My Dear Friend,

The Holy Trinity is an acknowledged mystery in that no human mind, however brilliant, may fully grasp it in its entirety.

The Scriptures describe the Holy Trinity in many texts, yet do not thoroughly explain it in any single text. Enough indisputable evidence exists, however, for true believers, who consider God’s Word to be the final authority on matters of faith and doctrine, to embrace the Holy Trinity as an established biblical fact.

It was decided in 325 AD at the Council of Nicea that God is one in divine essence, yet exists in three distinct persons - all perfectly (indivisibly) united, all equally God, all thoroughly sinless, and all eternally pre-existing. A proper understanding of the Holy Trinity, or Trinitarianism, acknowledges both God’s oneness (Deut. 6:4) and His three Persons (Matt. 28:19), yet does not validate Tritheism. Tritheism overemphasizes God’s persons so as to claim there are three separate and distinct gods. Unitarianism conversely overemphasizes God’s oneness so as to deny the three distinct Persons existing simultaneously within the Godhead.

The term “Godhead,” which primarily describes the essential nature of God, is used in Scripture synonymously with the concept of the Holy Trinity. The word “Trinity,” however, is not found in the Bible.

Scriptural evidence supporting the doctrine of the Holy Trinity is as follows:

Genesis 1:1, 2 in combination with John 1:3, Colossians 1:16, and Hebrews 1:1-2 tell us all three persons of the Holy Trinity participated in creation. God the Father “created” (conceived, ordered, and oversaw) the cosmos, by the agency (or personal work) of His Son, through the energy, or “moving,” of His Spirit.

• "In the beginning God [the Father] created the heaven and the earth . . . and the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters." (Genesis 1:1, 2)

• “All things were made by him [the Word, or Jesus]; and without him [the Word, or Jesus] was not any thing made that was made.” (John 1:3)

• “For by him [Jesus] were all things created, that are in heaven, and that are in earth . . . all things were created by him.” (Colossians 1:16)

• "God [the Father] . . . hath in these last days spoken unto us by his Son . . . by whom also he [the Father] made the worlds." (Hebrews 1:1-2)

Genesis 1:26 gives God’s self-description in not the singular but the plural.

• “Let us make man in our image, after our likeness.” (Genesis 1:26) 

Luke 3:21-22 describes God the Father, Son, and Spirit all being present in a voice, a human body, and the form of a dove at Jesus’ baptism.

• “Jesus [the Son] also being baptized, and praying, the heaven was opened, and the Holy Ghost descended in a bodily shape like a dove upon him, and a [the Father’s] voice came from heaven, which said, ‘Thou art my beloved Son.’” (Luke 3:21-22)

John 14-16 record Jesus repeatedly referencing, and thus validating, the three Persons of the Holy Trinity: Himself, His Father, and the Holy Spirit.

• “And I [the Son] will pray the Father, and he [the Father] shall give you another Comforter . . . even the Spirit of truth.” (John 14:16-17)

• “But when the Comforter [the Holy Spirit] is come, whom I [the Son] will send unto you from the Father, even the Spirit of truth, which proceedeth from the Father, he [the Holy Spirit] shall testify of me [the Son].” (John 15:26)

• “All things that the Father hath are mine; therefore said I [the Son], that he [the Spirit of truth] shall take of mine, and shall show it unto you.” (John 16:15)

Acts 2:32-33 states God the Father gave the promised Holy Spirit to Jesus to pour out on those present in the Upper Room at Pentecost.

• “This Jesus [the Son] hath God [the Father] raised up . . . therefore being by the right hand of God [the Father] exalted, and having received of the Father the promise of the Holy Ghost, he [the Son] hath shed for this [the Holy Ghost], which ye now see and hear.” (Acts 2:32-33)

Acts 10:38 affirms that “God” (the Father) anointed “Jesus of Nazareth” (the Son) with the “Holy Spirit” and His great power to energize Jesus’ miraculous healing and deliverance ministries.

• “How God [the Father] anointed Jesus of Nazareth [the Son] with the Holy Ghost and with power: who went about doing good, and healing all who were oppressed of the devil; for God [the Father and the Holy Ghost] was with him [the Son].” (Acts 10:38)

Revelation 4:2-5 and 5:6 describe John’s vision of God the Father on the throne, the Son (Lamb) standing before Him, and the sevenfold Holy Spirit present with them in heaven after the rapture of the church.

• “I was in the spirit: and, behold, a throne was set in heaven, and one [God the Father] sat on the throne . . . and there were seven lamps of fire [symbolizing the sevenfold Holy Spirit] burning before the [Father’s] throne . . . and, lo, in the midst of the [Father’s] throne . . . stood a Lamb [the Son] as it had been slain, having seven horns and seven eyes, which are the seven Spirits of God [or sevenfold Spirit of God] sent forth into all the earth.” (Revelation 4:2-5; 5:6)

Matthew 28:19 states Christian water baptism is to be ministered in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.

• “Teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost.” (Matthew 28:19)

Acts 17:29 and Romans 1:20 attest to the existence of the “Godhead,” or Holy Trinity.

• “We ought not to think that the Godhead is like unto gold, or silver, or stone.” (Acts 17:29)

• “For the invisible things of him [the Father] from the creation of the world are clearly seen . . . even his eternal power and Godhead.” (Romans 1:20)

Colossians 2:9 states that the wonder of the “Godhead,” or Holy Trinity, was fully present in Jesus of Nazareth bodily.

• “For in him [the Son] dwelleth all the fulness of the Godhead bodily.” (Colossians 2:9)

Confirming this, Luke 4:1 reveals Jesus was “full” of the Holy Spirit, John 3:34 adds that Jesus possessed the Holy Spirit “without limit” (NLT), and John 14:10 reveals Jesus said His Father was “in” Him working all His miracles (John 14:10).

• “And Jesus [the Son] being full of the Holy Ghost returned from the Jordan.” (Luke 4:1)

• “God [the Father] gives him [the Son] the [Holy] Spirit without limit.” (John 3:34, NLT)

• “Believest thou not that I [the Son] am in the Father, and the Father in me [the Son]? . . . the Father that dwelleth in me [the Son], he doeth the works.” (John 14:10)

So, we conclude, all that God was, and is, in three unified divine Persons, was present in the historic Jesus of Nazareth.

1 Corinthians 12:3-6 and 2 Corinthians 13:14 establish Paul’s faith and doctrine concerning the Holy Trinity.

• “No man can say that Jesus [the Son] is the Lord, but by the Holy Ghost . . . Now there are diversities of gifts, but the same Spirit [Holy Ghost] . . . the same Lord [the Son] . . . the same God [the Father].” (1 Corinthians 12:3-6)

• “The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ [the Son], and the love of God [the Father], and the communion of the Holy Ghost, be with you all.” (2 Corinthians 13:14)

1 Peter 1:2 establishes Peter’s faith and doctrine concerning the Holy Trinity.

• “Elect according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, through the sanctification of the [Holy] Spirit, unto obedience and sprinkling of the blood of Jesus Christ [the Son].” (1 Peter 1:2).

Jude 20-21 establishes Jude’s faith in, and doctrine of, the Holy Trinity.

• “Praying in the Holy Ghost, keep yourselves in the love of God [the Father], looking for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ [the Son] unto eternal life.” (Jude 20-21)

Revelation 13:4, 11-14 along with Revelation 16:13 and 20:10 establish the counterfeit of the Holy Trinity, the trinity of hell, or “unholy trinity.”

• “And they worshiped the dragon [the false father, Satan] which gave power to the beast [the false son, Antichrist] . . . And I beheld another beast [the false prophet, or false holy spirit] coming up out of the earth; and he had two horns like a lamb [imitating the true Son], and he spoke as a dragon [imitating the true Father] . . . and he [the false prophet, or false holy spirit] doeth great wonders [imitating the Holy Spirit’s miraculous divine powers].” (Revelation 13:4, 11-14)

The presence of a counterfeit always establishes the existence of the real article, which it is imitating for purposes of deception. Satan’s (Lucifer’s) prideful envy has from the beginning prompted him to ceaselessly and obsessively not only oppose but also imitate God. This envy-driven imitation will reach its climax in the last days.

In the Great Tribulation, the dragon, beast, and false prophet will imitate the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit respectively to deceive the worldwide masses and, for three and a half years, steal God’s glory, authority, and worship on earth.

• “And I saw three unclean [demonic] spirits like frogs come out of the mouth of the dragon [the false father], and out of the mouth of the beast [the false son], and out of the mouth of the false prophet [the false holy spirit].” (Revelation 16:13)

• “And the devil [the false father] that deceived them was cast into the lake of fire and brimstone, where the beast [the false son] and the false prophet [the false holy spirit] are, and shall be tormented day and night for ever and ever.” (Revelation 20:10)

That Satan will go to such great lengths, forming this false or unholy trinity to imitate the true Holy Trinity, proves beyond all reasonable doubt that it exists.

In holy awe of the Holy Trinity,

Dr. Greg Hinnant

GREG HINNANT MINISTRIES