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THE DIVINE TRINITY

God revealed Himself ONE - IN - THREE "Aspects": the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. The human expressions are weak to define the Creator's three aspects.

In the books of the Old Testament, God speaks of Himself in the plural:

"Let us make man in our own image and to our resemblance" (Genesis 1,26).

After Adam's sin, God said ironically: "Now the man has become like one of Us in knowing good from evil..." (Genesis 3,22).

Having seen men's pride in Babel, God said: "Let Us go down and confuse their language there... " (Genesis 11,7).

God appears to Abraham as Three Persons: "He (Abraham) looked up, and there he saw Three Men standing near him" (Genesis 18, 1-15). Perplexed in front of the apparition of this Trinity, Abraham addresses God here in the singular form and there in the plural form.

The Bible reveals to us that God is Father, Son (or "Word") and Holy Spirit.

The Father is God: this Truth has been revealed since the Old Testament:

Deuteronomy 32,6: Is He not your Father and Creator"?

Jeremiah 31,9: "I am a Father for Israel."

Malachi 2,10: "Don't we all have one Father"?

Jesus confirms this fatherhood: God is Father of the Christ and our Father:

Matthew 7,21: "The one that accomplishes my Father's will'.

Matthew 26,53: "I can pray to my Father.. "

Luke 2,49: "I must take care of my Father's business".

Matthew 6,4: "Your Father who sees in the secret."

Matthew 23,9: "You only have one Father, the heavenly Father".

John 20,17: "I go up towards my Father and your Father."

The Son (Word) is God: He is incarnated in the Messiah:

Psalm 2,7: "I will proclaim the decree of YHWH: He said to me: You are my Son, I, today have fathered You."

2 Samuel. 7,14: "I will be for him a Father and He will be for me a son."

John 1,1-14: "The Verb (Son) was in God... and became flesh."

John 8,57: Jesus said "Before Abraham was, I am".

Hebrews 1,1-9: "God, in these days which are the last, spoke to us by the Son... Resplendence of his Glory, effigy of his Substance, this Son sustains the universe by his powerful Word... To which of the Angels, indeed, God has ever said: You are my Son, I, today, have fathered you... "

John 5,18: The Jews understood that Jesus presented Himself as equal to God.

John 10,30-33 / John 14,8-10: Again, Jesus reveals his equality to the Father.

Philippians 2,5-11: Paul declares Jesus' divine condition that makes Him equal to God.

Matthew 11,27: "No one knows the Father except the Son and the one to whom the Son chooses to reveal Him"

The Holy Spirit is God

Isaiah 48,16: "... the Lord sends me with His Spirit."

Isaiah 63,10: "They rebelled and vexed his Holy Spirit".

Joel 3,1: "I will spread my Spirit on all flesh", says God.

Psalms 50 (51),11: "... don not take away from me your Holy Spirit"

1 Corinthians 2,10-12: "To us God revealed it by the Spirit. The Spirit, indeed, scrutinizes all, until the divine depths... no one knows God's secrets other than God's Spirit. However, we did not receive the spirit of the world, but God's own Spirit.."

Acts 5,3-4: To lie to the Holy Spirit, is to lie to God.

Acts 13,2-4: "The Holy Spirit says... "

1 Corinthians 6,19: The human bodies are the temples of the Holy Spirit.

1 Corinthians 3,16 / 2 Corinthians 6,16: The human bodies are God's temples.

Acts 28,25-27: "The Holy spirit spoke to your fathers by the mouth of the prophet Isaiah.

Isaiah 6,8-10: "I heard the voice of the Lord."

2 Peter 1,21: All prophecy comes of the Holy Spirit.

2 Timothy 3,16: "All Scriptures are inspired by God."

Demonstration of the divine Trinity in the Gospel

The Holy Spirit is the Father's Spirit: Matthew10,20: "It is the Father's Spirit who will speak by you" (John15,26 / 1 Corinthians 2,11). But He is also the Son's Spirit "because everything that the Father has is the Son's" (John 16,15).

Galatians 4,6: "God sent in your hearts His Son's Spirit" (see Acts 16,7 / Romans 8,9 / Philippians 1,19). Therefore, the Holy Spirit emanates from the Father and the Son (the Catholics) and not only from the Father (the Orthodox).

The Holy Spirit is not sent by the Father alone, but also by the Son who asks the Father to send the Spirit: "I will pray the Father and he shall give you another Comforter who will remain with you for ever" (John 14,16-26):

"When the Comforter (Holy Spirit) will come, whom I will send unto you from the Father, the Spirit of truth who comes from the Father... " (John 15,26).

"It is better for you that I leave, because if I don't leave, the Comforter won't come to you; but if I leave, I will send Him to you" (John 16,7).

"I am going to send on you what my Father promised" (Luke 24,49).

"He breathed on them and told them: 'Receive the Holy Spirit' " (John 20,22).

Matthew 3,16-17: At the time of Jesus' baptism, John the Baptist saw that "the heavens were opened unto him and God's Spirit descending like a dove and lighting upon him. And a voice came from Heaven saying: 'This is my beloved Son' " (John 1,32). The dove, the voice and Jesus represent the Trinity.

John 14,16-26: To the apostles who were saddened by His departure, Jesus promised to ask the Father to give them another Comforter, the Spirit of truth and added: "I won't let you orphans, I will come back toward you". It is therefore Jesus who returns under the shape of the Holy Spirit. The unity of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit is revealed here.

Matthew 28,19: Jesus asks his apostles to baptize "in the Name of the Father, the Son and the Holy spirit." The Name is in the singular form.

Other texts reveal the Trinity: 1Corinthians 12,4-6 / 2Corinthians 13,13 / 1Peter 1,1-2.

The sun is a material example of the Divine Trinity: the Sun, its Light and its Heat are three aspects of one and same entity. The Sun represents God the Father, its Light represents His living and vivifying Word sent through Jesus to enlighten the World and its Heat felt in us represents His living Holy Spirit living within us. Those who do not benefit of the Sun and Life are those who willingly close the shutters of their homes.

It is difficult to understand a man's depth, even more so God's mysterious depths.

The Father, such a living sun, radiates the Son and gives spiritual Life by the Holy Spirit. Blessed the pure hearts because they will see, will understand and will live God (Matthew 5,8 / John 17,3).