I’m Stumped

When it comes to the task of pondering God as Trinity, the process is filled with starts and stops. The elementary properties of arithmetic stop you on the first try. One plus one plus one equals three; one does not equal three. We get a little closer with a geometric analogy. Think of a cube. Pick any point within the cube. That point takes part in the height, depth, and breadth of the cube, even though it is not three points, it is one. That is probably not too illuminating, but the doctrine evokes all kinds of thinking.

In the minds of many of the early Christian thinkers and writers, there is one God. The essence of God is undivided and to us is beyond comprehension. Christians think of God as moving out from Godself, revealed in three Persons. The limited understanding of humans perceives the divine Persons of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.

Innumerable constructions describing the mystery of a Triune God were formed. Some leaned toward the unity, away from the “three-ness” of God, as if to say, “Surely you must mean that the Father is God, and the Son and Spirit are agents of God attuned to and obedient to the Father’s will.” In this vein, God is like a commander who has two principal generals, the Word or Son on one side, and Wisdom or the Spirit on the other. In this thinking, only the commander is divine, the others carry out the divine will. This thinking protects the simple singularity of the One God.

Another mental construct has it that there are three persons of the Trinity, but they are not distinct and coexisting persons in the divine nature, rather, they represent only three modes of the divine revelation. This notion came to be known as “modalism”. It was pushed by the teachings of a third-century theologian of North Africa, Sabellius. (The doctrine was also called Sabellianism.) He emphasized that the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit are not truly distinct but merely aspects of one divine being. I hear this and I think, “Does this mean that God wears different hats?”

It is never simple for me to hold these thoughts in my head with any clarity. The long-standing tradition considered orthodox in the faith is that we worship one God in Trinity, and Trinity in Unity. The three distinct Persons of God are never confounded, blending into one, and the Substance of the one God is never divided. The first of the thirty-nine Articles of Religion, produced in the Episcopal Church in September of 1801 states that in “the unity of the Godhead there be three Persons, of one substance, power and eternity; the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost.”

Because it is so difficult to describe these categories, some Christian thinkers move away from the doctrine altogether, asserting it is not an essential aspect of Christian belief. I am not so keen on that, but I understand the desire to do so. I prefer to hold the basic ingredients of the doctrine in thought, however perplexing, knowing that our minds do the best they can. I have no interest in abandoning the doctrine: indeed, there is not a single matter about God that we, with our finite comprehension, fully apprehend. I find it helpful to return afresh to scripture again and again. I go, for example, to the Epistle lesson for Trinity Sunday, Year C as we see below. Notice that Paul states our peace with God coming through the Son and by the Spirit had filled our hearts:

Since we are justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have obtained access to this grace in which we stand; and we boast in our hope of sharing the glory of God. And not only that, but we also boast in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, and hope does not disappoint us, because God's love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit that has been given to us. (Romans 5:1-5)

I find reassurance in this affirmation that God has brought about peace with us. We embrace that this peace comes to us through God the Son. It is heartening to hold that God the Holy Spirit comes, working within us to secure endurance, character, hope, and love within us. True, this passage does not resolve the questions we have about Trinitarian belief. Still, it shows that a working faith and thought realizes the work of God with us, and we see that Paul recognizes the activity of these distinct Persons. We could perhaps say, that Paul sees the Father desiring peace with us; the Son brings it about, and the Spirit works in us to fully realize it, entering a process of sanctification. May it always be so.

If we don’t have the Trinity all figured out, we are probably on the right track. When we tire of our pondering, we can always pray.

Almighty and most merciful God, grant that by the indwelling of your Holy Spirit we may be enlightened and strengthened for your service; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever.