How doth it appear that the Son and the Holy Ghost are God equal with the Father?
The scriptures manifest that the Son and the Holy Ghost are God equal with the Father, ascribing unto them such names,1 attributes,2 works,3 and worship,4 as are proper to God only.
Scripture proofs
The Westminster Assembly's proof texts (KJV). The bracketed numbers in the answer above mark the clause each set of references supports; expand a row to read the verses.
1 Isa. 6:3, 5, 8; John 12:41; Acts 5:3–4; Acts 28:25; 1 John 5:20
Isa. 6:3 And one cried unto another, and said, Holy, holy, holy, is the LORD of hosts: the whole earth is full of his glory.
Isa. 6:5 Then said I, Woe is me! for I am undone; because I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips: for mine eyes have seen the King, the LORD of hosts.
Isa. 6:8 Also I heard the voice of the Lord, saying, Whom shall I send, and who will go for us? Then said I, Here am I; send me.
These things said Esaias, when he saw his glory, and spake of him.
Acts 5:3 But Peter said, Ananias, why hath Satan filled thine heart to lie to the Holy Ghost, and to keep back part of the price of the land?
Acts 5:4 Whiles it remained, was it not thine own? and after it was sold, was it not in thine own power? why hast thou conceived this thing in thine heart? thou hast not lied unto men, but unto God.
And when they agreed not among themselves, they departed, after that Paul had spoken one word, Well spake the Holy Ghost by Esaias the prophet unto our fathers,
And we know that the Son of God is come, and hath given us an understanding, that we may know him that is true, and we are in him that is true, even in his Son Jesus Christ. This is the true God, and eternal life.
2 John 1:1; John 2:24–25; Isa. 9:6; 1 Cor. 2:10–11
In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.
John 2:24 But Jesus did not commit himself unto them, because he knew all men,
John 2:25 And needed not that any should testify of man: for he knew what was in man.
For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given: and the government shall be upon his shoulder: and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace.
1 Cor. 2:10 But God hath revealed them unto us by his Spirit: for the Spirit searcheth all things, yea, the deep things of God.
1 Cor. 2:11 For what man knoweth the things of a man, save the spirit of man which is in him? even so the things of God knoweth no man, but the Spirit of God.
3 Col. 1:16; Gen. 1:2
For by him were all things created, that are in heaven, and that are in earth, visible and invisible, whether they be thrones, or dominions, or principalities, or powers: all things were created by him, and for him:
And the earth was without form, and void; and darkness was upon the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters.
4 Matt. 28:19; 2 Cor. 13:14
Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost:
The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the communion of the Holy Ghost, be with you all. Amen.
This doctrine across the Standards
Where the Confession and the Westminster Shorter Catechism treat the same matter, so the question can be studied alongside its parallel statements.
In the Westminster Confession
II.3 In the unity of the Godhead there be three persons, of one substance, power, and eternity: God the …
In the unity of the Godhead there be three persons, of one substance, power, and eternity: God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Ghost. The Father is of none, neither begotten nor proceeding; the Son is eternally begotten of the Father; the Holy Ghost eternally proceeding from the Father and the Son.
→ II.3 · Of God, and of the Holy TrinityVIII.2 The Son of God, the second person in the Trinity, being very and eternal God, of one substance, …
The Son of God, the second person in the Trinity, being very and eternal God, of one substance, and equal with the Father, did, when the fulness of time was come, take upon him man's nature, with all the essential properties and common infirmities thereof, yet without sin: being conceived by the power of the Holy Ghost in the womb of the Virgin Mary, of her substance. So that two whole, perfect, and distinct natures, the Godhead and the manhood, were inseparably joined together in one person, without conversion, composition, or confusion. Which person is very God and very man, yet one Christ, the only mediator between God and man.
→ VIII.2 · Of Christ the MediatorIn the Westminster Shorter Catechism
Q.5 Are there more Gods than one?
There is but one only, the living and true God.
→ Open Q.5Q.6 How many persons are there in the Godhead?
There are three persons in the Godhead; the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost; and these three are one God, the same in substance, equal in power and glory.
→ Open Q.6