I have heard all kinds of metaphors used to try and explain the Holy Trinity. Some have said that the Trinity is like an egg, that is made up of a hard shell, the egg white, and the yolk. Others say that the Trinity is kind of like an apple, which has a skin, the flesh, and the seeds. And still others compare the Trinity to water, which can exist as a solid, a liquid or a gas.
I have always thought that part of the difficultly is in using the word “person.” As Marcus Borg points out in his book, Speaking Christian, using the word “person” in modern English suggests a distinct center of personality or a distinct being. It makes God seem like a committee of three people. But in Greek or Latin the word “person” means something different. “Persona” (Latin) or “prosopon” (Greek) refer to the mask worn by actors in the theater; they wore masks to play different roles. So the one God plays has three different roles: Father, Son, and Spirit.
The fact of the matter is, it’s hard to explain the mystery of the Trinity. The Trinity is the word that refers to the Christian doctrine that God is a unity of three persons (Father, Son, and Holy Spirit). The first difficulty comes up when you realize that the word never even occurs in the Bible. As a matter of fact, it was first used to refer to God by the early church father Tertullian, who lived from around 145 to 220. The doctrine of the Trinity wasn’t formally defined until the great Church councils that took place in the 4th and 5th centuries.
So where does the idea of the Trinity come from?
Well, it does come from the Bible, even though the word “Trinity” cannot be found there. There are three types of New Testament texts which are relevant to our understanding of the concept of the Trinity. The first type of text refers to the Incarnation and describes a particularly close relationship between Jesus and God. There are a number of passages which make clear distinctions between God and Christ, and which imply the subordination of the Son to the Father. But there are also other texts which stress the unity of the Father and the Son.
The second type of text depicts a similarly close relationship between Jesus and the Holy Spirit. In the Old Testament, the Spirit of God was understood to be the agency of God’s power and presence with individuals and communities. In the New Testament, Jesus is understood to be the recipient of this Spirit in a unique manner. You remember that the Spirit of God descended on Jesus in bodily form after his baptism. In other New Testament passages, Jesus is seen as a mediator of the activity of the Spirit and is identified with the Spirit (the Spirit of the Lord, or the Spirit of Christ.)
The third type of text includes passages in which all three persons of the Trinity are mentioned. There is the Apostolic Benediction written by Paul in 2 Corinthians 13:13, which is the earliest trinitarian formula known: “The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, the love of God, and the communion of the Holy Spirit be with all of you.” And there is the baptismal formula of Matthew 28:19, part of the Great Commission that Jesus gave to his disciples: “baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.”
Since the Trinity involves God’s three roles – Father, Son, and Holy Spirit – like any good United Methodist, I consulted The Book of Discipline to see how we understand those roles. I looked at The Articles of Religion of The Methodist Church and The Confession of Faith of the Evangelical United Brethren Church (our foundational documents), and this is what I found out:
What do we believe about God the Father? God is first and foremost the Creator. God is the maker and preserver of all things. God is everlasting and has infinite power, wisdom, goodness, justice, and love. God is holy and sovereign. God rules with gracious regard for the well-being and salvation of humankind. God chooses to reveal Godself as the Trinity, distinct but inseparable, one in substance, in power, and in essence.
What do we believe about Jesus? The primary role of Jesus is Savior. Jesus is the only begotten Son of God, born of the Virgin Mary by the power of the Holy Spirit. The heart of the gospel is the incarnation of God in Jesus of Nazareth. Jesus is of one substance with the Father. In Jesus, human nature and divine nature were joined together in one person. Jesus was, therefore, both truly God and truly man. Jesus suffered, was crucified, died, and was buried. He reconciled us to God and his death was a sacrifice for the sins of humankind. He rose from the dead on the third day and ascended into heaven. He will sit there until he returns to judge all people on the last day.
What do we believe about the Holy Spirit? The main role of the Holy Spirit is as Redeemer. The Spirit proceeds from both the Father and the Son. The Spirit is of one substance with the Father and the Son. The Holy Spirit convinces the world of sin, of righteousness, and of judgment, and leads people through their faithful response to the gospel into the fellowship of the Church. The Spirit comforts, sustains, and empowers the faithful, guiding them into the true faith.
Still struggling to get it? I do too! So let’s try another metaphor. I am one person with at least three different roles. I am a daughter. I am a partner. And I am a pastor. But I am still only one person. I perform those roles in different ways, and I am perceived in different ways in each of those roles, but I am never anyone besides who I am. I am always me.
I know that this is hard. It’s one of the most difficult concepts to explain about the Christian faith. There are those outside the faith and those of other faiths who cannot understand that we don’t worship three different gods. It’s a strange, complex, difficult, mysterious thing to grasp. And yet, it’s also kind of simple. God is God. And God shows who God is in different ways. The three main ways are as Father (Creator), Son (Savior), and Holy Spirit (Redeemer). In the Bible, there are many other ways that God is described: fire, cloud, wind, rock, king, shepherd, mother. And yet, there is only one God. Those are just ways of describing what God does.
God is so big, so beyond our comprehension, that is hard to explain God, to describe God, in terms that we can understand. The best that can be done is to try and give us clues about God’s nature. And God has revealed God’s own self to us in at least these three ways: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. The mystery of the Holy Trinity. And on this Trinity Sunday, we celebrate the mystery.
