What follows are some reflections on the implications of the doctrine of the Trinity – that God is one and God is three (thus I prefer Triunity of God). I may add to this list from time to time, please comment with your suggestions and reflections.
The Doctrine: The Triunity of God. The Application:
1. Everything. Our ultimate presupposition in life, as Christians, is that the God of the Scriptures is God. We do not serve a generic god, we worship a specific God who has revealed His name in Scripture. The Gospel of Matthew tells us that the name (singular) of God is Father, Son, and Holy Spirit (the three-fold name). Our God is a personal God, one in essence and three in persons. This is our starting point for everything.
2. How do we relate to other religions? Some Mosques, over the doorway, say Allah is not three. This means that they do not worship the God of Christianity. Modern Jewish synagogues do not accept the Triunity of God because they reject Jesus of Nazareth’s claim to divinity. This means they do not worship the God of Christianity. Unitarians, who sometimes consider themselves Christians and sometimes do not, do not believe that God is three persons. This means they do not worship the God of Christianity. And Christians are not tri-theists – they do not worship three gods, as some heretical groups and Muslims claim. Christians worship one God – the Triune God, the God who is one and three. This surely has implications for interfaith dialogue.
3. The three persons of the eternal Triune God display perfect unity and communion/fellowship. Therefore, Christians are united and in communion with one another through Jesus Christ. As Jesus prayed to God the Father, “that they may be one, even as we are one” (John 17:11).
4. The eternal Triune God displays perfect unity and diversity in roles. It is as God is one (unity) and three (diversity in persons and roles) that we are to be united as the body of Christ and each different Christian (diversity in persons) has different gifts, service, and activities in the kingdom of God. So the doctrine of the Triunity of God should lead us to realize that we will do different things and have different gifts but be one people. For this application you might begin with 1 Corinthians 12:3-6 (and context) – Spirit, Lord, God is Trinitarian reflection.
5. Knowledge of the infinite, incomprehensible God is only possible because He has revealed Himself. Nature reveals God in truth, but not in completeness. We would never come to the doctrine of the Trinity from nature not only because of our total depravity but because there is simply no way we could know that God is one and God is three from nature – special revelation was necessary to tell us this. The Old Testament reveals God in truth, but not in completeness. There are hints of the divinity of Christ and the Spirit in the Old Testament, but we could not build this doctrine from the Old Testament without the New Testament. Much more is clear, including the full name of God (Father, Son, and Holy Spirit) in the New Testament. Still God is incomprehensible. He is only knowable because He has revealed Himself to us through faith. The basic application being that we can try to make the incomprehensible (like that for God 1=3) make sense to people (an impossible task – we cannot make the incomprehensible comprehensible), but only those to whom God grants faith will receive this revelation (God makes the incomprehensible knowable). It is worth noting that our knowledge is creaturely knowledge (Christians cannot know exhaustively but can know truly). Remember these things when asked to make a defense of your faith.
Also, from Herman Bavinck, three points on the significance of the doctrine:
A. God is in perfect fullness of life apart from the creation. God is distinct in essence from the creature and creation in general. These two points rule out deism and pantheism respectively. The basic point is to say that the doctrine makes clear to us how God, apart from the universe He created, can be perfect in love, knowledge, and the rest of His attributes. “Apart from the Trinity,” Bavinck says, “these attributes are mere names, sounds without connotation, empty concepts” (quoting from the Hendricksen translation The Doctrine of God, 330-331). For example, to explain it in my own way, to say that God is love would be an empty statement before the creation of the universe for God, except that love is an attribute of God shared within the Trinity. Love existed between the persons of the Trinity from eternity because God is love. Therefore, God does not need us to be love.
B. Creation presupposes the Triune God. This is the only way to distinguish from deism and pantheism. God relates to His creation but is separate from creation.
C. Bavinck’s third point is that the doctrine of the Trinity is important for practical religion. He says, “Whenever any one rejects God’s tri-unity, he destroys the very foundation of Christian belief, and casts aside all of special revelation. The doctrine of the trinity is the sum and substance of Christian faith, the root of all dogmas, the essence of the new covenant” (333). The work of redemption is one divine act with a three-fold distinction: the love of the Father, the grace of the Son, and the communion of the Spirit.
These are just a few reflections on the implications and applications we can derive from the doctrine of God’s Triunity. Please send me corrections, improvements, additions, comments, etc. I have posted elsewhere the implications of the doctrine of the trinity according to John Flavel.
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