God in Three Persons: A Study of the Biblical and Historical Doctrine of the Trinity

The Trinity as a Neglected Doctrine in Modern Christianity

God in Three Persons, A Study of the Biblical and Historical Doctrine of the Trinity by Medford Keith Foskey. Introduction. It amazes me as I watch and listen and teach as a pastor in our modern world how much is not said in reference to the fact that the God of the Bible is Trinitarian in nature.

Whether it be that people do not mention the Trinity or when they do they mention it in an improper and sometimes even heretical way, I notice that this once foundational doctrine is not really a vital part of the worship and understanding of God for most Christians today.

Yet while this is true, if you were to ask the majority of confessing evangelical church members in the world today if they believed in the Trinity, they would say yes. We suffer today in the world of the church from an epidemic of ignorance.

I say this not to be ugly or rude, but simply to point out the fact that most Christians have become so engrossed in the feelings associated with Christianity that they have become far removed from the facts.

Most people do not want to study the faith or dive into the deep things of God, but are more satisfied with having a shallow and often lukewarm faith. I wrote this series of lessons on the doctrine of the Trinity in hopes that those who read them will become hungry for the word of God and that they will begin to see the need for more than a superficial study of God's revelation.

I also wrote this series for another reason. I want to clear up any miscommunication in regards to our own understanding of the Trinity as Christians. Dr. James White says that the single greatest reason people struggle with the doctrine of the Trinity is miscommunication.

You see, people can be saying the same words that have absolutely different meanings. For instance, if you were to ever speak to a Mormon missionary about his faith, he would share with you what he calls the gospel.

The problem is, when you begin to listen to their presentation, you learn quickly that this gospel is not that which comes from Jesus Christ or his apostles. It is another gospel, which includes a false God, a false Jesus, and a false message of salvation.

Yet they use the same term gospel that we use. Likewise, when discussing the doctrine of the Trinity, it is easy to fall into the error of miscommunication. As we will see, just because someone affirms Jesus as the Son of God does not mean that they affirm the Trinity.

And just because someone believes in the Holy Spirit does not mean that they affirm the.

Trinity.

In fact, Mormons would affirm both of these things, yet still would deny the Orthodox doctrine of the Trinity. Truth be told, the Mormon doctrine of God is light years away from most any other view of God in the religious world.

It is my genuine desire that all Christians be able to articulate and defend the foundational principles that form the biblical and historical doctrine of the Trinity. This work has been written to aid in the realization of that goal.

I hope as well that this will not be the reader's only investigation into the subject, but instead would be like an appetizer that would create a hunger in him or her to go further into the study of the nature of our blessed, triune God.

Competing Views of God and the Need to Define the Trinity

Chapter 1 The Doctrine Defined. As I begin this first session, I want to outline this section for you and what I hope to accomplish in this first chapter. Describing the competing views of God in the world, define the scriptural, historic, Orthodox doctrine of the Trinity, discern the errors people often make in regards to the Trinity, distinguish Trinitarianism from other views of God.

Section 1 Major Theistic Worldviews. We will only be looking at a few of the major competing worldviews as to give us an overview of the different ways people look at God. This will help us later when we begin to communicate the absolute uniqueness of the doctrine of the Trinity in regards to other views of God.

Monotheism. The dictionary defines monotheism as the doctrine or belief that there is only one God. Thus, mono, meaning one, refers to there being but one God in the entire universe. Normally, monotheists understand the God that they serve to be independent upon anything else but solely and perfectly self-existent.

There are three main world religions that claim to be monotheistic Judaism, Islam, and Christianity. We will see, however, that though these three all agree that God is one, the way they understand this one God is different in each.

This difference in understanding God, especially in the Christian view of God being a Trinity, makes it impossible that all three serve the same God. There are many in today's world who would claim that Allah of Islam is the same as Yahweh in the Bible.

Yet by the end of the lesson tonight, we will see that this is not possible. Polytheism. The dictionary defines this as the doctrine of or belief in more than one God or in many.

Gods.

Thus, polytheism is in contrast to monotheism. You cannot have only one God and have many gods at the same time. This would constitute a logical contradiction. The belief of polytheism is found in many cultures including the Greeks and the Romans.

Examples of polytheism are in Santeria, Voodoo, Shinto, and most of the folk religions. Any religion that would affirm the belief and worship of more than one God would be polytheistic. Henotheism. This is defined simply as belief in one God without denying the existence of others.

This is not as open as polytheism in regards to there being many gods, but at the same time henotheism is not monotheism. It is essentially polytheism with a preference for one deity or a mandate to honor one's family tribe deity.

So in a sense, in henotheism one can place one God above others in which he is supreme.

Over.

Very similar to henotheism is monolatheism which teaches that though there are many gods, only one should be worshipped. So to review, we have monotheism, the belief in one God, polytheism, the belief in many gods, henotheism, the belief in one God without the exclusion of there being others.

Now as I have said before, this is not an exhaustive list by any stretch of the imagination. We have not put in this list dualism, pantheism, or atheism, all of which are views about God. I have simply given these three views of God as a reference point for us to go back to.

Later.

The reason why I chose these three, as you will see, is that many people in their misunderstandings of the doctrine of the Trinity end up falling into the error of either polytheism or henotheism. Section 2 Defining the Biblical, Historic, Orthodox Doctrine of the Trinity.

When one begins to define the doctrine of the Trinity, he immediately runs into a bit of a problem. That problem is the lack of anything in the universe comparable to God. When we define the doctrine, it is likely that we begin to try to imagine something to compare it to, because this is how we learn.

For instance, think of how we teach things to our children. When we are teaching them about shapes, we say a ball is round, because round is comparable to the shape of a ball in their minds. We say a box is square, and so on.

We learn naturally by way of comparison. The difficulty is that there is nothing in all the world that compares to God. Certainly many have tried to compare things to God, yet they often come away in error or even more confused than when they began.

I've heard people say that God is like a pie, which has three parts, but is still one.

Pie.

Others have said God is like a person who can be a husband, a father, and a son, all at the same time. Yet what we don't realize is that I have just expressed examples of both tritheism and Sabellianism, both of which are not consistent with the doctrine of the Trinity, and, by the way, were determined to be heresy in the early church.

Later in this course, we are going to look at some of the historic creeds of the early church to understand what Christians down through the ages have believed about the Trinity. We will see that the early church fathers spent a lot of time considering the depth of truth contained within this doctrine, and they were very careful to stay consistent with the scriptural revelation of God.

But for this series, I want to state the doctrine as simply as possible. There is one being that is God. Within the being of God, there exist three persons, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. These three persons are all equal and eternal.

Now that definition seems simple enough, yet we know that this causes many questions in regards to how God can be three and be one at the same time. For years, Christians have been accused of being self-contradictory by saying that there are three persons and yet only one God.

But one thing should be understood from the outset. Though the doctrine stated above has no comparisons that we can look to, it is not a contradiction. A contradiction, by definition, is a statement which is necessarily false.

The statement, the page is white and the page is not white, is a contradiction. This is because something cannot be and not be in the same relationship at the same time. The doctrine of the Trinity does not contradict.

It does not say there is one God who is three Gods. There is one being who is three beings. There is one person who is three persons. All of these would be contradictions. The doctrine instead states that God is one in being and that he is three in person.

So we see the doctrine is not irrational nor illogical. But it is incomparable because there is nothing analogous in nature. Also, it makes sense that there would be no analogies in nature as this is describing the very nature of God who has no equals.

False Views of the Trinity: Modalism, Tritheism, and Subordinationism

Section 3, Discerning the Errors of False Views of the Trinity. Modalism. This is also called Sibelianism, after Sibelius, who taught a form of this doctrine in Rome in the 3rd century. Modalism teaches that God is not, in his nature, three persons, but that he simply reveals himself to us in specific modes of being.

Thus we have the Father in the Old Testament, the Son in the Gospels, and the Holy Spirit.

Now.

But we do not have all three at the same time because these are all simply modes of being for God. This belief has caught fire recently in groups that call themselves oneness or Jesus-only movements.

The problem with modalism, as we will see, is that in the Bible there is obvious distinction between the persons of Christ the Father and the Holy Spirit. Of course, the most powerful scriptural passage against modalism is at Jesus' baptism.

Mark 1 9 -11. And it came to pass in those days that Jesus came from Nazareth of Galilee, and was baptized of John in Jordan. And straightway coming up out of the water, he saw the heavens opened, and the Spirit like a dove descending upon him.

And there came a voice from heaven, saying, Thou art my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased. Note that all three of the divine persons were present. On top of this, many times we see Jesus describing the relationship he had with the Father before creation.

Thus God did not simply take on different modes of being for our benefit. Modalists, in my opinion, think that they are trying to hold a more rigid doctrine of monotheism than are Trinitarians. But all the while, they must deny obvious scriptural passages concerning the pre-existence of Christ.

Tritheism.

This doctrine is defined as the belief that there are three distinct, each-powerful gods who form a triad. Each god in the triad has its own sphere of influence and power. Tritheism is essentially polytheism.

Many non-Christian religions, especially monotheistic religions like Islam, accuse Trinitarianism as being Tritheism. The truth, however, is that in Trinitarianism, God is never divided. This is why the one-pie-with-three-slices analogy is not a good one.

The three persons of the Trinity share the same being. They are not divided. The Father, Son, and Holy Spirit do not have separate powers, as God is omnipotent. Likewise, they do not have separate spheres of influence, since their influence is unlimited.

So, ultimately, Trinitarianism teaches one indivisible God, while Tritheism, at least in its basic understanding, gives three separate gods. Athanasius, in the 4th century, distinguished the Christian faith in the Trinity against both modalism and Tritheism.

Subordinationism. Essentially, this doctrine teaches that Jesus is subordinate to God the Father and thus is not truly God. Many verses are cited by those who hold this view, most of which deal with Jesus' constant reliance on the Father and his willingness to do the Father's will.

What is often missed by those who cite these verses is the immediate context that they are in. Christ, when he came to earth in the Incarnation, humbled himself and was made a little lower than the angels so that he might become our sacrifice.

To truly understand the issue of the equality in the Godhead, we must remember that Christ was both fully human and fully divine. But the point is that within the Godhead, Christ is co-equal and co-eternal with the Father and the Holy Spirit.

The points of the Trinity are simple and easy to distinguish from the errors concerning this doctrine. There is one being that is God. To deny this would make one a polytheist. Within the being of God, there exist three persons, the Father, the Son, and the Holy.

Spirit.

To deny this would make one either be a modalist or they would be forced to deny the deity of Jesus Christ, which we will see is a clearly scriptural doctrine. These three persons are all equal and eternal.

To deny this would make one a henotheist and or a subordinationist. It is so important that we understand that ultimately, Trinitarianism is unlike any other religious view of God in the world. Believing in the Trinity is not a belief in polytheism, nor is it a belief in henotheism.

Trinitarianism, by definition, is a monotheistic understanding of God. Christians do not ever deny that God is one being. But just because we are specifically monotheistic, this does not mean that we are the same as other monotheistic religions.

When a person says that we serve the same God as the people of Islam, we know that this cannot be the case. It is not as simple as saying that God is simply called by a different name. The people of the Islamic religion emphatically deny the doctrine of the Trinity, so essentially they serve a different God.

Likewise, sadly, so do most Jewish people. They may call their God by the same name, but they have denied for centuries that which he revealed about himself in Jesus Christ. A denial of the Trinity is ultimately a denial of God himself.

As I conclude this first chapter, I would like to say a few words in regard to our ability to actually grasp the doctrine of the Trinity. I have heard it said more times than I would like to remember that it is impossible for us to comprehend the doctrine of the Trinity.

A .W. Tozer has said, Our sincerest effort to grasp the incomprehensible mystery of the Trinity must remain forever futile, and only by deepest reverence can it be saved from actual presumption. And I would agree with Tozer that it is not possible for us to fully comprehend everything about the way God is one being and three persons because, as I said earlier, we have nothing to compare him to.

But I would like to add this. While I cannot fully comprehend all there is to know about the Trinity, I can properly understand what the Bible teaches about God and that he is a Trinity. The Bible teaches clearly that there is one God, within the being of God there exist three persons, and those three persons are all equal and eternal.

How this works exactly will be a mystery to finite men because we only understand that which is finite. We are limited by language that only relates to the finite and minds that only understand the finite.

God is an infinite being which makes full comprehension of his nature an impossibility for us. Yet this shouldn't stop us from believing the doctrine. Consider the most basic doctrine of God in the Bible, the doctrine that God is eternal.

We understand that we explain this doctrine as God's being without beginning or ending. But really we are just explaining what God doesn't have. He doesn't have beginning and he will have no ending. We cannot give a truly adequate expression of his eternality because there is nothing else in all the universe that is eternal.

We know our limitations in understanding this doctrine, yet we have no trouble receiving.

It by faith.

This is also how we are to view the Trinity. We can understand what the doctrine says and what it doesn't say. We can rightly claim the truth of it as it aligns with scripture. And we can do all this without fully being able to comprehend the full scope of God's nature because of the limits of our finite minds.

The Shema, the Oneness of God, and the Deity of Christ

I notice that often when engaged in discussions about the Trinity, some will simply throw out a myriad of passages in defense of the doctrine. And usually all these passages are relevant. But sometimes, instead of simply throwing out a list of verses, it is best to look closely at the most specific passages that regard the topic you are dealing with.

The reason is that if a person is left with only scripture verses, many of which that are twisted by those who would deny the Trinity, this person will not know how to respond to the cultic interpretations of the key passages.

We will see in this section that in many of the non-Christian groups, the verses we are going to look at are interpreted improperly. And because we are going to spend time with these verses, we can look at the errors of some of those groups.

My goal for this section is to provide a proper exposition of these texts that set the groundwork for the doctrine of the Trinity. Section 1. Scripture that supports the oneness of God. Probably the most quoted and thus one of the most significant verses in regard to the one being of God is found in the writings of Moses.

It is a verse of scripture that would be well known to the people of the Jewish faith, for it was the foundation of their monotheistic religious system. It comes in the form of a prayer and is called the Shema.

Deuteronomy 6, 4 -6. Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is one. You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with.

All your might.

And these words that I command you today shall be on your heart. It is verses like this one that form the basis of true biblical monotheism, and Jesus not only confirmed the truth of this passage, but he also included it in the great commandment.

Mark 12, 28 -30. And one of the scribes came up and heard them disputing with one another, and seeing that he answered them well, asked him, Which commandment is the most important of all? Jesus answered, The most important is, Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is one, and you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.

Sometimes Christians will attempt to interpret the last word of the Shema in such a way as it would fit within the concept of Trinitarianism. This is because the last word, Echad, translated one, is used in other places in scripture to describe a plural oneness.

Here are a few examples. Numbers 13, 23. And they came unto the brook of Eschel, and cut down from thence a branch with one, Echad, cluster of grapes, and they bare it between two upon a staff. And they brought of the Panama granites, and of the figs.

Genesis 2, 24. Therefore shall a man leave his father and his mother, and shall cleave unto his wife, and they shall be one, Echad, flesh. And in doing this, they will show that this word is different from the absolute expression of singular one, which is the word Yechid, found in other verses of the Hebrew text such as this one.

Genesis 22, 2. And he said, Take now thy son, thine only, Yechid, son, Isaac, whom thou lovest, and get thee into the land of Moriah, and offer him there for a burnt offering upon one of the mountains which I will tell thee of.

Many have attempted to use the different Hebrew words for one and singular to say that the Shema is actually supporting Trinitarianism. And while I would not deny that the Shema is a Trinitarian passage, it does not do any injustice to the doctrine to say that God is absolutely one.

In the last chapter we noted that it is the Trifeist who attempts to break God into parts or say that there are three gods. The Trinitarian, however, is a monotheist and has no problem supporting the phrase, the Lord is one.

We believe that the being of God is undivided, while at the same time it is shared completely by three persons. And as we stated in the first session, this is not an exercise in contradiction, for we understand the fact that when we speak of God's oneness, we are speaking of his being, and when we speak of God's plurality, it regards his persons.

Another very important verse that supports the fact that there is only one God is found in the book of Isaiah. This passage is also important to remember in regards to the Trinity when we begin to see verses that teach that Jesus Christ and the Holy Spirit are fully divine persons.

Isaiah 43, 10 Ye are my witnesses, saith the Lord, and my servant whom I have chosen, that ye may know and believe me, and understand that I am he. Before me there was no God formed, neither shall there be after me.

Note the facts presented. Before God, there was no God formed. This would be impossible because God is eternal. There is nothing that comes before him. But also, it says, there were none formed after him.

This is relevant for those who would call Jesus a God, created by Yahweh and lesser than Yahweh, which is the view of the Jehovah's Witnesses. This verse stated emphatically that there is only one God, and that is the view that we hold in the first statement of the doctrine of the Trinity when we say there is only one.

God.

The Deity of Christ in John, Colossians, and Revelation

Section 2. Scripture that supports the Deity of Christ. The following is a crucial point for us to understand. If there is only one God, and Jesus Christ is proven in Scripture to be God, and Jesus interacts with God the Father, we see then how the formulation of the doctrine of the Trinity came into existence.

So the most important questions are,. 1. Does the Bible teach that Jesus Christ is fully God? 2. Does the Bible show interaction between the Son and the Father? In regard to these questions, let us go to the most elegant passage of Scripture in regards to this subject in the entire Bible, the opening verses of John's Gospel.

John 1, 1 -3. In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. The same was in the beginning with God. All things were made by him, and without him was not anything made that was made.

As I said earlier, I want to break down the important passages rather than throw a bunch of passages out at one time, and this passage deserves our attention. Things we should note from this passage are,.

1.

The significance of the phrase, In the beginning. This phrase should strike us very familiar, for it comes to us in the first verse of Genesis. Genesis 1, 1. In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth.

The introduction of Genesis speaks of introduction of time. When it says, In the beginning, the inference is that it is the beginning of time. God himself lives outside of time. When we think of God and his infinitude, we often think of God existing on a timeline that is simply infinitely longer than our own.

But this is not how God exists. He exists outside of time, for time is a created thing. By this, I mean it was given a beginning and it will have an ending. So, we see that by saying, In the beginning, both Genesis and John's Gospel are harkening back to a point when time was starting.

So, why is this significant?

2.

The usage of the word was. The phrase, In the beginning was, the word, is pregnant with meaning, for what we see here is that before time began, the word already existed. The New English Bible makes clear what the phrase is suggesting.

When all things began, the word already was. The significance is simple. By using the phrase, was, we see that the word did not come into being at any point in time, for when time began, the word already was.

3.

But of whom do we speak? The usage of the word, word, or logos. It is without doubt that in John's prologue, the word is the name John chose to call Jesus Christ. This is proven later in the first chapter, John 1 .14, And the word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, and we beheld his glory, the glory as the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth.

But why does John not simply say that in the beginning, Jesus was? It is usually understood in this way. In the Old Testament, the word of God is how God's power was expressed in creation, wisdom, salvation, and revelation.

Psalm 33 .6 By the word of the Lord were the heavens made, and all the host of them by the breath of his mouth. Psalm 107 .20 He sent his word, and healed them, and delivered them from their destructions.

On top of this, John was also using a phrase common among Greek philosophers to describe divine reason or wisdom, but in an impersonal way. What made John's opening statement relevant for both Jews and Greeks was that it took this seemingly impersonal wisdom and showed its personal nature in the person of Jesus Christ.

So, we see that as far as John is concerned, Jesus is the true Logos. Now comes the part that is relevant in regard to divinity. The two uses of the word God.

Theos.

The first statement says that the word was with God. In this we see personal communion. These two, the word and God, are together with one another. The phrase in Greek actually adds an article before God.

The phrase was with God in the Greek actually contains the article the. So, it could be read, the word was with the God. The reason John does this is important. In the first instance of the word God, John is speaking of the Father.

Tantheon, or the God, that the Logos was with is the Father. And it is important that we do not confuse the Son and the Father. If we do, we end up with modalism. The word, as the second person of the Trinity, was in divine fellowship with the Father throughout eternity.

Thus, we read the next use of the word God. This time it is in relation to the word. The word was God. And this time there is no article before the word God. It doesn't say, the word was with the God, and the word was the God, for this would confuse the members of the Trinity.

Rather, it simply says, the word was God, in a qualitative sense, speaking of the nature of the word being the very nature of divinity. Important note. Those who argue that Jesus is a lesser or created God say that this requires an indefinite article before the word God.

In fact, if you read the Jehovah Witnesses mistranslation, you will see that they have added the indefinite article a. So it reads that the word was a God, not the word was God. The argument goes like this.

If the word God has the article the before it, this is an indefinite article. But in the Greek language there is not an indefinite article like we have in the English language a. A being the indefinite article because it speaks of no particular thing.

It is a thing, not the thing. So those who place the a in John 1 .1 do so because they argue that John would have done so had he had the option of using an indefinite article. They argue that because the phrase a God appears in other passages wherein there is no definite article, the same should apply here.

But such an argument misses the context of John's words completely. In fact, if this is the case, it would go against all of the Bible's scripture that teaches monotheism. Consider one of the foundational monotheistic verses we cited earlier, Isaiah 43 .10.

Before me no God was formed, nor shall there be any after me. John, who was a Jew, would not have written about another God other than Yahweh. I am not a linguist, but I study the works of men who are very familiar with the Greek language.

Regarding this passage, renowned scholar F .F. Bruce says, the people who emphasize that the true rendering of the last clause of John 1 .1 is the word was a God, prove nothing thereby save their ignorance of Greek grammar.

So how do we understand the term God when used of the word if it is neither in the definite sense the God or in the indefinite sense a God? The answer is that the term God is being used qualitatively.

It speaks of the nature of the word. Again, the New English Bible renders this as what God was, the word was. Again, F .F. Bruce says that the word shared the nature and the being of God. So here we get the full expression of what John is telling us about the word, Jesus.

He is eternal. He is in communion with the Father. He is fully divine. The second and third verses of John's prologue back up the truth of what is said in the first verse. John 1, 2, and 3. The same was in the beginning with God.

All things were made by Him and without Him was not anything made that was made. Again, we see the use of the word was. Christ was in the beginning. Thus He was not made but already existed. And He was integral in creation.

Nothing was made that was not made by Him. How is this? Because He was with God and He was God. Christ is not a part of creation. He is in fact Creator. There are in fact many verses of New Testament Scripture that support the doctrine of the deity of Christ.

Colossians 2, 9. For in Him the whole fullness of deity dwells bodily. Colossians 1, 15, and 16. He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation. For by Him all things were created in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities.

All things were created through Him and for Him. Revelation 22, 13. I am the Alpha and the Omega, the first and the last, the beginning and the end. And of course we have the great confession of Thomas, who was not rebuked when he called Jesus my Lord and my God.

While all of these stand as testimony to the deity of Christ, the prologue of John is the most powerful of these texts. Later in this series of lessons we will look to some of the passages concerning Jesus that are used to deny His deity and compare them to what John has written and other texts that show clearly that He is fully divine.

The Personality of the Holy Spirit and the Triune Name

Section 3. Scripture that supports the personality of the Holy Spirit. One of the arguments against the doctrine of the Trinity is describing the Holy Spirit as an impersonal force, rather than a person within the Godhead.

But the clearest proof of the Holy Spirit being a person and not a thing or force is indicated in the continuous use of the personal pronouns for Him in the Bible. John 15, 26. But when the Helper comes, whom I will send to you from the Father, the Spirit of Truth who proceeds from the Father, He will bear witness about me.

John 16, 13, and 14. When the Spirit of Truth comes, He will guide you into all truth, for He will not speak of His own authority, but whatever He hears, He will speak, and He will declare to you the things that are to come.

He will glorify me, for He will take what is mine and declare it to you. Acts 10, 19, and 20. And while Peter was pondering the vision, the Spirit said to him, Behold, three men are looking for you. Rise and go down and accompany them without hesitation, for I have sent them.

And in case one would argue that the Holy Spirit is personal but not God, they must then hear the words of Peter. Acts 5, 3, and 4. But Peter said, Ananias, why has Satan filled your heart to lie to the Holy Spirit and to keep back for yourself part of the proceeds of the land?

While it remained unsold, did it not remain your own? And after it was sold, was it not at your disposal? Why is it that you have contrived this deed in your heart? You have not lied to men, but to God.

2 Peter 1, 21. For no prophecy was ever produced by the will of man, but men spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit. The truth of Scripture is that the Holy Spirit is a divine person, eternal, possessing all the attributes of personality and deity, including intellect, emotions, eternality, omnipresence, omniscience, omnipotence, and truthfulness.

Section 4. Scripture that supports the three personalities coexisting. Likely the most recognizable verse in regards to the coexisting nature of the three persons of the Trinity is found in Matthew's Gospel.

Matthew 28, 19. Go ye therefore and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost. In regard to this verse, I will make an important note. The name in view is in a singular sense.