The Holy Trinity
This Sunday on the Church Calendar is the observance of Holy Trinity when we especially contemplate the wonder of the Trinity: three distinct Persons (Father, Son, and Holy Spirit), yet one in essence as eternal God. Throughout the ages, there have been many who have had a hard time accepting that God’s ways are higher than our ways and His thoughts than our thoughts (Isaiah 55:9), and so have denied what the Scriptures clearly teach about God and instead either make Jesus and the Holy Spirit into something less than the Father or make God into some sort of transformer who switches modes, sometimes being Father, sometimes being Son, sometimes being Holy Spirit.
The term “Trinity” is not found in the Bible and does not seem to be used until the 2nd century. Does that mean that the concept is man-made? No. It simply means that the Church was trying to clarify in an understandable way what it had always taught. The unfortunate truth is that the evil one always tries to confuse God’s people and incites false teachers to lead people away from a true understanding of God’s plan of salvation for us in Christ Jesus. The result is people being satisfied with either a generic God who is “the Man upstairs,” or a God who gives a bunch of laws to follow. In both cases, the Triune God is no longer viewed as a personal God who is personally interested in His people because He is love.
On the secular calendar, this Sunday is also Father’s Day. So where do we get a proper concept of what it means to be a loving Dad? When God the Father created all things, marriage and procreation was a part of His plan. What is more, those were a part of creation to emulate the wondrous relationship between Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. God is love, and in order for there to be love, there must be an object to love. And so, to be a good Dad, one emulates our heavenly Father, whose ways are made known through His Son who came to this earth and pours out His Spirit that we might know who God is and live in His love as we walk in His ways. When our view of God is correct, our view of our role in this world will also be correct and we will have great delight in living it out. Gracious Lord, keep us in Your truth!