The Trinity in the Gospel of John

I thought a lot about the Trinity during my recent study of the Gospel of John. In his account, John emphasized that there is only One true God. But John also showed that the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit are all God. One God, three divine Persons. 

The word “Trinity,” which means “tri-unity” or “three-in-oneness,” is not found in the Bible. Scholars coined it to describe the nature of God as they saw taught in both the Old and New Testaments.

Scripture does not give us analogies to help us understand God’s trinitarian nature because none are adequate. God does not try to explain it us. We could not understand it anyway. His Word simply tells us that the Father is God, the Son is God, the Spirit is God, and that there is only one God (Deuteronomy 6:4). 

In his book Systematic Theology, theologian Wayne Grudem offers this brief definition:

“The doctrine that God eternally exists as three persons – Father, Son, and Holy Spirit – and each Person is fully God, and there is one God.”   

What the Trinity is NOT

Many people – including Christians – struggle with the doctrine of the Trinity. We want to understand. We think we need to understand. So, we try to explain the unexplainable. We attempt to stuff our infinite God in neat little doctrinal boxes then wrap it up in cute analogies. But all we manage to do is fashion a God of our own making. We’ve seen the results of this throughout the history of the church.

For instance, in the third century AD, a teacher named Sabellius fell into the heresy of “modalism” when he tried to understand and explain the Trinity. He taught that the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit are not three distinct persons or realities, but merely “modes” through which God expresses Himself.

Like citing the different forms of water – liquid, ice, steam – many analogies we commonly use fall into the heresy of modalism. Another often used analogy that reflects modalism is the example of one person who is a wife, daughter, and mother. Yet, like all analogies that reflect different modes of the same essence it denies three distinct persons and a relationship between those persons.

The Trinity is not three different ways God expresses Himself or three different ways of looking at God. Scripture teaches that God is three distinct Persons.

The egg analogy also fails to reflect the true nature of God. While the yolk, white, and shell combine to make one egg, the individual pieces by themselves are not a whole egg. God is not divided into three parts. That would mean each person – the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit – is each less than fully God, that they are each only a piece of God. But Scripture teaches that each Person of the Trinity is fully God. 

Jesus is Fully God

A “Christian cult” is a religion that claims to be Christian yet denies one or more essential truths of Christianity. Two of the most common distortions by Christian cults involve the nature of Jesus and the nature of salvation. For instance, Jehovah’s Witnesses and Mormons both deny the full divinity of Jesus and teach that faith alone is insufficient for salvation. (Also see “How to Know Jesus.”)

Denial of who Jesus is and what He has accomplished on our behalf is nothing new. It began when Jesus physically walked the earth. Jesus repeatedly claimed full equality with the Father but the Jewish leaders refused to accept the truth. They accepted the Father, but rejected the Son. 

In his Gospel, he apostle John strongly emphasized the full divinity of Jesus. One example is the seven “I am” statements of Jesus. The boldest is found in John 8:58. “Truly, truly, I say to you, before Abraham was, I am.” (Also see “7 Ways John is Different from the Synoptic Gospels.”)

Without a predicate, grammatically this statement echoes the Greek translation of the divine name God revealed to Moses from the burning bush (Exodus 3:14). The Greek word, which implies “continuous existence,” describes the eternality of God and His complete independence from anything or anyone for His existence. Jesus declared Himself to be pre-existent and self-existent. He claimed to be God. 

The Jews surrounding Jesus that day fully understood His claim. But they declared it to be false and blasphemous. They said Jesus deserved the death penalty (Leviticus 24:16). So, they picked up stones to carry out the sentence, but Jesus slipped away (John 8:59).

Note: If you want help studying the Gospel of John check out my newly released “meaty” 50-day devotional “Deep Rooted: Growing through the Gospel of John.” If you’d like to learn a simple, but solid inductive Bible study method, check out my video teaching on the 4 R Inductive Bible Study Method.”

Other Examples from the Gospel of John

While many passages throughout both Testaments support the divinity of the Son and His equality with the Father, let’s consider a few more from the Gospel of John. The “disciple Jesus loved” intentionally and repeatedly demonstrated that Jesus the Son is God. Part of his stated purpose for his Gospel was that his readers would believe in who Jesus is (John 20:31). 

Here are a few examples of John’s emphasis on Jesus’ divinity:

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. (John 1:1 ESV)

No one has ever seen God. But the unique One, who is himself God, is near to the Father’s heart. He has revealed God to us. (John 1:18 NLT)

Jesus: “I and the Father are one…”  Jewish leaders: “It is not for a good work that we are going to stone you, but for blasphemy, because you, being a man, make yourself God.” (John 10:30, 33.)

Thomas to Jesus after His resurrection: “My Lord and my God!” (John 20:28)

If Jesus the Son is not God we are still lost in our sins, for only God can save. If you have not accepted this vital truth, will you do that today?

The Holy Spirit is Fully God

The Holy Spirit is probably the most misunderstood person of the Godhead. In a 2021 survey conducted by George Barna for the Cultural Research Center, 62% of Americans who self-identify as “born again Christians” do not believe the Holy Spirit is a real being. Instead, they believe He is merely a symbol of God’s power. Yet that belief directly contradicts what the Bible teaches about the Holy Spirit. (Also see “How the Holy Spirit Helps Us in Bible Study.”)

Scripture consistently uses masculine pronouns to refer to the Holy Spirit. For instance, in just one short passage in John, the Gospel writer used “he” for the Holy Spirit twelve times. (See John 16:5-15.) The Bible also ascribes personal activities to the Holy Spirit and grammatically describes Him in the same way it does the Father and the Son. The Holy Spirit is a person, not an “it” or some ambiguous force. (Also see “7 Common Bible Study Mistakes that are Easy to Fix.”)

But the Holy Spirit is not just any person. He is God. Scripture both ascribes Him with divine characteristics (Psalm 139:7-8, 1 Corinthians 2:10-11) and calls Him God (Acts 5:1-4). The Holy Spirit is a full member of the triune God-head. 

On the night He was arrested, Jesus provided a clear example of the relationship between all three members of the Trinity.  He told His disciples that He (the Son) would ask the Father to send the Spirit to be their Helper and remain with them forever (John 14:16-17). This is just one example from the New Testament that gives clear Trinitarian expressions of God. (See also Matthew 3:13-17, Matthew 28:19, 1 Corinthians 12:4-5, 2 Corinthians 13:11-14, 1 Peter 1:2, and Jude 20-21.)

Handle the Trinity with Caution

In her book “The Joy of the Trinity,” author Tara-Leigh Cobble lays out three foundational truths of the Trinity:

1. There is only one true God.

2. There are three divine Persons of the one true God.

3. The three Persons are co-equal, co-eternal, and co-relational.

The full nature of God is beyond our human understanding because God is incomprehensible. Yes, He has chosen to reveal Himself to us, but that revelation is still limited because we have limited capacity to understand. Perhaps limited in ways we can’t even comprehend. 

So, what do we do with that? First, let’s always approach this topic with humility. We will work to understand the Trinity as much as possible but also accept that we will not be able to fully grasp it. We can accept what God teaches about Himself in Scripture without needing to reconcile those truths in our minds.

Second, let’s shy away from analogies. None are adequate to explain the Trinitarian nature of God. And third, let’s embrace this truth as a mystery and not reject it as a contradiction. 

I don’t want to worship a God that’s small enough for me to understand. Instead, I want to serve a God that is far beyond my ability to grasp. For He is indeed worthy of worship.

Have you unknowingly minimized God by trying to explain the Trinity? What if any changes will you make to the way you talk about or relate to our Triune God?