The Trinity?

Question

I don't quite understand the Trinity. I never have.
I always thought that God was Jesus' father.... and the Holy Spirit, I never have understood that.
I wish someone could explain, how all 3...God, Jesus,and the Holy Spirit are one thing? I always look at them as 3 different things...

Can someone also explain exactly what is the Holy Spirit?

Thanks to anyone who will help explain this to me.

Answer 1

I used to think they were three different things until 11 years ago. I changed my mind when I became a Christian. Here's a simple explanation:

Genesis 1 talks about creation and we read "the Spirit of God was hovering over the waters." The Holy Spirit was active in creation then - it was God at work creating.

In verse 26 God says, "Let US make man in OUR image, in OUR likeness." Who was God speaking to? Another deity? No, because there is only ONE Creator God. To find out who is being referred to we need to go to John 1: 1-5 - "In the beginning was the Word and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was with God in the beginning. Through him, all things were made; without him nothing was made that had been made. In him was life, and that life was the light of men. The light shines in the darkness, but the darkness has not understood it."

Jews used 'Word' as a way of referring to God.
'With God' - the Word was distinct from God.
'Was God' - Jesus was God in the fullest sense.

Jesus was the Word, Jesus was God and Jesus was with God at creation and was active in that creation, just as the Holy Spirit was active in that creation.

There were not three beings at work - only one - because all three are God.

John 1: 18 says "No-one has ever seen God, but God the One and Only, who is at the Father's side, has made him known." That's Jesus.

John 14: 6 says "Jesus answered, 'I am the way and the truth and the life. No-one comes to the Father except through me. If you really knew me, you would know my Father as well. From now on, you do know him and have seen him." Jesus and the Father are one.

John 14: 16 says "And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Counsellor to be with you forever - the Spirit of truth. The world cannot accept him, because it neither sees him nor knows him. But you know him, for he lives with you and will be in you." The Counsellor is the Holy Spirit.

John 14: 26 says "But the Counsellor, the Holy Spirit whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you all things and will remind you of everything I have said to you." Both the Father and the Son are involved in the sending.

Isaiah 9: 6-15 says "Wonderful Counsellor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace" and is talking about the promised Messiah, Jesus Christ.

In the beginning God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit were all involved in creation. Then God came to earth in human form, Jesus, Immanuel, God with us, to call people to God. Now God the Holy Spirit, the counsellor works to continue to bring people to God.

Matthew 28: 19 -20 says "Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptising them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age." Jesus, who came to earth, was Immanuel - God with us, and the Holy Spirit is God with us now.

Finally, in Romans 9: 5 and speaking of Christ, "and from them [the Patriarchs] is traced the human ancestry of Christ, who is God over all, for ever praised! Amen."

Not three beings, but one. The triune nature of God is shown in God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit. Past, present and future.

Answer 2

OK, no short answer here. Let's begin:

"For there are three that bear record in heaven, the Father, the Word, and the Holy Ghost: and these three are one."

1 John 5:7

John perfectly describes the Trinity, how it is three different aspects combined in one God. Some common analogies used are water: 1. liquid in it's natural condition, 2. frozen to ice, when there is a tepmerature drop of 32 degrees fahrenheit or less, and 3. steam when it is heated to temperatures of 212 degrees or greater. But it remains water in any of these three forms.

I will use myself as the second analogy: 1. I'm a father, 2. I'm also a son, 3 I'm also a grandfather, a husband, an uncle, a cousin, etc. But I'm always me=one person.

Now who is the Holy Ghost or Holy Spirit, if you prefer.

Simply put, the Holy Ghost is the third part of the Trinity.

He is fully God, but He is the part of God that indwells inside His believers:

"Now we have received, not the spirit of the world,

But the Spirit which is of God; that we might know the things

Which are freely given to us of God.

Which things we speak, not in the words which man's wisdom

Teacheth, but which the Holy Ghost teacheth; comparing

Spiritual things with spiritual.

But he that is spiritual judgeth all things, yet he himself is

Judged of no man.

For who have known the mind of the Lord, that he may instruct

Him? But we have the mind of Christ."

1 Corithians 2:12-16

The Holy Spirit is present throughout the Bible, first mentioned in Genesis 1:2, last mentioned in Revelation 22:17.

I hope this answers your questions.

Grace and Peace

Answer 3

If you are a christian, I suppose you should ask God to explain it through the Word. The Holy Spirit will then guide you into all truth as you read the Word. If a christian, Jesus should have been incredibly real to you, when you set out in faith. The Holy Spirit should make your sonship to God apparent to you at some point, and you can pray that, so I guess then you would pray to God the Father as well as Jesus.

Actually it does seem illogical from our natural mind's view. But it is such a reality of both the New Testament (and to a degree but much much less clearly there are real inklings of it in the Jewish scriptures, the Old Testament) and christian experience.

If you think the Holy Spirit is just a divine force you can read a book such as "Good morning, Holy Spirit" by Benny Hinn. Bill Prankard, a Candian healing evangelist, mainly involved in missions to Siberia and North Canada, also may have written about the Holy Spirit in a way that makes it evident He is person, as well as God.

They all work in unity. So Jesus says in the gospel of John that he says the words of His Father, and follows His instructions and does His works (loads of healings, the atonement sacrifice, teaching).Jesus and God the Father sent the Holy Spirit to stand in Jesus place to christians now Jesus has returned to heaven. The Holy Spirit is on Earth (as well as everywhere I suppose.) His temple is the spirits and bodies of believers in Jesus the Christ.

If you think that love is the utlimate purpose of existence, it might be slightly more comprehensible. God loves Himself as another, and the love in expression is the Holy Spirit. But thats too hard to comprehend.

Answer 4

There is no trinity. God, Jesus and the Holy Spirit are three seperate distinct things that servce one purpose. People often get confused bout this and think that they are one in BEING but they are just one in purpose.

The Holy Spirit has a body of spirit (no flesh and bones) and the Father (God) and his son (Jesus re resurrected, therefore they both have bodies of flesh and bone.

you had it right tho, God Jesus and the Holy Spirit are three seperate things. If the trinity was truth and they were all one then why would Jesus say (TO GOD) while he was on the cross "Forgive them FATHER for they know not what they do" he wouldnt have said that to himself so who was he talking to? he was talking to God, his father.

Answer 5

The trinity is but one set of beliefs though most of the Christians today are really on the verge of "modalism" which teaches that the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit are really three offices held by the one God.

There are many Christians that do not believe either the trinity or modalism.

When a person says:
The Father is God. The Son is God. The Holy Spirit is God. But not three gods only one God.

They are really teaching something akin to modalism. This is considered heretical by true trinitarians. Often they will use also the word or label "Godhead".

"Godhead" is in many bible translations. But the Greek word should be taken to be "God's Divinity and the multiple forms He shows this to us". Paul used local concepts or concepts locals understood to explain God.

True trinitarians do not believe in a "Godhead", as taught in modalism, they believe that each is God but each is a distinct entity.

This is where many religious teachers can confuse the newcomer to religion. It is easy for them to show the errors in modalism, but difficult to show that Jesus and the Holy Spirit are not also one with God in purpose and essence yet distinct self's which is close to "trinity".

The Holy Spirit is Ru'ach in Hebrew and is a powerful force. The modern word dynamite came from the Greek word "Dunamas" (phonic spelling) meaning powerful and this is stated of the Holy Spirit.

Some believe it is the very force of God and directed by God and/or Jesus and others believe the Holy Spirit is a person of self.

Answer 6

Here's how it was explained simply to me. God, the Father is the Head (we have heads) Jesus, the body (we have bodies) and the Holy Spirit (we have spirits). The three are one in the Trinity.

Answer 7

Think of the trinity as an apple; the peeling is God the Father, the pulp is God the Son (Jesus), and the seeds are God the Holy Spirit. Three different parts making a whole.

The Holy Spirits role is as a Counselor. In John14:16 Jesus says that He "will ask the Father and he will give you another Counselor to be with you forever- the Spirit of truth." Jesus continues that for believers "..you know him, for he lives with you and will be in you. I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you." Then in John 16:7 Jesus says, "It is for your good that I am going away. Unless I go away, the Counselor will not come to you. When he comes, he will convict the world of guilt in regard to sins and righteousness and judgment." vs. 13, "But when he, the Spirit of truth, comes , he will guide you into all truth."
I hope this is helpful. Bible study is not always easy but the learning is soooo worth it!
May God bless you in your search for truth.

Answer 8

The Holy Spirit is sent by the God Father and Jesus the God Man to indwell in believers. God the Father and God the Holy Spirit are invincible. Jesus Christ is the God Man. All One.
I'd like to recommend a book that may help. Please seriously consider.
The Trinity: Evidence And Issues
By Dr. Robert A. Morey

If you seek Him you will find Him.

Answer 9

The triune was "born" so to speak when Jesus was crucified and raised again. We now could have the Holy spirit inside each of us and have the counsellor of truth (which is God). Jesus is a part of God and knows God's mind and is God. The holy spirit is God as well. We all hold the holy spirit within our bodies. This is why our bodies are considered temples. Jesus was separated from God when Jesus became a mere man. He returned to God after his resurrection. I hope this helps. I hope I explained it correctly.

Answer 10

1.God the Father
2. Christ the Son
3. The Holy Ghost
The Holy Ghost came when Jesus' soul was released at the time that His body stopped functioning and His Spirit was separated from it.
The three form the trinity. Became one at that time.