The Trinity in the Bible: How to Understand God's Perfect Relationship within Himself

The Apostle Matthew in Matthew 28:19 wrote, "Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit." This is known as the "baptismal formulae". The Trinity is clearly present here.

The Ontological Trinity refers to eminent, eternal distinctions and relations between persons of the Trinity without reference to the created order. It involves distinctions based on the individual properties of the persons. Properties being those eternal and incommunicable attributes that are distinct to each person, so the Father has the property of paternity, the Son has the property of the Sonship, and the Holy Spirit has the property of procession. These are properties within the Trinity that are not interchangeable. The Father is God, the Son is God, and the Holy Spirit is God, but it is God the Father who begets and sends, but He is neither begotten nor proceeds. It is God the Son who is begotten, but he neither begets nor proceeds. The Holy Spirit proceeds, but is neither begotten, nor begets, nor does He send.

The Economic Trinity on the other hand refers to the intertrinitarian distinctions based on the relations that God sustains to creation, especially in reference to redemption. God the Father is 1st, Jesus is 2nd, and the Holy Spirit is 3rd. The Trinity is therefore made up of God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit, and these three are One.

The Eternal Generation of the Son must be understood to properly understand the unity of the Trinity. The positive aspect of this truth is it asserts that the act of generation or affiliation is necessary. For if such an existence or substance was dependant on the free will of God, then the Son would not be co-eternal with the Father. This teaches an eternal relation. The Son had no beginning and no end. For Scripture references, see Micah 5:2, John 17:5,24, Colossians 1:17, and Hebrews 1:10

It must be noted here that the eternal generation of the Son does not imply inferiority of rank (John 1:1). It also does not imply that Sonship began at birth or by virtue of His creation, or by virtue of His resurrection (Luke 1:25, Colossians 1:15, Hebrews 1:6, Romans 1:4, Acts 13:23, 33). It furthermore does not imply action that occurred in eternity, but rather refers to the continual, necessary self-expression of the Father in relation to the Son. This then points to the fact that the Son is His own source of divinity.

In Like manner, the Holy Spirit eternally proceeds from God the Father and God the Son. This asserts a necessary relation between the Father, Son, and Spirit. It points to the Spirit being His own source of divinity. Furthermore, the Spirit proceeds from the Father (John 14:16, John 3:34, Romans 8:14, Galatians 4:6). Finally, the Spirit also proceeds from the Son (John 15:26, Galatians 4:6, Romans 8:9, John 20:22). The Holy Trinity is thus in perfect unity from before time began, to in the present, and will be when time ends.