and posted in Q&A Corner
Christians coined the term trinity as they sought to explain their experiences of God (and this very question) to others. This word trinity seeks to explain how God has revealed himself as Father, Son and Holy Spirit.
The experiences of the early Christians of the resurrected Jesus led them to believe Jesus was God in the flesh and they began to worship him as divine. These same people then experienced the outpouring of the Holy Spirit on the day of Pentecost (Acts 1). They realised that the transformational work and empowerment they felt by the Holy Spirit was God's active presence living and working inside of them.
Stories where all three (Father, Son and Holy Spirit) were active and doing different things at the same time (like that of Jesus' baptism in Matthew 3:16-17) contributed to the belief that Father, Son and Spirit were distinct from one another and not the different faces of the same god. The long held Jewish belief and Jesus' affirmation of the oneness of God contributed to the belief that Father, Son and Spirit did not refer to three separate gods.
The term trinity was created centuries later to explain theologically what Christians had believed since Jesus' ascension into heaven and the day of Pentecost when the Spirit was given to humanity. God is three-in-one or a tri-unity of Father, Son and Holy Spirit.
The idea of the trinity is a confusing thing to get your head around! But faith in the trinitarian God is not about understanding but about love and trust and relationship. And also a huge dollop of mystery!
