Please Explain The Trinity To Me

Simple and complex.

The Trinity is a defining aspect of the Christian faith.

No other religion proclaims God as three in one.

If you stop for a moment to weigh that up, your head might already be aching at the complex deity being described.

Yet, there is a surprisingly clear core to what The Trinity is, according to Dr Jacqui Service, Director at St Mark’s National Theological Centre in Canberra.

“The Trinity is a key doctrine of the Christian faith, and it is describing the very nature of who God is,” Jacqui told Hope Mornings.

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“God the Father, God the Son – Jesus Christ – and God the Holy Spirit.”

For millennia, historians and theologians have agreed that Christianity uniquely holds together one God with three distinct persons, all sharing the same divine nature.

Jacqui didn’t begin with theology textbooks, though.

She traces her curiosity to time spent working in Fiji with the Australia Government’s aid program.

Watching faith-based and secular organisations at work in development raised deeper questions.

“I was looking at how the government did aid and development, and noticed there was a lot of faith-based organisations,” Jacqui said.

“My brain started thinking, ‘Well, wait a minute, what’s different here?’”

Faith-based organisations have long been pioneers in humanitarian care and social services, often motivated by religious conviction and compassion.

Jacqui reflected: “Who defines what human well-being is and how you even get there?”

That question led her back to God Himself.

“Where does well-being come from?

“Well, it has to come from God.”

One God, Three Persons: a relationship of self-giving

While many describe the Trinity as “three parts,” Jacqui gently corrects that idea.

“It’s one God in three persons; they’re not three separate gods either.”

The early Church wrestled with this mystery, eventually shaping the Nicene Creed in AD 325 to affirm that Jesus is fully God, not a lesser being.

But Jacqui leans less on diagrams and more on relationship.

She points to Jesus’ baptism as a window into God’s inner life.

“You see the Father, Son and Holy Spirit engaging with one another,” Jacqui said about Jesus’ baptism recorded in the four gospels.

“You have this kind of triune movement of love and affirmation.”

Rather than competition or hierarchy, Jacqui said God’s nature is self-giving.

“No member of the Trinity is ever doing what they do for themselves.”

“Their actions are towards the other.”

Such realisations can revive our wonder of the gospel, including the central power of Jesus’ death on the cross.

Rather than a distant Father sending his Son to suffer separately, Jacqui emphasises the unstoppable unity in our triune God.

“Father, Son and Holy Spirit are completely united in the mission of the cross,” Jacqui said.

“This is God Himself taking on the sin of humankind.”

“This is not some little sob story.

“This is God defeating death, the devil and sin.”

Recognising the Trinity’s eternal demonstration of love given to such extremes invites a more intimate relationship with God, and with each other.

Historically, Christian humanitarian efforts – from early church care for the poor, to modern NGOs – have been grounded in the belief that every person has dignity as someone made in God’s image.

Jacqui connects the dots: “How does God constitute well-being?”

“Father, Son and Holy Spirit are constantly giving to one another, and in that instant… there is life.”

The Trinity matters for everyday faith

For all its depth, Jacqui insists “it’s not just about knowledge alone.”

“It’s about knowledge that brings you to encounter.”

Knowing God as Father, Son and Spirit reshapes how we experience faith each day. Our connection with God in the Spirit can be so close that Jesus described it as the only way to experience life to the full.

“If we understand and know the Holy Spirit is utterly, totally, fully God, this is God dwelling within me – walking with me every step of my whole life,” Jacqui said.

“When we understand the Trinity, the Father God is not distant; He is right here with us.

“God brings us incrementally into not only knowledge about Him, but transformation in him.

“We’re actually talking about who is God – and we get to enter into that.

“We’re a finite creature swimming in the infinite God.

“That has to be fun!”

Listen to the full conversation in the player above.

Feature image: Canva Pro