The term "Trinity" is not specifically mentioned anywhere in the Bible.

What?

Really?

Why would you devote an entire creative Christian work to a non-Biblical term?

My simple answer is that the Trinity concept magnifies my wonder of God and His ways.

We tend to be problem solvers across a pretty broad spectrum of disciplines in our daily lives and, after a while, convince ourselves we’re experts with the best answers due to our acquired knowledge, skills, and experiences.

But when I read of God’s solutions throughout history, He blows my mind.

As the ultimate Problem Solver, His logic and methods give me pause to reflect on the limited scope of my intellect and the absolutely unlimited breadth of His omniscience.

As the sovereign Creator and Manager of the universe, He doesn’t need a team. But in his infinite foreknowledge, He knew *we* would.

And as the Essence of consummate love, He really doesn’t need us. Thank God, He desires to envelop us in His love!

And while we might be inclined to perceive any authority as an impersonal superior, He extends to us mercy and grace by manifesting Himself in three distinct ways to appeal to our limited minds and elevate our awareness of the extents He will go to share His eternal blessings and love with us.

So what exactly is the "Trinity" and why should we consider it?

Summarily, the Trinity is based on these three (of course) tenets: (1) God is three persons; (2) each person is fully God; and (3) there is one God.

You’re encouraged to explore related theology and scripture to affirm these tenets. The research, discussion, and findings regarding these tenets—individually and collectively—are compelling, but nonetheless yours to affirm.

The greater challenge is getting one’s mind around the "three, but one" conclusion. Even the "two, but one" scenario declaring Jesus as the Son of God confounds some of the world’s most prominent intellects.

We will take an approach addressing the "who", "why", and "how" of the Trinity from this point forward. The "what" is summarized above, the "where" is all creation, and the "when"—from everlasting to everlasting—is included in the theology and scripture review.

The "who" and "why" will be examined in the following sections designated for God, Jesus Christ, and the Holy Spirit in the context of their respective characteristics and roles.

"How" is the mind-blower.

How can three persons exist as one being?

How is perfect unity attained through deliberate diversity within?

The aim of this discovery unit is to hopefully guide its readers to a better understanding, though as noted theologian Louis Berkhof states, "The Trinity is a mystery…man cannot comprehend it and make it intelligible."

This doesn’t mean that we can’t obtain some level of understanding of the Trinity—only that we can’t attain complete understanding. Explanations are flawed, and analogies are insufficient.

As a musician, I nonetheless want to cautiously offer the analogy of a song to begin our discovery journey.

For all intents and purposes, songs are comprised of rhythm, chords, and a melody. This case can even be made for a capella, solo, and spoken word performances, though we acknowledge the possibility of artistic exceptions.

A listener typically hears a song without consciously dissecting the music into the three components noted above. Certainly, a song may highlight a beat pattern, chord progression, or melody line during its play, but a song generally draws its strength from the collective balance of rhythm, chords, and melody.

In this scenario, we can imagine the listener embracing the song as a single entity while concurrently acknowledging the contributing elements even though she may not (1) be able to specifically identify the elements and/or (2) understand how their disparate sounds became the distinct song.

This was the idea behind our introductory title song, "The Power of 3". The musical arrangement was deliberately minimized to a rhythm section, chord progression, and melody line. Prominence was respectfully given to "God’s voice"—the melody—while also underscoring the synergistic power and unity of all three song components.

So with this minimal background on the instrumentation and arrangement, you can appreciate the song as well as understand the individual elements comprising it.

Accordingly, we hope "The Power of 3" will provide necessary perspective as well as a worshipful heart as you continue through your discovery of the Trinity.