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The Doctrine of the
Trinity The doctrine of the Trinity holds the paradoxical mystery of God as having unity and diversity - One substance yet three persons. Use the metaphor of a white band of light which when it passes through a prism we realise is made up of three primary colours: Red; Blue and Yellow. Through the doctrine of the Trinity we catch a glimpse of the richness and complexity and otherness of God. The Godhead is revealed in a 3-fold way as Creator, redeemer and Giver of life or Father, Son and Holy Spirit or God of Creation, Salvation and Sanctification. The Creator is God but is not the Redeemer, Jesus Christ. The Redeemer is God but not the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit is God but is not the Creator. There are not three Gods but three persons who make up the one God. The mystery lies in the fact that all three are one and live in community with each other and with us. The Trinity offers us three ways of experiencing God. God as Creator is revealed through the wonders of Creation, through Science and Nature. Psalm 19:3 and Romans 1:19. It is through our relationship with God as Creator that we ourselves receive our life in all it’s abundance and it is through God as Creator that we ourselves are creative. God as Redeemer is revealed through the character and life of Jesus Christ. In this way God is revealed in the history of our spiritual search for him. Jesus Christ breaks into human history and incarnates our existence. It is through our relationship with him that our lives have focus and we receive eternal life. God as Holy Spirit is revealed through the empowering love that is poured into our spirits as we become temples of the Holy Spirit. It is through the Holy Spirit that the “Christ for us” becomes the “Christ in us”.God is experience through the Holy Spirit in our day to day existence. God’s revelations always aim at establishing a relationship with us. In all three revelations we encounter the one God, but each person we encounter God in a different way. In the Creator we encounter God’s power over us saying ‘You Shall’. In the redeemer we encounter God’s invitation to us ‘What would you do? Follow me?’ In the Sanctifier we encounter God’s power within us saying ‘You can, You have been given the ability’. God’s threefold communication with us corresponds with a three fold response on our part. We respond to the Creator with awe at the transcendence of God. We respond to the Son with evangelical love and We respond to the Spirit with charismatic energy. Lasting transformation occurs within us when all three responses are integrated in loyalty and obedience to the one God, Yahweh. |
