Question:

My question is: we have only one God (Jesus) but is it differentiated in
the Bible as Father, Son and Spirit? Is the Father the only God and Jesus
is His son or are Jesus and the Father one being?

Answer:

These questions have puzzled Christians for centuries, so you are not
alone! It should come as no surprise that we finite human beings cannot
fully grasp the infinite nature of the Supreme Being. Our only reliable
guide into the mysteries of God?s nature is His Word. When we attempt to
harmonize all the relevant passages of scripture, what emerges is a view
of God traditionally called the Trinity (tri-unity).

YHWH is the one true God

The one and only true God, the Supreme Being who created the universe
(Genesis 1:1-2) and the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, identified
Himself to Moses as “I AM WHO I AM” (Exodus 3:14-15) which is rendered in
Hebrew by the 4 consonants “YHWH” (what scholars call the
Tetragrammaton). This word “YHWH” (often pronounced “Yahweh”) is the
Divine Name of the God of the Bible.

Moses commanded the people to “Hear, O Israel! The LORD is our God, the
LORD is one!” (Deuteronomy 6:4). This teaching on the uniqueness of the
Eternal One (YHWH) is foundational to the Old Testament. This is
emphasized again in the book of Isaiah: You are My witnesses,” declares
the LORD, “and My servant whom I have chosen, so that you may know and
believe Me and 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. It is I who have declared and saved and proclaimed, and
there was no strange {god} among you; so you are My witnesses,” declares
the LORD, “And I am God. Even from eternity I am He, and there is none who
can deliver out of My hand; I act and who can reverse it?” (Isaiah
43:12-13) and also “Remember the former things long past, For I am God,
and there is no other; {I am} God, and there is no one like Me, declaring
the end from the beginning, and from ancient times things which have not
been done, saying, ‘My purpose will be established, And I will accomplish
all My good pleasure’ (Isaiah 46:9-10). There are no other gods before
Him, beside Him, after Him or like Him.

Father, Son and Holy Spirit are all YHWH

Gradually the Bible unveils a plurality of persons within the Godhead.
For example, the same God Who says there are no gods beside Him (Isaiah
43:12-13, 46:9-10) also says “Let Us make man in Our image, according to
Our likeness” (Genesis 1:26) and “Come, let Us go down and there confuse
their language” (Genesis 11:7). These are hints of God?s Triune
(three-in-one) nature that will be more fully revealed in the New
Testament.

The one true God exists eternally as three distinct persons:

1) YHWH the Heavenly Father (Matthew 6:5)

2) YHWH the Eternal Son (The Word who became flesh as the historical man
Jesus of Nazareth) (John 1:1-18)

3) YHWH the Holy Spirit (Acts 5:3)

These three Divine Personalities are actively present together at the
creation of the universe (the Father and the Spirit (Genesis 1:1-2), the
Father and the Son (John 1:1-18)), at the coming of the Son into the
world as a human being (Luke 1:26-37), at the baptism of the Son (Luke
3:21-22 ) and in the Son?s Great Commission to His disciples to go baptize
future disciples by the authority of YHWH, in the Divine Name of the
Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit (Matthew 28:18-20).

So the Bible?s clear and consistent teaching from the beginning has been
that there is only one God, but these passages and others point to the
unique Triune (three-in-one) nature of the Supreme Being.

Dan Conder