Many years ago I was at a conference held by Christian author Dr. Larry Crabb. After taking the stage he asked the audience a question: “What is the center, the bulls-eye, of Christianity?” A number of answers were shouted out, including salvation, God, the Bible, and Jesus. All of which, he announced, were wrong. Wait, what? Jesus is not the “bulls-eye” of Christianity? Of course he is, its even in the name – Christ-ianity! This was surprising coming from such a gifted writer who wrote the likes of Inside Out and The Silence of Adam, two books that helped form my understanding of Christian living.

If that were surprising, his answer was more so. “Trinitarian Theology”, he announced to a stunned audience. Now I will be the first to agree that the Trinity is a foundational theology and that to deny it makes one a heretic. But to say that it is the center of Christianity is a gross overstatement. That said, understanding the Trinity (as much as we can, even theologian Charles Ryrie says this doctrine is “fraught with difficulty”) is an important part of the Christian faith.

“Hear O Israel. The Lord your God is one” says the Shema in Deuteronomy 6.4. This is the foundational expression of God about himself. Elohim is unique, there is none like him, and he is one. This early expression is clearly monotheistic, and rules out all forms of polytheism. Which makes passages which refer to God in plural terms (Genesis 1.26, 3.22, 11.7, and Isaiah 6.8), and where God refers to himself in the third person (Genesis 19.24 and Hosea 1.7) confusing. Further complicating matters are references in the Old Testament to “the Angel of the Lord” (1 Kings 19.5-7, Genesis 6.7-13, 18.1-21, 19.1-28, and Malachi 3.1) where he is also called the Lord.

Clearly the Old Testament teaches that God is one, and yet a plurality too. Confusing? Yes. Jesus clarifies things a little in the New Testament when he gives the Great Commission to the disciples (Matthew 28.18-20) telling them to baptize new believers in the name of the “Father, Son and the Holy Spirit”. There is still the issue of three distinct divine persons, but there being only one God. At least we can say, however, that from Scripture this much is true.

It is therefore incorrect to say that there are three Gods, because the Shema is clear there is one. It would also be incorrect to say that God operates in “modes”, whereby he is the Father in the Old Testament, the Son in the New Testament and the Spirit in the present age, as this violates the notion of three distinct and co-existing persons. So how do we accurately define what the Bible teaches? Benjamin Breckinridge Warfield, professor of theology at Princeton Seminary around the turn of the 20^th Century, proposed what is likely the best written definition I’ve read anywhere:

There is one only and true God, but in the unity of the Godhead there are three coeternal and coequal Persons, the same in subsistence but distinct in subsistence.

Why is this important? The subject of the Trinity is important because it helps us to know and connect with the God whom we serve. When we pray, when we witness, when we are obedient of overcome temptation, the entire Godhead is involved with us. I’ll close us with a quote from Fred Sanders in a Christianity Today article titled “We Actually Don’t Need a Trinitarian Revival” (May 2017):

Christians live by the grace of Jesus Christ, the love of God the Father, and the communion of the Holy Spirit (2 Cor 13:13)... Every Christian prayer that goes up finds its way to God the Father because of the mediation of the Son and the intercession of the Spirit... Every soul that is saved has been adopted by the Father who sends the Spirit of his Son into our hearts crying “Abba, Father” (Gal 4:6).

For a more personal rather than theological approach to the Trinity, see our previous post here.