Understanding the Trinity Through 1 Peter 1:2

Does the Bible speak on the Trinity? Many object to the doctrine of the Trinity because the word itself is not used in Scripture. However, one must understand the word “Trinity” is used to describe what the Bible teaches concerning the triune nature of God. For example, read Peter's passage in which you see the triune God being described.

1 Peter 1:2 (LSB)

according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, by the sanctifying work of the Spirit, to the obedience of Jesus Christ and the sprinkling of His blood: May grace and peace be multiplied to you.

If you don’t pay attention, you will miss something critical that Peter emphasizes in this verse. One item of vital importance we must continually keep in the background of our mind is the authorial intent of the author. The author's purpose is what he meant to convey to his original audience why he is writing what he is writing. One caution we must tread carefully is our attempts at creating an analogy or an item of relation to compare the Trinity to understand the Godhead. The best way to understand the doctrine of the Trinity without falling into the pitfall of analogy, which can lead to a false understanding of the Trinity, is to look at what and how the Godhead is described in their unique roles.

Sabellianism- there are no distinctions between the “persons” of the Godhead. God manifests Himself at different times and for various purposes in three different “modes” or “aspects.” (similar to modalism)

Modalism- God is one person, not three distinct persons. Believes that the Father, Son, and Spirit are different modes or forms that God takes.

Tritheism- three separate beings and is, therefore, three separate gods.

Partialism- believes that they are 100% God, but not 100% all of God. (An easy way to think of it is that each person is 1/3 of God and can be divided.)

Now that we see what the Trinity is not, let’s understand what it is and how we can use proper terminology when discussing, teaching, reading, and studying Scripture.

If we parse out the word Trinity, we see Tri= three and unity= one. When you combine them, you get the word Trinity. Now that we understand the word, Trinity, let's apply it to this section in 1 Peter 1:2. There is One God, yet there are three distinct divine persons. God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit (Tri). Each is coequal and coeternal with God of the same essence and substance (unity). God eternally exists as three persons (see John 5:26).

In 1 Peter 1:2, we see the unique operations of each person of the Trinity, which are called inseparable. This passage beautifully describes the inseparable operations of the Trinity and the distinct persons working together, not apart, and sharing in the same essence. The knowledge of both the Father and the Son is known to us by the Holy Spirit. Understanding the Trinity and its inseparable operations is imperative in understanding the immeasurable grace and gift of salvation that the Father offers us from the Son and confirmed by the Spirit (Eph.2:1-22). Each is distinct, yet each works together in perfect union, not contradicting and not limited.

Here is a way of understanding the “inner workings” of the Trinity.

The Trinity is One God eternally existing in three persons.

Equal in essence, and yet function differently.

They work inseparably in creation and salvation.

Indivisible in essence, indivisible in operation.

Singular in nature and will, the persons perform a singular action.

Separate, individual centers of consciousness and will may be true of created persons but cannot be true of divine persons; otherwise, the Godhead would be divided.[1]

Inseparable operations- the three persons of the Trinity are unable to be separated from each other.



Example: There could never be a possible situation, time in history, or event in which the three persons of the Trinity were not eternally existing. To separate the three at different times would cease to be of the same essence.

He was born out of nothing, and He was not before He was born— are powerless against Him; that His eternity is consistent with sonship, and His sonship with eternity; that there was in Him no unique exemption from birth but a birth from everlasting, for, while birth implies a Father, Divinity is inseparable from eternity.[2]

So, looking at this verse in 1 Peter, here is what we see regarding the doctrine of the Trinity. God the Father, who knows all things, spoke and enacted His Will into existence through His redemptive plan, He declared in Genesis 3:15

Christ (the Son of God) fulfilled this work in His substitutionary death on the Cross to provide a way for all mankind unto salvation.

The sprinkling of His blood references back to the Day of Atonement when the sacrifice was made; the priest would sprinkle the blood in the holy of holies upon the mercy seat.

The Spirit applies the sacrificial work of atoning for the sins of humanity to the individual.

The Father declares, The Son fulfills, and the Spirit applies.

[1] Barrett, Matthew. Simply Trinity (p. 57). Baker Publishing Group.

[2] Hilary of Poitiers. On the Trinity. Fig.