Trinity Sunday 2022
Proverbs 8:22-31; Romans 5:1-5; John 16:12-15
What is the fundamental Christian doctrine? Is it the divinity of Christ? To an extent. Is it the Resurrection? That is crucial, if you will pardon the pun, an essential Christian belief. But the bedrock of Christian faith, the truth on which all else is built, is the doctrine of the Trinity, the recognition that God is three in one: that there is one God in three persons; Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.
This is what sets Christianity apart from all other religious systems, including the other monotheistic religions—those which believe in the one God—namely Judaism and Islam. An orthodox Jew may or may not respect Jesus as a reputable Jewish teacher: s/he will not, cannot, accept that He is God, one of three persons in the Godhead.
A devout Muslim may honour Jesus as a prophet, and may have great respect for the Virgin Mother, whom s/he will know as Miriam. I have known a Muslim speak of Christ as a “divine man”, just as I have heard a Hindu refer to Lord Christ, but no Muslim can accept Jesus as God.
So whilst we share with Jews and Muslims the belief that God is one, it is Christians alone who declare that this one God is present from all eternity and to all eternity as Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. The Father eternally begets the Son through the eternal working of the Spirit, and God manifests Himself to us as the Creator who is Father; the Redeemer who joined His eternal divinity as Son to a human nature in the person of Jesus the Christ; and the Paraclete—the Encourager, Advocate, however you wish to translate it—the Holy Spirit who dwells in us and literally “inspires”, breathes into us.
Whatever differences there may be among Christians, we are united in our belief in the Trinity. The Jehovah’s Witnesses therefore, are not considered to be Christians as they believe, like the Muslim whom I mentioned earlier, that Jesus is somehow “divine”, but deny that He is God. I have to confess that I am not clear about the beliefs of Mormons.
Does it matter? Some of the details may be baffling—for instance, the principal doctrinal difference between Catholic (and western generally) Christians and the Eastern Orthodox concerns the “filioque” clause in the Creed: does the Spirit proceed from the Father and the Son as we profess, or only from the Father as the Orthodox believe?—but essential doctrines are important.
How decisive they will be in our salvation is another question entirely. We recognise two principles, orthodoxy and orthopraxis, which may be defined as “right belief” and “right behaviour”. Jesus’ own teachings and actions imply that orthopraxis is the more important: we may have impeccable beliefs, but fall short in terms of conduct, as St. Paul also points out in his hymn to love in chapter 13 of his First Letter to the Corinthians.
In the creed, we profess our belief in the Trinity. In terms of the Trinity’s role in our lives, we can look, as always, at the Third Eucharistic Prayer, which relates how all holiness comes from the Father, through the Son, by the working of the Holy Spirit, and which goes on to ask the Father to make our offering of bread and wine, through the power of the Holy Spirit, into the Body and Blood of the Son, who offers Himself to the Father.
Having this as a background, we perhaps shouldn’t agonise too much over details, but ensure that, in our conduct, we seek always to give glory to the Father, through the Son, in the Holy Spirit. Then will our lives be living witnesses to the Trinity.
