversations among themselves. Psalm 2:7 (The LORD hath said unto me; thou art my Son), and Psalm 110:1 (The LORD said unto my Lord) are examples of this.

Another support is the fact that all three members of the Trinity are mentioned together in various parts of Scripture. In Isaiah 48:16, which is a prophecy concerning Christ, it mentions that "the Lord God (the Father), and His Spirit (the Holy Spirit), have sent me (Christ)." At Christ's baptism in Matthew 3:16-17 we see the Holy Spirit descending as a dove and Jesus Himself coming out of the water, and also hear God the Father refer to Christ as "my beloved Son". In John 14:16, Christ says that He will pray to the Father, and that the Father would send another Comforter (the Holy Spirit). It is interesting to note that the Greek word "another" means "another of the same kind", which means that the Holy Spirit is of the same kind as Christ. In Matthew 28:19, Jesus instructed the church to baptize "in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost". At the end of the book of II Corinthians, Paul gives the "Apostolic Blessing", which reads: "The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the communion of the Holy Ghost, be with you all". Finally, perhaps the clearest reference to the Trinity is found in I John 5:7, which says, "For there are three that bear record in Heaven, the Father, the Word, and the Holy Ghost: and these three are one".

As far as "power" is concerned, in many of the works of God we see all three members of the Trinity present and participating. Some of these are as follows:

*Creation
The Father: Psalm 102:25
The Son: Col 1:16
The Holy Spirit: Gen 1:2

*The death of Christ
The Father Romans 8:32
The Son: John 10:18
The Holy Spirit: Heb 9:14

*The resurrection of Christ
The Father: Acts 2:24
The Son: John 2:19
The Holy Spirit: I Peter 3:18

*The resurrection of man
The Father: John 5:21
The Son: John 5:21
The Holy Spirit: Romans 8:11

*The inspiration of the Bible
The Father: II Tim 3:16
The Son: I Peter 1:10-11
The Holy Spirit: II Peter 1:21

*The call to the ministry
The Father: II Cor 3:5-6
The Son: I Tim 1:12
The Holy Spirit: Acts 20:28

*The indwelling of the believer
The Father: Eph 4:6
The Son: Col 1:27
The Holy Spirit: I Cor 6:19

*The sanctification of the believer
The Father: Jude 1:1
The Son: Heb 2:11
The Holy Spirit: I Cor 6:11

*The keeping of the believer
The Father: John 10:29
The Son: John 10:28
The Holy Spirit: Eph 4:30

It seems clear that all three members of the Trinity have power, yet they work in harmony together, for they constitute one God. I must add that there is an order within the Godhead, for Christ prayed to the Father, Who in turn sent the Spirit. However, this order does not diminish the deity of any of the three Persons.

The doctrine of the Trinity is not easily understood by our sinful, human, finite minds. Man has tried to illustrate it in numerous ways, such as the egg (one egg with three distinct parts: shell, yoke white) the chair (one chair with three distinct parts: the legs, the seat, and the back), and the man (one man, who yet functions as a son to his parents, a husband to his wife, and a father to his children). Unfortunately, none of these illustrations capture the reality of the Trinity. However, the doctrine is taught in the Scriptures, and therefore, I believe it.

By Dr Mark Montgomery Ambassador Baptist Church 1926 Babcock Blvd Pittsburgh, PA 15209 (412)477-3210