The vital importance of the Trinity

Having given a rave review of Mike Reeves', 'The Good God' in my last post, here are some (not original) thoughts on the consequences of not giving enough thought to God as Father, Son and Holy Spirit.

1. A denial of Jesus' penal subsititutionary death: A few years ago a prominent speaker & author said that for the Father to punish the Son in our place and for our sins was like 'cosmic child abuse'. But this fails to appreciate a number of vital truths: first that the Son is fully God. It is not some harsh remote Father who punishes his young, good, boy for the sins of other, naughty, children. Rather, it is God himself shedding his own blood and bearing our sins in his body on the tree (1 Peter 2:23-35; Acts 20:28).

Second, it ignores the fact that Jesus willingly obeyed his Father in the full knowledge of what would happen. Jesus wasn't coerced, he wasn't naive, he is the eternal, divine Son of God, he is wise and understanding. As he himself said, 'No one takes [my life] from me, but I lay it down of my own accord. I have authority to lay it down, and I have authority to take it up again.' (John 10:18 and see Mark 14:32-42). 

2. A denial of the complementary roles of men and women: The relationship between the Father and the Son expresses itself in an extraordinary way. The Father and the Son (and the Holy Spirit) are by their very nature, equal. Each possesses the attributes of the one and only God. And yet, the Father commands the Son and the Son obeys the Father (John 5:19; 12:49-50; 14:31; 15:10; Mark 14:36 [=Mt 26:39, 42 & Luke 22:42] see also Isaiah 11:3; Isaiah 50:1-7; Isaiah 53:7-10). Not only that, but the Son comes to his Father and prays - he makes requests of his Father. The Son doesn't act on his own, he asks his Father (John 17:1ff). 

This complementarity and equality is (or should be) reflected in the equal and complementary roles of men and women in the church (1 Corinthians 11:3 - notice how the relationship between God the Father and God the Son is a pattern for men & women: it's not cultural, but theological, as it is in Ephesians 5). If the thought of this repulses you, then have a read of this remarkable article by Fabienne Harford.  

3. A failure to understand, and engage with, non-Christians. We need to understand who it is that non-Christians are rejecting. And it's not the loving, relational, outward-looking, self-sacrificing Trinity. They reject a Spy-in-the-Sky God. A Big Brother (George Orwell, '1984', not Channel 5!). They reject a self-seeking, kill-joy God. They reject a 'fuhrer, not a Father,' as someone has said. If we're to witness effectively to these people (whether they're atheists, agnostics or Muslims) we need a sound understanding of the Trinity, and the ability to communicate this. Reeves has a lot to say about this, so read his book!

4. A lack of security and assurance: Our assurance lies in the fact that there is an eternal and superabundant love in the Trinity. This love flows out from the Father, through Jesus, and is applied to our hearts by the Spirit. So Jesus says, 'As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you; (John 15:9 see also 1 John 4:7-10).

But that's not all. It's the Son's loving obedience to the Father that leads him to die for us. It's not because we're worth so much that persuades Jesus to go to the cross, but his eternal and perfect love of (and therefore his obedience to) his Father. (It's worth reading the whole of John 17 and asking what Jesus says about how his relationship with his Father impacts upon our enjoyment of God the Trinity). 

We could go on to look at how an understanding of the Trinity affects our joy in Him and our understanding of eternal life and the new earth, but that's probably enough for now. Don't be afraid of getting to grips with the Trinity!