But the doctrine is also, in another and higher sense, more revealed than most doctrines. The root idea of revelation is not verbal announcement but the unveiling or disclosing of something that has been present, though concealed. In order to inform us that the Father has a Son and a Holy Spirit, the Father sent the Son and the Holy Spirit in person. The triunity of God was revealed when the persons of the Trinity became present among us in a new way, showing up in person and becoming the object of our human observation. The apostles testified that what they saw with their eyes and touched with their hands was “that which was from the beginning,” because it “was with the Father and was made manifest” to them (1 John 1:1-3). Doctrines that are first announced verbally have a character of revealedness less directly; the doctrine of the Trinity has it more directly. There are profound reasons that the doctrine of the Trinity has this special status, but at this point it is sufficient to note that this is in indicator that the doctrine of the Trinity is more than just another doctrine on the list of true things we have been taught by God about God. It is God’s self-revelation by way of presence in a more direct, intense, and personal way (Fred Sanders, The Triune God, 40).