Essentials Of The Faith / Sunday Morning Sermon Series / Statement Of Faith

The Trinity Part 1

Intro: Our church Statement of Faith says ' There is one God-the divine Tri-unity of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit, eternally co-existing and equal in essence and attributes, yet distinct in office and activity.

     This morning I have to confess right up front that I am beginning what is an impossible task. When we talk about and study the doctrine of the Trinity we really are moving into the realm of mystery. It is not that I don't believe that the doctrine of the Trinity is true, I believe it with great conviction. The doctrine of the Trinity is central to our faith as Believers, but it is also beyond our human abilities to fully comprehend. For many, the Trinity is a mathematical impossibility... 1+1+1=3 not 1. And I know this will be especially hard for you linear thinking engineers out there.

     Trying to understand the Trinity is a little like a story told by Augustine of Hippo. He was struggling with the whole one God in three persons thing. So he took a walk along the beach, you see, Augustine lived near the Mediterranean in N. Africa. He saw a little boy digging a hole in the sand with a sea shell and then running to the ocean to fill up the shell, and then rushing back to pour the water in the hole he had made.  'What are you doing my little man' Augustine asked? 'I am trying to put the ocean in this hole' replied the boy. Peace came to Augustine's soul as he realized that this was indeed what he had been trying to do...to put the vastness of God into his mind completely....it's not possible.

     Still we try our best to explain and illustrate the nature of the Trinity. There have been many analogies used to try to explain the Trinity over the years. Let me share a few with you.

The Trinity: Above, With and In Us
 God the Father is God above us...the Creator, sustainer the Holy Other. We say 'our Father who are in heaven...'
 God the Son is God with us...taking on flesh and blood, experiencing all we experience and more..He  is Immanuel, God with us.
 God the Spirit is God in us...dwelling in our hearts and minds, giving us an intimate relationship with God. The Spirit is God in us.

 However, this analogy fails in that while it shows the distinctiveness of the three persons of the Trinity, it doesn't show how the three are one.

The Pretzel
     The story is told of a monk who wanted to illustrate the Trinity. So, he took some dough and made it into a pretzel shape to show that even though the pretzel had three parts, it was still one pretzel.
     The analogy doesn't really hold up because there is nothing truly distinct about the 3 parts of the pretzel. I don't know if the story about the monk is true, but it may help you to think about spiritual things the next time you eat a pretzel.

The Rope
     This rope is made up of three cords, all the same, essentially, all equal in length and diameter, each equal but separate yet one and the same rope. The rope is stronger when the cords are woven together.
    The problem with this analogy is that when the cords are separated they are not as strong and they are not the same rope. They are three different, weaker cords.

The Shamrock
 And then there was St. Patrick, who according to legend, wanted to explain the Trinity to those he felt were the rude inhabitants of Ireland, so he used the shamrock, which was native to their land. He said that the Trinity is like the three leaves of the Shamrock, all identical, yet separate but still part of the whole known as a Shamrock.
    The problem with this analogy is that if one of the leaves were removed it would no longer be a Shamrock.

The Trinity and the family
     Consider a family. A nuclear family consists of at least a Mother, a father and a son or daughter. Although they are a family, yet each individual is a person. The mother is not the daughter and the Father is not the son. They are distinct persons yet still a family.
    This analogy fails in that while all three individuals are a family together, they are not a family by themselves, individually.

The psychological model of the Trinity
     Augustine of Hippo, one of the early church fathers who lived from 354-430 AD illustrated the Trinity this way. He said 'if God made us 'in His image and likeness' then there ought to be an imprint of the divine Trinity in our human nature.' He found this imprint in the human processes of memory, intellect  and will, reflecting the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.
    The error here is that you can loose your mind, forget things, have no will power and be mentally incompetent. While you will still be human, you won't be functioning very well as one.

Trinity and Chemistry
     What is the chemical formula for water? H20. What is the chemical formula for ice? H20. What is the chemical formula for steam? H20. This should make us think.  Here we have three different things yet they are all the same. The substance is always the same even though the material takes different forms.
     This analogy fails in that the three forms can not exist for long at the same time. At room temperature, ice will melt and steam will cool down. Besides, even though they are the same substance, they are only taking on different forms or modes of existence.

The Egg
 As you can see I have a hard boiled egg because it is easier to demonstrate than with a regular egg. This egg is made up of three distinct parts; the shell, the white and the yoke, and all the parts make up the whole.
    This analogy fails in that for it to be an egg all parts are needed.

The Pencil
 This is a #2 lead pencil. There are three distinct parts, the eraser, the wood shell and the lead inside. All three make up what is called a pencil.
    Again, the problem here in being an acceptable illustration of the Trinity is that without the lead or the wood,  the pencil ceases to be. They are only parts of what makes a pencil work. Each piece is not a pencil in its own right.

     You see, while these natural analogies succeed in showing that an entity can embody the ideas of oneness or threeness, they cannot be pressed beyond this point or they give an inaccurate representation of God's nature. If pressed too far any natural analogy of the Trinity will either result in a modalistic or tripartite representation of the Godhead. Modalistic is one God three forms or manifestations, and tripartite is three different Gods. More on those terms later next week.

    No natural analogy represents the oneness and threeness the way the Godhead does. And this is as we should expect. God is a supernatural being and infinite in His nature. All analogies are only natural and finite and can not truly capture the true essence of the nature of the Godhead.

EXP: If natural analogies can not teach us about the fullness of the Trinity, are we doomed to complete ignorance? No. We have the inspired Word of our Supernatural God to help us to understand, in limited terms, the nature of the Godhead.

 Turn to Ephesians 3:14. Here we will find God's revelation of the Trinity.

Read: Eph. 3:14-17a

     This is Paul well know and passionate prayer for the people of God. Paul says that he bows his knees in prayer before the Father, the one who is able to grant Believers the riches of His glory.  Here, Paul is speaking of the creator God, Elohim the God who is in covenant relationship with His people, also known as Jehovah.

    Notice what Paul prays next. That the Believers would be strengthened, build up, made powerful not through 'a spirit' or even 'the Spirit' but 'His Spirit'. The word 'His' is connected grammatically with the word Father. His Spirit is able to give the Believer power from the Father. Where is His Spirit in relation to the Believer? In the inner man.

     Finally, in this text, Paul prays that Christ may dwell in the hearts of the Believers through faith.

     So, the Father grants the Believer the riches of His glory by the power of His indwelling Spirit through faith in His Son, Jesus Christ.

    Here we see all three persons of the Godhead, of the Trinity at work in the life of the Believer. We can see the distinctions made in the persons of the Trinity but their oneness is not made clear to us in this text. We will find that in John 10:30 where Jesus says that He and the Father are one...but in that text there is no mention of the Spirit.

The Mystery revealed in Scripture
     In these texts and others like them, we can not completely grasp the nature of the Trinity. This is why the Trinity is called a great mystery. It is not a matter of understanding the mathematics of the Trinity, it is a matter of taking by faith, what the Word of God has to say about it, even though it seems  incomplete and unclear. No human, no finite mortal can completely comprehend the being of the infinite God.

     To teach the doctrine of the Trinity I can not use the normal expository preaching that I usually do. Expository preaching is where we go from verse to verse in a passage of Scripture. The reason is, there are too many texts and none gives the whole explanation.

     So, instead we will be searching the Scriptures in the next couple of weeks, doing what is called Systematic Theology. Seeing how the doctrine of the Trinity is woven trough all of God's Word. Gathering evidence from all of Scripture to support this essential doctrine of our faith.

     The doctrine of the Trinity is not always accepted, especially by those outside the household of faith. Couple this with the aspect of the mystery behind the Trinity and the total otherness of the Godhead, and there will be many skeptics who will say if I cant understand it I won't believe it.

     Our response to these skeptics ought to be 'would you deny that the sun shines even though you can't explain or understand why it does'? Of course not! The truth is we live in a world full of things we don't know or understand completely and yet we still believe them. I don't understand how a brown cow can eat green grass and give white milk, but I still drink the milk!

 Turn to Isaiah 55:8 Lets get some biblical perspective...

Read: Isa. 55:8-9

     I make no pretense at being able to adequately explain the Trinity. I can not explain to you what I don't fully understand.
Someone has said 'If you try to explain the Trinity, you will lose your mind. But if you deny it, you will lose your soul.'
Another has said 'A man is a fool who denies the doctrine of the Trinity; and he is equally a fool who tries to explain it'

     It is my only desire to show you that the Word of our supernatural God teaches this doctrine and that it has practical relevance for us in our every day lives.

Conclusion: So, over the next two weeks we will define the Doctrine of the Trinity by first explaining what it is not and then defining it as I understand it to be. We will then look at the evidence for the Trinity found in Scripture by attempting to answer the following difficult questions.

 Where does Scripture say that God is One and that each person of the Godhead is absolute deity?
 Where does Scripture show the essential distinctiveness of the three persons of the Trinity?
 Are all three persons of the Trinity eternal in their existence? Is that important?
 And finally, so what? Why is this important and how will understanding the Trinity, as best we can, help us in our daily walks with God?

     So, don't let all this confuse you. And don't make the doctrine of the Trinity a matter of mathematics either. It's a holy  mystery,  able to be studied through the ministry of the Holy Spirit, by faith in Christ, to the praise and glory of God the Father.