T R I N I T Y
Today is Trinity Sunday, one of the few Christian feasts when we celebrate not an event, but a reality, a belief about the very nature of God! Trinity Sunday celebrates the eternal God : Father, Son and Holy Spirit.
The Trinity is one of the most fascinating of Christian doctrines, and one of the most fundamental as it formulates what we believe about God. It might be helpful to think about it as a map of the way the early Christians grew in their understanding of the character and work of God.
The earliest Christians were fiercely monotheistic Jews who came to believe that the one God had visited his people in Jesus, that though Jesus was distinct from the Father, he was also one with Him in his divinity. Then, after Pentecost, they experienced a Presence that they recognized to be divine as well. The Holy Spirit brought healing and reconciliation in their lives as only God could. In an attempt to describe how God had revealed himself to them, they spoke of a Trinity, one God in three persons. Three ‘persons’ distinct from one another, yet united. This was not mere philosophical speculation, but a response to what God had revealed to them through His word, the life of Jesus and the coming of the Spirit.
This doctrine was hotly debated in the early church as some taught that Jesus was not divine, that God has sent a messenger or an angel to save the world, instead of someone who shared his divine nature. Others taught that Jesus was not human for as God, he could not subject himself to death. A council of Bishops was called in 325AD to come to some resolution about these teachings which were eventually regarded as heresies. Athanasius, the Bishop of Alexandria, drafted a statement of belief, accepted by the Council as the Nicene Creed which affirms that Jesus and the Spirit were one with God from all eternity.
Why is this important? Because what we believe about God affects how we worship and how we live as Christians. As the three ‘persons’ of the Trinity have shared love and relationship throughout all eternity, so we too share in their love. As the ‘persons’ in the Trinity have shared their love through creation and service to the world, so should our love of God should overflow in sacrificial service to others. As the ‘persons’ of the Trinity seek to glorify one another, so we too should look always for ways to glorify God and each other.
As we worship today, we will sing an ancient hymn of praise to the Trinity that was written to reinforce the statements of the Nicene Creed:
Glory be to the Father, and to the Son and to the Holy Ghost.
As it was in the beginning, is now and ever shall be,
World without end, Amen.
May it stretch your mind and motivate you to grow in faith as we think today about God revealed to us as Father, Son and Holy Spirit.
Rev’d Beth Spence
For the budding theologians amongst you, you may find further reading on the development of early Christian thought in the following books:
Heresy: A history of defending the truth
by Alister McGrath
or
The Making of the Creeds
by Frances Young.
Rowan Williams has also written a book which explains more about Arianism, the heresy that necessitated the Council of Nicea.
See Arius, by Rowan Williams.