Understanding The Trinity

 The doctrine of the Trinity is very important and foundational to Christianity, but many people do not understand it.  God is totally unique so he cannot be compared to anything else.  

Christian apologist James R. White provides the following definition of the Trinity in his book The Forgotten Trinity, "Within the one Being that is God, there exists eternally three coequal and co-eternal persons, namely, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit."  

There is one God that exists in three persons.  There are not three Gods, there is one God.  The Trinity is not composed of one person, it is composed of three persons.    Each person of the Trinity is distinct while having the same divine nature.  The Father is not the Son, and the Son is not the Holy Spirit.  The members of the Trinity have different roles but the same unified purpose.  

Each person of the Trinity has always existed, none of them were created.  All three members of the Trinity are also equal.  One person of the Trinity is not less God than another person of the Trinity.  The persons of the Trinity are not parts of God.  Each person of the Trinity is fully and completely God.  

While the term "Trinity" is not found in the Bible it is plainly and clearly taught.  The doctrine of the Trinity is also not a contradiction.  If we were saying there are three persons and one person or one essence and three essences that would be a contradiction.  There are three persons of one essence or being.