¹⁶ “I will ask the Father, and He will give you another Helper, that He may be with you forever …”

Ever wonder what the Trinity members say to one another, this mysterious one God who exists in three persons? If you find that unfathomable to contemplate, you are in good company with great thinkers through the centuries since Jesus lived on this planet. We must be clear that we are not blindly trying to cover over a contradiction with theological nonsense, as some would think. The doctrine of the Trinity does not teach that there is one God, yet three Gods. That would be contradiction. Nor does it say that there is one divine person, yet three divine persons. Rightly understood, the Trinity is the belief that there is one and only one God, who exists in three persons, the Father, Son and Holy Spirit. Why do we believe that?

It is true, the actual word “Trinity” does not occur in the Bible. Of course, neither do many other terms we use to summarize theological concepts, like Christology (the study of Christ), Pneumatology (the study of the Holy Spirit), etc. They are simply convenient labels for identifying concepts that are biblical.

In the case of the Trinity, we see that Scripture portrays Jesus as fully divine (see John 1:1, Col 1:29, 2:9, Heb 1:3). He did the kinds of things that only God can or should do (e.g. He forgave sins, Luke 5:21, used the name of God for Himself, John 8:58, accepted worship, John 20:28, etc.). Yet, there is also a distinction, for we see the God-man Jesus calling on God the Father, as in our verse for today, indicating the Father and Son have different roles. We use the words God the Father in contrast to God the Son.

Yet Isaiah repeatedly propounds that there is one and only one God. “Understand that I am He. Before Me there was no God formed, and there will be none after Me. I, even I, am the Lord, and there is no savior besides Me” (Isaiah 43:10–11). So if Jesus is divine and there is only one God, then Jesus must be the God over all, the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, the God of Moses, called Yahweh.

If Jesus is fully God, then what does it mean for Jesus to “ask the Father”? At its most fundamental level, we should not be surprised that there would be things about God’s intersecting with this world that would be difficult for us finite creatures to understand. But God lays it out in familial terms to which we can more readily relate. The conversation within the “Godhead” is like that of a conversation of a Father and Son.

Lord, I readily admit that there are things about You that will remain a mystery to me. In faith I accept what Your Word says about you, Father, Son and Spirit.