THE MOST HOLY TRINITY A

[cappie]

In the Gospel of John, we hear a clear statement: “  God loved the world so much that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him may not be lost but may have eternal life.” (John 3:16). That is to say, in the incarnation, life, death, resurrection and ascension of Jesus Christ, God has acted by the power of the Holy Spirit to save the world.  This is, in many ways, just rock-solid, basic Christianity. God, in love, has acted, by the power of the Holy Spirit in Jesus Christ, for us and for our salvation.

The Trinity is a theological way of making sense of this gospel message in light of the Bible’s unwavering commitment to belief in one God.  From beginning to end, in the Old Testament and the New Testament, scripture affirms a faith in the one God, the Holy One of Israel.  Jesus himself quotes the ancient Jewish prayer, the Shema, which says, “Hear O Israel: the Lord our God, the Lord is one; you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind, and with all your strength.” The early church maintains Israel’s commitment to monotheism, to trust in and loyalty to one God. This is bedrock.

How then can we make sense of the salvation that we know in Jesus Christ?  One skeptic might ask: Was Jesus really just a very special human being, a teacher or a prophet? The early church said “no.” Jesus was truly human, but not only human, because one human being can’t save other human beings. Only God can save humanity. 

So, if only God can save human beings, then another skeptic might ask, was Jesus another God? The early church again said “no,” because, as we have seen, they remained committed to belief in one God. 

This leaves us with the truth that the God we know in the salvation of Jesus Christ is the same God revealed in the Old Testament, the God who acted to redeem the people of Israel. And how do Christians know this? Through the power of the Holy Spirit, the gift of the transforming power of God’s love at work in Christian life and in the wider world.

The Trinity is a way of claiming this foundational truth: The God we know in Jesus Christ through the power of the Holy Spirit is one God. 

Saying “God is Trinity, Father, Son and Holy Spirit,” is a way of naming the God we know in the salvation of Jesus Christ. The action of God in Jesus Christ is the action of the God who is love from beginning to end. The God of love who created us out of and for love.  The God of love who took on our humanity, took on the burden of our guilt, and put an end to it on the cross. The God of love who, through the Holy Spirit, now offers us forgiveness, so that we can participate in and share God’s forgiving love with the world. 

God is love, a Trinity of loving persons, who gives out of love, forgives out of love, and calls us to participate in a community of love through our own acts of giving and forgiving.

And so in obedience to Jesus’s command, we go and make disciples, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. We baptize them in the name of the God who is love. 

In baptism, we are buried with Christ in his death, share in his resurrection, and are reborn by the Holy Spirit. We are baptized not only in the name of God, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, but also into the very life of the God who is love. To be baptized in the name of God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit, is to participate in the love that is God,  the love that is known in the life, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ, the love that is poured into every heart. 

God is love. Those who abide in love abide in God, and God abides in them. Which is to say, God is Trinity. And those of us who are baptized in the name of the Trinity, abide in the love that is Trinity. And the love that is Trinity abides in us.

With all of God’s children, we pray on this feast of the Holy Trinity for the “the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, the love of God, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit” (2 Corinthians 13:11-13) to inspire us to persist in faith, hope, courage and love.