The Holy Trinity

Today is Trinity Sunday, and I suspect that in many churches the priest, or minister or pastor, will try to explain this mystery of our faith. The Father, the Son and the Holy spirit - three in one.

Well, if we had an answer it would not be a mystery, would it? Our faith as Christians has many unexplained mysteries. Beliefs which we are asked to accept without proof or evidence. That's why it is called faith. To believe without understanding.

Let's see if amongst us we can understand a little about the Holy Trinity. I don't claim to have all the answers, or to be an authority on Christianity or hold any position in the church. It's just my way of thinking. Please let me know if you disagree or have other views or questions.

As I see it, since the times of the Old Testament the Jews believed in one God. Leaders like Abraham, Moses and David believed in one living God; only one Person. That's what they taught.

In those days there were other people who believed in many gods of course. The ancient Egyptians, the Romans, the Greeks, all had many gods.

So if God had revealed Himself to the Jews as three Persons in one, and assuming they understood this,  then the pagans would have thought that the Jews believed in three gods.

Later on, at the times of the New Testament, the apostles, who were Jews, believed from childhood that there was only one Person in God. That’s what they had learnt from the writings of the Old Testament prophets and that’s what they experienced in their lives.

They saw God’s hand in everything that happened. He was the God of Abraham, Moses and David. The God written about in history. The God up there in Heaven who gave them the moral law, (Commandments), and who created everything.

Then one day they met a Man named Jesus. For three years they lived with Him.

They soon realised that He was a different person to other people.

He spoke with authority and conviction, and all that He said made sense. 

He showed compassion for the sick, the destitute and those forgotten by society. He cared for the hungry and the poor and showed kindness for everybody.

He taught them about His Father who was God and claimed that He was the Son of God.

They saw Him perform many miracles. They saw Him die and then be resurrected again. This was not hearsay. They saw it. Time and again they saw Him after the Resurrection, spoke with Him and ate with Him.

It was impossible for them to think or talk about God without relating to Jesus. Many believed that He was indeed the Son of God.

When Jesus was taken up to Heaven after the Resurrection the disciples were distraught. He promised, to send them His Holy Spirit.

They may not have understood what He said at the time. But nine days later they experienced the Holy Spirit descending on them, and living within their souls.

Their eyes were opened and they believed, and understood, that He was the Third Person of God. He was the very Spirit of God. The soul of God, if you wish to see it this way.

To the early disciples, the Holy Spirit was real indeed. They had experienced the power of the Holy Spirit. They received Him at Pentecost in tongues of fire and they were able to speak to the crowds that gathered in different languages. Peter explained to the crowd that the disciples had received God's Holy Spirit.

The disciples, and early Christians, now knew for certain that the one and only living God they believed in, whom Abraham, Moses, and the prophets had spoken of, had sent His only Son Jesus to earth. Because they had met Jesus.

They also knew that Jesus had sent His Holy Spirit upon them, because they had experienced the Holy Spirit.

To them this was all a reality. Something they had seen, experienced and understood. Not some sort of puzzle of three in one yet each one separate from the three; or something they had read in an old scroll from the prophets.

Anyway ... that's how I understand the Holy Trinity. One living God. Sends us His Son so that we get to know Him personally. Then sends us His Holy Spirit to help us and guide us back to God in Heaven.