问题3：神有几个位格？
答：又真又活的独一神有三个位格：圣父、圣子和圣灵。祂们在本质上是相同的，在权能和荣耀上是平等的。
儿童版：独一神有三个位格 ：圣父，圣子和圣灵。

Question 3: How Many Persons Are There in God?
Answer: There are three persons in the one true and living God: the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. They are the same in substance, equal in power and glory.
For Kids: There are three persons in one God: the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.


歌谱 Lead Sheet

经文

《哥林多后书》13 章14 节：

　　愿主耶稣基督的恩惠、神的慈爱、圣灵的感动，常与你们众人同在！

注解

理查德·巴克斯特

　　神圣的三位一体（Blessed Trinity）是一个大奥秘，我们必须相信父、子和圣灵是同一位神，以便从中窥见神那永恒的、不可思议的隐存，更是为了要认识神在人身上所做的三类大工：造物之主，自然之神；救赎之主，以恩典治理并与人和好的神；成圣之主，运作与成全万事的神，使我们配得荣耀……

　　神是一个无限的、不可分割的灵；但又同时是圣父，是圣子，是圣灵，人必须相信这一点……

　　如何证明圣灵是神？我们受洗是归入圣父、圣子和圣灵，圣灵在其中的作为与圣父相当，且拥有圣经中神的属性。

默想

凯文·德扬

　　大多数人从来都没有意识到，三位一体是基督教最重要的教义。这绝对是我们信仰的核心本质，但我认为，对很多基督徒来讲，这似乎是个非常令人困惑的数学难题。就算我们知道了三位一体的意思，对我们的生活来讲，好像也不是很重要，与我们个人也没有什么关系。

　　很多人都知道，圣经中没有出现过「三位一体」一词，但这个词却彰显出圣经中的很多真理。实际上有七项关于「三一教义」的论述：

  1. 神是独一的，所以只有一位神；
  2. 父是神；
  3. 子是神；
  4. 圣灵是神；
  5. 父不是子；
  6. 子不是圣灵；
  7. 圣灵不是父。

　　明白这七项论述，你就能了解三位一体的意思，明白我们讲一个神却有三个位格是什么意思。

　　所以基督徒只信独一的神，不信多个神，也不信万物皆是神，而这位神自我启示祂以三个位格的形式存在着。「位格」这个词很重要，早期教会严谨斟酌这个用词。位格是指三位一体的三个位格以及各个位格之间的彼此关系，在这个彼此围绕，互相联合的本质中，彼此之间却又不同，任何一个位格都不是另一位。父、子、圣灵他们有相同的地位，相同的权柄，相同的荣耀，相同的尊荣，正如耶稣差遣门徒「奉父、子、圣灵的名」为人施洗。我们看到三一教义贯穿于整本圣经。

　　但让人们更为困惑的是：「这教义到底为什么重要？就算我了解了三中有一、一中有三，但这对我的基督徒生命有什么影响呢？」基于正确的三一论，我想这教义对我们来讲，至少有三个重要意义：

　　首先，三一教义教导我们如何在多样性中统一，这是我们当今世界最紧迫的问题之一。有些人几乎只关注多样性，事实上我们确实是如此的不同，找不到任何共同点；而另一些人竭力追求完全的统一，统一思想、政体、表达。但三一教义向我们显明，我们可以保持亲密、真实、有机的合一同时也彼此不同。所以父、子、圣灵在救赎我们的工作上是完全合一的：父差遣、子完成、圣灵落实。在父、子、圣灵的合一中，我们遇见了完全的神。然而，父、子、圣灵做工的角色既不是可互换的，也不是多余的。

　　其次，我们的神是三一神，是永恒的爱，爱是存在于永恒之中的。不是孤独的一个神，必须要创造一些受造物来爱，好可以表达他的爱；而是父、子、圣灵在永恒中就存在，他们在永恒中就有这爱的关系。所以爱不是被造的，神不需要寻求外在的对象来爱，爱早就存在，爱是永恒的。当你认识到神是三位一体的，你就会清楚地认识到这位神就是爱。

　　最后，也是最重要的一点，三位一体的教义对基督徒来说至关重要，因为世界上没有什么比认识神更为重要了。如果神是以三个位格而存在，是以父、子、圣灵而存在的，我们受洗归入这个名下，那么我们都需要去了解三位一体的实质。三位一体之所以很重要，是因为神很重要。

祷告

　　圣父、圣子和圣灵，祢超过我们所能测度。感谢祢把我们带到祢的爱中，这份爱在创世以先就存在于祢完美的三个位格之中。阿们。

Scripture

2 CORINTHIANS 13:14

The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ and the love of God and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all.

Commentary

RICHARD BAXTER

The great mystery of the Blessed Trinity, Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, being one God, is made necessary to us to be believed, not only as to the eternal unsearchable Inexistence, but especially for the knowledge of God’s three great sorts of works on man: that is, as our Creator, and the God of nature; as our Redeemer, and the God of governing and reconciling grace; and as our Sanctifier, and the Applier and Perfecter of all to fit us to glory. . . .

God is one infinite, undivided Spirit; and yet that he is Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, must be believed. . . .

How is it to be proved that the Holy Ghost is God? We are to be baptized into the belief of him as of the Father and the Son, and in that he doth the works proper to God, and hath the attributes of God in Scripture.

Devotional

KEVIN DEYOUNG

The doctrine of the Trinity is the most important Christian doctrine that most people never think about. It’s absolutely essential to our faith, and yet for many Christians it just seems like a very confusing math problem. And even if we can figure out what Trinity means, it doesn’t feel like it has much bearing on our lives, much relevance to us.

The word Trinity, famously, is not found in the Bible, but the word does very well at capturing a number of biblical truths. There are actually seven statements that go into the doctrine of the Trinity:

  1. God is one. There’s only one God.
  2. The Father is God.
  3. The Son is God.
  4. The Holy Spirit is God.
  5. The Father is not the Son.
  6. The Son is not the Spirit.
  7. The Spirit is not the Father.

If you get those seven statements, then you’ve captured the doctrine of the Trinity—what it means when we say there is one God and three persons.

Christians are monotheists. We don’t believe in many gods or a pantheon of gods but just one God, and this God expresses himself and exists as three persons. That language of persons is very important. The early church wrestled with the appropriate language, and persons aptly speaks to the personality of the three members of the Trinity and also their relationship with each other; the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit coinhere as one essence, and yet there are distinctions. One is not the other, but they’re equal in rank, equal in power, equal in glory, equal in majesty. Just as Jesus sends out the disciples to go baptize in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, we see this doctrine of the Holy Trinity woven throughout the Scriptures.

Even more confusing to people is the question “Why does this even matter? Okay, I understand I got three in one, one in three. What difference does this make for anything in my Christian life?” In good Trinitarian fashion, I think there are three important things that the doctrine means for us.

First, the Trinity helps us to understand how there can be unity in diversity. This is one of the most pressing questions in our world. Some folks focus almost exclusively on diversity, on the fact that people are so different. They don’t see any common ground. Others want to press for complete uniformity in thought, in government, and in expression. The Trinity shows us that you can have a profound, real, organic unity with diversity, so that the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit are working in complete union in our salvation. The Father appoints. The Son accomplished. The Spirit applies. We encounter God as fully God in the Father, in the Son, and in the Holy Spirit. And yet, their divine work is neither interchangeable nor redundant.

Second, when you have a triune God, you have the eternality of love. Love has existed from all time. If you have a god who is not three persons, he has to create a being to love, to be an expression of his love. But Father, Son, and Holy Spirit existing in eternity have always had this relationship of love. So love is not a created thing. God didn’t have to go outside of himself to love. Love is eternal. And when you have a triune God, you have fully this God who is love.

Finally, and most importantly, the doctrine of the Trinity is crucial for the Christian because there is nothing more important in all the world than knowing God. If God exists as one God in three persons, if the one divine essence subsists as Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, if we are baptized into this triune name, then no Christian should want to be ignorant of these Trinitarian realities. In the end, the Trinity matters because God matters.

Prayer

Father, Son, and Spirit, you are beyond our understanding. Thank you for bringing us into your love, a love that existed before the world in your three perfect persons. Amen.