christians believe that god is a trinity sometimes called the doctrine of the trinity this is the belief that there is one god who is made known in three persons it is the belief that god is one in three and three in one at the same time christians often refer to the trinity as a mystery of the christian faith in the sense that it cannot be fully described or understood by humans the methodist preacher john wesley when writing about the trinity said bring me a worm that can comprehend a man and i will show you a man that can comprehend god over the centuries christians have used many images metaphors and symbols to attempt to help describe or represent god as trinity as with any representation of god they are subject to limitation and should be interpreted carefully in fact some christians would say most of these images are at best unhelpful and at worst heretical i.e teaching something that is false perhaps the best image to describe the trinity is the shield of the trinity this image or diagram simply states the main point of the belief firstly that there is one god that the one god is made known or revealed as three distinct persons i.e god is the father god is the son god is the spirit secondly that each of the three persons is fully god i.e the father is god the son is god and the spirit is god thirdly that each of the three persons is distinct from one another i.e the son is not the father the spirit is not the son and the father is not the spirit although the trinity is an essential part of christian belief you will not find the word trinity itself in the bible the word trinity was developed by the church to help describe this belief however although the word trinity is not itself in the bible there is plenty of evidence that the concept of the treaty is within the biblical text what we today call christianity began as a sect within judaism jesus was jewish as were his apostles and the majority of his followers judaism is monotheistic believing in the existence of one god jews recite the words of deuteronomy 6 verse 4 every day as part of a prayer called the shema here o israel the lord our god the lord is one this belief in the oneness of god was shared by jesus and his followers which is why christians are also monotheists the idea that god is one in three can be seen right from the beginning of the gospels at jesus baptism in matthew 3 the writer says as jesus was baptized he went up out of the water heaven was opened and he saw the spirit of god descending like a dove and a voice from heaven said this is my beloved son with whom i am well pleased this event shows god being revealed as the father the voice from the cloud the son in the person of jesus and the spirit in the form of a dove three in one trinity at the end of matthew's gospel before his ascension to heaven jesus commissions his disciples to go therefore and make disciples of all nations baptizing them in the name of the father and of the son and of the holy spirit this three-fold formula has now become part of the everyday language of christians often said at the start and end of prayer or joined with the sign of the cross by the time saint paul and the other apostles were writing letters to the early church the use of this threefold distinction father son and spirit was commonplace for example saint paul signs off his second letter to the corinthians with the grace of the lord jesus christ and the love of god and the fellowship of the holy spirit be with you all this is now a common blessing used in many church services after the new testament was finished the early church sought to clarify official or orthodox teaching by publishing creeds official statements of belief two of the most well-known examples are the apostles creed and the nicene creed both of these creeds support the belief in the trinity as both have a trinitarian structure if you look at the creed side by side you will see that the first three i believe or we believe statements refer to the three persons of the trinity for example the apostles creed states i believe in god the father i believe in jesus christ his only son i believe in the holy spirit in response to certain false teachings or heresies at the end of the fourth century the nicene creed which is longer and more detailed than the apostles creed added certain statements to provide clarification on orthodox christian belief in relation to god the son they stated that the son was begotten not made this ruled out the aryan heresy that taught that god the father existed first and then created god the son in relation to god the spirits the nicene creed states that the spirit with the father and son is worshiped and glorified this challenged the heresy that the spirit was not equal to the father and the son this clearly teaches that the holy spirit is fully god since only god can be worshipped and has full equality with the other two persons of the trinity beyond these creeds or statements of belief other theologians have attempted to explain the significance of the trinity saint augustine took the verse god is love from 1 john 4 8 and explored what it meant notice that it does not say god is loving but rather he is love augustine argued that in any relationship of love there in fact needs to be three parts he said true love is a trinity of lover beloved and the love that binds them together augustine applied this idea to the trinity if god is true love then god is a trinity and this is what he described the lover is god the father the beloved is god the son and the love is the holy spirit which communicates the love between god the father and god the son for augustine this meant that god could quite happily exist in himself as a loving community of persons without the need for the created universe i.e god did not need to create the universe to know or feel love he was completely self-sufficient god is not dependent on creation instead it is the other way around creation is dependent on god and therefore it is only right and proper that creation should worship god since they depend on him for their existence so the trinity establishes one god in three persons each person being equally god however the belief in the trinity states that each of the three persons is distinct i.e they are not the same so what are the distinctive characteristics of the three persons the first person of the trinity is god the father much of what christians believe about god the father is very similar to what jews and other monotheists believe about god in general god the father is the all-powerful all-knowing all-loving creator of the universe who stands outside space and time the use of the term father indicates the understanding that he acts like a loving father who provides for protects and cares for his creation in the same way a loving father provides for protects and cares for his children the second person of the trinity is god the son christians believe that through the incarnation god was able to come to earth in human form in the person of jesus of nazareth jesus of nazareth shared god's divinity his divine power and authority while taking on the nature of humanity jesus was able to perform miracles just like god as well as have the authority to forgive sin like god also the purpose of coming to earth in human form was for god to reveal himself to human beings saint paul said that jesus the son is the image of the invisible god in other words humans get to see what god is like by looking at jesus who is god the son jesus said i and the father are one the third person of the trinity is god of the holy spirit in the new testament the holy spirit is described using the greek word paraclete which roughly translates as helper or advocate jesus promised that after his ascension god would send his spirit paraclete to help you and be with you forever christians believe that the holy spirit is able to help them to follow jesus fully the holy spirit is often described as a comforter or guide it is sometimes represented with fire or water because of its ability to purify or sanctify i.e the spirit is able to help christians to lead holy lives it also helps christians to worship god and to know his truth christians are called to worship in spirit and in truth and therefore the welcoming of the holy spirit is an important aspect of most forms of christian worship before finishing it is important to note that not all groups who follow the teachings of jesus except the doctrine of the trinity the most well-known example in fact the clue is in the name are the unitarians they believe that the doctrine of the trinity contradicts the belief in one god and therefore they reject the teaching that jesus is god and that the holy spirit is god a number of mainstream christian groups i.e those who accept the nicene creed would go so far as to say that rejecting the belief in the trinity is so essential to christianity that anyone who does so including the unitarian churches cannot really be considered truly christian thanks for watching i've been mr mcmillan