Trinity

God is a simple unity—one in being, essence, and nature—but there are three persons who are God: God the Father, the Lord Jesus Christ, and the Holy Spirit. The three persons are co-essential, co-eternal, co-equal, and mutually indwell one another, yet are distinguished by eternal relations of origin and temporal roles in creation and redemption.

Oneness

There is one and only one God. God is simple (not composed of parts) and stands apart from all creatures as the source and ground of all being. The operations of the one God are inseparable.

“God is one”, there is only one God

Main topics: Monotheism, Simplicity Dt 6:4–5; Mt 19:17; Mk 12:28–34 (cites Dt 6:4–5); Jn 5:44; Ro 3:30; 1Co 8:4–6 (alludes to Dt 6:4); Gal 3:20; Eph 4:4–6; 1Ti 1:17; 2:5; Jas 2:19; 4:12

There is no one else like God

Main topic: Creator-creature distinction Ex 8:10; 9:14; 15:11; Dt 4:35, 39; 32:39; 1Sa 2:2; 2Sa 7:22 (cf. 1Ch 17:20); 2Sa 22:32; 1Ki 8:23, 60; 2Ki 5:15; 19:15, 19 (cf. Isa 37:15–16, 20); Ps 18:31; 83:18; 86:8–10; 135:5; Isa 40:18, 25; 43:10; 44:6–8, 24; 45:5–6, 21–22; 46:5, 9; 64:4; Jer 10:6–7, 10; Hos 13:4; Joel 2:27; Mic 7:18; Heb 6:13

Inseparable operations

1Co 12:6

Threeness

God eternally exists in three persons: God the Father, the Lord Jesus Christ, and the Holy Spirit.

Plurality of persons implicit in OT

Ge 1:26; 3:22; 11:7; 16:13; 18:1–2; Ex 3:2–6; 23:20–22; Nu 6:23–27; 22:35–38; Jdg 2:1–2; 6:11–14; Ps 33:6; 45:6–7; 110:1 (cited at Mt 22:44; Mk 12:36; Lk 20:42); Pr 8:22–31; Isa 6:8; 48:16; 61:1 (cited at Lk 4:18); Isa 63:10; Hos 1:7; Zec 10:12; 12:10; Mal 3:1–2

Triadic pattern explicit in NT

Mt 3:16–17 (cf. Mk 1:9–11; Lk 3:21–22; Jn 1:32–34); Mt 23:8–10; 28:19; Lk 1:35; 4:1–12, 18 (cites Isa 61:1); Jn 4:10–26; 14:26; 15:26; 20:21–22; Ac 1:4–8; 2:32–33, 38–39; 5:3–4, 9; 5:30–32; 7:55–56; 10:36–38, 44–48; 11:15–18; 15:8–11; 20:27–28; 28:25–31; Ro 1:1–4; 5:5–10; 8:2–4, 9–11, 14–17; 14:17–18; 15:16–17, 18–19, 30; 1Co 2:2–5; 6:11; 12:4–6, 11–12, 18; 2Co 1:19–22; 13:14; Gal 3:11–14; 4:4–7; Eph 1:3–14, 16–17; 2:13–18, 21–22; 3:14–19; 4:4–6, 30–32; 5:18–20; Php 3:3; Col 1:3–8; 1Th 1:2–10; 2Th 2:12–14; Tit 3:5–6; Heb 2:3–4; 6:4–6; 9:14; 10:28–31; 1Pe 1:2; 4:14; 1Jn 3:21–24; 4:13–14; Jude 20–21; Rev 1:4–5; 2:18, 27–29

Distinction between persons

Isa 53:10–11; Mt 3:16–17 (cf. Mk 1:9–11; Lk 3:21–22; Jn 1:32–34); Mt 6:9–13; 12:31–32; 17:5 (cf. Lk 9:35); Mt 26:39; 27:46; Lk 23:34; Jn 1:1–2; 8:17–18; 11:41–42; 12:27–28; 14:23, 26; 16:7; 17:1; Ac 7:55–56; Ro 8:16–17, 27; Heb 7:25; 1Jn 2:1

Unity of purpose, will among persons

Jn 10:30; 17:11, 22; 1Jn 5:7 KJV — cf. grammatically 1Co 3:8, contrast Mt 19:5

Intra-trinitarian love

Jn 1:18; 3:35; 5:20; 10:17; 14:31; 17:23–24, 26

Holy Spirit is a person

Main topic: Holy Spirit is a person Mt 28:19; Jn 14:16, 26; 15:26; 16:7, 13–14; Ac 13:2; 16:6–7; 8:29; 13:2; 15:28; Ro 8:16, 26–27; 1Co 12:11; Eph 4:30; Heb 10:29

Equality

The three persons are co-essential, co-eternal, and co-equal in all attributes of divinity. The fulness of the divine being belongs equally to each of them. They mutually indwell one another.

Father is fully God

Main topic: Father is God Mt 6:26–30; Jn 20:17; Ro 1:7; 15:6; 1Co 1:3; 8:6; 15:24; 2Co 1:2–3; 11:31; Gal 1:1, 3–4; Eph 1:2–3, 17; 4:6; 5:20; 6:23; Php 1:2; 2:11; 4:20; Col 1:2–3; 3:17; 1Th 1:1, 3; 3:11, 13; 2Th 1:1–2; 2:16; 1Ti 1:2; 2Ti 1:2; Tit 1:4; Phm 3; Jas 1:27; 1Pe 1:2–3, 17; 2Jn 1:3; Jude 1:1; Rev 1:6

Son is fully God

Main topic: Jesus is God Isa 9:6; Jn 1:1–4, 18; 20:28; Ro 9:5; Tit 2:13; Heb 1:8–9 (cites Ps 45:6–7); 2Pe 1:1 (cf. 2Pe 1:11)

Holy Spirit is fully God

Main topic: Holy Spirit is God Ps 139:7–8; Jn 3:5–7 (cf. 1Jn 3:9); Ac 5:3–4; 1Co 2:10–11; 1Co 3:16; 2Co 3:17

Perichoresis (mutual indwelling)

Main topic: Perichoresis Jn 14:10–11, 20; 16:14; 17:1, 21; 1Co 2:11

Distinction

The persons are not interchangeable, but can be distinguished by their order^[1], relations of origin^[2], and personal properties^[3]. These ontological distinctions are revealed to us primarily in the roles assumed by the persons in the economy of creation and redemption and in the way God’s inseparable operations are appropriated to individual persons.

Order (taxis)

Mt 28:19; Eph 2:18

Father holds primacy in role

Mt 19:17 (cf. Mk 10:18; Lk 18:19); Jn 14:28; 1 Cor 11:3; 15:27–28; 1 Jn 4:14

Son eternally begotten of Father

Main topic: Eternal generation Ps 2:7 (cited at Ac 13:33; Heb 1:5; 5:5); Pr 8:22–25 (alluded to at 1Co 1:24; Rev 3:14); Mic 5:2 (cited at Mt 2:4–6); Jn 1:14, 18; 3:16, 18; 5:19, 26; Col 1:15; Heb 1:3, 5–6; 12:23; 1Jn 4:9 — see also Ro 8:29; Col 1:18; Rev 1:5

Spirit proceeds from Father and Son

Jn 14:16–17, 26; 15:26; 16:7, 13–14; 20:22; Ro 8:9; Gal 4:6; Php 1:19

Economy of the Trinity

Pr 8:22–31; Jn 1:3; Eph 1:3–14^[4]; Ro 8:29; 1Co 8:6; Heb 1:2; 1Pe 1:2; 1:20

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1. The Father is first, the Son second, the Holy Spirit third. All things are from or to the Father, through the Son, in or by the Holy Spirit. (This order of the persons is also referred to by the Latin word taxis.) #
2. The Son is eternally begotten of the Father and the Spirit eternally proceeds from the Father and the Son. #
3. The Father has the properties of inascibility, paternity, and spiration, the Son filiation and spiration, and the Spirit procession. #
4. Especially note the use of gr. oikonomia in v. 10. #

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