This article is based on Pastor Adrian Rogers' message, Christmas Tribute To The Trinity.
Who is this baby the Angel Gabriel announces? What is the identity of Jesus? Answer that question right—and act on your answer—and all will be right. Answer that question wrongly, and all will be wrong.
Some say, “Jesus was a great man.” Jesus does not belong on anybody’s list of the “ten greatest men.” He is not Jesus Christ the Great; He is Jesus Christ the Only.
Islam teaches that Jesus was only a messenger of Allah. Some New Agers say, “He was a mystic medium.” They see Jesus as a channel through which they can discover their “inner god” in them—but did you know there are demon spirits who take the name Jesus?
So who is this baby?
Jesus is the Son of God, and God the Son, in the flesh. That brings us to the wonderful doctrine of the Holy Trinity.
And the angel answered and said to her, “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Highest will overshadow you; therefore, also, that Holy One who is to be born will be called the Son of God” (Luke 1:35).
Right here in the story of the birth of Jesus, we see God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit. That is the Trinity.
We worship one God, in three Persons—and that is an absolute Christian distinctive.
You would be amazed how much error and heresy comes because we do not understand the doctrine of the Trinity. Jehovah’s Witnesses, Unitarians, Jews, and Muslims all do not accept the doctrine of the triune Godhead.
How will you know about the Trinity? Only by divine revelation. There is no way to figure it out by human investigation, by logic, by philosophy, nor by science, or mathematics. The Trinity is not contradictory to logic and reason; it is simply beyond it.
In John 8, Jesus is having an encounter with the religious leaders of His day. He said to them,
“Your father Abraham rejoiced to see My day, and he saw it and was glad.” Then the Jews said to Him, “You are not yet fifty years old, and have You seen Abraham?” Jesus said to them, “Most assuredly, I say to you, before Abraham was, I AM” (John 8:56-58).
They took up stones to kill Jesus. Do you know why? Jesus was revealing to them His identity; and they did not believe Him. His absolute claim was abhorrent to them. They remembered how God had revealed Himself to Moses in the Book of Exodus.
And God said to Moses, “I AM WHO I AM.” And He said, “Thus you shall say to the children of Israel, ‘I AM has sent me to you’” (Exodus 3:14).
Jesus was telling them the truth, that He is the second person of the Trinity, the great God.
Around Christmastime, we read,
For unto us a Child is born, unto us a Son is given; and the government will be upon His shoulder. And His name will be called Wonderful, Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace (Isaiah 9:6).
The Hebrew word there for “Mighty God” is El gibor, which literally means God‑man.
While you cannot understand the Trinity, you can see the Trinity at work. For example, in the creation of the world. (Read Genesis 1:1; John 1:1-3; Job 26:13.)
Who wrote the Bible? God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit. (Read 2 Timothy 3:16; 1 Peter 1:10-11; 2 Peter 1:21.)
Who brought the Messiah into the world?
And the angel answered and said to her, “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Highest will overshadow you; therefore, also, that Holy One who is to be born will be called the Son of God” (Luke 1:35, Emphasis added).
During this Christmas season, notice not only the sublime mystery of the Holy Trinity and the work of the Trinity throughout history, but see the saving ministry of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit—and thank God for it.
And she will bring forth a Son, and you shall call His name JESUS, for He will save His people from their sins (Matthew 1:21).
The doctrine of the Trinity is not theological sophistry and niceties. This deals with you, with your destiny. Christian, this is how you were saved, this is why you are going to Heaven, this is why you worship in church on the Lord’s Day.
Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ, just as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before Him in love, having predestined us to adoption as sons by Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the good pleasure of His will… (Ephesians 1:3-5).
Before you were born, your salvation was in the heart and mind of God. God knows the past, the present, and the future all together, and God has chosen you, Christian, to be His child.
The only reason we can choose Him is because He first chose us. (See John 15:16.) Why did He choose us? “That we should be holy and without blame before Him.” (See Ephesians 1:4, above.) That is the Gospel.
We are predestined to this adoption not only spiritually, but legally, as joint heirs with Christ. We were chosen in the past, predestined for the future, and accepted in the present.
…Having predestined us to adoption as sons by Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the good pleasure of His will, to the praise of the glory of His grace, by which He made us accepted in the Beloved. In Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of His grace… (Ephesians 1:5-7).
Jesus bought our salvation. The word forgiveness actually means “to bear away.” In Leviticus, you find that the high priest would take two goats. One goat would be slain, and its blood presented at the altar. The priest would take another goat, called the scapegoat, lay his hands on its head and confess the sins of the people, and then that goat would be led out into the wilderness, never to return again. Through the precious blood of Jesus Christ, our sins are borne away as far as the east is from the west.
What is the role of the third person of the trinity, the Holy Spirit, in salvation?
In Him you also trusted, after you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation; in whom also, having believed, you were sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise, who is the guarantee of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession, to the praise of His glory (Ephesians 1:13-14).
In Bible times, a seal meant a finished transaction, ownership, protection. That is what we have.
What is the point of what Paul is saying? This is the ministry of the Trinity. This is why Jesus the son of God split the heavens, was born of the virgin Mary, and laid in a manger in Bethlehem. The story of Christmas shows that you are selected by the Father, saved by the Son, and sealed by the Spirit.
Luke 1:35; John 1:1-3, 8:56-58, 15:16; Exodus 3:14; Isaiah 9:6; Genesis 1:1; Job 26:13; 2 Timothy 3:16; 1 Peter 1:10-11; 2 Peter 1:21; Matthew 1:21; Ephesians 1:3-7,13-14
And without controversy great is the mystery of godliness: God was manifested in the flesh, justified in the Spirit, seen by angels, preached among the Gentiles, believed on in the world, received up in glory (1 Timothy 3:16).
But when the fullness of the time had come, God sent forth His Son, born of a woman, born under the law, to redeem those who were under the law, that we might receive the adoption as sons. And because you are sons, God has sent forth the Spirit of His Son into your hearts, crying out, “Abba, Father!” Therefore you are no longer a slave but a son, and if a son, then an heir of God through Christ (Galatians 4:4-7).
