Why is the Christian View of God the Triune God?

Belief in the Triune Godhead is Central to the Christian faith. The trinity is used to refer to the Christian dogma of God in three persons; the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. The Christian belief in the Triune God is found in of the internal testimony of the Old Testament and the internal testimony of the New Testament.

The Old Testament establishes the foundation for the Christian view of the Triune Godhead. The Trinity cannot be understood completely from the Old Testament texts; there are glimpses of the foundation of the triune God in the Old Testament. The Old Testament foundation of the triune Godhead has two parts; the unity of the Godhead and the Godhead as multiple persons.

The main focus of Old Testament Trinitarian thought is on the unity of the Godhead.[1] Part of this prominence results from the foundational Jewish belief in monotheism. A central theme in the Old Testament is the unity and singularity of the Godhead.[2] The unity of the Godhead is clearly seen the Shema, which is found in Deuteronomy 6:4-9. The first verse of the Shema points to the unity of the Godhead, it was recited at the start of worship services and reads, “Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God, the LORD is one.”[3] The Shema points to the unity of the Godhead stating that God is one Lord, meaning that God is united.[4]

Further support for the Unity of Godhead can be seen in the First Commandment, “Thou shalt have no other gods before me.”[5] The First Commandment prohibits polytheism and supports the unity of the Godhead.[6] The use of ‘me’ reflects the monotheistic core of the Jewish faith. Gods; it supports the unity of the Godhead. In the First Commandment God assigns himself a singular pronoun emphasizing the unity of the Godhead.

The Old Testament sets the foundation for the uniqueness of the multiple persons of the Godhead. The Father, Son and Holy Spirit are each shown to be present and active within the Old Testament.[7] There are subtle references to the activity of each person of the Godhead within the Old Testament. These references lead to the Threeness of God’s persons in light of God’s unity. In many cases within the Old Testament the Persons represented in the text cannot be strictly identified. But there are faint glimpses of the Son and Holy Spirit. There is an emphasis of understanding concerning the father and His activity within the world and membership in the Godhead

The there are many texts within the Old Testament that point to a multiple persons in Godhead. The persons of the Godhead cannot be identified within the texts by name. The most familiar passage that hints at more than one person in the Godhead is Genesis 1:26a, “Then God said, ‘Let us make man in our image, in our likeness...’” Both the verb ‘let us’ and the pronoun ‘our’ are plural.[8] This suggests that there were multiple persons within the Godhead present at creation. Conventional Christian belief takes this to mean that Christ was present and active during creation, however, there is nothing in the passage to support or deny the presence and activity of the Holy Spirit.[9] This passage shows the image of God consists in a unified form across the multiple persons of the Godhead.[10] Genesis contains several other references to multiple persons in the Godhead. For example Genesis 3:22 reads, “The man has now become like one of us, knowing good and evil.” The use of plural pronoun ‘us’ suggests the presence of more then one person of the Godhead. In Isaiah 6:8 Isaiah makes the same point when he writes, “I heard the voice of the Lord saying, "Whom shall I [singular] send? And who will go for us [plural]?"[11] He is making reference to more than one person being in the Godhead. The Lord is speaking and conversing with an unidentified member of the Godhead. These passages reference the existence of multiple persons of the Godhead through their use of plural pronouns. Even though they do not specifically identify the individual person of the Godhead they serve as a subtle foundation to Trinitarian thought.

God the Father is the first person of the Godhead. He is the most identified person of the Trinity in both the Old Testament and the New Testament.[12] God the Father is the foundation and beginning of the Godhead. God the Father spoke creation into existence. The title Lord refers to God the Father, and occasional another. He is the foundation and start of the Godhead.

The Son, Christ Jesus, is active within the Old Testament. The Old Testament contains many clear references to the Messiah. Isaiah prophecies that a child will be born who will “be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.”[13] This passage is taken to show that the child, who Christians understand to be Christ, will be God. Many Old Testament passages on Christ’s membership in the Godhead are understood in light of New Testament references. The author of Hebrews makes several references to the Psalms and applies them to Christ. In Hebrews 1 there are references to Psalm 2:7, Psalm 45:6-7, Psalm 102:25-27 and several others. The author uses these passages to show that Christ is divine, placing Christ within the Godhead.

The third person of the Trinity, the Holy Spirit, is also shown to be present and active within the Old Testament. There are several prophecies about the Holy Spirit in the Old Testament. Joel 2:28 prophecies a time that the Spirit will be poured out. Similarly, Isaiah 32:15 Isaiah prophecies about a time when “the spirit [will] be poured upon us from on high.” This passage helps support the place of the Holy Spirit within the Godhead. In Acts 28:25-28 the Author of Acts identifies the Holy Spirit as the voice of God that spoke in Isaiah 6:8.[14] The Holy Spirit is also identified with the filling of God. Exodus 31:2-3 shows the Spirit of God, the Holy Spirit, filling Bezalel. In Judges 6:34 the Spirit is shown to be active and present, when the Spirit came upon Gideon. The Holy Spirit’s identification with the voice of God and the filling of God shows that the person of the Holy Spirit belongs in the Godhead.

The Old Testament sets the foundation for the Trinitarian view of the Godhead. The unity of the Godhead is established by Old Testament Monotheism. There are also passages that show multiple persons within the Godhead; however, many of these passages do not identify the persons of the Godhead in other instances. The three persons of the Godhead are shown to be active and present in the Old Testament.

The New Testament affirms the foundations of Trinitarian thought from the Old Testament and completes the concepts of three in oneness of the Godhead. The New Testament firmly establishes Trinitarian thought within Christian theology. It reveals the three persons and supports their unity.

The New Testament further reveals and identifies the three persons of the Godhead. The Old Testament laid the foundation for the Trinitarian Godhead; the New Testament builds upon that foundation. The New Testament more fully identifies the individual persons of the Godhead. In the New Testament Christ is incarnated and the Spirit is sent, while the roll of the Father is continued.

Christ, God the Son, is the foundational and central person in the New Testament. His identification with the Godhead is central to the Christian Message. In Matthew 4:1-11 the Tempter identifies Christ as being the Son of God when he tempts Christ by enticing, “If thou be the Son of God, command that these stones be made bread.” Later in the passage Christ identifies Himself as God saying, “Do not put the Lord your God to the test.” Christ also identifies Himself as God in Luke 22:70 when He was asked if He is the Son of God “He replied, ‘You are right in saying I am.’” Christ confesses that He “and the Father are one.” Throughout the New Testament Christ identifies Himself as God placing Himself in the Godhead.

Others also testify to Christ’s divinity placing Him in the Godhead. A Centurion in Matthew 27:54 exclaims, “Surely he was the Son of God!” The Author of Philippians writes in Philippians 2:5-11 that Christ was in the very nature of God and that He is Lord. There are many testimonies concerning Christ equality with God within the New Testament. These testimonies lend support for inclusion of the person of Christ within the Godhead.

God the Holy Spirit more firmly identified within the New Testament. The Holy Spirit is sent from the Father by Christ. John in John 15:26-27 testifies, “When the Counselor comes, whom I will send to you from the Father, the Spirit of truth who goes out from the Father, he will testify about me.” This passage witnesses to the Spirit coming from God; Luke 11:13 refers to the Holy Spirit being given by God. 2 Corinthians 3:17 identifies the Holy Spirit as a member of the Godhead, it reads, “Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom.” This support is echoed in Acts 8:29 when the Spirit speaks to Philip concerning the Ethiopian Eunuch. This passage also shows the sharing of Characteristics between the Godhead and the Spirit. The connection of the Holy Spirit too the other two persons of the Godhead and the sharing of Godly characteristics support the inclusion of the person of the Spirit within the Godhead.

The unity of the Godhead is seen in the close identification and solidarity of the three persons. The unity of the Godhead is best identified in Christ’s command in Matthew 28:19 to “go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.” This expression places the three persons; Father, Son, and Holy Spirit equally within the concept of the Godhead. The three persons of the Godhead are also associated in 2 Corinthians 13:14, which reads, “May the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all.”

The unity of the Godhead is best understood within the concept of salvation. 1 John 5:7-12 unifies the Godhead within salvation event by applying roles or actions to each person.[15] The Spirit testifies the truth of God’s message which is the story and actions of the Son of God. These distinct and equal actions require the presences and activity of all three members of the Godhead. Salvation cannot occur apart from the united activity of God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit.

The Old Testament and the New Testament testify to unity of the Godhead and the threeness of the Godhead. They Old Testament begins to reveal the threeness of the Godhead by revealing that there are multiple persons within the Godhead. It focuses on the Unity of the Godhead, through the Monotheistic system which the New Testament writers would have recognized and used to show the unity of the Godhead within the New Testament. The New Testament sees the fuller revealing and identification of the three persons of the Godhead. Their actions and roles are brought into perfect unity in the action of salvation.



Works Cited

Voulgaris, Christos S. "The Biblical and Patristic Doctrine of the Trinity." Chap. in The Greek Orthodox Theological Review. 165-201. United States: Holy Cross Orthodox Press, 1992.

Erickson, Millard J.. Christian Theology; Second Edition. Grand Rapids, Michigan: Baker Books, 2003.

Grudem Wayne. Systematic Theology; an Introduction to Biblical Doctrine. Grand Rapids, Michigan: Zondervan Publishing House, 2000.

New Exhaustive Strong's Numbers and Concordance with Expanded Greek-Hebrew Dictionary. Biblesoft and International Bible Translators, 1994.

Delitzsch, F. and Keil C.F. Commentary on the Old Testament. Hendrickson Publishers, Inc.

Thiessen, Henry C. Lectures in Systematic Theology. Michigan: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing, 1989.

Wisloff, Carl. I Know in Whom I Believe. United States of America: AFLC Seminary Press, 1983.





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[1] Henry C. Thiessen, Lectures in Systematic Theology (Michigan: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing, 1989), 90.

[2] Millard J. Erickson, Christian Theology; Second Edition (Grand Rapids, Michigan: Baker Books, 2003), 349

[3] NIV

[4] New Exhaustive Strong's Numbers and Concordance with Expanded Greek-Hebrew Dictionary (Biblesoft and International Bible Translators, 1994)

[5] Carl Wisloff, I Know in Whom I Believe (United States of America: AFLC Seminary Press, 1983), 29.

[6] F. and Keil C.F. Delitzsch, Commentary on the Old Testament (Hendrickson Publishers, Inc.)

[7] Christos S Voulgaris, "The Biblical and Patristic Doctrine of the Trinity," chap. in The Greek Orthodox Theological Review (United States: Holy Cross Orthodox Press, 1992)

[8] Grudem Wayne, Systematic Theology; an Introduction to Biblical Doctrine (Grand Rapids, Michigan: Zondervan Publishing House, 2000), 227.

[9] Grudem Wayne, Systematic Theology; an Introduction to Biblical Doc

[10] Millard J. Erickson, Christian Theology; Second Edition (Grand Rapids, Michigan: Baker Books, 2003), 354.

[11] Millard J. Erickson, Christian Theology; Second Edition (Grand Rapids, Michigan: Baker Books, 2003), 227.

[12] Voulgaris, "The Biblical and Patristic Doctrine of the", 168.

[13] Isaiah 4:6

[14] Voulgaris, "The Biblical and Patristic Doctrine of the", 176.

[15] Voulgaris, "The Biblical and Patristic Doctrine of the", 186.