God In Three Persons, Blessed Trinity
Part 1
TCF Sermon
October 16, 2011
Sometimes the view younger children have of God is fairly insightful. Sometimes it’s confused. Sometimes it’s funny. Sometimes it’s all of the above. Here are some examples in children’s letters to God.
A little girl writes:
Dear God,
I read the Bible. What does 'begat' mean? Nobody will tell me.
Love, Allison
Or how about these?
Dear God,
Is it true that my father won't get into Heaven if he uses his bowling words in the house?
- Anita
Dear God,
Did you mean for the giraffe to look like that or was it an accident?
Love, Norma
Dear God,
Who draws the lines around the countries?
- Nan
Dear God,
Thank you for the baby brother, but what I prayed for was a puppy.
Love Joyce
This next one’s from a little boy named Bruce. Hmmmm.
Dear God,
Please send me a pony. I never asked for anything before - you can look it up.
- Bruce
Dear God,
I think about you sometimes even when I'm not praying.
- Elliott
Dear God,
We read Thomas Edison made light. But in Sunday school they said you did it. So I bet he stole your idea.
Sincerely, Donna
We adults sometimes struggle with some of the concepts of God we hear about, or those we read about in scripture. We don’t always get it right either, or if we get it right, we don’t always understand why it’s right.
Today, and next Sunday, we’re going to spend some time looking at a theme that’s very biblical, an idea that’s distinctively Christian in its understanding, but one with which most of us, if we’re honest, would have to say we struggle, or at least have at some point in our Christian lives. We may not struggle to believe it, either because someone whose spiritual maturity and understanding we trust has told us this is true, or because we’ve seen it spoken of or hinted at in scripture ourselves, even though it’s not entirely understandable to us. But the doctrine of the Trinity is a challenging one to our finite minds, despite the fact that it’s referenced in the Word of God more times than we can cite this morning, or even next week.
The New Testament especially assumes the existence of the One God we serve, revealed to us, and relating to us, in three separate persons.
It’s interesting to note that the word Trinity is never used in scripture. But then again, neither is any word in scripture translated as Bible. Neither is the word incarnation. So the absence of this word alone is not enough for us to dismiss it as an unbiblical idea.
We have to wrestle with what we read, what scripture reveals to us, what God has chosen to reveal to us about Himself. This is the way God is, and for us to try to explain it away somehow, because we cannot fully understand it, is to do less than what Jesus told us to do:
John 4:24 (NIV) God is spirit, and his worshipers must worship in spirit and in truth."
To worship God in truth, we must worship Him as He reveals Himself to us. And the way He reveals Himself to us, as difficult as it may be for us to fully engage and understand, is as One God, in three persons. Here’s a doctrine that the early church understood at least in part by experience, before they could articulate it well, and even begin to explain it or understand it, as much as any human mind can truly understand. One infinite God who reveals Himself to us in three persons.
Among the reams of material I read and studied in preparation for this message, I found that one author says essentially that believers in Christ already have experienced the reality of the Trinity, and they know this doctrine, even if they don’t realize it. We know God as three persons, even if we can’t explain it. Theologian Fred Sanders of Biola University in California, wrote a book called The Deep Things of God: How the Trinity Changes Everything. Another theologian, James White, wrote a book called The Forgotten Trinity.
Among the many resources I studied for today’s message, I can recommend both these books if you’re interested in a more detailed study of this doctrine.
But quoting first Fred Sanders about the Trinity:
Reality comes first, and understanding follows it. If you want to cultivate the ability to think well about the Trinity, the first step is to realize that there is more to Trinitarianism than just thinking well. Instead, Christians should recognize that when we start thinking about the Trinity, we do so because we find ourselves already deeply involved in the reality of God's triune life as he has opened it up to us for our salvation, and revealed it in the Bible. In order to start doing good Trinitarian theology, we need only to reflect on that present reality and unpack it. The more we realize that we are already compassed about by the reality of the gospel Trinity, the more our Trinitarianism will matter to us. Evangelicals in particular should recognize that we have everything we need to think about the Trinity in a way that changes everything.
Why is that? Why can this theologian say that we already have everything we need to think about, and to understand in a significant way, this important biblical teaching about the Trinity? We know it because we’ve experienced it. If you have trusted Christ for your salvation, if you’re leaning on His saving grace for your eternal destiny, you do know the Trinity, because you’ve experienced God in all three persons, whether or not you can explain it that way, in Trinitarian terms.
You are a Christian because you’ve received the spirit of adoption from the Father. You are a follower of Jesus, God the Son, because you have living inside you, and have had living inside you, since the moment you surrendered to His grace, a Spirit, God the Holy Spirit, that enables you to call God “Abba Father.”
Notice what we’ve described here. We have God the Father. We have God the Son. We have God the Holy Spirit. One God, three Persons. The Trinity.
Sanders writes:
The Trinity is lurking in the gospel, just as it is lurking in the life of every believer. This Trinitarian reality is going on in our Christian lives whether we know, that we know it, or not.
We have a tacit understanding of the Trinity, even if we don’t always have an explicit understanding. Tacit means understood or implied without being stated. Explicit means fully or clearly expressed or demonstrated, leaving nothing merely implied.
Theologian James White believes this is exactly what the early church had as well, even as they began to form the canon of Scripture:
None of these passages say, “Now the doctrine of the Trinity is this…” Nor do they need to. There is an entire body of shared experience and beliefs that form the background (for these passages) --- much like a letter to a friend doesn’t require you to go over who you are, your history and background and shared experiences. In the same way, the early believers spoke easily of the Father, Son and Spirit without giving the slightest indication that they found anything strange in joining these divine persons in the one work of salvation and in the edification of the church.
But moving to a more explicit understanding is not unimportant, and that’s what we hope to accomplish over the course of this week’s message and next. My hope is that we can move to a place that we’re like the early believers, where we can speak easily of God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit, as we see God at work in our salvation, our edification, our transformation as believers in a Trinitarian God.
If you think you have trouble understanding the Trinity, move over. It’s a big club. Though the earliest believers may indeed have been very comfortable with this doctrine because they experienced it, saw it in action in the persons of Jesus Christ and the Holy Spirit, since those early days, Christians have wrestled with this mystery, and have done so throughout the history of the church of Jesus Christ.
It’s been a major impetus for false doctrine, a reason for many of the early church councils that were compelled to articulate Christian teaching in a way that was clear. It has been a catalyst of heresy, a rich mine for not just false Christian doctrine, but false religions, and it has been a hurdle to overcome in evangelizing religions that mischaracterize what this doctrine really means.
Though the earliest members of the universal church of Jesus Christ had at least a tacit understanding of this great truth of our faith, as time went on, the early church quickly saw, what we even see today. That is, the doctrine of the Trinity is critical to a truly Christian faith. And that the doctrine of the Trinity, improperly understood, is a source of all kinds of not just misunderstanding, but falsehoods, false doctrine, and heresy that leads people astray from pure devotion to Christ.
So, before we take a brief look at the history of the Trinity, and deviation from this doctrine, in church history and in the present day, let’s take a moment to define it a little more fully.
Matthew 3:16-17 (NIV) As soon as Jesus was baptized, he went up out of the water. At that moment heaven was opened, and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and lighting on him. And a voice from heaven said, "This is my Son, whom I love; with him I am well pleased."
Here in this passage we see all three persons of the Trinity in action, visibly or audibly. In the Old Testament, in several places, we see definite hints of the Trinity. In the New Testament, this doctrine is opened up for us much more clearly, because it’s in redemption. As we’ve noted, it’s in the gospel itself, the Good News, that the Trinity is most clearly at work, and active, and present.
In this passage, we see God the Father, speaking from heaven. We see Jesus, God the Son, being baptized. He’s a person, a person the Father loves and is pleased with, as a Son. And we see God the Holy Spirit, descending in the form of a dove.
Jesus isn’t speaking to Himself, but He’s spoken to by God the Father. There’s no way you can read this passage with any kind of interpretive integrity and confuse the three individual persons of the One who is Trinity.
This passage demonstrates some key elements of the Trinity, which we’ll explore in more detail as we go along, today and next week.
First, we see the deity of Jesus. We also see that in many other passages, but without the deity of Christ, there can be no Trinity. This is a critical element of the Trinity. ach person of the Trinity is fully God. God the Father is not 1/3 God, Jesus is not 1/3 God and the Holy Spirit is not 1/3 God.
We also see the intimate relationship between the persons in the Trinity. God the Son, Jesus, fulfills God the Father’s will by being baptized. God the Holy Spirit, in the form of a dove, expresses God’s approval of Jesus’ act of obedience, just as much as the words that are heard from heaven, by implication clearly attributed to God the Father.
Anyone seeking to deny any aspect of the Trinity in some way has a lot they must explain away in this passage. This eyewitness report, repeated in Mark and Luke with a few different words and details, is a clear example of the Trinity at work. One God, three persons with different roles, working together in relationship.
One of the problems with explaining the Trinity is that we often tend to think and explain things by analogy. An analogy is explaining that this something is somehow like that something. This often helps us relate to something that’s not as easily understandable in a way that is more understandable.
I want to read to you some analogies, which have nothing to do with today’s message, except to illustrate analogies. These are from a humor contest to see who could write the funniest analogies.
1. Her face was a perfect oval, like a circle that had its two sides gently compressed by a ThighMaster.
2. His thoughts tumbled in his head, making and breaking alliances like underpants in a dryer without Cling Free.
3. She grew on him like she was a colony of E. Coli, and he was room-temperature Canadian beef.
4. She had a deep, throaty, genuine laugh, like that sound a dog makes just before it throws up.
5. Her hair glistened in the rain like a nose hair after a sneeze.
6. John and Mary had never met. They were like two hummingbirds who had also never met.
7. Even in his last years, Granddad had a mind like a steel trap, only one that had been left out so long it had rusted shut.
8. The young fighter had a hungry look, the kind you get from not eating for a while.
9. He was as lame as a duck. Not the metaphorical lame duck, either, but a real duck that was actually lame, maybe from stepping on a land mine or something.
10. He was deeply in love. When she spoke, he thought he heard bells, as if she were a garbage truck backing up.
Yes, analogies are helpful and sometimes funny – even scripture uses analogies. We are like sheep who’ve gone astray. The Kingdom of Heaven is like a mustard seed, or like leaven. But here’s the problem in analogies of the Trinity, and indeed any attribute of God. They fall way, way short of adequate explanation. They might lend some understanding, but depending on what we’re talking about, they may not be truly helpful, and they always break down at some point.
What’s more, in attempting to compare God’s attributes to something, analogies may actually explain something wrongly. Here’s an example related to the Trinity. Some people have explained that the Trinity is like H2O – water.
Water exists in different forms. It can be frozen, in which case it’s ice. It can be vapor, like the water vapor that forms clouds or fog. It can be liquid, like this water in my cup.
But to say that the Trinity is like that not only falls short of explaining its reality, but actually denies something very important that scripture teaches us about the Trinity. That’s because, though water can indeed be vapor, frozen or liquid, and still be essentially water, the same chemical compound, it cannot be all three at the same time.
What Scripture teaches us is that God is Father, God is Son, and God is Holy Spirit at the same time, all the time, eternally. It has always been this way. The Trinity is eternally co-existent.
When we begin next week to look at some of the false doctrines and heresies that have been rooted in a misunderstanding of the Trinity, we’ll see this one clearly.
The reason it’s very difficult to create analogies about God’s attributes is that God is absolutely unique. We can’t come up with an adequate analogy because we cannot truly compare God as a Being to anything or anyone else.
Exodus 15:11 (NIV) "Who among the gods is like you, O Lord? Who is like you-- majestic in holiness, awesome in glory, working wonders?
So, though I reserve the right to resort to an analogy or two in this message, I want to speak to you propositionally about the Trinity for a moment.
Holman Bible Dictionary says this:
(Trinity is a) Theological term used to define God as an undivided unity expressed in the threefold nature of God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit. As a distinctive Christian doctrine, the Trinity is considered as a divine mystery beyond human comprehension to be reflected upon only through scriptural revelation.
Holman Dictionary concludes its article on the Trinity with this –
1. God is One. The God of the Old Testament is the same God of the New Testament. His offer of salvation in the Old Testament receives a fuller revelation in the New Testament in a way that is not different, but more complete. The doctrine of the Trinity does not abandon the monotheistic faith of Israel.
2. God has three distinct ways of being in the redemptive event, yet He remains an undivided unity. That God the Father imparts Himself to mankind through Son and Spirit without ceasing to be Himself is at the very heart of the Christian faith. A compromise in either the absolute sameness of the Godhead or the true diversity reduces the reality of salvation.
3. The primary way of grasping the concept of the Trinity is through the threefold participation in salvation. The approach of the New Testament is not to discuss the essence of the Godhead, but the particular aspects of the revelatory event that includes the definitive presence of the Father in the person of Jesus Christ through the Holy Spirit.
4. The doctrine of the Trinity is an absolute mystery. It is primarily known, not through speculation, but through experiencing the act of grace through personal faith. Jerry M. Henry
The ESV Study Bible tells us:
The biblical teaching on the Trinity embodies four essential affirmations:
1. There is one and only one true and living God.
2. This one God eternally exists in three persons—God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit.
3. These three persons are completely equal in attributes, each with the same divine nature.
4. While each person is fully and completely God, the persons are not identical.
We see the differences among Father, Son, and Holy Spirit by the way they relate to one another, and the role each plays in accomplishing the unified purpose God has. We see this most clearly in the New Testament, where the Father, Son and Holy Spirit are seen working out God’s eternal plan of redemption.
We see a pattern emerge in Scripture, especially the New Testament. The Father plans, directs, and sends. The Son is sent by the Father. The Son is subject to God’s authority, and He’s also obedient to God’s will. Both the Father and the Son direct and send the Spirit. The Spirit carries out the will of both God the Father and God the Son.
Yet, this is at the same time consistent with these three persons being equal in attributes. We see in John 1:3 and Hebrews 1:2, in addition to other places, that the Father created through the Son. The Son was the Father’s agent in creation.
John 1:3 (NIV) Through him (Jesus) all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made.
Hebrews 1:2 (NIV) but in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son, whom he appointed heir of all things, and through whom he made the universe.
In fact, John chapter 1 is full of a rich Trinitarian imagery and theology, and is worth studying in that context. Even with a two-part message, we can’t take time to do that in depth today, but let me read a section of this amazing chapter, and as I do, look for what this passage of Scripture says about the Trinity.
John 1:1-3 (NIV) 1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2 He was with God in the beginning. 3 Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made.
Then verse 14:
The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the One and Only, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth.
Finally verse 18:
No one has ever seen God, but God the One and Only, who is at the Father's side, has made him known.
So, here we see that God the Son, revealed as the Word, Jesus, in verse 14, was already there in the beginning. Jesus was not created by God. Jesus didn’t come into existence when He was conceived by the Holy Spirit inside the Virgin Mary.
That means when God created time as we know it, God the Son was already there, as was God the Father – and we know from other passages of scripture that God the Holy Spirit was there, too. Now, God the Son was not made flesh yet – that happened at the incarnation. But He was there.
Even the Old Testament hints at this, without explicitly stating this.
Genesis 1:26 (NIV) Then God said, "Let us make man in our image, in our likeness,”
To whom was God speaking? Was that an editorial or royal us or we, as a queen might say, “we are not amused.”
No, I believe God the Father was speaking to God the Son and God the Holy Spirit. We see other differences in the roles of the three persons of the Godhead. For example, God the Father did not become flesh to die on the cross. Neither did the Holy Spirit. That was Jesus’ job. And it was His job from before time began, as God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit agreed together on each One’s role in the plan of redemption.
Ephesians 1:3-6 (NASB) 3 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ, 4 just as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we would be holy and blameless before Him. In love 5 He predestined us to adoption as sons through Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the kind intention of His will, 6 to the praise of the glory of His grace, which He freely bestowed on us in the Beloved.
Now, this kind of unity combined with diversity, is why the Trinity is a great mystery to our finite human minds. However, think about this.
The world also shows reflections of this idea in many ways. For example, how does good music often work? The individual members of a symphony, orchestra, even a good rock band, join their diverse instruments or voices together to make one whole, often beautiful or enjoyable piece of music.
The human body, as the apostle Paul so beautifully describes in scripture, is one unit made of many parts. A good meal isn’t just a steak – although in my opinion, that’s a great start. But what’s a steak without a good baked potato – maybe a salad, maybe some vegetables, maybe a good roll?
What about a football team? We’ve looked at this before – even superstars are worthless without their team. If the team doesn’t work together, a team is not successful, they don’t win championships. It takes many parts working together in one unit. These distinct parts come together to form a unified whole, each performing their roles, leading to a unified result.
Unity and distinction – this is the principle at the heart of the Trinity, and can’t we see a reflection of this in so much of life? Not perfectly, as we see it in the Trinity – but a reflection that reveals something important.
The three Biblical doctrines that flow directly into this theme of the Trinity are these:
1) There is one and only one God, eternal, immutable.
2) There are three eternal Persons described in Scripture - the Father, the Son, and the Spirit. These Persons are never identified with one another - that is, they are carefully differentiated as Persons.
3) The Father, the Son, and the Spirit, are identified as being fully deity---that is, the Bible teaches the Deity of Christ and the Deity of the Holy Spirit.
As we close part one of this message with this, let me illustrate with this diagram that might be helpful. (illustration found at http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/b/bc/Shield-Trinity-Scutum-Fidei-English.png)
Don’t worry about trying to copy it down - it’ll be on the bulletin cover next week. Next week we’ll look some more at this amazing doctrine of our faith, and what scripture teaches, as well as some aberrations of this doctrine, and what it all means to us.
But for now, let me close with this: The Trinity is the supreme revelation God has made of Himself to us, His followers. God revealed this truth about Himself most clearly in the Incarnation itself, when Jesus, the eternal Son, became flesh and made his dwelling among us. That one act revealed the Trinity to us in a way nothing else could
…every true believer is indwelt by the Holy Spirit of God, and the Spirit is always going to fulfill the promise to lead us into all truth. We do not just sit back and expect God to zap us with some emotional surge. Instead, the Spirit drives us into His Word, enlightening our minds and filling our hearts with love for the truths we discover. James White
Let me say the same thing James White wrote to the readers of his book on the Trinity.
I wish to invite you, my fellow believer, to a deeper, higher, more intense love of God’s truth. I hope that God, in His grace, will use this to implant in your heart a deep longing to know Him even more.
My prayer is that God would accomplish this in each of us this week and next as we ponder together the doctrine of the Trinity.
Pray
