The Apostle Paul might have
said: "Blessed be the God
and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ who consoles us in all
our affliction, for just as the sufferings of Christ are abundant
for us, so our consolation is abundant through Christ, sealed
in our hearts through the power and constant presence of the
Holy Spirit" (2 Corinthians 1:3–5, 21–22).
John Calvin might have said: "Christ is not only the
pledge of our adoption, but God also gives us the Holy Spirit
as a witness to this adoption, through whom we may freely cry
aloud, 'Abba, Father.' Whenever we are distressed,
remember to ask for the presence of the Spirit who will enable
us to pray boldly" (Institutes, III.20.37).
But we might say: "Be comforted, for God is always
with you."
Our contemporary version is certainly true, but it betrays
an ability to account for the biggest events and issues in
our lives without reference to the Triune God—to the
grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, the love of God, and the communion
of the Holy Spirit.
To be fair, I often hear Presbyterians talk about "following
Jesus" and "listening to the Spirit." But
far more rare are references to all three persons of the Trinity
in an integrated way.
Functional Unitarianism
In ordinations that take place in
almost every Presbyterian congregation, elders, deacons and
ministers are asked: Do you trust in Jesus Christ your Savior,
acknowledge him Lord of all and Head of the Church, and through
him believe in one God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit?
Have you heard anyone answer "no" recently? Neither
have I.
We haven't rejected the Trinity outright; we simply
do not seem to need it any more. If we can express our faith
using only "God," we have become functional Unitarians.
Apparently, we are able to talk about our faith through simple
appeal to God: God loves you, God forgives you, God will be
with you. The "Gracious God" we address in prayer
is all we need.
Given the time, energy and controversy devoted to the Trinity
in the church's history, how could we let it slip away?
Given its centrality in all the creeds and in the faith of
the church, how could we ignore the Trinity? There are at least
three contributing reasons:
1. Nothing between us and God—
One of the chief characteristics
of American religion is a conviction that nothing stands between
us and God. Harry Truman said, "I'm a Baptist because
I think that sect gives the common man the shortest and most
direct approach to God." We are Harry Trumans run amok.
People today have moved beyond rejection of the church and
doctrinal systems to ambivalence about the specific need for
the work of the Son and the Spirit. We are "spiritual,
but not religious," finding God within ourselves.
When we are god, we certainly do not need the mediation of
the Son or the continuing work of the Spirit to connect to
the divine presence. Even when we speak about "the Spirit," we
are using an alternative term for our generalized understanding
of God.
In contrast, the Christian faith affirms that the work of
all three persons of the Trinity is essential to our relationship
to God. It is the grace, love and communion of this one God
in three persons that draws us into the divine life. We cannot
speak of this God without recognizing that Trinity is not an
optional "extra" to God, but is the very nature
of God as revealed to us in Scripture. To lose the vocabulary
of the Trinity is to miss out on a full understanding of who
God is.
We believe that the life, death, resurrection and ascension
of Jesus Christ and the sanctifying and healing work of the
Holy Spirit are necessary for us to be reconciled to God. Necessary—not
merely helpful or encouraging. And it is one and the same God
who created us, who saves us and who continues to live with
us.
God is indeed closer to us than our skin—the three-in-one
and the one-in-three.
2. The challenge of pluralism—
Another impulse toward
functional Unitarianism draws from our growing realization
of religious pluralism. We recognize that we share much with
Jews and Muslims. These two faiths are closely related to our
own but reject a Trinitarian notion of God. We are more aware
than ever of the growing numbers of Hindus and Buddhists in
our midst, not to mention Sikhs and various African religions.
Wouldn't our lives be simpler if we didn't have
this three-fold God to explain? Wouldn't we be one step
closer to a unity with others who worship God? Don't
all people of faith worship the same God?
While understandable, this impulse does not serve us well.
We confess faith in the Triune God because we believe this
is who God truly is. We cannot dispose of the Trinity any more
easily than we can dispose of our confession of God as the
author of life.
Further, our partners in interfaith dialogue routinely tell
us that honesty is essential for a true dialogue. They will
sniff out our not-so-well-disguised implicit Trinitarianism,
even while we think we are all talking about the same idea
of God.
3. The language problem—
We also tend toward functional
Unitarianism because we are unsure of how to speak of the Triune
God. Some object to using the gendered language of Father and
Son in worship; others object to using any alternative language
for God. These objections can lead to bland liturgical compromises
that rob Scripture and tradition of their richness. Thus the
liturgies produced by many within the church abandon traditional
Trinitarian language and substitute frequent repetition of
an undifferentiated God.
The vast majority of Presbyterians agree with the 1985 General
Assembly's statement on the use of language in worship: "Our
language about God should be as intentionally diverse and varied
as is that of the Bible and our theological tradition." Yet
often we hear only, "God, God, God." Attention
to God as Trinity and to the words of Scripture and the tradition
provide us with a more faithful vocabulary that is also more
rich and varied than current practice.
Father, Son, Holy Spirit—and more
The language of Father,
Son and Holy Spirit, etched in Scripture and creed, remains
indispensable for our efforts to speak faithfully of God. This
is especially true regarding baptism in the name of the Triune
God, one of the few things that connects Christian believers
around the world.
"Father, Son and Holy Spirit" is a root out of
which grows an even richer vocabulary of praise. Anchored by
these ancient words, we are liberated to interpret, amplify
and expand upon the ways of naming the Triune God most familiar
to the church, rather than simply repeating the word "God" in
prayer and liturgy. We are able to draw from the well of Scripture
to enrich the ways we speak of God and to God.
This liberating approach also demands discipline. We cannot "pick
one from column a, one from column b and one from column c," as
if any three terms can express Trinity. Are there "rules" to
be followed, then? Yes. In the same manner that grammar rules
help us to be clear about what we say, the rules of Trinitarian
language help us to be faithful to what we believe.
In that spirit, I propose three rules:
- The three terms must have an inner relationship.
- The terms must either be personal or functional—the
two should not be mixed.
- Functional terms cannot replace personal terms, but can
amplify and enrich our understanding of God.
A common Trinitarian substitute, Creator/Christ/Spirit, fails
the first two tests. "Creator" is a functional
description of the Godhead, one in which all three persons
of the Trinity participate, yet Christ and Spirit are personal
designations. This creates a theological error that violates
the first rule: Is the first person the "Creator" of
the second and third persons? That is surely not what we believe.
Creator/Redeemer/Sustainer is a wonderful description of
the work of God on our behalf. It is Trinitarian in the sense
that each person of the Trinity is involved in the functions
of creation, redemption and sustaining us. But it cannot be
understood to claim that one person of the Trinity is creator,
a second redeemer and the third sustainer. It cannot substitute
for personal language.
An expression of our deepest beliefs
It is essential that
we work through the issues that threaten to rob us of Biblical
faith. Worship is the key. The language of our prayers, hymns,
doxologies and anthems shapes our faith as surely as it reflects
our faith. We must pray and sing to the "one Triune God,
the Holy One of Israel, whom alone we worship and serve."
When we see the doctrine of the Trinity as an expression
of our deepest beliefs, the best account of the reality of
God revealed in Jesus Christ through the power of the Holy
Spirit, we will begin to teach it, express it and live it.
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