This week we come to the heart of the Christian Faith – God. You may be wondering why it has taken me three weeks to deal with the very core belief of the Christian Faith. What I wanted to do, however, was say something first about how we come into contact with the Christian Faith: the Christian life, Baptism and the Church. However, without God none of these things make sense, of course. So now let me speak a little about God.
Many people throughout the world profess belief in God. There are many religions that profess a belief in something ‘other’ and beyond us, and many people, who would not say they are religious, still believe in a God in some form. Christianity shares with Judaism and Islam the belief in one God as revealed to us through the Old Testament of the Bible. Christianity, though, has a unique take on this. We proclaim that this God is Trinity, that is, God is one but also three. There is one God who is in three persons: the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit.
To the Father is attributed the ministry of creation. To the Son is attributed the ministry of salvation, and to the Holy Spirit is attributed the ministry of sanctification. This is reflected in the Nicene Creed, which we recite together at our Sunday morning services.
For many people the Trinity just doesn’t make sense. How can three be one? There is always a danger when trying to explain the Trinity that we will either make people more confused, or we will explain it in such a way that makes God into three Gods (tritheism) or one God who appears to us in three ways (modalism). It is best, I think, and inadequate as it is, to say that the Trinity is a mystery that we will never fully understand in a purely logical way. The New Testament Christians experienced God in this three-personed way, and quite wisely, I think, left it unexplained (Matt 2: 19; 1 John 4: 3-14).
Some things to think about until then:
Do we need to believe in the Trinity to be Christians?
Do I believe in a God that is one but three?
What questions do I need to ask about the Trinity?
Please feel free to post your thoughts about the Trinity on this ‘blog’
Chris
3 comments:
I am very fond of orthodoxy!
Yes, the Trinity gives me a brain-cramp. One God in three parts equals God! I guess for me the book 'The Shack' helped me get my head around it although it is not making any doctrinal statements. Then again when I look at a flame I see/feel,... fire/heat/light.
Thanks Paul & Stephen.
Orthodoxy, for me, is a very deep, and inexhaustible, well from which we drink. Paul, triad analogies are often helpful, but they can also be limiting and inadequate. However, whatever works too!
Chris
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