“I Believe in the Trinity, Part II”

The Appomattox Court House Presbyterian Church Pulpit
Rev. Cameron S. Smith
The Lord's Day, March 26, 2006
Genesis 1:27
Romans 5:1-5

Question 25
Q. Since there is only one Divine Being, why do you speak of three, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit?
A. Because God has thus revealed himself in his Word, that these three distinct persons are the one, true, eternal God.

The whole round world is not enough to fill The heart's three corners, but it craveth still: None but the Trinity, who made it, can Suffice the vast triangulated heart of man.
     Christopher Harvey, Schola Cordis (1622)

     Last week I began an attempt to unfold the doctrine of the Trinity for you. Mind you, I said it was an attempt! As I looked out over the congregation, I witnessed a sea of glassy, tired eyes. One of you later had the courage to tell me that the sermon was boring! Perhaps this was because you were wondering what all of this Trinitarian, theological minutiae has to do with life as we live it? And that is precisely where we need to connect this morning: Why should you take pleasure in and cling to the Church's historic understanding of God as Trinity?

Last week, we covered the first half of the answer to our catechism question lesson this morning: "Since there is only one Divine Being, [Remember Deuteronomy 6:4, Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one] why [then] do we speak of three, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit?" The first part of the answer was: "Because God has thus revealed himself in his Word…" The shorthand for that answer is that we confess the Trinity because the Bible says this is who God is in the core of his being.

     Last week I tried to explain that the Old Testament drops hints of the Trinity here and there, which we observe in New Testament hindsight with the incarnation of Jesus Christ and the pouring out of the Holy Spirit on the day of Pentecost.

     This morning, my job is to help you understand the second half of the answer that "these three distinct persons [Father, Son and Holy Spirit] are the one, true, eternal God." On the surface, this seems a simple matter of definition. There are three distinct, unique "persons" in the Godhead, existing from all eternity - and yet, these three distinct "persons" are at the same time, the one true, God - no division, no separation, no conflict, and no mixing of personalities.

     This mystery has spawned many well-meaning, but ultimately wrongheaded attempts to account for a Trinitarian understanding of God. Let me briefly summarize three major efforts in that endeavor:

1. Tritheism was originally an attempt by many early Christians to protect the deity of each member of the Trinity. Many outside the fold of Christian faith have a hard time understanding the Trinity any other way. Certainly this is true within the ranks of the world's other two monotheistic religions, Islam and Judaism: "You Christians believe in three gods, not one!" I might add that a good many Christians believe this is what the Bible teaches - but it doesn't.

2. Modalism, on the other hand, was another attempt in the early Church to protect the unity of the one, true God. This view goes something like this: God is truly one; the distinctions of persons within the Godhead are modes he assumes. Just like an actor puts on different masks during a performance, so God comes to us first as the creating Father; then he changes to the saving and sacrificing Son; finally arriving as the sanctifying Spirit. God is one; he just plays three different roles. The weakness here is that the eternal personhood of each member of the Godhead is lost.

3. Subordinationism is perhaps the model that gets the biggest play in contemporary discussions of the subject. This is the view that relegates the Son and the Spirit to a lesser status than God the Father. They are created beings just like the rest of us; the only difference being that they are superior, just like the angels. Jesus becomes the extraordinary teacher and, in some circles, he represents the perfect model of "God-consciousness." The Spirit is usually characterized as a mysterious force coming from the one, true God, blowing and working as a life giving, enlightening principle - purely impersonal and mechanistic.

     But I want to suggest to you that these three views of God are poor attempts to grasp, or perhaps diminish the mystery of the Trinity. God is three and yet one; God is one and yet three: One God existing eternally as the Father, and the Son and the Holy Spirit. Some have creatively, and to good effect, used the analogy of a rainbow in the sky to describe the Trinity. They point to the colors of the rainbow: There are distinct colors visible and yet it is seamless. Distinct colors, and yet it is ultimately one rainbow; beautiful and majestic and awe-inspiring!

     And now, I must confess two things to you right here and now. First of all, the subject of the Trinity has never been one that I wanted to preach on. In fact, I don't know of many of my colleagues in ministry that have taken on this subject. It's hard to explain - nearly impossible! I think part of my reluctance is due to the fact that the material that I've read on the subject is just plain dry, academic fare. Too much of the literature available on the subject leave me cold. On the other hand, there are our brothers and sisters in the Eastern Orthodox Church who seem to joyfully move and breathe effortlessly in the reality of the Trinity. I remember attending a conference a number of years back where the topic of discussion was Catholics, Protestants and the Orthodox seeking common ground within "the Great Tradition" of the Church. Orthodox Bishop Kallistos Ware was one of the featured speakers. The title of his lecture was, "The Trinity: Heart of our Life." I remember him cupping his hand to his ear during his presentation and saying something to the effect of, "Shhh. Can you hear the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit whispering amongst one another?" His tone of voice was tender and passionate. I felt so unspiritual. Not only was I clueless, but I couldn't hear the whispering no matter how hard I strained!

     But, I want to share with you a way that has made my own understanding of the Trinity more real; more approachable. In a word, it's all about Relationship. In my estimation, this is what grounds this mysterious doctrine. This is why we should treasure and cling to the Trinity. Let me try to briefly explain: In the Old Testament lesson this morning, you heard this verse from Genesis: "So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them" (1:27). Part of the mystery of the Trinity is illustrated in the fact that men and women together reflect the image of God. Male and female are one, and yet two. This is why you find Genesis 2:24 speaking of marriage in these terms: "Therefore a man shall leave his father and his mother and hold fast to his wife, and they shall become one flesh." Jesus gives voice to this truth in Matthew and Mark. Paul cites these same words in 1 Corinthians and Ephesians, (Matt. 19:5f; Mark 10:8; 1 Cor. 6:16; Eph. 5:31).

     To bear the image of God means that men and women are relational beings at heart. Further, human relationships, especially those expressed in human marriage, reflect (imperfectly!) that which exists eternally within the Trinity. But, the New Testament lesson from Romans 5 demonstrates that relationships aren't limited to what goes on in heaven within the Godhead, and here on earth in our own individual relationships. The ultimate relationship extends from heaven to earth. The Gospel is that God desires the same kind of intimate relationship he has within himself with men and women that bear his image: "We have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. Through him we have also obtained access by faith into this grace in which we stand….More than that…God's love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us."

     But, there's one other important point I want to make here about our relationship with God. When you look at men and women, you realize very quickly, that we're not alike. We're different! As I look at my own marriage, I realize that I am incomplete without Shannon. She makes up for my lack. She is my perfect complement! In a very real sense, you can't really know Cameron Smith without knowing my wife. Together, we are a complete package. Now, as I translate that to the Trinity, I can tell you that you don't really know God until you know him as Father, Son and Holy Spirit. God the Father comes to us in the flesh of his Son; ultimately coming to dwell within us through the Holy Spirit. It's like a telescope unfurling from heaven!

     I love how Jesus drives this point home to one of his disciples in John 14:8-9: Philip said, "Lord, show us the Father, and it is enough for us." Jesus said to him, "Have I been with you so long, and you still do not know me, Philip? Whoever has seen me has seen the Father. How can you say, 'Show us the Father?'" The Holy Spirit is also painted in the same personal, intimate terms by Jesus: "When the Helper comes, whom I will send to you from the Father, the Spirit of truth, who proceeds from the Father, he will bear witness about me" (John 15:26).

     The witness of Scripture, and what the historic Church has labored for nearly 2,000 years to say is that we know God only because he has graciously revealed himself in his three-ness: God the creator, transcendent, wise and loving Father; Oh, Immanuel, God with us in the Son all the way to the cross; God the Spirit, pouring himself into and opening our hearts; convicting the world of sin and righteousness.

     Let me conclude with a word from three well known pastors who have labored in mainline churches for decades. Will Willimon, Martin Copenhaver and Anthony Robinson, in their book, Good News in Exile, have this advice for pastors, but also to those who labor diligently each week listening to what their pastors have to say from the Word of God:

"Discerning readers of the Bible can expect to encounter some passages that do not fit within their understanding of the world and others that simply seem unbelievable. We all have files in our minds labeled 'Accepted' and 'Rejected,' and faithful readers of Scripture may be no exception. But those who entrust themselves to the scriptural story also have an active file labeled 'Awaiting Further Light.' Such a file will include many items that we would be inclined to put in the 'Rejected' file were it not for the voices of historic Christian witnesses who have commended them to us. So we listen carefully when they seem to say to us, 'Don't be so quick to reject this. You may not fully accept this now, but please trust us enough to put it somewhere where you will be sure to consider it again. In the meantime, why not try trusting this word to live by it?' Those who actively use the file labeled 'Awaiting Further Light' exhibit humility before the community of faith. This does not mean that we must pretend to believe things we do not believe. But, It means that, at certain points, we take the Bible more seriously than we take ourselves. It means freely recognizing, along with Shakespeare, that 'There are more things in heaven and earth…than are dreamt of in your philosophy.' It means that we must dare trust the scriptural story more than our own limited perceptions. It means that we must recognize that the question of what we can believe is not nearly so important as the question of whom we must trust."

May God sustain you in this joyful relationship that we have through the ultimate relationship in the Trinity. Amen