I am not a big fan of describing God the Father, Son, and Spirit as “the Trinity.” The word is unknown to Scripture and so are many of the theories to describe the nature of God. I think most doctrines on “the Trinity” are speculative and fall far short. We are trying to describe the divine. Deuteronomy 6:10 says, “Hear, O Israel, the LORD our God, the LORD is one.” Anything else I believe or think must conform to that passage. The way I like to think of it is this way, “Where the Father is, the Son is. Where the Son is, the Spirit is. Where the Spirit is, the Father is.”
With that in mind, John 16:12-15 is one of the best illustrations of God the Father, Son, and Spirit. Jesus declares this reality beginning in John 14:16-17. Jesus will ask the Father and the Father will send the Helper/Spirit of truth.
Jesus is dealing with the authority he is bestowing on the apostles to teach and preach in God’s name. Almost incidentally, he is also laying out an example of how the divine being operates as three being one. What the apostles taught (and still teach through the word), is God speaking through the Son by inspiration of the apostles by the Spirit.
When we read the God breathed teaching of the apostles, all the verses are “red-letter verses” because they are literally the words of God, given to the Son, and sent into the apostles by the Holy Spirit.
The apostles were taught all truth by the Spirit. They were eye-witnesses to Jesus teaching and were given exact memory of the one who has the words of life. Can we leave part of the New Testament behind? Can we, like Thomas Jefferson, cut out the miracles of Jesus but keep the red letters.
Brothers and sisters, you can’t do that because it was Jesus who gave that teaching to the apostles. To reject one word of the New Testament is to deny the authority of Jesus himself.
“When the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all the truth, for he will not speak on his own authority, but whatever he hears he will speak, and he will declare to you the things that are to come. He will glorify me, for he will take what is mine and declare it to you. All that the Father has is mine; therefore I said that he will take what is mine and declare it to you.”-John 16:13-15
Praise him Father, Son, and Holy Spirit!
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