"How the Trinity Works"
October 31, 2010
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I have here an apple. And some of are thinking that this is an illustration of the trinity. And apple is made of the skin, the flesh, and the core. They are three different parts of the apple, but they are all apple. True enough.
But it’s not really a very good analogy of the trinity. No, I have this apple to remind you of the invention of gravity. Galileo was playing in the leaning tower of Pisa, and dropped a couple of lead balls of different sizes and realized that they all feel to the ground. He knew he was on to something. It wasn’t until Sir Isaac Newton was napping under an apple tree, and one of these apples fell on his head, and in that moment he had an awakening, his epiphany: gravity made this apple fall and hit my head!
Until then, people were just floating around in our atmosphere. Planets aimlessly bumped around in space like a giant pinball game. Right? No. Gravity was always there in God’s creation. He didn't invent it, he just noticed it. And when he did, and came up with the theory of gravity, all sorts of stuff that happened in the world began to make sense.
But then, as he was so apt to do, Einstein took it further. He took our understanding of gravity deeper with his theory of relativity, which has helped us to understand the effects of gravity in relation to other objects and other forces.
Now, because of the discovery of gravity and the relational nature of gravity, I now understand that when I go rock climbing it is in my best interest to take a rope along. I better have that rope tied to me, and have someone else holding the other end. So my understanding and embracing to the discovery of gravity has actually saved my life.
Gravity impacts everyone of us and every part of our world. Now let me ask you, how often to go around thinking about gravity? Not often i suspect. You just know that gravity is. And even though you and I don't know all the formulas and equations at work in understanding gravity, we understand enough. We understand our world through the lenses of gravity. Further, we understand some things about gravity itself in relation to our world. And finally, this basic understanding of gravity has saved all of our lives. None us, it would appear, jumped out of a airplane without a parachute, or decided to take the window, instead of the elevator, when we went to the top of the CN tower.
Today I want to hit you in the head with the apple of the trinity. Folks here’s how the Trinity works:
First, the Trinity helps us make sense of the bible. When we put on the lens of the Trinity, that God exists eternally as three in one: Father, Son and Holy Spirit, we understand the bible so much better. Things just fall into place and make so much more sense. This is your Newtonian awakening.
Second, the Trinity helps us to understand God, and how God exists in relation to himself. This is the Einstein awakening. This is getting at a deeper level that God can be one God, in three persons. In doctrinal terms we call this the "immanent trinity." That God exists eternally as a Triune being.
Third, the Trinity helps us to understand our salvation. We understand how we are saved through an understanding how the Triune God has worked out our salvation. In doctrinal terms this is called the "economic trinity." One God has worked out our salvation in three persons: that Father who is holy and perfect sends the son who takes on our sin and becomes an atoning sacrifice on the cross, only to rise in victory over sin and death, and this victory becomes our salvation when God comes to live in us by the Holy Spirit. Wow, that’s deep. And today you are going to understand how it all works together.
First, the trinity works by helping us understand what was always there in the bible.
Say one Ousia...
Say three Hypostases...
Congratulations, you just learned what took the church nearly 4 centuries to figure out! You just said one essence, three persons. God is one essence in three persons: God the Father, Son and Holy Spirit. This simple affirmation will help you in understanding the bible in profound ways.
The Biblical revelation without discernment, can appear to have many contradictions. So let me teach you what might be a new word. When two propositions are placed next to each other, and both claim to be truth propositions, if they seem to state different things, we say they are contradictory. They can not both be true, because they contract each other. Because one proposition is true, the other is false. So here are two propositions; It’s light outside. It’s dark outside. Well, we might say, that’s easy. It’s light. Therefore it’s not dark outside. But if we broaden our view we might say that it’s both light and dark outside. On our side of the world right now, it’s light. On the other side, it’s dark. So really, we can say that these propositions are not contradictory, or antithetical to each other. Rather, they can be held in antinomy. Antinomy simple means that two propositions might seem contradictory but actually, they can be held in harmony.
When we read the bible we find statements that at first glance might seem antithetical. In regard to this discussion, statements like the basic affirmation of faith in the Old testament: Deuteronomy 6:4 "The Lord our God, the Lord is one." The LORD is one! So we say great, I affirm that! Then we read something like the great commission, another much loved bible passage: baptize in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. God is three. Wait, God is one? Which one is it? Those have to be contradictory statements? No, they are in antinomy. In the fullness of who God is, He is one essence, He is three persons.
When we put on the lens of the trinity, when we affirm this doctrine, and then read the bible, we find that all sorts of passages start to make more sense. They become richer, fuller, more descrip, more amazing. For example:
The creation story. "In the beginning God (interject here, the one God) created the heavens and the earth. The earth was without form and was void, and darkness was over the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God was hovering over the face of the waters." God, the one God, was responsible for creation. In the creation, we find the Spirit of God hovering over the deep waters.
A few verses later, God says, "let US make man in our image, after OUR likeness let US make him." This one God either has a split personality, or multiple person-hood.
So far we have God. We have this revelation of the Spirit. Before the end of chapter 3 we have the first indication of the Son, Jesus. The curse is pronounced over the serpent, Satan. "You will strike his heel, but he will crush your head." A prophesy of the crucifixion of Jesus, the heel strike; and the resurrection of Jesus, the death blow to Satan and the power of sin and death.
The lens of the Trinity helps us begin to understand what God is up to all throughout the OT. When God refers to himself in plural form, when throughout the history of the chosen people we find these appearances of God and the angel, or son, of the Lord. It makes sense of the Psalms when they speak of the coming son of God. It makes sense of the Prophets when they speak of the coming redeemer, and when they speak of a time when the Spirit will come upon all of God’s people, and when they look forward all the way to the great and terrible day of the LORD, which means, they were talking about the second coming of Jesus before his first coming, which is extraordinarily cool! The Trinity works because it helps us make sense of the OT and what God was doing and how the revelation of the bible is not contradictory, but antinomy. They are propositions that are harmonious because God is three in one.
So first, the how does the trinity work? It helps us to understand the fullness of the revelation of God in the bible. We’ll get into the NT in greater detail now as move the second and third points.
Second, the trinity works by helping us to understand at a deeper level who God is and how He exists. This is what systematic theologies will call “The immanent trinity." God is immanently revealed in the bible at Triune. Let's go to one of my favorite revelations of the Trinity: the baptism of Jesus. Matthew 3:13-17
13(AD) Then Jesus came(AE) from Galilee to the Jordan to John, to be baptized by him. 14(AF) John would have prevented him, saying, "I need to be baptized by you, and do you come to me?" 15But Jesus answered him, "Let it be so now, for thus it is fitting for us to fulfill all righteousness." Then he consented. 16And when Jesus was baptized, immediately he went up from the water, and behold,(AG) the heavens were opened to him,[b] and he(AH) saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and coming to rest on him; 17and behold,(AI) a voice from heaven said,(AJ) "This is my beloved Son,[c] with whom I am well pleased."
Here we vividly see the triune God revealed as three persons. Jesus, the Son, comes out of the waters. Then the Spirit appears as a dove comes and rests upon him as a voice calls out from heaven, this is my Son, ergo, the Father, with whom I am well pleased. Here we see the immanent trinity. That in God’s essence his is one, and this essence is yet three persons.
Incidentally, it is no coincidence in the bible that the trinity is so clearly revealed in Jesus’ baptism, and then he clearly commands his followers to baptize, like wise, in the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy SPirit. The Triune God is revealed in the father affirming the Son, the Son honoring the Father, the Fathering sending the Spirit, the Spirit coming upon the Son.
This is what the early church was obsessed with getting right, and how it settled on the affirmation of one essence, three persons. Like I said, it took four centuries to arrive at this simple, clear, concise, doctrine. What's important to understand is that it only became necessary to make this affirmation because false affirmations were starting to creep into the church. So to help you understand this three in one, let me now tell you what this doctrine was meant to clarify. Three heresies, false teachings, were starting to creep into the church because there was some ambiguity on the the one and the three and how they existed and related.
The first was called Subordinationism. This arose out of an overemphasis on the worship of the one God, as commanded in places like Deuteronomy. In this view We affirm God as revealed as the Father. That God is revealed and understood in the relational title is almost uncontested throughout history. God is not an impersonal THING, God is relational. God is our heavenly father. We see the affirmation time and again in the ministry of Jesus. He is constantly talking about his father in heaven, and that he only does what his father wills. Because Jesus said he obeyed the father and serves the father, some in the church therefore said that he, and the Spirit, were subordinate to the Father. That they were lesser, even created by the Father.
This a big deal because it’s not what the bible teaches. The Son and the Spirit are not created being, but eternal with the Father. In Philippians 2, one of the greatest passages helping us understand the work of Jesus, we read, that Jesus Christ, though he was in the form of God, did not consider equality with God something to be grasped, and so he humbled himself, taking on the nature of a servant. Do not mistake the incarnation of Jesus as flesh and blood with the creation of Jesus. Jesus was one in form with God the father, but for the purpose of our salvation, humbled himself. This is not the same as subordination.
Second, this helps us from falling into the heresy of Modalism. Modalism simply says that because God is one, when we read about God the father, son and Holy spirit, it means different modes of the one God. In the progressive nature of the revelation of God in the bible, we first see God the Father, phase 1. Then God becomes Jesus the Son, phase 2. Then Jesus ascends to heaven and gives us his Spirit, mode 3. We've already seen the plurality of God in reference to himself. We’ve seen the three persons of God in one setting at the baptism. We read that Jesus prays to and does the will of his father in heaven all throughout his ministry. Before Jesus ascends to heaven he will breath out the Holy Spirit upon the disciples.
Third, this helps us avoid the heresy of tritheism. Tritheism is the heresy of just being dumb. It says, hey the bible talks about Father, Son and Holy Spirit, and because it’s hard for me to conceive of one being as three persons, I’ll just abandon the notion that he is one in three, three in one. I'll just worship three gods. This is polytheism, and this is not biblical, and this is not who God has revealed Himself to be.
Finally, the understanding, embracing the trinity helps us understand and embrace our salvation. This is called the economic trinity. This is how we understand that our salvation is purchased and applied to us through the triune God. Because God is immanently triune, our salvation is in the triune God. God works out our salvation through his triune being. So God is properly understood within the lens of the trinity, and we understand our salvation within the working of the trinity.
If for some reason you were really bored and wanted to do a study on the things George gets really excited about and talks about all the time, you would hear echoes of the economic trinity all over my preaching. In fact, I bet hardly a message goes by where you won’t hear me say refer to “the Truine God of grace.” Now of course this is a declaration of our immanently triune God, but I’m always saying this out of response to understanding his plan of salvation. That God the father sends teh son who sends teh Spirit who applies the sacrifice of the Son and draws us into relationship with our father in heaven... THAT is the triune God of grace!
To make this final point let’s look at one of the most beloved passaged of the bible. Let’s go to a favorite passage, rightfully so. 1 John 4:7-14
7Beloved,(Q) let us love one another, for love is from God, and(R) whoever loves has been born of God and knows God. 8(S) Anyone who does not love does not know God, because(T) God is love. 9In this the love of God was made manifest among us, that(U) God sent his only Son into the world, so that we might live through him. 10In this is love,(V) not that we have loved God(W) but that he loved us and sent his Son to be(X) the propitiation for our sins. 11Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. 12(Y) No one has ever seen God; if we love one another, God abides in us and(Z) his love is perfected in us.
13(AA) By this we know that we abide in him and he in us, because he has given us of his Spirit. 14And(AB) we have seen and testify that(AC) the Father has sent his Son to be the Savior of(AD) the world. 15(AE) Whoever confesses that Jesus is the Son of God, God abides in him, and he in God.
God is love.
God could not be love if God was not triune.
For the biblical definition of love is self-sacrificing, other serving. Love can not be love if it is not in the context of relationship.
Therefore, that God is love is that God can be demonstrate love within himself for us.
The Father, Son and Holy Spirit are in a dance of love.
FSHS are in a communion of love with one another.
FSHS are so full of love, so relational in being, that God invites us in.
By this love we KNOW that we abide, are in relationship with him...
Some of you know I'm a Simpsons fan. Not a kids show, but a great commentary on our culture. If you watch the beginnning of the show, you'll see at the base of the statue of Jebediah Springfield, the motto of Springfield: "A noble spirit embiggens the smallest of men." Embiggens is not even a word, which is why it's so funny.
The doctrine of the trinity embiggens the smallest of imaginations. The doctrine of the trinity invites us to join ourselves in love to a God far bigger, far greater, far more wonderful than we can yet know or imagine. The trinity is ultimately not a doctrine to define God. Rather, it is a mystery to embrace. A holy mystery that guards us from shrinking God into a being we can master with minds and imaginations. A holy mystery that draws us in and saves our lives.
Here’s some good news- all Christians agree on this. All Christian churches, Orthodox, to Catholic to Protestants believe and affirm in the doctrine of the Trinity: God is one essence in three persons. God the Father; God the Son; God the Holy Spirit.
In fact, the doctrine of the trinity is the litmus test for being a part of Christianity. If a group rejects the Trinity, the church has said that you have stepped outside the bounds of acceptable belief. Churches disagree on a lot of things. But when a group says you know, we are not going to affirm this doctrine, the rest of the churches say, well then, you are not a Christian church. I know this is going to be controversial, even offensive. But this is why Orthodox, Catholic and Protestants can even say together to Jehovah Witnesses- not Christian. They reject the Trinity. They've taken away from God. Mormons- not Christian. They reject the trinity. They've taken away from God. Oneness Pentecostalism- not Christian. They reject the Trinity. They've taken away from God. That is probably the most argumentative I’ve ever been from up front here. I am not aiming to be contentious. My aim is to be very clear, and very inclusive, and to say positively that all Christians down through the centuries have come together, in unity, when we haven’t been able to stand unified in a lot of other areas, to say, If you are going to get what being a Christian is, you need to get the trinity.
And when you do, you'll get the bible, our God, and his amazing plan of salvation so much better. Because that's how the Trinity works!
Let me close with the close of 2 Corinthians. The benediction given in churches for centuries:
2 Corinthians 13: 14(Y) The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ and(Z) the love of God and(AA) the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all.
