Three in One, One in Three: Exploring the Mystery of the Holy Trinity
Written By: Kierstyn Chambers
Do you know who you’re praying to? I ask this because God recently made me face the fact that I don’t fully know who I’m praying to. I was in the middle of praying when a question that I have been running away from made me lose my train of thought, “who is it that I’m praying to?” I have been in the church all my life, and I have learned all about the Holy Trinity but for some reason the reality of who God is never clicked with me. What I mean by that is, I have been viewing the Holy Trinity as relative to one another rather than three in one. The reality of that confusion hit me when I started to wonder if I was supposed to be praying to the Father or the Son. Then, I wondered if it was wrong that I was praying to the Father and if I should be praying to the Son, since I am a Christian. After this whirl of confusion filled my head, I couldn’t go to sleep so I decided to do research (when I say research, I mean a lot of research). Now I will share with you the things that became clear to me (they’re probably things you know, but you may have never really thought about them). There were three things that became clear to me- the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit are equal, the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit have different things to offer and, just like the Father and Son, the Holy Spirit loves us.
“Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit,…” -Matthew 28:19
God the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit are equal. This is a very widely known fact, but I’m not so sure if it is as widely applied. Now it could just be me, so I’ll speak for myself for a minute. It can be very easy to view the Holy Trinity as a pyramid rather than a triangle. When I say that I mean that it can be very easy to view the Holy Trinity as a hierarchy rather than three equal entities joined as one. I find myself thinking of Jesus as less powerful than the Father and the Holy Spirit as less powerful than Jesus, but there is a reason that we are baptized in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. That reason is that they are all equally important. The Godhead, the Holy Trinity are terms that we know well, but we need to make sure we understand. Leaning on the Holy Spirit is not cheating on Jesus, just like leaning on Jesus is not cheating on the Father. They are God. When going into prayer, although going to the Father in the name of Jesus is the primary way people pray, it is not the only way. Don’t get me wrong, we are to pray in Jesus’ name, but we can pray to Jesus and the Holy Spirit as well. In Acts 1:24, the apostles prayed to the Lord asking for guidance with finding Judas’ replacement. I point this out because in the Bible they, oftentimes, specifically prayed to the Father, but them saying “Lord” goes to show that the Father is not the only one we can pray to. Then, in Acts 7:59, Stephen prayed to “Lord Jesus” when he was being stoned. I give you these examples to show you how the Bible exemplifies the equalness of the Holy Trinity. The Father, Son, and Holy Spirit are here for you; They are Lord.
“May the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all.”- 2 Corinthians 13:14
We have already established that the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit are equal, so now I would like to dive into what I learned about their roles. To sum things up the Father is the Planner, the Son is the Achiever, and the Holy Spirit is the Effector of Salvation. Now, I’ll break this down. The Father is many things but the Planner is the role that I wanted to highlight. He is the One who predestines us and is the source of everything. The Son is the Achiever (also many other things), which means that He is the One who was sent to save us, the Savior/Achiever of salvation. The Holy Spirit (again, also many other things) is the Effector of Salvation, which means He convicts, converts, and convinces. Now, here’s the somewhat tricky part. The Holy Trinity works in what is known as “functional subordination.” This explains how the Son is subordinate to the Father and the Holy Spirit is subordinate to the Father and Son but they are all equal. Confusing, right? They are equal in essence, so one could not say that One is more powerful than the Other. They just have different roles.
“The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he hath anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor; he hath sent me to heal the brokenhearted, to preach deliverance to the captives, and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised, To preach the acceptable year of the Lord.”- Luke 4:18–19
To know that the Holy Spirit loves us really warms my heart. I have never really thought of the Holy Spirit as One that loves. When I think about it, though, it is extremely evident. The fact that the Holy Spirit brings us to salvation shows how He cares for us. The Holy Spirit is our Counselor, our Guide. He speaks to and through us and points us in the right directions (that we don’t always follow). According to 1 Corinthians 3:16, the Holy Spirit has made us His dwelling place, and I don’t know about you but that makes me feel pretty special. The way that the Holy Spirit feels about us is not often talked about so it is not always fully realized. Just know that, just like the Father and Son, the Holy Spirit loves us, cares for us, and wants the absolute best for us.
If you want to do more research on these topics, you can read some of the articles that I read. The articles are “The loving Holy Spirit — He loves you dearly!”, “Can We Pray to the Holy Spirit”, “Should We Pray to the Holy Spirit?”, “What Are the Roles of the Father, Son, And Holy Spirit?” and “God in Three Persons: A Doctrine We Barely Understand.” I hope these find you well!
Let’s Pray!
Lord, I come to You today thanking You for the motivation to seek You. Thank you for helping me learn and grow in You more everyday. Thank you for Your love and Your works that are only for my betterment. I pray that you help me continue down this journey of getting to know You and fully appreciating You for who You are. I pray that you give me discernment and help me to know You well enough to know what is and isn’t of You. Be it in Your will, Lord. In Jesus’ name, Amen.
