In this edition of Tuesday Talk, we are going to study Scripture for the purpose of understanding how the Bible defines the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. First, we will examine the terms individually and then, as a whole.

Note: All Scripture cited below is quoted from the New American Standard Bible unless otherwise noted.

The Father

Galatians 1:1-4

Paul, an apostle (not sent from men nor through the agency of man, but through Jesus Christ and God the Father, who raised Him from the dead), and all the brethren who are with me,

To the churches of Galatia:

Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ, who gave Himself for our sins so that He might rescue us from this present evil age, according to the will of our God and Father, to whom be the glory forevermore. Amen.

  • “The Father” refers to God Himself. God is the Father.

Malachi 2:10

Do we not all have one father? Has not one God created us? Why do we deal treacherously each against his brother so as to profane the covenant of our fathers?

Hebrews 12:9

Furthermore, we had earthly fathers to discipline us, and we respected them; shall we not much rather be subject to the Father of spirits, and live?

  • The Father is the Father of all creation, not just the Father of the Son.
  • Just like we all have one earthly, biological father, all of creation has one heavenly Father.

Romans 8:14-16

For all who are being led by the Spirit of God, these are sons of God. For you have not received a spirit of slavery leading to fear again, but you have received a spirit of adoption as sons by which we cry out, “Abba! Father!” The Spirit Himself testifies with our spirit that we are children of God

  • “Abba” means “father” in Aramaic, a common language spoken at the time.
  • The Father is our adoptive Father by reason of the new spiritual birth.
  • We all understand that the word “father” is a title indicating a relationship to another. With respect to God, the title “Father” indicates His relationship to us by creation, His relationship to the Son by begetting, and His relationship to us by spiritual regeneration.

Matthew 5:16

Let your light shine before men in such a way that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father who is in heaven.

Matthew 5:45

so that you may be sons of your Father who is in heaven; for He causes His sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous.

Matthew 5:48

Therefore you are to be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect.

  • Jesus teaches us many times that God is our Father.

Matthew 6:9

“Pray, then, in this way:

‘Our Father who is in heaven, Hallowed be Your name.

  • Jesus teaches us to pray to our Father

John 3:16

For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life.

  • Jesus as a man has a unique relationship to God in that He is the only One actually conceived by the Spirit of God and the only One having the fullness of God without measure.

Ephesians 4:6

one God and Father of all who is over all and through all and in all.

  • Again, the Bible states that there is only one Father. (see also Malachi 2:10)

Isaiah 9:6

For a child will be born to us, a son will be given to us;
And the government will rest on His shoulders;
And His name will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God,
Eternal Father, Prince of Peace.

John 10:30

I and the Father are one.

  • Jesus is the one Father incarnate.

John 5:43

I have come in My Father’s name, and you do not receive Me; if another comes in his own name, you will receive him.

  • Jesus said He has come in His Father’s name.

Hebrews 1:4

having become as much better than the angels, as He has inherited a more excellent name than they.

  • The name of the Father is Jesus; this name fully reveals and expresses the Father.
  • The Son inherited His Father’s name.

John 17:6

I have manifested Your name to the men whom You gave Me out of the world; they were Yours and You gave them to Me, and they have kept Your word.

John 17:26

and I have made Your name known to them, and will make it known, so that the love with which You loved Me may be in them, and I in them.

  • Jesus said He manifested and declared His Father’s name.

Psalm 22:22

I will tell of Your name to my brethren;
In the midst of the assembly I will praise You.

Hebrews 2:12

saying,
“I will proclaim Your name to My brethren,
In the midst of the congregation I will sing Your praise.”

  • Upon reading the entire chapters of Psalm 22 and Hebrews 2, you will see that Jesus fulfilled the Old Testament prophecy that states that the Messiah will declare the name of the LORD.
  • In Matthew 27:45-46, Jesus quotes Psalm 22:1 as part of this fulfillment when, on the cross, He said “My God, my God, why have You forsaken Me?”
  • Interesting to note that Psalm 22 was written about 1000 years before the crucifixion of Jesus, before crucifixion was even invented as a means of execution.

The Son

Matthew 1:21

She will bear a Son; and you shall call His name Jesus, for He will save His people from their sins.

  • The name of the Son is JESUS. This is our English translation of the Hebrew name meaning “Jehovah-is-salvation.”
  • Refers to God as manifested in the flesh in the person of Jesus Christ for the salvation of humanity.

John 14:10

Do you not believe that I am in the Father, and the Father is in Me? The words that I say to you I do not speak on My own initiative, but the Father abiding in Me does His works.

  • The Father is in the Son.
  • The “Father” refers to deity alone (Spirit of God), while the “Son of God” refers to deity as incarnated in humanity.

The Holy Spirit

Leviticus 11:44

For I am the Lord your God. Consecrate yourselves therefore, and be holy, for I am holy. And you shall not make yourselves unclean with any of the swarming things that swarm on the earth.

I Peter 1:13-16

Therefore, prepare your minds for action, keep sober in spirit, fix your hope completely on the grace to be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ. As children of obedience, do not be conformed to the former lusts which were yours in your ignorance, but like the Holy One who called you, become holy yourselves also in all your behavior; because it is written, “You shall be holy, for I am holy.”

  • God is the Holy One.
  • He alone is holy in Himself.

John 4:24

God is spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth.

  • God is a Spirit.

I Corinthians 12:11

But one and the same Spirit works all these things, distributing to each one individually just as He wills.

Ephesians 4:4

There is one body and one Spirit, just as also you were called in one hope of your calling;

  • There is only one Spirit of God

Acts 5:3

But Peter said, “Ananias, why has Satan filled your heart to lie to the Holy Spirit and to keep back some of the price of the land?

Acts 5:4

While it remained unsold, did it not remain your own? And after it was sold, was it not under your control? Why is it that you have conceived this deed in your heart? You have not lied to men but to God.

I Corinthians 3:16

Do you not know that you are a temple of God and that the Spirit of God dwells in you?

I Corithians 6:19

Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God, and that you are not your own?

  • The Holy Spirit is God

Genesis 1:2

The earth was formless and void, and darkness was over the surface of the deep, and the Spirit of God was moving over the surface of the waters.

II Peter 1:21

for no prophecy was ever made by an act of human will, but men moved by the Holy Spirit spoke from God.

  • The Spirit is mentioned throughout the Old Testament

John 3:5

Jesus answered, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit he cannot enter into the kingdom of God.

Titus 3:5

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,

  • Being “born again” is by the Spirit.

Acts 5:3-4

But Peter said, “Ananias, why has Satan filled your heart to lie to the Holy Spirit and to keep back some of the price of the land? While it remained unsold, did it not remain your own? And after it was sold, was it not under your control? Why is it that you have conceived this deed in your heart? You have not lied to men but to God.”

Acts 3:9

And all the people saw him walking and praising God;

Acts 20:23

except that the Holy Spirit solemnly testifies to me in every city, saying that bonds and afflictions await me.

Acts 20:28

Be on guard for yourselves and for all the flock, among which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers, to shepherd the church of God which He purchased with His own blood.

Acts 21:11

And coming to us, he took Paul’s belt and bound his own feet and hands, and said, “This is what the Holy Spirit says: ‘In this way the Jews at Jerusalem will bind the man who owns this belt and deliver him into the hands of the Gentiles.’

John 14:26

But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in My name, He will teach you all things, and bring to your remembrance all that I said to you.

  • Holy Spirit is not an unintelligent force but is God.
  • The Holy Spirit is simply God.
  • This term emphasizes a particular aspect or quality of God: holy, omnipresent, and invisible Spirit that works among all people everywhere and can fill their hearts—God in activity.

The Father, The Son, and The Holy Spirit

John 3:16

For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life.

  • Begotten means procreated or generated offspring (usually from a male parent)
  • God is the Father of the Son, Jesus Christ.

John 5:17-18

But He answered them, “My Father is working until now, and I Myself am working.”

For this reason therefore the Jews were seeking all the more to kill Him, because He not only was breaking the Sabbath, but also was calling God His own Father, making Himself equal with God.

  • Jesus referred to the Father as His own Father

Matthew 1:18-20

Now the birth of Jesus Christ was as follows: when His mother Mary had been betrothed to Joseph, before they came together she was found to be with child by the Holy Spirit. And Joseph her husband, being a righteous man and not wanting to disgrace her, planned to send her away secretly. But when he had considered this, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream, saying, “Joseph, son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary as your wife; for the Child who has been conceived in her is of the Holy Spirit.

Luke 1:35

The angel answered and said to her, “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you; and for that reason the holy Child shall be called the Son of God.

  • In Jewish custom, betrothal was a formal engagement that lasted at least a year before the marriage ceremony. It was more formal that engagements that we are accustomed to in that it required a divorce to nullify.
  • The Holy Spirit is the Father of Jesus Christ

Joel 2:27-29

“Thus you will know that I am in the midst of Israel,
And that I am the Lord your God,
And there is no other;
And My people will never be put to shame.

“It will come about after this
That I will pour out My Spirit on all mankind;
And your sons and daughters will prophesy,
Your old men will dream dreams,
Your young men will see visions.

“Even on the male and female servants
I will pour out My Spirit in those days.

Acts 2:1-4

When the day of Pentecost had come, they were all together in one place. And suddenly there came from heaven a noise like a violent rushing wind, and it filled the whole house where they were sitting. And there appeared to them tongues as of fire distributing themselves, and they rested on each one of them. And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit was giving them utterance.

Acts 2:16-18

but this is what was spoken of through the prophet Joel:

‘And it shall be in the last days,’ God says,
‘That I will pour forth of My Spirit on all mankind;
And your sons and your daughters shall prophesy,
And your young men shall see visions,
And your old men shall dream dreams;

Even on My bondslaves, both men and women,
I will in those days pour forth of My Spirit
And they shall prophesy.

Isaiah 40:13

Who has directed the Spirit of the LORD,
Or as His counselor has informed Him?

Genesis 1:2

The earth was formless and void, and darkness was over the surface of the deep, and the Spirit of God was moving over the surface of the waters.

  • The Holy Spirit is the Spirit of Jehovah, God of the Old Testament.

Matthew 10:20

For it is not you who speak, but it is the Spirit of your Father who speaks in you.

  • The Holy Spirit is none other than God, the Father (Jehovah)

Acts 2:24

But God raised Him up again, putting an end to the agony of death, since it was impossible for Him to be held in its power.

Ephesians 1:17-20

that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give to you a spirit of wisdom and of revelation in the knowledge of Him. I pray that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened, so that you will know what is the hope of His calling, what are the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints, and what is the surpassing greatness of His power toward us who believe. These are in accordance with the working of the strength of His might which He brought about in Christ, when He raised Him from the dead and seated Him at His right hand in the heavenly places,

  • God the Father raised Jesus from the dead.

Romans 8:11

But if the Spirit of Him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, He who raised Christ Jesus from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through His Spirit who dwells in you.

  • The Spirit raised Jesus from the dead. (lit. “brings forth alive”)

Romans 4:17

(as it is written, “A father of many nations have I made you”) in the presence of Him whom he believed, even God, who gives life to the dead and calls into being that which does not exist.

I Timothy 6:13

I charge you in the presence of God, who gives life to all things, and of Christ Jesus, who testified the good confession before Pontius Pilate,

  • God the Father gives life. (lit. “makes alive”)
  • The Spirit gives life. (Romans 8:11).

Romans 8:15-16

For you have not received a spirit of slavery leading to fear again, but you have received a spirit of adoption as sons by which we cry out, “Abba! Father!” The Spirit Himself testifies with our spirit that we are children of God,

  • The Spirit adopts us, which means He is our Father

John 14:17

that is the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it does not see Him or know Him, but you know Him because He abides with you and will be in you.

Acts 4:31

And when they had prayed, the place where they had gathered together was shaken, and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak the word of God with boldness.

  • Holy Spirit fills the life of a Christian.

Ephesians 3:14-16

For this reason I bow my knees before the Father, from whom every family in heaven and on earth derives its name, that He would grant you, according to the riches of His glory, to be strengthened with power through His Spirit in the inner man,

  • The Spirit of the Father fills hearts.

John 14:23

Jesus answered and said to him, “If anyone loves Me, he will keep My word; and My Father will love him, and We will come to him and make Our abode with him.

  • The Father lives in us.

John 14:26

But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in My name, He will teach you all things, and bring to your remembrance all that I said to you.

  • Holy Spirit is our Comforter. (gr. parakletos)

II Corinthians 1:3-4

Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our affliction so that we will be able to comfort those who are in any affliction with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God.

  • The Father is the God of all comfort. (gr. paraklesis)
  • Comforts us in all our tribulation. (gr. parakleo)

I Peter 1:2

according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, by the sanctifying work of the Spirit, to obey Jesus Christ and be sprinkled with His blood: May grace and peace be yours in the fullest measure.

  • The Spirit sanctifies us.

Jude 1

Jude, a bond-servant of Jesus Christ, and brother of James,

To those who are the called, beloved in God the Father, and kept for Jesus Christ: May mercy and peace and love be multiplied to you.

Beloved, while I was making every effort to write you about our common salvation, I felt the necessity to write to you appealing that you contend earnestly for the faith which was once for all handed down to the saints. For certain persons have crept in unnoticed, those who were long beforehand marked out for this condemnation, ungodly persons who turn the grace of our God into licentiousness and deny our only Master and Lord, Jesus Christ.

Now I desire to remind you, though you know all things once for all, that the Lord, after saving a people out of the land of Egypt, subsequently destroyed those who did not believe. And angels who did not keep their own domain, but abandoned their proper abode, He has kept in eternal bonds under darkness for the judgment of the great day, just as Sodom and Gomorrah and the cities around them, since they in the same way as these indulged in gross immorality and went after strange flesh, are exhibited as an example in undergoing the punishment of eternal fire.

Yet in the same way these men, also by dreaming, defile the flesh, and reject authority, and revile angelic majesties. But Michael the archangel, when he disputed with the devil and argued about the body of Moses, did not dare pronounce against him a railing judgment, but said, “The Lord rebuke you!” But these men revile the things which they do not understand; and the things which they know by instinct, like unreasoning animals, by these things they are destroyed. Woe to them! For they have gone the way of Cain, and for pay they have rushed headlong into the error of Balaam, and perished in the rebellion of Korah. These are the men who are hidden reefs in your love feasts when they feast with you without fear, caring for themselves; clouds without water, carried along by winds; autumn trees without fruit, doubly dead, uprooted; wild waves of the sea, casting up their own shame like foam; wandering stars, for whom the black darkness has been reserved forever.

It was also about these men that Enoch, in the seventh generation from Adam, prophesied, saying, “Behold, the Lord came with many thousands of His holy ones, to execute judgment upon all, and to convict all the ungodly of all their ungodly deeds which they have done in an ungodly way, and of all the harsh things which ungodly sinners have spoken against Him.” These are grumblers, finding fault, following after their own lusts; they speak arrogantly, flattering people for the sake of gaining an advantage.

But you, beloved, ought to remember the words that were spoken beforehand by the apostles of our Lord Jesus Christ, that they were saying to you, “In the last time there will be mockers, following after their own ungodly lusts.” These are the ones who cause divisions, worldly-minded, devoid of the Spirit. But you, beloved, building yourselves up on your most holy faith, praying in the Holy Spirit, keep yourselves in the love of God, waiting anxiously for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ to eternal life. And have mercy on some, who are doubting; save others, snatching them out of the fire; and on some have mercy with fear, hating even the garment polluted by the flesh.

Now to Him who is able to keep you from stumbling, and to make you stand in the presence of His glory blameless with great joy, to the only God our Savior, through Jesus Christ our Lord, be glory, majesty, dominion and authority, before all time and now and forever. Amen.

  • The Father sanctifies us.

II Timothy 3:16

All Scripture is inspired by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for training in righteousness;

  • All Scripture is given by inspiration of God

II Peter 1:21

for no prophecy was ever made by an act of human will, but men moved by the Holy Spirit spoke from God.

  • Old Testament prophets were moved by the Holy Spirit

I Corinthians 3:16-17

Do you not know that you are a temple of God and that the Spirit of God dwells in you? If any man destroys the temple of God, God will destroy him, for the temple of God is holy, and that is what you are.

  • Our bodies are temples of God

I Corinthians 6:19

Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God, and that you are not your own?

  • Our bodies are temples of the Holy Spirit

Matthew 10:20

For it is not you who speak, but it is the Spirit of your Father who speaks in you.

  • Spirit of the Father will give us words during persecution

Mark 13:11

When they arrest you and hand you over, do not worry beforehand about what you are to say, but say whatever is given you in that hour; for it is not you who speak, but it is the Holy Spirit.

  • Holy Spirit will give us words during persecution