There is one God
Scripture never wavers: the LORD our God is one LORD, and beside Him there is no God.
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One God in three Persons
The Trinity
“Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost.” — Matthew 28:19
What we confess
“The eternal triune God reveals Himself to us as Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, with distinct personal attributes, but without division of nature, essence, or being.”
The Baptist Faith and Message 2000, Article II
Scutum Fidei · the Shield of the Faith
Tap the shield
Three truths held together
The shape of the doctrine
Three distinct Persons
The Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit speak to, send, love and glorify one another; they are not three names for one Person.
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Each Person is fully God
Divine names, attributes and works belong to each Person: eternity, presence everywhere, creation and the giving of life.
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Revealed progressively
From shadow to full light
The Old Testament hints at the Trinity; the New Testament brings it into the open, in the coming of the Son and the sending of the Spirit.
Old Testament
God and His Spirit at creation
God creates; the Spirit of God moves upon the face of the waters.
"Let us make man"
God speaks in the plural, then man is made in His (singular) image. Note: Christians have long read this as a hint of plurality within the one God; some read it as a plural of majesty.
"The LORD said unto my Lord"
Jesus Himself uses this verse to show David's Son is also David's Lord ().
Holy, holy, holy
John says Isaiah here saw the glory of the Son (); Paul says the Holy Ghost spoke these words ().
"The Lord GOD, and his Spirit, hath sent me"
One speaks who is sent by the Lord GOD and by His Spirit.
The Spirit upon the Anointed One
Jesus reads this in Nazareth and says, "This day is this scripture fulfilled" ().
New Testament
The Incarnation
The Holy Ghost comes upon Mary; the power of the Highest overshadows her; the child is the Son of God.
The Baptism of Jesus
The Son is baptized, the Spirit descends, the Father speaks from heaven, all at once.
The promise of the Comforter
The Son will pray the Father, and He will give another Comforter.
One name, three Persons
Baptize "in the name" (singular) of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost.
The apostolic blessing
The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, the love of God, and the communion of the Holy Ghost.
Chosen, sanctified, sprinkled
Elect by the Father, sanctified by the Spirit, unto the blood of Jesus Christ.
Inseparable works
Three Persons, one work
In every great work of God, Scripture shows the Father, the Son and the Spirit acting together.
| Work | The Father | The Son | The Holy Spirit |
|---|---|---|---|
| Creation | |||
| Incarnation | |||
| Atonement | |||
| Resurrection | |||
| Salvation | |||
| Our prayers |
Guarding the truth
What the Trinity is not
Modalism
RejectedOne Person who appears in three modes, like masks.
The Persons are present at the same moment and speak to one another.
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Taught by Sabellius, 3rd century; rejected by the early church (Tertullian, Against Praxeas).
Tritheism
RejectedThree separate gods.
Scripture insists there is only one God.
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Answered in the Athanasian Creed: "not three Gods, but one God."
Arianism
RejectedThe Son is a created being, not eternal God.
The Word was in the beginning, was God, and made all things.
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Taught by Arius; rejected at the Council of Nicaea, AD 325.
Denying the Spirit's deity
RejectedThe Holy Spirit is only a force or power.
The Spirit can be lied to, grieved, and speaks and wills; to lie to Him is to lie to God.
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Rejected at the Council of Constantinople, AD 381.
The church's historic confession
“We believe in one God, the Father Almighty… And in one Lord Jesus Christ… very God of very God, begotten, not made, being of one substance with the Father… And in the Holy Ghost, the Lord and Giver of life, who proceedeth from the Father, who with the Father and the Son together is worshipped and glorified.”
Niceno-Constantinopolitan Creed, AD 381 (public domain), abridged. Creeds are historical summaries, not Scripture.
Note in the KJV reads "the Father, the Word, and the Holy Ghost: and these three are one." It stands in the Textus Receptus but in few early Greek manuscripts. Conservative scholars differ on whether it is original. The doctrine does not rest on this verse; the passages above teach it plainly.