Matthew 28:19 speaks clearly of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. However, if you read this verse carefully, you will see that the Three have just one name. It says, “Baptizing them into the name [not names] of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.” There are Three with one name. This is the Triune God, the Trinity. How can we explain this? We cannot.
Andrew Murray in The Spirit of Christ says, “In the Father we have the unseen God, the Author of all. In the Son of God revealed, made manifest, and brought nigh; He is the Form of God. In the Spirit of God we have the indwelling God: the Power of God dwelling in human body and working in it what the Father and the Son have for us....what the Father has purposed, and the Son has procured, can be appropriated and take effect in the body of Christ only through the continual intervention and active operation of the Holy Spirit.”
Undoubtedly the Father is God. In various places the New Testament speaks of God the Father. See, for example, 1 Peter 1:2 and Ephesians 1:17.
The Son also is God. Hebrews 1:8 says, “But of the Son, Your throne, O God....” Here the Son is addressed as God. John 1:1 says, “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.” The Word certainly is Christ, the Son. Since the Word is God, the Son also is God. Furthermore, Romans 9:5 says, “Christ...who is over all, God blessed forever.” I like this verse. Christ the Son is not only God; He is God over all.
In Acts 5:3-4 we see that the Spirit is God. In verse 3 Peter told Ananias that he had lied to the Holy Spirit, and in the next verse that he had lied to God. These verses equate the Holy Spirit with God.
The Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit are God. How many Gods do we have? We have one. How can the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit all be God and yet there be only one God? The only answer I can give is, “I do not know.”
Some of the rumors and accusations claim that we do not believe that the Father, Son, and Spirit are eternal. I do not know where the critics and accusers get such a thought. We want to declare to all that, in accordance with the Bible, we believe that the Father is eternal, the Son is eternal, and the Spirit also is eternal. We believe this and declare it because the Bible tells us so.
Isaiah 9:6 has the term the “everlasting Father.” The literal translation of the Hebrew phrase here is “Father of eternity” or “eternal Father.” Hence, the Father is eternal.
The Son also is eternal. Hebrews 1:12 says of the Son, “You are the same, and Your years will not fail.” Hebrews 7:3 says that He has no beginning of days nor end of life, meaning that He is eternal. Eternal is that which has no beginning or ending. This is why a circle rather than a straight line is a sign of the eternal God. He has no beginning and no ending.
The Spirit also is eternal, for Hebrews 9:14 speaks of “the eternal Spirit.” Therefore, let everyone know that in accordance with the Bible, we declare that all Three, the Father, the Son, and the Spirit, are eternal.
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