2 Corinthians 13:14 Father, Son, Holy Spirit
“May the peace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and love of God, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all” (NIV).
This verse is a benediction, a farewell from Paul’s second letter to the Corinthians. He seems to want them to remember that the God they love and obey can be described as three, Father, Son, and Holly Ghost. As children of Israel, they were very familiar with God the Father. As followers of Jesus they were certainly familiar with Jesus the Son, and Jesus had told them that the Father would send them a counselor, the Holy Spirit. Since he spoke of the three members of the Trinity in one verse, He seems to wants to remind them that, even though there are three parts of God, the Trinity, He is still one God whose every thought and action has been to bless them and draw them close to Him.
This picture illustrates the three parts of the Trinity of God, and it also illustrates the closeness to the three members of the Trinity. In this picture we can see water in its three forms; gas as the fog above the river, solid as the ice resting below the fog, and liquid beneath the ice. Water in all three forms can be seen in this picture and the photograph brings them all close together as one.
This verse shows the three parts of the Trinity, and it also shows the ways in which each part interacts with us, God’s planned grand finale of all creation. Jesus brings us peace. John 14:27 (NIV) tells us, “Peace I leave with you, my peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid.” God sends His love. We read in John 3:16 (NIV), “For God so loved the world that He gave His one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.” The Holy Spirit brings us fellowship. In 1 Corinthians 12:12-13 (NIV) we are told that even though we may be many, we, as the Trinity of God, are one: “Just as a body, though one, has many parts, but all its many parts form one body, so it is with Christ. For we were all baptized by one Spirit so as to form one body—whether Jews or Gentiles, slave or free—and we were all given one Spirit to drink.”
We are blessed in many ways by our God, so let us receive and enjoy the peace and love and fellowship we have been given. And then let us pass them on to those we meet.