What is the importance of the Trinity for Christians?
As Christians we believe in the Trinity. This is a word that doesn’t appear in the Bible but the concept of Trinity is littered throughout, from the Old Testament through to the New.
The Nicene Creed (that is, a set of beliefs embraced by the universal Church) of 325AD states:
We believe in one God,
the Father almighty,
maker of heaven and earth,
of all things visible and invisible.
And in one Lord Jesus Christ,
the only Son of God,
begotten from the Father before all ages,
God from God,
Light from Light,
true God from true God,
begotten, not made;
of the same essence as the Father.
…
And we believe in the Holy Spirit,
the Lord, the giver of life.
He proceeds from the Father and the Son,
and with the Father and the Son is worshiped and glorified…
Our God is three in one: the Father, the Son and the Spirit. That’s why the apostle Paul finishes his letter to the Corinthian church with, ‘The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all’ (2 Cor 13:13). The Trinity is a unique and precious doctrine (belief) for Christians.
In fact, creeds such as the Nicene Creed (as above) were written precisely because there were certain people who were professing and teaching a different view of God. Namely, that the Son was not truly divine but rather one of the created beings; he was superior but not of the same substance as the Father (research the story of Arius and the Arian Controversy for more details). This was a direct attack against the concept of Trinity. Why go to so much trouble to defend such an obscure and conceptually tricky belief? Why is the Trinity so important?
This begs another question: How does God as Trinity impact our Christian faith and worldview? This is the question I hope to answer, at least in part, in this article.
A recap of the Trinity
God is one. We learn that from Deut 6 and James 2:19, among other verses. As one being or essence, God is unified. He cannot be separated or broken into parts. For example, he doesn’t have masks that he wears for his different roles or persons. He is one.
But God is also diverse. He is three persons: Father, Son and Holy Spirit. We see this at Jesus’ baptism: ‘As soon as he [Jesus] came up out of the water, he saw the heavens being torn open and the Spirit descending on him like a dove. And a voice came from heaven: “You are my beloved Son; with you I am well-pleased.”’ (Mark 1:10-11) The Bible distinguishes between these three persons. The Father is not the Son, the Son is not the Spirit and the Spirit is not the Father. They are distinct.
Thus, the Trinity within itself displays both an inseparable unity but also a distinct diversity.
The Trinity as a central foundation for Christian faith
The revelation and knowledge of God as Trinity is crucial for grounding other Christian beliefs. A true understanding of who God is will impact our understanding of other doctrines. We will look at three examples now.
Trinity and creation
The presence of a plural Power at work to create the cosmos is plain from the first two verses of Scripture: ‘In the beginning God made the heavens and the earth...and the spirit of God was hovering over the waters’ (Gen 1:1-2). We are also told that Jesus the Son ‘is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation. For in him all things were created...He is before all things, and in him all things hold together’ (Col 1:15-17). This is supported elsewhere in John 1:3 and Revelation 4:11. The triune God created the world.
Creation, therefore, is not the act of a lone person in need of comfort, help or entertainment. Indeed, God does not depend at all on creation to define him. God as Trinity has always been relational which makes him intrinsically (in his very essence) loving, and out of this joy in fellowship he created the world. It is in line with God’s character, therefore, to create other beings that he may love them, just as the Father loves the Son. What’s more, without the Trinity and the idea that plurality and unity reside in God himself, we’d have no grounding to assert unity in this diverse and beautifully complex universe in which we live. Thus, the Trinity is hugely significant for the doctrine of creation.
Trinity and humanity
The Bible informs us that humanity is made in the image of God (Gen 1:26-27). The fact that God is Trinity indicates that we’re going to reflect something of his plurality and unity in our own beings.
One aspect of this reflection would be that, just as our Maker is in relationship with himself, so too humans live in relationship with one another. In fact, to be a human is to be in relationship with others. Marriage being a prime example, when two separate individuals are united as ‘one flesh’ (Gen 2:24). Our identity as humans is simultaneously individual and communal, just as God is both distinct and yet unified. One scholar makes an insightful application: in a society where people believe that by distancing themselves from others they will “find themselves,” the Trinity evidences that we will only ever find our identity in relationship with one another and, ultimately, with God because we were designed by him who is intrinsically and eternally relational (Tim Chester, in Delighting in the Trinity). Similarly, it is also true that we cannot claim to be a Christian and not go to church. We are unified as one body under God made up of many parts (1 Cor 12:12-31). We belong together.
Although humanity suffered disunity from the time of the Fall because of sin (Gen 3), thanks to the death and resurrection of Jesus–the perfect image bearing human–unity is now semi restored amongst the body of believers (Eph 2:11-22), and will be ultimately restored on the final day when all will be put right and the redeemed from diverse nations, tribes and tongues will be one people, singing one song, before the one throne…what a glorious day that will be! (Rev 7:9-11)
Trinity and salvation
The idea of salvation is closely connected to and directly flowing from God as Trinity. One Christian scholar describes salvation as a ‘transaction within the Trinity.’ Salvation begins with God, is ‘achieved by God and...applied by God.’ At the cross, God is both the Judge and the one who is judged. Father and son are not two separate entities, they are one God with the Spirit and so when God the Son is judged at the cross God judges himself. Christ was not a reluctant third party but this was God himself willingly receiving the punishment he should be demanding from us; the Trinity decided this plan together before the beginning of time (Eph 1:4-5; 2 Tim 1:9-10; 1 Pet 1:18-20). It is precisely because God is personal (triune) that he can demonstrate such mercy, since mercy flows from love of the other and a lone god can not inherently possess such love. The Trinity, therefore, is the basis for our salvation, and it is here that God’s trinitarian nature is revealed most supremely. It’s no wonder then that the Athanasian Creed (from around the 5th century) writes, ‘Anyone then who desires to be saved should think thus about the trinity.’ As a result, we can have confidence in our salvation; the reality of the Trinity assures us that our redemption is indeed secure and sufficient. The trinitarian God achieved salvation for us.
To conclude, the Trinity has a significant impact on our Christian faith and worldview! It’s no surprise then why the Church Fathers of the past fought so hard, even endangering their lives, to defend and protect and herald this glorious and essential doctrine of the Trinity.
It may be mesmerizing and baffling, but the truth of the Trinity is not something to be unsettled by. On the contrary, the reality of God as Father, Son and Spirit should encourage us and strengthen our faith. It is because of the Trinity that we are created, designed and saved. It is on the basis of God as Trinity that we have our own being and find our own identity.
We may still struggle to comprehend God. Indeed, God is God and thus his ways are higher than ours. Yet, we can be confident in how God has revealed himself to us in Scripture: he is both unified and distinct. As we continue to grow in knowledge of him may we also grow in greater wonder and delight to marvel at his beauty, majesty and power. May our song of praise rise with that of the angels…
Then I looked and heard the voice of many angels around the throne, and also of the living creatures and of the elders. Their number was countless thousands, plus thousands of thousands. They said with a loud voice,
Worthy is the Lamb who was slaughtered
to receive power and riches
and wisdom and strength
and honor and glory and blessing!
Revelation 5:11-12
Holy, holy, holy! Lord God Almighty!
All thy works shall praise thy name, in earth, and sky, and sea;
Holy, holy, holy! merciful and mighty!
God in three Persons, blessed Trinity.
Holy, holy, holy! Lord God Almighty!
A Hymn
