A Glancing at the Triune God
February 19, 2024
Glancing through several essays on Medium.com, a couple opportunities have arisen of misundestood precepts that, perhaps, I can help to correct and clarify what the Bible has to say to us…
One misunderstanding states a claim that there is no Trinity, no triune God, as is the common doctrine of Christianity. Of course, atheists and agnostics, by the very nature of their beliefs, protest the existence of any god or, at least, the existence of God of the Bible. Therefore, the precept of Jesus being God is a non sequitur, a nonstarter. I’m not clear about how they can presume to have any authority or knowledge to discuss the matter or as to why they seem to be so intent on refuting the precept.
How can they begin to discuss something that they claim doesn’t even exist?
Nevertheless, for those who have not excluded the existence of a “Higher Power,” the Bible presents its case in several verses…
“Though he was God, he did not think of equality with God as something to cling to. Instead, he gave up his divine privileges; he took the humble position of a slave and was born as a human being.” — Philippians 2:6–7. So, the apostle Paul knew Jesus was God.
From the earliest events in Christianity, Jesus was called “Lord.”
At the Wedding at Cana where Jesus turned water into wine, John affirms “This miraculous sign at Cana in Galilee was the first time Jesus revealed his glory. And his disciples believed in him.” The word “glory” infers weight and synonyms would mean verification and validation of exactly who He was.
The Gospel records are replete with eyewitness accounts confirming that Jesus was God. To illustrate, here’s an account of Jesus healing a paralyzed man: “Who can forgive sins except God alone?” — excerpt from Mark’s account in chapter 2, verses 1–12.
Further, as for the Trinity, here is a verse where all three are mentioned. Jesus promised, “And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Advocate, who will never leave you.” — John 14:16. God, in the persons of the Trinity, is impossible to ignore let alone debate.
Unless a person thoroughly reads the entire Bible, there is a chance to miss the Trinity. The remedy for intelligent discussion is therefore to thoroughly read the entire Bible!
Finally, on this point, Triune governance should not be that strange of a concept. The Roman Empire tried it, but human beings finding and maintaining unity has never been very successful. In our own country we have a form of triune governance and we see the results — or the lack thereof — for the same reasons. So, we humans might have a hard time understanding how the Trinity is able to get along so agreeably and with such unity. We often have difficulty finding even two of us who can get along!
There are some things in the Bible that a person has to accept — no matter how mysterious they might seem. Eventually, as they continue to read, they will discover the explanation. For the serious seeker, such things will become clear.
This website may explain my perspective more clearly:
https://www.gotquestions.org/is-the-Holy-Spirit-God
Or, perhaps my personal experiences might be given some weight to my assertion about the Trinity:
Before becoming a Born Again Christian, before any attempt to read the Bible, and while wandering aimlessly about the country, I took my complaints up with God, who I supposed was up there somewhere. Those were typical human complaints — like why God allowed bad things to happen like war and hunger and disease. No, He didn’t answer them right away. Some months later, I complained to God again, but the situation was much more personal, serious, and radical, as I was in serious peril. Having dropped LSD, I immediately was on an unusually “bad trip.” Scared to death, I went up on the roof where I was staying, and called on God that might be somewhere up there in the night sky. He immediately delivered me from the LSD I had ingested. It was suddenly as if I had never “dropped.” It was so great and amazing that I repeated the scenario for the next two weekends. Then it came to mind, “I was just beating my head against the wall because it felt so good to stop!”
So, it was then confirmed that God, the Father, existed. The Bible was true in its assertion.
Looking back, I could see how God was leading me, and He led me to an Outreach Mission, a youth hostel of sorts, where an older Pentecostal Minister had given his house over for that purpose. Every evening the half dozen or so of us hippie types held hands in the front room, praying and singing praise songs. Surprisingly, it all seemed quite natural to me. After some time, I came to a place of repentance where I quit blaming everything and everyone else for my dark situation, accepting full responsibility for my lousy condition. Praying to Jesus for pardon, I was overwhelmed by His power of forgiveness and inner cleansing — an unbelievable relief I had never expected!
So, it was then confirmed that Jesus, the Son of God, exists. The Bible was true in this assertion, also.
Finally, some time after I had followed Jesus into water baptism, during one of the nightly prayer gatherings, I was brought into the experience of the baptism into the Holy Spirit. This is much more difficult for me to put into words. Let me just say that it was very dynamic and wonderful, but it certainly wasn’t as dramatic as the Day of Pentecost attested to in Acts. I did not speak in tongues — as some say is needed for confirmation — but the Minister gave a witness to confirm what I had received, to what God had done. I did speak in tongues some years later which was a great help in my praying.
So, it was then confirmed, at least to me, that the person of the Holy Spirit exists. The Bible was true in this assertion, also.
Maybe I should also emphasize that these were experiences, and they were not me practicing the sacraments — two very different things. Sacraments would have been my doing, while my experiences have been God’s doing.
If interested, this is the Bible account of the first Holy Spirit baptism after the crucified Jesus had risen from the dead:
“On the day of Pentecost all the believers were meeting together in one place. Suddenly, there was a sound from heaven like the roaring of a mighty windstorm, and it filled the house where they were sitting. Then, what looked like flames or tongues of fire appeared and settled on each of them. And everyone present was filled with the Holy Spirit and began speaking in other languages, as the Holy Spirit gave them this ability.
“At that time there were devout Jews from every nation living in Jerusalem. When they heard the loud noise, everyone came running, and they were bewildered to hear their own languages being spoken by the believers.” — Acts 2:1- 6, New Living Translation.
Read the Bible and seek Jesus’ presence in your life.
You just might be pleasantly surprised.
