Given the episode number, how could we not talk about the Trinity?
It is, perhaps, the core doctrine of Christianity, yet also incredibly contested, and remarkably opaque.
Its centrality is undisputed. Christians believe in the triune God – one God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit. From the first century, Christians were baptised in the name of the Father, son and Holy Spirit, as per Jesus' instructions (Matthew 28.19). New Testament theology clearly reflects a growing sense of it in their Christology (e.g. the Christ hymn in Philippians (Phil. 2.5–11), the opening of John’s gospel (John 1:1–5) and Jesus' statements to his disciples (John 14.7–14), not to mention the theophanies in Revelation (Rev 1.12ff).) We should be clear, though, the word ‘Trinity’ does not appear in the New Testament. The first person we know of to use the term was Tertullian, who used the Latin word trinitas, ‘threeness’. Jesus' statements about the Spirit in the end of John’s gospel imply an equivalency, in that the Spirit will carry on his work of teaching, encouraging and presence (John 4:24; John 14:26; John 16:13; 1 John 4:13).
The issue, of course is the mechanics of this paradox. How do you square the circle of one God and three persons? How does it actually work? Despite two thousand years of arguments about substance and essence and instances and all that, it is, ultimately, a mystery. Although the fact that it is a mystery doesn’t seem to stop people claiming that others have got it wrong. Which is ridiculous. I mean, if we accept that the Trinity is a mystery which we can never fully understand, then it seems a bit harsh to condemn people for not fully understanding it in the wrong way. Frankly, if God was that bothered about the correct doctrine, I wonder why he didn’t make the whole thing clearer.
For me, the question is, how does this doctrine affect how I live? I’m quite happy to live with mystery, but if it’s too mysterious, too unknowable, then it becomes irrelevant. Something so fundamental to the Christian faith should surely make some kind of difference to my life.
For me, the most important things about the Trinity are:
- The divinity of God, Jesus and the Holy Spirit. They are all instances or expressions of the one God. As John V. Taylor writes ‘If you’ve seen one, you’ve seen all three.’ This is important because it means that, in the words of Michael Ramsey, ‘God is Christlike and in Him there is no un-christlikeness at all.’ This practically affects my idea of who God is, what God is like. Many Christians seem to have a picture of a judgemental, angry God who is entirely unlike Jesus. But God is Christlike.
- At the heart of our worship is a relational community. God exists in community. In oneness, but also in three. This is what Richard Rohr writes about – the perichoresis of giving and receiving love. We are invited, therefore, into relationship with the Trinity, into a kind of eternal, ongoing movement. This idea is carried on in other areas of theology as well, particularly in a view of the church. We are many people, but one body.
On the show I also wondered aloud about whether each aspect of the Godhead has a different kind of scope, or place of work, as it were. God at work in eternity, the divine force behind the universe; Jesus in humanity, showing us what God looks like; the Holy Spirit in the church, connecting and combining, advising and inspiring, working through people everywhere. I haven’t really unpacked this yet but I will continue to give it some thought.
It’s probably heretical in some way. I’ll let you know.