Understanding the Trinity is really pretty simple, it only takes a few minutes:
Get it?
Of course the Trinity is one of the great mysteries of faith, but there are several reasons why it's important to understand, and we discussed several of them in class on Sunday. Here's a rundown:
The Trinity explains who God is in himself:
Because God is Triune, he doesn't need to create a world in order to be loving. Because he is Triune, he is love--the love expressed from all eternity between the Father, Son and Spirit.
The doctrine of the Trinity is a way of making sense of the statement "God is love." If you want to say this coherently, you need to understand the doctrine of the Trinity.
The Trinity is a Jesus issue. It was the claims of Jesus that got these theological wheels spinning. After all, what do you do when a child of the only monotheistic faith in the world says "I and the Father are one" (John 10:30)?
The doctrine of the Trinity explains how both Jesus and his Father can be the same God, or to put another way, it is a way of making sense of the statement "Jesus is God." If you want to say this coherently, you need to understand the doctrine of the Trinity.
Understanding the Trinity also helps us understand who God is in relation to us:
We all know that "Jesus Saves." This is true and good, but it's truer and gooder to say that" the Trinity Saves." Because after all, the Father chose to save and so sent the Son to accomplish salvation, which the Spirit the applies to us. So think of it this way:
The only way we can be in relationship with the Father (who is transcendent beyond the universe) is through the Son. But the only way we can be in relationship with the Son, who lived on the other side of the world 2,000 years ago is by the Spirit. So the Spirit brings us into fellowship with the Son who bring us into fellowship with the Father, who sent the Son who sent the Spirit. The Father and Spirit are as active and essential to our salvation as Jesus is. The Trinity saves! (I'm gonna make me a neon sign!)
If you'd like to dig more into this topic, I highly recommend this book to you: The Deep Things of God: How the Trinity Changes Everything by Fred Sanders (who also has a great blog here.)
Of course the Trinity is one of the great mysteries of faith, but there are several reasons why it's important to understand, and we discussed several of them in class on Sunday. Here's a rundown:
The Trinity explains who God is in himself:
Because God is Triune, he doesn't need to create a world in order to be loving. Because he is Triune, he is love--the love expressed from all eternity between the Father, Son and Spirit.
The doctrine of the Trinity is a way of making sense of the statement "God is love." If you want to say this coherently, you need to understand the doctrine of the Trinity.
The Trinity is a Jesus issue. It was the claims of Jesus that got these theological wheels spinning. After all, what do you do when a child of the only monotheistic faith in the world says "I and the Father are one" (John 10:30)?
The doctrine of the Trinity explains how both Jesus and his Father can be the same God, or to put another way, it is a way of making sense of the statement "Jesus is God." If you want to say this coherently, you need to understand the doctrine of the Trinity.
Understanding the Trinity also helps us understand who God is in relation to us:We all know that "Jesus Saves." This is true and good, but it's truer and gooder to say that" the Trinity Saves." Because after all, the Father chose to save and so sent the Son to accomplish salvation, which the Spirit the applies to us. So think of it this way:
The only way we can be in relationship with the Father (who is transcendent beyond the universe) is through the Son. But the only way we can be in relationship with the Son, who lived on the other side of the world 2,000 years ago is by the Spirit. So the Spirit brings us into fellowship with the Son who bring us into fellowship with the Father, who sent the Son who sent the Spirit. The Father and Spirit are as active and essential to our salvation as Jesus is. The Trinity saves! (I'm gonna make me a neon sign!)
If you'd like to dig more into this topic, I highly recommend this book to you: The Deep Things of God: How the Trinity Changes Everything by Fred Sanders (who also has a great blog here.)
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