Getting to Know God by Understanding the Trinity

One of our main goals here at His Dearly Loved Daughter Ministries is to discover and get to know our God, our Jehovah Rapha. We understand that we’re all broken, and that healing is found in Him. So learning about and knowing Him intimately becomes very important. That’s why we’re diving into this Bible study on getting to know God, starting with understanding the Trinity.

Today, we’re exploring the three divine persons of the Godhead: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Then, as the series continues we’ll dig deeper into each member, understanding the Trinity by learning to know God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit individually. Finally, we’ll examine our role – what should our response be to God?  

In the end, we want to walk away with a deep, intimate, and abiding relationship with our Lord.

Getting to Know God Intimately by Understanding the Trinity

Every great relationship includes a sincere desire for intimacy. Passages like Psalms 139 demonstrate God’s deep desire for and personal knowledge of us. They show us that He longs for us with a tender love we can hardly understand. So let’s be inspired to respond in kind and get to know Him too. 

( * Here’s a post I wrote that explores God’s intimate love for us as demonstrated in Psalm 139.)

Before we can get to know each individual member of the Trinity, though, we have to first lay the foundation by exploring how the Bible can claim there is one God while simultaneously naming Father, Son, and Holy Spirit as God. It seems contradictory. It turns out, understanding the Trinity is a little tricky and has sadly tripped people up for hundreds of years.

In fact, we’ll discover much of what God has revealed to us about Himself can seem confusing and maybe even a little contradictory at first. To our limited, finite, human understanding His infinite and divine grandeur in beyond comprehension.

But the Bible promises us, He wants to be known, and if we come to Him with eyes to see and ears to hear, He will open our hearts to understand. So, before we go any further, let’s take a moment to pray and ask God for wisdom. 

“Heavenly Father, You’ve told us in Your Word that if any of us lacks wisdom we need only ask You. You’ve promised never to rebuke us for asking. Lord, we recognize that we’re far beneath You and somewhat incapable of understanding Your greatness… but we’re asking You now to fill us with Your Holy Spirit and give us understanding. We’re asking you to give us eyes to see, ears to hear, hearts that understand and feet that are quick to obey. We’re asking this in the powerful name of Jesus Christ. Amen.” 

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The Doctrine of the Trinity – God in Three Persons

1 Peter 1:1-3 – This letter is from Peter, an apostle of Jesus Christ. I am writing to God’s chosen people… God the Father knew you and chose you long ago, and His Spirit has made you holy. As a result, you have obeyed Him and have been cleansed by the blood of Jesus Christ. 

Understanding the Trinity becomes possible thanks to verses like these in 1 Peter, which provide a great example of the One God being described as three separate persons. Each with unique purposes and functions. 

Here, the Father knew us and chose us before we even existed.  It was His plan which was set in place and has been carried out throughout all of time.  He is also the One who sends the Holy Spirit to fulfill His role.

The Holy Spirit indwells us, softens our hearts, and makes us holy.  This is done in order to cause us to respond in obedience to His call.  But it is only through the shed blood of Jesus Christ that our sins can be covered and we can be made whole.

Let’s see if we can find another Scripture passage that shows God in three persons.

God in Three Persons Scripture

Luke 1:35 – The angel replied, “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you. So the baby to be born will be holy, and He will be called the Son of God.”  

Here, Luke narrates the incarnation of Jesus Christ. It was the moment when God became flesh, and made Himself truly knowable to us. As we’re working towards understanding the Trinity, how special to find all three members of the Godhead present and active in that work!

It was through the power of the Father (the Most High) that the Holy Spirit did the work of placing Jesus (the Son) into Mary’s womb. How precious that moment was!

 Let’s thank our Father for His mighty power which was able to contain the great I AM inside those first two cells in Mary’s womb!  And let us also thank the Spirit for His miraculous work which made it possible for a virgin to become pregnant with our Lord and Savior!  Finally, let’s thank our Immanuel for submitting Himself to God’s will, giving up His divine privilege, allowing Himself to be confined to a human body, and living a sinless life so that we could be restored.  We don’t deserve such love! 

Understanding the Trinity in the Deity of the Godhead Explained 

1 Corinthians 8:6 – But for us, there is one God, the Father, by whom all things were created, and for whom we live. And there is one Lord, Jesus Christ, through whom all things were created, and through whom we live. 

We’ve established there are three separate persons making up the Godhead, but can we be sure each of these persons is fully God? 

The Deity of God the Father

I don’t think there’s much debate as to the deity of God the Father, but just to be sure and cover all our bases, the verse above in 1 Corinthians clearly states there is one God, and the Father is that God.

The Deity of God the Son

It says also, there is one Lord and Jesus Christ is that Lord. So, does that mean Jesus as Lord is somehow something other than God?  The best way to answer questions about the Bible is with the Bible, so let’s see what other Scripture we can find to answer that question. 

Deuteronomy 6:4 – Listen, Oh Israel! The Lord is our God, the Lord alone. 

This verse states that the Lord is God. So, we know there is no distinction between the Lord and God. I believe this is sufficient to demonstrate the deity of both the Father and the Son, but just to be sure, let’s look at another verse that proves the deity of Jesus. 

Philippians 2:5-7 – You must have the same attitude that Christ Jesus had. Though He was God, He did not think of equality with God as something to cling to. Instead, He gave up His divine privileges… and was born as a human being. 

There you have it.  Jesus was God, but gave up His divine privileges to come to us.

The Deity of God the Spirit

So, what about the Holy Spirit?  Let’s look at a passage in Acts which I believe is all the evidence we need to prove He too is fully God. 

Acts 5:3-4 – Then Peter said, “Ananias, why have you let Satan fill your heart?  You lied to the Holy Spirit, and you kept some of the money for yourself. The property was yours to sell or not sell, as you wished. And after selling it, the money was also yours to give away. How could you do a thing like this? You weren’t lying to us but to God!“ 

Peter told Ananias he had lied to the Holy Spirit and therefore lied to God.  So, we must conclude the Holy Spirit is God.  This means we have seen through Scripture that the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit are all fully God. Combined with what we learned before, we now know God reveals Himself to us through three separate divine persons. Each One having a unique purpose and function in the work of God.  

Understanding the Trinity as the One God 

We’ve seen from Scripture that God exists as a Holy Trinity – three separate persons, all fully divine.  We saw that each of these persons: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit play a unique role in the work of God.  But how do we know there aren’t simply three Gods?  Why do we keep saying they are a Trinity – separate persons but the one God?  

Deuteronomy 6:4 (ESV) – Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is One.  

John 10:30 – The Father and I are One. 

Isaiah 44:6 – This is what the Lord says – Israel’s King and Redeemer, the Lord of Heaven’s Armies: 
“I am the First and the Last; there is no other God.”  

Galatians 3:20 – Now a mediator is helpful if more than one party must reach an agreement. But God, who is One, did not use a mediator when He gave His promise to Abraham.  

Ephesians 4:5-6 – There is one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all, who is over all, in all, and through all.

There isn’t a whole lot I have to add.  Scripture says time and time again that there is one God.  It says the Father is God. And it says the Son is God.  And it also says the Holy Spirit is God.  Three Divine Persons. The One God. 

The Unified Work of the Trinity in Creation and Salvation 

The unified work of the Trinity can be seen all over Scripture. But there are two examples I believe require special attention. I think it’s important we note that all three members of the Godhead played crucial roles in both creation and salvation.  

We need to know that everything was formed by the whole of God and for the whole of God. We need to know we were created in His unified image, and that aspects of all three Persons show up in who we are. And we need to know that it is through the work of each member of the Godhead that we can be reconciled to all of Him.

Understanding the Trinity in Genesis

Genesis 1:1- In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. 

Deuteronomy 32:6 – Is this the way you repay the Lord, you foolish and senseless people? Isn’t He your Father who created you? Has He not made you and established you?  

John 1:1-5 – In the beginning the Word already existed. The Word was with God, and the Word was God. He existed in the beginning with God.  God created everything through Him, and nothing was created except through Him. The Word gave life to everything that was created, and His life brought light to everyone. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness can never extinguish it.  

Job 33:4 – For the Spirit of God has made me, and the breath of the Almighty gives me life.  

In Genesis we learn that God created the world in six days, and rested on the seventh. But when various parts of Scripture are added for clarity and context, each person of the Trinity is identified as an active member in God’s creation work! How cool and exciting is that?

But here’s the part that gets my heart racing about understanding the trinity in Genesis and in creation:

Genesis 1:26-27 – Then God said, “Let us make human beings in our image, to be like us…” So God created human beings in His own image. In the image of God He created them; male and female He created them. 

Even the creation story itself ends with a conversation God had with Himself in which He said, “Let US” make man and woman in “OUR image.” 

Friends, we are created in the image of God.  We bear a resemblance not only to God the Father, but also to God the Son and God the Holy Spirit!  Our amazing God is so marvelously complex and He made us like Him!  As we dig deeper into this study and learn more about Him, let’s strive to be everything we were created to be!   

The Work of the Trinity in Salvation 

Ephesians 2:13, 18 – But now you have been united with Christ Jesus. Once you were far away from God, but now you have been brought near to Him through the blood of Christ… Now all of us can come to the Father through the same Holy Spirit because of what Christ has done for us.  

Once we were far away from God. (Father, Son, Holy Spirit) Each and every one of us have been separated from God because of our sins, and each Person of the Trinity wanted so badly to bring us back to Himself that He participated in the work that made a way.  

That way was provided through the blood of Jesus Christ.  He made the sacrifice, He paid the price… but someone had to accept the sacrifice.

That was the role of the Father.  He sent Jesus to earth, and He accepted His work on the cross. He declared it sufficient and allows us to come to Him through the power of the Holy Spirit.

Finally, this same Holy Spirit takes up residence in our hearts and fills us with His power, guiding us along the path that God has prepared for us.  The path that leads back to Him. 

It is a mighty work – salvation!  One that includes all three members of the Trinity.  How very intricate is the work of our great God! May we thank Him today for the gift of salvation, made possible through the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit – the One God!

* Here’s another cool post about Understanding the Trinity.

*How about you? What have you learned about God specifically pertaining to understanding the Trinity lately? Let us know in the comments below.

Find the Rest of the “Getting to Know God Bible Study” Below: