The Nature of the Trinity – Part 2 – Is God One Person?

This is the next installment of the study of The Nature of the Trinity.  If you have not read the first part, then you should read that first, as it will help to establish the needed understanding God's uniqueness.  The bible is extremely clear that there is only ONE God and that Jehova is that God.  In this part of the study, I want to examine the question of whether God is One person.  The essence of this portion of the study will look at some of the original language, primarily from the New Testament.  Additionally, we will look at some language constructs to assist with interpreting the meaning of some passages in both the Old and New Testaments.

To begin with, let's look at this word "person" in the context of the Trinity.  Understanding God requires us to first understand ourselves.  We can do this because the bible teaches that we are made in God's own image.  I will offer two different ways of looking at ourselves in order to help understand exactly how the three persons in the Godhead (this is just a way of referring to God when you are discussing the distinct persons who comprise the Trinity).  Using myself as an example, I am one man – I cannot imagine that anyone would or could argue against this reality.  In the same way, it is also true that God is one God.  My parents know me as a son.  Since I have children, I am a father as well.  As a married man, I am also a husband.  I am all three of these "persons" wrapped up in one single entity (man).  As a son, I am 100% a son and the other things that I am do not detract at all from my being a son.  The same is true of all my other roles.  The other reality is that while I am a son, father and husband, I am all of those things and how I think, behave and deal with each of these roles, comes from the exact same source…ME.  No one part of who I am (father, son, husband) detracts from the other, and in many ways, each one enhances the others and all three parts (persons) are coming from the same source.  Understanding the nature of the Trinity is pretty close to the same thing.  God is one God.  Also, He is three persons.

Another way to view and understand the mystery of the Trinity is to consider another aspect of our humanity.  We are mind, body and spirit.  If any one of these were missing, we would cease to be what we are.  It would not be feasible for our mind to live on it's own without both the body and spirit.  The same could be said about any one of these three things that, though separate and distinct from each other, combine to make us what and who we are.  My spirit is fully me and yet, I would not be complete without my mind and body.  My body is fully me, but with a different mind and spirit, I would be a different person.  This is precisely the way it is with God.  God the Father is fully God and, yet, without the Son and Spirit, he would not be the same God or really even God at all.  God the Father is unique and separate from the Son, but both are one God, just as my own body and spirit are unique and still both me.

So, with the above understanding of what it means when I say that God is a Trinity, let's proceed to study the Word of God to see what the bible has to say about God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit.

God is one God, One Yahweh, One Lord and One Spirit

This is what was covered in part 1.  There is only one God, Jehovah.

John 4:24 – For God is Spirit, so those who worship him must worship in spirit and in truth.

The entire point of this study is intended to discover the truth about who God is from a biblical perspective.    In this regard, we must understand as much about who He is in order to worship him “in truth”.

The Bible never says that God is “one person”

Let's look at a first example of a New Testament scripture that indicates that Jesus, the Son, shares in the Glory of God.  

• Hebrews 1:3 (NKJV) – who being the brightness of His glory and the express image of His person, and upholding all things by the word of His power, when He had by Himself purged our sins, sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high,
• Hebrews 1:3 (NLT) – The Son radiates God’s own glory and expresses the very character of God, and he sustains everything by the mighty power of his command. When he had cleansed us from our sins, he sat down in the place of honor at the right hand of the majestic God in heaven.
• Hebrews 1:3 (NASB) – And He is the radiance of His glory and the exact representation of His nature, and upholds all things by the word of His power. When He had made purification of sins, He sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high,
  • Here (NLT), "God" and “His” (NKJV and NASB) refers specifically to the Father.  The second sentence, the words “…He had by Himself…” (NKJV) or simply “he” (NLT and NASB)  refers to the Son.  It takes a careful reading to properly assign the personal pronouns to the correct person, but as you do so, you can see the meaning of this scripture begin to take form.
  • Further, the words translated as “who being the brightness of His glory” in the NKJV, really are better understood with the NLT translation.  The Son does not simply “reflect” the Glory of God (the Father).  Rather, that Glory radiates FROM him.  Meaning that he (Jesus) like God (the Father) are the SOURCE of that glory.  
    • The writer here, used a word (translated as “radiates” in the NLT) that is used nowhere else in the New Testament.  The original Greek word, “apaugasma”,  means “a light flashing forth (from), radiation, gleam” (Strong's Concordance word 541).
    • This “glory”, then, is not unique to the Father.  It is a shared substance of both the Father AND the Son.
    • The use of this word, is one clear indicator that the author of this book (many believe that Paul is the author), believes that Jesus Christ was God in the flesh.  
    • It should be noted that if a man like Paul (or any other Jewish writer) to assign God's glory to ANY man or anything else, it is no accident.
  • Another word worth noting in the original language is the word translated as: "the express image" (NKJV), "expresses the very" (NLT) and "exact representation" (NASB) is the Greek word "charaktér"
    • Strong's Concordance word number 5481 and means "an exact reproduction" and represents not only an external representation, but and internal reality as well.  
    • What the use of this word means in this context is that the author was indicating that Jesus was not only exernally indistinguishable from God, but that internally (his Spirit) was that of God as well.  In other words, Jesus' nature/character/substance (see below) and God's are one in the same.  Again, the use of this word in this text is no accidental thing.
• Hebrews 11:1 (NKJV) – Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.
  • The Greek word "hupostasis" is used in Heb. 1:3 and in Hebrews 11:1.  In the context of Hebrews 1:3, it is referring to God's NATURE or CHARACTER.  The yellow highlights in the verses above show where this word is used in the original language in both verses.  In Hebrews 11:1, it is translated "substance".
    • Strong's word 5287- Definition: (lit: an underlying), (a) confidence, assurance, (b) a giving substance (or reality) to, or a guaranteeing, (c) substance, reality.
    • Word Study quoted directly from Strong's Concordance – 5287 hypóstasis(from 5259 /hypó, "under" and 2476 /hístēmi, "to stand") – properly, (to possess) standing under a guaranteed agreement ("title-deed"); (figuratively) "title" to a promise or property, i.e. a legitimate claim (because it literally is, "under a legal-standing") – entitling someone to what is guaranteed under the particular agreement.
    • For the believer, 5287 /hypóstasis ("title of possession") is the Lord's guarantee to fulfill the faith He inbirths (cf. Heb 11:1 with Heb 11:6). Indeed we are only entitled to what God grants faith for (Ro 14:23).
  • This verse is listed here because as I was studying this topic, I found it of particular interest.  It is not something that indicates the diety of Christ, but I found the use of the same word in both places worthy of noting.  What IS important here, is that the use of this word in Hebrews 1:3 indicates that the promises given in that verse regarding the forgiveness of sin are GUARANTEED by the very nature/stubstance of God Almighty in the person of Christ Jesus, who is God in the flesh.
• Galatians 3:20 – Now a mediator is helpful if more than one party must reach an agreement. But God, who is one, did not use a mediator when he gave his promise to Abraham.
  • Here, God is spoken of as one party in the covenant between God and man, but doesn't specifically say God is one person. Why, then, was it important for Paul to indicate that God is “one”?  This is a very difficult passage to really understand out of context, but I believe it becomes more clear, if you take the entirety of the chapter into account.  It should be noted, that there is a lot of contention regarding the precise “best” interpretation of the original language (more than 250 such interpretations have been put forth over the years).  However, looking in the context of the entire passage, it seems clear that the most probable reason for him to clarify was as follows:
  • Paul, throughout the early verses in this passage, has repeatedly gone from discussing the person of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit.  It is, therefore, a possibility that Paul felt that it would be misunderstood by the reader that he was referring to one as the law-giver and another as the promise-giver.  I believe he (Paul) was simply attempting to clarify that, though he had been referring to multiple “persons”, he wanted it to be understood that the very same God (“who is one”) is both the giver of the law AND the promise to Abraham regarding the coming Christ, who would bring about the NEW covenant (fulfill the promise given to Abraham).
  • Because Paul thought it necessary to clarify this, is one indicator that Paul believed and taught that there is ONE God existing as multiple, equal persons.
• Job 13:8 (KJV) – Will ye accept his person? will ye contend for God?
• Job 13:8 (NLT) – Will you slant your testimony in his favor?  Will you argue God’s case for him?
  • Here, the word translated as “his person” (“panim” or “paneh”), literally means, in the original Hebrew, “his faces”.  (Strong's word 6440).  The use of the plural form of this word indicates very strongly that God is not one person…rather, a plurality of persons.

There is, but one God, but, there are scriptures that seem to indicate that there is more than one “person”.  So far, we have looked at a very small portion of Hebrews that indicates that there is, at the least, a shared “substance” between the Son and the Father.  Specifically, this “substance” we have discussed is the Glory of God.  Additionally, looking at Paul's discussion of God in Galatians, it seems to indicate that Paul felt it necessary to add clarity to at least one contention regarding the need for mediation in order to remove the likelihood of misunderstanding of God.

Singular and plural pronouns used for God
Over 7000 times in the scriptures God speaks or is spoken of with singular pronouns (I, He, etc.); but this is proper because God is a single individual being; thus these singular forms do not disprove that God exists as three "persons" as long as these persons are not separate beings.  At the same time, there are examples of God speaking of or to himself using plural pronouns.  These can only be accounted for by interpreting the meaning within the scope of the existence of what we refer to as the trinity (a plurality of “persons”).  Let's revew just a few of these instances.

• Genesis 1:26 –  Then God said, “Let us make human beings in our image, to be like us. They will reign over the fish in the sea, the birds in the sky, the livestock, all the wild animals on the earth, and the small animals that scurry along the ground.”
• Genesis 1:27 – So God created human beings in his own image.  In the image of God he created them; male and female he created them.
  • The meaning of “our image” in verse 26 is explained in verse 27.  In this passage, God is speaking to Himself in the plural sense (“our image”…”like us”).  However, in verse 27, God is clearly a SINGULAR God.  “in his own image” and “…he created them…”
• Genesis 3:22 – Then the Lord God said, “Look, the human beings have become like us, knowing both good and evil. What if they reach out, take fruit from the tree of life, and eat it? Then they will live forever!”
  • This “like one of us” refers back to “like God” in Genesis 3:5, which reads, “God knows that your eyes will be opened as soon as you eat it, and you will be like God, knowing both good and evil.”
• Genesis 11:7 – Come, let’s go down and confuse the people with different languages. Then they won’t be able to understand each other.”
• Isaiah 6:8 – Then I heard the Lord asking, “Whom should I send as a messenger to this people? Who will go for us?”  I said, “Here I am. Send me.”

As established in part 1 of the study, God is entirely unique.  Given that truth, and combined with the self-reference as “us”, “we”, “our” and other plural pronouns when God is speaking of Himself gives pause to consider the possibility of a singular divine God existing uniquely as multiple persons.  In the next part, I will look specifically at the question of what the “Father of Jesus Christ is God” means in the context of what we have studied so far, as well as support for the teaching that “Jesus Christ is God”.

I truly hope that this series is a blessing to those of you who read it.  It is my earnest prayer that God will use these lessons to build your faith as He has done for me in the process of this study.  I would ask that you leave me some comments either here or on FaceBook, as I am greatly encouraged by your comments.  By all means, if it is a blessing to you, please share links to this blog or even specific articles.  May the God of Creation richly bless you as you study his word.

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