What does Scripture say about the Holy Trinity?
Leer en españolThe Church confesses one God in three Persons: the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit, one in essence and undivided. The word "Trinity" is not in the Bible, but the faith it names is woven through Scripture: Israel's confession that God is one, and the New Testament's worship of the Father, the Son and the Spirit together. The Creed of Nicaea and Constantinople (325, 381) did not invent this faith; it guarded the way the Church had always baptized and prayed.
God is one
Christian faith in the Trinity is not a step away from Israel's monotheism. Jesus Himself repeats the Shema, and Paul places the one Lord Jesus Christ inside the Shema's own confession of one God.
4 Hear, O Israel, The Lord our God is one Lord. 5 And thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy mind, and with all thy soul, and all thy strength.5 For I am the Lord God, and there is no other God beside me; I strengthened thee, and thou hast not known me. 6 That they that [come] from the east and they that [come] from the west may know that there is no God but me. I am the Lord God, and there is none beside.6 Thus saith God the King of Israel, and the God of hosts that delivered him; I am the first, and I am hereafter: beside me there is no God.29 Jesus answered, “The greatest is: ‘Hear, Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is one. 30 You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, and with all your strength.’ This is the first commandment.4 Therefore concerning the eating of things sacrificed to idols, we know that no idol is anything in the world, and that there is no other God but one. 5 For though there are things that are called “gods”, whether in the heavens or on earth—as there are many “gods” and many “lords”— 6 yet to us there is one God, the Father, of whom are all things, and we for him; and one Lord, Jesus Christ, through whom are all things, and we live through him.Father, Son and Spirit named together
Baptism is into the one "name" (singular) of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. The apostles' blessings and greetings place the three side by side as the one source of grace.
19 Go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit,16 Jesus, when he was baptized, went up directly from the water: and behold, the heavens were opened to him. He saw the Spirit of God descending as a dove, and coming on him. 17 Behold, a voice out of the heavens said, “This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased.”14 The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, God’s love, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all. Amen.2 according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, in sanctification of the Spirit, that you may obey Jesus Christ and be sprinkled with his blood: Grace to you and peace be multiplied.4 There is one body and one Spirit, even as you also were called in one hope of your calling, 5 one Lord, one faith, one baptism, 6 one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in us all.4 Now there are various kinds of gifts, but the same Spirit. 5 There are various kinds of service, and the same Lord. 6 There are various kinds of workings, but the same God who works all things in all.The Son and the Spirit are not creatures
The Word was with God and was God, and all things were made through Him. Lying to the Holy Spirit is lying to God, and the Spirit searches the depths of God as only God can.
1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2 The same was in the beginning with God. 3 All things were made through him. Without him, nothing was made that has been made.30 I and the Father are one.”16 I will pray to the Father, and he will give you another Counselor, that he may be with you forever: 17 the Spirit of truth, whom the world can’t receive, for it doesn’t see him and doesn’t know him. You know him, for he lives with you and will be in you.26 “When the Counselor has come, whom I will send to you from the Father, the Spirit of truth, who proceeds from the Father, he will testify about me.3 But Peter said, “Ananias, why has Satan filled your heart to lie to the Holy Spirit and to keep back part of the price of the land? 4 While you kept it, didn’t it remain your own? After it was sold, wasn’t it in your power? How is it that you have conceived this thing in your heart? You haven’t lied to men, but to God.”10 But to us, God revealed them through the Spirit. For the Spirit searches all things, yes, the deep things of God. 11 For who among men knows the things of a man except the spirit of the man which is in him? Even so, no one knows the things of God except God’s Spirit.Old Testament anticipations
Many Fathers read these texts in the light of Christ: the "Let us" of creation, the Word and Breath of the Lord, the threefold "Holy". At Mamre the text says the Lord appeared and three men stood before Abraham; some Fathers saw a sign of the Trinity there, others an appearance of the Word with two angels. These are readings in faith, not stand-alone proofs.
26 And God said, Let us make man according to our image and likeness, and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the flying creatures of heaven, and over the cattle and all the earth, and over all the reptiles that creep on the earth.1 And God appeared to him by the oak of Mambre, as he sat by the door of his tent at noon. 2 And he lifted up his eyes and beheld, and lo! three men stood before him; and having seen them he ran to meet them from the door of his tent, and did obeisance to the ground. 3 And he said, Lord, if indeed I have found grace in thy sight, pass not by thy servant.6 By the word of the Lord the heavens were established; and all the host of them by the breath of his [mouth].3 And one cried to the other, and they said, Holy, holy, holy, [is the] Lord of hosts: the whole earth is full of his glory.16 Draw nigh to me, and hear ye these words; I have not spoken in secret from the beginning: when it took place, there was I, and now the Lord, [even] the Lord, and his Spirit, hath sent me.A text the Church does not need
Some older printed Bibles (such as the King James Version) add words to 1 John 5:7-8 about "the Father, the Word, and the Holy Ghost". These words are missing from all but a few late Greek manuscripts, and the Church's faith in the Trinity was confessed for centuries without them.
6 This is he who came by water and blood, Jesus Christ; not with the water only, but with the water and the blood. It is the Spirit who testifies, because the Spirit is the truth. 7 For there are three who testify: 8 the Spirit, the water, and the blood; and the three agree as one.The Fathers
- The Didache, The Teaching of the Twelve Apostles (Didache), Didache 7
But if you have not either, pour out water thrice upon the head into the name of Father and Son and Holy Spirit.
- Gregory of Nazianzus, Fifth Theological Oration (Oration 31), Oration 31.3
Was and Was and Was, but Was One Thing. Light thrice repeated; but One Light and One God.
- Gregory of Nazianzus, Oration 40 (On Holy Baptism), Oration 40.41
No sooner do I conceive of the One than I am illumined by the Splendour of the Three; no sooner do I distinguish Them than I am carried back to the One.
Related articles
Sources
- The Orthodox Faith, Vol. I: The Doctrine of the Holy Trinity (Orthodox Church in America) — Orthodox catechetical presentation of the doctrine of the Trinity.
Updated 2026-10-18