Trinity Sunday 22

Romans 5:1-5

Romans 5:1–5 NRSV

1 Therefore, since we are justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, 2 through whom we have obtained access to this grace in which we stand; and we boast in our hope of sharing the glory of God. 3 And not only that, but we also boast in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, 4 and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, 5 and hope does not disappoint us, because God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit that has been given to us.

—> The Trinity is what makes God uniquely, God. It isn’t the all knowing, all seeing, ever present nature, their are other “deities that can claim that.

—> The Trinity is the only God that can be characterized as a Godhead that is 3 distinct persons yet also 1.

—> In our text today we see all three persons named: God, Jesus Christ, Holy Spirit.

—> It seems that the church father Tertullian (AD 160–225) was the first to apply the term Trinity to God. Tertullian uses the term in Against Praxeus, written in 213 to explain and defend the Trinity against the teaching of his contemporary Praxeus, who espoused the Monarchian heresy. From there, we can jump forward over a century of church discussion, schisms, and debate to the Council of Nicea in 325, when the Trinity was finally confirmed as official church doctrine.

Romans 5:1–2 NRSV

1 Therefore, since we are justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, 2 through whom we have obtained access to this grace in which we stand; and we boast in our hope of sharing the glory of God.

—> Therefore = listen up

—> The grace and peace we have was attained for us.

—> We are worthy not by our deeds, knowledge, birth, but by our faith

—> We boast not in ourselves but in the future hope we have of eternity with God.

Romans 5:3–5 ESV

3 Not only that, but we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, 4 and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, 5 and hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us.

—> the hope we have isn’t a false hope but a realized hope because it is what we have experienced through the Holy Spirit and the realities of our lives.

—> We can know our spiritual maturity is going up as the time for the realization of this process goes down.

—> suffering —> endurance —> character —> hope —> hope is our boast

—> without suffering there is no need for hope

—> suffering is not the will of God but the by product of a world that is out of sync with God.

—> yet suffering is the vehicle to which we ultimately arrive at hope.