I am blogging through my reflections on the book pictured by Fred Sanders. I cannot say all I wish to say, but I can reflect in some part on what he says. This entry reflects on chapter 2: Within The Happy Land of the Trinity.
In this chapter Sanders insists and demonstrates that the Trinity is the reason the Gospel is Good News.
More than practicality
As I read Sanders, the first questions that occurred to me are these: Why all this fuss? Isn’t the Trinity a doctrine for specialized theologians? What does it have to do with the common Christian?
I am inclined to think that the Trinity is a doctrine for advanced studies. I am a pastor! Moreover, I am inclined to think that unless a doctrine is overtly practical, it is not of much value.
In brief, this means that I place myself over the Word of God as judge, determine what portions or sections of God’s gracious gift to us are of value, and then dismiss the rest.
How utterly arrogant! All Scripture reflects the wisdom of God. All Scripture is profitable. God did not jabber. He spoke intentionally and wisely. If he revealed it and inscripturated it, it was for my good.
More than that, I must remember that the Bible is not a theological textbook for advanced studies. It is a book written to common people, illiterate people, people in the daily course of a life that was nasty, short, and brutish. It is all practical.
Is the Trinity Practical and Basic?
What does the Bible tell us about the Godhead? Is the Trinity a subject for advanced theological study? Not at all!
I pick up the book of Matthew and find the Trinity in its opening chapters. It is not so much defined as active. Jesus is God with us, conceived by the Spirit. Jesus is anointed with the Spirit at his baptism and a word from the Father is spoken over him. The list of texts that are clearly Trinitarian is LONG. Mark and Luke are the same. Apparently this is a doctrine for new Christians and old Christians.
Then I come to John’s Gospel. It is written as an evangelistic tract! And John begins with the Trinity. Genesis goes back to the creation. John goes back before the creation to the eternal relationship of the Word to God (1:1-2).
John is the Gospel where eternal Sonship becomes incarnate Sonship (1:14).
John is the Gospel where we get expansive descriptions of the relationship of the Son to the Father (see especially 5:18-30).
John tells us of the relationships within the Godhead. Jesus tells us that the Father loved him before the foundation of the world (17:24), the Father gave him glory (17:22), that he is in the Father and the Father is in Him (17:21). Jesus says he was sent by the Father and is returning to the Father (16:28).
John indicates that Father, Son, and Spirit have been eternally Triune as Father, Son, and Spirit. And that now, in redemptive history, God reveals the internal relations and persons of the Triune God. The Trinity is the only conclusion possible after men experienced the Incarnation and Pentecost.
Apparently God did not think the Trinity to be impractical or advanced study. He includes it in the basic evangelistic message of the NT. The Gospel is a message rooted in the Triune God’s eternal existence as Father, Son, and Spirit.
Now on to implications . . .
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