My wife and I have been teaching about the Trinity in our training sessions. One of the questions we encounter is why study about the Trinity at all? Why hurt our heads with the study of the very difficult notion that our God is one God but expressed in three distinct Persons? What does it matter to our daily living if we understand this truth or not?
Understanding the Trinity has many implications. It impacts the way we live, the way we relate to each other; it impacts our roles and responsibilities with our spouses, our church and society.
Understanding the Trinity has many implications. It impacts the way we live, the way we relate to each other; it impacts our roles and responsibilities with our spouses, our church and society.
One aspect that we really need to grab a hold of is how, without a Triune God, salvation is impossible. Think about it: how do we attain salvation? It is by the death and resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ. The salvation that Christ wrought for us would not be possible if God—in three Persons—did not act on our behalf.
God the Father planned for our salvation. He is also the one who rightly judges our sin. As the Son, he becomes fully human but he is still fully God. He then makes the payment for our sin, doing for us what no other human being could: fully pay up our sin-debt. The infinite God paying up our infinite sin-debt on the cross. And the one empowering the Son and directing him as he lives as a human is the none other than the Holy Spirit. It is the Holy Spirit that helped the incarnate Son to live a perfectly sinless life. Thus if you take away the Trinity, you take away our salvation.
There is so much to learn and discuss about the Trinity. But already, I'm floored by how there really is no salvation for us if our God were not Triune, i.e., one God in three Persons.
God the Father planned for our salvation. He is also the one who rightly judges our sin. As the Son, he becomes fully human but he is still fully God. He then makes the payment for our sin, doing for us what no other human being could: fully pay up our sin-debt. The infinite God paying up our infinite sin-debt on the cross. And the one empowering the Son and directing him as he lives as a human is the none other than the Holy Spirit. It is the Holy Spirit that helped the incarnate Son to live a perfectly sinless life. Thus if you take away the Trinity, you take away our salvation.
There is so much to learn and discuss about the Trinity. But already, I'm floored by how there really is no salvation for us if our God were not Triune, i.e., one God in three Persons.
