“…Christ Jesus: Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be used to his own advantage; rather, he made himself nothing by taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness.
And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to death— even death on a cross!
Therefore God exalted him to the highest place and gave him the name that is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue acknowledge that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.” (Philippians 2:5 – 11)
“I will tell of the kindnesses of the LORD, the deeds for which he is to be praised, according to all the LORD has done for us— yes, the many good things he has done for Israel, according to his compassion and many kindnesses.
He said, “Surely they are my people, children who will be true to me”; and so He became their Savior.” (Isa 63:7-8)
”… in Christ all the fullness of the Deity lives in bodily form…” (Colossians 2:9)
He did this to reveal Himself to mankind, and to take up the role of the promised Saviour. Limited by our language, and what humans can perceive, and perhaps for lack of a more illustrative word, God introduced Jesus as his Son. I would like to come to that again a little later again.
The third aspect or facet or ‘component’ is God’s Holy Spirit. By His Spirit God speaks to the hearts and consciences of people. By His Spirit He also leads them (John 16:7 – 15). Evading complicated theological formulations let us simply assume that the one God chose to reveal Himself in the three mentioned ‘personalities’, ‘forms’, or ‘functions’. Knowing our incapacity to comprehend this, He chose to explain Himself in this way, and that is the way we are meant to understand it. Although my formulation may not be sufficient or comprehensive, it expresses in essence what the concept of the trinity of God is all about.
To help you understand, I like you to consider how you would react when I would claim that the Qur’an teaches that God is two in a duality. There is Allah, and there is the Ru Allah.
The name by which God revealed Himself in the Bible is Yahweh Elohim. Yahweh translated means simply ‘Lord’. Elohim stands for God. The ending ‘ . . . im’ always indicates the masculine plural form of a word. To be exact, this word should actually read ‘Gods’. In Deuteronomy 6:4 (given to Moses), we read: “Yahweh (the Lord) Eluhenu (our Gods) Yahweh echad (the Lord is one, or a unity).”
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