From the beginning of God's communication to His people, he revealed himself (in contrast to the beliefs of the surrounding nations) as the God who is "one." Throughout all of the Bible, we are also confronted with the reality that the God of the Bible exists in three persons: the Trinity. It must be noted that, in the Bible, there is actually no explicit mention of the word "Trinity." That word is a theological label or summary that we use to describe the way the Bible presents God. It is a title that summarizes the biblical truth about God.
The following passages are typical of the way the Bible points us to the reality of the Trinity: Romans 1:1-4, Romans 8:1-4, and Ephesians 1:2, 13-14. Look them up. You'll see that, while the word "Trinity" is absent from these passages, the idea of the Trinity — one God in three distinct persons — is absolutely evident. There is mention of God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit — the 1st, 2nd, and 3rd persons of the Trinity.
There is no human illustration that can begin to accurately describe the reality of the one true God, who exists eternally in three persons. The egg illustration, for example, compares the Trinity to an egg, which has three parts: the shell, the white, and the yolk. This of course does not do justice to the fullness of divinity that is contained in each person of the Trinity. The egg yolk – by itself – is not a complete egg. Yet, the Holy Spirit is fully God on His own, as is each other person of the Trinity. The mother illustration (a mother is a woman who may be also a sister and a wife) does not do justice to the three distinct persons of the Godhead; a person may hold different roles but is still one person. It really should not surprise us that the reality of God defies any human explanation or illustration; no human could have made this up!
There is no other religion that holds to a belief in the Trinitarian God. Mormons don't believe this; Jesus is not God for them. Muslims don't believe in the three persons of the Godhead; that would be blasphemy for them. It is the belief in the Trinitarian God of the Bible that perhaps makes biblical faith most unique.
It may be good to make at least one application here. What does the reality of the Trinity — that God has eternally existed as 1 God in 3 persons — imply? I think we can see that it means our God is a relational God. Have you ever read Genesis 1:26 ("Let us make man in our image") and wondered why God is talking in the plural tense? We get a glimpse, at the beginning of the creation narrative, of the inner–workings of the Trinity. God has existed eternally in perfect relationship with Himself. Theologians have referred to this as perichoresis, or the eternal dance of the relational Trinity. God did not create human beings because he was lonely! He created them to share in the glorious relationship that has already and always existed within the mysterious community of the Trinity.
Read John 16:7-14. We see clearly in those verses that there is a real subordination of the Holy Spirit to the Son (Jesus). By subordination, we mean submission to authority. Jesus talks about his "sending" of the Holy Spirit, as well as the primary role of the Holy Spirit: to "glorify" Him. There is definitely a real sense in which the Holy Spirit submits to the authority of Jesus – both in obedience and in directing attention to Him.
We can see from the Bible, too, the Son's subordination to the Father. Read these passages: John 4:34 and John 5:19-20. Jesus clearly is committed to doing the will of the Father, even going so far as to say at one point that he is unable to do anything other than what God the Father wants Him to do. God the Father is the one with the plan, and God the Son submits to carrying out that plan.
Even as we affirm an eternal subordination within the Trinity, we need to affirm with the Bible this incredibly important fact: The three persons of the Trinity have different roles, and yet are completely equal in divinity. In other words, the different things they do — whether submitting to being sent or to fulfilling the plan of another — does not imply any kind of inferiority. Just read some of Jesus' strong statements about his identity as God (John 10:30, John 8:58, John 1:1-4) and it will become clear that His role in submitting to his Father in no way implies that he is somehow less God than the Father. It's the same with God the Holy Spirit.
There is a huge application here, which is picked up by the Apostle Paul in parts of his letters. Our submission to each other as human beings (in marriage, to elders in a church, etc.) does not imply inferiority. In fact, our submission is often modeled after the submission that takes place within the Trinity itself. So, a godly wife's submission to the spiritual leadership of her husband does not imply inferiority any more than the Holy Spirit's being sent by Jesus implies that the Holy Spirit is less God than the Son.
From what we have discussed so far, it is possible to, based on the Bible, make at least some generalizations about the distinctive roles of the three persons of the Godhead.
God the Father is the one who holds the sovereign plan. His is the great will behind the plan for creation, redemption, and restoration of this world.
God the Son, Jesus, is the one who takes flesh and executes God's plan for redemption and restoration through his sacrificial death on the cross for sin and his resurrection from the dead.
God the Holy Spirit is the one who points to Jesus and enables belief and obedience. He illuminates God's sovereign plan and applies it to the hearts of human beings.
This is why, in general, the biblical pattern is for us to pray to God the Father (who holds the sovereign plan), in the name of Jesus Christ (who executes God's plan and redeems us), through the Holy Spirit (who enables our belief in God and his Son Jesus Christ).
