Great Mysteries of the Faith
How Can One God Be Three Persons?
Matthew 28:19; James 2:19
How many of you have seen the new advertising campaign on television for the store Staples? As you may already know, the slogan for the store is this: Staples – that was easy. To build off of this slogan, they have now created a series of ads featuring the easy button. Basically, all you have to do is press the easy button and all of your problems and questions are solved right away. For example, one ad features two armies on the battlefield. One army is significantly overmatched in the battle, so when the larger force begins to charge, they go to their secret weapon. Out comes the easy button, and when they push it, a large wall rises out of the ground between them and the other army keeping them protected. They even have another commercial in which a man in the office uses a coworker’s easy button to find his easy button which he lost among the clutter of the office.
The funny thing about all of this is that Staples has actually received requests by their customers in stores and over the phone asking to purchase the easy button. Now, I suppose most of these requests are jokes, but chances are, some of them are serious. Deep down, I think everyone knows that the easy button is fictitious, but deep down, I think a lot of people really want and need an easy button in their lives. After all, how many of you would like to have an easy button available to you when tough times come? I think all of us would.
We have been talking about the great mysteries of the faith for the past few weeks, and to tell you the truth, it would be nice to have an easy button to answer some of these questions. This week’s question is no different. How can one God be three persons? Now, when we start talking about the character of God, most of it is too much for our little minds to fathom. However, I think God reveals enough of himself in Scripture to get us by in this life. Then, in the next life, we will get the easy button in heaven and we will get to know the rest of the story. Let’s see what we can uncover this morning to get us through until God reveals himself to us completely in the next life.
Many times in Scripture, we are taught about the Trinity. Even though the word Trinity never appears in Scripture, most of us know what it means. It simply refers to the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit – the three persons that make up the Godhead. Even thought this word is not Biblical, we can see evidence of it in Scripture. One of these occurs in Matthew 28:19. Most of you know this Scripture as the Great Commission. It is Jesus’ last instructions to His disciples. He tells them, “Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.” Now, Jesus had just beaten death and proved that He was God, and now, He is passing on the information that the Father and the Spirit are equally God as well. It seems that He is telling us that there are three Gods. However, when we look at other Scripture, we can see that this is not the case. One of these Scriptures is James 2:19. James states, “You believe there is one God. Good! Even the demons believe that – and shudder.” It seems that James is telling us that it is pretty common knowledge that there is only one God. How can this be? How can the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit all be God and there still only be one God? This morning, I am going to try and give you some answers to these mysteries, and I am going to answer these questions by asking three more questions. Before we do this, let’s go to the Lord in prayer.
Question #1: Are the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit equally God?
If I were to bring in a chicken this morning, how many people would be able to tell me that it is a chicken? But, how do you know it is a chicken? Many years ago, the “Chicken Methodology” was developed by scientists to determine what some unknown chemicals were that they were using in experiences. Basically, the chicken methodology goes like this:
If it looks like a chicken, walks like a chicken, clucks like a chicken –
It’s a chicken!
As science students worked with certain unknown chemicals, they would take a look at their qualities to see what similarities they had to known chemicals they had worked with before. When all these chemicals qualities matched up with a known chemical, they could assume that it was that chemical. This morning, we are going to use this methodology to prove that the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit are all in fact God.
First of all, the Scripture recognizes all three persons as being God. First of all, we must look to see if the Father is God. John 6:27 is evidence of this. “Do not work for food that spoils, but for food that endures to eternal life, which the Son of Man will give you. On him God the Father has placed his seal of approval.” In this verse, the Father is plainly referred to as God. 1 Peter 1:2 and Ephesians 4:6 are other examples of this as well. Jesus was stated to be God in the scripture in many places as well. One of these places was explained by none other than doubting Thomas himself in John 20:28. After seeing the holes in his hands, feet, and side, Thomas exclaimed, “My Lord and my God.” He knew that Jesus had fulfilled the prophesies that were set forth to let them know when God had come to earth. Other Scriptures showing the divinity of Jesus are John 1:1 and Hebrews 1:8. Finally, the Holy Spirit is set forth as God in the Scriptures. Do you remember the story of Ananais and Sapphira in Acts 5? They sold a field and had promised to give all the money to the disciples, but they held some back for themselves. Verses 3-4 tell the story. “Then Peter said, ‘Ananais, how is it that Satan has so filled your heart that you have lied to the Holy Spirit and have kept to yourself some of the money you received for the land…You have not lied to men but to God.” Peter has told them that they lied to the Spirit and so they have lied to God. This shows the divinity of the Spirit as does 1 Corinthians 3:16 and 1 Corinthians 12:4-6.
Along with Scripture recognizing all three persons of the Trinity as being God, it goes on to show that all do the work of God. We will get into this more in a bit, but I want to mention just a quick thing here. Who created the world? Most people attribute that to the Father, but all three were there. John 1:1 tells us that the Word was there in the beginning with God. The Word refers to Jesus Christ. We know the Father was there as well, but what about the Spirit? In Genesis 1:2, we are told, “Now the earth was formless and empty, darkness was over the surface of the deep, and the Spirit of God was hovering over the waters.” They were all there, so I would assume they all had a part in creation. As we can see from Scripture, if it looks like a God, walks like a God, and speaks as a God, it’s a God. I believe the Father, Son and Holy Spirit all pass the chicken test. They are all called God, act like God, and have the authority of God. Therefore, they must all be God.
Question #2: Why do we need three parts to the Godhead?
Many years ago, I received an email entitled, “God is like…” This is what it had to say.
• God is like General Electric – He brings good things to life.
• God is like a Visa Card – He’s everywhere you want to be.
• God is like Scotch Tape – You can’t see Him, but He holds things together.
• God is like Alka Seltzer – Oh what a relief He is.
• God is like Tide – He gets the stains out that others leave behind.
• God is like Bounty – He’s the quicker picker upper.
• God is like Pepsi – He’s the choice of a new generation.
Now, this was a cute email, but it does not even scratch the surface of the greatness of God. God has so many attributes that we cannot even name a fraction of them. God does so many things for us that we cannot even begin to imagine all that He does for us on a daily basis. Because of all of the things that God does for us, doesn’t it make sense that God would departmentalize? In every great company, there are many different departments. In order to be as efficient as possible, each department is overseen by a different person. This is done so that people who are expert accountants can stick to that department and not have to worry about the next marketing plan. The accountants leave marketing to the marketing department and focus on their strengths.
Now, this example works a bit for the Trinity as well. Even though all three parts are equally God and are all knowing and all powerful, it is set up in a way in which the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit each have their own department in which they specialize. Pastor Marc Axelrod put it this way. “The members of the Trinity work together, but they don’t always do the same things. Look at salvation. God the Father governs the world. God the Son redeems the world on the cross. And the Holy Spirit gives us the power and grace to change the world. Three very different roles – but, all for the one purpose of manifesting God’s glory in the world.”
Another example of this appears in Romans 8. In verse 28, we are told that God works for our good. This refers to what the Father is doing in our lives. Then, in verse 35, we are told that Jesus prays for our good by interceding to the Father for us. And, in verse 27, we are told that the Spirit helps us pray for our good. Each of the three persons of the Godhead is doing their job to help to lead us into good. This is why there are three parts of the Godhead – So that each may deal specifically with intricate parts of our lives. They each have a different department in your spiritual life that they deal with according to the roles they have set forth from the beginning of creation. God is the judge. Jesus is the truth. The Holy Spirit is our comforter. When you look through Scripture, you will find that each has a different department to deal with based on their characteristics.
Question #3: What kind of math has 3 equal to 1?
I need four kids to come up front for a little math lesson (get 3 Gourleys and 1 other child). I want you to count how many we have up here (Line up three girls in various formations. The answer will be three every time, but I will say it is one.) Most of you think my math is bad, but I think your math is off. Here is why. I asked you how many? You assumed that I meant people, but what I was assuming was families. There was only one family represented but it was made up of three people. That is how we explain the Trinity. There is one God made up by three equal persons.
There are a couple of other ways to explain this as well. St. Patrick used to explain the Trinity using the three leaf clover. There was one clover with three separate leafs making it up. I have also heard it explained using water. You can have liquid water to drink in a glass, solid water in the form of ice, and water as a gas as steam. All three are water – they are just in different forms. I have also heard the government analogy. We have one government in this country, but it is made up of three branches that are each responsible for certain specific functions. One government, but three parts. But, probably the best example I have heard is the egg example. An egg has three parts. It has the shell, the white, and the yolk. In order for the egg to end up as a chicken, it must have all three parts in tact. All three parts are parts of the egg, but there is only one egg. Each part of the egg has a specific function, but they work together for one purpose – just like the Trinity.
This morning, the goal was not to give you complete understanding of the nature of God. We will not know that until we get to heaven. But, people have questions about the Trinity that we need to have at least some information about. Yes, the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit are all equally God. Yes, there is only one true God. Yet, it is necessary to have three persons as God in order to accomplish certain duties that each specializes in. However, three can be one. There is one God, and yet, three persons. The math is not bad – it can be possible. There is one God made up of three parts – just like our government. God can be three in one because He is God, He is all-knowing, He is all-powerful – and this is the best way He sought to show himself. What is impossible with man is possible with God. Let’s pray.
