Why the Trinity Matters- Part 2

Introduction:

When you hear the word “God” what do you think of?

Probably most of us think of a powerful, eternal spiritual being who is the creator of everything and the active agent behind the ongoing operation of the world. He is also, in most people’s understanding, a moral judge who will ultimately decide who gets to spend eternity in heaven or hell as a just recompense for how we have lived our lives. He may send us good things as a reward for our behavior, and bring us trouble and even catastrophe if we do really heinous things. Recovering the Forgotten Trinity, M. James Sawyer

Do you think of God as Trinity, Father, Son and Spirit existing eternally in loving relationship with each other? Probably not.

If we don’t understand the fundamental reality of God as He is, as Trinity, how can we relate to Him in truth?

Trinitarian doctrine is a foundational doctrine through which all other doctrines can be understood.

For Lutherans, everything is related to justification by faith; for Calvinists, the integration point is the glory and sovereignty of God; for those in the Arminian tradition human freedom has a central focus, while those in the Wesleyan tradition organize theology around holiness or sanctification. Recovering the Forgotten Trinity, M. James Sawyer

The American cultural understanding of God is addressed in the recent book America’s Four Gods: What We Say about God—And What That Says about Us,[1] by Baylor University professors Paul Froese and Christopher Bader. Their conclusion is that there are at least four different God-concepts at work even among those who call themselves Christians:

1. An authoritative God who both judges and is closely engaged in the world.

2. A benevolent God who is engaged but nonjudgmental.

3. The critical God, judgmental but disengaged.

4. The God who is neither engaged nor judgmental, who does not care in the least what humans do.

From a Christian perspective, what is amazing is that all of these understandings view God as singular and unitary. [1]Paul Froese and Christopher Bader, America’s Four Gods: What We Say about God—And What That Says about Us (New York: Oxford University Press, 2011).

None of these are Trinitarian understandings of God!

The Trinity defined – “There is one only and true God, but in the unity of the Godhead there are three coeternal and coequal Persons, the same in substance but distinct in subsistence.” B. B. Warfield

There are four ways people change the biblical doctrine of the Trinity that we just examined. Our goal is not to teach against anyone, but to clarify what we believe so that we understand and are discerning of false teaching that can lead us astray. If we have beliefs about the Trinity contrary to what the Bible teaches, we aren’t talking about the God of the Bible. When that happens, we are led astray and we miss out on huge blessings.

1. Unbiblical views of the Trinity misrepresent God’s oneness, unity, equality and threeness.

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Unitarianism emphasizes the oneness of God and denies God’s threeness.

“The historic Unitarian affirmation ‘God is One’ is what gave the movement its name. Today, this stress on divine unity is broadened. Now Unitarians also affirm: Humanity is One, the World is One, the Interdependent Web of Life is One.

Unitarians approach religion and spirituality in a rather unusual way. We believe that faith should be free from the constraints imposed by others. We believe that no one should dictate what another person may or may not believe.” https://www.unitarian.org.uk/pages/frequently-asked-questions-faq

This means Unitarians reject the Bible because it dictates how three people, the Father, Jesus, and the Spirit, say we should live our lives.

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Tritheism teaches that there are three Gods loosely related. This view abandons the unity of the three persons within the one Godhead.

Mormonism fits in this view.

This view flatly contradicts the Bible. Isaiah 43:10, 44:6, 44:8

Isaiah 43:10 NIV

10 “You are my witnesses,” declares the Lord, “and my servant whom I have chosen, so that you may know and believe me and understand that I am he. Before me no god was formed, nor will there be one after me.

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Arianism is a view that subordinates the Son to the Father denying his equality. This view denies the deity of Jesus.

The Jehovah Witnesses hold to this view today.Jesus is equal with the Father. John 5:17–19 (NIV) cf. Phil 2:5-6, John 1:1-2, John 5:23, John 14:8-11

John 5:17–19 NIV

17 In his defense Jesus said to them, “My Father is always at his work to this very day, and I too am working.” 18 For this reason they tried all the more to kill him; not only was he breaking the Sabbath, but he was even calling God his own Father, making himself equal with God. 19 Jesus gave them this answer: “Very truly I tell you, the Son can do nothing by himself; he can do only what he sees his Father doing, because whatever the Father does the Son also does.

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Modalism teaches that the Father, Son and Holy Spirit were simply three modes of existence or three manifestations of one God, denying the threeness of God.

This was known as Sabellianism in the early church.

This is the view of the United Pentecostal Church. Their belief is often referred to as “Oneness” or “Jesus Only”. This is the view that Bishop Jakes and the singing group Philips, Craig, and Dean, all of whom are in the United Pentecostal church.

This view denies the teaching of Scripture, makes God a liar, such as when Jesus prays to the Father, pretending to talk to someone else and it teaches about a god that is not the God of the Bible.

“Saying, “I believe in the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit (as Phillips, Craig, and Dean, do along with T. D. Jakes) is not the same as affirming God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit, Three in One, as orthodox Christians affirm.” https://michaelrjones.wordpress.com/2012/01/12/what-modalism-is-why-its-wrong-and-why-its-dangerous/

Some wonder, “So what?” Does it really matter? Isn’t it just important that we all believe in Jesus?”

Yes, that is important, but who is the Jesus you are believing in? It may be that you aren’t believing in the Jesus of the Bible.

If we don’t understand the Trinity, we aren’t living the Christian life relating to God as the Bible teaches and frankly, are missing something. A proper understanding of the Trinity is necessary to grow as a Christian and experience the fullness of the abundant life that God wants for you.

You are like the guy that walked into a tool store and said, “My neighbor said you have some new device called a chain saw, is that right?” The store owner said, “Yes, it is fantastic. Some of the men who use it say they can saw ten times as much wood with it as with a regular saw.” The guy was leery but said, “Okay, I’ll take one.” A week later he came back and said to the store owner, “I want my money back. You said I could saw wood ten times faster, didn’t you?” The store owner said, “Yes.” “Well I didn’t, in fact, it took me twice as long to saw with this. I want my money back.” The store owner was surprised and said, “Sure, I’ll be happy to give you your money back. Can I look at it to see if anything is wrong with it?” The store owner took it, looked it over and pulled the handle and started it. When he did, the customer jumped back and shouted, “What’s that noise?”

Can you imagine the futility of trying to use a chain saw as a regular saw. When was the last time you saw the power of God at work in your life? Is that a reality or do you think that is just something for super-Christians? Here’s something Jesus said to His disciples on the night before He was crucified.

John 14:12–17 NIV

12 Very truly I tell you, whoever believes in me will do the works I have been doing, and they will do even greater things than these, because I am going to the Father. 13 And I will do whatever you ask in my name, so that the Father may be glorified in the Son. 14 You may ask me for anything in my name, and I will do it. 15 “If you love me, keep my commands. 16 And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another advocate to help you and be with you forever—17 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.

Jesus, the Son of God, says the Father wants to empower us, by the Spirit, to do things greater than His Son Jesus did.

Many Christians are just plain confused about the Trinity. Are you confused? I’m going to ask you a question and you decide if you’re confused or not. Think of some way that God has blessed you. Can you do that? OK, now turn to the person next to you, or if you’re alone say to your pet or the screen, “God just blessed me!” My response is, “That’s wonderful. May I ask, who blessed you and what did He do? Who blessed you and what did He do?”

If your answer is “Well God blessed me” I would ask, “Father, Son or Spirit, which one?” Now you may start to get frustrated and say, “What do you mean? What difference does it make?” It makes a big difference, because the Bible distinguishes between the Father, Son and Spirit. They are different persons and do different things.

On one level we all get this. Who died on the cross? Father, Son or Spirit? Son. Who did Jesus send to live inside the Christian to fill us and lead us? The Spirit. Who sent the Son to the world? The Father. Who are we supposed to pray to, according to Jesus? The Father. Who is our High Priest sitting at the right hand of the Father? Jesus. Who gives Christians gifts and empowers us to use them in the Church? The Spirit. Who is “Abba,” the Dad? The Father.

Now, think carefully about what I am going to ask you. Do you believe in one God with three persons or four persons? From a practical standpoint many Christians believe in four. The Father, Son, Spirit, and “God” the mixture of the three. When we talk about “God” as the mixture of the three persons it blurs the distinctions that the Bible makes about each person. Of course, it is still proper to use the term God, just be sure as you say it that you are thinking of Father, Son or Spirit when you say it.

Why is this important? Because it is what the Bible teaches and that is what makes us uniquely Christian, distinct from all other faiths and religions. Let’s consider

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2. The life-changing implications of the Trinity

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The Father accepts us and gives us our sense of worth. Eph. 3:14-19

This is the crucial piece. The Father begets us. He brings us to life. He does everything we need to be re-parented as His child. Do you feel accepted by God?

Ephesians 3:14–19 NIV

14 For this reason I kneel before the Father, 15 from whom every family in heaven and on earth derives its name. 16 I pray that out of his glorious riches he may strengthen you with power through his Spirit in your inner being, 17 so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, 18 may have power, together with all the Lord’s holy people, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, 19 and to know this love that surpasses knowledge—that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God.

The Father is your Father and he wants you to be overwhelmed with how much He loves you, accepts you. Do you know that you are worthwhile to the Father? Yes, you are worth a Son to Him! If the reality of God as Father is not a regular part of your day-to-day life, you are missing the foundational truth of the Trinity and what it means to be a part of the family of God, a Christian!

Another key life-changing implication is that

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The Son represents us and gives us our identity. Romans 6:3-5

Jesus took our place on the cross so that we could become part of God’s family and enter the same accepting relationship that the Trinity has with each other.

Romans 6:3–5 NIV

3 Or don’t you know that all of us who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? 4 We were therefore buried with him through baptism into death in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may live a new life. 5 For if we have been united with him in a death like his, we will certainly also be united with him in a resurrection like his.

When you are at work, at home, at play, do you see yourself as the Father does? Have you ever seen someone who reminded you of a loved one? A quick glance and you think you are seeing your dad or mom or son or daughter and a smile comes to your face, because your loved one means so much to you that you delight in being reminded of that person. Do you believe that you are so closely identified with the Son, with Jesus that when the Father looks at you, you remind Him of His Son? And as we learn to live our lives with this new identity it changes us. Part of the reason we are changed is because

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The Spirit empowers us and gives us our character. Galatians 5:16, 22-23

The Spirit has a unique role in our lives. He is the one who fills and empowers us and gives us gifts for the ministry. He is the one who produces God’s character described as the fruit of the Spirit!

Galatians 5:16 NIV

16 So I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh.

Galatians 5:22–23 NIV

22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23 gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law.

The Spirit of God want to be actively involved in your life today. He lives with in you, teaches you, leads you, guides you, and convicts you of sin. These are all unique things that the Spirit does. And He wants to produce godly character in you, as you depend upon Him.

The Trinity, the Father, the Son, and the Spirit each play important and different roles in our Christian life. I’m suggesting that we make the same distinctions the Bible makes. There are so many places where it is clear what the Bible says, but either because we learned it the wrong way or we just don’t get the importance of it, we don’t do anything about it.

If you come to my house to talk to Margaret, you don’t talk to me as if I am Margaret. When you look at me, you don’t say, “Hi Margaret.”

Let’s imagine that when we pray, it is like calling God on the phone, okay? It will help this illustration. So we start to pray and say “Dear Jesus, thank you for making me your child, thank you for giving me my salvation, thank you for providing all I need in this life, please help me today as . . .” at this point, Jesus hands the phone over to the Father and says, “Dad, it’s for you!”

There is nothing wrong with praying to Jesus or to the Spirit. That is not what I am saying. What I am saying is that when the Bible clearly states the Father, Son and Spirit’s role in our lives we honor our one God by acknowledging the person’s role. So, the challenge is to learn to live our lives in the presence of the Trinity.

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Understanding the Trinity enables us to see how much God loves us and bask in that love.

The Father, Jesus and Spirit have existed for all eternity and live in a loving relationship with each other. If God isn’t three persons, what or who does God have to love? If you say God made angels and people to love, then love isn’t an eternal quality of God. If God didn’t love until He created us, then love isn’t an eternal quality of God. But it is! God is love.

1 John 4:8 NIV

8 Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love.

Understanding the eternal love that existed between the Father, Jesus and Spirit tells us that the Father loves so much, He wanted more children to love, to share in His love. If God were only one person then He would have learned love when He created us. Since He is love, He chose to create others who could live with Him in the fulness of a relationship of mutual love and delight.

Jesus said the greatest commandment is to love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, and mind. That gives meaning to why we exist. We are loved.

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Takeaways:

I will thank the Father, Jesus and Spirit each day for how they each love me.

I will make worship of the Father, Son and Spirit for the wonder of the Trinity a regular part of my life.

I will purpose to live in a way that honors the biblical distinctions of the Godhead.

I will seek to depend upon the Father, Son and Spirit for all I need to grow as part of God’s family.