One of the first foundations of the Christian faith is that we believe in one God; now we turn to one of the most challenging mysteries of Christianity: God is one, but is also three. God the father, God the son and God the Holy Spirit are distinct but inseparable, eternally one in essence and power.
One of the first great controversies of the Christian faith was about this belief in what we call the Holy Trinity: this belief that God is one God, but we perceive God in three different ways—and God somehow exists in all three at once.
While the Bible never uses the term “Trinity,” it was so important to early Christians that it shapes the oldest creeds, or statements of faith, of the church. They insist in both the unity of God, and the reality of the distinct “persons” of the Trinity.
In scripture there are numerous examples of the different parts of the Trinity interacting with one another, especially during the life of Jesus. (See the scripture references from the catechism for examples.)
I don’t think anyone has been able to fully wrap their mind around the full significance of this belief. The examples and even the language we have at our disposal to describe it simply don’t extend that far—but it has some significant implications.
One of the most important is that God is inherently social. One often hears God portrayed as cold and distant, but that doesn’t fit with the idea of God living in a community even within himself. The three “persons” of God suggest dynamic interaction, not aloof isolation.
It also suggests something about God’s intentions for the world he created.
In Genesis 1, God says, “Let us make mankind in our image, in our likeness, so that they may rule over…all the creatures that move along the ground.”
Notice the use of the plural form in reference both to God and to humanity. In the beginning, and even more with the arrival of Jesus, God seems to expect humanity to live in both unity and distinctiveness, reflecting his own nature.
– Rev. Mark Fleming
This is part of a sermon/reading series in July-August, 2024, looking at some core Christian beliefs, along with distinctive emphases of the Methodist branch of Christianity.
The daily readings are my own, but they are loosely based on the topics covered in the Catechism of the Global Methodist Church. The column at the right contains the questions from the catechism and the sources it lists.
You can find the full catechism and other information about the Global Methodist Church at globalmethodist.org.
I invite you to join us for worship and other church gatherings at China Methodist Church and Forest Park Methodist Church.
Respectful conversation is welcome. Use the comment section at the end of this post.
2. Who is God?
God is the one true, holy and living God, the Eternal Spirit, the Holy Trinity.
Deuteronomy 6:4
Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one.
Leviticus 19:2
Speak to the entire assembly of Israel and say to them: ‘Be holy because I, the Lord your God, am holy.
Jeremiah 10:10
But the Lord is the true God; he is the living God, the eternal King. When he is angry, the earth trembles; the nations cannot endure his wrath.
Matthew 28:19
Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit…
John 17:3
Now this is eternal life: that they know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom you have sent.
Hebrews 9:14
How much more, then, will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself unblemished to God, cleanse our consciences from acts that lead to death, so that we may serve the living God!
3. What is the mystery of the Trinity?
God is Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, distinct but inseparable, eternally one in essence and power.
Luke 3:21-22
When all the people were being baptized, Jesus was baptized too. And as he was praying, heaven was openedand the Holy Spirit descended on him in bodily form like a dove. And a voice came from heaven: “You are my Son, whom I love; with you I am well pleased.”
John 15:26
“When the Advocate comes, whom I will send to you from the Father—the Spirit of truth who goes out from the Father—he will testify about me.”
Acts 2:33
Exalted to the right hand of God, he has received from the Father the promised Holy Spirit and has poured out what you now see and hear.
Romans 8:9-11
You, however, are not in the realm of the flesh but are in the realm of the Spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God lives in you. And if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, they do not belong to Christ. But if Christ is in you, then even though your body is subject to death because of sin, the Spirit gives life because of righteousness. And if the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead is living in you, he who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies because of his Spirit who lives in you.
2 Corinthians 13:13
May the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all.
Galatians 4:4-6
But when the set time had fully come, God sent his Son, born of a woman, born under the law, to redeem those under the law, that we might receive adoption to sonship.Because you are his sons, God sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, the Spirit who calls out, “Abba, Father.”
Ephesians 2:18
For through him we both have access to the Father by one Spirit.
Titus 3:4-6
But when the kindness and love of God our Savior appeared, he saved us, not because of righteous things we had done, but because of his mercy. He saved us through the washing of rebirth and renewal by the Holy Spirit, whom he poured out on us generously through Jesus Christ our Savior…
Hebrews 9:14
How much more, then, will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself unblemished to God, cleanse our consciences from acts that lead to death, so that we may serve the living God!
1 Peter 1:2
…who have been chosen according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, through the sanctifying work of the Spirit, to be obedient to Jesus Christ and sprinkled with his blood: Grace and peace be yours in abundance.
Confession of Faith, Article I*
We believe in the one true, holy and living God, Eternal Spirit, who is Creator, Sovereign and Preserver of all things visible and invisible. He is infinite in power, wisdom, justice, goodness and love, and rules with gracious regard for the well-being and salvation of men, to the glory of his name. We believe the one God reveals himself as the Trinity: Father, Son and Holy Spirit, distinct but inseparable, eternally one in essence and power.
4. How is God Almighty?
God is infinite in power, wisdom, justice, goodness, and love.
Job 12:13
To God belong wisdom and power; counsel and understanding are his.
Job 42:2
I know that you can do all things; no purpose of yours can be thwarted.
Psalm 89:14
Righteousness and justice are the foundation of your throne; love and faithfulness go before you.
Psalm 107:1
Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good; his love endures forever.
Isaiah 55:9
As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts.
Jeremiah 32:17
Ah, Sovereign Lord, you have made the heavens and the earth by your great power and outstretched arm. Nothing is too hard for you.
Matthew 19:26
Jesus looked at them and said, “With man this is impossible, but with God all things are possible.
Luke 1:37
For no word from God will ever fail.
Luke 18:7
And will not God bring about justice for his chosen ones, who cry out to him day and night? Will he keep putting them off?
Romans 5:8
But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.
Romans 11:33-36
Oh, the depth of the riches of the wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable his judgments, and his paths beyond tracing out!
“Who has known the mind of the Lord? Or who has been his counselor?”
“Who has ever given to God, that God should repay them?”
For from him and through him and for him are all things. To him be the glory forever! Amen.
Romans 16:27
…to the only wise God be glory forever through Jesus Christ! Amen.
1 John 4:7-16
Dear friends, let us love one another, for love comes from God. Everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God. Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love. This is how God showed his love among us: He sent his one and only Son into the world that we might live through him. This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins. Dear friends, since God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. No one has ever seen God; but if we love one another, God lives in us and his love is made complete in us.
This is how we know that we live in him and he in us: He has given us of his Spirit. And we have seen and testify that the Father has sent his Son to be the Savior of the world. If anyone acknowledges that Jesus is the Son of God, God lives in them and they in God. And so we know and rely on the love God has for us.
God is love. Whoever lives in love lives in God, and God in them.
Confession of Faith, Article I
We believe in the one true, holy and living God, Eternal Spirit, who is Creator, Sovereign and Preserver of all things visible and invisible. He is infinite in power, wisdom, justice, goodness and love, and rules with gracious regard for the well-being and salvation of men, to the glory of his name. We believe the one God reveals himself as the Trinity: Father, Son and Holy Spirit, distinct but inseparable, eternally one in essence and power.
*From the Confession of Faith of the Evangelical United Brethren Church, a predecessor denomination of the Global Methodist Church