Reclaim the Holy Trinity!

On Sunday 15 June 2014 we observe Holy Trinity Sunday.  Let’s therefore ask ourselves whether we constantly claim the wealth of blessings and richness of our confession when we worship, serve and proclaim our Triune God.

The Holy Trinity is not an “optional extra" to God. It is the nature of God as revealed to us in Scripture.

The biblical truth about the Holy Trinity has become a pressing issue for contemporary Christians, simply because it often seems as if we are losing this biblical account of the Triune God, and, it seems, without controversy or debate.

This happens because we are in danger of shifting the Holy Trinity aside in our ministry practices and public worship language, without announcing that we have changed our minds about the nature of the God we profess to follow.  Often the Holy Trinity is taught in confirmation class or in Sunday school, but more as a mathematical problem to be solved, than teaching the living reality of the Triune God that we serve, worship and love.

Here is an example of how the way we refer to God changed over centuries:

The Apostle Paul 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 wrote: "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" (Calvin’s Institutes, III.20.37).

But today we, with the same confession at heart, often do not say more than: "Be blessed, for God is always with you."

This contemporary version is certainly true, but why are we hesitant to name our triune God in biblical language? Why do we not speak, pray and testify with confidence about the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, the love of God, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit? It became rare to hear references to all three Ways of Being or Persons of the Holy Trinity in an integrated way, except at the baptismal font or during the benediction.

We must be careful that we are not becoming confessing Trinitarians - but practicing Unitarians.  

Our language about the eternal God of the covenant of grace should be as diverse and varied as is the idiom of the Bible and of our age old universal Christian tradition and creed.   Why do we so often hear people repetitively referring to “God” in prayers, discussions and devotions?  Or someone may address a topic referring only to Jesus.  Did Jesus not come to us to show us the Father, and did the Father not send the Spirit to teach us about God’s saving grace? Consideration of God as Holy Trinity and replicating the words of Scripture about God provide us with a more faithful vocabulary that is also richer and more varied than the current practice of many Protestants.

Father, Son, Holy Spirit – essential Reformed testimony.

The language of Father, Son and Holy Spirit, engraved in Scripture and creed, is essential for our efforts to speak faithfully and truthfully about God. Our reverence and service of the One- in-Three and Three-in-One binds us together with ancient believers and ancient denominations. Can there be a unity outside only worshipping the Holy Trinity as the only God, Saviour and Comforter we know? And can we claim to speak about God as Bible believing Christians in any other way?

"Father, Son and Holy Spirit" is a root out of which grows the wealth of our vocabulary of praise. We must rather amplify and expand the ways of naming the Triune God, rather than simply repeating the word "God" in prayer and liturgy repetitively. Could there be any good reason why should not refer to the Lord God in the language of Scripture to enrich the ways we speak of the Lord and to our God.

The language of our prayers, hymns, songs and sermons 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, the eternal God of the covenant, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, whom alone we worship and serve through the graceful work of the Holy Spirit."   This is biblical language and therefore should be church language. Our God is also worthy of such worship and praise in our private prayers.

If the ways I address the Triune God and speak of the Lord, could just as well have been the words of a Jew, who does not believe in Jesus as God the Son, or a Muslim, who rejects the Trinity too, I am doing something terribly wrong!

Let’s learn from the New Testament writers how to honour our almighty God, and teach one another anew the Trinitarian language of Scripture. 

Let’s remember to adore our Father with all our heart, soul and strength.

Let’s ask from our Father which art in heaven, everything we need.

Let’s always pray in the Name of Jesus Christ.

Let’s beg for the guidance and inspiration of the Spirit to be able to follow and love Jesus who always will show us the Father, bringing us home to the throne of grace.

Let’s worship and serve the only one, true, triune God: Father, Son and Holy Spirit.