The difficulty with the argument that God is "Three Persons" in one, is that it compartmentalizes God. It teaches that the father, being a separate person from the son, has certain roles and responsibilities that are different from the son. The father is the head of the family and the second person of the trinity is His son who is subservient to his father.

But that is an argument that was determined necessary to explain the fact that Jesus talks in the third person about his Father. If the God that is in Jesus is the same God, why would Jesus consider himself different from His father?

The reason and answer is very simple. Jesus is unique from His father because of his humanity, NOT his deity. Scriptures teach that the deity is the same deity. Consider these passages:

2 Corinthians 5:18-19 (NASB)

Now all these things are from God, who reconciled us to Himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation, namely, that God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and He has committed to us the word of reconciliation.

and

Colossians 2:8-9 (NASB)

See to it that no one takes you captive through philosophy and empty deception, according to the tradition of men, according to the elementary principles of the world, rather than according to Christ. For in Him all the fullness of Deity dwells in bodily form

and

Colossians 1:19 (NASB)

For it was the Father's good pleasure for all the fullness to dwell in Him

Remember, Jesus is both the Son of God and the Son of man. His biological Father (for lack of a better term) is God, his biological mother was Mary. No other man, ever born, was not born of a human man. Jesus inherited his deity from his father, and he inherited his humanity from his mother. His father IS NOT A MAN.

Numbers 23:18-19 (NASB)

Then he took up his [a]discourse and said, "Arise, O Balak, and hear; Give ear to me, O son of Zippor! "God is not a man, that He should lie, Nor a son of man, that He should repent;.

and

1 Samuel 15:29 (NASB)

"Also the Glory of Israel will not lie or change His mind; for He is not a man that He should change His mind.".

God is NOT three in one; the son Jesus is "two in one". Jesus (the son) is God, Jesus the son is man; son of God, son of man. The deity in Jesus is the same deity, it is the humanity of the son that separates the son from His Father, making the son a different person.

Now I assume that everyone knows all the passages that have Jesus talking about His Father as being a separate and distinct person. But I am going to suggest that the distinction between the humanity and deity are the correct understanding of the fact that the son and Father are different persons. When Jesus speaks of his father in the third person, he speaks as a man. The distinction is not the deity that was in Jesus, for that deity is the Father.

Let me ask this question, and see how you answer:

Did God die on the cross for our sins?

It is not possible for God to die.

Psalm 102:24-27 (NASB)

I say, "O my God, do not take me away in the midst of my days, Your years are throughout all generations. "Of old You founded the earth, And the heavens are the work of Your hands. "Even they will perish, but You endure; And all of them will wear out like a garment; Like clothing You will change them and they will be changed. "But You are the same, And Your years will not come to an end..

So who died on the cross? The man, Jesus Christ, died on the cross.

Does God sleep? No, God does not sleep.

Psalm 121:3-4 (NASB)

He will not allow your foot to slip; He who keeps you will not slumber. Behold, He who keeps Israel Will neither slumber nor sleep. .

But there are passages of scripture that talk about Jesus sleeping. Was God sleeping?

Does God get hungry? No, God does not get hungry. But there are passages of scripture that talk about Jesus getting hungry and eating. Was God hungry?

In all of these matters we are talking about the humanity of Jesus, NOT His deity. And it is the humanity of Jesus that makes him a different person than the Father. Sometimes we see Jesus speaking and talking about himself as a man. Other times we see Jesus speaking as God.

And if we do not see the deity in Jesus, as the very same deity that is the Father, then some of these questions generation some big problems for those who think God is "three persons" in one.

First, who is Our Savior?

According to the Old Testament, God is our only Savior:

Isaiah 43:11 (NASB)

"I, even I, am the LORD, And there is no savior besides Me.

By contrast, the New Testament says:

Luke 2:11 (NASB)

Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is the Messiah, the Lord.

If you don't believe that Jehovah is Jesus, then it appears there are two Saviors, and not one. But Titus nicely clears this up for us here:

Titus 3:4-6 (NASB)

But when the kindness of God our Savior and His love for mankind appeared, He saved us, not on the basis of deeds which we have done in righteousness, but according to His mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewing by the Holy Spirit, whom He poured out upon us richly through Jesus Christ our Savior,

God is our Savior, Jesus is our Savior, God is Jesus.

Who raised Jesus from the dead?

John 2:19-22 (NASB)

Jesus answered them, "Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up."

The Jews then said, "It took forty-six years to build this temple, and will You raise it up in three days?" But He was speaking of the temple of His body. So when He was raised from the dead, His disciples remembered that He said this; and they believed the Scripture and the word which Jesus had spoken.

Acts 3:15 (NASB)

but put to death the Prince of life, the one whom God raised from the dead, a fact to which we are witnesses.

Romans 6:4 (NASB)

Therefore we have been buried with Him through baptism into death, so that as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, so we too might walk in newness of life.

Jesus clearly claimed, "I will raise it up".

Who is the "First and the Last"?

Acts 3:15 (NASB)

but put to death the Prince of life, the one whom God raised from the dead, a fact to which we are witnesses.

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