We believe and serve an infinite and Holy God that we
cannot fully understand, describe and explain. I’m grateful for that truth. It is one reason that God, and God alone, is worthy of my
(our) full worship and devotion. One concept of God I struggle to articulate and grasp is
the concept of the Trinity. I
believe in the concept of the Trinity because it is true, and because of Jesus
(and because of men of God I trust have taught me).[i]
The doctrine of the Trinity is important to us as
Christians theologically and personally because it impacts the way we see God
and the way we view Salvation. It
also influences how and to whom we pray, baptism, and the way we read
(interpret and apply) the Bible. The doctrine of the Trinity separates
Christianity from every other religion.
The Bible teaches that the Father is God[ii],
that Jesus is God[iii], and that
the Holy Spirit is God[iv]. The Bible also teaches that there is
only One God[v]. The concept of the Trinity expresses
the mystery of the plurality of our One God. The Trinity is a word used to
express God is one, yet three distinct persons. There is full unity, equality, and diversity within the
Trinity. If you take away unity, you get tri-theism, the belief in three gods.
Discounting equality yields subordinationism, meaning there is
a hierarchy. Without diversity, you have modalism, which is the belief in
a single god who expresses himself in different ways. The three persons of the Trinity are equally and fully Divine.
They are distinguishable yet inseparable. They are together one God, and they
are each God. The three persons of God are equal.[vi] “Each has the same nature and
attributes, but is distinct in office and activity.”[vii]
While the word Trinity is never used in the Bible, it does help describe and
establish the complexity, power and depth of the God we serve.
Salvation is dependant on our view of God and the Trinity.
Salvation requires us to “confess with our mouth Jesus as Lord, and believe in
your heart that God raised him from the dead.”[viii]
It is important to establish this truth. A person does not have to believe in
every aspect of the Trinity in order to be saved, but one facet that is
imperative is concerning the deity of Christ. Jesus is fully God and fully man. Jesus is fully God, “for in Him the fullness of Deity dwells
in bodily form.”[ix] God the Son
became “flesh on this earth to be make like His brethren in all things[x]”
and “although He existed in the form of God, did not regard equality with God a
thing to be grasped, but emptied Himself, taking the form of a bond-servant and
made in the likeness of men.”[xi] If Jesus is
not God, then His death could not have covered the full penalty of sin.[xii]
If Jesus was not fully God, then
He would not be the Savior “that takes away the sins of the world.”[xiii]
Jesus is fully God and fully man, therefore an infinite Being has covered for all
the sin of mankind for all time. The
doctrine of the Trinity impacts how we view the sufficiency and everlasting
salvation we have through Jesus Christ.
The doctrine of the Trinity is important for me
personally, because it affirm and secures what I believe about salvation and
redemption through Jesus Christ. It also establishes how the Father loves me,[xiv]
the Son died for me,[xv] and the
Spirit is who applies it to me.[xvi] While I cannot fully explain in my
limited and finite understanding, God’s revelation through history, His Son,
His Word and His Creation all point to this plurality and mystery we call the
Trinity. My desire to know God,
follow Him, worship Him and bring glory to Him only deepens as I discover,
study and wrestle with concepts like the Trinity. While I may devote the rest of my life to understand, I will
choose each day to just trust and believe Him.
[i] Kreider,
Dr. Glenn. Class Notes
[ii] John
6:27; Romans 1:7; 1 Peter 1:2
[iii] John
1:1, 14; Romans 9:5; Colossians 2:9; Hebrews 1:8; 1 John 5:20
[iv] Acts
5:3-4; 1 Corinthians 3:16
[v] Deuteronomy
6:4; 1 Corinthians 8:4; Galatians 3:20; 1 Timothy 2:5
[vi] Kreider,
Dr. Glenn. Class Notes
[vii] http://www.watermark.org/about-us/what-we-believe/
[viii] Romans
10:9
[ix]
Colossians 2:9
[x] John
1:14; Hebrews 2:17
[xi] Philippians
2:5-11
[xii] Romans
5:11-21; Romans 6:23
[xiii] John
1:29
[xiv] John
3:16
[xv] Romans
5:8
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