The Ocean In A Hole: Comprehending the Trinity
God in Five Weeks, part 2
Wildwind Community Church
David Flowers
October 1, 2006
St. Augustine once was walking along the shore of the ocean, greatly perplexed about the doctrine of the Trinity. As he meditated, he observed a little boy with a sea shell, running to the water, filling his shell, and then pouring it into a hole which he had made in the sand. Augustine asked, “What are you doing, little man?”
The boy replied, “I am trying to put the ocean in this hole.”
Augustine had learned his lesson, and as he passed on, said, “That is what I am trying to do; I see it now. Standing on the shores of time I am trying to get into this little finite mind things which are infinite.” Let us be content to let God know some things which we cannot know.
—Moody Church News
We continue today with our series on the Trinity, and this is a great place to pick up. We must begin with the fact that we are studying the Trinity not so that we can understand the Trinity, but so that we can appreciate the mystery of God. We cannot get that ocean into the holes between our ears. In fact one of the best reasons to study the Trinity is so that we can be reminded that God is in many ways beyond our grasp. As the ocean would not be the ocean if it fit into a small hole, so God cannot be God if he fits into our small minds.
I want to take you to two places this morning. We’ll begin by looking at what we believe about the Trinity, because here we will get a definition and a better appreciation for how great the mystery is. As we proceed through that I will give you Biblical support and evidence for what we believe. Then want to just do a survey of other scriptures that support our belief in the Trinity, because I want you to hear the Bible and know that our belief is well-grounded. My goal in teaching you this morning is to lead you to worship God more fully. I believe to know God is to love God and when we see him more clearly for who he is, our worship is enhanced.
John 4:24 (NIV)
24 God is spirit, and his worshipers must worship in spirit and in truth."
So let’s look at some truth about God this morning so we can better worship him.
I want to begin by reading to you our denominational statement on the Trinity.
This comes straight out of the Discipline of the Free Methodist Church.
There is but one living and true God, the maker and preserver of all things. And in the unity of this Godhead there are three persons: the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. These three are one in eternity, deity, and purpose; everlasting, of infinite power, wisdom, and goodness.
-- Discipline of the Free Methodist Church, paragraph A/101.
I don’t know about you, but just reading that makes me want to worship God. It describes something beyond my grasp. It’s something utterly other than me, and yet, in the final analysis, it is good. If you think you might believe that statement, will you read it with me?
Now we must admit that simply saying this does not enable us to comprehend it. But it does bring focus to our understanding of God as a Being beyond our understanding.
Proverbs 9:10 (NASB)
10 The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom, And the knowledge of the Holy One is understanding.
Fear of the Lord in the Bible means reverent respect. We cannot have reverent respect for God if we do not understand his power, his complexity, the degree to which he is different from, and above, every one of us. Studying Trinity helps us understand that.
There are four key concepts involved in our understanding of the Trinity. First is that there is one God. To believe in Trinity is not to believe in three Gods, to embrace pantheism. (“Pan” = “Many” and “Theos” = “god”). The "Shema" is the single most well-known and important prayer in all of Judaism. What Jews call The Shema is Deuteronomy 6:4.
Deuteronomy 6:4 (NIV)
4 Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God, the LORD is one.
The Shema was first spoken by Moses in his final address to the nation of Israel. It is repeated by devout Jews every morning and evening during the week, and recited on every Sabbath and festival. It has been recited daily by the Jews as a central act of worship since about 700 BC. I was amazed to discover this past week that these are the oldest words in constant use in all history. The oldest words in constant use in all history are words that have proclaimed for 2700 years, “The Lord is One.”
The second idea with respect to the Trinity is that not only is there one God, but that God exists as one being. In other words, God is not partly in the Father, partly in the Son, and partly in the Holy Spirit. We’re not talking here about God having divided himself up between two other beings and they all have a third of God, so together they form one whole God. There is one God, and that one God exists as a single Being. Now so far we’re not into anything too complex, because if there is only one God, it makes perfect sense to us that this one God would exist as a single being. After all, how could one God exist as two beings? Or three?
And that’s where things get complicated. Because our third core belief about the Trinity is that one God, existing as a single Being, is nevertheless comprised of three persons who are equal in every way. In other words, they have exactly the same nature. If God is love, then Jesus and the Holy Spirit are love. If God is powerful, then Jesus and the Holy Spirit are powerful. If Jesus is forgiving, then God and the Holy Spirit are forgiving. If the Holy Spirit brings comfort, then Jesus and God bring comfort. It is not possible to ascribe characteristics to one part of the Trinity without also ascribing the same characteristics to the other two parts. They can’t be broken down that way, for they are one Being.
John 10:30 (NIV)
30 I and the Father are one."
John 14:8-9 (NIV)
8 Philip said, "Lord, show us the Father and that will be enough for us."
9 Jesus answered: "Don’t you know me, Philip, even after I have been among you such a long time? Anyone who has seen me has seen the Father. How can you say, ’Show us the Father’?
There we see the oneness of the God the Father and God the Son.
Genesis 1:1-2 (NIV)
1 In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.
2 Now the earth was formless and empty, darkness was over the surface of the deep, and the Spirit of God was hovering over the waters.
There we see the oneness of God the Father and God the Spirit.
John 1:1-2 (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.
And so this passage tell us that not only was the God the Spirit present at creation, but that Jesus (The Word – God the Son) was also present, and equal, with God at the time of creation.
And so there are three persons, existing as one being, who are equal in power, in knowledge, in goodness, and in every other way. In the Gospels there are many accounts of God the Son praying to God the Father. They are separate but equal in a true sense.
At Jesus’ baptism, we have all three parts of the Trinity on the scene at the same time:
Matthew 3:16-17 (NIV)
16 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.
17 And a voice from heaven said, "This is my Son, whom I love; with him I am well pleased."
God is one Being comprised of three persons who are equal in every way.
The fourth important aspect of the Trinity is that these three persons, equal in every way, are distinct in their tasks and in their relations to humanity. In other words, they have different roles. They do different things. I’m going to get into that with you in later weeks, so I’ll leave this one alone for right now, but it’s important to mention. Let’s review these four things we believe about the Trinity:
1. God is one. There is one God.
2. God exists as a single Being.
3. This Being is comprised of three persons who are equal in every way.
4. Though equal, these persons are distinct in their tasks and in their relations to humanity.
Now having parsed that out a little bit, let’s go back to the Free Methodist doctrinal statement – say it with me:
There is but one living and true God, the maker and preserver of all things. And in the unity of this Godhead there are three persons: the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. These three are one in eternity, deity, and purpose; everlasting, of infinite power, wisdom, and goodness.
-- Discipline of the Free Methodist Church, paragraph A/101.
There’s a lot wrapped up in that, isn’t there!
Okay, that’s a survey of what we believe about the Trinity. Let’s move on to some other scriptures that support our concept of Trinity. Now you might ask why this is even necessary. You might be thinking, “I’m convinced!” The reason I want to familiarize you with these texts is because the doctrine of the Trinity itself is not without its share of controversy. Not all who call themselves Christians believe in the Trinity, though certainly most do. There are many arguments for not believing, but a major argument is that the word Trinity is never mentioned in the Bible. Not once. There’s no direct, explicit teaching about the Trinity in the Bible. For some this is enough to dismiss the whole notion. But if you look through the Bible from Genesis to Revelation, you’ll not see one occurrence of the word “grandfather.” Hmm – does that mean we shouldn’t refer to Abraham as the grandfather of Jacob, or to Jacob as the grandfather of Perez? Of course not! Though the Bible never mentions the word grandfather, it does tell us Abraham was the father of Isaac who was the father of Jacob, and that Jacob was the father of Judah who was the father of Perez. I think that means we’re safe using the term grandfather to describe these relationships, even though the grandson/grandfather relationship is not explicitly mentioned. In the same way, though the term Trinity is never mentioned, the word is just something we use to describe God’s relationship to Himself, and that relationship is explained in detail. So let’s briefly look at the overall case for a doctrine of a triune God – one who exists in three parts – Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.
First is the fact that if you read through the Bible, you’ll get a sense of what is called progressive revelation. That sounds academic, but all it means is that God seems to be gradually revealing himself to us over a very long period of time. Let me show you what I mean.
Genesis 1:26 (NLT)
26 Then God said, "Let us make people in our image, to be like ourselves. They will be masters over all life—the fish in the sea, the birds in the sky, and all the livestock, wild animals, and small animals."
Isn’t it interesting here that God is recorded as referring to himself in the plural? What’s up with that? Seems especially intriguing in light of the fact that the Trinity is an entirely New Testament concept. I mean, think about it. The Jews do not accept the divinity of Jesus, right? And they do not accept the validity of the New Testament, right? Well Jesus is only discussed explicitly in the New Testament, and the Spirit – though making a few sketchy appearances here and there in the Old Testament – is only fleshed out in the New.
And yet here in Genesis, the first chapter, the twenty-sixth verse, God refers to himself in the plural. He does it again in chapter 11 verse 7.
Genesis 11:7 (NLT)
7 Come, let’s go down and give them different languages. Then they won’t be able to understand each other."
And again in Isaiah 6:8.
Isaiah 6:8 (NRSV)
8 Then I heard the voice of the Lord saying, "Whom shall I send, and who will go for us..?"
So what we see is that from the first chapter of the Bible, God is more than meets the eye. There’s something going on with God – God is not just a He - God is in some ways a THEM. And yet Moses, the same person who wrote Genesis, also writes the shema in Deuteronomy – God is One. Somehow, without knowing it, without fully understanding what was going on, Moses understood something true about God when he referred to God in the plural in those two sections in Genesis. Somehow Isaiah understood something true about God. God is One, but God contains more than one person.
In the same way there are various passages of the Old Testament that refer to the Spirit, but this is not really given full form and parsed out until we get into the New Testament. And of course there are references to Jesus in the Old Testament as well, in the form of prophecies. This gradual unfolding of God’s identity is called progressive revelation. God didn’t just dump himself completely out to us in Genesis 1:1. God had a plan to reveal himself to humankind. The Apostle Paul understood this when he wrote:
Galatians 4:4 (NRSV)
4 But when the fullness of time had come, God sent his Son…
Everything in its time. Always keep this in mind when you read the Old Testament – that God was moving his people in accordance with his plan and that they only saw what had been revealed to them up to that point. So do we! The Old Testament Jews had no understanding of a triune God. Yet in places their own writings about God reflect a plurality, which they wrote down but were unable to explain.
Let’s briefly look at a few others texts that reinforce a Trinitarian view of God.
John 14:20 (NLT)
20 When I am raised to life again, you will know that I am in my Father, and you are in me, and I am in you.
Father and Son.
John 14:16-18 (NLT)
16 And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Counselor, who will never leave you.
17 He is the Holy Spirit, who leads into all truth. The world at large cannot receive him, because it isn’t looking for him and doesn’t recognize him. But you do, because he lives with you now and later will be in you.
18 No, I will not abandon you as orphans—I will come to you.
Father, Son, and Spirit.
Ephesians 1:13-14 (NLT)
13 And now you also have heard the truth, the Good News that God saves you. And when you believed in Christ, he identified you as his own by giving you the Holy Spirit, whom he promised long ago.
14 The Spirit is God’s guarantee that he will give us everything he promised and that he has purchased us to be his own people. This is just one more reason for us to praise our glorious God.
Father, Son, and Spirit.
Colossians 1:28 (NLT)
28 So everywhere we go, we tell everyone about Christ. We warn them and teach them with all the wisdom God has given us, for we want to present them to God, perfect in their relationship to Christ.
Father and Son.
Colossians 1:7-9 (NLT)
7 Epaphras, our much loved co-worker, was the one who brought you the Good News. He is Christ’s faithful servant, and he is helping us in your place.
8 He is the one who told us about the great love for others that the Holy Spirit has given you.
9 So we have continued praying for you ever since we first heard about you. We ask God to give you a complete understanding of what he wants to do in your lives, and we ask him to make you wise with spiritual wisdom.
Father, Son, and Spirit.
Colossians 1:19-20 (NLT)
19 For God in all his fullness was pleased to live in Christ,
20 and by him God reconciled everything to himself. He made peace with everything in heaven and on earth by means of his blood on the cross.
Father and Son.
Finally and most persuasively, we have Jesus saying:
Matthew 28:19 (NLT)
19 Therefore, go and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit.
And on and on it goes. The more you read the Bible, and the bigger the picture you allow yourself to see, the harder it is to miss this incredible connection.
So this morning I have familiarized you with our denomination’s official statement on the Trinity. I have taken you through the four major components of that belief. And I have shown you how the scriptures as a whole point to this idea of a three-in-one, a triune (“tri” meaning 3, “un” meaning 1) God. If you have listened and followed me today, you now understand God on a new level. It is my hope that this understanding will lead you to deeper, more authentic worship and to a more reverent respect for God as you realize you worship a Being that is wholly other than you, and in an incredible way.
