John begins his Gospel with a glimpse into the life of the Godhead. It is an indication of what he intends to do in his book — to unveil significant truth concerning the mystery of the Trinity. The apostle in his prologue invites us to leave the humdrum thoughts and concerns of everyday life to fix our minds upon the contemplation of God. He presents God in himself (John 1:1-2, 18a-b) and God for us (John 1:14, 18) — what theologians often call the immanent Trinity and the evangelical Trinity. At the very outset of his gospel, we are given the opportunity (in the language of Anselm) to put aside our “weighty cares” and to leave our “wearisome toils” in order that we may seek God, find Him, and come close to Him (Proslogion, Chapter I).

We must come, however, with an appropriate posture, marked by two characteristics. There must first be humility. John the theologian of the Trinity informs us at the beginning of his gospel that God is beyond human comprehension: “No one has seen God at any time” (John 1:18a). In the fourth century, Gregory Nyssa would make the same point:

The simplicity of the True Faith assumes God to be … beyond the reach not only of the human but of the angelic and of all supramundane intelligence, unthinkable, unutterable, above all expression in wordsAgainst Eunomius, Book I

We must, in the second place, pursue moral integrity if we would even come to a little understanding of the mystery of the one God in three persons. In order to understand and assess the teaching of Jesus (indeed, the teaching of John as well), we need one qualification above all else — the willingness to do the will of God the Father (John 7:17). Gregory Nazianzen picked up on this biblical perspective and answered the question as to who is allowed to ponder, meditate, and think about God. “It is permitted,” he said, “only to those who … are being purified” (The First Theological Oration III).

After his opening reference to the plurality of divine persons that have existed from the beginning (John 1:1-2), John explicitly teaches in his gospel the mystery of the three distinct persons, each of whom is fully God. The Father, the Son, and the Spirit are revealed in God as he is in Himself. They are set forth in their distinct actions, and they are manifested in salvation.

God in Himself⤒🔗

Through the biblical revelation, we learn that God as He exists in Himself is three persons, each one distinct from the other two. Jesus Christ, John writes, is the “only begotten Son” of God the Father (John 3:16). As Athanasius explained so well, the fact that the Son is begotten shows that He is a distinct person from the Father. And the fact that He is the Father’s Son means that He must have the same essence as the Father — that is, full divinity (Contra Arianos, I.15). While the Father eternally begets the Son, he eternally emits the Spirit. “The Spirit of truth,” Jesus said, is the one “who proceeds from the Father” (John 15:26). As to the Father, we must speak by way of negation — He is neither begotten, nor does He proceed. Is there anything in creation comparable to this? John of Damascus suggested that there is:

We have an analogy in Adam, who was not begotten (for God Himself molded him), and Seth, who was begotten (for he is Adam’s son), and Eve, who proceeded out of Adam’s rib (for she was not begotten)An Exact Exposition of the Orthodox Faith I.VIII

God in Action←⤒🔗

The truth of the three-person God is further declared by their actions which differ one from the other. This is a valuable insight provided by the contemporary German theologian Wolfhart Pannenberg (Systematic Theology, vol. 1). The Father is the person who confers authority upon His own Son, specifically the authority to execute judgment on the Last Day (John 5:27-29). It is the Father who determined that every human being who ever lived will give an account of his ways to the very Son of God. The Son is the person who freely submits Himself to the plan of God, declaring, “I do not seek my own will, but the will of him who sent me” (John 5:30). At the conclusion of His life before the crucifixion He could say, “I glorified You on the earth, having accomplished the work which You have given me to do” (John 17:4). The Spirit is the person who calls attention to the Son, rather than to Himself. Of this Spirit of truth, Jesus said, “He will glorify me” (John 16:14). The work of the Spirit would be to call attention not to Himself, but to the Son of God. Clearly, the actions of the Father, the Son, and the Spirit in the flow of history underscore the mystery that the God whom John had come to love was three persons.

God for Us←⤒🔗

Finally, God as Trinity is seen in the gospel itself — that the Father gave what the Puritan Thomas Goodwin called “two grand gifts,” both His Son and his Spirit (Works, vol. 6, p. 9). The beneficial intention of the Father in the gift of the Son is expressed in the declaration:

For God did not send the Son into the world to judge the world, but that the world might be saved through HimJohn 3:17

Here, we find, as John Calvin affirmed, that God is “favorable to the whole world when He calls all without exception to the faith of Christ” (Commentary on John). While divine favor toward all the world is expressed in the Incarnation, the favor of the Father and the Son toward the church was manifest on Pentecost in the gift of the Spirit. Jesus comforted His disciples with the promise: “I will ask the Father, and He will give you another Helper” (John 14:16). And he added, “If I go, I will send Him to you” (John 16:7). These evangelical gifts may further be regarded as the very hands of God—the Son effecting the plans of the Father, and the Spirit giving the power for the plans to be effected (Irenaeus, Against Heresies IV.xxxviii.3). The hand of the Son accomplished redemption, and the hand of the Spirit applies redemption to the elect.

God Is Love←⤒🔗

Perhaps the most outstanding characteristic about the Godhead is that it is a three-person society of supreme love. The medieval theologian Richard of St. Victor wrote, “Each of those who love gives love, and from this each undoubtedly draws those delights of love, flowing with honey” (Of the Trinity, Book Three, Chapter II). Already in the prologue we are given an indication of the love that permeates the Trinitarian life in the statement that “the Word was with God” (John 1:1) and in the declaration that “the only begotten Son” is the one “who is in the bosom of the Father” (John 1:18). Just as a human father cradles his infant son tenderly holding him in his bosom, so likewise the heavenly Father embraces His only begotten Son in His own bosom. Later, John explicitly calls attention to this reality of inter-Trinitarian love both before creation and afterwards. In Jesus’ address to the Father, He acknowledged, “You loved me before the foundation of the world” (John 17:24). And in creation itself, as the incarnate Son, He informed the apostles,

But so that the world may know that I love the Father, I do exactly as the Father commanded me John 14:31

Children of God←⤒🔗

What is utterly remarkable — and what is at the very heart of the gospel — is that this Trinitarian God embraces the creature, even man fallen in sin. We who believe and receive the Christ are given the grace of adoption, “the right to become children of God” (John 1:12). By nature, Christ is the only begotten Son; by grace, we become a great host of adopted sons. Our place and acceptance in heaven’s family is such that the risen Christ announces, “I ascend to my Father and your Father, and my God and your God” (John 20:17). The love that is extended to us in the household of God is even comparable to the love that the divine persons have for one another. Jesus said, “Just as the Father has loved me, I have also loved you” (John 15:9). The adoption of the needy, the lost, and the outcast came at great cost. Our inclusion as sons of God meant the exclusion of the Son of God in the crucifixion. It is the reason for His cry of dereliction, “My God, my God, why have You forsaken me?”

As we contemplate what has been given to us in the gospel, we can see the appropriateness of the question of Jesus addressed to Peter — if it were to be directed to us — “Do you love me?” If we can answer in the affirmative, then we must remember our duty to endeavor to live under the authority of the Word of God. For Jesus said, “If you love me, you will keep my commandments” (John 14:15).

The revelation of God as three distinct persons is one of the deepest commitments of the Gospel of John. Practically speaking, it means that when the apostles stood face to face with Jesus Christ, they knew that they were in the very presence of the ultimate reality, God Himself. The position of Thomas regarding Jesus became the confession of the catholic and apostolic church of the patristic era: “My Lord and my God” (John 20:28).

Following the period of imperial persecution and its termination with the elevation of Constantine to power, there arose the attack of Arius upon the very heart of the Christian faith. Theodoret identified him as one of the “fit instruments” used by the devil “for the execution of his designs” (Ecclesiastical History I.1). For Arius, the Son was merely a highly exalted creature, “made out of nothing” and who “had an origin of creation” (Thalia, as quoted by Athanasius, Against the Arians, Discourse I.5). “The Word,” he maintained, “is not the very God” (Ibid., Discourse I.6)). His position was fundamentally that of tritheism — affirming that there are three different Gods, to whom adoration ought to be given. “The Father and the Son and the Holy Ghost,” he said, “are separate in nature … utterly unlike from each other in essence and glory” (Ibid.).

Tritheism, however, is not the position of John’s Gospel. John is no less monotheistic than the Old Testament with its dominant teaching that Jahweh alone is God (Isaiah 44:6-8). What John presents is far from a crude tritheism, a mere variation of the rampant polytheism of the Greek-speaking world of antiquity (1 Corinthians 8:4-6). The apostle rather teaches a sophisticated doctrine of monotheism. And since this Gospel is divine revelation, we must recognize that here we have nothing less than the affirmations of God concerning Himself. Surely it is rational to take to heart the exhortation of Hilary of Poitiers:

Let us assume that God has full knowledge of Himself, and bow with humble reverence to His wordsOn the Trinity I.18

One Font of Divinity←⤒🔗

How can it be that God is three distinct persons, and yet one divine being? John answers this question by presenting three considerations. In the first place, he suggests — at least in seed form — that there is one fountain of divinity. He identifies the Christ as the only begotten Son of the Father (John 3:16) and the Spirit as He who proceeds from the Father (John 15:26). Clearly, begetting and procession — as eternally occurring — convey the idea of derivation. The question then arises: What is derived? The patristic church in contemplating this profound question would answer: Such language refers to the derivation of existence and attributes. John of Damascus put it this way:

Because of the Father’s existence, the Son and the Spirit exist, and … because of the Father having the qualities, the Son and the Spirit have all their qualities

An Exact Exposition of the Orthodox Faith I.VIII

Thus, John affirms that there is one source of divinity — the Father, who eternally begets and emits two divine persons (the only-begotten Son and the breathed-out Spirit).

Mutual Indwelling←⤒🔗

The foundational monotheism of John’s Gospel is also reflected in its revelation of divine persons who are mutually indwelling. There is no question that this teaching goes beyond the power of human understanding. We must, however, keep in mind the wise perspective of Hilary: “What men cannot understand, God can be” (On the Trinity III.1). Furthermore, we must take note that Christ admonishes us to respond in faith to this doctrine: “Do you not believe that I am in the Father, and the Father is in me?” If we stumble over the idea that one person can be both within and without another, Jesus urges faith: “Believe me that I am in the Father and the Father is in me” (John 14:10-11). This indeed is mystery through and through, that “One should permanently envelope, and also be enveloped by, the Other, whom yet He envelopes” (Hilary, On the Trinity III.1).

One Divine Nature←⤒🔗

Finally, John assumes with Paul that God has a divine nature, and that it belongs to the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. While Paul explicitly refers to the existence of the divine nature (theiotis) to which creation itself bears witness (Romans 1:20), John calls attention to Jesus’ teaching which so infuriated the Jews — that this one divine nature is to be found both in the Father and in the Son, with Christ affirming that He Himself was that very Son of God (John 10:30-36). The unbelieving Jews rightly understood the declaration of Jesus: “I and the Father are one” (John 10:30). Jesus here claimed that the divine nature that belonged to the Father likewise belonged to Himself — although the Father and the Son were distinct persons, they were one in terms of the divine nature that each one equally possessed. Paul later reiterated the exact same position: “For in Him all the fullness of deity (theotes) dwells in bodily form” (Colossians 2:9). The Trinitarian thought of John Calvin appreciated these perspectives. In the Institutes, he wrote,

The essence of the one God is simple and undivided, and … it belongs to the Father, the Son, and the Spirit.” He added that “if we hold fast” to this position, “the gate will be closed … to Arius (I.13.22).

Belief in the Word←⤒🔗

There are but two responses of the human mind to the revelation of the Trinity in the Gospel of John — faith or unbelief. Mystery pervades the teaching of Jesus, and unfortunately it often met with the response of the grumbling of unbelief. Following the feeding of the five thousand, Jesus called attention to Himself. He declared, “I am the bread of life” (John 6:35). As a result, “the Jews were grumbling about Him” (John 6:41). He then introduced the subject of the sacramental mystery. He promised, “He who eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life” (John 6:54). As a result, “his disciples grumbled at this” (John 6:61). He then asserted the bondage of the human will and the necessity of prior electing grace: “No one can come to me unless it has been granted him from the Father” (John 6:65). “As a result of this many of His disciples withdrew and were not walking with Him anymore” (John 6:66). Jesus then asked the Twelve if they too would go away. The response of Peter is highly instructive. In the broadest sense, Peter recognized the ultimate value of the totality of Jesus’ teaching: “You have the words of eternal life” (John 6:68). But the ultimate reason for their allegiance — and our commitment as well — is based upon the recognition of who Jesus really is, the ultimate reality, God himself. The church, with Peter, has always affirmed concerning Jesus:

We have believed and have come to know that you are the Holy One of GodJohn 6:69