Three things are too wonderful for me, four beyond my knowledge. Pro 30:18
We all agree: God is triune. Father, Son, and Spirit. We call them the trinity.
Actually, we do not all agree. There are many that say that a triune God is unscriptural, and in fact, the phrase is not used in the bible. There is a teaching called Oneness Doctrine – they say, that the three are actually one person. This has been a debate for centuries, and what seems to be technical and pure semantics has major implications.
If God were one, manifesting in three forms as Father, Son, and Spirit, as soul, body, and spirit, there is one thing lacking: relationships. Relationships would not be an intrinsic feature of the divine. Different persons, yet so much in unity in there relationship, they become one.
As early as in the second chapter of the bible we are told that man and wife are to become one flesh. If God were one, manifesting as three, there would be no heavenly pattern for this. But Paul tells us that marriage is but a picture for the relationship between Jesus and the church. And that relationship is patterned after Jesus’ relationship with the Father:
That they may all be one; even as thou, Father, art in me, and I in thee, that they also may be in us. John 17:21
Nobody questions that man is a distinct personality, distinct from God. Man wanted to be like God – even though he was made after his image and therefore already was – and the outcome clearly shows: we are a distinct entity called Adam. Since the cross, there is another entity called Christ. The anointed and his anointing. Jesus the head and we the body.
We can find two relationships within the trinity. Sonship and marriage.
Marriage we have just talked about. It is the prototype of oneness, of unity in diversity. Two become one. At least in our earthly depiction of this relationship. The heavenly version is better described as: two are one. Marriage as a state of being as in:
I and the Father are one. Joh 10:31
Sonship is the prototype of process, growth, design, development, progress, change – and therefore destiny, purpose.
Sonship does not exist without a father. And its goal: for the son to become a father. What does the bible say about Jesus? He will be called prince of peace, eternal father? Jesus, the Son, became a father for many. Look at the relationship he had with the twelve. He was their father. What did they do? They became fathers again for the young church. Jesus told them: teach them everything I told you. That includes that they were to teach others everything they were told. Multiplication.
We could therefore say that from trinity spans God’s family. Heavenly patterns multiplied.
But I touched on something earlier: the concept of Christ. Jesus the head, we the body. Jesus the groom, we the bride. And the two become one. This is what Paul meant when he said that marriage is a picture of the relationship between Jesus and the church. We saw that Jesus prayed that we would become one with him as the Father and he were one. That prayer has been answered on the cross. It includes you if you choose so. And the more you believe to be true what you can’t see, the more you live that truth. You are one with God.
What happened in the garden in the beginning? Adam, God’s son – if you want, God’s younger son – insisted on having his inheritance: to be like God. Thus he became the prodigal son. But in contrast to the story told by Jesus, the older brother did not turn on him, but chose to become a father for him, stretching out his hands on the cross for him. Reuniting the family.
Now, let me tell you: there is no trinity.
After all that you are going to tell me that there is no trinity? Seriously?
There is no trinity. There is a quadrune God.
Father, Son, Spirit, Church.
God, Jesus, Holy Ghost, and us.
Elohim echad. God is one, oneness, unitied. Deu 6:4