Major Doctrines I - the Trinity

We are starting something new and exciting in our Bible Study on Sunday mornings.  We will be looking at each of the major doctrines (teachings) of the Church at a depth very seldom explored in a lay Bible study.

In this day and age it seems that the major teachings of the Church are pushed aside as "too divisive."  We are urged to ignore major differences between denominations for the sake of "unity" or "tolerance." As a result, we have, to be honest, become a society of shallow believers.  Though faith as small as a mustard seed may move mountains, shallow faith does little to change us and nothing to change the world.

Hold your breath, therefore, because we are jumping into the deep end.

We start at the center of faith.  Faith means trust.  For trust to exist there must be someone or something in which to trust.  Growing our faith, therefore, means getting to know better the God in whom we trust, even, perhaps especially, when we do not understand Him.

Perhaps the most controversial and most difficult facet of God to understand is the Trinity.  Trinity comes from the Latin word "tri" (three) and the latin word "unus" (one).  It expresses the doctrine that God is One God yet Three Persons (Father, Son and Holy Spirit)

This is NOT meant in the same way that we might say I am one person with three roles (father, pastor and friend, for instance).  In the Bible the oneness of God is always presented as absolute and complete.  But so are the three persons, as completely independent and unique individuals.

1. Deuteronomy 6:4 reads "Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God, the LORD is one"  
2. Yet in Matthew 28: 19, we read of three persons "Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in£ the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit."
3. Not only that but Jesus, called "the Word" in John 1:1 is explicitly said to be God "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God." 
4. The Old Testament also shows God as One yet More Than One by using a plural word for God (Elohim - "im" is  the plural ending of a noun in Hebrew) but using singular verbs as in Genesis 1:1 "In the beginning God (plural) created (singular) the heavens and the earth."

As we will see in future lessons, the three persons are each rightfully a person independent in themselves.  In other words, they are not merely roles that God plays.  Yet God is One, not many.

That is a brief overview of the Trinity.  Seem a little confusing and boring?  Just wait - it may get more confusing in future lessons but I think you will find it exciting.  In any case, it certainly is important for three reasons:

1. It points us to the real God Who invites us into a relationship with Him. Anyone who denies the Trinity is not worshiping the real God.  They are worshiping a figment of their imagination.  Contrary to modern opinion Judaism of today and Islam do not worship the God of the Old Testament.  The God of the Old Testament is Triune.  God as described by modern Judaism and Islam is not, and is, therefore, not real.  Faith is all about having a relationship with God and you can not have a relationship with a fake God anymore than you can find satisfaction by falling in love with a picture of woman instead of a real person.  We are invited to have a relationship with a real God.
   
2. It means that Jesus is true God.  Christianity only works if the One who died for us is God.  No created being could pay for sin because the life of no created being is worth the entire universe.  If God is not Triune then Jesus is not God and our faith is a lie.  but God is Triune, Jesus is God, and we are saved through His sacrifice on the cross.
3. It tells us that God is beyond our understanding.  For all our arrogance in believing we can solve all the problems of the universe, we humans are limited in our knowledge and power.  A God we could understand with our small minds would be a small God - useless and powerless.  But in revealing Himself as Three in One, God tells us He is beyond our understanding and power, a God big enough to be relied on.

For all these reasons the Church has vigorously defended the doctrine of the Trinity for 2000 years.  It was not "developed" "or invented"  It is a Biblical truth the Church has fought hard to hold on to.  It is just as important that we fight equally as hard for this truth in 2009.  For our whole faith in God depends on standing firm on the Word and holding on to God as He has shown Himself in it

So hold onto your seat - over the next few weeks you are in for a wild ride!