Genesis 1:1 – 2:3; Canticle 13; II Corinthians 13:5–14; Matthew 28:16–20
A sermon by The Rev. Gene Tucker, given at Trinity Church, Mt. Vernon, IL on May 18th, 2008
Back in my singing days, we used to have a saying which tries to describe the process of learning to sing….
“Trying to learn to sing is like trying to grab hold of a cloud…,” it said.
The saying makes a lot of sense. After all, trying to learn to sing is often a very challenging and mysterious process. To be sure, part of the process is objective and easily observed (one simply takes a deep breath, opens the mouth, and sings!). But much of the process of singing is mysterious and defies easy observation and analysis.
Truly, trying to learn to sing is often like “trying to grab hold of a cloud.”
What has been said here about singing is also true about the Holy Trinity….trying to understand it is a whole lot like “trying to grab hold of a cloud.”
And, like singing, part of the mystery of the Godhead, the “three-in-one”, Father, Son and Holy Spirit, is easily observed and understood. For, if we think about it carefully, that’s essentially what Holy Scripture does: it testifies to the truth of the observable work of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. As we read our Gospel text for today, we see that the risen Christ instructs His disciples to “Baptize in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit,”[1] for example.
As we look at Scripture, we can see that it records the great works of God in:
- Creating the world and everything in it; (the work of the Father)
- Redeeming the world from its rebellion against God and the purposes of God; (the work of the Son)
- Sustaining and guiding the world in a continuing way. (the work of the Holy Spirit)
But, as clear as biblical teaching is about the work of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, it is less clear about the ways in which the three persons of the Trinity relate to one another – though we should be quick to add that it does say some things about the relationship between the three.[2] Furthermore, the word “Trinity” does not appear in Holy Scripture at all.[3]
As a result, the Church wrestled with the mystery of God as Father, Son and Holy Spirit for much of its first five centuries of existence. For example, the Church in those early years posed many questions about the Triune God, including:
- How can there be three parts of God, but only one God? Related to this question is the one of approach: should we pay more attention to the different “persons”[4] of the Trinity, or more attention to its unity?[5]
- Was the Father first, who then “begets” the Son? And then, does the Father “breathe”[6] forth the Holy Spirit? Or, do both the Father and the Son “breathe” forth the Holy Spirit?
- To what extent are the three persons distinct from one another? Also, does one person of the Trinity share qualities with another person, or with both?
What I’ve catalogued here is a brief (and admittedly incomplete) recounting of only some of the questions that the Church’s theologians wrestled with during those early years.
And along the way, the Church rejected two notions about the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. They were:
- Modalism: This idea, which originated in the 2nd and 3rd centuries,[7] attempted to guard the unity of the Godhead by suggesting that the three persons of the Trinity were not permanent. Thus, Modalists argued, the Father appeared in history first, then departed the scene and reappeared as the Son, who then ascended into heaven, only to return as the Holy Spirit.
- Tritheism: This concept argued that the three persons were totally independent, autonomous beings, each of whom is divine. An analogy that describes this mode of understanding is provided by McGrath[8] where he suggests that tritheists would describe the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit in terms of three human beings, each of whom is distinct, but all of whom share a common humanity.
Eventually, the Church would reject both notions, as the Church wrestled to articulate its faith in the Nicene Creed, which was formulated at the Council of Nicea in 325 AD, and which was refined into the version we say each Sunday at the Council of Constantinople in the year 381 AD.[9]
So perhaps our image of “trying to grab hold of a cloud” isn’t so far off the mark after all…..part of the mystery of God will always elude us so long as we are in this life. The words and terms we use which try to describe the divine mystery will always fall short somehow.
And yet, the God who revealed Himself in the created order of the world and all that is in it, the God who redeemed the world in the work of the Son, and the God who sustains the world in the work of the Spirit can be known (at least to some extent) and experienced. That is the clear indication of Holy Scripture, and the Church has maintained this truth down through the ages.
Having described some of the difficulties we encounter as we try to describe the Godhead, and having looked at some of the answers to those difficulties that the early Church rejected, let’s now turn our attention to the motivations that energized the early Church to engage this difficult subject. As part of that analysis, we ought also to consider what consensus they came to. Finally, we would do well to draw some conclusions for our own walk with God, we who benefit from the struggles of the early Church to formulate some answers to the mystery of the Trinity.
What motivated the early Church to more fully understand God as Father, Son and Holy Spirit? One commentator[10] suggest that is was the “Christ event” itself. The “Christ event” you say. What is the “Christ event”? Essentially, it’s theologian-talk for the person, birth, life, teachings, death, resurrection and ascension of our Lord Jesus Christ. What the early Church did was to reflect on what Jesus Christ did, and what He said. Some things that we read in the Gospels indicate that the Christ existed before He came to be one of us in His birth in Bethlehem. In this connection, I think of the passage from John 8: 58, where we read, “Truly, truly, I say to you, before Abraham was, I am.” And other passages, notably John 10: 30, indicate a unity between the Father and the Son, for Jesus says, “I and the Father are one.” So the Church analyzed Jesus’ words and came to the conclusion that He shared in the Father’s divinity.[11] To share in the Father’s divinity meant that the Christ existed from “the beginning”.[12] The Nicene Creed affirms Jesus Christ’s own divinity by stating that He is “God from God, light from light, true God from true God”.
Essentially, these are the main points that the original version of the Nicene Creed affirmed. But it took another 56 years for the Church to more fully articulate its belief in the nature of the Holy Spirit. At the Council of Constantinople, it fleshed out the third main part of the Creed by affirming that the Holy Spirit is “the Lord and giver of life, who…with the Father and the Son, is worshiped and glorified.”
The Nicene Creed affirms the consensus the Church arrived at. But a century earlier, the Bishop of Lyon, Irenaeus,[13] stated the consensus of the Church this way:
“God the Father uncreated, who is uncontained, invisible, one God, creator of the universe; this is the first article of our faith….and the Word of God, the Son of God, our Lord Jesus Christ….who, in the fullness of time, in order to gather all things to himself, he became a human being amongst human beings, capable of being seen and touched, to destroy death, bring life, and restore fellowship between God and humanity. And….the Holy Spirit…who, in the fullness of time, was poured out in a new way on our human nature in order to renew humanity throughout the entire world in the sight of God.”[14]
Irenaeus sought to maintain the unity of God, and yet the distinctiveness of the workings of what Tertullian would eventually identify as the three “persons” of the Trinity.
What conclusions might we draw from the biblical witness, from the early Church’s struggles to more fully understand God, and from the ongoing engagement of the Church with the mystery of the Trinity?
Three conclusions come to mind in light of these three strains of Christian thought and reflection:
- God’s revealed nature is a true reflection of His actual nature: “For God to be God, God has to be consistent with God’s self”. That’s a paraphrase of a key theological tenet of the Christian faith. “God will be true to God’s own nature”, in other words. So, we can trust God’s revelation in Holy Scripture to be a faithful revelation of His nature, revealed and unrevealed.
- Each person of the Trinity is present with the other two: Oftentimes, we modern Christians fall into (what seems to me to be) a very mild form of modalism. That is to say, when we consider one person of the Trinity, we forget that the other two persons are also present. For though each person of the Trinity is distinctive, and has unique qualities, all three are unified, without division. So, if we consider the saving work of the Son, for example, we would do well to remember that the creative work of the Father is also present, as is the sustaining work of the Spirit. This second point leads me to the third:
- Each person of the Trinity shares qualities with the other two: The unified nature of the Godhead is such that the creative nature of God cannot be separated from the redeeming work of God. Nor can these first two be separated from the third, which is God’s sustaining quality. Put another way, when we encounter God, we encounter the Supreme Being whose nature is to be holy, to be creative, to redeem what has been created, and to sustain the creation. The Genesis account points to the sharing of divine qualities, as it affirms that the Word of God and the Spirit of God were present in the creation of the world.[15]
One final thought: The holiness of God might suggest that He would separate Himself from fallen human beings, who live in rebellion against the purposes and power of God. But the witness of Scripture is quite the opposite: God reveals Himself as the holy God who also seeks to redeem the world and the people He created. Our Eucharistic Prayer recalls this when we pray these words,[16] “From the primal elements you brought forth the human race, and blessed us with memory, reason and skill. You made us the rulers of creation. But we turned against you, and betrayed your trust; and we turned against one another….Again and again, you called us to return. Through the prophets and sages you revealed your righteous Law. And in the fullness of time, you sent your only Son, born of a woman, to fulfill your Law, to open for us the way of freedom and peace.”
That very same God does not leave us without support, counsel and guidance. On the contrary, God sends the Holy Spirit to “lead us into all truth.”[17]
Thanks be to God for the ongoing presence of the Father who creates, the Son who redeems, and the Holy Spirit who sustains., the unity of the substance of God and the distinctiveness of the three persons of God, and the blessings that are bestowed upon us as a result.
AMEN.
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[1] Matthew 28: 19, which forms the basis for our baptismal practices, namely that a person must be baptized with water and in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.
[2] Think of the many examples in John’s Gospel account where Jesus says that He has been sent by the Father.
[3] The word “Trinity” was coined by the third century theologian, Tertullian (c. 160 – c.225 AD).
[4] It was also Tertullian who initiated the use of the term “person” to describe the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit.
[5] The Western Church has tended to generally emphasize the unity of the Trinity, while the Eastern Church has tended to focus more often on the individual persons of the Trinity. For a further discussion of these approaches, see: McGrath, Alister E., Christian Theology, An Introduction, Oxford: Blackwell, 1994, pp. 297 – 298.
[6] McGrath’s term, page 298
[7] Modalism is also known by two other names: Sabellianism (after its founder, Sabellius), and Monarchianism..
[8] Page 302
[9] Notice that the Nicene Creed is Trinitarian in its form, with a portion devoted to each person of the Trinity.
[10] Claude Welch, in his article “Trinity” as is found in A Handbook of Christian Theology, New York & Cleveland: World Publishing Company, 1958, page 367
[11] In support of Jesus’ divinity, John 1: 1 would figure prominently. It reads, “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.”
[12] Again, see John 1: 1.
[13] Irenaeus lived from c.130 – c. 200 AD, and is often most remembered for his defense of Christian orthodoxy in the face of the Gnostic heresy.
[14] Excerpted from Irenaeus’ work, The Demonstration of the Apostolic Preaching, as McGrath quotes it on page 296.
[15] The Genesis account read today is but one of many instances in which Holy Scripture affirms the sharing of creative, redemptive and sustaining qualities between the persons of the Trinity.
[16] Book of Common Prayer, 1979, page 370 (Eucharistic Prayer C)
[17] John 16: 13
