The Bible teaches that there is one deity or divine nature that is held by three persons—the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.  All three of these persons are called God, and they are all eternal, possessing divine power and nature.  Together they make up the one God of the Bible.

Does this suggest that there is more than one God?  No!  There is one God in the same way that there is one church or body of Christ.  Paul said about the church, “so we, though many, are one” (Romans 12:5).  So it is with God, except, instead of being many and one at the same time, there are three and one at the same time.  If you can understand the nature of the body of Christ, you can understand the nature of the Godhead.

While the distinction of the members of the Godhead is not as pronounced in the Old Testament as it is in the New, it is still revealed.  Consider the following evidence.

First, the word Elohim found in Genesis 1:1 is plural.  Some say that this is just the majestic plural which shows the greatness of God.  While the majestic plural is sometimes used to denote such, sometimes it reveals more than that, and the language of Genesis one suggests that such is the case in Genesis 1:1.  Consider ver. 26.

Genesis 1:26 (ESV)
²⁶  Then God said, “Let us make man in our image, after our likeness. And let them have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over the livestock and over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.” 

If there is only one person in the Godhead, who was God speaking to in this passage?  The pronoun “us” suggests that more than one person is under consideration.  So, to whom was God speaking?  He was not speaking to angels because man was not created in the image or likeness of angels.  The obvious answer is that one member of the Godhead was speaking to another member.  Thus, the plurality of the Godhead is proven.

Second, we find one Yahweh sending another Yahweh on missions.

Isaiah 48:12, 16 (KJV)
¹²  Hearken unto me, O Jacob and Israel, my called; I am he; I am the first, I also am the last. ¹³  Mine hand also hath laid the foundation of the earth, and my right hand hath spanned the heavens: when I call unto them, they stand up together…¹⁶  Come ye near unto me, hear ye this; I have not spoken in secret from the beginning; from the time that it was, there am I: and now the Lord GOD, and his Spirit, hath sent me.

There are two distinct persons in this passage that are called Yahweh.  By the way, Yahweh is God’s personal name and is never used for anyone who is not divine.  And, for good measure, we find the third person (the Spirit) referred to here as well.

Now, what about in the New Testament?  There we find that the members of the Godhead are seen as distinct persons in an almost undeniable fashion.  For example, consider Matthew 3:13-17.  One of three positions must be taken with this text.  (1) Each member of the Godhead, at the time of Jesus’ baptism, was only one-third of God.  (2) Jesus was a ventriloquist who threw His voice into heaven to fool John into thinking someone was there.  (3) There were three separate and distinct persons at the baptism of Christ.  I choose the last position because not only is it the only one that makes sense out of Matthew 3, but it is in harmony with Bible teaching on this subject.

Several other passages show a distinction among the members of the Godhead.  Read these texts: Mark 13:32; Luke 23:46; John 1:1; 8:16-18, 54; 12:49-50; 14:6; 17:5; , etc.

Some have said that the doctrinal teaching that there is one God, but three persons came from the Nicene Creed that was formulated by 318 bishops in 325 A.D.  However, the fact is, this truth was established by the Spirit of God long before the 4th century.  This is why the majority of early Christians accepted it.  Nothing new came out of the Council of Nicaea.  That council merely affirmed what had been taught and believed since the days of Christ, and announced that any other teaching would be viewed as heretical.