There are many reasons to believe in and support the doctrine of the Trinity. One of them is that it exalts the sacrifice of Jesus. It confirms that it was not an ordinary or godly man who gave His life on the cross for us, but God the Son Himself, as Jesus is the second person of the Godhead. This gives eternal value to His sacrifice. The Bible exalts His sacrifice so highly for a reason. The Bible also gives examples of godly men who obeyed and believed God, but none of them is exalted as Jesus is. People generally struggle to believe that God Himself approached us. They also struggle to believe that He did so through Jesus. The Jews themselves, who expected the Messiah, imagined that He would come differently. They expected a great warrior who would deliver them from all their enemies. He will indeed do that one day, at His second coming, but first He had to come and lay down His life for humanity so that whoever believes in Him and His sacrifice can receive eternal life.
It is also written in Scripture that He will come in His glory, but this is still to come. Many of the Jews focused only on that part of Scripture. That is why they struggled to believe that Jesus was the Messiah, since He came humbly and as a simple man. He did not come displaying great might or glory. This is also why people today struggle to believe that God could do such a thing. This lies at the core of why many people do not believe in the Trinity and prefer to believe in a being they call God, whom they often describe as the universe or nature. The Christian faith rests on the fact that God Himself approached humanity to restore the relationship they once had with Him. That is why the doctrine of the Trinity is so essential to Christianity and is not merely a detail to be added.
God chose with a purpose to manifest Himself in such a humble way. In 1 Corinthians 1:26–31, we see that God has chosen the foolish, weak, and base things of the world, as well as those that are rejected, so that His glory and wisdom may be clearly seen. This passage concerns believers, but we also see that Jesus Himself came in such a humble form. He not only became human but also came in humility, without presenting Himself as an earthly king or ruler. He lived among the poor and was known as a simple carpenter. Yet people followed Him not because of His appearance or social status, but because of the wisdom of God that He carried within Himself.
This is also one of the reasons why God chose to manifest Himself in this way: first through His Son, who came to this earth as a humble man, and then through believers, who in most cases are not of noble descent, from famous backgrounds, or among those considered wise by this world. He did this to reveal His wisdom, so that it could be clearly seen that these people are not the way they are because of who they are, but because of what God has done in them.
People generally struggle to believe that God approached us through His Son because, as we have said, He came in humility. They also struggle to believe that God manifests Himself through simple people. They often associate God’s wisdom with something outwardly great and are more inclined to believe that God would manifest Himself through the wisest minds in the world or through those considered great in the eyes of the world. This is because such wisdom is exalted by the world.
The other reason why God did not manifest Himself through what is exalted and glorious in this world is that the devil has already adopted that way. He disguises himself as an angel of light and appears exalted and wise in the eyes of the world. He is the ruler of this world and attracts people through the desire of the eyes. His wisdom is exalted by the world. He appears powerful so that he can attract people through their natural senses and what their eyes can see. This is how he first deceived humanity: they were attracted to the tree of the knowledge of good and evil because it appeared good in their eyes. God, however, although fully able to manifest Himself through visible greatness, chose to reveal Himself to humanity in a different way—through faith. His wisdom is hidden and reaches directly into the soul. It is manifested when a person places his faith and trust in God, even without seeing Him. Although Jesus has been depicted differently in many works of art, what we know from Scripture about His outward appearance is that He did not look much different from any other ordinary man. What made Him different was the wisdom He carried, which came from above. We can say that, in this way, God’s wisdom is clearly distinguished from earthly and diabolical wisdom, and He probably did it so that His wisdom could not be confused with theirs
The way God has chosen to manifest Himself to humanity can, at the same time, become a stumbling block to those who do not believe in Him. Perhaps God has chosen this way because He knows that the only way to establish a relationship with us is through faith. That is why He manifested Himself in such a way, so that only those who believe could reach out to Him. I think this is the most genuine way in which we can reach out to Him—not through our physical eyes, but through the eyes of our hearts, through faith. This is the way in which God is exalted, and we would not become corrupted by outward appearances. Our sinful nature can easily corrupt what we see with our eyes and turn it into something wrong. We have many such examples in Scripture.
Yes, one day we will see Him as He is (1 John 3:2), but until then we live and walk by faith (2 Corinthians 5:7). This is also how His promises unfold in our lives—through faith. That is why He manifested Himself in such a way—through humility and through what the world has despised. This was also the reason why Jesus, on various occasions, avoided being directly exalted while in His human form and refused to be made king (John 5:41; 8:50; 6:15). He was indeed the King, but He did not want to become an earthly king while He was on earth. He reserved that for the moment when He would be ultimately exalted by sitting at the right hand of God—the right hand of Power (Philippians 2:8–11; Acts 2:33; Mark 14:62).
Many people struggle to believe precisely for this reason—because He approached us in such a humble way. Even the greatest minds in the world cannot fully comprehend Him, and some even reject Him. That is why people sometimes prefer to believe in some undefined god or any other deity, but not in the Holy Trinity. This is because the Holy Trinity reveals God’s ultimate plan for humanity—that God sent His Son to die for people’s sins and that they need Him, since all of them are sinners. God also did this in an unexpected and unorthodox (unconventional) way, if we can call it that. Still, this is what He had been preparing humanity for throughout His Word.
There is also much glory that will be revealed and is described in Scripture, but Scripture also describes the humble way in which He came to approach us. One day, obviously, God will manifest Himself in all His glory in the New Jerusalem, and everything that we have esteemed as glorious in this world will fade away compared to God’s glory. Nothing will even be able to compare with it. The Trinity is also revealed through the Holy Spirit, who inhabits simple people who have simply put their trust in God. This is what makes them wise. This is also a point that people struggle to believe.
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