Do Christians believe in 3 Gods?

1 John 5:7

For there are 3 that bear witness in Heaven: the Father, the Word, and the Holy Spirit; and these three are one.

One of the Hebrew names for the God of Abraham is Elohim. This is a uniplural noun, a noun which takes singular verbs. Consider the word Cherub (one angel) and Cherubim (many angels). The “im” adds plurality to the word. But we also know that believers in Elohim were not polytheists. They believed in one God. 

Why is plurality used in describing this  monotheistic belief?

 It makes sense in light of how God progressively reveals himself in the new testament. We get a clear picture of Father, Son and Holy Spirit.

In 2007, My daughter and I watched a movie about Jesus. She was 7 years old at the time. After that, we drove  to Nashville, about an hour from Columbia where my home was. I had a music business meeting at Starbucks Coffee. On the way back from the meeting, Rachel broke the silence and said, “Hey.” The next thing she said impressed me. Here I was thinking, she was getting bored with the Jesus film back in Columbia, but much to my surprise she had been thinking this over in her mind. Here it was 3 hours later and she said, “Jesus was praying to God. I thought Jesus was God?”  She was still trying to wrap her mind around this concept. I explained, “the Son prays to the Father, because they are persons who can communicate with one another in the Godhead.” All through the bible we read that there is one God. All the persons of the Godhead are referred to as God. 

In Genesis we see one person of the Godhead talking to another person of the Godhead. In light of what we see throughout scripture, we can conclude that this is not a case of plural of majesty, like you see in movies when a king refers to himself as “we”.

Genesis 1:26

Let Us make man in Our image

The word trinity is never used in the bible, but the concept of the trinity is clearly taught. It goes beyond reason, but not against reason. It would be a contradiction if we said we believed in one God and three gods or if we said God is one person and three persons. But this is not the case. We believe in one God revealed in three persons.

When we got back to the house in Columbia, I further explained the trinity to my daughter. Although there is no perfect analogy to explain the trinity, I used things she could see to give her a picture. I used a cup of water to symbolize God. I put the water in the microwave for 1 minute and then placed it on the counter. I explained the steam rising from the cup is symbolic of the Holy Spirit

Genesis 1:2

And the Spirit of God was hovering over the face of the waters.

I took an ice cube from the freezer and placed it next to the cup. The ice is symbolic of The Son.

John 1:14

And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us. She could see three forms coming from one source.

Why is water, steam & ice not a perfect metaphor?

Because it could lead to heresy; modalism or oneness theology. Jesus is not the Father and tthe Father is not the Son. The Father, Son and Holy Spirit are distinct Persons. 

Why do I still have trouble understanding this?

The Apostle Paul asks, “who has known the mind of the Lord?” That’s a rhetorical question. We know the answer is nobody. And if you worship a god you completely comprehend, you don’t have a god big enough. You’re worshiping an idol.

Romans 11:34

For who has known the mind of the Lord, or who became His counselor?