Three in One

John 16:12-15 “I have much more to say to you, more than you can now bear. 13 But when he, the Spirit of truth, comes, he will guide you into all truth. He will not speak on his own; he will speak only what he hears, and he will tell you what is yet to come. 14 He will bring glory to me by taking from what is mine and making it known to you. 15 All that belongs to the Father is mine. That is why I said the Spirit will take from what is mine and make it known to you.”
 
SOME people trying to discredit the Bible will ask, “The Bible does not use the word ‘trinity’ to describe God. How, then, can you believe in God as one in three, a Holy Trinity?” Here is one place you can go to answer the question.
   As you read through John, Jesus is continually clear that he is in complete union with the Father. He affirms this again with, “All that belongs to the Father is mine.” He confirms all the words, the miracles and signs the disciples have seen in Jesus are a revelation of the Holy Lord God Almighty.
   Then he confirms, the Holy Spirit, will be as Jesus has been. He will be a Helper to teach and empower the disciples to true knowledge of God, the Father, Son and Spirit. The Spirit will continue the Son’s work to transform the disciples’ thinking and experiences to know the full wonder of Jesus’ life, death, resurrection and ascension. The Good Teacher is preparing his top students for more to come. The Son sends the Spirit to continue the teaching.
   It is as if a good, knowledgeable teacher who has helped his students learn much is leaving his classroom for an administrative job in the school. He affirms to his students that his change in position will bring a new teacher to help them learn more of what he had begun to teach. The students can trust the new teacher as they have trusted him because she is true to the right knowledge. He will bring glory to me by taking from what is mine and making it known to you.
   The Holy Trinity is united to accomplish God’s will on earth as it is in Heaven. Father to Son to Spirit, God is three persons in one mysterious relationship. They are not three gods because they are of the same nature.
   John’s purpose to write this gospel was to focus on Jesus as the divine God. Here is one more way he does so. This was difficult, even impossible for the disciples to understand that day. But they would see the truth of Jesus’ words as they watched the Spirit empower their ministries to transform the world through the gospel.