CHAPLAIN’S PAGE: THE HOLY TRINITY
The Holy Trinity is a subject that has been a thorn in the flesh to both theologians and lip throughout the centuries. Those for and those against are equally convinced that their viewpoint is correct. Those against, will say that it is too difficult a matter for our understanding, therefore it cannot hold. Then how about the fact that God always has been, that He had no beginning? We accept that as fact, but our human minds cannot even begin to understand it. To the doubters of the trinity, we believe that God’s word presents us with a water tight case for its acceptance. Firstly, we should be aware that we humans are a trinity.
1 Thessalonians 5:23 “And the very God of peace sanctify you wholly; and I pray God your whole spirit and soul and body be preserved blameless unto the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.”
This text leaves no doubt that we are spirit, soul and body. The spirit is the Holy Spirit within us:
“Know ye not that ye are the temple of God and that the spirit of God dwelleth within you?” (I Corinthians 3:16).
The soul is the essential ‘us’ enabling us to have self-wareness. The realisation that we are a trinity is essential if we wish to learn even greater truths. Imagine that we are no more that flesh, blood and bones. At death we would be no more than a rotting body. Thank God, this is not so. Job was moved by the Holy Spirit to set down this wonderful truth:
” For I know that my redeemer liveth, and that he shall stand at the latter day upon the earth: And though after my skin worms destroy this body, yet in my flesh shall I see God: Whom I shall see for myself, and mine eyes shall behold, and not another; though my reins be consumed within me.”
Job   was   clearly shown that at the first resurrection when Christ returns every believer will be clothed in their resurrection body. A new body with full comprehension, but some have asked what of those who lived before Christ’s death and resurrection, what chance do they have? It was our Lord Himself who gave us the answer. He was questioned by a lawyer who tried to put him on the spot with a trick question,
“And, behold, a certain lawyer stood up, and tempted him, saying, Master, what shall I do to inherit eternal life? He said unto him, what is written in the law? how readest thou? And he answering said, Thou shall love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy strength, and with all thy mind; and thy neighbour as thyself. And he said unto him, Thou hast answered right: this do, and thou shall live.” (Luke 10:25-28).
The law was operating before it was recodified at Sinai. Noah was certainly aware of it nine hundred years before Moses, for he was instructed by God to separate the clean from the unclean beasts
“Of every clean beast thou shalt take to thee by sevens, the male and his female: and of beasts that are not clean by two , the male and his female”. (Genesis 7:2).
The reason why humans, apart from Noah and his family were wiped off the earth, was because
“man had corrupted his way upon the earth” (Genesis 6:12).
Man could only be held accountable for his actions if he was aware of God’s way, i.e. the Law. Eternal life has been possible for man throughout the centuries.
As shown above, man is body, soul and spirit, and at death there is a separation. The body goes to dust, oir ashes. Matter is not destroyed, only changed. The power of God is such that at the resurrection our remains will be used to construct our new body. A body which will never again see illness, infirmity, weakness, decay or death. Praise the Lord! As an interesting aside, it is possible that the resurrection body will not contain blood. Whilst something that Jesus said to His disciples after His resurrection is thought-provoking.
“Why are you troubled? And why do thoughts arise in your hearts? Behold my hands and my feet that it is I myself: handle me and see; for a spirit hath not flesh and bones, as you see me have! And when he had thus spoken, he shewed them his hands and his feet”. (Luke 24:38-40).
In normal speech we talk of ‘flesh and blood’. If we are correct, how can the resurrection body live without blood? We are told in Leviticus 17:11
“the life of the flesh is in the blood”.
Jesus gave us the answer in John 11:25
” Jesus said unto her (Martha), I am the resurrection and the life: he that believeth in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live”.
In our resurrection body, we shall be partakers of THE LIFE which is Christ. This is not all, 2 Peter 1 :4
“Whereby, are given unto us exceeding great and precious promises: that by these ye might be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust.”
A new, indestructible body, and a part of the Divine Nature – wow!!
Thus far we have seen that we are a trinity of body, soul, and spirit, not three separate people, but one. We may relate this principle to God Himself, for we are told in Genesis 1:26 that we are made in His image
“And God said, let us make man in our image, after our likeness”.
The three elements of God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit. As we would say today, there is no pecking order. All three elements are of equal rank and importance. This is beautifully expressed in article V. of the Thirty-Nine Articles of Religion. Thus , “The Holy Ghost, proceeding from the Father and the Son, is of one substance, majesty and glory, with the Father and the Son, very eternal God” .
This clearly demonstrates that the Son and the Holy Ghost are an integral part of God the Father, no less and not subordinate. An objection that some may have, is their belief that God the Father is the creator, therefore Christ must be lower in rank. However, the Father is not the Creator, Christ is the Creator.
Colossians 1:12-20 “Giving thanks unto the Father, which hath made us meet to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in light: Who hath delivered us from the power of darkness, and hath translated us into the kingdom of his dear Son: In whom we have redemption through his blood, even the forgiveness of sins: Who is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of every creature: For by him were all things created, that are in heaven, and that are in earth, visible and invisible, whether they be thrones, or dominions, or principalities, or powers: all things were created by him, and for him: And he is before all things, and by him all things consist. And he is the head of the body, the church: who is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead; that in all things he might have the pre-eminence. For it pleased the Father that in him should all fulness dwell; And, having made peace through the blood of his cross, by him to reconcile all things unto himself; by him, I say, whether they be things in earth, or things in heaven.”
Please notice ‘In Him'(Christ) all things consist, or hold together. Every second of every day, all matter is held in place by the almighty power of Christ, The Creator!
The mention of Christ being the firstborn of every creature in verse fifteen, is not to be taken to mean that He was created in the sense of having a beginning. It has the Old Testament meaning that Christ is ‘heir’ to the created universe.
We saw above in Article V. that “all three elements of God are equal”. This truth is beautifully expressed in John 14:13-18
“And whatsoever ye shall ask in my name, that will I do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son. If ye shall ask anything in my name, I will do it. If ye love me,  keep my commandments. And I will pray the Father, and he shall give you another Comforter, that he may abide with you for ever; Even the Spirit of truth; whom the world cannot receive, because it seeth him not, neither knoweth him: but ye know him; for he dwelleth with you, and shall be in you. I will not leave you comfortless: I will come to you.”
- The Father is glorified in the Son
- Christ claimed that the commandments were His
- On Christ’s command, the Father would send the Comforter to be with us
- Christ promised that He would not leave us comfortless after His death and He expressed it thus: “I will come to you” The only conclusion being that Christ and the Comforter (The Holy Spirit) are one and the same.
We stated above that the Colossians text makes it clear that Christ is the Creator. Some will object and point out that Genesis 1:1-3 clearly states that God created the heavens and the earth:
“In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth. And the earth was without form, and void; and darkness was upon the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters. And God said, ‘Let there be light: and there was light.”‘
Notice, verse 1, ‘God‘ and in verse 2 ‘The Spirit of God’. It should be noticed that the word God in verse 1 is from the Hebrew ‘ELOHIYM’ which is plural. Surely nothing should be clearer than the first verse of John 1
“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God”.
Who is the Word? Verse 14
“and the word was made flesh and dwelt among us (and we beheld his glory as of the only begotten of the Father) full of grace and truth”
Surely, nothing could be clearer than this wonderful text.
Hopefully, any doubters among our readers will find all these texts and thoughts helpful in what is generally regarded as a difficult subject. A further point remains to be resolved. What practical value does acceptance of the Holy Trinity have for us on our Christian journey? Why can’t God just be God? Why can’t He be as the god of Islam? No question of a Trinity there, just god. Simple! Let us outline a few reasons. Firstly, it enables Him to be much more than a remote God, sitting in his heaven and having no personal and vital contact with each of us. He is everywhere, in our hearts and minds, giving comfort in our times of greatest need. He gives us inspiration in our Christian walk, especially in our study of His word. He reminds us of our Christian obligations to those around us. He directs our path through good and bad times. The Holy Spirit is our comforter, intercessor, consoler and advocate.
The Holy Spirit is the means of the resurrection of Christ and man. Romans 8:11-14
“But if the Spirit of him that raised up Jesus from the dead dwell in you, he that raised up Christ from the dead shall also quicken your mortal bodies by his Spirit that dwelleth in you. Therefore, brethren, we are debtors, not to the flesh, to live after the flesh. For if ye live after the flesh, ye shall die: but if ye through the Spirit do mortify the deeds of the body, ye shall live. For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God.”
It is recommended that you read all the chapter, it is a meal in itself. Surely, the greatest reason for the Trinity is because it completely satisfies the greatest need of Mankind; that God, in Christ, came to earth in human form. He understands fully and completely, the depth of human sin. Up to that time every sin was purged by blood sacrifice of an animal to satisfy the demands of the Law. This was unsatisfactory long term. God, therefore, planned a permanent once for all sacrifice which would satisfy His judicial demand. Hebrews 10:12-14
“But this man, after he had offered one sacrifice for sins for ever, sat down on the right hand of God; From henceforth expecting till his enemies be made his footstool. For by one offering he hath perfected for ever them that are sanctified.”
He purged our sins, past, present and future, once for all. We have been graciously granted the gift of eternal life. At death, we are absent from the body, and present with the Lord, 2 Corinthians 5:8
“We are confident, I say, and willing rather to be absent from the body, and to be present with the Lord.”
When Jesus was in human form two thousand years ago, he was both God and man. How was this possible? We know that Joseph was not his natural father, so we pneed to know who supplies the blood for the child in the womb. Is it the mother? Certainly, she provided the nourishment and all that is necessary to make a baby, but her blood supply and the baby’s are quite separate. It is the father who supplies the building blocks of the baby’s blood. Luke 1:35 tells us
“And the angel answered and said unto her, The Holy Ghost shall come upon thee, and the power of the Highest shall overshadow thee: therefore also that holy thing which shall be born of thee shall be called the Son of God.”
Overshadow is from the Greek EPISKIAZO, variously meaning ‘to envelop in a haze of brilliance’ and figuratively ‘to invest with paternatural influence.
As Mary did not supply the blood of Jesus, we may safely conclude, that it was supplied by God the Father. His blood, therefore, was Divine, not human blood. It could not be otherwise, for human blood was tainted from the moment of the Fall in Eden.. Again, it would not have been possible for the Lord to have fulfilled the conditions of Passover if His blood was corruptible human blood. This is confirmed in 1 Peter 1:18-20
“Forasmuch as ye know that ye were not redeemed with corruptible things, as silver and gold, from your vain conversation received by tradition from your fathers; But with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot:Â Who verily was foreordained before the foundation of the world, but was manifest in these last times for you,”.
Paul also confirms this in Hebrews 9:14
“How much more shall the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without spot to God, purge your conscience from dead works to serve the living God?”
These two texts stand by their own testimonial to the fact that our Saviour’s precious blood was divine and not human. To understand the incarnation, we may break it down thus:
1). The body of Jesus, flesh, bones and organs, were supplied by Mary, and were therefore human.
2) His blood was divine.
3) His nature was that of man before the fall and therefore perfect.
4) His spirit was human. Psalm 31:5
“Into thine hand I commit my spirit: thou hast redeemed me, O LORD God of truth.”
Jesus himself quoted these words before He died.
It is hoped that this short article will have shed some light on a difficult subject.
