Today we are going to look at the doctrine of the Trinity. If we are to know God, one of the most significant, and unique facts about his character is that although God is one he is also three. He is three in one and one in three. Although the Bible does not use the word trinity the doctrine of the trinity is found throughout scripture, especially in the New Testament. Strictly speaking God is a tri-unity which reflects his three in oneness. Today we are going to explore this under three headings – God as Trinity; the equality and roles of the trinity; the trinity as community and how that affects us.

An important thing to say at this stage is that here we are dealing with an immense mystery. The Bible helps us a little bit on what the Trinity is and what he is not, but much of this is beyond our understanding. However simply because we do not understand everything does not mean that it is not true. We have to leave some room for mystery. God is God and we are but creatures and a bit of mystery is good, it produces awe and worship and reminds us that we have not got everything tied down.

1.God as Trinity

The Christian God is unique of all gods and religions for we worship a God who is three in one. Over the years Christians have been accused of worshipping three Gods. This is not the case, it is three persons in one godhead. If we are to know the true God we must see his threeness. Calvin says “God designates himself by another special mark to distinguish himself more precisely from idols. He proclaims himself the sole God to be contemplated in three persons. Unless we grasp this, only the bare and empty name of God flits about in our brain to the exclusion of the true God.” In other words if we fail to see God as trinity we are worshipping a completely wrong idea of God. This is foundational to a true appreciation of him.

The Trinity is also important not just for our worship but for our understanding of salvation.  If it is not true then Jesus is not divine and not of the same essence as God the Father. If the trinity is not true then the atonement is undermined because then God as Son did not and could not die for the sins of the world. So this doctrine has big implications for our understanding of God and of salvation.

The Westminster Confession of Faith (1647) summarizes the doctrine by saying “In the unity of the Godhead there be three persons, of one substance, power, and eternity: God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Ghost.” Wayne Grudem defines the doctrine of the Trinity as follows: “God eternally exists as three persons, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, and each person is fully God, and there is one God”.

So we affirm three truths about God here. A) God is three distinct persons. B) Each person is fully God. C) There is one God.

God is three distinct persons. The Father is not the Son and the Son is not the Holy Spirit – they are distinct. Jn. 1:1 tells us “in the beginning was the Word (Jesus) and the Word was with God (distinct) and the Word was God.” Jesus speaks of the Spirit as distinct from him in Jn..16:7 “It is to your advantage that I go away, for if I do not go away the Counsellor will not come to you, but if I go I will send him to you”.  The Father is a distinct person and so is the Son and so is the Holy Spirit.

Each person of the trinity is fully God. Jn.1:1 affirms the deity of Jesus. John 20:28 Thomas sees the risen Jesus and says “My Lord and my God”. Jesus does not dissuade him from such worship, he accepts it. Also the Spirit is God. In Acts 5:3-4 Peter asks Ananias “Why has satan filled your heart to lie to the Holy Spirit…you have not lied to men but to God”. God and the Spirit are fully God. We have the command to go and baptise in the name of the Father, the son and the Holy Spirit. Our worship ends with the threefold benediction of the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, the love of God the Father and the peace of the Holy Spirit.

At the baptism of Jesus we see or hear the three distinct persons of the godhead. Mark 1:10 “As Jesus was coming up out of the water he saw heaven being torn open and the Spirit descending on him like a dove. And a voice came from heaven “You are my Son whom I love, with you I am well pleased.”

There is one God. – “ the LORD is God; there is no other besides him” (Deut. 4:35).  “. . . there is no god beside me” (Deut. 32:39).   “Before me no god was formed, nor shall there be any after me” (Isa. 43:10).  “I am the LORD, and there is no other, besides me there is no God” (Isa. 45:5).

Now let us be clear on what the trinity is not.

It is not modalism – one person who appears in three different forms or modes at different times. In OT as Father, in NT as Son first of all and after Pentecost as Spirit.

It is not Arianism which says that at one point God created the Son. Arius argued that there was a time when Jesus was not, he was created by the Father and therefore cannot be equal to God the Father. But the church agreed that scripture taught the “eternal generation” of the Son. The Nicene creed speaks of Jesus being eternally begotten which suggests some primacy in the Godhead but Jesus and the Father are of the same nature, of the same essence. The Son is not less than the Father, he is equal.

It is not Subordinationism – Jesus is not of a different nature or essence from the Father but equal to Him although he has a slightly different role from the Father. Later we will look at this issue of roles.

God is three yet one and this three-ness is not only throughout scripture but it is found throughout our world. There are many examples of threes or triads in scripture and in life. There is power in threes! I do not think this is a coincidence.

We have God as holy, holy, holy,  God is life, light and love; the OT is divided into the Law, the Prophets and the Writings; there are three patricarchs – Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. There were three visitors to Abraham. There were three feast periods. We have faith, hope and love; the world the flesh and the devil; we have red, yellow and blue as the primary colours, we have liquid, solid and gas; we have past, present and future; we have height, width and depth; we have root, trunk and branches; we have thought, word and deed, we have father, mother and child; we have yolk, white and shell; we have water, ice and steam; we have I, you and he, in the body we have circulation, respiration and nervous system, we have mind, body and spirit; memory, understanding and will; thoughts, words, and acts, (back to the bible) we have the outer court, the holy place and the most holy place, we have Jesus as prophet, priest and king; we have Jesus public ministry of three years, he was tempted by satan three times; we have his three closest disciples Peter, James and John, we have three crosses on the hill of calvary and we have him rising on the third day and he is the same yesterday, today and forever - -do you think that he is trying to teach us something!

2. The equality and roles of Father Son and Spirit

Bruce Ware - “The doctrine of the Trinity affirms that God’s whole and undivided essence belongs equally, eternally, simultaneously, and fully to each of the three distinct Persons of the Godhead.” This means that each member of the Trinity is equally God, which means that they share the divine attributes, such as eternality, omniscience, omnipotence, and omnipresence.

It also means that each is involved in the overall work of creation and redemption. We tend to think of God the Father just creating yet the Bible says Jesus and the Spirit were there in the beginning also as co-creators and they also sustain the world. Col.1:16 “For by Jesus all things were created…all things were created by him and for him. He is before all things and in him all things hold together.”

And yet the three persons of the godhead do seem to have different roles. The Son was on the cross, not the Father. The Spirit fell upon the disciples at Pentecost, not the Son. Some have tried to neatly sum it all up by saying the Father is the initiator and planner and it is put into practice by the Son and the Spirit so as regards our salvation the Father thought it, the Son bought it and the Spirit wrought it. There is some truth here but we should not press it too far.

3. The final thing I want us to reflect upon is the Trinity as community.

Our God is a person yet three persons and he is relational. We are told in the Bible that we are made in the image of God. In Genesis the first “it is not good” referred to it not being good for the man to be alone and out of that Adam got a wife and he got children and we have families and communities and nations.

God is a family and within that scripture tells us that they heap praise upon each other, the Father glorifies the Son, the Son honours the Father and the Spirit glorifies both. The Father and the Son are in constant conversation; there is an interdependence between them; there is love flowing between them; there is no rivalry in the trinity. In other words God is a perfect community.

The church is meant to be a reflection of our God; it is meant to be a community, a family of brothers and sisters united by the Holy Spirit. In this church we continue emphasising community, the need to be part of a small group for support, bible study and service. We encourage you to be part of a prayer triplet. We are increasingly moving towards pastoral care being expressed through our small groups and as a church grows larger so small groups and prayer triplets become more and more important.

In recent days I have heard stories of people who have gone missing from church for weeks and months and they have not been followed up by their friends – indeed they have wondered if they really have any friends in the church. We can be so consumed with ourselves and so busy that we do not look out for each other. If church cannot offer real loving, caring community what can we offer this world. Can someone find more fellowship down the pub or at the rugby club or golf club than in church. Sadly the answer is yes for many This is the challenge for us. But we as individuals have a responsibility to be in community for there we will find support and nurture and if we deliberately absent ourselves from these opportunities for growth and fellowship then we cannot complain if we are not followed up.

This is to follow God’s example and Jesus example. Jesus invested his life in a group of twelve men, within that a group of three (Peter, James and John) and within the three he had one who was especially close – John.

This is the trinity in action, church should be a reflection of the community of God. A three corded strand is not easily broken. Satan isolates us and then he picks us off much as a lion isolates a gazelle from the herd and then attacks and devours. We were made for community for our god is a God of community. This is one practical aspect of our faith and we ignore it at our peril.

What an awesome God we worship. He is one God, he is three persons, each person is fully God. To Him be the glory Father, Son and Spirit.

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