You’ve probably heard about many different gods from many different cultures around the world, but the bible says there is only ONE God (Mark 12:32, 1 Cor. 8:6, 1 Tim. 2:5, James 2:19). That simply means there’s only ONE TRUE God (John 17:3). He’s the only living God. There is only ONE GOD and there is no other (Mark 12:32, 1 Corinthians 8:4-6).
The word ONE is also used in the bible to show unity. The Bible says when a man and a woman marry they become ONE flesh (Genesis. 2:24). They don’t become the same person, but they are united as ONE.
In Genesis 11:6, God said, “The people is ONE…” ONE in unity. God uses this idea throughout the Bible.
The nation of Israel and other nations are referred to as He and Him in the Bible (Exodus 4:22, 1 Sam. 15:2). This shows the people are UNITED. They are all ONE. They are unified. United into ONE entity. We are all ONE in Christ Jesus (Galatians 3:28). Many members, but ONE body (Romans 12:5). Unity.
Paul said that he and Apollos were ONE (1 Corinthians. 3:6-9). Did he mean that he was Apollos? Were they the same person? No. They were two separate individuals. They were both in Christ, working toward the same goal, so he said they were ONE. We see this same unity in Acts 2:44, 46. They had all things in common and continued in ONE accord.
Jesus prayed to the Father that His disciples would all be ONE in the same way that He and the Father are ONE (John 17:11). He also prayed for you and I, that we would be ONE in the same way that He and the Father are ONE (John 17:20-22). This ONEness that Jesus prayed for clearly is to be unified as ONE body of believers. Not to be ONE person or being. It means to be ONE in unity. ONE in thought, deed, and purpose.
Jesus talked to the Father, and about Him in such a way to let us know, without a doubt, that He and the Father and the Holy Spirit are three separate individuals. They are not the same person (John 17:3). “There are three that bear record in heaven, the Father, the Word, and the Holy Ghost, and these three are ONE” (1 John 5:7). They are ONE in thought, in action, and in purpose.
The English word God in the book of Genesis is translated from the Hebrew word Elohim, most of the time. It is used 2,555 times in the Old Testament. It is used 200 times just in the book of Genesis. This word is a plural word consisting of more than ONE being. (Strong’s Exhaustive Concordance Of The Bible).
The word Elohim reveals the Trinity (Matthew 28:19, 1 John 5:7). Every time this word is used all three are involved in whatever is happening. Mark 1:9-11 presents the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, all three at the same time.
Colossians 2:9 says that all the fullness of the Godhead lives in the body of Jesus Christ. This verse does NOT say Jesus is the Father and/or the Spirit. It says, that the fullness of the Godhead is in Him (Hebrews 10:5).
Colossians 1:19 says it pleased the Father that Jesus should have all the power of the complete Godhead. He has all the attributes of God (Isaiah 9:6). He is equal with God (Philippians 2:6). He is the express image of God (Hebrews 1:1-3). He is the image of the invisible God (Colossians 1:15; 2 Corinthians 4:4).
This is why Jesus said, “If you have seen me, you have seen the Father” (John 14:9). He wasn’t saying that He was the Father. He said no man has ever seen the Father. “NO MAN has seen God at any time…” The Son has revealed Him (John 1:18). “Not that any man has seen the Father” (John 6:46; 5:35; 1 John 4:12).
In these verses, Jesus declares that NO MAN has EVER seen the Father at ANY time. He NEVER said that He was the Father. He showed us the character of the Father while He lived on earth.
In Exodus 24:9-10, Moses, Nadab and Abihu, and seventy elders of Israel “saw the God of Israel and lived to eat and drink”. But if no man has ever seen the Father, as we previously saw, then how can this passage be explained? Simple. No man has ever seen the Father at any time (John 1:18, 6:4-6, 5:37, 4:12). This was Jesus, the Son, the second person in the Godhead. He went with the children of Israel through the wilderness (1 Corinthians 10:4). He talked to them (Deut. 5:4, 22-23; 9:10), and He talked to Moses, face to face (Ex. 33:11).
Numbers 20:16 says the LORD (Jehovah) “sent an angel and has brought us out of Egypt.” Exodus 14:19 says, “And the angel of God, which went before the camp of Israel, removed and went behind them; and the pillar of the cloud went from before their face, and stood behind them. 1 Corinthians 10:4 says that angel was Jesus Christ. (The original Greek word, translated as “followed” in this verse, means accompanied He went with them.)
In Exodus 3:2 the angel of the LORD (Jehovah) appeared to Moses in a burning bush. In verse 4, God (Elohim) speaks to Moses. So here Jesus appeared to Moses, and Elohim speaks to him. Keeping intact our earlier discovery that No man has ever seen the Father at any time (John 1:18, 6:4-6, 5:37, 4:12). He told Moses to take off his shoes because the ground where he was standing was holy. In Joshua 5:13-15 the captain of the Lord’s host appeared unto Joshua and told him the same thing. The ground wasn’t holy in itself, the presence of God is what made it holy. This man, the Captain of the Lord’s host, was also Jesus.
Jesus was also the angel who wrestled with Jacob until the breaking of day (Gen. 32:24-30; 35:10-13; Hosea 12:2-5). Jesus is not a created being, though. The word angel simply means messenger. (Strong’s Exhaustive Concordance)
The word archangel means chief or leader; or captain, as he told Joshua. Jesus is the archangel. It is He, NOT Gabriel, who will shout with the voice of the archangel, when the last trumpet sounds, as He leads all the angels of heaven to the earth at the end of this world.
Before there was ever a man on the earth, and before there was even an earth, The Father, Son, and Holy Spirit existed together (John 17:24; Genesis 1:2; Psalm 51:11; John 17:5). “In the beginning Elohim (the Trinity) made the heaven and the earth” (Genesis 1:1-2, 26). “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was with God at the beginning” (John 1:1-2). Jesus is the Word (John 1:14; Revelation 19:13).
Jesus is called God in John 1:1, but the same verse says He was with God. Verse 2 also says He was with God. He was not with Himself, but He was with God the Father, and God the Holy Spirit (Gen. 1:1-2).
Although the name Jesus was given to him when he put on human flesh, Jesus did not have His beginning as a baby in a manger as many people believe (Ps. 2:7; Heb. 10:5). He has always existed. As a member of the Godhead, and as an individual (John 1:3, 10; Heb. 1:1). The prophet Agur said that God had a Son (Proverbs 30:4).
Jesus is the Word through which God created all things (John 1:1,14; 1 John 5:7; Rev. 19:13; 1 John 1:1-2; Eph. 3:9; Heb. 1:1-2; Heb. 11:3; 2 Pet. 3:5).
He spoke and it was done… (Ps. 33:9). God said, “Let US make man in OUR image, after OUR likeness” (Gen. 1:26).
After Adam sinned, God said, “The man has become as ONE of US to know good and evil” (Gen. 3:22). Then at the tower of Babel, the LORD God (Jehovah Elohim) said, “Let US go down and confuse their language…” (Genesis 11:7). Who was God talking to in these three passages? Certainly not Himself. He was talking to the other members of the Godhead.
The Bible continually speaks of the Father and the Son as two separate individuals (Romans 1:7; 1 Corinthians 1:3, 8:6; 2 Corinthians 1:2; Galatians 1:3; Ephesians 1:2; Philippians 1:2; Colossians 1:2, 12-13, 3:1; 1 Thessalonians 1:1; 1 Timothy 1:1-2; 2 Timothy 1:2; Titus 1:4, 2:13; James 1:1, 1 Peter 1:2-3; 2 Peter 1:1-2; 1 John 4:15, 5:5,7,9-13; Revelation 1:1, 11:15).
2 John 9 says, “He that abides in the doctrine of Christ (Messiah) has BOTH the Father AND the SON. It is clear that they are not the same person. Jesus is not the Father.
Jesus prayed to the Father many times. He said many things that prove He is not the Father. He said the Father was in heaven while He was here on earth (Matthew 5:16, 45, 48, 6:1,9, 10:32, 33). In Matthew 10:32 He said if we confess Him, He will confess us before the Father who is in Heaven. This text shows that He and the Father are two separate individuals. Mark 13:32 proves this without a doubt. Jesus made a distinguishing difference between Himself and the Father. Here are some more verses that show the teaching of Jesus on this subject (John 8:54, 17:18, and 14:10).
Jesus said His Father is greater than Him (John 14:28). He said “if anyone loves me they will keep my words, and my Father will love them and WE will come to them and make OUR home with them (John 14:23).
In John 15:1 Jesus tells a parable. He says He is the Vine and the Father is the gardener. Notice that the plant and the gardener are not the same. When Stephen was stoned he saw heaven open, and he saw Jesus standing at the right hand of God (Acts 7:55).
Jesus prayed to the Father that He wouldn’t have to die. But then He said, “not My will, but Your will be done (Mark 14:36). Then before He died on the cross He cried “My God, My God, Why have you forsaken me?” (Matthew 27:46). Jesus was not talking to Himself. He could not forsake Himself.
“God was in Christ reconciling the world unto Himself” (2 Cor. 5:19). Sin can not exist in the presence of God. When Jesus bore our iniquities (Is. 53) and became sin for us, (2 Cor. 5:21) the Father had to leave Him. Jesus and the Father are clearly not the same person.
John 3:16 says He is the Son of God. Jesus said, “My doctrine is not mine but His who sent Me (John 7:16, 14:24). The Father judges no man but has committed all judgment to the Son (John 5:22). He said in John 8:54, “If I honor myself, my honor is nothing: it is my Father that honors me.” Jesus didn’t honor nor glorify Himself (John 17:18, 8:54; Hebrews 5:5). The Father glorified the Son (Matt. 3:17; Acts 3:13). So, if Jesus and the Father were the same person, then when the Father honored and glorified the Son, He would be honoring and glorifying himself. Thus contradicting his own words.
Jesus gave a prophecy about the second coming and the end of the world. Then He said, “no man knows the day nor the hour, not the angels in heaven, neither the Son, only the Father” (Mrk. 13:32). Jesus said the Father knew something that He didn’t at the time. That would be impossible if they were the same person or being. They are not. There is ONE God and ONE mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus (1 Timothy 2:5).
The Bible, from beginning to end, shows that there is only ONE God. ONE God, as opposed to many gods. But this God is Elohim (plural), with three persons working together, like a family.
The Holy Spirit was there in the beginning with the Father and Jesus. Each person in the Godhead has separate individual works, as well as collective works as ONE God. The Holy Spirit did not have His beginning on the day of Pentecost as some teach (Gen. 1:2, 26). The Trinity, Elohim, the Godhead consists of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. They were all three there at creation (Gen. 1:2, 26). They have always existed. That’s impossible for us humans to understand completely because in our minds everything has to have a beginning, but, this is what the Bible teaches. We don’t have to understand something for it to be true.
In Genesis chapter ONE, the Father, the Word, and the Holy Spirit, all working together, in unity and in ONE accord, created the world and everything in it (Genesis 1:1,2; John 1:1-14). We can see each ONE working separately, as individuals, and all together as ONE God throughout the Bible (Genesis 1:1,2; Psalm 51:11; Proverbs 30:4; Daniel 3:25; 1 John 5:7; Matthew 28:19; Acts 5:3).
The Spirit of God is mentioned throughout the Old Testament (Genesis 1:2, 41:38; Exodus 31:3, 35:31; Numbers 24:2; 1 Samuel 10:10, 11:16, 19:20,23; 2 Chronicles 15:1; Isaiah 61:1; Ezekiel 11:24). Sometimes He is called the Spirit of the Lord (Judges 3:10, 6:34, 11:29, 13:25, 15:14; 1 Samuel 10:6, 16:13-14; 2 Samuel 23:2; 1 Kings 22:24; 2 Kings 2:16; 2 Chronicles 20:14; Isaiah 11:2, 40:13, 48:16, 59:19; Ezekiel 11:5; Micah 3:8). He is also called the Holy Spirit in the Old Testament as well as the new (Psalm 51:11; Isaiah 63:10-11).
Mark tells us that the Holy Ghost, in the new testament, is the same Holy Spirit that David refers to in Psalm 51:11 (Mark 12:36). Acts 7:51 confirms this also. The words “Ghost” and “Spirit” are translated from the same Greek word (Pneuma). Both names refer to the same being and either name is correct. He is the Comforter (John 14:16, 26, 15:26). Jesus referred to Him as a person not as “IT” (John 14:16, 26, 15:26).
Jesus said the Father would send the Comforter, which is the Holy Spirit, in Jesus’ name (John 14:26). Here we have all three mentioned at the same time and in such a manner as to distinguish them as three different beings. Isaiah 48:16 says “God and his Spirit has sent me”.
Throughout the Bible, God makes it a point to show us that there are three persons in the Godhead. Let’s look at the most conclusive Scripture first, that shows Jesus is not the Holy Spirit and the Holy Spirit is not Jesus. In Matthew 12:32 and Luke 12:10 says “whoever shall speak a word against the Son of man it shall be forgiven him; but unto him, that blasphemes against the Holy Ghost, it shall NOT be forgiven him.” If Jesus and the Holy Spirit were the same individuals, this statement could not be true. To blaspheme the Holy Ghost would be to blaspheme Jesus. It is clear that they are not the same person with just different titles.
Jesus told his disciples that He was going back to heaven to his Father. Then He told them He would pray to the Father (not Himself) and the Father would give them another Comforter (not Himself) (John 14:16). ANOTHER means ANOTHER. Not the same with a different name. Jesus said, “when He, the Spirit of truth, has come, He will guide you into all truth, for He will not speak of Himself, but whatever He shall hear that shall He speak” (John 16:13). Jesus is saying here that when the Holy Spirit comes, He will not speak His own words but the words He hears from GOD. This verse makes it clear that they are not the same person. Jesus makes this plain in verses 14 and 15. Jesus said the Holy Ghost would glorify Jesus, not Himself. “He will take of mine and show it to you. All things that the Father has are mine. That’s why I said, He will take of mine and will show it to you” (John. 14:14, 15).
This study shows without a doubt that the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit are three different individuals. We see all three of them at Christ’s baptism (Mark. 1:9-11). We also see all three at creation (Genesis 1:2b, 26; Hebrews. 1:1) and throughout God’s holy word.
The Bible is clear. The Trinity is Biblical. While Jesus is God, He is neither the Father nor the Holy Spirit. They are three separate persons that make up ONE GOD.
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