Help Me Understand the Trinity

Tim Davis

Have you ever forgotten someone’s name? 

A week goes by and those weeks turn to months and months to years. It gets to a point where it’s too awkward to admit, “I’m sorry, I forgot your name. Can you remind me?”

I think something similar can happen with God. There are truths we should probably know. But months turn to years and it’s too awkward to admit, “I don’t know…” 

I think the Trinity is a great example. 

So in case this happened to you (and if so, that’s ok!), let’s go back to the basics. 

BREIF DEFINITION

“God eternally exists as one essence and three distinct persons: God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit. Each person is fully God, yet there is one God.”[1]

“PERSONS”?

So what do we mean by "persons"?

Jesus is God; yet Jesus is a "distinct" person from the Father. Jesus' baptism clears things up a bit. In Matthew 3:17, the Father says, “This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased.”

As you can see, the Father refers to himself as “I”. Then he refers to his Son—Jesus—as a distinct person. Yet, they are both God.

NO, JESUS DIDN’T PRAY TO HIMSELF

One time when I was teaching, a student asked, “Why did Jesus pray to himself?” He was referencing Jesus’ “High Priestly Prayer” found in John 17. This is a great question and I understand why he asked it.

The logic goes like this…

If Jesus is God, and he prayed to the Father who is also God, then that means God prayed to God. And if God prayed to God, then that means Jesus prayed to himself.

But again, Jesus and the Father are distinct persons within the Godhead. And as distinct persons, they can talk to each other in the same way you and I can talk to each other. 

With that, let’s get to know each person of the Triune God a little better. 

ARCHITECT, ACCOMPLISH, APPLY

Alliteration is helpful isn’t it? There are, of course, limitations to using this kind of language. Most notably, you can press alliterations too far. Let’s not do that. 

Nonetheless, these three words, “architect, accomplish, apply” help us get to know each person of the Trinity. Let me show you how.

THE FATHER

You could think of the Father as the “architect” of redemptive history. What do I mean? If you grew up in the church, recall one of the first Bible verses you memorized. “God so loved the world that he gave his only Son…” (John 3:16). The Father sent the Son, not the other way around. Moreover, in John 5:19, Jesus says, “Truly, truly, I say to you, the Son can do nothing of his own accord, but only what he sees the Father doing. For whatever the Father does, that the son does likewise.” In short, the Father initiates. Or to stick to our alliteration, the Father is the architect of salvation.

THE SON

The Son accomplishes the salvation story. The Father didn’t go to the cross. The Spirit didn’t go to the cross. Jesus did. And only Jesus rose from death to life. He’s accomplished salvation through his shed blood and glorious resurrection.

THE HOLY SPIRIT

The Holy Spirit gives us new life (John 3:5-6), convicts us of sin (John 16:8), assures us of our salvation (Rom 8:16), transforms us (2 Cor 3:18), and so much more. In other words, the Holy Spirit takes what Jesus accomplished and applies it to our lives.

IN CASE YOU FORGOT…

We’ve only begun to scratch the surface. But if began this article feeling like “you forgot God’s name”, hopefully you now have a helpful starting point to grow in your relationship with the Triune God.