Beginning from Israel’s confession that “the LORD our God, the LORD is one,” this lesson traces how Scripture reveals that one God as three distinct persons: the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, each fully God yet not to be confused with one another, working together in a settled order, as at Jesus’ baptism and in his commission to baptize “in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.”
That same pattern of unity within diversity runs through all of creation and, most importantly, through the church: one body with many members, each different yet held together in Christ, who is its head. Fellowship in that body is not automatic; it is broken by unconfessed sin and unreconciled relationships, which is why Jesus tells worshipers to leave their gift at the altar and first go be reconciled to their brother, so that the church’s life together brings glory to God.