A Layman’s Thoughts…

On the Eternity of the Trinity

Number 2                                                                                                                                                  20-December-2001

 I was recently asked whether the Trinity was eternal.

 Let me begin this issue with two foundational Scriptures that point us in the proper direction.

 John 1:1-3 and 14

 ¹In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. ²He was with God in the beginning.   ³Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made. 

¹⁴The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the One and Only*, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth.

* or the Only Begotten

Genesis 1: 1-2 and 26

¹In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. ²Now the earth was formless and empty, darkness was over the surface of the deep, and the Spirit of God was hovering over the waters.

²⁶Then God said, “Let us make man in our image, in our likeness, and let them rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air, over the livestock, over all the earth, and over all the creatures that move along the ground.”

In the passage from John we see that the Word was in the beginning, was with God, and was God.  Following this we are told that the Word became flesh and made His dwelling among us.

In Genesis we read of God creating the heavens and the earth, of the Spirit of God hovering over the waters.  Then in verse 26 a surprising thing happens.  The account switches to the plural!  “Let us make man in our image, in our likeness.”

So we see that the Word is the God-man Jesus who came to earth and that through Him was created everything that was made.  In the creation account we find God about the business of making.  The Spirit of God is present in the account, and when humankind is to be created, God refers to His image as “our image” and “our likeness.”

The Nicene Creed follows this logic.

I believe in one God, the Father Almighty, Maker of heaven and earth, and of all things visible and invisible. And in one Lord Jesus Christ, the only-begotten Son of God, begotten of the Father before all worlds; God of God, Light of Light, very God of very God; begotten, not made, being of one substance with the Father, by whom all things were made.

Who, for us men and for our salvation, came down from heaven, and was incarnate by the Holy Spirit of the virgin Mary, and was made man; and was crucified also for us under Pontius Pilate; He suffered and was buried; and the third day He rose again, according to the Scriptures; and ascended into heaven, and sitteth on the right hand of the Father; and He shall come again, with glory, to judge the living and the dead, whose kingdom shall have no end.

And I believe in the Holy Spirit, the Lord and Giver of life; who proceedeth from the Father and the Son; who with the Father and the Son together is worshipped and glorified; who spake by the prophets.

And I believe one holy catholic and apostolic Church. I acknowledge one baptism for the remission of sins; and I look for the resurrection of the dead, and the life of the world to come. Amen. 

It is important to remember also that there is one God, yet three persons.  Scripture tells us that God does not change (Malachi 3:6, Hebrews 13:8).  Therefore, if the Trinity exists today, it has always existed.  In John 17, verse 5 we see Jesus praying to God the Father, “And now, Father, glorify me in your presence with the glory I had with you before the world began.”

 While there are other passages in Scripture that point to the eternal nature of the Trinity, this short discussion speaks clearly and is sufficient to show that the Trinity—God—is indeed eternal.