The Trinity

Islam is very critical of the Christian doctrine of the Trinity, which is the belief that God is three persons:  Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. In the Muslim view, this contradicts verses such as Deuteronomy 6:4, which says, “Hear, Israel! The Lord is our God, the Lord is one!”

However, the concept of the Trinity seems firmly imbedded in one of the final instructions Jesus gave his disciples: “Go, therefore, and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit.”[1]

The third side of that triangle, the Spirit, was not an invention of either Jesus or the early Christians. The Old Testament mentions the “Spirit of the Lord” at least twenty-four times^[2] and the “Spirit of God” at least twelve times.^[3] Also, God refers to “My Spirit” another eleven times.^[4]

The idea of Jesus as the second side of that triangle comes from the New Testament, based on what Jesus said about himself. In Chapter 1 of my first book, Beyond Blind Faith, I pointed out that Jesus made many claims about himself that demonstrate that he thought he was God, or at least divine. When Philip asked Jesus to “show us the Father,”[5] Jesus’s response is one of the most explicit of those claims: “Have I been with you for so long a time, and yet you have not come to know Me, Philip? The one who has seen Me has seen the Father; how can you say, ‘Show us the Father’?”[6]

So how can the one God be three persons? St. Patrick[7] explained it using the Shamrock, which has three leaves, but is a single plant. However, I personally find water to be a more satisfying explanation.

Water can take one of three forms: ice, steam, and liquid water. One is a solid, one is a liquid, and one is gaseous, but all three are the compound made up of two hydrogen atoms and one oxygen atom—H₂O, or “water.” One compound in three different forms.

In a way, the same is true of God. He is one God, but he is manifested in three ways:  Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.

I’m afraid that is the limit of my understanding, because the Trinity is ultimately a mystery—one of many mysteries I look forward to learning more about in the next life.

[1]. Matthew 28:19

[2]. Judges 3:10, 6:34, 11:29, 13:25, 14:6, 14:19, 15:14; 1 Samuel 10:6, 16:13, 16:14; 2 Samuel 23:2; 1 Kings 18:12, 22:24; 2 Kings 2:16; 2 Chronicles 18:23, 20:14; Isaiah 11:2, 40:13, 61:1, 63:14; Ezekiel 11:5, 37:1; Micah 2:7, 3:8

[3]. Genesis 1:2; Exodus 31:3, 35:31; Numbers 24:2; 1 Samuel 10:10, 11:6, 19:.20, 19:23; 2 Chronicles 15:1, 24:20; Job 33:4; Ezekiel 11:24

[4]. Genesis 6:3; Isaiah 30:1, 42:1, 44:3, 59:21; Ezekiel 36:27, 37:14; Joel 2:28, 2:29; Haggai 2:5; Zechariah 4:6

[5]. John 14:8

[6]. John14:9

[7]. I discuss the life of St. Patrick in Chapter 6 of my book, Christ’s Faithful Servants.