When I looked for instances where the Three Powers are mentioned together, I found clear statements in the Bible, and numerous clear, unambiguous quotations, that state unequivocally that there are three living persons that make up the Godhead. As a result of these quotations, along with other quotations that identify the three individual members of the Godhead as living persons, I have complete confidence that the Father is a real person, Christ is a real person and the Holy Spirit is a real person. It is impossible to believe that the Holy Spirit is only an influence after reading the following small sampling of a larger group of quotations which one finds in researching this topic.—Dan
Since writing that introduction I developed a exhaustive Bible Study on the "Three Persons" working together that is really excellent. The study on the "Three" is found in the pdfs that immediately follow. You can find all four parts of the study at the Godhead Bible Studies page. These are for downloading.
On this page you will find an exhaustive Bible Study on the Three Persons of the Godhead, who are sometimes referred to as "One" God. To believe in Three Persons does not negate the ability to believe in One God. Please study carefully.
If the Bible teaches Three Persons, how can it also speak of "One True God"? How could there be only one true God if Christ is frequently referred to Himself as God, and allowed other people to worship Him as God? On this page we review the evidence gained in the prior Godhead Bible Studies that provide clear answers on this subject.
This article speaks of the three great powers of the Godhead in the context of baptism.
Scriptures and these kinds of quotations—of the latter these are only a sample—clearly reveal there are three living person that make up the Godhead. You cannot believe the writings of Ellen White and deny that the Holy Spirit is a distinct living person! I am aware of the quotations that are pulled out to suggest otherwise, but those quotes are ambiguous and go contrary to the ones that are so clear and unmistakeable. I am deeply saddened that many are losing their spiritual footings by listening to suggestions otherwise.—Dan
The pages on the Father, Christ and the Holy Spirit have pages connected to them that are exceedingly valuable to explore.
Four-Part Godhead Bible Studies
Christ, The Self-Existent, Eternal Divine Saviour
The Holy Spirit: Third Person Of The Godhead
Three Persons Of The Godhead Working/Mentioned Together
Books and Sermons On The Godhead
Quotes On The Trinity In The Writings of Ellen White
Psalms 93:2 (NKJV) 2 "Your throne is established from of old; You are from everlasting."
"Again and again during my experience in the Lord’s work, I have been called upon to meet these erroneous sentiments. In every case, clear, powerful light has been given that God is the eternal, self-existent One. From my girlhood I have been given plain instruction that God is a person, and that Christ is “the express image of His person.” [Hebrews 1:3.] God always has been. That which concerns us is not the how or the wherefore. {Ms137-1903.3} In the Word God is spoken of as the everlasting God. This name embraces past, present, and future. God is from everlasting to everlasting. He is the Eternal One. “The eternal God is thy refuge, and underneath are the everlasting arms;” {Ms137-1903.4}
John1:1"In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God."
"Christ is equal with God, infinite and omnipotent. He could pay the ransom for man’s freedom. He is the eternal, self-existing Son, on whom no yoke had come; and when God asked, “Whom shall I send?” he could reply, “Here am I; send me.” He could pledge himself to become man’s surety; for he could say that which the highest angel could not say,—I have power over my own life, “power to lay it down, and ... power to take it again.” {YI June 21, 1900, par. 2}
"This Word is to be the chief study in our schools. Here we may hold converse with patriarchs and prophets; here we may learn what our redemption has cost that One who was equal with the Father from the beginning, and who sacrificed His life that a people might stand before Him redeemed from every common, earthly thing, and renewed in the image of God." {Lt84-1909.11}
"Christ came to the world as a personal Saviour. He represented a personal God. He ascended on high as a personal Saviour, and he will come again as he ascended to heaven,—a personal Saviour. {GCDB March 6, 1899, par. 6}
"Christ is one with the Father, but Christ and God are two distinct personages. Read the prayer of Christ in the seventeenth chapter of John [John 17:1, for example], and you will find this point clearly brought out." {RH June 1, 1905, par. 14}
John 14:26 "But the Comforter, which is the Holy Ghost, whom the Father will send in my name, he shall teach you all things, and bring all things to your remembrance, whatsoever I have said unto you."
"The Holy Spirit has a personality, else He could not bear witness to our spirits and with our spirits that we are the children of God. He must also be a divine person, else He could not search out the secrets which lie hidden in the mind of God. “For what man knoweth the things of a man save the spirit of man, which is in him; even so the things of God knoweth no man, but the Spirit of God.” {Ms20-1906.32}
"We have been brought together as a school, and we need to realize that the Holy Spirit, who is as much a person as God is a person, is walking through these grounds, unseen by human eyes, that the Lord God is our Keeper and Helper. He hears every word we utter and knows every thought of the mind." {Ms66-1899.11}
"Wherever we are, wherever we may go, He is there, always a presence, a person connected with heaven, One given us in Christ’s place, to act in His stead. He is always at our right hand, to speak to us soothing, gentle words, to support, sustain, uphold, and cheer." {Lt89b-1897.5}
"The Godhead—the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit—were working in behalf of man. Every power in the heavenly universe was put into activity to carry forward the plan of redemption." {Ms47-1901.6}
"The three representative powers of the Godhead, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, were pledged to carry out God’s plan for the salvation of the lost race. Thus fully did the Lord engage the heavenly universe in the work of redemption. How few understand and appreciate this infinite sacrifice!" {Ms139-1907.10}
Luke 3:21-22 (KJV) "Now when all the people were baptized, it came to pass, that Jesus also being baptized, and praying, the heaven was opened, 22 And the Holy Ghost descended in a bodily shape like a dove upon him, and a voice came from heaven, which said, Thou art my beloved Son; in thee I am well pleased."
"Christ’s prayer cleaves through the hellish shadow of Satan and enters heaven. And from the Father comes the representation of a dove of burnished gold, which is the Holy Spirit of God, and settles and enshrouds Christ, and they hear the voice saying, “This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.” [Matthew 3:16, 17.] You read this over and over again in a careless manner; but it means everything to you and me. God has accepted Him as our representative and head." {Ms17-1893.7}
"The work of salvation is not a small matter, but so vast that the highest authorities are taken hold of by the expressed faith of the human agency. The Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost, the eternal Godhead is involved in the action required to make assurance to the human agent to unite all heaven to contribute to the exercise of human faculties to reach and embrace the fulness of the threefold powers to unite in the great work appointed, confederating the heavenly powers with the human, that men may become, through heavenly efficiency, partakers of the divine nature and workers together with Christ." {Ms45-1904.16}
"To neglect this work is to insult Jehovah, to grieve the Holy Spirit, and to prove disloyal to Christ." { RH July 18, 1899, Art. A, par. 7 }
"Those who unite with the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, who show by their lives that they are no longer following the course they followed before they united with these divine instrumentalities, will receive wisdom from above. They will not depend on human wisdom. In order to deal righteously with the world, as members of the royal family, children of the heavenly King, Christians must feel their need of a power which comes only from the heavenly agencies who have pledged themselves to work in their behalf. After we have formed a union with the great threefold power, we shall regard our duty toward the members of God’s family with a much more sacred awe than we have ever done before." {Ms11-1901.8}
"Keep yourselves where the three great powers of heaven—the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit—can be your efficiency. These powers work with the man who gives himself unreservedly to God, heart and soul, and mind and strength." {Lt102-1903.11}
"Let an abiding Christ live in the soul, and we shall show far greater wisdom then we have done. We shall know more of God and of Jesus Christ, and of the Holy Spirit which opens the door for us to advance." {Lt43-1899.49}
"When we have accepted Christ, and in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit have pledged ourselves to serve God, the Father, Christ, and the Holy Spirit—the three dignitaries and powers of heaven—pledge themselves that every facility shall be given to us if we carry out our baptismal vows to “come out from among them, and be ... separate, ... and touch not the unclean thing.” When we are true to our vows, He says, “I will receive you.” {Ms85-1901.4}
"Christ has given His precious life that that soul may reflect His own divine likeness? Shall the human agent allow the soul to be the habitation of sin, and act as if there were no God, no Christ, no Holy Spirit? God forbid!" {Lt18-1894.2}
"When you gave yourself to Christ, you made a pledge in the presence of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit—the three great personal dignitaries of heaven. “Hold fast” to this pledge." {Ms92-1901.5}
"Christ tells them they were to fight in fellowship with all the children of light; that satanic agencies would combine their forces to extinguish the light of the life of Christ out of their ranks. But they were not left to fight the battles in their own human strength; that the angelic host coming as ministers of God would be in that battle, and also there would be the eternal heavenly dignitaries—God, and Christ, and the Holy Spirit—arming them with more than mortal energy, and [who] would advance with them to the work, and convince the world of sin." {Ms130-1901.52}
"Our sanctification is the work of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. It is the fulfilment of the covenant that God has made with those who bind themselves up with Him, to stand with Him, with His Son, and with His Spirit in holy fellowship. Have you been born again? Have you become a new being in Christ Jesus? Then co-operate with the three great powers of heaven who are working in your behalf. Doing this you will reveal to the world the principles of righteousness."—The Signs of the Times, June 19, 1901. { 7ABC 442.3 }
"Think not that I am come to destroy the law, or the prophets: I am not come to destroy, but to fulfil. For verily I say unto you, Till heaven and earth pass, one jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass from the law, till all be fulfilled. Whosoever therefore shall break one of these least commandments, and shall teach men so, he shall be called the least in the kingdom of heaven (by the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost): but whosoever shall do and teach them, the same shall be called great (by the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost) in the kingdom of heaven.” The three highest authorities in the universe, with all the heavenly family, shall call great, in the fullest sense of the term, those who do and teach the commandments of our heavenly Father." {Ms129-1907.28}
"After the believing soul has received the ordinance of baptism, he is to bear in mind that he is dedicated to God, to Christ, and to the Holy Spirit. These three all co-operate in the great work of the covenant made by baptism in the sight of the heavenly universe. The Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit receive the believing soul into covenant relation with God." {Ms56-1900.26}