God so loves his creation that he wants to be known by us! But it is important to understand that even before we were created, the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit eternally existed in a perfect, loving relationship with each other. The Bible tells us that God didn’t make humankind because he was lonely, as if he needed companionship. He was and is sufficient in and of himself: “The God who made the world and everything in it, being Lord of heaven and earth, does not live in temples made by man, nor is he served by human hands, as though he needed anything, since he himself gives to all mankind life and breath and everything” (Acts 17:24-25).
After forming the heavens and the earth, God invited humanity to be a part of his story by creating us to bring him glory and bear his image. He did not need us, but he chose to be in relationship with his creation and reveal himself to us as Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Each of these persons is equally God, and their names speak to how they relate to one another and to us.
God the Father
In Genesis 1:1, we are introduced to God the Father. God the Father is the first person of the Trinity, and is it he who spoke the world into existence. The apostle Paul writes, “By faith we understand that the universe was created by the word of God, so that what is seen was not made out of things that are visible” (Heb 11:3). God created the universe and everything in it, including humanity, out of nothing, which means that while we were made to bear his image, we are not like him. God alone is eternal; his creation is not. God the Father also reveals his nature by sending both the Son and the Holy Spirit into the world.
God the Son
As believers, we are familiar with the Christmas story. Jesus Christ, the Son of God and second person of the Trinity, is born of the Virgin Mary. He is God in the flesh, both fully God and fully man. The Bible tells us that God sent Jesus into the world to save us from the penalty of our sins because we are incapable of saving ourselves: “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him” (John 3:16-17). This familiar passage speaks to the relationship between the Father and the Son. The Father sent the Son, and the Son revealed the Father. It also speaks to the Father and Son’s relationship to us. The Father sent the Son for us, and the Son laid down his life to save us.
God the Holy Spirit
The Holy Spirit is the third person of the Trinity. In the book of Genesis, we learn very quickly that he was present with the Father at Creation as he is introduced in the second verse: “In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. The earth was without form and void, and darkness was over the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God was hovering over the face of the waters” (Gen 1:1-2). Like the Son, he is also sent by the Father, but his roles are different than those of the Son. The Holy Spirit reveals God to us through Scripture as he inspired human authors who were “carried along by the Holy Spirit” to write the very words of God (2 Pet 1:21). In the book of Acts, Peter refers to the Holy Spirit as a gift that will indwell believers at the moment of our salvation: “And Peter said to them, ‘Repent and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins, and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit'” (Acts 2:38). In the book of John, Jesus tells the disciples that the Holy Spirit is a “Helper” who will “convict the world concerning sin and righteousness and judgment” (John 16:8). What a beautiful image that God the Father sends God the Spirit to live inside us grow us in Christlikeness! But the Holy Spirit’s work does not stop there. Paul tells us in Romans that, “the Spirit helps us in our weakness. For we do not know what to pray for as we ought, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words” (Rom 8:26). So not only does the Spirit live inside us and guide us, but he also prays on our behalf!
These passages do not encapsulate all of the activities of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. However, they allow us to see the roles of each person of the Godhead, how their functions are interrelated, and how they each relate to us.
This post is part two in a three-part series in partial fulfillment of the requirements for ST5102GA, Trinitarianism.
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