God
There is but one living and true God (Dt 6:4; Is 45:5-7; 1Cor. 8:4), an infinite, all-knowing Spirit (John 4:24), perfect in all His attributes, one in essence, and eternally existing in three Persons – Father, Son, and Holy Spirit (Mt 28:19; 2Cor 13:14) equally deserving worship and obedience.
God the Father
God the Father, the first person of the Trinity, orders and disposes all things according to His own holy purpose and grace (Ps 145:8, 9; 1Cor. 8:6). He is the Creator of all things (Gen 1:1-31; Eph 3:9). As the only absolute and omnipotent ruler of the universe, He is sovereign in creation, providence, and redemption (Ps. 103:19; Rom. 11:36). He has decreed for His own glory all things that come to pass (Eph 1:11). He continually upholds, directs, and governs all creatures and events (1Chron. 29:11). In His sovereignty He is neither author nor approver of sin (Hab 1:13), nor does He reduce the accountability of moral, intelligent creatures (1Pet. 1:17). Though He has graciously chosen from eternity past those whom He would have as His own (Eph. 1:4-6) He saves from sin all who come to Him through Christ’s atoning death at the cross (John 1:12; Rom 8:15; Gal 4:5; Heb 12:5-9).
God the Son
Jesus Christ, the second person of the Trinity is coequal, consubstantial, and coeternal with the Father (John 10:30; 14:9). God created “the heavens and the earth and all that is in them” according to His own will, through Christ by whom all things continue in existence and in operations (John 1:3; Col 1:15-17; Heb 1:2). Through the incarnation (God becoming man) Christ surrendered only the prerogatives of deity but nothing of the divine essence. The eternally existing Christ accepted all the essential characteristics of humanity and became the God-man (Phil 2:5-8; Col 2:9). Christ represents humanity and deity in indivisible oneness (Mic 5:2; John 5:23; 14:9, 10; Col 2:9). He was virgin born (Is 7:14; Mt. 1:23; 25; Lk 1:26-35) God incarnate (John 1:1, 14). The purpose of the incarnation was to reveal God, redeem men, and rule over God’s kingdom (Ps 2:7-9; Is 9:6; John 1:29; Phil 2:9-11; Heb 7:25, 26; 1Pet 1:18-19). In the incarnation, Christ laid aside His right to the full prerogatives of coexistence with God, assumed the place of a Son, and took on an existence appropriate to a servant while never divesting Himself of His divine attributes (Phil. 2:5-8). Christ accomplished our redemption through the shedding of His blood and sacrificial death at the cross and His death was voluntary, vicarious, substitutionary, propitiatory, and redemptive (John 10:15; Rom 3:24, 25; 5:8; 1 Pet 2:24).
By the efficacy of the death of Christ, the believing sinner is freed from punishment, the penalty, the power, and one day the very presence of sin; and is declared righteous, given eternal life and adopted into the family of God (Rom 3:25; 5:8,9; 2Cor 5:14, 15; 1 Pet 2:24; 3:18). Our justification is made sure by His literal, physical resurrection from the dead and His ascension to the right hand of the Father, where He now mediates as our Advocate and High-Priest (Mt 28:6; Lk 24:38, 39; Acts 2:30, 31; Rom 4:25; 8:34; Heb 7:25; 9:24; 1John 2:1). Through the resurrection of Christ from the grave, God confirmed the deity of Christ and gave proof He has accepted His atoning work at the cross. His bodily resurrection is also the guarantee of a future resurrection life for all believers (Jn 5:26-29; 14:19; Rom 4:25; 6:5-10; 1 Cor. 15:20, 23). Christ will one day return to receive the church, which is His body, unto Himself and will establish His kingdom (Acts 1:9-11; Rev. 20). Christ is the one through whom God will judge all mankind (John 5:22, 23): believers (1 Cor 3:10-15; 2Cor 5:10); living inhabitants on the earth at His glorious return (Mt. 25:31-46); and unbelieving dead at the Great White Throne (Rev 20:11-15). As the mediator between God and man (1Tim 2:5) and the head of His body (the church; Eph. 1:22; 5:23; Col 1:18) He is the final judge of all who reject trust in Him as Lord and Savior (Mt 25:14-46; Acts 17:30, 31).
God the Holy Spirit
The Holy Spirit is divine, eternal, underived, possessing all the attributes of personality and deity, including intellect (1 Cor 2:10-13), emotions (Eph 4:30), will (1Cor 12:11), eternality (Heb 9:14), omnipresence (Ps 139:7-10), omniscience (Is 40:13, 14), omnipotence (Rom15:13), and truthfulness (John 16:13). The work of the Holy Spirit is to execute the divine will in the creation (Gen 1:2), the incarnation (Mt 1:18), the written revelation (2Pet 1:20, 21) and the work of salvation (John 3:5-7).
The unique work of the Holy Spirit in this age began at Pentecost when He came from the Father as promised by Christ (John 14:16, 17; 15:26) to initiate and complete the establishment of the church. His activity includes convicting the world of sin, of righteousness, of judgment; and transforming believers into the image of Christ (John 16:7-9; Acts 1:5; 2:4; Rom 8:29; 2Cor 3:18; Eph 2:22). The Holy Spirit is the supernatural and sovereign agent in regeneration, baptizing all believers into the body of Christ (1Cor 12:13). The Holy Spirit also indwells, sanctifies, instructs, empowers them for service, and seals them unto the day of redemption (Rom 8:9-11; 2Cor 3:6; Eph 2:22).
The Holy Spirit also administers spiritual gifts to the church. The Holy Spirit glorifies neither Himself nor His gifts by ostentatious displays, but glorifies Christ by redeeming the lost and building up believers in holy faith (John 16:13, 14; Acts 1:8; 1Cor 12:4-11; 2cor 3:18). The gift of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost that enabled the apostles to speak in other languages and to perform miracles was for the purpose of authenticating them as the revealers of divine truth, and was never intended to be characteristic of all believers (1Cor 12:4-11; 13:8-10; 2Cor 12:12; Eph 4:7-12; Heb 2:1-4). With the passing of the apostolic age and the completion of the canon of Scripture there is no longer need for such signs since man can determine today who speaks for God by comparing their teaching with God’s revelation in His word. This does not mean the Lord no longer does miracles in response to the prayers of His people, it just means there is no need for the Holy Spirit to do them through His messengers to publicly validate His word or His work.