According to the Bible, God is one eternal God who exists as three persons: the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Each is fully God, equally powerful, wise, and good, yet there is only one God. This truth, called the Trinity, shows us that God has always lived in perfect, loving relationship, and that all three persons work together to bring us back to him.
One God in Three Persons
The Bible is clear from beginning to end that there is only one true God. Israel’s most important confession of faith, recited daily for centuries, begins with this foundational truth.
Deuteronomy 6:4 Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God, the LORD is one.
Yet as the story of Scripture unfolds, we meet the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, each spoken of as God. Jesus forgives sins and accepts worship. The Spirit is called God and does what only God can do. The Bible holds these truths together: one God, three distinct persons. They aren’t three gods, and they aren’t one person wearing three masks. If you want to dig deeper into how this fits together, check out What Is the Trinity and Is It Biblical?
God Has Existed in Relationship for All Eternity
The three persons of the Trinity didn’t begin at some point in history. They have always existed. The Father has always been Father to the Son, the Son has always been Son to the Father, and both have always been united with the Spirit. John opens his Gospel by taking us back before creation itself.
John 1:1-2 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was with God in the beginning.
“The Word” is Jesus (John 1:14). Notice that he was both “with God” and “was God.” That’s the Trinity in a single sentence: distinct persons sharing one divine nature. Before there was a universe, there was already a relationship within God.
God Is a Being of Ultimate Love
This eternal relationship tells us something wonderful about who God is. Love is at the root of everything, because before anything else existed, God existed in a loving relationship.
1 John 4:16 And so we know and rely on the love God has for us. God is love. Whoever lives in love lives in God, and God in them.
To say “God is love” only makes full sense if God is more than one person. Love needs someone to love. If God were a single, solitary person, he couldn’t truly be a God of love until he created someone. But the Father, Son, and Spirit have loved one another from eternity. God didn’t create us because he was lonely; he created us to share the love he has always enjoyed.
Father, Son, and Spirit Work Together to Save Us
The three persons of the Trinity work together in everything God does, including rescuing us from sin. Each has a different role, yet they act as one. The Father sends the Son into the world, the Son gives his life on the cross and rises again, and the Spirit brings us new life.
Titus 3:4-7 But when the kindness and love of God our Savior appeared, he saved us, not because of righteous things we had done, but because of his mercy. He saved us through the washing of rebirth and renewal by the Holy Spirit, whom he poured out on us generously through Jesus Christ our Savior, so that, having been justified by his grace, we might become heirs having the hope of eternal life.
Salvation is the work of the whole Trinity, and it comes by grace, not by anything we do. Jesus is the way back to the Father, and the Holy Spirit is the power to get there. If you’d like to learn more about putting your faith in Jesus, check out How can I become a Christian?
The Takeaway
Who is God? He is one God in three persons, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, who have existed together in perfect love for all eternity. That love overflowed in creation and in our salvation. God isn’t distant or lonely; he invites you into the relationship he has always enjoyed.
