Summary: Who can explain the Trinity? Not I, and I believe nobody can, however there are some basis principles that help. This sermon attempts to do that, it is long and hard going, but it this the easy, the condensed version.
This sermon was delivered to the congregation in St Oswald’s, in Maybole, Ayrshire, Scotland on the 19th June 2011. (A Scottish Episcopal Church in the Dioceses of Glasgow & Dumfries)
Genesis 1:1-2:4a Psalm 8 2 Corinthians 13:11-13 Matthew 28:16-20
Prayer: Loving God, Father Son and Holy Spirit, open our hearts and our minds that we may hear with joy your message today, and that we live in the assurance of your love forever. Amen.
Our gospel reading this morning is from the book of Mathew chapter 28, verses 16 to 20. “The eleven disciples went to Galilee, to the mountain to which Jesus had directed them. When they saw him, they worshiped him; but some doubted. And Jesus came and said to them, "All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything that I have commanded you. And remember, I am with you always, to the end of the age."
Introduction.
We are instructed in the bible to seek God and find out as much as we can about him, and so the subject of today’s sermon is our God himself; a Triune God, three separate persons, but one God in essence.
It is the most complex subject in the whole bible and we will never understand the Godhead, because God is so much ‘bigger’ than anyone can imagine and it was once said that it would be like a slug trying to understand Einstein’s theory of relativity, than to expect us to understand God.
We Christians want to put God into a nice little box, a wee box that has definite limits, and say that we understand all about God. If that is where you are, then you have absolutely no idea of what God is, least his plans for your life; for the very first thing you learn about God is that he is infinite and it is better to keep this view of him rather than delimit him in anyway whatsoever, particularly when you try to find out more about him.
Athanasian Creed
With this warning over, let us start this investigation by looking at a lovely man called Athanasia who lived in the third century AD. Athanasia loved the Trinity and was in fact the first person to speak up and define it; and to help him share his findings with everyone he wrote the Athanasian Creed.
Now I had the notion of saying this very creed this morning like some Anglican Churches do on Trinity Sunday, but it is rather long and as it defines God, it is extremely complex. None the less, I will read a few verses from the beginning to give you a wee taste.
We worship one God in Trinity, and Trinity in Unity, neither confounding the Persons, nor dividing the Substance.
For there is one Person of the Father, another of the Son, and another of the Holy Ghost. But the Godhead of the Father, of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost, is all one, the Glory equal, the Majesty co-eternal.
The Father incomprehensible, the Son incomprehensible, and the Holy Ghost incomprehensible. The Father eternal, the Son eternal, and the Holy Ghost eternal.
And yet they are not three eternals, but one eternal. As also there are not three incomprehensibles, nor three uncreated, but one uncreated, and one incomprehensible.
So likewise the Father is Almighty, the Son Almighty, and the Holy Ghost Almighty. And yet they are not three Almighties, but one Almighty.
So the Father is God, the Son is God, and the Holy Ghost is God.
And yet they are not three Gods, but one God.
This is only the first few verses; but this is most beautiful, the most complex and definitive creed ever, and totally incomprehensible.
The preachers waterloo.
There was a man called Dr Robert Smith 400 years ago who said this “if you deny the Trinity then you are in danger of losing your soul. If you research the Trinity too deeply, and strive to understand it, then you may be in danger of losing your mind”.
The Jehovah Witnesses think the Trinity is an invention of the early church; but if you are trying to invent something or deceive some one, then you make the process simple and easy to understand so as to mislead. No one in their right mind would ever invent the Trinity, it is so complex. You cannot understand it; but let us follow the drift in the first verses, (of which there are 44).
That we worship one God in Trinity, and Trinity in Unity, neither confounding the Persons, nor dividing the Substance.
We understand the words although we do not understand the meaning of confounding the Persons, nor dividing the Substance.
Why is that phrase in there, well God is not a quick change artist. God is one in essence and three in personality. Our God is three distinct persons at all times and all three are distinct.
The Jews, Arabs, Christians and the sects.
Now the Islamic faith, the Jewish faith and the Christian faith are the three great monotheistic faiths. That is they believe in one God and one God only.
The Arabs and the Jews do not accept the Trinity and they say we have three gods.
Let us read from the Koran, which was written 500 year after Christ, and 200 years after the Trinity was defined; but listen to this. The Koran says:
“Say not that there are three gods, forbear this it will be better for you that god is but one god. They are certainly infidels who say god is the third of three. For there is no god but one god.
The expression, “god is the third of three” means that God, (allah) is a third of three gods, and they don’t like that.
Basically, all the writer is saying here is that he does not understand Christianity nor the Trinity. The Arabs suspect that we worship three gods; but we do not; because no one in Christianity has ever said we worship three gods. We worship one God, but three in persons; a Triune God.
The Jews also find the trinity hard to take, because if they accept the Trinity, then they must accept the fact that Jesus is God, and they are not prepared to do that.
So both the Arabs and the Jews find the Trinity hard to accept. Do you know who finds it even harder to accept? The sects; the Jehovah Witnesses, the Mormons, the Christians Scientists, the Unitarianism’s and all other ism’s, they all deny the trinity. You will find that the one thing that unites them is that none of them believe in the Trinity. They all esteem Jesus, but they do not accept him as God.
And the same things that set us Christians apart is that we do believe in the trinity. The more you look at it; it is the trinity that marks out a true Christian being; and it is only by the Holy Spirit that we actually believe and accept the trinity.
Jesus is Lord.
So is Jesus god or not. 1st Corinthians verse 12: 3 and 4 says: “Wherefore I give you to understand, that no man speaking by the Spirit of God calleth Jesus accursed: and that no man can say that Jesus is the Lord, but by the Holy Ghost”.
Anybody can physically say Jesus is Lord but it takes the Holy Spirit for you to actually believe that Jesus is lord.
You need the Holy Spirit working in you to worship Jesus and if you do not have the Holy Spirit working in you, you would not be here this very church worshiping God of your own free will. You therefore should not be surprised by how much the Holy Spirit is working in you and in you life, regardless of how you feel, and your own opinion of yourself. God is at work within us, if only we could see; yet can you see where you have been?
You ask any Christians do you believe in the trinity and they say yes. Ask them to describe it to you and they say No. This trinity is mysterious, and this verse is telling us that it take the intervention of the Holy Spirit to reveal the deity of our lord Jesus Christ.
The trinity is like this:
To move on, many preachers will ask, “why to you find it difficult to accept the Trinity as there are many different types of trinities in creation”.
A man called Nathan Woods wrote a book in 1874 called the trinity in the universe. And the whole book consists of lists and list of trinities found in the universe; and I will give you some example of what he was taking about.
The trinity is like an egg.
One such example says, the Trinity is like an egg. It is not oval but it has three parts but it is only one egg. It has a shell, it has a yoke, and it has the white. What an anti climax, the trinity is like an egg.
The trinity is like a light bulb.
If you are a little more scientific you may say, the trinity is like the rays coming out a light bulb when you switch it on. Do you know there are three types of rays being emitted, there are actinic rays, (which are a form of ultra violet rays which you can neither see nor feel), the are the visible light rays which you use the light bulb for in the first place (which you can see but not feel), and there are the Infrared rays which we know better as heat, (which you can feel but do not see).
The actinic rays which you cannot see nor feel are like the father; the light which you can see but not feel is like the son, and the heat is like the Holy Spirit where you can feel him but you cannot see him. That is a better example.
Trinidad.
Another story is that of Columbus. Columbus the great Italian but Spanish explorer who when sailing in uncharted waters, first saw three mountain peaks in the horizon which he first thought were three separate island. But as he navigated closer he found it was one island with three separate mountain peaks. He therefore called this island - Trinity Island; and we of course know this island today by its Spanish name which is Trinidad.
And there is one analogy from a mathematician called A.F Titisism and he said the Trinity is like an equilateral triangle; a triangle with three equal side and three equal angles. He said you see one triangle with three lines, take one of the lines away and you do not have a triangle. All three are necessary to make a triangle.
And one final one for the mathematicians again; you can say, one plus one plus one equals 3, ok, but if you change the plus sign to a multiplication sign you get one x one x one which equals one. Or change it to a division sign, one divided by one divided by one also equal one. I will miss out the minus sign, but you can see there is much to think about from these analogies.
Body soul and spirit.
Most if you already know my way of understanding God and that is in direct reference to our bodies, souls and spirit. In Genesis we read “man is made in the image of God” and so; when I look in the mirror, I think something somewhere is seriously wrong. God cannot be like that.
However consider that we as men (or women), are made up of one body soul and spirit. We all have physical bodies, some appear vastly different, but in reality they all much of a muchness. We all have souls which are in our minds wills and emotions and by the way our memories are in there somewhere.
And finally we all have our human spirit (with a small s) which is centered in our solar plexus. We can feel this area in our upper stomach, particularly when we are hurt, or at a loss such as death; it is painful region but not in a physical sense a spiritual man.
Anyway, God the father is like our soul, He is the one who has the mind will and emotions. Our Lord Jesus Christ is the Godhead’s physical body, and the Holy spirit is of course the spiritual being, the most powerful and respected being in the universe. I personally like this analogy because it is best represented in the bible all through both Old and New Testaments.
All these analogies may help at first but they are examples of oversimplifications of god. God is nothing like any of these analogies. God is unique and totally complex. He is not like anything. The trinity is basically the trinity; it nothing like anything we can comprehend; our god is a complex triune god.
So we now ask the question, what benefits us from this tri-une God?
Salvation.
Well, we need this triune God for our salvation, for if the trinity does not exist then who can represent us before God. Remember God the father absolutely abhors sin and we are sinful beings. There is therefore an unbridgeable gap between us and God; and that gap is vast.
The bible is perfectly clear on this issue, and I will take one reference to show you. Look in the book of Job, Job chapter 9 verse 32, (and Job by the way is the oldest book in the Old Testament, not Genesis), so do you remember Job with all his afflictions; and do you remember that Job understood this problem by saying and I quote: “For he (God) is not a man, as I am, that I should answer him, and we should come together in judgment. Neither is there any daysman (mediator) betwixt us that might lay his hand upon us both”.
Basically Job is saying, “who can represent both parties, I need somebody who can identify both my side and present it to God, and God needs somebody to represent his plan to man, so that men can happily follow God. Who therefore is both man and God.
Well hundreds of years later, Jesus was that man; but until then it was impossible to approach God. Jesus is our mediator between us and God, and if Jesus is not both man and God how can he represent either of us.
Jesus needs to be on the same level to represent God the father and he needs to be on our level to represent us. If Jesus was not physical he would not be in a position to fully understand us nor represent us. If he were not God, he could not act out Gods plan for us. A mediator needs to belong to both parties being entirely neutral. So Jesus must be God in order to delivery us from ourselves. Is that not a wonderful message? What a God we worship today?
We just do not know how lucky we are. Jesus brings both God and man together; both are united, with the sin element being dealt brutally, at the cross. What a story.
And Athanasius new this away back in the third century, that is why he passionately fought to defend his creed. And that is why in a church council, away back in Chalcedon defended his creed and supported it by creating there own creed called the Chalcedonian Creed which describes the "full humanity and full divinity" of our Lord Jesus Christ.
As you can imagine the Chalcedonian Creed is complex, but I have left a copy of it, and the Athanasius Creed at the back of the church for you to read.
I will read three verses to give you a flavour.
We, then, following the holy Fathers, all with one consent, teach people to confess one and the same Son, our Lord Jesus Christ, the same perfect in Godhead and also perfect in manhood; truly God and truly man, of a reasonable [rational] soul and body;
consubstantial [co-essential] with the Father according to the Godhead, and consubstantial with us according to the Manhood; in all things like unto us, without sin;
Jesus is 100% man and 100% God in one body, forever and our scripture this morning said to back it up that "All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to” him.
AND when we die we can go face to face with our Lord. We will be in close contact with God himself, face to face, with Jesus and we know that when we do, we know that we will be sinless and clean because Jesus took all our sins away from us at the cross. What an incredible God to worship; a God who secures our future in heaven right now, this very second forever and ever. I just wish I could tell more people about this great news; this great mystery that is almost hidden in the bibles through complexity.
These creeds were fought over. They were not simply revealed and the man who did more than anyone to help reveal the trinity was the man I spoke of earlier Athanasius. Athanasius was so passionate about the trinity that he was exiled 5 times from Rome for his beliefs. Imagine being exiled for your belief in the Trinity.
Anyway, Athanasius had an enemy called Arius; Aryanism which is still with us today. Arius was a bishop in the church of Rome and he refused to believe that Jesus was God; and these two were in permanent conflict and in the end the council was forced to decide, and they did, and came on the side of Athanasius for a change and exiled Arius this time away to Yugoslavia.
And for 12 years Arius taught his version and that version was the start of the Jehovah Witnesses. Did you know, Yugoslavia is the cradle of the Jehovah Witnesses?
Anyway, if you had known the struggles between Athanasius and Arius you would understand the resulting chaos they left behind; so it was left to the council of Nicaea to resolve it, and resolve it they did, and so the council decided to define exactly who God is, and we will recite their findings today when we say the Nicene creed at the end of this sermon, which I promise will be soon.
One last point I must make in this sermon however is the relationship between the members of the Godhead as they all act and live as one. You cannot separate there unity. Anyone who knows their bible will know that they submit to one another at all times and give way to one another.
What does the father say, well he is not interested in himself, and he says this is my beloved son. The father spends his time glorifying the son. He also sent the Holy Spirit to do the work, letting the Holy Spirit take the glory
Then the father sends Jesus to the earth to redeem us, and what does Jesus say, he said “Father, glorify yourself”, and “Whatever word I hear from the father that I say”. Not his own words but the words of his father. What a wonderful thing, and instead of doing everything by his own power he did everything by the power of the Holy Spirit.
When the Holy Spirit came, what did he do? He landed on Jesus at the River Jordan, so that the fathers plan could be revealed and glorified. All the time, each one of them was giving way to bring glory to the other.
What would happen if we did that in our marriages, what would our lives be? “Yes dear, you sit down and take it easy, I will tidy the house”. “Yes dear, you go out tonight and I will do the ironing”. Yes dear “you go and enjoy yourself, take as much money as you want, I will get you more”.
Then imagine what that would be like in a church; where you build everyone up apart from yourself. Eh! Well I have seen this work to an extent, but what kills it; well Satan does. Satan absolutely hates unity and harmony; and he does everything he can to break it down, and he usually does this by inserting his own person, whom he has cultivated, a person of influence and selfishness, usually someone with money to, kill, steal and destroy such a situation.
We have a wonderful God in three persons, let us emulate Him and let us keep our defences up to protect ourselves, and to live as he wants us to live.
And my very last point is this. If you still do not understand the Trinity of God, remember this one thing that is written in the bible that God is … Love and we … are his children.
Amen
Let us Pray.
Father, we thank you that you are a triune God.
We thank you for Jesus taking our sin and failings to that cross; and we thank you that Jesus conquered death itself.
Father we also thank you that someday we will see you face to face without sin being a barrier.
The promises of the bible are so fantastic for us to behold that Father give us today a revelation of you working in our lives, let the Holy Spirit enter and fill us with joy, showing us who you really are.
Father others need to hear this good news, so please prepare us to welcome more people who are lost and desperately need your guidance and deliverance from the trials of this life.
We ask humbly in Jesus name, Amen
Appendix 1
The English translation of the Chalcedonian Creed
We, then, following the holy Fathers, all with one consent, teach people to confess one and the same Son, our Lord Jesus Christ, the same perfect in Godhead and also perfect in manhood;
truly God and truly man, of a reasonable [rational] soul and body;
consubstantial [co-essential] with the Father according to the Godhead, and consubstantial with us according to the Manhood;
in all things like unto us, without sin;
begotten before all ages of the Father according to the Godhead, and in these latter days, for us and for our salvation, born of the Virgin Mary, the Mother of God, according to the Manhood;
one and the same Christ, Son, Lord, only begotten, to be acknowledged in two natures, inconfusedly, unchangeably, indivisibly, inseparably;
the distinction of natures being by no means taken away by the union, but rather the property of each nature being preserved, and concurring in one Person and one Subsistence, not parted or divided into two persons, but one and the same Son, and only begotten God, the Word, the Lord Jesus Christ;
as the prophets from the beginning [have declared] concerning Him, and the Lord Jesus Christ Himself has taught us, and the Creed of the holy Fathers has handed down to us.
Appendix 2
Athanasian Creed
1. Whosoever will be saved, before all things it is necessary that he hold the catholic faith;
2. Which faith except every one do keep whole and undefiled, without doubt he shall perish everlastingly.
3. And the catholic faith is this: That we worship one God in Trinity, and Trinity in Unity;
4. Neither confounding the persons nor dividing the substance.
5. For there is one person of the Father, another of the Son, and another of the Holy Spirit.
6. But the Godhead of the Father, of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit is all one, the glory equal, the majesty coeternal.
7. Such as the Father is, such is the Son, and such is the Holy Spirit.
8. The Father uncreated, the Son uncreated, and the Holy Spirit uncreated.
9. The Father incomprehensible, the Son incomprehensible, and the Holy Spirit incomprehensible.
10. The Father eternal, the Son eternal, and the Holy Spirit eternal.
11. And yet they are not three eternals but one eternal.
12. As also there are not three uncreated nor three incomprehensible, but one uncreated and one incomprehensible.
13. So likewise the Father is almighty, the Son almighty, and the Holy Spirit almighty.
14. And yet they are not three almighties, but one almighty.
15. So the Father is God, the Son is God, and the Holy Spirit is God;
16. And yet they are not three Gods, but one God.
17. So likewise the Father is Lord, the Son Lord, and the Holy Spirit Lord;
18. And yet they are not three Lords but one Lord.
19. For like as we are compelled by the Christian verity to acknowledge every Person by himself to be God and Lord;
20. So are we forbidden by the catholic religion to say; There are three Gods or three Lords.
21. The Father is made of none, neither created nor begotten.
22. The Son is of the Father alone; not made nor created, but begotten.
23. The Holy Spirit is of the Father and of the Son; neither made, nor created, nor begotten, but proceeding.
24. So there is one Father, not three Fathers; one Son, not three Sons; one Holy Spirit, not three Holy Spirits.
25. And in this Trinity none is afore or after another; none is greater or less than another.
26. But the whole three persons are coeternal, and coequal.
27. So that in all things, as aforesaid, the Unity in Trinity and the Trinity in Unity is to be worshipped.
28. He therefore that will be saved must thus think of the Trinity.
29. Furthermore it is necessary to everlasting salvation that he also believe rightly the incarnation of our Lord Jesus Christ.
30. For the right faith is that we believe and confess that our Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of God, is God and man.
31. God of the substance of the Father, begotten before the worlds; and man of substance of His mother, born in the world.
32. Perfect God and perfect man, of a reasonable soul and human flesh subsisting.
33. Equal to the Father as touching His Godhead, and inferior to the Father as touching His manhood.
34. Who, although He is God and man, yet He is not two, but one Christ.
35. One, not by conversion of the Godhead into flesh, but by taking of that manhood into God.
36. One altogether, not by confusion of substance, but by unity of person.
37. For as the reasonable soul and flesh is one man, so God and man is one Christ;
38. Who suffered for our salvation, descended into hell, rose again the third day from the dead;
39. He ascended into heaven, He sits on the right hand of the Father, God, Almighty;
40. From thence He shall come to judge the quick and the dead.
41. At whose coming all men shall rise again with their bodies;
42. and shall give account of their own works.
43. And they that have done good shall go into life everlasting and they that have done evil into everlasting fire.
44. This is the catholic faith, which except a man believe faithfully he cannot be saved.
