Understanding the Trinity: The God You Can Know
Orientation
You're tired from the mental gymnastics of trying to fit an infinite God into the tiny box of human logic, caught between 'three Persons' and 'one God.'
- This tension is not a sign of weak faith, but of a heart that wants to know God truly.
- God is not a puzzle for you to solve, but a Person to know.
- He has made Himself perfectly knowable in His Son, Jesus Christ.
Who is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of every creature: (Colossians 1:15)
— Colossians 1:15
Clarification
Confusion often comes from leaning into one of two errors: dividing God into three separate beings or collapsing Him into one person wearing different masks.
- Tritheism pictures three separate gods, like a divine committee, and misses their eternal unity.
- Modalism says God is one person playing different roles, which breaks the scripture showing the Son praying to the Father.
- Both are distortions of the scriptural reality.
Believest thou not that I am in the Father, and the Father in me? the words that I speak unto you I speak not of myself: but the Father that dwelleth in me, he doeth the works. (John 14:10)
— John 14:10
Structure
The scriptural reality of the Trinity is captured in the co-existence and co-inherence of the Father, Son, and Spirit.
- Co-existence: The three are distinct, eternal Persons who have always existed together.
- Co-inherence: They mutually indwell one another in perfect, inseparable union; the Father is in the Son and the Son in the Father.
- The Son is the perfect expression and revelation of the Father; to see Jesus is to see what God is like.
Who being the brightness of his glory, and the express image of his person, and upholding all things by the word of his power, when he had by himself purged our sins, sat down on the right hand of the Majesty on high; (Hebrews 1:3)
— Hebrews 1:3
Weight-Bearing Prose
The core theological assertion is that Jesus Christ is the perfect expression and revelation of God. In Him dwells all the fullness of the Godhead bodily (Colossians 2:9). This is not a later development but the eternal reality: the Son is ‘the image of the invisible God’ (Colossians 1:15). The Father, Son, and Holy Spirit exist as a unity—they cannot be separated and never have been. They co-inhere and coexist. This refutes both tritheism (three separate beings) and modalism (one being in different modes). Every work of God in scripture is done by the Father, through the Son, and by the Spirit. They are distinct Persons in one inseparable essence. Our assurance is not built on perfectly parsing this mystery, but on believing God’s record concerning His Son—that Christ died for our sins and rose again (1 Corinthians 15:3-4). The natural man is justified by believing this. The regenerated believer comes to know Christ as the Son of God, God Himself in the flesh. This knowledge is by revelation from the Father (Matthew 16:17), but it flows from the same simple gospel message.
Integration
Find your rest here. Your assurance doesn’t come from perfectly understanding a theological concept but from believing what God has revealed about His Son. When you pray to the Father in Jesus’ name, you are participating in the very relationship within the Trinity itself. You don’t need to figure out all the mechanics. Christianity is about knowing a Person, not checking doctrinal boxes. When confusion hits, return to simply looking at Jesus in Scripture. Rest in what you know for sure: Christ died for our sins and rose again. You are safe in His family even when your understanding feels incomplete. He is your righteousness, your sanctification, your redemption. He is enough. Know that growing in the knowledge of Christ happens over time. It’s okay not to have everything figured out today. The most important thing is knowing the One who loved you enough to become man, shed His blood for you, and rise again. That truth is enough to rest your soul upon.