How can God be one God in three persons?

mmbattlestar said:

I believe in the trinity but I don't quite understand how it works. How can God be three persons yet still continue to be one God? Wouldn't that make God three separate Gods? The frequently posted diagram sort of explains the trinity. Both the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit are all God but the Father is not the Son. Nor is the Holy Spirit the Father...etc But how is that possible? God is three separate persons yet one God? It doesn't make any sense. Can someone please explain to me how the Trinity works?

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God exists in all places, throughout all time, at once. He is "omnipresent" which means that to some degree, His essence or an aspect of His being exists everywhere and always. So, God can be everywhere and yet isolate an aspect of Himself and exist within the body of the Son. Or He can be everywhere and yet isolate an aspect of Himself in you, me, and all who are His. So you don't really end up with three persons... this is just how man tries to comprehend something that really is outside of His ability (at this time) to comprehend. What you end up with is an omnipresent, all-powerful, and all-knowing being who can be in all places and all times at once... and/or isolate an aspect of Himself and exist in single place at one time. He is God... He can do these things.

I don't believe in the Trinity but I can tell you that those i've talked to do not explain it the same.In fact there are just as many explanations of the Trinity as there are false gods.The thing that's significant to me is that none of the explanations I've heard are not in Scripture

Cis.jd said:

I think you need to have a better look at the example.

The body, soul, and spirit = you.. the human being. The soul is the identity, what makes you you. The spirit being your life force, while your body being the form of who you are. The body doesn't necessarily mean flesh and bone, just take that in note.

A body with out soul, a soul with out a body, or spirit with out a body, etc isn't completely 1 being. Your body is you, your soul is you, your spirit is you. Each of the 3 have different roles but they are all still you. Your body isn't a greater you, your mind isn't a greater you, nor your life force.. all are equal.

These are all essences of your entire being.

We are three intrinsically but one extrinsically, just like God.

I pray God your whole spirit and soul and body be preserved blameless unto the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ (1 Thessalonians 5:23).

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I don't know where in the scriptures people are they say we have a soul

mmbattlestar said:

I believe in the trinity but I don't quite understand how it works. How can God be three persons yet still continue to be one God? Wouldn't that make God three separate Gods? The frequently posted diagram sort of explains the trinity. Both the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit are all God but the Father is not the Son. Nor is the Holy Spirit the Father...etc But how is that possible? God is three separate persons yet one God? It doesn't make any sense. Can someone please explain to me how the Trinity works?

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I would like any one to show me a Scripture in the Bible that comes right out and says the Trinity doctrine meaning The Father,Son and Holy Spirit are all three coeternal,all knowing, omniscient. I don't believe any one will find any.What I find significant about that is that people who do believe in the Trinity seem to believe that God can't clearly and concisely explain to us in writing(meaning Scripture) the Trinity. I believe that if it's important as people say it is God would have it explained in Scripture,but I see no Scripture explaining the Trinity.Instead we are to put faith in imperfect people. I don't know about you or anyone else but I choose to put faith in God (meaning the scriptures) and as I said I don't believe anyone can show me any Scriptures that explains the Trinity as people believe in.

BARNEY BRIGHT said:

I would like any one to show me a Scripture in the Bible that comes right out and says the Trinity doctrine meaning The Father,Son and Holy Spirit are all three coeternal,all knowing, omniscient. I don't believe any one will find any.

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Of course there is not such a single scripture.

And your point in noting that fact is what?

BARNEY BRIGHT said:

What I find significant about that is that people who do believe in the Trinity seem to believe that God can't clearly and concisely explain to us in writing(meaning Scripture) the Trinity. I believe that if it's important as people say it is God would have it explained in Scripture,but I see no Scripture explaining the Trinity.

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I doubt that anyone who believes in the God of the scriptures believes that God can't clearly and concisely explain the Trinity if He chooses to do so.

But like many doctrines in the Bible - God has chosen to make us work for truth. This life in the flesh after being saved is a bit of a test after all. Isn't it?

"For there must also be factions among you, so that those who are approved may become evident among you." 1 Corinthians 11:19

God, as I see things, has given people who will not believe in the elements of the Trinity doctrine enough rope to hang themselves - in a manner of speaking.

BARNEY BRIGHT said:

Instead we are to put faith in imperfect people. I don't know about you or anyone else but I choose to put faith in God (meaning the scriptures)

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"He gave some as apostles, and some as prophets, and some as evangelists, and some as pastors and teachers," Ephesians 4:11

Yet we are to examine every teaching in the process of using teachers

"Now these were more noble-minded than those in Thessalonica, for they received the word with great eagerness, examining the Scriptures daily, to see whether these things were so." Acts 17:11

If you won't avail yourself of the teachers God has provided for the church - you are more likely to fall into error (such as you have IMO).

BARNEY BRIGHT said:

.........as I said I don't believe anyone can show me any Scriptures that explains the Trinity as people believe in.

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Not finding such a single comprehensive scripture explaining an important doctrine as the Trinity should not surprise anyone who has studied the Word, become familiar with God's methods, and has built one truth upon another in a systematic way.

"Pay attention, therefore, to how you listen. Whoever has will be given more, but whoever does not have, even what he thinks he has will be taken away from him." Luke 8:18

Southernscotty said:

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This diagram is a very poor example. Unless I’m reading it incorrectly. Why does it say is not on the outer circle? Is this suggesting that each person of the trinity is not individually God? That would contradict John 1:1.

Ok I got it. The Father is not the Son etc etc

BARNEY BRIGHT said:

I would like any one to show me a Scripture in the Bible that comes right out and says the Trinity doctrine meaning The Father,Son and Holy Spirit are all three coeternal,all knowing, omniscient. I don't believe any one will find any.What I find significant about that is that people who do believe in the Trinity seem to believe that God can't clearly and concisely explain to us in writing(meaning Scripture) the Trinity. I believe that if it's important as people say it is God would have it explained in Scripture,but I see no Scripture explaining the Trinity.Instead we are to put faith in imperfect people. I don't know about you or anyone else but I choose to put faith in God (meaning the scriptures) and as I said I don't believe anyone can show me any Scriptures that explains the Trinity as people believe in.

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"For there are three who bear record in heaven, the Father, the Word, and the Holy Spirit, and these three are one." 1 John 5:7

By the way, I am not a trinitarian. And... I also realize there are questions about this verse, that it isn't in some manuscripts. The thing is, we don't know "for sure" if it belongs or not... even though I am not a trinitarian, I tend to accept it because it isn't standing against the harmony of the rest of Scripture. Regardless, you can't prove it doesn't belong, it is in most translations... so here's your verse.

mmbattlestar said:

I believe in the trinity but I don't quite understand how it works. How can God be three persons yet still continue to be one God? Wouldn't that make God three separate Gods? The frequently posted diagram sort of explains the trinity. Both the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit are all God but the Father is not the Son. Nor is the Holy Spirit the Father...etc But how is that possible? God is three separate persons yet one God? It doesn't make any sense. Can someone please explain to me how the Trinity works?

Click to expand...

I don't fully subscribe to the trinity because like you said, "it doesn't make sense." But I don't go off into heresy and say that Jesus is not divine. You're perfectly right when you say "it doesn't make sense" because it doesn't. You shouldn't believe in something you don't understand. The Bible says that the Godhead has been made clear to us(Romans 1:20) and that God is not the author of confusion(1 Corinthians 14:33). The way I see it, God is one person, our heavenly Father. The Holy Spirit is simply the Spirit of God(not a seperate person). Jesus is the Son of God but is still God manifest in the flesh. How? God, who is the Father, manifested his Spirit, which is the Holy Spirit, into Christ therefore he is God manifest in the flesh. The Father gave Jesus a life of his own therefore he had his own concience(John 5:26). It's kind of like how God spoke through the burning bush in Exodus 3. Is God a bush? No, he was simply manifest into it. Just like how God is not a man(Numbers 23:19) but he was manifest in Christ.

BARNEY BRIGHT said:

I don't know where in the scriptures people are they say we have a soul

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I've quoted it.

theworthyapprentice said:

I don't fully subscribe to the trinity because like you said, "it doesn't make sense." But I don't go off into heresy and say that Jesus is not divine. You're perfectly right when you say "it doesn't make sense" because it doesn't. You shouldn't believe in something you don't understand. The Bible says that the Godhead has been made clear to us(Romans 1:20) and that God is not the author of confusion(1 Corinthians 14:33). The way I see it, God is one person, our heavenly Father. The Holy Spirit is simply the Spirit of God(not a seperate person). Jesus is the Son of God but is still God manifest in the flesh. How? God, who is the Father, manifested his Spirit, which is the Holy Spirit, into Christ therefore he is God manifest in the flesh. The Father gave Jesus a life of his own therefore he had his own concience(John 5:26). It's kind of like how God spoke through the burning bush in Exodus 3. Is God a bush? No, he was simply manifest into it. Just like how God is not a man(Numbers 23:19) but he was manifest in Christ.

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Matthew 28:19 is an example. Additionally his triune is composed of verses pasted together. There are single verses about the Father, the Son, and the HS all describing each one as God. Google search them as well as the Isaiah verses.

A SECOND imperfect ANALOGY:

1. God the Father is the SUN.

2. God the Holy Spirit is the rays/energy from the SUN.

3. God the Son is the manifestation of the SUN on earth.

=================================

God the Father, God the Son, God the Holy Spirit...united as ONE in spiritual essence as ONE Divine DEITY.

The THREE of the Godhead are DIFFERENT persons
...spiritually discernible has having different NAMES, RANK, ROLE. MISSION, FUNCTION, ETC.

Oh the Mysteries of the REAL and spiritual TRI-UNE GOD!

God the Father is Divine / Deity.

God the Holy Spirit is Divine / Deity.

God the Son, Jesus the Divine Messiah, is Divine / Deity.

Colossians 2 ....
9 For in Him all the fullness of Deity (TRUE GOD) dwells in bodily form, (TRUE MAN)
10 and in Him you have been made complete, and He is the head over all rule and authority;

Colossians 1 ....
16 For by Him all things were created,
both in the heavens and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities
—all things have been created THROUGH Him and FOR Him.
17 He is BEFORE all things, and
in Him all things "hold together".
18 He is also head of the body, the church;
and He is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, so that He Himself will come to have first place in everything.
For it was the Father’s good pleasure for all the fullness (of Deity) to dwell in Him,
20 and through Him to reconcile all things to Himself,
having made peace through the blood of His cross;

John 17...
24 Father, I desire that they also (disciples), whom You have given Me,
be with Me where I am,
so that they may see My glory which You have given Me,

TRI-UNE GOD TRUTHS/DOCTRINE REVEALED!

God the Son, Jesus the God-Man is not the SAME as/IDENTICAL to God the Father,
nor is God the Son, Jesus the God-Man the SAME as/ IDENTICAL to God the Holy Spirit.
The spiritual Persons of the "Godhead" are discerned has having different
RANKS, ROLES, MISSIONS, FUNCTIONS, NAMES, etc.
No one Person of the "Godhead" is identical to / the same as / "equal" to the other
>>>EXCEPT<<< in THEIR unity of "spiritual essence" AND divine nature. (1 Cor.12:13)

The TRI-UNE GOD is ONE GOD unified in spiritual essence and nature and character.
1. "The Father and I (Jesus) are ONE...in spiritual essence ONLY...John 10
2. But discerned as different spiritual Persons of the TRI-UNE GOD in RANK, ROLE, FUNCTIONS, NAMES, etc

In many ROLES / FUNCTIONS, God the Father RANKS ABOVE both God the Son and God the Holy Spirit.

For example:

Genesis 1:26-28 (NASB)...ALLOWS for a PLURAL GOD
26 Then God (Elohim - plural - pre-existent one) said,
“Let Us make man in Our (spiritual) image, according to Our (soul?) likeness;

Mattthew 3: 16-17: The Beginning of Jesus' Ministry: A glimpse of the TRI-UNE GOD
As soon as Jesus (God the Son) was baptized (immersed in river Jordan), he went up out of the water. At that moment heaven was opened, and he saw the Spirit of God (God the Holy Spirit)
descending LIKE (in the form of) a dove and lighting on him. And a voice (God the Father) from heaven said, "This is my Son, whom I love; with him I am well pleased."

Mark 9:7
Then a cloud (God the Holy Spirit) formed, overshadowing them, and a voice (God the Father) came out of the cloud,
“This is My beloved Son, listen to Him!”

John 14:26 (NIV)...a new promise by Jesus...a snapshot of the TRI-UNE God
"When the Counselor (God the Holy Spirit) comes,
whom I (God the Son/Jesus) will send to you from the Father (God the Father),
the Spirit of TRUTH (God the Holy Spirit) who goes out from the Father (God the Father),
he (the Spirit of TRUTH) will testify (to the spirit of Man) about me. (God the Son/Jesus)

John 14:26(NASB)
26 But the Helper, the Holy Spirit,
whom the Father will send in My name,
He will teach you all things, and
bring to your remembrance all that I said to you.

Matthew 28: 18 - The End of the Ministry - Post Resurrection and Pre-Ascension... The Great Commisssion
Then Jesus came to them (disciples) and said, "All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me.
Therefore
a. go and
b. make disciples of all nations,(convert unbelievers)
c. baptizing them (believers) in the name
of (God) the Father and
of (God) the Son and
of (God) the Holy Spirit,
and d. teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you.
And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.

Colossians 2 :8-9;
For in Christ all the fullness of the Deity lives in bodily form, and you have been given fullness in Christ, who is the head over every power and authority.

Colossians 1 :15-19
For God was pleased to have all his fullness (of the Deity) dwell in Him,
and through Him to reconcile to Himself all things, whether things on earth or things in heaven,
by making peace through his blood, shed on the cross

Phillipians 2...The Kenosis...Diety poured out into perfect flesh without loss or change in Deity

Isaiah 45:7 (NASB)
The One forming light and creating darkness,
Causing well-being and creating calamity;
I am the Lord who does all these.

Romans 15:30 (NIV)...in prayer
I urge you, brothers, by our Lord Jesus Christ (God the Son/Jesus)
and by the love of the Spirit (God the Holy Spirit), to join me in my struggle
by praying to God (God the Father) for me.

2 Corinthians 13:14 (NIV)...in goodbyes
May the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ (God the Son/Jesus) ,
and the love of God (God the Father),
and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit (God the Holy Spirit) be with you all.

mmbattlestar said:

I believe in the trinity but I don't quite understand how it works. How can God be three persons yet still continue to be one God? Wouldn't that make God three separate Gods? The frequently posted diagram sort of explains the trinity. Both the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit are all God but the Father is not the Son. Nor is the Holy Spirit the Father...etc But how is that possible? God is three separate persons yet one God? It doesn't make any sense. Can someone please explain to me how the Trinity works?

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I recently saw 5 or 6 pastors reading a book regarding the trinity ....two thousand years after Christ ..still trying to grasp the trinity...and they were pastors . When Philip baptized the eunuch , he was not quizzed on whether he understood the trinity , etc. My personal opinion is that this was a teaching that has brought more confusion than hope . Hear oh Israel , The Lord our God is one . Christ His Son was with Him in the beginning ...in marriage Jesus said that the two shall become one flesh ..they are no longer two but one . Is that possible ? Yes . They are two but one . Jesus also said , I and the Father are one . Is that possible ? Yes . In the beginning was the Word ..greek is Logo's ( Reason -Divine Purpose - What everything was about ) and the Logos was with God and the Logos was God ...and the Logos became flesh and dwelt among us . Jesus said if you have seen me , you have seen the Father . God being invisible became visible to man through and by His Son ...if this is confusing ...do like David in Psalms..Lord I have determined not to know things too high for me . ( I do not worry nor talk too much about the Trinity since both catholics and protestants agreed about the trinty but it did not keep them from killing one another over it and other "doctrines " which are not necessary for salvation .

theworthyapprentice said:

I don't fully subscribe to the trinity because like you said, "it doesn't make sense." But I don't go off into heresy and say that Jesus is not divine. You're perfectly right when you say "it doesn't make sense" because it doesn't. You shouldn't believe in something you don't understand. The Bible says that the Godhead has been made clear to us(Romans 1:20) and that God is not the author of confusion(1 Corinthians 14:33). The way I see it, God is one person, our heavenly Father. The Holy Spirit is simply the Spirit of God(not a seperate person). Jesus is the Son of God but is still God manifest in the flesh. How? God, who is the Father, manifested his Spirit, which is the Holy Spirit, into Christ therefore he is God manifest in the flesh. The Father gave Jesus a life of his own therefore he had his own concience(John 5:26). It's kind of like how God spoke through the burning bush in Exodus 3. Is God a bush? No, he was simply manifest into it. Just like how God is not a man(Numbers 23:19) but he was manifest in Christ.

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There is plenty of Scriptural evidence for God in Three Persons. John chapter 1; Matthew 28.18-20; Romans 8.1-3; Romans 8.13-15; John's First Epistle, etc.

theworthyapprentice said:

I don't fully subscribe to the trinity because like you said, "it doesn't make sense." But I don't go off into heresy and say that Jesus is not divine. You're perfectly right when you say "it doesn't make sense" because it doesn't. You shouldn't believe in something you don't understand. The Bible says that the Godhead has been made clear to us(Romans 1:20) and that God is not the author of confusion(1 Corinthians 14:33). The way I see it, God is one person, our heavenly Father. The Holy Spirit is simply the Spirit of God(not a seperate person). Jesus is the Son of God but is still God manifest in the flesh. How? God, who is the Father, manifested his Spirit, which is the Holy Spirit, into Christ therefore he is God manifest in the flesh. The Father gave Jesus a life of his own therefore he had his own concience(John 5:26). It's kind of like how God spoke through the burning bush in Exodus 3. Is God a bush? No, he was simply manifest into it. Just like how God is not a man(Numbers 23:19) but he was manifest in Christ.

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Hey Brother ..This is exactly as I understand it and they all agree with each other for Christ is submitted to the Father ..if Christ was not in agreement with the Father , he would not have submitted himself to death on the cross ..He would have been a rebel . I know that theologians and heretic hunters want to debate this but the only reason to debate this is if , like Constantine , we have a kingdom to uphold and we do not ...His kingdom come ..not ours . There have been many cruel people of "orthodox theology " . While many understandings and teachings are sound doctrines , I believe doctrines used to pertain to the way Christians were expected to live ..no fornication ..idol worship , adultery , seeking and putting out money to interest ( covetousness ) ...but I believe the enemy introduced confusing "orthodox Theology " May God keep me from that .

As I mentioned the doctrine of the trinity only came out hundreds of years after the establishment of the original church. However there are a few things you may want to consider;
If you look at the introductory verses to any of the epistols of the new Testament a clear distinction is made between the Father God and the Son Lord Jesus. In the introduction of all of them, go check yourselves.
The next thing to consider is the prophecy about the abomination of desolation. How can this come about if the public are not to be convinced that the Father and Son are not one and the same.
If so many are confused by this doctrine, which has been conveniently wrapped up in the packaging of a mystery, then maybe what we have is Gods Holy Spirit trying to tell us something !