The doctrine of the Trinity

As God alone may know and reveal what He is, so we must accept His statements, however mysterious or incomprehensible they may be. God is revealed to us as Father, Son and Holy Spirit, each with distinct personal attributes, but without division of nature, essence or being (from Article III in The Abstract of Principles of The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary). God is revealed to us as Father, indicating a special relation between Him and another person whom the Scriptures call His only begotten Son, the Father being God (Matthew 3:17, 11:25-26, 15:13; Mark 1:1, 14:36; Luke 2:49, 10:21; John 3:16-17, 10:36, 12:26-28). Likewise the Son is called God (Matthew 1:23; John 1:1, 20:28; Romans 9:5; Titus 1:3; Hebrews 1:8). The distinctness of the attributes of the Father and the Son can be clearly seen in the character revealed in such passages as John 3:35, 5:20, 10:17, 14:31, 17:24, Hebrews 1:2, and Philippians 2:6. That the Holy Spirit is revealed as a person of the Godhead is evident in such passages as Matthew 12:18, Acts 5:3-9, 28:25-27, and 1 Corinthians 2:10. The three are one God. The divine essence in each of the persons is such that neither has his own separate divine essence, but each subsists in one divine essence, common to all three. The Scriptures teach everywhere both the unity of God and that there are three divine persons. That the word “Trinity” is nowhere found in Scripture is no objection to the doctrine so clearly set forth.