Three in One

“I the Lord do not change. So you, the descendants of Jacob, are not destroyed.” (Malachi 3:6)

Malachi, the last book of the Old Testament, serves as a crucial connection point, where Jesus becomes the bridge to the New Testament. As foretold in the Old Testament, Jesus arrives, citing the scriptures and thereby bridging the Old Covenant with the New, creating a seamless narrative of our faith.

I recently finished some personal studies on the Trinity and found that the way I often illustrate the communion of the Trinity could become confusing. By communion, I am referring to the general idea of communion, like “the communion of the saints” or close fellowship. For years, I have used dance as an illustration or paradigm to describe the Trinity. After studying, I see how this may be problematic. I hope you will as well.

Malachi tells us that God does not change. We know from New Testament scripture that our God has eternally been the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. None of these three were created; they have existed forever as our one God. There was no mother, and there was no creation of the Son or Spirit by the Father. Referring to the Trinity as separate beings creates the idea that they are together by choice or agreement.1 Emerson proposed a different perspective on the Trinity, one that emphasizes the concept of a communion of love. He wrote, “The best we can make sense of this (the Trinity) is to say with John that Father, Son, and Spirit just are the one God who exists in an inseparable communion of love. God loves us as an outflow of his very nature—the one who loves perfectly and eternally.” This view refutes ideas such as those found in Mormon theology, which are anti-trinitarian. 2 

Because of this idea, we know that God was not created but is the Creator of all things. Because our God is one, we cannot treat the persons of the Trinity as a “team” or “divine dance.” Scripture specifically tells us God is one (Deut. 6:4 “Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one.) This unity of the Trinity reassures us of the unchanging and secure nature of our faith.

Our God is love and exists as three persons who are that one God. There is love between the three, and only scripture tells us there are three persons in our one God. When we highlight or infer an independence between the three, we deny God's oneness. We make them three Gods joined by a shared love of creation or purpose.

Conversely, we must not deny that there are three persons in the Trinity. In Matthew 3:17, at the baptism of Christ by John in the Jordan, God says, “ This is my beloved Son.” Treier gives these four points that reveal the communion within the Trinity and how we are related through divine missions:

(1) Christ’s multifaceted communion with God leads to our sanctity and faithfulness.

(2) Our election is in Christ.

(3) We are adopted as sons and daughters through the Son;

 (4) The Christ-centered nature of Matthew 3 reveals the full integration of our salvation through our own communion with God, reassured by the work of the Spirit in us.

We can also see God's love for us in 1 John 4:9: “In this, the love of God was made manifest among us, that God sent his only Son into the world so that we might live through him.” Only God can dispense His love, grace, and mercy for us. Only God could have saved creation from sin and death, and only God could have designed creation out of that love. Because of these things, we can honestly say the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit are our one God.

Yes, the Trinity can be confusing. Many Christians are not quite sure how to describe or explain it. When we teach, preach, or struggle with the complexities of the Trinity, I hope this may help: eternally one, eternally three, and eternally love.

Grace and Peace!

1 Matthew Y. Emerson and Brandon D. Smith, The Trinity Is Not a Team, Crossway, https://www.crossway.org/articles/the-trinity-is-not-a-team, 2024, pp 2.

2 Emerson citing Daniel J. Treier, The Lord Jesus Christ, Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan Academic, 2023, 50–54.