Expert: Rev. Robert Woods - 9/10/2009

Question
My co worker ( Catholic)and I have a difference of opinion on what exactly the Father, Son and Holy Ghost are.  He says Jesus IS God and the Holy Trinity are one person.  I was taught ( SOuthern Baptist)as best as I can remember, that Jesus was God's SON, sent to earth in human form. God is all knowing, seeing, omnipotent..and in heaven.  God and Jesus are NOT the same person.  Can you help us come to some conclusion on this?? Many Thanks in advance!

Answer
Blessings and thank you for your question.

Short Answer:  Your Catholic friend is correct.  Jesus is God.  Jesus said, "I and the Father are one."  Even though Jesus was God's Son, He was still God.

Long Answer: The Trinity is one of the basic doctrines of the Christian faith.  We believe in a triune God who reveals himself as three persons: each possessing full and equal Godness.  The Bible knows of but one God.  When all that Scripture has to say is put together, there is a stress on unity and diversity in unity within God.  He is seen as one in three and as three in one.

We believe in One God, not three.  Father, Son and Holy Spirit are each fully God.  Each exists as a separate person with individual responsibilities within the Godhead.

Throughout the Old Testament, there are hints of the Trinity, but God’s unity is stressed.  The revelation is much clearer and more complete in the New Testament.  We need the teaching from both testaments for the full picture.

The plural name for God, ELOHIM, is used of him many times in the Old Testament (Deut 6:4).  Other plural titles are used of God as well (Eccles 12:1; Isa 54:5).  The plural personal pronouns are also used of God (Gen. 1:26; 3:22; 11:7; Isa. 6:8).  

In addition to the clear implications of plurality in the Godhead, there are also implications of trinity in the Old Testament.  Three separate persons are implied in Isaiah’s vision of the angelic response, “Holy, Holy, Holy” (Isa. 6:3) When John 12:40-41 is studied along with Isaiah 6:10, it becomes apparent that the Son’s glory was beheld by the prophet.  Also, Acts 28:25-26 and Isaiah 6:9, when taken together, provide further evidence of the presence of the Holy Spirit in the passage.   Genesis 1:2 states that “darkness was over the surface of the deep, and the Spirit of God was hovering over the waters.”   Even clearer presentations of 3 persons in the Godhead are to be seen in Isaiah 48:16 and 63:7-10.  Three distinct persons are in the passages.  The preincarnate Christ speaks (48:16) and the Lord, the angel of his presence, and the Holy Spirit are specifically mentioned (63:7-10).

Although the word trinity does not appear in either the Old or New Testament, the revelation of the doctrine is certainly clear in the New Testament.  Three persons are spoken of as God.  The Father is called God (John 6:27; Romans 1:7), as is the Son (John 1:1, 14; Heb. 1:18) and the Spirit (Acts 5:3-9).  Each of these divine persons is seen to be associated with the work of the others.  In the great commission, Christ told the church to go teach and baptize  “in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit” (Matt. 28:19).  The divine equality of each, and yet the personal distinction between each, is also explicit in Paul’s benediction to the Corinthian Christians (2 Cor. 13:14).  

The attributes peculiar to God are possessed by each member of the Godhead.  Each possesses omnipotence - the Father (1 Peter 1:15), the Son (Matt 28:18), and the Holy Spirit (Rom. 15:19).  Each also possesses omniscience - the father (Rom 11:33), the son (Rev. 2:33), and the Holy Spirit (1 Cor. 2:11).  Omnipresence is likewise true of each - the Father (Matt 19:26), the Son (Matt18:20), and the Holy Spirit (Ps 139:7).

We believe that there is a difference in the office, function, and work of each.  To acknowledge this in no way denies or diminishes the divine equality of the 3 persons.  In essence they are one and possess all the divine attributes.  In role or function there are distinctions.  Through the Son, by means of the Spirit, the child of God has access to the Father (Eph 2:18).  The Father is the one who sent the Son into the world to be the Savior (Gal. 4:4).  The Son sent the Holy Spirit into the world to continue his work (John 15:26).

Perhaps the clearest and strongest (evidence) for the doctrine of the Trinity from the New Testament is to be found in Christ’s teaching.  The Savior’s upper room discourse (John 14:1-16:33) is filled with evidence for the Trinity.  He was certainly distinct from the Father to whom He prayed and from the Holy Spirit whom he promised would come to continue His own work.  Though all three were separate Persons, they were all one in essence (John 17:1-26).  No doubt this clearest and most concise statement from Christ regarding the existence of 3 members in the Godhead is found in John 14:16 “And I (Christ) will pray the Father, and he shall give you another Comforter (The Spirit), that he may abide with you forever.”

In John 1, you see the following: 1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2 He was with God in the beginning.
Jn 1:3 Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made. 4 In him was life, and that life was the light of men. 5 The light shines in the darkness, but the darkness has not understood it.

Jesus is the Word.   So John is saying that Jesus was there in the beginning, Jesus was with God and Jesus was God.  Through Jesus all things were made and nothing was made without Him.