THE TRINITY

THREE IN ONE"NESS"

This is the last piece of what we will talk about here in Theology Proper involving God the Father. While it is the first part of our statement of faith, I've saved it for last because it transitions into Christology next. Also, because Its complicated. God as the trinity; Father, Son, Spirt.

To say this is a complicated topic is an understatement. Theologians, believers, and everyone in between has debated for about 2000 years on understanding the trinity. I cannot claim to have everything about who God is sorted out, but I can tell you about the scriptural evidence that testifies to our Triune God and why it matters for us in leadership. First, we are going to talk about God's Oneness.

Biblically we see two very important ideas related to the Trinity: God's Unity and God's distinct three”ness”

GOD IS ONE

One of the most important beliefs to the Israelite people is still true today. God is One. 

• The monotheistic religion of the Israelites was very rare in the Ancient Near East and one of the biggest distinctives between Israel and the surroundings nations was that they have one God and everyone else had a pantheon of competing deities for everything under the sun. The Old Testament shows many of these ancient Near Eastern Gods and stories interacting with them play a role in defining and refining Israel's understanding of their own God. The plagues in Exodus for example are all direct attacks on the many things that Egypt worshiped essentially saying, "your god of the Nile isn't god. Your god of the sun isn't god. Your pharaoh that says he is a god, isn't either". 
• In the Old Testament we see God proclaim this several times himself. Exodus 20:2-3; Deuteronomy 6:4-5. The Shema is probably the most important statement in all of Israelite history and to modern Jews. So important they are supposed to say it every day, twice a day. 
• We also see it in the New Testament. James 2:19 

GOD IS ONE AND YET ALSO THREE

The deity of the Father is something that isn't ever really questioned. We see it all over the New Testament. 1 Cor. 8:4-6; 1 Timothy 2:5-6. We see Jesus throughout scripture refer to God the Father. 

The deity of Jesus is a stickier situation because he is walking around, praying to, and teaching about his and everyone else's possible relationship with, God the Father. Some people believed it and others had him killed for blasphemy. There are absolutely tons of references in the New Testament that point to Jesus' divinity. Philippians 2:5-11 is a pre-Christian hymn that existed sometime shortly after Jesus' death in about 30 A.D. to when Paul wrote the church in Philippi in about 60. 

• Jesus in his own words says he's God. He never flat out says, "listen Guys I'm God" but he said and did things that only God does. He speaks about His angels in Matthew 13:41, he talks about the elect of God as if they are his own in Mark 13:20, He claims to forgive sins Mark 2:8-10, and says he has the power to Judge the world and reign over it, Matthew 25:31, Matthew 24:30. 
• The entity of the Gospel of John is there to tell us that Jesus is God. It's literally how the man wrote his book. His book of signs, the miraculous things that Jesus does. Are things that only God does. The story of Jesus walking on water isn't there because it is cool it is there because it clearly points to Jesus' divinity and in the OT only one person is in control of creation and walks on water and that’s God. It's no shock that John starts his gospel with John 1:1-5 (Read). 
• Jesus' divinity was clearly understood by the other writers of the new testament as well.  Hebrews 1 is a good example.

The Holy Spirt is synonymous with God throughout scripture. In Genesis 1:2 we read that it was God's spirt, literally his ru'ach (breath) that hovered over the surface in his creative action. Throughout the Old Testament the Spirt empowers God's chosen to bring his plans to fruition. In the New Testament you have evidence such as the Acts 5:3-4 event with Ananias and Sapphira that makes lying to the Holy spirt equal to lying to God. God and Holy spirt seem to be interactable throughout much of Paul's use.

Even in the Old Testament you have statements such as Genesis 1:26 where God says, "Let us make man in our own image.", and Isaiah 6:8 where God says to Isaiah, "who shall I send, and who will go for us?" 

The Bible stops short of explicitly saying it because the Bible is not a theological textbook. It is a collection of stories detailing some of God's interaction with people and his redemptive story to bring them back to himself. 

So, what Theologically can we take away from this? This is a complicated topic and in our time, there is no way to do justice to it. On the surface, it seems contradictory, but the Bible clearly points to the fact that God is three in one. So here are the things that we can take away for our purposes. 

1. God is one. When we are talking about God, we are talking about unity
2. The deity of each Father, Son, Spirit must be upheld. All are unique yet all are God. 
3. The Trinity is Eternal. There has always been Father, Son, and Spirt. All of them have been divine. We may not see as much activity out of one or two of the person's during certain times of God's revealed history in our Bible but they have always been there. 
4. Also, that the function of one of the person's may be subordinate to one or both of the others for their activity but not in their essence. Jesus' submission to the will of the Father to go to the cross, the Sprit's submission to carry out Jesus' ministry here on earth. Jesus on the throne as judge over all creation in Revelation. All true. None the lesser essence of the other. 

WHY IS THE TRINITY IMPORTANT FOR US AS LEADERS?

1. We must always uphold the orthodox teaching of the Trinity. Heresy that denies the trinity is till rampant and probably more tolerable today to people than at any time during history. Mormonism will try to tell you all day they are Christians, but they believe that Jesus was a created being. Jehovah's witnesses believe that Jesus was himself the angel Michael and a lesser god. Muslims don't believe that Jesus was God. The most important thing that we do with our theology is uphold Jesus Christ.
2. We also take our views on relationships and how we treat each other from the example set by God. There is no Hierarchy in the trinity and there is no hierarchy in leadership. We work together in partnership for the furtherment of the Kingdom. Leaders are servants. There are no bosses here. There may be differing circumstances where leadership requires overseeing or evaluating but in no way is that a top-down model. It is a side by side or bottom-up model that is modeled after God's own three in one relationship. 
3. God is a community that is united in love for each other, mutual service, and fellowship. Since we are created in the image of God, we too are made for community. We cannot experience all that God designed us from apart from being in community with the Trinity and each other. God's purpose was to invite us into the life of the Trinity. God created us, Jesus saves us, and the Spirit lives in us allowing us to mysteriously participate in the eternal relationship of the Trinity.

Conclusion: Overall, Unrestrained this divine mystery of the trinity is hard work.  It takes not only all the brain power you have to faithfully study God's word and explain it but all the faith you have to believe it. As Eckerson wrote in his Theology textbook around forty years ago, "We do not hold the doctrine of the Trinity because it is self-evident or logically cogent (clear). We hold it because God has revealed that this is what he is like. As someone has said of this doctrine: Try to explain it, and you'll lose your mind.; But try to deny it, and you'll lose your soul." (p.115).