We should note how that Jesus Christ, as God the Son, prayed to God the Father in Matt. 27:46, Mark 15:34, Luke 23:46, John 17. Obviously, Jesus was not talking to Himself, He was communicating with God His Father.

The Holy Spirit is not ‘God’s active force’ as some believe, but rather the Holy Spirit is a ‘Person of the Godhead’ who can be ‘grieved’ (cf. Eph. 4:30). A force does not have emotions. The Holy Spirit can also ‘teach’ (1 Cor. 2:13) and ‘pray,’ making intercession for us (Rom. 8:26-27).

The Father is not over God the Son, and God the Son is no greater than the Holy Spirit. All three are co-equal in power and authority. However, because Jesus Christ is both God and man, He in His humanity submitted Himself to His Heavenly Father’s will (see Matt. 26:39, 42; Mark 14:36; Luke 22:42; Phili. 2:5-11). Jesus made it very clear, “My Father, which gave them [to] me, is greater than all… I and my Father are one” (John 10:29-30). The Jews then took up stones to stone Jesus (verse 31), recognizing that He was saying He is equal with the Father!

The best way to comprehend the Godhead is to consider that we are all equally human by nature, but we are also individuals. God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit are all individuals, but they are all equally God by nature and in essence (all three are omnipresent, omniscient, omnipotent, righteous, just, holy, et cetera), thus making all three “one” (1 Jn. 5:7).

God existing in a Trinity prevents tyranny or deception. If God were just one Person, He could be a bully and He could be dishonest. However, all three Persons of the Godhead testify to the truthfulness and integrity of the other two members. They testify to the truth of each other, just as Bible says, “At the mouth of two witnesses, or three witness,” one’s secular testimony is to be believed—the testimony of one person is not to be accepted unless at least one or two others corroborate him (Deut. 17:6; Matt. 18:16; 2 Cor. 13:1; 1 Tim. 5:19; Heb. 10:28).

God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit live for each other. They fellowship with one another, and they want us to fellowship with them! God became a man in order to restore man’s fellowship with Him. Notice what Jesus Christ prayed to His Heavenly Father just before He went to Calvary’s cross:

“And now, O Father, glorify thou me with thine own self with the glory which I had with thee before the world was. [24] Father, I will that they also, whom thou hast given me, be with me where I am; that they may behold my glory, which thou hast given me: for thou lovedst me before the foundation of the world” (John 17:5, 24).

So, God exists in three Persons—they are three Persons in one Godhead; not three Gods. The three Persons of the Godhead—Father, Son, and Holy Spirit—are unique Individuals, but they are also similar in that they are all fully God. Indeed, the doctrine of the Godhead, God existing in three Persons, is one of the most difficult Bible concepts to grasp, but we take the doctrine of the Triune Godhead… by faith.

Is the Trinity a ‘New Testament’ Development or, is it found also in the ‘Old Testament’?

Opponents to the doctrine of the Trinity claim that it is only a “New Testament teaching,” or that the Trinity promotes polytheism (the belief in many gods). For instance, modern-day Jews reject the doctrine of the Trinity because Deut. 6:4 says: “Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God is one LORD.” If this verse disproves the Trinity, as present-day Jews claim, then that would mean that Deut. 6:4 contradicts a number of Old Testament passages (verses in the ‘Hebrew Bible’) that support the Trinity. We must always be sure to take the whole “word of God” to establish context.

Although God didn’t explicitly reveal the doctrine of the Trinity in the O.T. like He does in the New, we can go back to the OT and see implicit or understood references to the Trinity there. Remember that the Bible is a progressive revelation, with things kept secret in the O.T., then later revealed in the New.

For example, God the Father here addresses God the Son

“(David wrote) The LORD [God the Father] said unto my Lord [David’s Messiah Lord is “the Son of God”], Sit thou at my right hand, until I make thine enemies thy footstool” (Psa. 110:1).

Compare this to Peter’s words at Pentecost:

“David is not ascended into the heavens: but he saith himself, The LORD said unto my Lord [David’s Messiah Lord], Sit thou on my right hand, ³⁵ Until I make thy foes thy footstool. ³⁶ herefore let all the house of Israel know assuredly, that God hath made that same Jesus, whom ye have crucified, both Lord and Christ. (Acts 2:34-36).

Genesis 1:26 says, “And God said, Let US make man in OUR image, after OUR likeness” – referring to our tri-part being of man’s body, soul and spirit. Notice that the word “OUR” appears twice demonstrating the mutuality of more than one involved. The Triune God made mankind in their image, as in “one God” in three Persons. Then in Gen. 3:22, after Adam and Eve fell into sin, the LORD God says, “Behold, the man is become as one of US, to know good and evil:” The pronoun “us” is yet another reference to the mutuality of the Trinity.

Yet, the following objection is raised by some to avoid the Trinity doctrine: “How do we know the words “our image” in Gen. 1:26 doesn’t mean that God made man in His image and the angels’ image?”

Answer: Gen. 1:27 plainly says: “God created man in His Own ‘image,’ in the ‘image’ of God created he him; male and female created he them.” Man is made in the “image” of Triune Godhead; man has an outer body, a soul as his unique inner person, and a human spirit by which he may participate in and enjoy spirit-union with God (1Cor. 6:17).

Then we read of Noah’s day in Genesis 11:6-7:

“the LORD said, Behold, the people is one, and they have all one language; and this they begin to do: and now nothing will be restrained from them, which they have imagined to do. ⁷Go to, let ‘US’ go down, and there confound their language, that they may not understand one another’s speech.”

Notice, the LORD says “Let US go down.” As in Gen. 3:22, the “us” here is again a reference to the Triune Godhead: God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit.

In Psalm 2:1-3, we read this prophetic statement of Rome and Israel rejecting Israel’s Messiah, the Lord Jesus, 1,000 years before it happened:

“Why do the heathen rage, and the people imagine a vain thing? ²The kings of the earth set themselves, and the rulers [of Israel] take counsel together, against the LORD, and against his anointed [Jesus the Messiah], saying, ³Let ‘US’ break their bands asunder, and cast away their cords from us (rebellious mankind).”

God the Father and God the Son share power over mankind, but rebellious mankind has always wanted to destroy the Godhead’s authority over them. Notice, Israel’s religious leaders conspired with the Roman government to kill Jesus the Christ (vs 1-2). Verse 3 says the Jews and Romans want to “break ‘their’ bands asunder, and cast away ‘THEIR’ cords from US.” Who is “their” referring to? Verse 2 says it “against the LORD, and his anointed.” This is God the Father and His Son Jesus Christ. “Christ” is Greek for “the anointed one;” in Hebrew the word is “Messiah.”

Here we Read the prophecy of Isaiah 48:12, 16:

“Hearken unto me, O Jacob and Israel, my called; I am he; I am the first, I also am the last (cf. Rev. 22:12-14) … ¹⁶Come ye near unto me, hear ye this; I have not spoken in secret from the beginning; from the time that it was, there am I [Jesus]: and now the Lord GOD [Father], and his Spirit, hath sent me [Jesus].”

This clearly is the Trinity again; note also that the Hebrew word translated for “God” here is Elohim, as in Gen. 1:1. It is plural, e.g., three Persons, and yet to Israel’s, “one LORD” (Deut. 6:4).

So, is God a Triune God? YES!

Does the Bible teach the doctrine of the Trinity throughout? YES!

In the Old and New Testaments, we have ample proof that God is a Triune God, that He exists as three separate but equal Persons—God the Father, God the Son (Jesus the Christ, the Messiah), and God the Holy Spirit.

Together they are fully God, yet they are unique Persons too, just as we are all fully human, yet we are unique persons. All three members of the Godhead operate in perfect accordance with each other. They are coequal and coeternal, none of them were created, and they exercise the same power. 

“All things were made by him [Jesus]; and without him was not any thing made that was made.” “He was in the world, and the world was made by him, and the world knew him not.” (John 1:3, 10)  made by him [Jesus]; and without him was not any thing made that was made.” “He was in the world, and the world was made by him, and the world knew him not.” (John 1:3, 10)