The Trinity – ChristEternalChristianChurch.com LEARNING ACTIVITY #4
The Trinity
After completing Learning Activity #3, a person could ask the question of whether there is confusion over how many true Gods there really are. Learning Activity #1 showed that the Bible teaches there is one true God, while Learning Activity #3 seems to indicate there might be three. We categorically believe that there is but one God, but that single God is what is called a tri-unity.
This situation is given clarity by being able to gain an understanding of the Trinity or the biblical fact that the one and only God of the Bible is a triune God, or what is known as a compound unity. Let’s look in our Bible at the following passages and see what it says about this truth.
Using your Bible, look up the following scripture verses and write them in the space provided.
1. Genesis 1:26
2. What words do you see in this verse that seem somewhat odd?
3. Matthew 28:19
4. 1 John 5:7
5. 1 Peter 1:2
6. What do the Scriptures in #3, #4 and #5 above seem to indicate?
It has been said by some that every true unity is made up of a trinity with many examples of this in our third dimensional midst. Some good examples of this are the beginning, middle and end of things, past present and future of time, under, middle and upper with respect to objects, heaven, earth and the ocean, the threefold cord that is not easily broken in Scripture (see Ecclesiastes 4:12), as well as the family unit consisting of father, mother and children.
7. In your words, describe what you understand to be the Trinity of God.
8. John 5:18
9. What title did Jesus give to His Father in the verse above?
10. 1 Corinthians 1:3
11. What title does the Apostle Paul give to the Father in the verse above?
12. 1 Peter 1:2
13. What title does Peter give to the Father in the verse above?
14. 2 John 1:3
15. What title does John give to the Father in the verse above?
16. Jude 1
17. What title does Jude give to the Father in the verse above?
18. What conclusion can we make from the scriptures in items #8 through #17 above?
19. John 1:1, 14 (Note: The word “Word” in this verse is Jesus Christ).
20. John 5:17, 18
21. 1 Timothy 3:16 (Note: Jesus is the one who is spoken of as being “manifest in the flesh” in this verse).
22. Hebrews 1:8 (Note: This verse is the Father speaking about the Son).
23. What do the verses in items #19 through #22 above tell you about Jesus Christ?
24. Acts 5:3, 4
25. What do the two verses above tell you about the Holy Spirit?
In addition, the Hebrew word for God is “elohim.” The singular form “el” and “elohe” are used frequently in the Scriptures for God, but the plural form “elohim” is used over one-hundred times. Although this is not an absolute proof of God being a tri-unity, it does indicate that God is more than one but still one in totality.
Another strong indicator of a plurality in the Godhead is found in the usage of plural pronouns in the Bible to refer to God.
26. In the verse found in #1 at the beginning of this Learning Activity, what three pronouns indicate a plurality in the Godhead?
27. Genesis 3:22
28. In the verse above, what pronoun(s) indicate a plurality in the Godhead?
29. Genesis 11:7
30. In the verse above, what pronoun(s) indicate a plurality in the Godhead?
31. Isaiah 6:8
32. In the verse above, what pronoun(s) indicate a plurality in the Godhead?
33. John 15:26
34. How many persons are mentioned in the verse above?
35. Romans 15:30
36. How many persons of the Godhead are mentioned in the verse above?
37. Ephesians 2:18
38. How many persons of the Godhead are mentioned in the verse above?
39. Hebrews 9:14
40. How many persons of the Godhead are mentioned in the verse above?
41. 1 Peter 1:2
42. How many persons of the Godhead are mentioned in the verse above?
In conclusion we can see that the Trinity of the Father, Son and the Holy Spirit are all taught to be God in the Scriptures. This one God however, exists simultaneously as three distinct divine persons. All three personalities are fully God.
The illustration above has been helpful to me in explaining the trinity to others. Perhaps it will be helpful to you.
Here is an interesting testimony of a Ahmadiyya sect of Islam student who was in attendance at Old Dominion University in 2005. The student’s name was Nabeel Qureshi, a Pakistani, in a chemistry class. While studying resonance in the substance nitrate the professor was describing the subatomic world where things happen that appear to happen that make no sense to those of us who conceptualize the world at only a human level. This results in truths about our universe that do not easily fit into our minds. In this case, three separate structures of nitrate exist in one molecule of nitrate all of the time and never just one of them. The three are separate but are all the same, and they are one. They are three in one.
Nabeel concluded that if there are things in this world that can be three in one, even incomprehensibly so, than why cannot God? It was now possible for Nabeel to see that God was three persons in one being!
The above is an excerpt from the book, Seeking Allah, Finding Jesus.”
Click on Self-Check below to check your understanding.