Do Christians believe in one God or three? We recite the Creed in the Communion service:

“I believe in one God, the Father Almighty …and in one Lord Jesus Christ…and I believe in the Holy Ghost (or Holy Spirit)”.

So one God or three Gods? It is very hard to find a good analogy to explain the Trinity unless we look at the one that comes from the Bible. (Genesis 1:26) states, we are all made in the image of God.

A human being, is made up of 3 parts, a physical body, a spirit (spiritual body), and a soul (containing your memories and emotions). Scientists can argue with that as much as they like, but that is how most of us view ourselves and I have multiple reasons for reaching that conclusion. And they all make 1 whole person. When we interact with a person, we see the physical, communicate with the soul and often sense the spirit.

God the Father is Spirit, our spirits all resemble His. His physical body is Jesus the Son, His soul is the Holy Spirit, which is why it didn't come until after Jesus death. While the New Testament authors didn’t write or refer to God as “The Trinity” (The phrase had not yet been thought up), they did refer to God the Father, Son & Holy Spirit as separate but all still God. Even in the Old Testament, God often referred to himself in the plural "we" and "our", that predates the Royal "we". Humans are more limited than God because we live in a material, 3 dimensional state, God is all powerful with no limits, other than those He set for Himself, so each of the parts that make up God can function far more independently than ours, but are still equal in purpose, intention and power and still make up One God, just as the 3 parts of us make up One whole person.

To confuse things, the book of Revelation talks about the 7 spirits of God. He likes to be mysterious. St Augustine who spent YEARS studying the Trinity, realised he was trying to fit the great mysteries of God into a mind, which could only hold a drop in a bucket compared to the great ocean of God.

So why is it important to believe in the Trinity? Because our salvation hangs on the fact that Jesus is fully God as well as being fully human. Confused yet? If you don’t get it, just remember He loves you, love and obey Him and you’ll be fine.