According to Christian religious traditions, the word ‘Trinity’ is typically used to refer to God’s existence as a unified version of three persons: Father, Son and Holy Spirit. Each person is completely distinct from the other but still unified in essence. In the Bible, God is described as being “God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit” . “He who has seen me has seen the Father,” Jesus says in John 14:8-11 and also is referred to as being “One God” in 1 Corinthians 8:4. “There is no God but one.”
Because the term Trinity is not used in the Bible, some religious groups such as Jehovah’s Witnesses argue its validity. According to “The History of the Trinity,” the term “Trinity” did not come about until the 4th century and is borrowed from Greek philosophy — “Tri” meaning three and “unity” meaning one, thus “tri” plus “unity” equals trinity.
The Father is called God repeatedly in the Bible and is the first member of the Trinity. God the son, Jesus, is also mentioned as God in John 1:1 “In the beginning was the word, and the word was with God, and the word was God.”
Finally, the Holy Spirit is also referenced as God in Acts 5:3-4 “Why has your heart caused you to lie to the Holy Spirit? You have not lied to men, but to God.”
There are several analogies used to explain the Trinity, one theologian, Steven Brandt compares the Trinity to the fingers on a hand: Each finger is part of your hand, but respectfully called a finger — but still being part of the hand. Another common analogy used is compounds: H20 can be water, ice or steam individually, but each is classified as H20.
Christian belief states that as sinful beings, with our limited human experience, we are not able to comprehend the Trinity, but can be assured that God the Son (Jesus) is fully God, God the Father is fully God, and God the Holy spirit is one God. Well-known Evangelist Billy Graham has been quoted as saying “I can’t explain the Trinity, but I believe it.”
In the Bible, God refers to himself in a plural form as seen in Genesis 1:26, “Let us make man in our image, in our likeness, and let them rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air, over the livestock, rule over all the Earth, and over all the creatures that move along the ground.”
The Bible teaches that there is one church but many members; the same concept applies to the Holy Trinity. There is one God, but three persons, none higher or more powerful than the other.