A Simple Human Trying to Understand a Complex God

Last week my KI classmates reunited in good ole Branson, MO. Unfortunately, I wasn’t able to join them. I ended up in the hospital for a week with sapovirus & gastroenteritis (aka a really bad stomach virus). Talk about an unexpected start to the New Year! I got to ring in 2017 lying in an ER room. I mean, just last year, I was recovering from major hip surgery, so I guess this whole hospital + New Year’s Eve thing must be a trend. Well, one that I hope ended this year. So, with a whole week in the hospital I had a lot of down time (obvi). I watched way too much Netflix, read some books, & played a ridiculous amount of card games with mom. One day it snowed & I was so bored that I raised my hospital bed as high as it would go, just so I could watch the snow fall outside (lol).

While being in the hospital for a week was the last place I wanted to be, I got some sweet, sweet time with Jesus. I had time to process all that I had been learning from first semester, pray about the year, & just talk with God. I got back to KI on Monday night & let me tell ya – it was such a sweet reunion with friends! Still to this day people continue to check in on me to make sure I’m feeling okay & to say how glad they are that I’m back.

Last week my classmates learned about the trinity. Now that’s not an easy topic to begin with, let alone try & catch up on everything. I know I’m a week behind, but I’ve loved getting to study the trinity more than I ever have before. As humans, our brains cannot fully understand the complexity that is the trinity. It takes faith to trust that God is who He says He is. This difficult but fundamental concept within Christianity is that God is the Father, the Son, & the Holy Spirit. Yes, I’m saying the Father is God, the Son is God, & the Spirit is God, but they are all unique. The role of the Father is to send His Son, the role of the Son is to send the Spirit, & the role of the Spirit is to dwell in us. The easiest way to explain this incomprehensible topic is this: One God, three persons. Throughout the entire Bible, we never see the word “trinity,” however, there are ideas that point toward there being a trinity.

Here are some things that I know for sure about the trinity:

• There is only one God
• All other “gods” are not really gods at all (1 Corinthians 8:5)
• God is revealed in His Word, in His world, & the Word who came into the world (Jesus)
• This God – the only One who is, the One who is revealed in Scripture, the One who became flesh – is Trinitarian
• The three persons are equally & fully divine
• The three persons need to be distinguished but cannot be separated

Some key passages to explain the trinity are these:

1 Peter 1:2 (NASB) “According to the foreknowledge of God the Father, by the sanctifying work of the Spirit, to obey Jesus Christ & be sprinkled with His blood: May grace & peace be yours in the fullest measure.”

This verse shows us the working of the trinity. We see the foreknowledge of God the Father, the sanctification of God the Spirit, & the sprinkling of the blood of God the Son. The Father foreknew us. Following His foreknowledge, the Spirit came to sanctify us. This separates us & brings us back to God. This is the aspect of the Spirit’s sanctification before Jesus’ redemption. Then, there is the sprinkling of the blood of the Son, which indicates Christ’s redemption.

Deuteronomy 6:4-5 (NASB) “Hear, O Israel! The LORD is our God, the LORD is one! You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart & with all your soul & with all your might.”

This is the key verse of Judaism. The capital LORD means Yahweh, which means God the Father. He first revealed Himself in Exodus with Moses. God means Elohim, which means plural God. So the literal translation is, “Yahweh your plural God, Yahweh is one.” This shows that there is One God, three persons.

Matthew 3:16-17 (NASB) “After being baptized, Jesus came up immediately from the water; & behold, the heavens were opened, & he saw the Spirit of God descending as a dove & lighting on Him, & behold, a voice out of the heavens said, ‘This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well-pleased.’”

In this passage, the nature of God as the Father, Son, & Holy Spirit can clearly be seen. Jesus came to John the Baptist to be baptized, & as Jesus rose up out of the water, heaven opened up, & the Spirit of God, in the form of a dove, descended upon him. A voice from heaven was heard saying, “This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well-pleased.” God the Father clearly announced Jesus’ identity, & the Spirit descended on Jesus, which empowers Him to begin His ministry.

Genesis 1:26 (NASB) “Then God said, ‘Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness; & let them rule over the fish of the sea & over the birds of the sky & over the cattle & over all the earth, & over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.”

This verse shows plurality in the Old Testament. God, or Elohim, is plural every time it is used in the Old Testament. This verse then reads, “Then God (plural Elohim) said, ‘Let Us (plural pronoun) make man in Our (plural pronoun) image, according to Our (plural pronoun) likeness…” These plural pronouns used of God prove the trinity.

I believe in the trinity because of Jesus & once the trinity is revealed, the hints of plurality & foreshadowing in the Old Testament are also clearer. With the coming of Jesus, distinctions between the persons become clearer, too. God has always been & has always been one in three persons. Studying God is a response to who God is, is dependent upon God, & involves the heart, soul, mind, & strength. It is an act of worship that ultimately results in a life of obedience & service.

Looking back to when I said, “This God – the only One who is, the One who is revealed in Scripture, the One who became flesh – is Trinitarian,” if God is trinity, then it matters that we believe in the trinity. If we don’t, we are believing in a god who does not exist. Belief in the trinity affects everything else, including the way we read the Bible.

Although the word “trinity” is not found in the Bible, the concept clearly is. It is revealed in time & space in Jesus, & only the trinity “makes sense” of the Biblical storyline & the incarnation, God with us. No one has ever known God apart from divine revelation. He takes the initiative, He condescends to us, He makes Himself known, & He acts in our world. We know who God is by what He does. We can say meaningful things about the trinity, but it is still unfathomable. I believe it because the Bible teaches it & because it is true.

I’m just a simple human trying to understand a complex God. I can’t wait to be in heaven one day & ask God all the silly questions that fill my earthly brain. As a believer, I trust in God’s plan & know that He is always faithful.

Loyally,

Lindsey