The Trinity is a difficult idea for us to grasp. Three entities who are united and yet distinct.  Father…….Son……..Spirit. I doubt that during my temporal/physical life that I will ever fully understand the Trinity. 

The best tool that I can come up with is to consider the Trinity to be three faces of one entity. In practice, we relate to the Trinity by interacting with one of these faces: sometimes the Father, sometimes the Son, and sometimes the Spirit……but always the Trinity.

In the Old Testament, we are repeatedly told to “fear God”…….that is to fear the Father. We are never told to fear the Son. We are never told to fear the Spirit. Many teachers of Christianity tell us that this usage of the word fear really means to honor and respect God, the Father. Call me a literalist…….but I believe that fear means fear. The key to understanding the idea of fearing the Father hinges on the face of the Trinity that the Father represents.  The post this week is my attempt to understand the three faces of the Trinity…….the Godhead.

Each face of the Trinity embodies the entirety of the Godhead. But, each face of the Trinity also emphasizes one facet of the Trinity.

The Father represents justice. He is the repository of everything that is right. There is no wrongness in the Father. Anything that is wrong is cast away from the Father. But, in my daily walk, I am wrong. Every day, over and over, I think and do things that are unrighteous. Every day, I try……and fail to meet the Father’s standards of righteousness. My unrighteousness separates me from the Father. This is the very definition of sin. The Father’s justice requires my separation from his righteousness. So…..do I fear the Father? Absolutely. I fear the separation that my sin creates between me and the Father’s justice. If the Father and his justice were the only face of the Trinity, my death would be terrifying. 

But, then, there is the Son…..Jesus.

Jesus is the face of the Trinity that represents mercy. At the cross, Jesus suffered to pay the price for my sin…….your’s too. This act is his gift to mankind. This voluntary act erases the separation from the Trinity that our sin has created…….at least for those who recognize and accept it. This rapproachment is summarized by the encounter between Jesus and an adulterous woman whom he had just rescued from justice by stoning.


Jesus stood up and said to her, “Woman, where are they? Has no one condemned you?”  She said, “No one, Lord.” And Jesus said, “Neither do I condemn you; go, and from now on sin no more.”

John 8:10-11, ESV 


Jesus paid a horrible price to purchase for us the most valuable gift we will ever receive. This act is the very definition of mercy.

And finally, the Spirit, arguably the most difficult face of the Trinity to get a handle on.

For those of us who accept it, the Spirit lives inside of us. The Spirit is the repository of the knowledge of good and evil. It is the source of wisdom to navigate between good and evil. It is our connection with the justice, the mercy, and the love that is the Trinity. For those of us who have accepted the divinity of Jesus and the Father, we experience the wisdom and knowledge of the Spirit. We may not always act on that wisdom and knowledge.  But, we know it. For those of us who do not accept the divinity of Jesus and the Father……is it any wonder that you lack the wisdom and knowledge of the Spirit? Is it any wonder that you fill that void with your own limited wisdom and knowledge……..wisdom and knowledge that is heavily contaminated by your appetites? In our daily life, the wisdom and knowledge of the Spirit is essential to our success……..indeed to our survival. 

Each face of the Trinity is essential.  Together, they constitute a whole.  You cannot understand Christianity until you deal with all three. 


according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, in the sanctification of the Spirit, for obedience to Jesus Christ and for sprinkling with his blood:

May grace and peace be multiplied to you.

1 Peter 1:2, ESV