How many persons are there in the Godhead?

✠ God & Decree

There are three persons in the Godhead; the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost¹; and these three are one God, the same in substance, equal in power and glory.²

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 Matt. 3:16-17; 28:19; 2 Cor. 13:14; 1 Pet. 1:2

Matt. 3:16-17; 28:19

Matt. 3:16 And Jesus, when he was baptized, went up straightway out of the water: and, lo, the heavens were opened unto him, and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove, and lighting upon him:

Matt. 3:17 And lo a voice from heaven, saying, This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.

Matt. 28:19 Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost:

2 Cor. 13:14

The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the communion of the Holy Ghost, be with you all. Amen.

1 Pet. 1:2

Elect according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, through sanctification of the Spirit, unto obedience and sprinkling of the blood of Jesus Christ: Grace unto you, and peace, be multiplied.

2 Ps. 45:6; John 1:1; 17:5; Acts 5:3-4; Rom. 9:5; Col. 2:9; Jude 24-25

Ps. 45:6

Thy throne, O God, is for ever and ever: the sceptre of thy kingdom is a right sceptre.

John 1:1; 17:5

John 1:1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.

John 17:5 And now, O Father, glorify thou me with thine own self with the glory which I had with thee before the world was.

Acts 5:3-4

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.

Rom. 9:5

Whose are the fathers, and of whom as concerning the flesh Christ came, who is over all, God blessed for ever. Amen.

Col. 2:9

For in him dwelleth all the fulness of the Godhead bodily.

Jude 24-25

Jude 1:24 Now unto him that is able to keep you from falling, and to present you faultless before the presence of his glory with exceeding joy,

Jude 1:25 To the only wise God our Saviour, be glory and majesty, dominion and power, both now and ever. Amen.

This doctrine across the Standards

Where the Confession and the Westminster Larger 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 Trinity

VIII.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.