When I think about the multiple names for God in the Bible, I am always reminded of a humbling experience early in my walk with Christ when I sat in church and heard the pastor reference Jesus as the “Lamb of God.” I had very little knowledge of the Bible at that point in my walk (and this was before smartphones and Google were available to give us quick answers), so I spent the rest of the sermon searching my Bible, trying to figure out why God seemed to have a little lamb as a mascot. I had no idea “Lamb of God” is a profound, sobering, historically rooted synonym for Jesus. Maybe you have experienced a similar confusion, as well. The Bible seems to hold so many different identifiers for God that it can be a little confusing to whom or what is being referenced. The reality is that some of the names for God in the Bible are true synonyms, which simply rename Him or highlight one of His characteristics; however, three of these names identify something much more significant than a meaningful nickname. “God,” “Jesus,” and the “Holy Spirit” refer to three distinct persons but the same God – collectively known as the Trinity. 

I would imagine just reading that previous sentence has your mind already grasping for a logical understanding of how one God can also be three distinct persons. This is where we must engage those faith muscles and prepare to embrace our other-worldly, unfathomable God, even if we can’t make perfect sense of Him. The Trinity will not seem logical to us because our thinking is limited to the physical world we live in. Without a vivid encounter with the spiritual world (like John had when he wrote the book of Revelation in the Bible), we should expect that some of its realities will be incomprehensible to us in the physical world.

Attempting the impossible

The Bible does not supply us with one tidy little verse that clearly explains the Trinity. In fact, the term itself does not appear in Scripture at all. The truth of the Trinity, however, is consistently referenced throughout Scripture. Some have tried to use illustrations to help explain the Trinity, but all attempts fall short in accuracy. Many Bible teachers do not prefer these analogies to be referenced at all, because they can be misleading if their errors are not sufficiently communicated. For example, one common analogy is to compare the Trinity to a single human being who functions in three different roles, such as daughter, mother, and wife. The same woman has entirely different relationships and responsibilities when she is acting as a daughter to her parents than she does as a mom to her children, and still another role when she interacts as a wife to her husband – yet she is the same person all the while. The comparison intends to help us grasp that God, Jesus, and the Holy Spirit are all one God with separate and distinct roles.

The error in this analogy, however, is that when we consider the human side of the “parallel,” we are truly talking about one single person; yet, on the divine side of it, the Trinity represents three separate persons as one Almighty God. This imperfect analogy risks miscommunicating that God is a single being who puts on different hats at times, executing different functions. That is not biblically accurate, as evidenced by the example of Jesus. Jesus is God, and he came to earth in the flesh; however, when he became man, he didn’t leave heaven unattended as a singular God would have to do; God was still on his heavenly throne the entire time Jesus was on earth. Even still more baffling to us is that when Jesus became man, he did not set aside or give up his divinity. He was still 100% God while he was simultaneously 100% man. In John 10:30, Jesus states that he and the Father (God) are one. Here, as he stood before men on earth, clearly as a man himself, he identified that he is also divinely unified with God in heaven.

Another important clarification concerns the tendency to assume that we serve three gods since each has His own functions and seems distinct to us in our minds. (It may be a common, effortless error to think of them as Greek mythological gods who are fictionally identified as distinct beings with distinct characteristics and roles.) This is also an inaccurate assumption of the God of the Bible. Remember that God is three persons, but one in essence. Jesus and the Holy Spirit do not act independently from God the Father, but in perfect unity with Him. Conflict and competition never exist among the three. They are always perfectly harmonious because of their singular essence. One of the most quoted verses in the Bible is Matthew 28:19, where Jesus instructs his disciples to go out and reach all nations with the Good News. Jesus states that when people become one of His disciples, they are to be baptized in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Notice that Jesus did not say new believers are to be baptized in only the name of the Father (God). He made it a point to include all three persons in the Trinity, confirming their equality and oneness, while also acknowledging they are distinct.

The Trinity is a mind-blowing reality that we sometimes struggle to understand, but it is a critical truth that serves as a foundation for properly interpreting Scripture, which is exactly why we are addressing this topic so early on in the new believer’s journey. If we fail to accept the doctrine of the Trinity, then we read the Gospels (and the entire Bible) all wrong. Our understanding of who Jesus is – both fully human and fully divine – must be intact for His words in red to fall upon our ears and hearts the way God intended.

It may seem confusing, or even unfair, that God remains a bit of a mystery to us, when it is also true that He wants to be known by His people. I want to encourage you to keep trusting Him and His timing in your life. None of us will acquire a complete understanding of God on this side of heaven; however, our lifelong journey on this earth as a believer will continually unveil more and more of Him to us as we faithfully walk with Him every day. In the meantime, embrace the truth that our God is beautifully complex and (thankfully) very different from us humans. Enjoy the journey and the timing of our trustworthy tour guide, the Holy Spirit. The Bible states in Proverbs 9:10, “The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom, and the knowledge of the Holy One is insight.” Our priority should remain on fearing the Lord, which means to revere Him and seek Him. In return, and in His own timing, He will grant us the wisdom we need to navigate life according to His will.

This article is intended by the author to be the first (and foundational) text in a two-part series about the Trinity. For a more complete understanding of the different roles and names for the three persons in the Trinity, see the next article titled “Roles within the Trinity.”