Article 2. Part 2. The Holy Trinity Series

HOW IMPORTANT IS THE BELIEF IN THE TRINITY?

• WELL THE FIFTH CENTURY NORTH AFRICAN CHURCH FATHER AUGUSTINE SAID THAT “WHOEVER DENIES THE TRINITY IS IN DANGER OF LOSING HIS SALVATION : YET ON THE OTHER THE SIDE OF THE COIN HE SAID, “WHOEVER TRIES TO UNDERSTAND THE TRINITY IS IN DANGER OF LOSING HIS MIND.” P145 THE MOSIAC OF CHRISTIAN BELIEF ROGER E OLSON.

THE PRACTICAL IMPLICATION OF THE TRIUNE GODHEAD IS IMMENSE, OUR SALVATION OUR JUSTIFICATION OUR SANCTIFICATION AND GLORIFICATION ALL DEPENDS UPON THE PERSONS AND THE WORKS OF OUR TRINITARIAN GOD, SO ITS VERY IMPORTANT. WITHOUT OUR TRIUNE GOD WE HAVE NO SALVATION!

TODAY WE ARE GOING GRAPPLE WITH THE TRINITY, NOT BECAUSE WE DENY IT, BUT BECAUSE AS CHRISTIANS WE BELIEVE IT, OUR GOD IS A TRIUNE GOD. NOTICE I SAID GRAPPLE, BECAUSE I’M NOT CLAIMING TO FULLY UNDERSTAND THE TRINITY THIS SIDE OF ETERNITY, ITS INEFFABLE! (MERE HUMAN LOGIC, WORDS, CANNOT UNDERSTAND IT OR FULLY EXPLAIN IT!)

ONE DAY THE GREAT THINKER AND THEOLOGIAN AUGUSTINE WAS PUZZLING OVER THE DOCTRINE OF THE TRINITY , HE WAS WAS WALKING ALONG THE BEACH ONE DAY WHEN HE OBSERVED A YOUNG BOY WITH A BUCKET, RUNNING BACK AND FORTH TO POUR WATER INTO A LITTLE HOLE. AUGUSTINE ASKED, "WHAT ARE YOU DOING?" THE BOY REPLIED, "I’M TRYING TO PUT THE OCEAN INTO THIS HOLE." THEN AUGUSTINE REALIZED THAT HE HAD BEEN TRYING TO PUT AN INFINITE GOD INTO HIS FINITE MIND.

LAST WEEK WHEN WE ENDEAVOURED TO PUT OUR INFINITE GOD INTO OUR FINITE MINDS AND I BELIEVE IT LEFT US STANDING IN AWE AND HUMILITY AS WE TRIED TO PUT SUCH A HUGE OCEAN INTO OUR LITTLE HOLES AS WE CONSIDERED HIS SELF EXISTENCE, HIS SELF SUFFICIENCY AND ETERNAL NATURE AND LIKEWISE THIS MORNING AS WE ENDEAVOUR TO UNPACK OUR TRIUNE GOD WE ARE SIMPLY DOING THE SAME THING.

THE BAPTIST CONFESSION OF FAITH STATES IN REGARD TO THE TRINITY ARTICLE 2: 3. IN THIS DIVINE AND INFINITE BEING THERE ARE THREE SUBSISTENCE(BEING OR PERSONS) THE FATHER, THE WORD OR SON, AND THE HOLY SPIRIT . ALL ARE ONE IN SUBSTANCE, POWER AND ETERNITY (TIMELESSNESS) EACH HAVING THE WHOLE DIVINE ESSENCE BEING UNDIVIDED (ALL ARE COMPLETELY GOD YET NOT DIVIDED)

PUT ANOTHER WAY WITHIN HIS OWN MYSTERIOUS BEING GOD IS FATHER, SON, AND HOLY SPIRIT. THE DESIGNATIONS ARE JUST WAYS IN WHICH GOD IS GOD. WITHIN THE GODHEAD THERE ARE THREE “PERSONS” WHO ARE NEITHER THREE GODS NOR THREE PARTS OF GOD, BUT COEQUALLY AND COETERNALLY GOD.

THE ARGUMENT: TO MANY IT DOESN’T MAKE ANY SENSE, (MUSLIMS AND THE TRINITY) HOW CAN GOD BE BOTH THREE AND BE ONE AT THE SAME TIME - FOR SOME THIS IS WHY MANY REJECT THE DOCTRINE OF THE TRINITY – MANY CANNOT UNDERSTAND IT, SO THEY DENY IT, ITS NOT LOGICAL. THEY THINK THEOLOGY SHOULD BE SIMPLE BECAUSE SIMPLICITY IS BEAUTIFUL AND GOD IS BEAUTIFUL AND THEREFORE GOD MUST BE SIMPLE AND SO ON.

BUT THIS IS A MISUNDERSTANDING OF REALITY AS WELL AS THE NATURE OF GOD.

BECAUSE REALITY IS NOT SIMPLE C.S LEWIS WROTE IN MERE CHRISTIANITY, IT IS NOT THE NEAT , NOT OBVIOUS, NOT WHAT YOU EXPECT....REALITY, IN FACT, IT IS USUALLY SOMETHING YOU WOULD HAVE GUESSED.”

CONSIDER THIS LECTERN SEEMS TO BE SIMPLE PIECE OF FURNITURE BUT IF WE ARE TO CONSIDER ITS DESIGN AND CONSTRUCTION AND ITS MATERIAL, TO THE ATOMS AND THE FORCES THAT HOLD THE WHOLE TOGETHER, IT THEN BECOME MORE COMPLEX, AND SO EVEN THESE SUPPOSEDLY SIMPLY THINGS BECOME MORE COMPLICATED. THEN CONSIDER THE DESIGNER WHO DESIGNED IT AGAIN IS MORE COMPLICATED THAN THE PODIUM AND THEN WHEN WE CONSIDER GOD WHO MADE THE DESIGNER WOULDN’T GOD BE THE MOST COMPLICATED AND INCOMPREHENSIBLE OF ALL.

NOTE: THE WORD TRINITY DOES NOT EXIST IN THE BIBLE, IT ACTUALLY COMES FROM THE LATIN WORD TRINITAS WHICH MEANS “THREENESS.” ALTHOUGH THE WORD IS NOT IN THE BIBLE THE TRINITARIAN IDEA IS ALL THROUGH THE BIBLE FROM GENESIS TO REVELATION. SO LIKE A DETECTIVE ON A CRIME SCENE, WHO GATHERS INFORMATION, TO BUILD A SUBSTANTIAL CASE. WE TOO CAN GATHER INFORMATION FROM THE BIBLE AND BUILD A SUBSTANTIAL CASE POINTING TO OUR TRIUNE GOD LETS DO THAT RIGHT NOW.

1. GOD IS ONE. DEUT 6:4- 9.

CHRISTIANS OFTEN GET ACCUSED OF POLYTHEISM A BELIEF IN A PLURALITY OF DIETIES, BUT IN REALITY LIKE JEWS WE BELIEVE THAT GOD IS ONE. YES WE BELIEVE IN A PLURALITY WITHIN THE GOD HEAD BUT THAT PLURALITY IS GOD AND NOT SEPARATE DIETIES IN AND OF THEMSELVES.

THESE THREE PERSONS ARE JUST WAYS IN WHICH GOD IS GOD, GOD IS NEITHER THREE GODS, NOR THREE PARTS OF GOD, BUT CO EQUAL AND CO – ETERNAL.

CHRISTIANS ARE MONOTHEISTS – WE HAVE NO PROBLEM CONFESSING WITH THE JEW.

DEUT 6: 4 HEAR, O ISRAEL: THE LORD OUR GOD, THE LORD IS ONE. WE BELIEVE IN ONE GOD