The Father, Son and Holy Spirit are continually placed in Scripture on a footing of perfect equality. This is very plainly seen in the formula of baptism
Here, Father, Son and Holy Ghost in one name are alike invoked over each candidate for baptism
When our Lord was baptized with the baptism of John we read:
"And Jesus when He was baptized, went up straightway out of the water: and, lo, the heavens were opened unto Him, and he [John the Baptist] saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove, and lighting upon Him: and lo a voice from Heaven, saying, This is My beloved Son in whom I am well pleased " (Matt. 3:16,1716And 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: 17And lo a voice from heaven, saying, This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased. (Matthew 3:16‑17)).
Here we have a wonderful revelation of the Holy Trinity -Father, Son and Holy Spirit, One in counsel and plan for the blessing of man. This was surely designed to give the Man, Christ Jesus, His true place as the eternal Son of God in the eyes of John the Baptist, and of the repentant remnant, who were present.
The well-known benediction brings the three Persons of the Holy Trinity together in a striking way:
Again the Apostle Peter brings the three together in similar fashion:
Here it would be well to give a word of warning. We might be inclined to look upon the Father as first in importance; the Son as second in importance; the Holy Spirit as third in importance. But this would be an utterly wrong thought. 'If the Father is God, He is supreme, and none higher. If the Son is God, He is supreme, and none higher. If the Holy Spirit is God, He is supreme, and none higher.
An illustration may help. Supposed a handsome chandelier with three branches, each branch equal in shape and size, each stretching out an equal distance from the central stem, each giving equal light from the same source. If the question were asked, Which branch is first in importance, which second, which third? you would rightly reply no differentiation of this sort can be made.
But further suppose that the chandelier had to have its branches numbered for the purpose of some very particular classification. The branches would have to be distinguished in some way. They would have to be numbered one, two and three. So it is with the subject before us. The baptismal formula gives us the Divine ordering of the name of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit. But to differentiate the one from the other on the lines of inequality would be very foolish and ignorant; and at the bottom, if the seriousness of this were understood, blasphemous.