Scripture: Selected Scriptures
Date: March 6, 2011
Speaker: Sean Higgins
Jesus commissioned His disciples to “make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit” (Matthew 28:19). The Great Commission—which is no less our commission, too—is Trinitarian. Our God is one (cf. Deuteronomy 6:4) and three Persons. We worship and proclaim a Triune God. Worship of any other sort of god, no matter how almighty or majestic, is idolatry. We make disciples of a Triune God; unless our disciples come to the Father through the Son by the Spirit, we make men sons of hell and not sons of God.
For the most part, the doctrine of the Trinity is like a thick book with small print placed on the top shelf in our library. We would never get rid of it, but we rarely pull it down to read. We’re even less likely to make Trinity jewelry or Trinity greeting cards or such. It’s not a doctrine that gets frequent play in the rotation.
We named this local congregation Trinity Evangel Church. For the following few weeks I intend to talk about Why, and that we did not thumb through a theological dictionary to find some fancy or serious sounding words and slap them together. There is a reason for all three parts and there is a reason why Trinity comes first. Calling ourselves Trinity for short should make a difference in how we do things. And whether or not it was part of our congregation’s name or how many leaves are on our logo, to the degree that we ignore the Trinity we will fail to be the baptized community of disciples that Jesus commissioned. Life without the Trinity is unChristian.
I have no illusions that, in another 35 minutes or so, I will be able to dig up and dust off the mystery of the eternal Three-in-One, nor that I will be able to dig out all the necessary implications of the Trinity for our own interactions. I plan to post some recommended resources for further study on the church blog, and perhaps I will try my hand at another seminar later this year on the topic of the Trinity. For today, though, I want to mention the biblical and historical truth about the Trinity and then meditate on the three practical, familial, relational, ecclesiastical implications of the Trinity for life.
Certain facts about God are revealed. God is who He is, and we are to worship Him as He is, not as we imagine or prefer. The fact is, our God is Triune. “God minus creation would still be God, but God minus Father, Son, and Holy Spirit would not be God” (Sanders, The Deep Things of God: How the Trinity Changes Everything, 70). We must teach who He is and not leave the Godhead vague or foggy. Unless disciples identify with and worship the Triune God, they are idolators.
Any study of the Trinity must get over the hurdles of progressive revelation, dispersed revelation, and divine revelation. What I mean is that God didn’t tell His people everything at the beginning, He didn’t tell them everything about anything in only one chapter or book of the Bible, and He didn’t tell finite creatures everything about His infinite self.
That said, even though the word “Trinity” isn’t found in the Bible, the truth of the Trinity is clearly revealed. That means we must receive it and teach it, even if we don’t fully comprehend it.
The Trinity is three different Persons all at the same time. At the baptism of Jesus, the Son was in the water, the Father spoke from heaven, and the Spirit descended (Matthew 3:13-17). Jesus prayed to the Father (cf. Matthew 26:39) and was lead and empowered by the Spirit (Luke 4:1, 14; Matthew 12:28). Unless there are three, these prayers are a “ridiculous soliloquy” (Culver, Systematic Theology: Biblical and Historical, 115).
The three Persons are also one God, one substance or essence. The Word was with God and the Word was God (John 1:1). Jesus and the Father are one (John 10:30). Likewise, the Spirit is God (Matthew 3:16; 12:28), He is also called the Spirit of Christ (Romans 8:9; 1 Peter 1:11). There is one Spirit, one Lord, one God and Father of all (Ephesians 4:4-6). It’s why we baptize disciples “in the name,” singular, of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.
We believe, when it comes to revelation, that the Father speaks the word, the Son incarnates the word, and the Spirit inspires the word. All three Persons communicate differently to the same end. We also believe, when it comes to redemption, that the Father chose, the Son atoned, and the Spirit regenerates (cf. Ephesians 1:3-14). All three Persons work distinctly and inseparably for salvation.
”Trinity” isn’t a Bible word but it summarizes a Bible truth.
As with any revealed truth, unbelievers tweak or attack it. It’s false teaching, it’s idolatry: fashioning another god even if using the same name(s).
We are monotheists—one God, not polytheists—many gods. But that’s not enough. We are Trinitarian monotheists, not Unitarian monotheists—one God and one Person. Jews who reject Jesus as the Son of God are Unitarians. Allah is a Unitarian god. The Jehovah’s Witnesses are also Unitarians; they believe Jesus is a special being, but still a created being, and not eternal God.
We are also Trinitarian monotheists, not modalist monotheists—one God in different forms or modes. Modalism (also referred to as monarchianism) speaks about the Father, Son and Holy Spirit as different expressions or forms that God takes at different times; the three Persons never exist as all three at the same time. A modalist typically understands the Father as God’s form in eternity past and in the Old Testament, the Son in Jesus, and the Spirit now. For example, water is always water, it takes different forms—liquid, solid, or gas—but not at the same time. For example, Phillips, Craig & Dean appear to believe in a modalistic understanding of the Trinity.
We believe in one God who is eternal in His existence, Triune in His manifestation, being both Father, Son and Holy Ghost AND that He is Sovereign and Absolute in His authority.
A Unitarian god as well as a Modalist god are idols, another god than the name in which we baptize. Church history, preserved in creeds and confessions, has fought for orthodox Trinitarian definitions. Think the Apostles’ Creed, the Nicene Creed.
We believe and we teach the truth of the Trinity as it is revealed in Scripture. The Trinity is truth, to be understood and communicated with accuracy. That is where most disciples leave it, as a truth to be known. We’re in trouble if the Trinity is only a doctrine.
Our lives as human beings, as husbands and wives, as disciples of Christ, as members of Christ’s Body, the church, will reflect what we actually believe about the Trinity, not what we say we believe. Life without the Trinity will be fractured, stressful, and empty.
As I said at the beginning of the sermon, this will only tease out rather than totally untangle all the implications. But because we become like what we worship, we need the Trinity. To the degree that we live Trinitarian, we will be whole, joyful, and loving.
Again, we are limited and challenged, but consider what the Trinity means. What does it mean that our God is Triune?
Have you ever considered God before Genesis 1:1? “In the beginning was God.” He was; He always has been; He never began.
God minus creation would still be God, but God minus Father, Son, and Holy Spirit would not be God. (Sanders, 70)
So what was He doing all that time? Was He bored? Was He lonely?
One provocative translation I’ve heard is, “In the beginning was community” (Douglas Jones), certainly not “In the beginning was Me.” God always has been in relationship. His being is personal. He didn’t learn how to relate to others after creation. He has never been alone. That’s who He is, not something added. Eternal life is Trinitarian, it is shared life, not individual life.
Tell me that this phrase isn’t ringing like bells in your belfry: “It is not good that the man should be alone” (Genesis 2:18). When God made man in His image, He made man and woman; He made more than one, and both equally in His image. Why did Solomon say, “Two are better than one…a threefold cord is not quickly broken” (Ecclesiastes 4:9, 12)? Because we are made in the image of a relating God.
God made us for fellowship, with each other and with Himself. What happened at the fall? Separation from God and separation between Adam and Eve. The separation in fellowship is also called death. But “this is eternal life, that they might know You and Jesus Christ whom You have sent” (John 17:3). Life is fellowship.
that which we have seen and heard we proclaim also to you, so that you too may have fellowship with us; and indeed our fellowship is with the Father and with his Son Jesus Christ. (1 John 1:3)
Life is not endless bachelorhood or internet church in your pajamas or any sort of extended isolation. What was the greatest pain of Christ? When His Father turned His face away. The Trinity means God is not distant or antisocial, He is eternal community. The Trinity created us, as His image-bearers, for relationship.
Another way to say it would be that the Trinity means uniqueness and unity. Three Persons, all different in function but equal in being, means that all three deserve the same honor.
Within God there is both unity and diversity: unity without uniformity, and diversity without division. (ESVSB, 2514)
One god in three persons—every person is the entire deity and yet no person exists as the deity for itself without the other two. (Martin Luther, quoted in Culver, 105)
The three persons are never in conflict of purpose, never jealous over another’s position or specific work, never prideful over one’s own position or work, and they are always sharing fully the delight in being the one God and accomplishing the unified purpose of God. (Bruce Ware, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, 20)
What does the Trinity have to do with marriage? We do not say that men and women should be the same or do the same things. Husbands and wives are not interchangeable. We also do not say that men are better or that women are superior. We say they are equal, and not because we desire to be politically correct, but because we are Trinitarians. Trinitarians know that husbands can be the head and wives are co-image bearers and co-heirs of the grace of life. Understanding roles within the Trinity helps authority and submission within marriage to be a dance, not a duel. See Doug Wilson’s version here
What does the Trinity have to do with the church? Why can the members of the Body be different and united, without competition?
Now there are varieties of gifts, but the same Spirit; and there are varieties of service, but the same Lord; and there are varieties of activities, but it is the same God who empowers them all in everyone.(1 Corinthians 12:4-6)
And
If the whole body were an eye, where would be the sense of hearing? If the whole body were an ear, where would be the sense of smell? But as it is, God arranged the members in the body, each one of them, as he chose. If all were a single member, where would the body be? As it is, there are many parts, yet one body.
But God has so composed the body, giving greater honor to the part that lacked it, that there may be no division in the body, but that the members may have the same care for one another. If one member suffers, all suffer together; if one member is honored, all rejoice together. (1 Corinthians 12:17-20, 24-26)
It’s not just fact that we’re different yet connected; it’s better because we’re different and connected!
Trinitarians appreciate and exult over diversity; diversity in the same direction produces harmony. Unitarians are cookie cutters; everyone must play the same instrument. Unless the other person looks like them and talks like them (uniformity), something must be wrong (in the other person). Unitarians are always stressed, because they are always needing the other person to change OR they are always competing with the other person for superiority and power. There can only be one person in the first chair, one person who is esteemed. Unitarians serve others out of fear, because the only reason you would serve someone is if they had more power than you. Unitarians can’t be served without (wrongly) believing themselves to be in the top spot. That’s why Christian Unitarians freak out because they know they’re supposed to be humble and let others serve them.
By the way, modalism doesn’t work any better. A modalist marriage is one where the husband and wife take turns at the top. They know that they are equal, but that means, in practical experience, that only one can be at the top at a time; they just alternate. The same problem happens in the church with different members. I know I can’t always be at the top. Eventually someone is still going to get tired of being at the bottom of the ferris wheel and try to stop it next time they’re on top.
The Trinity means diversity and equality, individual roles and responsibilities without individualism. The Trinity created us to be different and simultaneously glorious; no one’s shadow gets in the way.
”God is love” (1 John 4:8, 16). He has always been love and He didn’t create in oder to finally be able to express it to someone. He has always been expressing it. When He created, He expanded and shared His expression of love, but love always was in the Trinity.
When he established the heavens, I was there;
when he drew a circle on the face of the deep,
when he made firm the skies above,
when he established the fountains of the deep,
when he assigned to the sea its limit,
so that the waters might not transgress his command,
when he marked out the foundations of the earth,
then I was beside him, like a master workman,
and I was daily his delight,
rejoicing before him always,
Proverbs 8:27-30
We should think when we say “Father and Son.” It’s okay to talk about Jesus as the Second Person of the Trinity, but don’t leave it at the technical level. The Persons of the Trinity love each other with hesed—steadfast, loyal love. They love each other with agape—committed, devoted, serving love.
The first and greatest commandment is to love God because that’s who God is and we were made to enjoy intimacy with Him. The second greatest commandment is to love one another because we were made to reflect the Trinity. They will know we are Christians, baptized disciples, Trinitarians, by our love.
Love is the nature of God, not power and dominance and authoritarianism like Allah.
The Trinity is a revealed and relevant doctrine, the eternal Three-in-One is truth and life. Our failure to worship a Triune God results in practical day to day failures. Sin messes up Trinitarian life.
Sin is why we need the gospel—the evangel—which we’ll consider next week. The gospel overcomes sin to reconcile us to God and to each other, to humble us and help us show honor to one another, and to give us new hearts that can love. To the degree that Trinity Evangel Church ignores the Trinity we will fail to be the baptized community of disciples that Jesus commissioned.