Scripture & the Trinity (AQA GCSE Religious Studies B): Revision Note

God as a Trinity: Mark

• Like Matthew’s Gospel, Mark’s gospel also provides an account of Jesus’s baptism

• In Mark’s account, the Trinity is present in the elements of the story

• The story shows God present as the:

  • Father, in the voice from heaven

  • Son, in the person of Jesus — God calls Jesus “my Son, the Beloved”

  • Spirit, represented by the dove coming down from God the Father to Jesus

• Mark actually wrote this account around fifteen years before Matthew

  • The fact that Matthew did not change any of the important facts shows that belief in the Trinity has been important from the very earliest days of the Christian Church

• This event is seen as the start of Jesus’s public ministry of teaching and doing good works, leading ultimately to his death and resurrection

  • Being baptised and having God’s presence (the Holy Spirit) with him from this point shows that the Trinity was involved in all of Jesus’s work of salvation

God as a Trinity: Galatians

• St Paul wrote about the Trinity to the Galatians

• This shows that God sends the Spirit of his Son (Jesus) into the hearts of believers to fill them with grace

• This phrase also shows that there are three persons: God the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit

• This passage also reveals the close relationship between God and believers

• Just as the Father, Son and Holy Spirit are linked closely together, this relationship can also apply to all believers

  • Like Jesus, Christians are called children of God

  • This means Christians can call God “Abba”, which means “Father” in Aramaic, just as Jesus did

  • God’s Holy Spirit is with all believers, just as it was with Jesus at his baptism

  • It is the same Holy Spirit that enters believers’ hearts, gives them strength and makes their close relationship with God possible