This past week my computer became infected with a virus. Because this had happened before, I immediately saw the problem begin, but had no idea how to stop it. When I contacted Matt McDowell to help me fix it (well ok, to have him fix it) we were talking about these kinds of viruses or spyware and I told him I really don’t understand how these things work. How can a computer in Eastern Europe or Southeast Asia literally highjack my computer and begin to either shut it down, or make it do things I don’t want it to do? While Matt tried to explain how it all worked, it was just beyond my ability to comprehend. (Now maybe if I first understood how computers worked that would help, but I don’t really understand how my computer does what it does, I’m just thankful that most of the time, it works.) What was really frustrating was after my computer was cleaned and additional anit-virus and anti- spyware programs were installed, the same virus or program attacked my computer a second time. One thing has become clear to me this week, while I may not understand how these kinds of computer viruses work – my life has been affected by the reality of them and the activity of them.
We may not fully understand how God is three in one, but our lives have been affected by the reality and the activity of a triune God. One of the basic foundations of the Christian faith is that God is three in one. We believe in God the Father, Son and Holy Spirit – three persons but just one God. Sometimes I am amazed at how many people really struggle because they can not wrap their minds around the concept of the Trinity and so it becomes a stumbling block to their faith. Personally, I’m ok not understanding how God can be three and yet one, actually I’m ok not understanding all the fullness and power of God because if I could understand all of God, then God would not be very big. If we could wrap our minds around every aspect of God’s being and nature and if we could figure God out completely and understand how and why God does all that He does, then we would not have a very big God.
I love how God himself talks about this very thing in Job 38-39, in response to some challenges to God by Job and his friends. (read these 2 chapters for some great questions God asks us!)
We may not fully understand how God is three in one, but our lives have been affected by the reality and the activity of a triune God. One of the basic foundations of the Christian faith is that God is three in one. We believe in God the Father, Son and Holy Spirit – three persons but just one God. Sometimes I am amazed at how many people really struggle because they can not wrap their minds around the concept of the Trinity and so it becomes a stumbling block to their faith. Personally, I’m ok not understanding how God can be three and yet one, actually I’m ok not understanding all the fullness and power of God because if I could understand all of God, then God would not be very big. If we could wrap our minds around every aspect of God’s being and nature and if we could figure God out completely and understand how and why God does all that He does, then we would not have a very big God.
I love how God himself talks about this very thing in Job 38-39, in response to some challenges to God by Job and his friends. (read these 2 chapters for some great questions God asks us!)
Of course the answer to all of this is no, we don’t know how God created the world or how God keeps in spinning in such perfect balance, and the truth is we don’t know how God can be three and yet one, but God is, and we know God is because while the word Trinity is never used in scripture, the idea of God being three persons, Father, Son and Holy Spirit, is made clear throughout scripture.
First let’s remember that the Bible is clear that God is one. In Deuteronomy 6:4 it says the Lord our God, the Lord is one. This verse was the centerpiece of the Jewish morning and evening prayers. While all the nations around them worshipped many God’s, the people of Israel worshipped one true God. The Lord is still our God and the Lord is one, the Bible never wavers on that point, and yet all the way back into the creation story we get a sense that God was going to be talked about or experienced in different ways. We have God creating the world by simply speaking a word, but then we hear about the spirit of God moving over the waters. God then says, let us make man in our image, and there are some who see this as a reference to the different persons of the Trinity. So we have God in different persons, and yet clearly there is just one God.
Jesus is the one who really articulated the concept of the Trinity because he said clearly that he and the father were one. In John 10:30 Jesus says, I and the Father are one. Jesus also says, if you see me – you have seen the father. If you hear me – you have heard the father. So Jesus and the Father are one, and yet they are not identical because there are some things that only God the Father knows. In Mark 13:32 Jesus is talking about the day and the hour when he will return and he says, no one knows about the day or hour, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father. So while God and Jesus are one – they are not identical. While Jesus walked this earth, there was still a God in heaven – Jesus prayed to his heavenly father, so they are two and yet they are one.
Jesus then takes it a step further and begins to talk about the third person of the Trinity when says that once he leaves this world he will send the Holy Spirit to come and not just be with us, but dwell within us. According to John 14 the Holy Spirit is going to come and teach us all things and remind us of all that Jesus has said to us. Now the Spirit isn’t going to come and teach us in a classroom, there is not going to be person standing in front of us, the Holy Spirit is going to be God dwelling in us to teach us and lead us and give us the power to live life the way God intends it to be lived. Jesus makes clear that the Holy Spirit is going to be God dwelling within us, but as God dwells in us, the Father still reigns in heaven and Jesus stills sits at God’s right hand. So we see throughout the Bible that God is the Father – the one who creates the world and keeps it perfectly balanced, God is the son – Jesus, who redeems the world and shows us the way to live life, and God is the Holy Spirit, the One who dwells within us and gives us the strength and power and courage to be all that God wants us to be.
What we begin to see here is that each person of the Trinity has their own unique job to do. The Father creates and Jesus redeems and the Holy Spirit sustains us and dwells within us to give us power and strength. This is what we see outlined in Romans 5. While Paul didn’t write this section of his letter to talk about the trinity, the idea of the trinity is all through these verses and what Paul makes clear is that the different persons of the Trinity all had different jobs to do.
God the Father is the holy one who created the world and dwells in honor and glory. Because God is so holy and pure, Paul says that we are separated from God because of our sin. But God is also the Son, the Lord Jesus Christ and Paul states clearly that the work of Jesus is to redeem us and reconcile us to God. Paul says, we have peace with God through the Lord Jesus Christ, in other words we are brought into relationship with God not through our own goodness or actions but because of the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ, see Romans 5:9-11.
Now one reason we know that Jesus is God in the flesh is because of Romans 5:8. Paul says God demonstrates his love for us in this, While we were still sinners Christ died for us. The death of Jesus only proves God loves us if Jesus is God. If Jesus were not God in the flesh, if he were just a man, then his death would not prove God’s love for us, it would prove Jesus’ love for us. But that is not what Paul says, Paul says, God proved his love for us in the death of Jesus and that only works if Jesus is God.
So the presence and the work of God in Jesus is made clear here, but we also have outlined here the work of the Holy Spirit, look at Romans 5:5 – God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit that has been given to us. God pours his love, his life giving love and Spirit, into our hearts and lives so that we can live life to the fullest. What we see here in Romans 5 is the work of all three persons of the Trinity. We have God the father who dwells in all power and glory and we see that he is still sovereign over all the earth, and we have God the son, the Lord Jesus Christ, whose death and resurrection brings us back into a relationship with God, and we have God the Holy Spirit gives us life and love and power by dwelling within us.
Now again, we may not understand how this all works, we may not be able to wrap our minds around how God can be three and yet one, but we see in scripture the nature and work of this one God in three distinct persons. As I have been thinking about the trinity this week, one of things I did was stop asking myself how this all works and I started asking myself why? Why did God reveal himself as the Father and then the Son and then Holy Spirit? The answer for me was found in Romans 5. God proves his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ (God) died for us. God comes to us as Father, Son and Holy Spirit for one reason, because God loves us. You see, the Trinity isn’t really a theological concept; it is an expression of how much God loves us.
God created us in love for fellowship and relationship. When our sin broke that relationship, God continued to love us so much that he came to us in Jesus to show us how to live and experience all the fullness of life here in this world, and then through his death and resurrection, God paid the penalty for our sin and redeemed us, so that we could live with God with forever. But what is so amazing to me is that even this was not enough for God, God wanted a deeper more intimate relationship with us so he came as the Holy Spirit to actually dwell with us.
Maybe we need to look at the trinity as God’s journey of relationship. It is a journey of God going deeper with us because God loves us. God loves so much that he was not content to watch over us, he wanted to walk with us, but then he wanted more, so He came to actually live with in us. If you think about it, God chose the Trinity because God simply wanted a deeper more intimate relationship with us.
We may never understand how God does this, how God can be three in one, but that doesn’t change the fact that we experience God as three in one. We can experience God as the Almighty every time we consider the heavens and the earth, and we can experience God as the Lord Jesus Christ every time we read the words of Jesus and follow his example and accept for ourselves his love and grace, and we can experience God as the Holy Spirit every time we open up our hearts and lives and allow God to pour his love and life into us. While there is just one God, God comes to us in three persons so that we can know God and experience God more.
My hope is that if the Trinity is one of those theological ideas that baffles us and becomes a stumbling block for us to understanding who God is, that maybe today we can begin to look at it differently and maybe se it as a stepping stone to helping us experience the fullness of God’s presence and power and love.
First let’s remember that the Bible is clear that God is one. In Deuteronomy 6:4 it says the Lord our God, the Lord is one. This verse was the centerpiece of the Jewish morning and evening prayers. While all the nations around them worshipped many God’s, the people of Israel worshipped one true God. The Lord is still our God and the Lord is one, the Bible never wavers on that point, and yet all the way back into the creation story we get a sense that God was going to be talked about or experienced in different ways. We have God creating the world by simply speaking a word, but then we hear about the spirit of God moving over the waters. God then says, let us make man in our image, and there are some who see this as a reference to the different persons of the Trinity. So we have God in different persons, and yet clearly there is just one God.
Jesus is the one who really articulated the concept of the Trinity because he said clearly that he and the father were one. In John 10:30 Jesus says, I and the Father are one. Jesus also says, if you see me – you have seen the father. If you hear me – you have heard the father. So Jesus and the Father are one, and yet they are not identical because there are some things that only God the Father knows. In Mark 13:32 Jesus is talking about the day and the hour when he will return and he says, no one knows about the day or hour, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father. So while God and Jesus are one – they are not identical. While Jesus walked this earth, there was still a God in heaven – Jesus prayed to his heavenly father, so they are two and yet they are one.
Jesus then takes it a step further and begins to talk about the third person of the Trinity when says that once he leaves this world he will send the Holy Spirit to come and not just be with us, but dwell within us. According to John 14 the Holy Spirit is going to come and teach us all things and remind us of all that Jesus has said to us. Now the Spirit isn’t going to come and teach us in a classroom, there is not going to be person standing in front of us, the Holy Spirit is going to be God dwelling in us to teach us and lead us and give us the power to live life the way God intends it to be lived. Jesus makes clear that the Holy Spirit is going to be God dwelling within us, but as God dwells in us, the Father still reigns in heaven and Jesus stills sits at God’s right hand. So we see throughout the Bible that God is the Father – the one who creates the world and keeps it perfectly balanced, God is the son – Jesus, who redeems the world and shows us the way to live life, and God is the Holy Spirit, the One who dwells within us and gives us the strength and power and courage to be all that God wants us to be.
What we begin to see here is that each person of the Trinity has their own unique job to do. The Father creates and Jesus redeems and the Holy Spirit sustains us and dwells within us to give us power and strength. This is what we see outlined in Romans 5. While Paul didn’t write this section of his letter to talk about the trinity, the idea of the trinity is all through these verses and what Paul makes clear is that the different persons of the Trinity all had different jobs to do.
God the Father is the holy one who created the world and dwells in honor and glory. Because God is so holy and pure, Paul says that we are separated from God because of our sin. But God is also the Son, the Lord Jesus Christ and Paul states clearly that the work of Jesus is to redeem us and reconcile us to God. Paul says, we have peace with God through the Lord Jesus Christ, in other words we are brought into relationship with God not through our own goodness or actions but because of the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ, see Romans 5:9-11.
Now one reason we know that Jesus is God in the flesh is because of Romans 5:8. Paul says God demonstrates his love for us in this, While we were still sinners Christ died for us. The death of Jesus only proves God loves us if Jesus is God. If Jesus were not God in the flesh, if he were just a man, then his death would not prove God’s love for us, it would prove Jesus’ love for us. But that is not what Paul says, Paul says, God proved his love for us in the death of Jesus and that only works if Jesus is God.
So the presence and the work of God in Jesus is made clear here, but we also have outlined here the work of the Holy Spirit, look at Romans 5:5 – God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit that has been given to us. God pours his love, his life giving love and Spirit, into our hearts and lives so that we can live life to the fullest. What we see here in Romans 5 is the work of all three persons of the Trinity. We have God the father who dwells in all power and glory and we see that he is still sovereign over all the earth, and we have God the son, the Lord Jesus Christ, whose death and resurrection brings us back into a relationship with God, and we have God the Holy Spirit gives us life and love and power by dwelling within us.
Now again, we may not understand how this all works, we may not be able to wrap our minds around how God can be three and yet one, but we see in scripture the nature and work of this one God in three distinct persons. As I have been thinking about the trinity this week, one of things I did was stop asking myself how this all works and I started asking myself why? Why did God reveal himself as the Father and then the Son and then Holy Spirit? The answer for me was found in Romans 5. God proves his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ (God) died for us. God comes to us as Father, Son and Holy Spirit for one reason, because God loves us. You see, the Trinity isn’t really a theological concept; it is an expression of how much God loves us.
God created us in love for fellowship and relationship. When our sin broke that relationship, God continued to love us so much that he came to us in Jesus to show us how to live and experience all the fullness of life here in this world, and then through his death and resurrection, God paid the penalty for our sin and redeemed us, so that we could live with God with forever. But what is so amazing to me is that even this was not enough for God, God wanted a deeper more intimate relationship with us so he came as the Holy Spirit to actually dwell with us.
Maybe we need to look at the trinity as God’s journey of relationship. It is a journey of God going deeper with us because God loves us. God loves so much that he was not content to watch over us, he wanted to walk with us, but then he wanted more, so He came to actually live with in us. If you think about it, God chose the Trinity because God simply wanted a deeper more intimate relationship with us.
We may never understand how God does this, how God can be three in one, but that doesn’t change the fact that we experience God as three in one. We can experience God as the Almighty every time we consider the heavens and the earth, and we can experience God as the Lord Jesus Christ every time we read the words of Jesus and follow his example and accept for ourselves his love and grace, and we can experience God as the Holy Spirit every time we open up our hearts and lives and allow God to pour his love and life into us. While there is just one God, God comes to us in three persons so that we can know God and experience God more.
My hope is that if the Trinity is one of those theological ideas that baffles us and becomes a stumbling block for us to understanding who God is, that maybe today we can begin to look at it differently and maybe se it as a stepping stone to helping us experience the fullness of God’s presence and power and love.
