Thoughts on the Trinity

For those of you reading this on blogspot, I received an email from one of my brothers concerning the Biblical Teaching about the Trinity and I thought it might be of interest to those keeping up with our adventure here in Seattle.  Robin

 

The Trinity:  The Bible never uses the word "trinity" as such. It is a distinctive Christian theological affirmation that is fundamental to our understanding of God's character and means of interacting with people. The Biblical teaching is consistent, but subtle. For example, in Genesis 1:28, it says: "Then God said, "Let US make man in OUR image, in OUR likeness, and let them rule over the fish of the sea, and the birds of the air, over the livestock, over all the earth, and over all the creatures that move along the ground." From the very first chapter of the Bible, there is this mystifying statement that God is a communal deity and that creation itself was and is a team effort. John's Gospel and many other NT sources affirm that Jesus is the creative agent of creation, THE WORD that existed from eternity John 1:1-18. The Spirit of God, the Holy Spirit is also present in Genesis 1:2 and is described as hovering over the waters. So, in creation we encounter God in three unique personalities or modalities. We affirm clearly that God is One, however, we experience God in the Three dimensions that He has chosen to reveal Himself, Father, Son and Holy Spirit. A helpful way for me to get ahold of this is to consider a molecule of water, H2O. At room temperature we experience that molecule as liquid water and it has a multitude of valuable uses. Below 32 degrees Fahrenheit, we encounter that same molecule as ice. It has tremendously changed its form and function, but its essence is exactly the same H2O. Above 212 degrees F. it changes again into steam, which we encounter now as an invisible source of power and function. However, it is the same molecule. So it is, I believe with the Trinity. God's essence is One. We experience that real essence or hypostasis in three distinct modalities or forms. The Old and New Testament both are full of allusions to God's multidimensional substance. A knowledge of Hebrew is extremely helpful in this regard, as one encounters various names for God such as adonai, elohim, and yahweh. These are either translated in English as God or Lord and you have no idea that they may have fairly significant meaning for us in the discussion of the trinity. Also ruach is the word for Spirit in the OT and you find a very strongly developed theology and ministry of the Holy Spirit throughout the OT. Jesus spoke extensively about his identity in the Godhead in many ways, three of the most notable are as Good Shepherd, referring back to Psalm 23 and the prophetic teachings about Good and Bad shepherds; Wisdom incarnate as described in Proverbs 8; and the Son of Man; alluding to the apocalyptic power and authority of the Son of Man who will execute final judgment and authority. The Holy Spirit in the OT assumes the role of being the presence of God in the Temple, at various Holy Shrines, and in entering into human lives with power and for a specific, yet narrowly defined purpose. For example, God's Spirit came upon David when he went to battle with Goliath. God's Spirit empowered Samson as long as he kept his Nazarite vows in order to overcome the Philistines. God's Spirit came upon the Judges and Prophets when they were called to speak God's message. The difference between the Old and New Testament in this regard is that in the OT, the Spirit came upon people for a specific purpose, with a limited duration and in a conditional manner. Saul lost the anointing of God's Spirit as his heart turned away from serving God and sought to serve himself. Samson became a weakling when his vow to never cut his hair, part of his Nazarite Service, was broken. David begs God not "to take your Holy Spirit from me", in Psalm 51:11, in the face of his public disgrace and humiliation concerning his relationship with Bathsheba. One of the things that makes the NT truly New, is that the anointing of the Holy Spirit is no longer for a few isolated individuals, but is given to ALL believers, for all time, and with arkai, or all sufficient and efficacious grace that will accomplish God's purpose in our lives. Hebrews 7:21 speaks of Jesus as the enguos of God. This is the only place in the NT that this word is used and it means surety or guarantor. The Old Covenant had a mediator, in other words, God's side of the bargain was assured, but the human level of obedience could waver, and the Covenant Promises could be missed. The New Covenant has an enguos, one who guarantees that on both the Godward and Manward sides of this relationship, the results are certain. It's just like when you co-sign a home mortgage or car loan for one of your boys, if they default on that loan, you are legally and morally responsible, it is guaranteed. That is what the Holy Spirit does in our lives on a daily basis. I John 1:9 speaks of our confessing our sins. It uses a verb for forgiveness that states that God is constantly forgiving both our sins of commission and sins of omission. Like the windshield wipers that we will use this morning on our way to the cancer center, we encounter the Trinity every second of our lives of faith. We stand on the Promises of God the Father in His Word, we have a defense attorney, advocate, Jesus in the presence of God defending us against the accusations of the Evil One; we rely on the presence and power of the Holy Spirit every second to cleanse, empower and equip us for faithful service in God's Kingdom.

 

I hope this might be helpful for you in this regard. I could go on much longer about the issues surrounding Pentecost and the coming of the Spirit upon believers, but that will have to wait another day.