Trinity: more than a doctrine
Have you ever
wondered why the doctrine of the Trinity is so important to Christian faith?
After all, most
people seem to think of God as a single, solitary being "out there," somewhere
in the vast recesses of space—not as three in one and one in three.
You might remember
Bette Midler's song, "From a Distance," which has the chorus, "God is watching
us, from a distance."
That's how most
people think of God. He's way up there in the sky, looking down on humanity. He
might be an angry judge, racking up a tally sheet of our sins, or a kindly old
gentleman with a flowing white beard, who sometimes steps in to help out if we
make enough noise for him to hear us.
Maybe like George
Burns portrayal of God in the movie, "Oh, God," or Morgan Freeman's portrayal in
"Bruce Almighty" and "Evan Almighty."
But the God of the
Bible is not like any of those. The God of the Bible is Father, Son and Holy
Spirit. The three are one God, perfect in unity, communion, and love.
"So what?" you ask.
What does that have to do with me?
Just this. The fact
that God is Father, Son and Holy Spirit, three in one and one in three means
that Jesus Christ and the Father are not separate Gods. And that means you don't
ever have to worry about what God thinks about you, how God feels about you, or
what is going to happen to you when you die.
And that's because,
as Jesus Christ put it in John 14:9, "Anyone who has seen me has seen the
Father."
Jesus Christ is the
perfect revelation of the Father. If you want to know what the Father is like,
or how the Father thinks about humanity, or about you, you only have to look at
Christ, because he shows us what the Father is like. And the Holy Spirit, the
third Person of the Trinity, ministers to us the confidence, hope, courage, love
and power that we have in Christ.
When the Bible
talks about us being "in Christ" it means that we share in the relationship
Jesus has with the Father. Just as Jesus is the beloved of the Father, so we
too, because we are "in Christ," are also the beloved of the Father.
We are included in
the household of God, brothers and sisters of Christ, fully accepted by the
Father because we are united with Christ through faith.
We know the Father
loves us, because we know from the Bible that Jesus the Son loves us.
That's why the
doctrine of the Trinity is so important. It lets us know exactly where we stand
with God the Father, because since the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit are
one God, where we stand with Jesus is where we stand with the Father.
I'm Joseph Tkach,
speaking of LIFE.
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