“In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. The earth was without form and void, and darkness was over the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God was hovering over the face of the waters. And God said . . .” (Genesis 1:1–3, ESV)

Revelation of God as Trinity is the bedrock of all the Scriptures. But in the Old Testament it is largely concealed. The Hebrew writers could not fathom all the Spirit was guiding them to write (cf. Ps. 33:6). The reality of the one God as Father, Son, and Holy Spirit becomes clearer in the New Testament. Yet our Savior instructs us to read the Old Testament for what it reveals of Him (Luke 24:25–27, 44–48). God the Son gives us new lenses. The Hebrew Scriptures speak of Him.

The Bible’s first words are echoed in John’s Gospel: “In the beginning.” Yet John takes us beyond Genesis 1:1 to absolute beginning. Already present with God the Father is the Word who is also God and through whom all things were made. John declares this “Word became flesh and dwelt among us . . . the only Son from the Father” (1:14). He even affirms this incarnate Son is “the only God, who is at the Father’s side” (1:18). This is our first step toward understanding that “the only God” is the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit—three persons, one in essence, and distinct in relations.

So the very first words of the Bible when read through “Jesus glasses” intimate that God created all things through His Word and by His Spirit. One could never say that Genesis 1:1–3 proclaims the doctrine of the Trinity. But like so much of the Old Testament, it sets in motion God’s way of working into the world and the deeper, glorious revelation to come in Jesus Christ.