Those who accept Scripture’s teaching concerning God must be prepared to say that He is not only personal, but that He is a plurality of Persons—a Trinity. The doctrine of the Trinity, that God is one yet three separate Persons, is not easy to understand, but it is clear in Scripture. The term “Trinity” appears nowhere in the Bible (it was first used by Tertullian around a.d. 210), but its roots are deeply embedded in the Word of God. It is mainly a revelation of the New Testament, but there are glimpses of the truth to be seen in the Old Testament also.

“Let Us make man in Our image” (Gn 1:26). To whom was God speaking? Some say the angels, but nowhere in Scripture are angels seen as being involved in the act of creation or as being on the same level as God. Read Colossians 1:16 and it will become clear to whom God was speaking.

Other examples of the Trinity being mentioned in the Old Testament include these: “Man has become like one of Us” (Gn 3:22); and in Isaiah 6:8 God says: “Who should I send? Who will go for Us?”

“Go to the Jordan,” wrote Augustine, “and you find the Trinity. There at the baptism of Jesus, the three Persons in the Godhead are simultaneously in evidence. The Father is heard speaking directly from heaven, the Son is seen being immersed in the river, and John the Baptist beholds the Spirit descending upon the Christ.” Three in One and One in Three. On this truth we must stand, though we may not fully understand.

Further Study

Mt 28:16-20; Jn 14:26-27; 15:26-27

How were the disciples to baptize new converts?

How did Jesus confirm the truth of the Trinity?