Can we all just stop pretending and admit that the very idea of the Trinity is weird?
We describe the God of the Bible as a Triune God. This comes from the combination of Tri & Unity, three in one… but we don’t mean different parts, or merely different jobs, or different manifestations. We mean that the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit are one God in three persons… not three gods.
It shouldn’t surprise us that our language becomes muddled at times because we are reaching for an understanding of the causeless cause of all that is, omnipotent, omniscient, omnipresent, immutable and eternal, Immanent and Transcendent, but who has also delicately revealed Himself to pea-brains, bound to space and time, and highly limited in knowledge, experience, and wisdom. So, it’s a no-brainer (or pea-brainer as the case may be) that we struggle for language that can contain the uncontainable. We fall to oxymorons like Triune… with an emphasis on the morons.
When I first went to Bible college at 19, I was eager to show the other students that I had some theological chops and could explain the Trinity. I talked about a pizza with crust, sauce, and cheese. (I would have mentioned pineapple but I’d yet to discover this delicious blasphemy.) Then I launched into a depiction of an egg with its shell, and whites, and yolk. It turns out my chops were lamb chops; they ate me alive. They said, “You are just describing parts, and the Trinity isn’t about parts.”
It reminds me of the pastor who boasted to his Sunday morning church (Emphasis on the mourning) that he was going to explain the Trinity to them in no uncertain terms during that evening’s service. That afternoon, at the beach, a little boy asked the pastor to help him put the ocean into a hole he’d dug with his little plastic shovel. The pastor laughed, “You can’t fit the ocean into that little hole.” The boy replied, “Oh, really… but you think you can explain the Triune God in a thirty minute sermon?”
Ouch!
The problem that we cannot ignore, or wantonly dismiss as many have sought to do,[1] is that Scripture presents a mysterious tension. Scripture, taken as a whole, does present us with the revelation that God is both one and three. The Church has from its earliest years articulated this as:
“I believe in God the Father almighty; and in Christ Jesus His only Son, our Lord, Who was born from the Holy Spirit and the Virgin Mary, Who under Pontius Pilate was crucified and buried, on the third day rose again from the dead, ascended to heaven, sits at the right hand of the Father, whence He will come to judge the living and the dead, and in the Holy Spirit,”[2]
Some imagine that the doctrine of the Trinity only emerges out of the New Testament with the coming of Jesus, but that is not exactly true. Yes, it is the Church who articulated the doctrine of the Trinity, but the essence of what we Christians call the triune God (Tri-Unity) is rooted in the Old Testament.
What picture of God does the whole Old Testament give?
Well… what should we conclude if some texts accredit deity to Yahweh/God,[3] the Angel of Yahweh,[4] and the Spirit of Yahweh,[5] as well as to figures like the Ancient of Days from Daniel 7, the One like a son of man who comes to the Ancient of Days riding upon the clouds of heaven, as well as to the Captain of the host of the LORD in Joshua 5… all while also laying down the singular theological foundation for true worship in Deuteronomy 6:4 with the words, “Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God is one LORD”? Something is going on, and early Rabbis recognized a mystery in it that the New Testament expounds more intentionally.
The New Testament speaks in terms of The Divine Father,[6] Son,[7] and Holy Spirit.[8] Its authors quite plainly maintain a separation between them, as at Jesus’ Baptism,[9] before Jesus’ accession,[10] and in Stephen’s vision of Jesus and the Father at his execution.[11] They also maintain an inexplicable oneness, echoing the sentiments of Deuteronomy 6:4 in Revelation 15:4, announcing, “Who shall not fear thee, O Lord, and glorify thy name? For Thou only art holy.” So the New Testament clearly teaches that there is only one true God, while also stating that the Father is this one true God, that the Son is this one true God, and that the Holy Spirit is this one true God, even though they are distinct in person, bound in relationship, and performing specific functions in Creation and Redemption.[12]
In my own musings, I think of the carefully debated doctrine of the Trinity like a box. (No I’m not putting God in a box; I’m putting myself in one.) We set a criteria of ideas about the Triune God like edges of a box, between which one must remain to be deemed a true Christian. One box edge decrees that there is one true God. Another that this God exists in three distinct persons. Another that these persons are one in essence. Another that they have each/all existed as One True God eternally and unchangeably. As for the rest, we live with a mystery that we may, perhaps, when we see Him as He is and am transformed into His likeness, more fully understand.[13]
Oooooo, I know… Maybe the Trinity is like a single resin dice. The Father like 1&2, the Son 3&4, the Holy Spirit 5&6… not the faces, but the whole portion of the die belonging to those designations, each to all. Nah… forget it… it’s not exactly as dumb as the egg and pizza, but still, I should just shut up, stay in the biblical box, and wait for what revelations may come to me in glory.
Andrew D. Sargent, PhD
[1] Docetism, Montanism, Adoptionism, Universalism, Sabellianism, Gnosticism, Monarchianism/Unitarians, Modalism, Arianism, Tritheism, Nestorianism… right on to modern times with Mormons, Jehovah Witnesses, La Luz del Mundo, Iglesia ni Cristo, and the Oneness Pentecostal movement. If so inclined to look them all up… have fun.
[2] https://www.focus-on-god.org/text-collection/creeds/old-roman-creed/ (2/29/2023).
[3] Genesis 2:7 says, “And the LORD God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul.”
[4] God says in Exodus 23:20-21, “Behold, I send an Angel before thee, to keep thee in the way, and to bring thee into the place which I have prepared. Beware of him, and obey his voice, provoke him not; for he will not pardon your transgressions: for my name is in him.”
[5] David calls the Holy Spirit God in 2 Samuel 23:2-3, saying, “The Spirit of Yahweh spake by me, and his word was in my tongue. The God of Israel said, the Rock of Israel spake to me, He that ruleth over men must be just, ruling in the fear of God.”
[6] Jude 1:1 “Jude, the servant of Jesus Christ, and brother of James, to them that are sanctified by God the Father…”
[7] Thomas says in John 20:28, “And Thomas answered and said unto him, My Lord and my God.”
[8] In Act 5:3-4, Peter says, “Ananias, why hath Satan filled thine heart to lie to the Holy Ghost, and to keep back part of the price of the land? Whiles it remained, was it not thine own? and after it was sold, was it not in thine own power? why hast thou conceived this thing in thine heart? thou hast not lied unto men, but unto God.”
[9] Mark 1:9-11, “And it came to pass in those days, that Jesus came from Nazareth of Galilee, and was baptized of John in Jordan. And straightway coming up out of the water, he saw the heavens opened, and the Spirit like a dove descending upon him: And there came a voice from heaven, saying, Thou art my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.”
[10] In Acts 1:4-5 Jesus is addressing the Disciples and says, “…wait for the promise of the Father, which ye have heard of me. For John truly baptized with water; but ye shall be baptized with the Holy Ghost not many days hence.”
[11] Acts 7:56 And said, Behold, I see the heavens opened, and the Son of man standing on the right hand of God. (See also, Hebrews 1:3.)
[12] Fun note: Jesus resurrects Himself in John 10:18. The Father resurrects Jesus in Acts 2:24. Romans 6:10-11 accredits the resurrection of Jesus to the Holy Spirit.
[13] 1 John 3:2 declares, “Beloved, now are we the sons of God, and it doth not yet appear what we shall be: but we know that, when he shall appear, we shall be like him; for we shall see him as he is.”
