First of all, I want you to understand that I studied this out when I first learned the identity of Jesus Christ and came to understand the importance of baptism and why we are baptized. That knowledge is what prompted me to look at scripture through a magnifying glass.
It is my hope that you will study this and not immediately discard it because it does not fit with what you have established in your mind and/or been taught.
We must let God teach us His truth by using true theology, by putting scripture together with scripture and let it interpret itself.
Take a look at the following scriptures:
Jesus said: John 4:24 God is a Spirit...
At the Creation: Gen 1:2 And the earth was without form, and void; and darkness was upon the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters.
On the day of Pentecost:
Acts 2:16 But this is that which was spoken by the prophet Joel; 17 And it shall come to pass in the last days, saith God, I will pour out of my Spirit upon all flesh:
-and-
Joel 2:28 And it shall come to pass afterward, that I will pour out my spirit upon all flesh;
The Father of Jesus:
Luke 1:35 And the angel answered and said unto her, The Holy Ghost shall come upon thee, and the power of the Highest shall overshadow thee:
therefore also that holy thing which shall be born of thee shall be called the Son of God.
-and-
Matt 1:18 Now the birth of Jesus Christ was on this wise: When as his mother Mary was espoused to Joseph, before they came together, she was found with child of the Holy Ghost.
The above scriptures show us several things:
I took the liberty of looking up the original Greek and Hebrew words for the words "spirit" and "ghost", in both the Old and New Testaments, to understand it in my own mind. I found that the exact same Greek word is used where they have translated it into both Spirit and Ghost in the New Testament (IE: Holy Spirit and Holy Ghost), and that the Hebrew word when used to speak of the Spirit of God in the Old Testament, as in Gen 1:2, has the same meaning as the Greek word used in the New Testament. This is positive proof that there is no difference and no separation of any kind, it is just simply the Spirit of God - that is God - in all cases.
Take a look at the following scriptures:
Isaiah 9:6 For unto us a child is born unto us a son is given: and the government shall be upon his shoulder: and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor, The mighty God, The everlasting Father The Prince of Peace.
Matt 1:23 Behold, a virgin shall be with child, and shall bring forth a son, and they shall call his name Emmanuel, which being interpreted is, God with us
John 14:9 Jesus saith unto him, Have I been so long time with you, and yet hast thou not known me, Philip? he that hath seen me hath seen the Father and how sayest thou then, Shew us the Father?
Jesus said He is the Almighty God! Rev 1:8 I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the ending, saith the Lord, which is, and which was, and which is to come, the Almighty. … 18 I am he that liveth, and was dead; and, behold, I am alive for evermore, Amen; and have the keys of hell and of death.
Again, Jesus said He is the Almighty God! John 8:58 Jesus said unto them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Before Abraham was, I am. This very clearly states that Jesus is the I Am of the Old Testament, God the Father.
He is the image of the invisible God.
2 Corinthians 4:4 In whom the god of this world hath blinded the minds of them which believe not, lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ, who is the image of God should shine unto them.
Hebrews 1:3 Who being the brightness of his glory, and the express image of his person and upholding all things by the word of his power, when he had by himself purged our sins, sat down on the right hand of the Majesty on high:
Colossians 1:15 Who is the image of the invisible God the firstborn of every creature:
He is how God became part of His own creation by becoming a man in Jesus Christ.
1 Tim 3:16 And without controversy great is the mystery of godliness: God was manifest in the flesh justified in the Spirit, seen of angels, preached unto the Gentiles, believed on in the world, received up into glory.
John 1:1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God; … 14 And the Word was made flesh and dwelt among us, (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth.
Take a look at the following scriptures:
John 14:10 Believest thou not that I am in the Father, and the Father in me? the words that I speak unto you I speak not of myself: but the Father that dwelleth in me , he doeth the works.
The Godhead dwells in the body of Jesus... The Spirit which is God the Father dwells in the body of Christ! Col 2:9 For in him dwelleth all the fulness of the Godhead bodily...
2 Sam 7:22 Wherefore thou art great, O LORD God: for there is none like thee, neither is there any God beside thee according to all that we have heard with our ears.
Isaiah 43:10 Ye are my witnesses, saith the LORD, and my servant whom I have chosen: that ye may know and believe me, and understand that I am he: before me there was no God formed, neither shall there be after me. 11 I, even I, am the LORD; and beside me there is no saviour
Deut 6:4 Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God is one LORD:
Deut 4:35 Unto thee it was shewed, that thou mightest know that the LORD he is God; there is none else beside him
Deut 32:39 See now that I, even I, am he, and there is no god with me: I kill, and I make alive; I wound, and I heal: neither is there any that can deliver out of my hand.
So, from scripture we can understand that Jesus is the body God created for Himself to become a man. God is Jesus. He became Jesus Christ when He was born of a woman into His own creation.
It’s very difficult for us to understand as finite beings but here’s a thought that might help you: The body of Jesus is the limit of the unlimited, the visible of the invisible, the finite of the infinite. We have both a spirit and a body, but we are one person. God is a spirit (John 4:24). Jesus is simply the body of God manifested in the flesh, so He could walk among us as a man to fulfill His purpose (to rescue us).
Matthew 28:19 and 1 John 5:7 are two "proof texts" that people use to teach this.
I always wondered about Matthew 28:19 because it was one of those places that didn't seem to fit with the picture painted in my mind's eye through knowledge of the rest of the Bible. So, as I like to do, I studied it out.
The rest of the Bible does not perfectly line up with this scripture, and we have to use the whole Bible to determine what is truth.
For example: Every record of baptism in the book of Acts shows that the Apostles obeyed His command by baptizing in the name of Jesus, or in the name of the Lord (Jesus).
Would the Apostles have disobeyed Him? God forbid! Think about this. There is NO WAY that the Apostles would have disobeyed Jesus.
Here's a few scripture references showing baptism in the name of the Lord Jesus: Acts 2:38, Acts 8:16, Acts 10:48, Acts 19:5, Acts 22:16, Rom 6:3, Gal 3:27, Col 2:12, 1 Pet 3:21
That's the first test.
The second is; did "they", the interpreters of the Bible back in the first few centuries, change it to agree with what they believed? Like 1 John 5:7, where it is common knowledge that words were inserted that were not in the original text, (Click here to see a screenshot of Strongs Greek/Hebrew dictionary) did they insert words to make the scripture agree with what they thought was true?
I invite you to read the following references on the subject:
These facts prove that the original Matthew 28:19 did not say, "in the name of the Father, Son and Holy Ghost", but in fact lines up with the rest of the scriptures very well with the words, "in My name".
Since we know that words were inserted in 1 John 5, it's a short step to understand that these words were also inserted as well.
For answers to these questions, see the following pages:
Why does Jesus "pray to the Father"?
Conclusion: God became Jesus, and came to the earth Himself. It's His Spirit that dwells within Jesus and as such Jesus is God the Father Himself. He is the "Son" because God did not have a body before Christ, but became a man and was born as a human being, so He is the Son but is fully God. The trinity was a doctrine introduced a long, long time ago but is not evident in scripture. Please see the links above for scriptures and other articles linked in them that will give you much more information to study if you so desire. The Lord bless you all.