UNITY OF TRINITY
One of the common stumbling blocks for most Christians is the knowledge of the Holy Trinity. Yet, generations after generations of Christians continue to be blessed as they strive to know more about this nature of God. The trinity is not a New Testament invention, evidence of the triune Nature of God abounds in the Old Testament. Perhaps, it is also there that we find the key to a deeper understanding of the Unity of the Trinity. Our search will begin from a text of scripture held in awe by Christians, Jews and Muslims:
“Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God, the LORD is one”
Deut. 6:4 NIV
Why was it necessary for Moses to say these words to the Israelites?
They had been delivered by the mighty hand of God from in Egypt. They saw how
”by day the LORD went ahead of them in a pillar of cloud to guide them on their way and by night in a pillar of fire to give them light, so that they could travel by day or night. Neither the pillar of cloud by day nor the pillar of fire by night left its place in front of the people.(Exodus 13:21)
They also witnessed how
“… the angel of God, who had been traveling in front of Israel’s army, withdrew and went behind them. The pillar of cloud also moved from in front and stood behind them, coming between the armies of Egypt and Israel. Throughout the night the cloud brought darkness to the one side and light to the other side; so neither went near the other all night long.”(Exodus 14:19-20)
They had evidence of God manifesting to them in a distinguishable form as the angel of the Lord. At night He appeared as a pillar of fire, and during the day as a pillar of cloud. But when the Egyptians pursued the children of Israel, the Angel moved to separate the two camps, the pillar of fire provided light to one side and the pillar of clouds provided darkness to the other. Before the eyes of the children of Israel they had seen God manifesting in three different forms. Moses witnessed this rare occurence and it was not to be duplicated until the time of Elijah and then Jesus’ baptism in the New Testament. As they continued their journey, there was a tendency for the people to begin to think that they were dealing with more than one God or being. Moses sounded a note of warning that despite the multiple manifestations, and revelations of God to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, God remains one. If there was no tangible tendency to conclude that God was more than one, the warning would not have been made. Even today it is still relevant for us to remind ourselves that God is one.
Having made a case for the possibility of plurality of manifestation by God let us look at a few more examples.
God had just defeated the prophets of Baal through Elijah. Rain, which had been held back for three years began to fall. Then Elijah heard of how Jezebel had killed the other prophets and he feared for his life when the woman sent threats of death to him. He therefore embarked on a journey to Mount Horeb, where he believed he would have a deeper and personal encounter with God. When he got to the mountain of God, we read:
The LORD said, “Go out and stand on the mountain in the presence of the LORD, for the LORD is about to pass by.”
Then a great and powerful wind tore the mountains apart and shattered the rocks before the LORD, but the LORD was not in the wind. After the wind there was an earthquake, but the LORD was not in the earthquake. After the earthquake came a fire, but the LORD was not in the fire. And after the fire came a gentle whisper. When Elijah heard it, he pulled his cloak over his face and went out and stood at the mouth of the cave.
Then a voice said to him, “What are you doing here, Elijah?” (1 Kings 19:11-13)
Three manifestations preceded a fourth one. The Lord was not in the first three, He was in the gentle whisper. Elijah pulled his cloak over his face, why? Did Moses not talk to God face to face so that his face shone? Did men not touch the Lord and fellowship with him physically? Do we not have the Holy Spirit indwelling our mortal bodies? So what was special about the revelation to Elijah?
Yes, the Bible tells us that God dwells in unapproachable light and also that in the day any man sees Him that man shall die. Is the word of God contradicting itself? Perhaps there is a difference between the personalities of God and the essence of God. While He may choose to appear to us in the persons of Father, Son and Holy Ghost, the real Spirit, the essence dwells in unapproachable light and anyone who beholds that unshielded glory will die! The Hebrew word translated Jehovah(erroneously or not) has been revealed to be the words God gave Moses when He said “I am that I am”. Hence God revealed that He is the one who can choose to be whatever He wants to be and no one can stop Him!
We are triune beings living in a triune world. Our experiences are filtered through mental, emotional and physical interpretations, the only way we can experience that God is if He humbly manifests to us in personalities that we can experience and appreciate. While the Father is the mental polarity in whom the physical and emotional are contained, the Son is the physical polarity in whom the mental and emotional are contained, the Holy Ghost(Holy Spirit not used so that we may not confuse Him with the essence in this discussion) is the emotional polarity in whom the mental and physical are contained. But the optimized personalities reveal the will and work out the purpose of that one being, who is Spirit.
Another passage in the old testament that sheds light on the unity of the trinity is Isaiah 9:6NIV
For to us a child is born,
to us a son is given,
and the government will be on his shoulders.
And he will be called
Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God,
Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.
The Holy Spirit was introduced as the counselor by Jesus Christ, the Father had appeared to the patriarchs Abraham, Isaac and Jacob and was the predominant personality of the Old Testament. God gave man the laws in His personality as the Father. Then there is the Prince of Peace, Son of David, who is the Son. That leaves us with one description- Mighty God. Jesus came to atone on behalf of the Father, the Son, the Holy Ghost, and the Mighty God. He was therefore called by all the titles because the Father, the Son and the Holy Ghost are the Mighty God reaching out to us in three different personalities. The three are one because the one chose to be three. The three have always existed in the One as the One with the One because they are the One.
Wrap-Up
What then is the purpose of knowing about the unity of the trinity? God’s nature affects the way we view Him. The Bible says that we perish for lack of knowledge, many of the confusion in Christendom today can be linked to a poor understanding of the nature of God. The Baptists pride themselves as the people of the Word. The Charismatics worship with tears, feet stamping and other dramatic emotionalism and they see themselves as Spirit filled. The Catholics and several other churches try to duplicate the spiritual in the physical. To them, the Lord’s supper is actual flesh and blood, white garments and hierarchies imitate heavenly orders. The great divides that has created denominations is nothing but different groups looking at the same God and worshipping Him with their inclination to mental, emotional or physical expression. Irrespective of how we worship Him, no one is totally right and no one is wrong. The key element is that our mental, emotional or physical acts of worship should flow from our spirit because God is Spirit and those who worship Him must worship Him in spirit and in truth. If we marshal a thousand tongues to praise the Lord, deliver very eloquent and rightly divided messages or roll on the floor endlessly in tears it amounts to nothing until spirit begins to worship Spirit.
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This article has been contributed by ‘Yemi Ogunjimi.
To find out more about him please follow this link
http://blogtheword.wordpress.com/about/ ________________________________________________________
