The Trinity of God is at least a semi-mystery. Rather than leave the Trinity to faith, and get on with life, many persons, pagan and Christian, mentally wrestle with the concept of Three-In-One God. The concept is rather common in reality. We easily say that a person (one) is body, soul and spirit (three) and have no difficulty with that. The three human dimensions appear in only one place in Scripture from which we receive again the idea of three together in one. (1 Thessalonians 5:23) Scripture adds more in other passages, such as heart, soul, mind and strength. (Mark 12:30 from Jesus) In the Mark passage the contextual reference is made to the first commandment of the Ten Commandments. Moses and the people would have been a bit confused had all that is implied in the passage been revealed to them. They took the commandment at face value and got on with life, and with loving God – without everything in place, as seen in their obedience to God to set out for the Promised Land. They were stimulated by the integrity of Moses and Aaron.
Islam misses the point by making the Christian serve three Gods while claiming to worship one God in faith. This is made a major point in Islam, and cause to accuse Christians of one of the worst of sins, to make an idol of Jesus and become guilty of enmity with the true God. Even some Christian movements in history have held that Jesus was special from God, but human only, perhaps in something of the angel community. None of these persuasions get the larger idea about the mystery of God. That mystery is partly understood in the Trinity. God is Trinity, but more. The unity of God gives us pause to say more.
We have hints of the issue from the beginning. The one God said: Let us make man in our image. The singular God, without apology, uses plural to express himself. In the New Testament, and in the Sermon on the Mount, the prayer model of Jesus begins: Our father which art in heaven. (Matthew 6:9 KJV) The New King James Version drops any reference to a pronoun. The Revised Standard Version changes which to who. Translators seem to have wrestled with the matter with variant results. This partly grows out of the mystery of the Trinity and language shifting. We may be rather sure that part of the mystery is that God is Trinity – but more. We put personhood at the top of the pyramid of life. God is person, but more, much more. In that mystery is both our redemption and God. We know so little of the universe, which we can track somewhat. How much less can we know of God? Our capacity and competency for expression are limited. To cover the whole we are asked to function in faith, permitting God to be God, as God permits humankind to be human. The approach seems reasonable, unless mankind limits reason to the verifiable factors of nature. The conclusions of the naturalists are partly justified in that nature is not God, but the work of God. Mankind or God will not be adequately defined by works or personality alone. There is some evidence of spiritual reality in the works of persons, but not enough to assure those who refuse to go beyond the works to something more. Mankind’s work will occur, serve for a while and decay – as God’s work in nature also appears to do in the present context. Anything that lasts needs the courtesy of redemption to retain it. To gain adequate hope, for meaning we rest it with faith. Faith fleshes out the story. Otherwise what remains will end. If so, why bother with this present – from temporary to nothing?
At marriage my vows moved me, by faith, from a private person to that of my wife, so we became one flesh. In a very real sense I was changed with a conversion experience from single life to married. In the going on twenty years since my wife died, I realize more than ever that I was one with her, retaining my own physical person in the process. It is partly illustrated in Jesus Christ: the God/Man. I believe: Father, Son and Spirit, these Three are One. This One has a meaning for his children (mankind) that we can’t imagine fully. A basic problem, referred to elsewhere in these Pages, is that we elevate person to the pinnacle. God is more than personhood, although he must be recognized in his personhood so to make practical our approach to him. His image in us is personhood, and we should take advantage of that with God. We want to maintain our person even beyond death so we address the person of God in that meaning. It is not necessary to understand it all to appropriate it. Christ is our refuge. God deals with us within the life and culture we know. Until we have the language of heaven we can’t answer all queries. *Mark W. Lee, Sr. — 2016, 2020