The Trinity -
Does it Matter?
Jesus came from Nazareth and was baptized by John in the Jordan. As Jesus was coming 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.'
--Mark 1:9-11
The doctrine of the trinity is, at best, challenging. The question about how God can exist in 3 persons opens our minds to the great Mystery of who God is.
We do not believe in tritheism, a type of polytheism, that teaches the existence of three gods who work in harmony.
We do not believe in unipersonalism, the idea that God sometimes takes one form and at another time a different form, and that these forms are simply different representations of one God.
Instead, we are trinitarianists, believing that Scripture teaches that there is one God in three distinct persons who know and love and honor each other.
He is not one more than the other. He is all three - always.
When Jesus is baptized, God the Father covers Him with words of love: You are My Son, whom I love; with You I am well pleased.
From Timothy Keller:
This is what has been happening in the interior
life of the Trinity from all eternity.
Mark is giving us a glimpse into the very heart
of reality, the meaning of life, the essence of
the universe.
According to the Bible, the Father, the Son, and
the Holy Spirit glorify one another.
Jesus says in His prayer recorded in John's
gospel: "I have brought you glory on earth by
completing the work you gave me to do. And,
now, Father, glorify me in your presence with the
glory I had with you before the world began"
(John 17:4-5).
Each person of the Trinity glorifies the other... ..
Theologian Cornelius Plantinga develops this,
noting the Bible says the Father, the Son and
the Spirit glorify one another: "The persons
within God exalt one another, commune with
each other, and defer to one another....
"Each divine person harbors the others at the
center of his being.
"In constant movement of overture and
acceptance, each person envelopes and encircles
the others...God's interior life overflows with
regard for others."
The Father, the Son, and the Spirit are each centering on the others, adoring and serving them.
This relationship brings them complete joy!
An example for us on a human level would be falling in love and finding that love returned.
We become centered in the one we love.
Sublime joy!
Does it matter very much? C. S. Lewis, in Mere Christianity, says: It matters more than anything else in the world. The whole dance, or drama, or pattern of this three-Personal life is to be played out in each one of us...Joy, power, peace, eternal life are a great fountain of energy and beauty spurting up at the very center of reality.
Our inclination is to live a self-centered life, with everything and everyone around us orbiting around us.
The Trinity is completely different. The Father, the Son and the Spirit are characterized by mutually self-giving love. Each circles around the others.
We are to be like them!
This is the ultimate reality. If the God who made the universe is like this, and we are His image-bearers, then relationships of self-giving love is what life is really all about.
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