Thought for Today
Genesis 1:1 In the beginning when God created the heavens and the earth, 2 the earth was a formless void and darkness covered the face of the deep, while a wind from God swept over the face of the waters.
John 1:1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.
Matthew 28:20 And remember, I am with you always, to the end of the age."
“Furthermore, this distinction is so far from contravening the utterly simple unity of God as to permit us to prove from it that the Son is one God with the Father because he shares with the Father one and the same Spirit; and that the Spirit is not something other than the Father and different from the Son, because he is the Spirit of the Father and the Son.” (John Calvin, Institutes of the Christian Religion, 1.13.19)
Yesterday was Trinity Sunday. The Doctrine of the Trinity is almost universally accepted and taught by all Christian denominations, with a few notable exceptions. Most, although not all, baptize in the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. Many of us incorporate into our worship service the singing of the Gloria Patri, including the words “Glory be to the Father, and to the Son and to the Holy Ghost. As it was in the beginning, is now and ever shall be, world without end.”
Yet, since the beginning of the Christian faith, the understanding of our Triune God has been difficult, contentious and confusing for many. One of the earliest accusations made against those first Jewish Christians was that they had abandoned monotheism, the belief in only one God, for a belief in 3 gods.
Even within Christianity, one of the earliest controversies was over the exact nature of the relationship among those three ‘persons’ of the Trinity. Did Father, Son and Holy Spirit share the same substance or similar substances, ὁμοούσιος (homoousious) or ὁμοιούσιος (homoiousios)? Two words differing only in a single vowel, but with very different meanings.
In today’s contentious world, it is still hard to believe that the difference between those vowels caused riots in the streets and ultimately necessitated the Council of Nicaea. Today, the debate over this issue seems arcane to most of us, but it still divides Christianity. Truthfully, however, how many of us ever think about or wonder about the exact relationship among the 3 ‘persons’ of the Trinity?
Several days ago, I mentioned my new devotional, Coffee with Calvin. Today, I read the second devotional, titled “Trinity.” Therein, Donald McKim wrote, “There is one God, one Lord who claims our lives. It is to this God that all worship and honor and obedience is due.” (Coffee, pg. 3) He cited, “to the Father is attributed the beginning of activity, and the fountain and wellspring of all things; to the Son, wisdom, counsel, and the ordered disposition of all things; but to the Spirit is assigned the power and efficacy of that activity.” (Institutes, 1.13.18)
I suspect that one of the reasons many of us eschew thinking about the Trinity is that we have studied too much arithmetic (yes, I am an engineer, and I did write that!). We cannot understand God, the Trinity or ever faith through arithmetic, mathematics and/or physics. Every time I try to do so, I fail, because, 3 ≠ 1 in math or science.
As children of the Enlightenment, we have been led down the path of believing that STEM (science, technology, engineering, mathematics) can answer every question, resolve every issue. Much as I love STEM, much as my first career was oriented around STEM, none of those fields explains, “Hebrews 11:1 Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen.” None of those fields explains love, the love of God for Creation and for all of us. None of those fields explain the truth of John 3:16. None explains the assurance we have in those words of Jesus, “I am with you always, to the end of the age." Paul was correct, “1 Corinthians 13:13 faith, hope, and love abide, these three.” That trinity helps me understand the Trinity.
Stay safe, believe in our Triune God, trust God,
Pastor Ray