Ever since Sabellius and Arius, the triune nature of God has been under attack. The erroneous doctrines that these men invented dating back to the third century continue to be repeated in various forms. And they are strongly promoted by organizations like the Jehovah’s Witnesses.
Most of the people who reject the triune nature of God do so because they’ve been fed false descriptions or silly illustrations of it by uninformed Christians and Sunday school teachers. Either that, or they’ve been handed incorrect information about it’s development, thinking that it’s some soert of new doctrine that was forced upon the church. This also is not the case.
I’ve been very clear in my affirmation of the Godhead, along with C.S. Lewis and every other orthodox Christian theologian and scholar. And I’ve read every argument against it, finding them all unconvincing.
For the small number of people who have been sold on the idea that God is not triune, I suggest they begin with The Forgotten Trinity by James White and go on to the other books listed below. These books successfully shred the notion that the triune God is a “pagan” idea.
The teaching that the triune nature of God is pagan is a myth based on a distorted version of history. This myth comes from the same people who teach that Jesus’ virgin birth, His deity, and His resurrection are also myths based on the pagan mystery religions of the past. It’s essential that we accurately distinguish what comes from Greco-Roman paganism and what comes from Jesus and the apostles. Some confuse the two, unfortunately.
Yes, the word “Trinity” isn’t in the Bible. So what? The triune nature of God and the Divinity and unity of Father, Son, and Spirit are well attested in Scripture. The word “Bible” isn’t in the Bible either. Neither is “canon.” Neither is “mission.” And neither is “organic church,” though the best theologians agree that the New Testament presents the ekklesia as a living organism.
The triune nature of God is foundational to my theology and ecclesiology.
In Reimagining Church, I ground the church, its functioning and expression, as well as its leadership, decision-making, fellowship and nature, straight back into the Godhead. Chapter 1 goes into this a bit.
In From Eternity to Here, I explain why the eternal love relationship within the Godhead is the centerpiece of God’s eternal purpose. His desire from before time was to expand the Divine dance of mutual love-outpouring, fellowship, and life-exchange within the Trinitarian Community.
In Finding Organic Church, I ground the Christian life, the church, and church planting in the eternal fellowship of Father, Son, and Spirit.
In these three books, I argue that the triune nature of God is not only highly significant, but it’s deeply practical where we Christians are concerned.
In short, if God is not triune, the Christian life is unintelligible.
If God is not triune, then how can He be love? For before creation, there would be no one for Him to love. (I’ve developed this argument elsewhere.)
Some of the best books articulating the above points in an understandable way are:
C.S. Lewis’ Mere Christianity (the last section entitled “Beyond Personality”)
Gilbert Bilezekian’s Community 101
Stanley Grenz’ Created for Community
Leonardo Boff’s Holy Trinity, Perfect Community
Paul Fiddes’ Participating in God
Michael Reeves’ Delighting in the Trinity
Heavier theological works on the subject are listed in the Notes for Chapter 1 of Reimagining Church.
We can add to the above list a new book called The Deep Things of God: How the Trinity Changes Everything
Sanders shows why the triune nature of God is essential to our Christian life and integral to our salvation.
“Christian salvation comes from the Trinity, happens through the Trinity, and brings us home to the Trinity” (p. 10).
Sanders intelligently uses Scripture to make his case. But he also supports his points with examples from John Wesley, Martin Luther, John Calvin, Charles Spurgeon, John Newton, J.C. Ryle to Leslie Newbigin, Karl Rahner, Francis Schaeffer, Karl Barth, C.S. Lewis, Nicky Cruz and J.I. Packer.
He appropriately quotes Chesterton, Faber, and others.
Here’s one from Gerald Bray, “Christians have been admitted into the inner life of God.”
Beautiful and true.
What impressed me the most is that he draws from a host of choice vessels of God that are rarely mentioned in today’s books: H.C.G. Moule, F.B. Meyer, A.B. Simpson, Henry Scougal, Andrew Murray, G. Campbell Morgan, T.F. Torrance, and A.W. Tozer.
All were giants in the land.
Here’s a stellar quote from H.C.G. Moule from the book, “Nothing shines more radiantly in the New Testament than the eternal love of the Father for the Son.”
Yes, indeed.
I was also impressed that Sanders seems to understand that the soul of humans is comprised of mind, will, and emotion (he uses the terms head, hand, and heart).
Many Christians today do not seem to grasp this and incorrectly equate soul with spirit.
All in all, this is an excellent book on the triune nature of God, showing us how the Godhead is profoundly involved in our salvation and Christian life.
The Deep Things of God is another welcomed addition to the growing catalog of books articulating and defending the corporate nature of God as He is envisioned in Scripture.
Blogging Through Bonhoeffer: Part IV
Amen and Amen
Very well said! I especially appreciated your response to those who would argue against the doctrine of the Trinity based on the fact that the word “Trinity” is not mentioned in the Bible. Even though the Bible does not contain the word “Trinity” is clearly teaches the doctrine of the Trinity–that God is one in essence and three in personality (Deut 6:4; Gal 1:1; John 1:1, 14; Acts 5:3-4; Mark 1:9-11).
Thank you – I’ll follow up due to having to teach on this in a few weeks.
The first thing God says of himself is that he is multifaceted (triune) as He refers to himself as “Us”… and the second thing he tells of himself is He is “Creator” “Let US MAKE…” His WORD then reveals Himself to us on and on. If we cannot grasp the first fundamentals of GOD…the rest of our belief system will be totally skewed. A person can easily stumble on terminology instead of what GOD IS…HE describes himself as triune, and it is woven throughout scripture…as we are triune since He created us in His image…”Love the Lord your God with all your HEART, MIND, SOUL…with all your strength…” it’s a beautiful thing…not to be rejected.
Great post. Your book “Reimagining Church” and “Finding Organic Church” made the corporateness of God so clear to me, and I now see how they are foundational to the Christian faith and the church.
I met one person who misread your book “Pagan Christianity” and concluded that we need to reivent the wheel on everything just because some things were effected by man’s traditions. That’s not your point or Barna’s point at all and I wish he’d read “Reimagining Church” as the two books go together.
This post really helped. If someone still denies the Trinity after reading it, they just don’t get it. Let’s throw out the deity of Jesus, the resurrection, the inspiration of the Bible too then. It’s really silly and sad.
Thanks for making this issue so clear again.
Frank
Such is the nature of ‘Trinitarian’ theology!
As a number of those who have weighed into the ‘Godhead” issue have confessed (including myself), not only will we really not know untill we ‘get home’, we will be all ashamed for presuming that we could reduce a ‘trancedence’ God to our finite world view!
For 15 years, I was in fellowship with believers firmly entrenched in the Oneness camp. These brethren attracted my attention because of their focus and passion for Jesus Christ. As has been stated here though, a wonderful dynamic of the nature and relational character of God was lacking in the teaching and fellowship. We were held together by a strong dictatorial leadership. Grace was a seldom used word and the fatherhood of God was never taught. I have no doubt that Oneness brethren know and love Jesus Christ, but I had to move on in order to embrace and add to my understanding all those Scriptures that clearly imply a triune God who is in relationship with Himself. Your teachings on the Trinity, has been refreshing. The nature of the Godhead has practical meaning in my fellowship with Jesus Christ and with fellow believers. That understanding has changed some things in my life for the better.
@Mike: In fact, John 1 says in the Greek “The Word was with God, and God was the Word”. The Jehovah’s Witness Bible says “the word was ‘a’ God”, but the rendering wouldn’t make sense if the original Greek was used 🙂
John chapter 1 is pretty clear on this concept of unity within the Godhead concerning Christ and the Father. “The Word was with God, and the Word was God.” (The ‘Word’ speaking of Jesus Christ). So this certainly wasn’t a doctrine that was created later on in Church history, it was described all the way back in Genesis (“make man in OUR image”)!
D.L. The book that Frank was referring to is freely available here:
http://www.austin-sparks.net/english/books/what_is_man.html
I’m not sure where I originally read it, but someone (possibly Watchman Nee, in his book The Latent Power of the Soul) said, because we are made in God’s image, we also are triune (body, soul and spirit).
Frank, I understand this wasn’t directly the topic of the post, but the following caught my attention:
I’ve heard about people being comprised of, for example, mind, body and spirit. But I’ve heard different terms and lists used, and I haven’t completely understood the differences. I haven’t studied the subject myself, but I was wondering if you could share your understanding, perhaps in another blog post.
D.L.: The best book on the subject is WHAT IS MAN? by T. Austin-Sparks.
Great and timely post for me. As a child raised as a Muslim, this vital understanding of the Lord was attacked. For a Muslim, the triune nature of God is the worst possible thing anyone could attribute to God. It is a sin called ‘Shirk’. In Islam, there are 99 names for God, but love is not one of them.
How beautiful is it that God IS love? Until I read this article, I have never thought about the fact that without a triune God, God could not be a God of love. The Father can only love the Son if He has a Son. God’s love is eternal, therefore His love for the Son, and the Son Himself are eternal. Thanks for writing Frank!
But some clarification, please. Prior to my reading a lot of books… Do you make a distinction between what some call Biblical trinity and the formulated creed in question? If so, does “Biblical Trinity” hold that all three are co-equal?
The Creeds on the Trinity are correct, but not complete. They are true, but not perfect or exhaustive. And the language is archaic.
Frank: Was I wrong to assume that you exclude from the body of Christ anyone who does not prescribe to the trinity doctrine as outlined in the Nicene Creed? If so, I jumped to a conclusion and apologize.
Gary: Yes. Apology accepted. No worries.
I read Bilezekian’s book a few years ago and it had a profound impact on how I understood God. I’ve read Milt’s book more recently, and it is also deeply profound. I’m adding Sanders’ book to the wishlist. Thanks!
Thanks for this post, Frank, and for touching on the history of this understanding of God, which I didn’t know much about.
Like others, I find the triune nature of God hard to comprehend—surprise, surprise; it’s God we’re talking about here!—but I do believe the Scriptures reveal it, in both the New and Old Testaments.
And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness…(Genesis 1:26)
Frank,
Is it right to divide the members of the body based on a doctrine that was foisted upon the church centuries after the apostles lived? This concept was developed at the same time that pagan conventions you outlined in your book crept in. It’s surprising that you can identify the pagan origins of the priest and the church building etc., but this doctrine you accept without question. I take great exception to statments illuding that Christianity can’t exist without the concept of trinity. On what basis can you say such things? Jesus Christ is the fullness of God in flesh. To require more is to place human conceptions and mandates on true believers. I would expect you, based on all you have written, to understand the dangers creeds and human contrivances present.
Gary: I don’t see anyone here talking about “dividing the body,” except for yourself. Nope, the trinitarian nature of God was spoken about by Christians from the first century onward and has been held by the Church at large since (the books demonstrate this clearly), excepting groups like the Arians, Sabellians, and their contemporary incarnations (like the Jehovah’s Witnesses, etc.). Nope, the Godhead isn’t a human-made idea, it’s just as well established in Scripture as is the Deity of Jesus Christ, the resurrection, et. al. No one ever said a word about “creeds,” except for yourself. Finally, my books do not overturn the orthodox teachings of the body of Christ or the teaching of Scripture. It’s a titanic stretch to equate challenging church traditions that came into being long after the death of the apostles which violate NT principles with the way that Christians have believed and testified about God’s nature from the beginning.
If you would take the time to read the books with an open heart and mind, you will have the answer to your question of “on what basis?” I’d begin with Sanders book, then go on to the others.
“..the trinitarian nature of God was spoken about by Christians from the first century onward..”
What first century sources do you have for this? Thanks.
The NT and the Apostolic Fathers.
Amen and Amen
Hey Frank,
Great post. I’ve currently received your book “Finding Organic Church.” Almost done, really like a lot of what you write.
That being said, among your lists of not so well known authors you list T.F. Torrance. Have you heard /read anything by Dr. Baxter Kruger? He trained under T.F. Torrance. I’ve just read his 4 books and man… your books and his could go hand in hand. He’s currently the main theologian behind the Shack, if you didn’t already know that.
Cheers
Frank,
It’s important as a Christian to know the Bible well enough to understand the triune nature of God. God is Triune—He’s the Father, the Son, and the Spirit. He also exists as the Triune God from eternity to eternity.
It’s easy to think that understanding this is too difficult for the average Christian, but it’s very important because this is how God revealed Himself in the Bible. It’s also who God is. If we want to know God and experience God, we need to know Him and experience Him as the Triune God. He’s the Father, the Son, and the Spirit. He’s three and He’s one; He’s one and He’s three. How glorious!
Joe: You are correct. It’s not a matter of simple vs. difficult. The Bible continually presents to us paradox and mystery. All throughout. It’s not a Western book. Eastern minds wrote it, and it’s spiritual and divine. Spiritual things transcend the frontal lobe and the modern approach to things. God is Community. As I said before, the Christian life and the church doesn’t make much sense without this understanding.
I understand Jesus prayed to God the Father and believe in the holy spirit. Is that enough? I related to what you said in one of your books that a lot of talk about the Triune didn’t make sense until you thought about how the Godhead communicated and loved. People who are really into the Triune come from the purified air of theological seminaries where it is part of the curriculum. Less so people who just read the Bible even though it may be in the statement of beliefs of the particular church they are in. I remember a survey that came out in the Washington Post years ago that had the result that slightly less then half of people surveyed did not believe in the Trinity when explained what it was even though their church did. I find extended discussions about the validity of the Triune from whatever point of view exhausting. The ability to understand spirit from a mortal flesh point of view may be limited and I see no need to alienate or confuse fellow Christians over something that is difficult to understand.
Great points. What I like about the idea of the Trinity (and other Christian theological concepts) is that it is not just academic or theological; but that it is pragmatic. If fits the way things really are.