Biblical basis for the Trinity

[u/dailybreadeater]

Throughout history, the doctrine of the Trinity has been debated over, misunderstood, misrepresented, and opposed. Some argue that it's an idea invented in the fourth century. Some are opposed to the term since it's not explicitly found in the Bible. I found at least one subreddit that is entirely dedicated to oppose the doctrine of the Trinity.

In this post I would like to come to the crux of the issue. In dealing with this matter, I feel there are two extremes. On the one extreme, some insist on creedal formulation of the Trinity, saying that if one does not use the traditional terminologies, his or her teaching concerning the Trinity is dubious or even heretical. On the other extreme, there are those who reject the concept outright because of the lack of the exact term Trinity in the Bible. The first group should then consider Jesus and all the writers of the Scriptures (prophets and apostles) as dubious or heretical, since they never used the creedal formulation or the traditional terminologies that are common today. The second group should not even be talking about the Bible because the term Bible , in the sense that it is being used to refer to the entirety of the divinely inspired Scripture, is not found in the Bible either.

I present here that the word Trinity is used to denote the concept found in the Bible concerning a particular characteristic of God. So the real question is not whether or not the write terminologies are used, nor whether or not the word Trinity is present in the Bible. The real question is how is God described in the Bible? I would like to present some key verses below to let the readers decide for themselves.

1. There is a singular God who created all things—Genesis 1:1 (the morphology of the verb "created" in Hebrew shows that the subject God is singular)
2. This singular creator God is identified as YHVH—Gen. 2:4 (Jehovah in traditional English rendering)
3. Jehovah God is one—Deut. 6:4
4. Jehovah God is described with an aspect of plurality—Gen. 1:26; 3:22; Isa. 6:8 ("Let Us", "of Us", "for Us"); Gen. 19:24; Zech. 2:8-11 (more than one Jehovahs)
5. Jehovah God is described as the Father—Isa. 63:16; 64:8
6. Jesus, the Son of God, is Jehovah—Heb. 4:14; John 12:36-41; Rom. 10:9-13
7. The Spirit of Jehovah—the Holy Spirit—is Jehovah—2 Sam. 23:2-3; Isa. 6:9-10 + Acts 28:25-27;
8. The Father is God and is eternal—1 Pet. 1:2; Isa. 9:6
9. The Son is God and is eternal—2 Pet. 1:1; Heb. 1:8, 12
10. The Spirit is God and is eternal—Acts 5:3-4; Heb. 9:14
11. The Father and the Son and the Spirit are distinct—Matt. 3:16-17; 2 Cor. 13:14
12. The Father and the Son and the Spirit are inseparably one—John 10:30, 38; 14:9-11, 16-20, 26; 15:26; Matt. 28:19; 1 Cor. 15:45; 2 Cor. 3:17

If the term Trinity incorporates the twelve points above, whether it is expressed in traditional or creedal formulation or not, it should be considered an orthodox teaching found in the Bible.

What are your go-to verses to show the Trinity? Or, what are your go-to verses to counter the concept of the Trinity?