I’m confused about the trinity. Is Jesus God or connected but separate like two married people? Like being about the same goals, beliefs, intertwined in a sense
The expression “Son of God” is a common ancient idiomatic expression. It doesn’t translate into modern American English, so people often read “Son of” to mean “male child” or “offspring.” The expression actually means “one and the same with” or “incarnation of,” and in this sense means Jesus is God. This expression’s meaning will help you understand how Jesus can be God.
The Bible often uses this expression (“son of”) in various ways. A “son of the prophets,” such as mentioned in 2 Kings 9:1 is simply “a prophet.” At Luke 10:6 a “son of peace” is simply a peaceful person. Judas Iscariot is called the “son of destruction” or “perdition” at John 17:12. which simply means he was doomed to destruction. And over and over again the Bible uses the expression “son of man” to mean a human being. In fact, in Daniel 7:13, 14 the prophet foresees a time when God would allow his Kingdom to be ruled by someone who had the appearance of a human being, or the “Son of Man.” Jesus used this term to claim that he was this human seen in the prophecy and therefore the one to rule God’s kingdom.–Mark 16:42.
It is not just the Hebrews who used this expression either. Cleopatra, queen of Egypt, claimed to be the “daughter of Isis” and Rome’s emperors were referred to by the title “son of deity.” In both cases the term meant that these rulers claimed to be the incarnation of the gods their people worshipped.
So well known what this expression implied, when Pilate heard Jews refer to Jesus as the “Son of God,” Pilate grew frightened and looked for a way to release Jesus. (John 19:7-12) And when Roman centurions saw the astonishing events that accompanied Jesus’ death, they declared that Jesus must have been a Deity by using the same Roman expression: “Truly, this was the Son of God!”–Matthew 27:54.
So the contemporaries of Jesus, even pagan Romans, considered Jesus to be an Incarnation. He was not an offspring of a god but God in the flesh.
God is made up of three Persons: the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Each Person is a separate individual and totally God, but this does not mean there are three Gods.
To illustrate: man and wife are said to make up “one flesh.” (Genesis 2:24; Mark 10:8; Ephesians 5:31). While a man and his wife are separate persons, both totally human, joined in marriage the two make up the “one flesh” of united humanity. They each have different roles, sometimes one or the other takes the lead and the other has to submit (depending on the circumstances), but neither becomes a greater or lesser human because of this. They still remain “one flesh.”
It is the same with God. If two human persons make up “one flesh,” it should not be surprising that God (who is greater than humans) is made up of three divine Persons. “One flesh” of humanity is made up of man and wife as the one God that created humanity is made up of Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.
Just as man and wife have different roles, with one taking the lead and the other submitting at times, the same happens with God. Often the Father takes the lead and the Son follows this lead. The Spirit is often under the direction of the Father and the Son together. But submission among the Persons of God never makes one less or greater than the other in the same way that this never makes man or wife less or greater than the other as well.
So while it is more than being oriented as to goals and beliefs, God is very much united among all three Persons for God exists in three Persons.
