The concept of the Holy Trinity is fundamental to Christianity and has given rise to a host of obfuscation by both Christians and non-Christians a like. The Christian tradition speaks of God as a Trinity. We all talk about their being one God consisting of three persons. I choose my words carefully, because the concept of the Trinity quickly becomes complicated. Many theologians have applied the concept of the Holy Trinity to certain aspects of the world, such as water taking three different forms—solid, liquid and vapor. In order to narrow this obfuscation to my own bewilderment, the following will outline, to the best of my abilities, my understanding of the Holy Trinity.

My understanding the Trinity takes the following. There is one God that that consists of three persons: God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit. The Son and the Holy Spirit are derived from the Father, both of which are equal to the Father. My understanding of these three divine heads is made by my understanding of a person. Traditionally, a person never consisted of merely being part of the species homo sapien. It is a Latin term used to express a rational substance. In Christianity theology, a person constitutes a being made in the image of God. The term was later adopted by Christian theologians to express the Holy Trinity as three persons in one God. In short: My understanding of the Holy Trinity is made analogous to patient with multiple personalities that occupy a single body.

The Son and the Spirit are derived from God the Father. The doctrine states that they derive necessary from the Father, meaning it is non-voluntary act. Rather, it follows from God the Father’s essence that he will do so. If God sees that something is the best thing to do he, being not subject to temptations, will do it. A God that is perfectly good and generous would want to derive a being to share himself with. If God didn’t do so, he would either be envious or weak. God’s perfect goodness requires him to want to share himself with someone else; hence follows the second person of the trinity, given the traditional name of the Son. Yet only two people can be selfish. Two people can be so invested with each other that they have no interest in producing or taking care of children. Therefore, the cooperation of two perfect being would surely want to share infinite goodness with yet another being; hence follows the third person of the trinity, the Sprit.

Nowhere in the Bible does it explicitly state that God is a Trinity. Nevertheless, there are a variety of terms peddled by Christians that aren’t directly found in the Bible. In fact, nowhere in the Bible does it refer to itself as the Bible; but this does not mean the Bible does not exist! Of course, nowhere does the Bible explicitly state that God is a Trinity; however, there are many versus that strongly imply that God is a Trinity.

The concept of the Trinity is made most apparent in the New Testament, where God is expressed as the Father, embodied in his son Jesus and manifest in the Holy Spirit. There are a variety of versus that paint a picture of the Trinity. These include Matthew 28:9, when Christians are instructed to baptize nations in the name of the Father, Son and the Holy Spirit. Other versus include 1 Peter 1:1-2, which speaks of Father’s foreknowledge, the sanctification of the spirit, and the blood of Jesus. Yet this merely touches the tip of the iceberg. Although God is a being consisting of three persons is not made apparent in the Old Testament, there are host of versus in the New Testament that make reference to God as a Trinity, from Romans to Titus to Thessalonians.

Some people have objected to the Holy Trinity on the grounds that one plus one plus one does not equal one. The problem is that the analogy between God and mathematics is a false dichotomy. Mathematics is a conceptual tool used to refer to the number or quantity of objects in the physical world. The problem is that God is not a physical being. The Father, the son and the Holy Spirit are unified in a way that material objects cannot be. God is an infinite being that cannot be represented in the physical world. In fact, when infinites are applied to the physical world, paradoxes quickly arise. Thus, it is in consideration of these points in which I best understand the Holy Trinity.