The two members of TEAM IMPACT who were with us this week, Trey and Mark, have big muscles and huge minds.  After one of our meetings, they both picked my brain for 30 minutes, asking me informed questions about theology and authors and current trends.  One of them asked me what I enjoyed reading, and I gave him an example of a book I had just read - EXPERIENCING THE TRINITY by Darrell W. Johnson.  Their faces lit up.  That’s the kind of stuff they like to discuss.  Who’d have ever thought that guys who make their living flashing gigantic muscles and smashing things would be interested in the Trinity?

I love it, too, and I am a fan of Johnson’s book.  I recommend it to you.  I don’t expect to ever make the Trinity an easy-to-understand concept.  But I have learned that when I reach the end of my comprehension I can simply worship and adore the God whose nature stretches my mind and exceeds my cerebral capacity.

Let me just give you a couple of quotes to whet your appetite.

“’At the center of the universe is a relationship.’  That is the most fundamental truth I know.  At the center of the universe is a community.  It is out of that relationship that you and I were created and redeemed.  And it is for that relationship that you and I were created and redeemed!  And it turns out that there is a three-fold-ness to that relationship.  It turns out that the community is a Trinity.  The center of reality is Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.”  (p. 37)

Wow!  That’s the kind of stuff that gets my motor running.  Not that I fully understand it; but there is something in me that resonates with that statement.  It has the ring of truth.  It tells me that the ultimate meaning of the universe is found in the nature of our God, and that God is a being in relationship.  Consequently, the ultimate meaning of my life is relationship rooted in God and extending throughout eternity.

Pastors and teachers have attempted to explain the Trinity by finding analogies that can illustrate the truth.  I am not one of them.  In my opinion, there is no analogy in our experience that can adequately explain the three-in-oneness of our God.  (My next post, The Reasonableness of the Trinity, will show that quantum physics may help us a bit; but that’s a far cry from explaining or illustrating.)

Another quote from Johnson:  “The Trinitarian nature of God is a mystery.  A mystery is something ‘which no rational argument can ultimately demonstrate and which no empirical reality can conclusively illustrate.’  But ‘mystery’ does not have to mean ‘absurdity.’  We may not be able to fully explain the Trinity, but that does not mean it is absurd.  And conversely, just because something is a mystery is no excuse to throw up the hands and shut down the brain.  We are, after all, called to love God with all our heart - and all of our mind.  Those who will love God with their minds, even if it gives them a headache, are those whose hearts stay on fire.”

Mystery means that the truth of the Trinity is not a product of our intellect but is revealed by the Holy Spirit and understood through the Holy Spirit.  The Scriptures teach the doctrine; but only the Holy Spirit can prepare the heart and mind to receive it.

I love the phrase found on p. 51 - the doctrine of the Trinity “means that in the deepest mystery of his being God is an intimate relationship, a fellowship, a community of love.”  That is what Augustine taught us in his classic work on the Trinity.

One final quote and I’m done:

“Here is the good news:  The living God is not a solitary God.  The living God is not a lonely God.  The living God is the Trinitarian God.  From all eternity the living God has existed in community as Community; in fellowship as Fellowship; in relationship as Relationship.  From all eternity the living God has existed as Father, Son and Holy Spirit.  From all eternity the living God has been able to speak of himself as ‘we,’ ‘us,’ and ‘our.’”

Wow!  I’m so excited I’ll say it backwards - Wow!  What a God.  How I love You, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit!

Pastor Alan Day