The account of the Trinity as described by Coppedge is an excellent understanding of how the Trinity exists according to human understanding.  Coppedge begins by detailing how the Trinity is revealed in scripture.  The New Testament is the foundation for the Trinity.  We first are made aware of the Trinity when Jesus the Christ ascends and in his parting words commissions his followers to go out and baptize in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.  With this revelation of seeing the three clearly as one, Coppedge begins to reveal the Trinity throughout scripture.  It first appears in the Genesis account where a discussion of heavenly host is revealed.  The discussion states that we have created humanity in our image, implying that humanity is created according to the image of the Triune God.  This new Christian understanding gives us a new appreciation for Old Testament scriptures where the either the Father and Son or Father and Spirit are mentioned throughout the Old Testament.  In the Old Testament they are revealed in a veiled fashion that prevents the reader from understanding the full Trinity without the New Testament revelation.  We see the presence of the Son in Creation according to the Gospel of John and we see the strong connection of the Father and Son throughout all four Gospels.  Matthew and Luke also discuss the Holy Spirit's presence in the conception of the Christ and make it clear that all three persons of the Trinity are involved in the coming of the Messiah.  The Gospels also make constant reference to the Spirit’s presence with Jesus.  This includes the Spirit descending upon Christ at his baptism, Christ returning to the Spirit after the wilderness experience, the presence of the Spirit at the Transfiguration, and finally, the Spirit comes in its full force at Pentecost.  The book of Hebrews best explains the relationship of the Trinity to the God of the Old Testament with the Christian experience of the New Testament.  Coppedge then explains the price and expectation of discipleship as revealed through the Trinity.

In the chapter on the Trinity in the Old Testament, Coppedge illustrates that the Trinity begins to be revealed and understood as the maturity of humankind develops.  He points to the fact that humankind first receives a reference to God the father in the Exodus when God instructs Moses to tell Pharaoh that if Pharaoh seeks to smite God’s first born, God will smite Pharaoh’s first born.  Further reference is made in Deuteronomy 32 4-6 when God says is he not your father who created you?  The concept of God the Father is finally developed in Kings when God’s relationship to David is described as that of a Father to his son.  A royal and holy line of descendents is defined.  The Psalms make constant reference to God as the Father.  The fully-developed idea of the Trinity caused serious concern for the Monotheistic Jewish faith.  They saw this as a new form of polytheism.

It also created new concern for the early Church.  How do we reconcile these clear references the Gospels and Acts make to the divine presence of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit?  This began a long and painful dialogue for the early Church.  Many ideas were introduced countering the idea of the Trinity.  These ideas usually were on the lines that Jesus was not fully God and to what degree are Jesus and the Holy Spirit fully divine?  The ideas of Adoptionism, Modalism, and Arianism were developed.  These all denied the full divinity of Christ.  These concepts of Christ were rejected as heresies at the First and Second Nicene Councils.  The early Church combed through scripture to make the case that Jesus and the Spirit were fully divine.  Irenaeus made the first explanation of the Trinity, introducing the ideas of the economic Trinity and the ontological Trinity and further defining that the Son ascended from the right hand and the spirit the left hand of God the Father.  Tertullian described the three persons of the Trinity as mere extensions of the others using the analogy of the spring, creek, and the river, all from one source, extending to the other but still the same source.  Origen then developed the idea of the threeness of the Trinity Father, Son, and Holy Spirit but all three one God.  Athanasius made a similar argument based on the work done at the first Nicene Council.  He introduced the argument that the Trinity shared the same essence.  He further explained that the Son and the Spirit were eternal, as is the Father because one is the Father's offspring and the Spirit his breath; therefore, distinct yet the same.  The Cappadocian Fathers further built on the idea that the Spirit and Son proceed from the Father and owe their being to the Father.  The work of these Theologians was used to expound on the nature of the Holy Spirit at the Nicene/Constantinople Council.  Augustine later argued from the aspect of the unity of the Trinity.  He explained the equality, essence, will and actions, and the difficulty in distinguishing the personhood of the Trinity.  His arguments have the most influence on the Western Church which accounts for strife between the Church and the West’s inabilities to articulate the Trinity to its followers, according Coppedge.

Coppedge then dedicates a great deal of time to the understanding of the economic (God’s plan, or order) and the ontological Trinity (God’s essence).  He makes the argument that we first understand God through his plan and order of creation.  This is done by the observations of creation as well as the experience of humanity.  The experience of humanity includes Holy Scripture, as this was experience and revelation to humanity.  However, it continues as God continues to reveal himself to us, as He also does through creation.  Man’s experience is primarily understood through the revelations given by the Son and the Spirit.  Certain things are revealed through the actions of the Father, such as creation.  Others are revealed through the Son, such as redemption, and others still through the Spirit, such as sanctification.  Yet these things cannot be separated altogether from the unity of all three because of the ontological nature of the Trinity.

The Ontological Trinity reflects the internal essence and unity of the Trinity.  This is the part of the Trinity that makes them one.  It is not possible for the three to think differently or act in such a way that opposes the other.  They are the model for the idea of the scientific clone.  In essence they are one in the same.  At the same time they are three separate and distinct divine beings.

Coppedge’s work thus far has proven to be an excellent description and understanding of the Trinity.