Trinity in the Bible - Part III:New Testament Teachings in the Epistles

Quite frankly, teachings in the Gospel accounts should be more than sufficient to state the case for the existence of the Trinity. But I wanted to take one more post to describe what is in some of the New Testament Epistles:

⁴There is one body and one Spirit, just as also you were called in one hope of your calling;

⁵one Lord, one faith, one baptism

⁶one God and Father of all who is over all and through all and in all.

Ephesians 4:4-6 (NASB)

¹⁴how much more will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered Himself without blemish to God, ⁽cleanse your conscience from dead works to serve the living God?

Hebrews 9:14 (NASB)

²according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, by the sanctifying work of the Spirit, to obey Jesus Christ and be sprinkled with His blood: May grace and peace be yours in the fullest measure.

1 Peter 1:2 (NASB)

<sup>2By this you know the Spirit of God: every spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God;

1 John 4:2 (NASB)

20But you, beloved, building yourselves up on your most holy faith, praying in the Holy Spirit,</sup>

^{21keep yourselves in the love of God, waiting anxiously for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ to eternal life.}

^{Jude 20-21 (NASB)}

^{Four authors of the epistles: Paul,Peter, John, Jude; 5 is you think Hebrews is other than Paul, make clear references to the members of the Trinity.}

^{There is no doubt in my mind, how about you?}

^{Do you find any nuances in the Epistles or in the Gospels that are different from each other?}

^{Are there other passages that you look to to reveal and define the Trinity for you?}

Trinity in the Bible - Part I: Old Testment Allusions

You might think that since the Trinity fully involves Jesus in it, discussion in the Old Testament would be lacking. I think that perception is quite wrong.

It makes sense if you consider the fact that the Old Testament points to Christ; and as an eternal being, Jesus was present for all the Old Testament events, He was there. So where does one find Him? Here are some allusions to the Trinity:

²⁶Then God said, "Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness; and let them rule over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the sky and over the cattle and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth."
Genesis 1:26 (NASB)

²²Then the LORD God said, "Behold, the man has become like one of Us, knowing good and evil; and now, he might stretch out his hand, and take also from the tree of life, and eat, and live forever"
Genesis 3:22 (NASB)

⁷"Come, let Us go down and there confuse their language, so that they will not understand one another's speech."
Genesis 11:7 (NASB)

These are just three from Genesis, but you can see the concept of the plurality within the essence of God from the very beginning of the Bible. Some might argue that this is the "royal" we; that God is speaking royally, as human kings would do. However, there are no passages of such royal speaking when human kings are depicted in the Bible, so i do not place any stock in that argument.

Can you think of other Old Testament passages that speak to this? Do you agree that these refer to a plurality in God, if not specifically of the Trinity itself?

Please let me know what you think!