Trying to Understand the Trinity (Part 2): Each Person is Fully God

Trying to Understand the Trinity

Where Are We in the Series?

The doctrine of the Trinity brings together three biblical truths:

1. The Father, Son, and Holy Spirit are distinct persons.
2. Each person is fully God.
3. There is only one God.

Quick Answer

Yes. Scripture identifies the Father as God, the Son as God, and the Holy Spirit as God.

This does not mean each person is one-third of God. Nor does it mean the Father is somehow “more God” than the Son or the Spirit.

Historic Christian teaching is that each person possesses the fullness of the one divine nature.

That claim is not based upon one isolated proof text. It comes from bringing together what Scripture says about each person.

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What Does It Mean That Each Person Is “Fully God”?

In Part 1, we saw that the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit are distinct from one another.

But distinction does not mean inequality of divine nature.

Christians are not saying that God can be divided into three pieces:

• 33% Father,
• 33% Son, and
• 33% Holy Spirit.

God is not a pie.

Nor are the Son and Spirit created assistants serving alongside the “real God,” the Father.

Rather, the biblical evidence leads Christians to confess that the one undivided divine nature belongs fully to the Father, fully to the Son, and fully to the Holy Spirit.

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Is the Father God?

This is probably the least controversial part of the doctrine.

Throughout Scripture, the Father is explicitly identified as God.

Paul opens Romans by referring to “God our Father” alongside the Lord Jesus Christ (Romans 1:7).

In 1 Corinthians 8:6, Paul speaks of “one God, the Father” and identifies Him as the One from whom all things exist.

Peter likewise refers explicitly to “God the Father” in 1 Peter 1:2.

Scripture’s identification of the Father as God is clear.

The questions that generate considerably more debate concern the Son and the Holy Spirit.

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Is Jesus God?

This is where the conversation becomes much more controversial.

Christians have historically confessed that Jesus Christ is not merely a prophet, teacher, Messiah, angelic being, or uniquely exalted man.

The Son is fully God.

Critics of historic Christianity have challenged that conclusion in different ways.

Some argue that Jesus never actually claimed deity and that belief in His divinity gradually developed among His followers after His death.

Others accept Jesus as extraordinarily important while denying that He shares the divine nature with the Father.

That leaves us with an important question:

To answer that question, we need to look at what the New Testament actually says.

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But Jesus Never Said, “I Am God”—Did He?

You may have heard this argument:

“Jesus never said, ‘I am God.’”

If the question is whether the Gospels record Jesus speaking that exact English sentence, the answer is no.

But that is not the same thing as saying that Jesus never made claims His original audience understood as claims to divine identity or authority.

We also have to consider the larger New Testament witness: what Jesus says about Himself, what He does, how others respond to Him, and how the inspired writers identify Him.

John’s Gospel gives us several important places to investigate.

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What Does John 1:1 Say About Jesus?

John begins his Gospel by introducing Jesus as the Word.

John 1:1 makes two remarkable claims:

• The Word was with God.
• The Word was God.

John then says that everything that came into existence was created through the Word (John 1:3).

Later in the chapter, John makes clear that this eternal Word became flesh and lived among us (John 1:14). He is speaking about Jesus Christ.

Should John 1:1 Say “the Word Was a God”?

Jehovah’s Witnesses famously translate the final phrase of John 1:1 as:

“the Word was a god.”

The discussion centers on the Greek phrase theos ēn ho logos and especially the fact that theos (“God”) does not have the Greek definite article in that clause.

But Greek does not use the definite article exactly the way English uses “the.”

An anarthrous noun—a noun without the article—is not automatically indefinite and therefore does not automatically mean “a god.”

The construction in John 1:1 allows John to distinguish the Word from the Father while describing what the Word is by nature.

That combination fits remarkably well with what we saw in Part 1 :

The Son is distinct from the Father, yet the Son is fully divine.

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Why Did Thomas Call Jesus “My Lord and My God”?

Near the end of John’s Gospel, Thomas encounters the resurrected Jesus.

His response is one of the clearest confessions concerning Jesus in the entire Gospel:

“My Lord and my God!” — John 20:28

Thomas addresses those words to Jesus.

Just as importantly, Jesus does not rebuke Thomas for blasphemy or redirect his confession.

Instead, Jesus responds to Thomas’s belief and speaks of those who will believe without seeing Him (John 20:29).

John then immediately explains that the signs recorded in his Gospel were written so that readers might believe that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God, and have life through Him (John 20:30–31).

That is difficult to reconcile with the idea that Jesus’ deity was invented centuries later.

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Did Jesus Claim to Be God in John 10?

John 10 gives us another important window into how Jesus’ claims were understood by His original audience.

Jesus declares:

“The Father and I are one.” — John 10:30

His opponents immediately pick up stones.

When Jesus asks why they intend to stone Him, they explain that their objection is not to His good works. They believe Jesus, though a man, is making Himself God (John 10:31–33).

Whatever else we say about this passage, one point is unmistakable:

John 10 should also be read in its larger context. Jesus speaks of giving His sheep eternal life, of their security in His hand and the Father’s hand, and of His unique unity with the Father (John 10:27–30).

The passage therefore contributes to a much larger pattern throughout John’s Gospel concerning Jesus’ divine identity.

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Does the Rest of the New Testament Call Jesus God?

John’s Gospel is not our only evidence.

The New Testament repeatedly describes Jesus in ways that go far beyond an ordinary human teacher.

• Colossians 1:15–17 — all things were created through and for Christ, and He exists before all things.
• Colossians 2:9 — the fullness of deity dwells bodily in Christ.
• Hebrews 1:1–3 — the Son is the exact expression of God’s nature and sustains all things.
• Hebrews 1:8 — the Son is addressed as God.
• Titus 2:13 — Jesus Christ is described as our great God and Savior.

The case for Christ’s deity therefore does not rest upon one disputed sentence.

It emerges from the New Testament’s larger portrait of who Jesus is, what He does, and how the earliest Christians speak about Him.

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Is the Holy Spirit God?

The Holy Spirit sometimes receives less attention in discussions about the Trinity.

But Scripture does not present the Spirit as merely God’s impersonal power, energy, or influence.

As we saw in Part 1, the Holy Spirit acts personally. He teaches, guides, speaks, intercedes, and can be grieved.

Scripture also identifies the Spirit with God and attributes to Him characteristics and works that belong to God.

Acts 5 gives us perhaps the clearest example.

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Does Acts 5 Call the Holy Spirit God?

Acts 5 tells the disturbing story of Ananias and Sapphira.

They sell property and secretly keep part of the proceeds while pretending that they have given the entire amount.

Peter confronts Ananias and tells him that he has lied to the Holy Spirit (Acts 5:3).

In the very next verse, Peter says:

“You weren’t lying to us but to God!” — Acts 5:4

Notice the parallel.

Luke does not treat lying to the Spirit as merely lying to one of God’s representatives.

Peter’s language identifies the offense against the Holy Spirit as an offense against God Himself.

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Does the Holy Spirit Have Attributes That Belong to God?

Acts 5 is significant, but it is not the only reason Christians believe the Spirit is divine.

The Spirit Is Everywhere

In Psalm 139:7–10, David asks where he could possibly go to escape God’s Spirit or presence.

His answer is essentially nowhere.

Whether in heaven, the realm of the dead, across the sea, or anywhere else, God’s Spirit is present.

This reflects God’s omnipresence.

The Spirit Knows the Things of God

First Corinthians 2:10–11 says that the Spirit searches everything, including the depths of God, and knows God’s thoughts.

Paul compares this to the way a person’s own spirit knows that person’s thoughts.

The Spirit therefore possesses knowledge of God that no creature could independently possess.

The Spirit Gives Life

In John 3, Jesus explains to Nicodemus that entrance into God’s kingdom requires being born of the Spirit (John 3:5–8).

The Spirit is not merely assisting human self-improvement.

He brings about spiritual life.

The biblical evidence points beyond the idea of the Holy Spirit as merely an impersonal force.

The Holy Spirit is fully God.

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So Do Christians Worship Three Gods?

At this point, you may see the problem.

In Part 1 , we saw that the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit are distinct persons.

Now we have seen that:

• the Father is God,
• the Son is God, and
• the Holy Spirit is God.

The obvious question is:

Doesn’t that give us three Gods?

It would—if Scripture taught that the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit were three separate divine beings.

But it doesn’t.

The Bible is equally emphatic that there is only one God.

Deuteronomy 6:4 declares the LORD to be one. Isaiah repeatedly insists that there is no other God besides the LORD. Jesus affirms Israel’s confession of one God, and the New Testament continues the same monotheistic conviction.

That brings us directly to Part 3: There Is One God .

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Heart Check

Studying the Trinity can easily become an exercise in theological problem-solving.

But consider what these truths mean personally.

The doctrine of the Trinity is not merely about getting our theological vocabulary right.

It shapes our understanding of salvation.

The Father sends the Son. The Son accomplishes redemption. The Holy Spirit applies God’s saving work and gives new life.

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Key Takeaway

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Continue the Trinity Series

Keep Studying

To examine the biblical evidence for yourself, spend some time with these passages:

• Romans 1:7 — Paul refers to God our Father.
• 1 Corinthians 8:6 — one God, the Father, and one Lord, Jesus Christ.
• John 1:1–18 — the eternal Word is with God, is God, and becomes flesh.
• John 10:22–39 — Jesus’ claims concerning His relationship with the Father provoke a charge of blasphemy.
• John 20:24–31 — Thomas encounters the risen Christ.
• Colossians 1:15–20 — Christ’s relationship to creation and His supremacy over it.
• Colossians 2:9 — the fullness of deity in Christ.
• Hebrews 1 — the identity, work, and supremacy of the Son.
• Acts 5:1–11 — Ananias and Sapphira lie to the Holy Spirit.
• Psalm 139:1–10 — God’s Spirit and presence cannot be escaped.
• 1 Corinthians 2:10–12 — the Spirit knows the depths of God.
• John 3:1–8 — new birth comes through the Spirit.

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