The Trinity
A Sermon for Trinity Sunday
by The Reverend Dr Sam Cappleman
Today is Trinity Sunday, where we celebrate the triune nature of God
It’s as if we’ve been taken up by the happenings of Easter, the crucifixion and
the resurrection, shortly followed by the Ascension and then last week Pentecost
we’ve finally got time to draw our breath and look around us at what it all
means
We’ve seen God the creator send His Son to be incarnate on the earth, we’ve
witnessed to power of the Spirit. We’ve seen the threefold Triune God we worship
in action and it’s easy to take it all for granted
But the concept of the trinity has been debated by theologians for years and
still is one of the key differences between the Western and Orthodox churches
One early theologian (Tertullian) postulated that the OT was the time of God the
Father, the NT was the time of God the Son, and we are now living in the time of
God the Holy Spirit, a model known as the economic Trinity. One God, three
persons, three phases of dealing with the world.
Augustine modified this and for him the primordial God was the Trinity and the
tree persons of the trinity exist in relationship to each other as the lover,
the beloved and the love which flows between them. And it’s this view we still
predominantly have today in the western churches.
Needles to say, the Trinity is complex, and a subject which has kept theologians
busy for years
Is God one being with three facets or is He three components comprising one
whole? Why does it matter? It matters because how we understand the Trinity
effects the way we look at our lives and our relationship with God, and together
can make a major difference as to how we look at ourselves as the corporate body
of God on earth.
Is the church one body made up of individuals or do individuals make up the
church?
Because the Trinity is not just abstract theory, it’s where we live in the
Kingdom of God and how we understand who God is and what is his nature
influences who we are, what we are and what we believe. Its fundamental stuff!
Take for example the Jews. Twice a day the Jews recite the Shema’, in essence
their creedo
Hear O Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is one
Shema Yisrael Adonai Eloheinu Adonai Echad
For the Jews the concept of a Triune God is an anathema, it does not compute.
How can God be one and three, it doesn’t make sense
Fortunately in the gospel of John we have some clarification, or perhaps as we
should say at this exam time, some examples that have been worked through for us
In John chapter 3 we have the story we’re all familiar with, the story of
Nicodemus, a story which has many parallels with the story in John chapter 2,
the wedding at Cana
They start of in much the same way, a description of the scene followed by the
word WAS
WAS the mother of Jesus there, WAS a man from among the Pharisees there
It’s a device the writer uses to contrast the Old Covenant with the New, the Old
is passed, the New is upon them
He greets Jesus as a Rabbi, as a fellow equal, and comments on the miracles
Jesus cuts him short and says that no-one can see the Kingdom of God unless he
is born again, born from above, born from ‘UP’ there (Gk = anothen)
It’s not a question of being born into the right family (i.e. a Jewish one)
Remember in the wedding at Cana in Galilee Jesus asks that the water jars are
filled UP and then touched by God are transformed into wine
Nicodemus questions Jesus as to how this can be and Jesus relies that if a
person is not born out of water and spirit he cannot enter into the Kingdom of
God
The water, the very stuff of our human lives must be exposed to the Spirit so
that our lives can be transformed as we let go of the Old (Covenant) and enter
the new. As we let go of our egocentricity and allow God to take control as we
enter into His kingdom
We are no longer in control but allow the spirit to blow where it will and guide
us where He wants to take us. To lead us into all truth as John goes on to
describe in John 14.
We are doing the will of the Father, controlled by the Spirit, 2 facets of the
Trinity
Nicodemus then asks how this can be, how can a person get access to the UP
Jesus replies and says that it’s only through the person who was UP and has now
come DOWN that we can be born from above, that’s why He will be lifted UP so
that anyone who believes in Him can have eternal life, life of a new aeon, a New
Covenant
Jesus, the Word made flesh, the Word sent down, only to go back when His work is
complete
(He’s already mentions that Nathaniel will see heaven opened and the angels
ascending and descending on the Son of Man)
It is the work of the Son, the third facet of the Trinity to give us access back
to a relationship with our creator God, to give us life, not to condemn, as the
closing verses of the passage emphasis
What’s fascinating about this exchange with Nicodemus in John 3 is that John is
articulating the doctrine of the Trinity before we had a doctrine of the Trinity
The Trinity is not just a New Testament concept. When God created the world back
in Genesis it was a plural God that did so. When Abraham had the three visitors,
it’s often interpreted as a visitation from the Trinity, the Triune God
But what Jesus did was breathe life into the Trinity, give it form and a true
three dimensional perspective
Nicodemus, a man of great faith, needed to see his faith in a different light,
needed a fresh approach to his beliefs
It isn’t jut a question about knowing about God, knowing the laws of the Torah
and teaching them to others, its about letting go so that the Spirit of the
living God can take over
God is too big to know in our heads, we need to know Him in our hearts
Neither is it about just focusing on the miracles, the things that had perhaps
first caught Nicodemus’ attention
If we do that we tend to find God only in the extra-ordinary, not in the
ordinary
The way of the Trinity is not about living at a higher level of reality, some
mystical height of experience; it’s about the living out of the life of God in
the world, in the ordinary and everyday
To enjoy a relationship with the creator God, through the redeeming work of the
Son who is the access from this world and the heavenly world, empowered by the
Spirit as we continue to be led in all truth.