The Book's Purpose

• Document that the doctrine of the Trinity is integral to Christianity
• Demonstrate that Jesus Christ cannot be separated from the Trinity
• Reveal that the relationship within the Trinity is central to the Christian experience
• Explain that we were created by the Trinity and for the Trinity
• Establish that once we say yes to Jesus,

The Book's Message

For many people the Trinity is a puzzle that is difficult, if not impossible, to assemble. We are challenged to comprehend the “one is three and three is one”-ness of it. By exploring the relationships within the Trinity, we learn that God the Father, God the Son, and God the Spirit are truly one God and yet are, at the same time, three distinct Persons.

It is through the relationship of the three that the distinctions are revealed. It is by this Triunerelationship God that we are created; it is for this Triune-relationship God that we were created. The moment we say yes to Jesus, we are welcomed into the eternal inner circle of love between the Father and the Son~love manifested in the Person of the Holy Spirit. In other words, we are welcomed “home” to an eternity filled with intimacy, joy, servanthood, purity, power, creativity, and peace.

Finding the Trinity: “Following the Simple Jesus”

The doctrine of the Trinity is puzzling. How can three be one and one be three? Our human minds struggle to comprehend this concept. Thomas Jefferson referred to this concept as “incomprehensible jargon” and suggested we throw out this rambling and get back to the simplicity of Jesus and His pure and simple doctrines.

Without question Christians need to focus on Christ Jesus more~I am in total agreement with Jefferson on that point~however, when we focus on Jesus we will inevitably come right back to the worship of the Triune God. After all, Jesus is one of the three of the Trinity.

“Then Jesus came to them and said, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age” (Matthew 28:18-20).

In these words Jesus Himself makes a point of the Trinity. Notice he says, “baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.” He did not say names prior to listing the three, only name~ singular. The three, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, are one.

When we focus on Jesus with the intent of simplifying, we just circle around to right where we started~the three are one and the one is three. Listen to what Jesus said about this Trinitarian concept:

“All things have been committed to me by my Father. No one knows the Son except the Father, and no one knows the Father except the Son and those to whom the Son chooses to reveal him” (Matthew 11:27).

“And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Counselor to be with you forever~the Spirit of truth. The world cannot accept him, because it neither sees him nor knows him. But you know him, for he lives with you and will be in you” (John 14:16-17).

“But the Counselor, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you all things and will remind you of everything I have said to you” (John 14:26).

“When the Counselor comes, whom I will send to you from the Father, the Spirit of truth who goes out from the Father, he will testify about me” (John 15:26).

“Jesus replied, ‘If anyone loves me, he will obey my teaching. My Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our home with him’” (John 14:23).

Do we dare to claim that Jesus was just “rambling” and we should throw it out? Of course not! When we carefully consider His words, we are left with no doubt of His reference to the three-part characteristic of the living God.

Also, if we attempt to share Jesus with others, it is almost impossible to not introduce the Trinity into the description. How else can we set Jesus apart as not just another God? Lesslie Newbigin, the late Anglican missionary to India, explained, “The truth is one cannot preach Jesus even in the simplest terms without preaching him as the Son. His revelation of God is the revelation of ‘an only begotten from the Father,’ and you cannot preach him without speaking of the Father and the Son.” And, how do we explain that Jesus is always with us without introducing the Holy Spirit? The Trinity~this difficult, mind-stretching doctrine~did not originate in a think-tank of renowned theologians. It appeared out of ordinary Christian congregations.

In his book Mere Christianity, C.S. Lewis said, “If Christianity was something we were making up, of course we could make it easier. But it is not. We cannot compete in simplicity with people who are inventing religions. How could we? We are dealing with fact. Of course anyone can be simple if he does not have any facts to bother about.”

So, let’s take a moment to examine the facts. Jesus is a fact. The word Trinity is not in the Bible~ another fact. Tertullian, a church theologian of the third century, introduced the term Trinity to describe the three-part characteristic of God.

His goal was to make sense of the historical facts prior to the Church. The Early Church spent large amounts of time and energy in theological debates as they tried to make sense of the facts. While their interpretation of recent history was not perfect, their goal was pure~ to bring the good news to the people so that these people would come to a living faith in Christ Jesus.

No, the word Trinity does not appear in Scripture, but the facts~the reality the Early Church attempted to explain~did. What were the facts that the Early Church grappled with?

Let’s look at the Old Testament. In Deuteronomy 6:4, we read, “Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one.”

What does the word one mean in this usage? In the Bible, the word one is seldom used as a digit. Here, as in most instances in the Bible, one means only, unique, once-for-all, or unitary.

Based on this, Tertullian believed that God is one, but that God is not alone. In the very first verse of the Bible, we find evidence of this position. “In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth” (Genesis 1:1).

The Hebrew word that was used for God in this verse is Elohim, which is a plural noun always used with a singular verb. This suggests a plurality in one God.

Then God said, “Let us make man in our image, in our likeness.” (Genesis 1:26).

Another example is seen in Genesis 16. He appears to Hagar, who refers to Him as the “Angel of the Lord,” but then concludes that she has seen God. (Genesis 16:13)

We see this again in Exodus 3, where He appears to Moses in the burning bush. At first He is referred to as an “Angel of God,” but Moses remarks that he was afraid to look at God. Somehow this encounter with the “Angel of the Lord” is an encounter with the Lord~the Lord who is “one.” Throughout the Old Testament, when referring to God’s Spirit, we read of God’s name, God’s glory, God’s wisdom, and God’s Word. Each one seems to imply an extension of God, distinct from God and yet fully God as He relates to His people.

Is it possible that this is why the angels sing a three-fold, “Holy, Holy, Holy” in Isaiah 6? Is it why God instructed priests to present the three-fold benediction, “The Lord bless you and keep you; the Lord make his face shine upon you and be gracious to you; the Lord turn his face toward you and give you peace” (Numbers 6:24–26).

In the New Testament, this three-fold plurality is everywhere. We see it in Jesus’ conception. To Mary, the angel says, “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you. So the holy one to be born will be called the Son of God” (Luke 1:35). Here we see the Holy Spirit, the Most High, and the Son of God.

When Jesus is baptized, He rises up out of the water. The heaven opens and the Spirit of God descends upon Him, and a voice from heaven says, “And a voice from heaven said, "This is my Son, whom I love; with him I am well pleased” (Matthew 3:17).

In this we see the descending Spirit, the Voice from Heaven, and the Son in whom God is pleased.

Throughout His life and earthly ministry, Jesus credits a Father and a Spirit with much of His ability and accomplishments.

• He does what He sees His Father do (John 5:19).
• He acts by the power of the Holy Spirit (Luke 9:20).
• His goal is to make the Father known to His disciples (John 17:12).
• He baptizes His disciples in and with the Spirit (Mark 1:8, John 1:33).
• He describes the coming of the Holy Spirit as a coming of Jesus and the Father also.

Other examples in the New Testament of three-fold-ness appear in 1 Peter 1:2, Titus 3:4-6, Romans 8:9-11, 1 Corinthians 6:13-20, 1 Corinthians 12:4-6, Ephesians 2:18, Ephesians 4:4-6, and Ephesians 3:14-16.

The early Christians worshipped Jesus as God. If this had been idolatry, Jesus would have rebuked them. Instead He said, in this instance to Thomas, “Because you have seen me, you have believed; blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed” (John 20:29). This was the Creator who also became the Creation, so worshipping Him was appropriate.

A child might ask, “Are there two Gods? But who watched over the world when Jesus was a baby? Who did God pray to in the garden? Didn’t God die on the cross?”

How can we possibly answer these questions without acknowledging the doctrine of the Trinity?

Understanding the Trinity: How the Church Preserved the Mystery

The concept of one God as Trinity is as exciting as it is challenging. Wrapping our minds around one God being three and three being one God is difficult.

Making sense of the Trinity~as stated in the Athanasian Creed, “one God in Trinity, and Trinity in Unity, neither confounding the Persons, nor dividing the Substance”~can be a daunting task. But, if we persist, we will find ourselves in a place of not only thinking our own thoughts about God, but God’s thoughts about God. The Trinity is God’s way. On page after page of the Bible, God reveals Himself in His three-foldness.

John wrote, “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God (John 1:1). The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us.” (John 1:14).

Who is this Word-who-is-God-who-has-become-flesh? What is this relationship? The Trinity doctrine did not originate in an ivory tower or a convocation of religious zealots. It was the result of ordinary believers, like you and me, seeking to understand the facts of God’s self-revelation and striving to live in accordance with those facts.

In the center of it all is Jesus. Some reacted by wanting to stone Him. Others went to their knees to worship Him. Is this idolatry? If your answer is “no, it is proper,” you are on the path that leads to the Trinity.

So, what does all of this mean? Does it even matter? To answer those questions, we must understand that the God Trinity is a mystery. A mystery may be something that has no rational argument, but it does not mean the same as absurdity. We may not be able to rationally explain the Trinity, but that does not make it impossible. The Church did not devise the doctrine of the Trinity to resolve the mystery. It did so to maintain the mystery. Why is it important to preserve this mystery? Because by doing so we remain true to the self-revelation that God provided~that there is only one God, that God exists distinctly in three persons, and that each one is equally divine.

Many have struggled to give an analogy to illustrate the Trinitarian nature of God, but they have always fallen short of a true image. In truth, this lack of success illustrates that the Trinitarian nature is something which can only be understood from outside our human experience and grounded only in God’s self-revelation.

In St. Paul’s Presbyterian Church in Los Angeles, is a diagram that faithfully illustrates the Trinity.

Although “God is one,” God is not alone. Before the creation of the universe, God could speak and someone could hear and answer. The three Persons are not just parts of God, nor are they just characteristics of God. They do not co-exist beside one another. The three Persons subsist and are one God. For example,

I co-exist with my wife, but I subsist as a husband, a father, and a brother. In just this way, the three Persons of the Trinity subsist in unending inter-relatedness. What makes each of the three a distinct Person? Certainly they are not separate individuals, but they are unique in and of themselves. The Persons of the Trinity are distinct as Persons but not separate as individuals; yet, there is something unique and “separate” about each Person~all subsisting in one essence.

What is the uniqueness that separates each Person of the One God from the others? The answer can be found in The Nicene Creed:

“We believe in Jesus Christ, the only begotten Son of God, begotten of the Father before all worlds. We believe in the Holy Spirit, the Lord, the Giver of life, who proceeds from the Father and the Son.”

The terms begotten and proceeds hold the clue to the uniqueness of each of the Persons of the Trinity. In the words of Paul Jewett, “The first Person is uniquely the Father in that he, and only he, is begotten of none and proceeds from none; the second Person is uniquely the Son in that he, and only he, is begotten of the Father; the third person is uniquely the Spirit in that he, and only he, proceeds from the Father and the Son.”

The difference between beget and create is important. For, quoting C.S. Lewis from Mere Christianity, “What God creates is not God; just as what humans create is not human. What God begets is God; just as what humans beget is human.” That is why ‘the one begotten Son of God’ is God!”

Over time, I was begotten by my parents as was every human being since Adam and Eve. However, God the Son is eternally begotten of God the Father. Time is of no influence. Eternality is also true of the Spirit. Remember, what God created is not God. The begotten of God is God. The Holy Spirit has eternally been the breath of life of God the Father and God the Son. The Trinity was, is, and always will be because God the Son and God the Holy Spirit were eternally begotten of God the Father.

The living God is one being, yet within that being there eternally subsists three distinct persons. This distinction exists in relationship. The Father was begotten of no one, while the Son and the Spirit were eternally begotten of the Father. At that point that is deepest within this mystery, God consists of fellowship, of intimate relationship, and of a community of love.

A clear understanding of Trinity relationships affects our daily lives and our relationships. Since we were created in His image, what is true of the Father is true of us. In our daily lives this us-ness manifests itself in a number of ways:

• We need to be in relationship with others in order to be fully human. When relationships suffer, all of life suffers. We were created to need each other in righteous relationships.
• We need balance in our lives just as the Trinity relationships are in eternal balance. We must accept all three Persons of the Trinity into our lives to remain in balance.
• When we are baptized into the Trinitarian name, we are immersed into the relationship between God the Father, God the Son, and God the Spirit. It is possible to grasp this on an individual level. God will not rest until we truly experience the fullness of a Triune God on every level of our being.

Joining the Trinity: Becoming Co-lovers of God

The result of being created by God, Who has been and will be eternally a relationship, is that we are allowed to be part of that three-fold relationship. In his book, Trinitarian Perspectives, Thomas Torrence beautifully describes this: “God draws near to us in such a way as to draw us near to himself within the circle of his knowing of himself.”

And we who are redeemed by Jesus Christ are invited into that inner circle to be “co-lovers” with the Trinity. We were created by the Trinity to be a co-lover within the Trinity! St Augustine said, “God is (at once) Lover, Beloved, and Love itself.”

Entering the Trinity: Living in the Circle of “Us”

The astoundingly good news of this realization is that you and I were created by the Trinity to take part in the inner life of the Trinity! We were bought by the blood of Jesus to participate with Him as He communes with God the Father and God the Spirit. And we aren’t limited by participating through Jesus; we are literally brought into the “Us.” We are brought into the circle of the Trinity. This is what we were created for. The moment we say yes to Jesus, we come home.

What is “home” like? What are the dynamics of the life within the circle of the Trinity?

• Intimacy: God the Father truly loves God the Son and God the Son truly loves God the Father and that love is the Holy Spirit. It is intimate~a deep, gentle, steadfast, affectionate belonging.
• Joy: Beyond happiness, joy epitomizes how much the Father enjoys the Son and the Son enjoys the Father (John 15:11, 16:24, 17:13).
• Servanthood: At the center of the universe is a Father Who serves the Son and a Son who serves the Father and this servanthood is manifested in the Holy Spirit.
• Purity: In this circle there is no perversion, deceit, manipulation, or dirtiness. It is absolutely clean, holy, and pure.
• Power: Amazing power! Power to create! Power to hold planets and stars in place! But most importantly, power to forgive! Power to choose to hang on a cross and suffer in our place! Amazing power!
• Creativity: You need only to look around you to see the incredible creativity of the life within the circle. God spoke worlds into existence from nothing! What better example is there than the creativity to come to earth through the womb of a virgin? Then He allowed death to have victory over Him only to turn around and have victory over death!
• Peace: There, at the very center of existence, is peace. Although the Triune God is fully aware of the chaotic condition of the creation, the Trinity is never threatened by it. God is fully in control and His purposes will not be thwarted.

For this circle of intimacy, joy, servanthood, purity, power, creativity, and peace you and I were created and into this circle we are invited. The price has already been paid. The war has already been won.

“I pray that out of his glorious riches he may strengthen you with power through his Spirit in your inner being, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, may have power, together with all the saints, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge~that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God.”