Sermon

The Church was in chaos, threatened to be ripped apart by factions and divisions. And, as usual, the key problem was one of theology. One side believed one thing, while the other side disagreed. Slogans were generated to forward one side over the other. Speeches were made; books were written and published to defend one belief while attacking the other. And eventually, an assembly was called together to settle the issue once-and-for-all, though it took at least another seventy-five years before this happened, before any sort of unity emerged from the chaos. No, I’m not talking about the Church today, though there are many intriguing parallels. And no, I’m not even talking about the recent past. All these things happened in the fourth century A.D. And the key issue was the doctrine of the Trinity, specifically the nature of the divinity of Jesus Christ – issues which nearly tore the Church apart.

For you see, orthodox theology didn’t just appear out of thin air; it didn’t descend from heaven fully formed. It took a long time to develop, a long time to come together. And the Church faced many problems along the way – no more so than when it wrestled with the doctrine of the Trinity. For you see, in the Old Testament, there is great emphasis that God is One. Israel’s most basic confession of faith, called the Shemah, comes from the book of Deuteronomy: “Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is One” (Deuteronomy 6:4, NIV). This, of course, was in great contrast to the pagan nations of the time, who followed many gods. All the nations around Israel had a god for war, love, fire, fertility and the like. But Israel was different; they worshipped One God, Yahweh. And we Christians, who also worship the God of Israel, also affirm that we have One God, a God who is jealous of His glory, a God who does not share power or authority. This is part of the foundation of our faith, and cannot be overstated.

And yet, when we look at Scripture, it can be a bit confusing over this One God business. For we know that the Father is God. We read about Him all throughout the Bible. But then we have Jesus Christ, the Son. He, also, is God. And yet, Jesus is not the Father, for we read in the Gospels of times in which Jesus prays to the Father, or when Jesus says that the Father knows things that He, Jesus, does not know. And of course, the Father did not come to earth as a human being, nor did He die on the cross for our sins. And to confuse things even more, we have the Holy Spirit, whose coming we celebrated last week on Pentecost Sunday. He also is God. And yet the Father and the Son are not the Holy Spirit; the Father and the Son did not come in divine wind and fire, baptizing the new Church. We read very clearly in John 14 that the Holy Spirit is distinct from both the Father and the Son – and yet the Holy Spirit is also said to be God.

And to confuse things even more, we have Scriptures which refer to all three, such as our Scriptures for today. In our first passage, we read of Jesus going down to the Jordan River to be baptized by John. As soon as this happens, heaven opens, and a voice from heaven (the Father) says “This is my Son, whom I love; with Him I am well pleased” (Matthew 3:17, NIV). At the same time, “the Spirit of God (descended) like a dove, lighting on Him” (Matthew 3:16, NIV). Similarly, in our second passage, we read of Paul blessing the Corinthian believers with this benediction: “May the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all” (2 Corinthians 13:14, NIV). Similarly, in Jesus’ Great Commission to His disciples, He commands them to baptize new believers “in the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit” (Matthew 28:19, NIV). And when the angel Gabriel appears to Mary, she is told that she is going to give birth to Jesus, who will be called the Son of the Most High God, and that this will happen when the Holy Spirit comes upon her and overshadows her (Luke 2:26ff). So . . . do we actually have three gods? Or do we instead have One great God and two sub-gods? Or do we instead have One God who takes on three different forms? What does this mean? How can we have One God, the God of Israel, and yet also have the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit?

This is the controversy that raged all those years ago. One man, named Arius, put forth an idea that Jesus was, in effect, created by God. Arius wished to preserve the One-ness of God – but in effect, he sabotaged the divinity of Jesus Christ in the process. The slogan of the Arian believers was “There was a time when He (meaning Jesus) was not”. This position was countered by an Egyptian bishop named Athanasius, who championed the belief we hold to today. The fight between these two sides was quite bitter, and the Arians almost won the day. Athanasius endured many hardships for his beliefs, on occasion being exiled from his home in Alexandria. But eventually, the Roman Emperor, Constantine, called the Council of Nicaea to settle this matter. The orthodox doctrine of the Trinity was confirmed; about 60 years later, it was reaffirmed at Constantinople. And today, we use the document they approved as one of our confessions – the Nicene Creed.[1]

So what did they affirm at Nicaea and Constantinople? They affirmed that we have One God, who is in Three persons. Even that word “person” is a bit tricky, for how can God have one essence, and yet be in three persons? Nevertheless, the Church affirmed this mystery at Nicaea, saying that the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit are of the same substance, the same essence, the same divinity, that they are inseparable and yet are distinct. We do not have three gods, but instead have One God in three persons. The Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit are co-eternal, co-equal, and yet are distinct in order and function. And just to be sure that no one confused their beliefs with Arianism, they underlined the divinity of Jesus, affirming that we believe “in one Lord Jesus Christ, the only-begotten Son of God, begotten of the Father before all worlds, God of God, Light of Light, Very God of Very God, begotten, not made, being of the same substance with the Father . . .”[2] Eventually, a new word was coined to describe the nature of God: Trinity. God exists in a Tri-unity, three-in-one.

It doesn’t make sense. It’s not logical. It’s a mystery. And yet, it is what Scripture reveals about the nature of our One God. We study Scripture to learn about the character and nature of our God. We study Scripture to learn and affirm what God has revealed about Himself. And there, He has said that the Father is God. The Son is God. The Spirit is God. And yet we have One God. And the Father is not the Son. The Son is not the Spirit. And on and on and on. God is three, yet God is one. Our One God is in three persons, a blessed Trinity.

Now, why is all of this important? Why should be bother with such a difficult philosophical concept? I’m sure there are some who are tempted to simply dismiss all of this as too hard, too “out there”, too obscure to be worth our time. But this is one of the key, foundational concepts of our faith. This deals with who our God is. And living in faith means growing in our knowledge of God, which leads us to grow in our knowledge of who we are, what we should believe and how we should live. And when we study the nature and character of our God, when we study the Trinity, we see that there is a dynamic unity in His very being. He is three, yet He is one – and within His very Self, there is an active bond of love. John tells us that God is Love (1 John 4:8) – when we study the Trinity, we see that this is indeed true. For the Father loves the Son. The Son loves the Spirit. And on and on and on. God’s very being, His very nature, His very character is enveloped by a divine, active, dynamic love. And therefore, friends, the abundant life that we have through Him, in Him and because of Him is a life filled with that love. And it shows us the ideal love and unity to strive for in the Church – to be many, and yet in love to be one. It’s a beautiful, profound mystery – one we can spend an entire lifetime searching out and putting into action.

Do we fully understand the mystery of the Trinity? No. That’s part of the humility we must have as Christians. God is beyond the grasp of our minds. Do we affirm the mystery of the Trinity anyway? Of course! Is this important? Of course! God has revealed this Truth in His Word – this is who He is. He is Three, and yet He is One. He is bound together in His very Self by a bond of divine love. And therefore, we are called to strive to live in that same love – a love for our Three-in-One God and for each other. We are to bind ourselves to God and to each other in the same way that He is bound together in His nature. That’s the abundant life that we strive for and receive from Him. So let us affirm the mystery of God’s existence. Let us worship our great and mighty God – Father, Son and Holy Spirit – and let us strive to have the same love for each other and for God that He has within Himself. For He is wonderful in His Tri-Unity – and indeed, to Him alone be the glory!

[1] It’s no accident that one of our great Trinitarian hymns, “Holy, Holy, Holy!”, is sung to a tune called NICAEA!

[2] “The Nicene Creed”, taken from the Book of Confessions, 1.2.