The RAVYN Blog

If you’ve asked yourself, ‘How do we know it’s three?’ you’re not alone. 

Unironically, if anyone wanted to, they could go on and create a pantheon of ‘persons’ for the Godhead, bleeding into a polytheistic view of God. After all, if we can acknowledge that there is more than one person within the Godhead, why stop at three?

I know what you’re thinking. This sounds radical. We may have bowed our heads to the ordinances of church doctrine without actually delving deeply into the teachings.

The Complex Personhood

In the Old Testament, there are numerous instances of God’s plural nature. Starting with the chosen word for God, ‘Elohim’, the Hebrews seemed to have an understanding of God’s complex personhood. 

While many may argue that the Old Testament acknowledges the existence of one God, the same arguments can be used to support the idea that God’s personhood was plural. In other words, there are places where we can find that God, the Father, shared His authority and worship with other persons. 

In the Torah, God speaks to the Israelites concerning a unique ‘angel figure’ who can ‘pardon transgressions’. The scripture goes so far as to say that God’s name is in this angel.

“Behold, I send an angel before you to guard you on the way and to bring you to the place that I have prepared. Pay careful attention to him and obey his voice; do not rebel against him, for he will not pardon your transgression, for my name is in him. But if you carefully obey his voice and do all that I say, then I will be an enemy to your enemies and an adversary to your adversaries.” 

Exodus 23:20-22 ESV

Later, in the Book of Daniel, the prophet speaks about a man who appeared to be a son of man approaching the Ancient of Days. He was then given dominion, glory, and a kingdom, and all people worshiped him. 

I saw in the night visions,

And behold, with the clouds of heaven there came one like a son of man, and he came to the Ancient of Days and was presented before him. And to him was given dominion and glory and a kingdom, that all peoples, nations, and languages should serve him; his dominion is an everlasting dominion, which shall not pass away, and his kingdom one that shall not be destroyed. 

Daniel 7:13-14 ESV

In Psalms, God says to God, “Your throne will last forever.” This particular verse was used in Hebrew to describe the unique relationship between the Father and the Son. 

Your throne, O God, will last forever and ever; a scepter of justice will be the scepter of your kingdom. You love righteousness and hate wickedness; therefore God, your God, has set you above your companions by anointing you with the oil of joy.

Psalms 45:6-7 NIV

Abraham’s Visitation

The greatest example in Scripture that supports the concept of three persons, one God comes from Abraham’s visitation in Genesis 18 and 19. 

During a particularly hot day, Genesis 18 begins by stating that the LORD appeared to Abraham. However, when Abraham looked up, he saw three men standing before him. Abraham went out towards them and greeted them by bowing low to the ground (an act of worship).

The Lord appeared to Abraham near the great trees of Mamre while he was sitting at the entrance to his tent in the heat of the day. Abraham looked up and saw three men standing nearby. When he saw them, he hurried from the entrance of his tent to meet them and bowed low to the ground.

He said, “If I have found favor in your eyes, my lord, do not pass your servant by. Let a little water be brought, and then you may all wash your feet and rest under this tree. Let me get you something to eat, so you can be refreshed and then go on your way—now that you have come to your servant.”

“Very well,” they answered, “do as you say.”

So Abraham hurried into the tent to Sarah. “Quick,” he said, “get three seahs of the finest flour and knead it and bake some bread.”

Genesis 18:1-5 NIV

During Abraham’s encounter with these three men, the Bible makes no distinction between them. When they spoke, they seemed to speak as one. It isn’t until verse 10 that a distinction is made that one of them spoke. 

Then he ran to the herd and selected a choice, tender calf and gave it to a servant, who hurried to prepare it. He then brought some curds and milk and the calf that had been prepared, and set these before them. While they ate, he stood near them under a tree.

“Where is your wife, Sarah?” they asked him.

“There, in the tent,” he said.

Then one of them said, “I will surely return to you about this time next year, and Sarah, your wife, will have a son.”

Genesis 18:6-10 NIV

Later, in chapter 18, the LORD pondered, saying that He would reveal His plans concerning Sodom and Gomorrah to Abraham. He turned to Abraham and said, “I will go down and see if what they have done is as bad as the outcry that has reached me.” At this time, two of them left and went toward Sodom, but one of them remained with Abraham.

When the men got up to leave, they looked down toward Sodom, and Abraham walked along with them to see them on their way. Then the Lord said, “Shall I hide from Abraham what I am about to do? Abraham will surely become a great and powerful nation, and all nations on earth will be blessed through him. For I have chosen him, so that he will direct his children and his household after him to keep the way of the Lord by doing what is right and just, so that the Lord will bring about for Abraham what he has promised him.”

Then the Lord said, “The outcry against Sodom and Gomorrah is so great and their sin so grievous that I will go down and see if what they have done is as bad as the outcry that has reached me. If not, I will know.”

The men turned away and went toward Sodom, but Abraham remained standing before the Lord. Then Abraham approached him and said, “Will you sweep away the righteous with the wicked?

Genesis 18:16-22 NIV

It is Genesis 19, where these same two men, who previously were only identified as ‘men’, were now referred to as ‘angels’. 

Here, Lot saw them, went to meet them, and bowed with his face toward the ground (an act of worship), but neither of these ‘angels’ stopped Lot. In fact, Lot refers to them as ‘my lords’.

The two angels arrived at Sodom in the evening, and Lot was sitting in the gateway of the city. When he saw them, he got up to meet them and bowed down with his face to the ground. “My lords,” he said, “please turn aside to your servant’s house. You can wash your feet and spend the night, and then go on your way early in the morning.”

Genesis 19:1-2 NIV

The two angels told Lot that they had come to destroy the cities and instructed Lot to take his family and leave. They tell Lot that the Lord sent them to destroy it. 

The two men said to Lot, “Do you have anyone else here—sons-in-law, sons or daughters, or anyone else in the city who belongs to you? Get them out of here, because we are going to destroy this place. The outcry to the Lord against its people is so great that he has sent us to destroy it.”

Genesis 19:12-13 NIV

When morning came, the men instructed Lot to take his wife and daughters and flee to the hills, but Lot was hesitant to the point where they had to physically take Lot and his family out of the city walls. Lot didn’t want to flee to the hills, and begged to go to a city, so these two men said that they ‘found favor’ concerning Lot’s request, and granted it. 

In instances where angels appear to people, the angel would say that God was the one who ‘found favor’ with the person. However, in this verse, it seems that the angel had the authority to grant Lot’s request.

Then Lot said to them, “Please, no, my lords! Indeed now, your servant has found favor in your sight, and you have increased your mercy which you have shown me by saving my life; but I cannot escape to the mountains, lest some evil overtake me and I die. See now, this city is near enough to flee to, and it is a little one; please let me escape there (is it not a little one?) and my soul shall live.”

And he said to him, “See, I have favored you concerning this thing also, in that I will not overthrow this city for which you have spoken. Hurry, escape there. For I cannot do anything until you arrive there.”

Genesis 19:18-22 ESV

The men implied that they couldn’t do anything to the cities until Lot arrived in the small village. They were the ones who destroyed the city, yet Genesis 19:23-25 also implied that the Lord rained brimstone and fire on the cities from the Lord out of the heavens. There was more than one of them—there were three of them. 

The sun had risen upon the earth when Lot entered Zoar. Then the Lord rained brimstone and fire on Sodom and Gomorrah, from the Lord out of the heavens. So He overthrew those cities, all the plain, all the inhabitants of the cities, and what grew on the ground.

Genesis 19:23-25

The Uniqueness of Three

The number three is intentional, and that is what makes it perfect. 

What do I mean by that?

The Mathematics of Three

Three is the smallest odd prime number, which means, in principle, three cannot be divided into two whole and unique groups. Three represents the principles of uniqueness, intentionalism, and completion. 

If we reduced three to two, we would have even parity that could be easily divided. If we were to bump three up to four, it would lose its uniqueness. 

The smallest and simplest polygon must have at least three sides to be considered a complete and enclosed shape. All polygons with more than three sides can be created by a series of three-sided polygons (which we call triangles). With this, the triangle is the most complete of all shapes.

• Our natural world consists of three tangible dimensions (height, length, and width). 
• Our natural world is made of three states of matter (solid, liquid, and gas). 
• The universe is composed of three parts outlined by the laws of physics (time, space, and matter). 
• The number of non-collinear points required to determine a plane, circle, or parabola is three.
• Three is the only prime triangular number. 
• There are only three distinct 4×4 panmagic squares.
• There are only three points of observable time (past, present, and future).

According to Pythagoras and the Pythagorean school, the number 3, which they called a triad, is the noblest of all digits, as it is the only number to equal the sum of all the terms below it, and the only number whose sum with those below equals the product of them and itself.

So, why not use the number one if I wanted to demonstrate oneness and uniqueness? The number one, for starters, can be considered an ordinance number (think first, second, third, fourth). Besides, a one-of-one, while being unique, doesn’t demonstrate intentionality. In fact, an occurrence of one can be classified as an error because of its lone occurrence. 

For something to be truly unique, it may be one of its kind, but it must also be intentional.

Cultural Ideas of Three

In psychological circles, three is considered a complete number, symbolizing unity, harmony, completion, and wisdom. 

Sentences crafted in rhythms of three are often easily remembered, emotionally impactful, and can influence the truthfulness of the statement. Take, for example, these popular slogans:

• “I came, I saw, I conquered.”
• “Of the people, by the people, for the people.”

Storytelling is crafted around threes. Think of what it takes to make a story: beginning, middle, and end. Even popular fairy tales center around the idea of three. For example:

• The Three Little Pigs
• Goldilocks and the Three Bears
• The Three Billy Goats

The idea of three symbolizes competition in the arts, design, storytelling, psychology, and even propaganda. As humans, we are designed to recognize and navigate our world in patterns of three.

• Three primary colors
• Rule of thirds
• Three-act structure

Keep in mind that across cultures, generations, and timelines, three has always been seen as a whole and complete entity, signifying unity in its greatest sense. While one is seen as an ordinance number, three is seen as the whole. 

Until Next Time…

Proving that there are three persons is different from determining who these three persons are. 

We, as Christians, believe in the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. While these three are mentioned in the New Testament, their appearance in the Old Testament is somewhat difficult to find. 

Most of us are accustomed to the idea that the ‘God’ of the Old Testament is the Father, and some people even hold the misconception that the ‘God’ of the Old Testament is distinct from the ‘God’ of the New Testament. But what if I told you that all three were present and active in the Old Testament just as they are in the New?

As you continue in this series, I hope that clarity and the strengthening of your faith will be at the forefront of your spiritual growth.

Signed, 

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Want to learn more about the Trinity? Follow my mini-study series, All About the Trinity (The Trinity Series), right here on The Ravyn Speaks. Sign up to get all your questions answered as you dive deeper into God. 

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