BIBLICAL PROOF OF THE TRINITY
Colossians 2:17 Beware lest anyone cheat you through philosophy and empty deceit, according to the tradition of men, according to the basic principles of the world, and not according to Christ.
CREATION
Genesis 1:26 Then God said, "Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness; let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over the cattle, over all [2] the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth."
This shows more than one person was involved from the beginning in the creation as God said ?us make?.
Genesis 3:22 And the LORD God said, "The man has now become like one of us, knowing good and evil. He must not be allowed to reach out his hand and take also from the tree of life and eat, and live forever."
He also refers in Genesis 3:22 to the creators as ?us?, again showing more than one creator.
In fact the Hebrew word For ?God? used in Genesis 1 vs. 1 is plural. The scriptures can leave us in no doubt that all three of the trinity were involved in creation from the very beginning.
Isaiah 48:13
Indeed My hand has laid the foundation of the earth,
And My right hand has stretched out the heavens;
When I call to them,
They stand up together.
Here the creator (God) talks as a single person who created the world. His hands made it.
Psalm 143:5
I remember the days of long ago;
I meditate on all your works
and consider what your hands have done.
Here David speaks of his Lord and again it is another example where the creator is looked upon as one person. Of course Davids? Lord would be God.
So if the bible clearly is saying God created the earth yet more than one person was involved in the creation, the only logical answer is the Holy Trinity of God. With the trinity it makes sense to refer to them as one person?as they all are God, and also three people as they are also separate persons.
And so from the very beginning of Gods revealing of himself through his word we have evidence of the Holy Trinity.
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HOLY SPIRIT
It is widely believed by many ?the Holy Spirit is not a person but rather Gods force/movement amongst us.? If this were true it would discredit the Trinity from being correct. This is not what the bible teaches:
John 15:26 "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 makes clear that the Holy Spirit is a very definite, individual, entity. You do not refer to a force as he, only something with individual thought!
Isaiah 48:16
Come near me and listen to this:
"From the first announcement I have not spoken in secret;
at the time it happens, I am there."
And now the Sovereign LORD has sent me,
with his Spirit.
If the Lord (who is God) has a Spirit, and the Bible says the spirit is a person as shown above, then his spirit can only be God himself (appearing here as a separate being) like our spirit is us, and also a part of us (body, soul, spirit).
Again this points towards God being a Holy Trinity and the Holy Spirit is part of it.
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JESUS
What is he?
- Gods? Son
John 3:16 For God so loved the world he gave his only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.
He was unique to us as this verse says he?s Gods only begotten Son. He is not like us (unique) as the gospels tell us that he became man, but he was (and is) sinless and pure.
- Not man
Because he was a sinless/perfect man this means he was not a man like us, who are born into a sinful nature:
Psalm 51:5 Behold, I was brought forth in iniquity, and in sin my mother conceived me.
He was God (part of the Holy Trinity)
Titus 2:13 Looking for the blessed hope and glorious appearing of our great God and Saviour, Jesus Christ
This speaks for itself! He is God, and at that a great one!
Colossians 2:9 For in him dwells all the fullness of the Godhead bodily
Mark 10:18 So Jesus said to him, why do you call me good? No one is good but one, that is, God.
If in Jesus dwells the fullness of the Godhead bodily, it will include Gods goodness. If no one is good but God, and he contains his goodness (?dwells his fullness), he must be God. This is what Jesus was getting at when he spoke here.
Colossians 2:10 also calls him the ?head of all principalities and powers?
This must mean he is God, how could someone who isn?t God be the head of all principalities and powers? This is Gods position alone, so Jesus must be God as part of the trinity.
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OTHER SCRIPTURAL EVIDENCE
John 12: 44 Then Jesus cried out and said, "He who believes in Me, believes not in Me but in Him who sent Me. 45 And he who sees Me sees Him who sent Me.
Again this points towards Jesus being God as no one can equal God as has been shown above. Jesus is telling those around him that the body they see is only the outward ?clothing? of his true (God) self.
The only other alternative would be for Jesus to have been a blasphemer and a liar. Which we know is not true based on what God says about him and his reputation!
Colossians 1: 15 He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation. 16 For by Him all things were created that are in heaven and that are on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or principalities or powers. All things were created through Him and for Him.
Again here in verse 15 no one could be the image of God without being him as no one is equal to God. We were told previously that God?s hands created the world, and here we are told Jesus created the world. This proves that Jesus IS GOD. Why would all things be created for Jesus if he isn?t God? Revelation 4:11 tells us ?for Gods pleasure all things were created.?
Philippians 2:10 that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of those in heaven, and of those on earth, and of those under the earth,
This again shows Jesus? position as God. The Old Testaments 10 commandments tell us to have no gods before God and not to bow down to idols, only to God. If Jesus isn?t God this would be controversial and a sin!
H ope this clearly shows God exists as a trinity, which Jesus is and always has been a part of, even before the universe was created.
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