In the New Testament
In the New Testament, of course, the triunity of God is taught from Matthew to Revelation. Matthew 3:16 says, "When He had been baptized, [Jesus] came up immediately from the water, and behold, the heavens were opened to Him, and He saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and alighting upon Him."
While Jesus was being baptized and the Spirit of God descended upon Him like a dove, a voice from heaven said, "This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased."
Jesus was baptized, the Spirit descended, and the Father spoke from heaven. All three members of the Godhead are clearly at work here.
In John 14:16,17, Jesus said, 'And I will pray the Father, and He will give you another Helper, that He may abide with you forever, even the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees Him nor knows Him; but you know Him, for He dwells with you and will be in you."
At the request of Jesus, the Holy Spirit was to be sent from God.
This same promise is repeated in John 14:26: "But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in My name..."
Note again, all three members of the Godhead are clearly present.
When Jesus commissioned His disciples to go and teach all nations, He told them to baptize new converts "in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit" (Matthew 28:19).
Notice that they were to baptize these new disciples in "the name" (singular) of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Again, all
three are included.
When Peter spoke in Acts 10 to the group that had gathered at the house of Cornelius, he declared "how God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and with power" (verse 38).
Note once more, all three are mentioned.
In his letter to the Ephesians, Paul said, "There is one body and one Spirit, just as you were called in one hope of your calling; one Lord, one faith, one baptism; one God and Father of all, who is above all, and through all, and in you all"
(Ephesians 4:4-6).
Once more the Trinity is being proclaimed: one Spirit, one
Lord, one God.
One times one times one equals one.
It's interesting that in passages such as those just cited the Spirit usually is mentioned third, behind the Father and the Son.
This explains why He is commonly referred to as the third Person of the Trinity. But in case anyone might be tempted to think that this practice implies inferiority, in the Ephesians
passage the normal order is reversed.
The Spirit is mentioned first, Jesus second, and God the Father third.
In a similar way, Paul in Romans 15:30 said, "Now I beg you, brethren, through the Lord Jesus Christ, and through the love of the Spirit, that you strive together with me in your prayers to God for me."
Here we see the three members of the Trinity once more, but this time Jesus is mentioned first, the Holy Spirit is
second, and the Father is third.
Allow me to give one more example proving that order of mention has nothing to do with superiority or inferiority.
In Paul's benediction to Second Corinthians, the
apostle writes, "The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the communion of the Holy Spirit be with you all. Amen" (13:14).
Here he mentions Christ first, God the Father second, and the Holy Spirit third. The order is irrelevant.
The weight of evidence allows us to say with confidence that the New Testament teaches one God, manifested in three coequal Persons.
The Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit are one, yet are distinct and separate.
This means that the Spirit is every bit as divine as the Father and the Son.
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