Saint Augustine of Hippo said, "if you can understand it, it's not God. He was rightly pointing out that no human mind can fully comprehend God. Yet, Christians are called to attempt to understand God in order that we can proclaim Him as He really is in the Bible.

The term Holy Trinity is not found in the Bible. It was coined by as a North African Christian named Tertullian. it was an attempt to understand all that had happened because of the life, death and resurrection of Jesus of Nazareth, the Christ. The teaching of the Holy Trinity came about because it was the only way Christians could adequately account for the biblical revelation of God. The phrase "Father, Son and Holy Spirit" appears in the Gospels and in the earliest records of baptismal services. The teaching of the Trinity has been Christian teaching from the time of the Apostles.

The Bible teaches that there is one God (Not three) and that this God has revealed Himself as three distinct persons (Hypostasis), Father, Son and Holy Spirit. Three persons in one ousia (essence)

That the divine being, stretches our understanding, our intellect and our imagination to its limits and beyond should not surprise us. The following painting illustrates the Holy Trinity.

This painting is a beautiful image of the trinity. Unlike many other paintings it is not hierarchical , but all three persons are equal, and there is room at the table for us. The message of Christianity is that a follower of Christ has access to God the Father, through the name of God the Son who gave Himself for our redemption, and that we experience the reality of God through the presence of God the Holy Spirit who dwells within a believer and connects us to the spiritual dimension of life and bathes us in the illumination of God's truth.

The Father is the God of the Old Testament who created heaven end earth (Genesis 1:1). Sometimes He seems very distant. He is Yahweh - "I am who I am" (Exodus 3:14). Christian were invited by Jesus to call address God as "Our Father" (Matthew 6:9).

You cannot see the Father. He does not have a material body like a human being. However, in the Old Testament, people wrote about seeing the glory of God : "Now the appearance of the glory of the Lord was like a devouring fire on the top of the mountain in the sight of Israel." (Exodus 24:17). No one has seen the Father, except Jesus Christ (John 6:46). He is not an old man with a beard as some people think.You cannot paint a picture to show what He looks like, only to try to visualize wonderful spiritual realities and truths.

Jesus of Nazareth existed with the Father before the foundation of the world (John 17:24). He was and is the eternal Word of God (John 1:1). Jesus became a human being, the word became flesh.

Throughout the Old Testament there are prophecies about the Messiah, the Anointed one, who would come from God to save the people. Jesus Christ fulfilled all these prophecies. His birth was foretold. His type of leadership was described in the Book of Isaiah. Even His Crucifixion was described in Psalm 22.

Jesus set aside His glory to become a man. He was born as the child of a devout Jewish woman. He became a great teacher and healer, but He remained humble and accepted death on the Cross. Then He rose from the dead, triumphing over death and evil. He returned to the Father, taking our human nature through into heaven.

God the Holy Spirit was at work with the Father in Creation. He teaches people about God. He spoke of God through the Prophets and through the Scriptures. He came to Mary and she conceived Jesus Christ so that God was revealed to us as a human being.

The prophets promised God would pour out His Spirit on the Messiah. This took place at Christ's baptism, when the Spirit descended on Him. The Spirit came down on the Disciples at Pentecost. All Christians receive the Holy Spirit at conversion. Often, at their baptism when they are anointed with holy oil and the ministering priest (This is a Baptist Church, we believe in the priesthood of all believers) lays his or her hands on them they can have a powerful experience of the Holy Spirit.

The Trinity is a community of love, with three persons working together. The Father sent the Son; the Spirit proceeds from the Father. The Spirit is sent to lead us to the Son. The Son sends the Spirit to show us the truth. The Son's mission on earth is to open the way for us into the Kingdom, and He still pleads for us at the Father's right hand. The life of the Trinity is sometimes a hidden mystery, but it is always a life of harmony, unity and love. We are created in the image and likeness of God. We are designed to cooperate in harmony and love. The persons of the Trinity do not hurt one another, nor do they cut themselves off from one another. If we do these things, we are fighting against our true nature. We are social beings. We belong with each other, and we belong within the community of the Trinity. We join the Holy Trinity through conversion manifested by water baptism, and through prayer and the life of the Christian Church.

The Trinity is a community of Persons, eternally bound together in perfect understanding and love. As adopted children of the Father, co-heirs with Christ, filled with the Spirit of the Son, the Christian is caught up in the divine life of the Perfect Community.

The life of God — the life of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit — is at the heart of the Church's life and teaching. Jesus confirmed our belief that God is not unmoved or unconcerned by humanity and that he loves us deeply. Jesus Christ told us that he was wholly one with the Father and that he sends his Holy Spirit to unite us with God.

We refer to the doctrine of the Holy Trinity as a "mystery". The "mystery" of the Trinity is not primarily to do with how the one God exists in three persons. The "mystery" of the Trinity is primarily about relationships, the perfect relationship between the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit.