For Reading and Meditation:
Mark 1:1-13
Those who accept Scripture's teaching concerning God must be prepared to say that He is not only personal, but that He is a plurality of Persons also - a Trinity. The next aspect of God's character we must examine is His triune nature. The doctrine of the Trinity, that God is One yet three separate Persons, is not easy to understand, but it is clear in Scripture. The term "Trinity" nowhere appears in the Bible (it was first used by Tertullian around AD 210), but its roots are deeply embedded in the Word of God. It is mainly a revelation of the New Testament, but there are glimpses of the truth to be seen in the Old Testament also. "Let us make man in our image" (Genesis 1:26). To whom was God speaking at this stage? Some say the angels, but nowhere in Scripture are angels seen as being involved in the act of creation or as being on the same level as God. Read Colossians 1:16 and it will become clear to whom God was speaking. "Man has now become like one of us" (Genesis 3:22). In Isaiah 6:8 God says: "Whom shall I send? And who will go for us?" "Go to the Jordan," wrote Augustine, "and you find the Trinity. There at the baptism of Jesus the three Persons in the Godhead are simultaneously in evidence. The Father is heard speaking directly from heaven, the Son is seen being immersed in the river, and John the Baptist beholds the Spirit descending upon the Christ." Three in One and One in Three. On this truth we must stand, even though we may not fully understand.
Blessed Trinity, Three in One and One in Three, I worship You this day in spirit and in truth. My spirit joins with Your Spirit, and Your truth, though sometimes darkness to my intellect, is nevertheless sunshine to my heart. Amen.