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Trinity Sunday
Light of Christ Anglican Church
The Rev. Edward V. S. Moore, June 16, 2019


Knowing Which God We Worship


Text: John 16:5–15

My sermon this morning has to do with the reason why we have a Trinity Sunday. We call upon the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit often in our worship. We find them mentioned in the New Testament in Paul’s letters as well as in the Gospel narratives. Yet the word trinity itself appears nowhere in the Bible. It is derived from a Latin word, trinitas, meaning “threeness”. This threeness, or triple personality of God, which we refer to as the Holy Trinity, is the central mystery of Christianity.

What do we mean by mystery when we are talking about spiritual matters? Is it like an Agatha Christie mystery in which the reader is given all the clues to arrive at the identity of the murderer? Is it like an episode of NCIS in which scientific scrutiny and analysis of often very subtle physical evidence help the team to discover who the guilty party is? Well, neither of these. Rather, a spiritual mystery is a truth revealed by God which we are to believe without being able to comprehend it.1 The first of the Anglican Articles of Religion describes the Holy Trinity this way:

There is but one living and true God, everlasting, without body, parts, or passions; of infinite power, wisdom, and goodness; the Maker and Preserver of all things, both visible and invisible. And in the unity of this Godhead there be three Persons, of one substance, power, and eternity: the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost.2

The Athanasian Creed goes to great lengths to detail in human terms what we can apprehend of the identity of and relations among and between the Three Persons 3 (Book of Common Prayer [BCP] 2019, p. 769). We also use the term triune, meaning three in one, to refer to or describe God in this way.

Up to this point in the Church year we have celebrated the love of the Father for the Son in the feasts of the Incarnation, Death, Resurrection, and Ascension of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Last Sunday, called Whitsunday or Pentecost, we celebrated the sending of the Holy Spirit by the Father and the Son. Today we celebrate all three persons of the Trinity in our worship as we embark on the second half of our annual spiritual journey of growing in the knowledge of the Son of God, that is, into the fullness of Christ.4 Our goal is to become more like him: more charitable, more compassionate, humble, and patient. These are all fruit of his Spirit living in us.

First of all, we should note that all of Scripture speaks of God as One. Israel’s confession of faith, the shama (shaw-mah’), given by God and taught by Moses, states: "Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God is one Lord." St. Paul teaches "To us there is but one God, the Father," Again, "One Lord, one Faith, one Baptism, one God and Father of all." And again, "One God, and one Mediator between God and men." [Deuteronomy. 4:4, 1 Corinthians 8:6, Ephesians 4:5,6, 1 Timothy 2:5])

God the Father is the first person of the Holy Trinity. We call God our Father whenever we pray the Lord’s Prayer. This is how our Lord instructed his disciples when they asked him to teach them how to pray. It is our privilege to call God our Father, for all Christians are his children by adoption. (cf. John 1:12, 13) By contrast, those who do not put their entire trust and confidence in him cannot be counted among his children. This runs counter to popular notions of a mythical god who forgives sins that are freely pursued in an unrepentant manner, with no desire to change behavior to conform to his will.

Who is the Father really? He is the creator of all that exists. In the beginning he spoke creation into existence out of nothing (ex nihilo) and pronounced it good. In the Creed we affirm: “I believe in one God, the Father Almighty, Maker of heaven and earth.”

In the past He revealed himself to certain chosen individuals and groups: Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, Moses, Isaiah, and to the children of Israel in the column of fire and smoke in the wilderness.

At Jesus’ baptism the Father spoke from heaven saying: “You are my beloved Son; with you I am well pleased.” (Mark 1:11) Later, on the mount of the Transfiguration, the Father’s voice came from the cloud which had overshadowed Jesus, Moses, Elijah and the three disciples, declaring: “This is my beloved Son. Hear Him!” (Mark 9:7)

Let’s turn our attention now to this Jesus whom the Father calls his Son. The supreme mystery of Christianity is that Jesus of Nazareth was, and is, God made man; that he took on our humanity without losing or giving up his divinity; that this man Jesus of Nazareth was fully divine as well as fully human. “The Word became flesh” as the Apostle John puts it (John 1:14); God became a man, a Jew, a helpless baby, just like any other person in his humanity. This phenomenon has been a stumbling block for many people since Jesus’ day. Jews, Muslims, Unitarians, and Jehovah’s Witnesses are amongst those who cannot accept the virgin birth, the miracles, the atonement, or the resurrection. Anglican theologian J.I. Packer explains:

If Jesus had been an ordinary man, then belief in what the Scriptures describe him doing would be next to impossible. But if he was truly who he said he was, and the Church has always believed him to be, then all difficulties vanish. While the Incarnation remains a mystery, that is, how God became a man, everything else in the New Testament makes sense if we accept this one point.5

Who was this baby? He was God. In John’s gospel he is referred to as the only begotten or one and only Son of God (John 1:14, 18; 3:16, 18) In the Creed the church confesses: “I believe in God the Father…and in Jesus Christ, his only son, our Lord.” In his gospel the Apostle John was speaking to Jews who associated the title Son of God with the promised Messiah, a Davidic king whom they expected to liberate them from the Roman oppressor. For Jews Son of God was a definite reference to a man, and not to a divine person; certainly not Yahweh Sabaoth/the Lord of Hosts (Almighty God), or El Shaddai/God the Almighty One. Greek speakers, John’s other audience, would have understood the Son of God title as referring to demigods, that is children born to human women but with divine fathers (Hercules for example). In the prologue to his Gospel John spends some time making it clear who this only begotten son was:

In the beginning was the Word. (1:1) He has existed throughout eternity. He did not come into existence at some point in time. He is not bound by time as we are. And there was never a time when he did not exist.

And the word was with God. (1:1) He had a distinct personality and was in fellowship with God.

And the word was God. (1:1) Here is a clear declaration of his deity. He is not a creature but a distinct divine person within the unity of the Godhead.

Through him all things were made. (1:3) He had a direct role in bringing the creation into being from nothing. He was the Word spoken by the Father.

In him was life. (1:4) All that lives is animated by him. “In him we live and move and have our being.” as Paul told the Athenians, Acts 17:28. No living human being came into being on his or her own, nor exists on its own.

And the life was the light of men. (1:4) He reveals the Father to mankind. Yes, even those who have never heard the gospel or read the Bible have the light of the divine, if not the full gospel. They understand, or suspect, that there is reason and order in the cosmos, and that there is a right and a wrong way to live. They have an innate sense of justice based on the Natural Law.6

The Word became flesh. (1:14) God took on our flesh; he became incarnate or enfleshed. This happened when the Holy Spirit, the power of God the Father, overshadowed the Blessed Virgin Mary, she conceived and gave birth to the Son of God.

John’s purpose here is to show that the Word is a divine person who is the author of all things. In the Incarnation the Word was revealed/manifested as God’s Son. This baby in the manger was God. He was God made man. He was a human baby, but he had not ceased being God. So he was entirely human and entirely divine, two natures united in one person. In his humanity he could be tempted in every way just as we are by the world, the flesh, and the devil. However, unlike us, he was without sin, able to resist the temptation to sin. (Hebrews 2:17–18; 4:15–16) 7

What was his message in his earthly ministry? “The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand. Repent, and believe in the gospel” (or good news). (Mark 1:15) That good news is that God the Father has provided a way for man to be reconciled with him, and Jesus Christ is that Way. As he himself declared, “I AM the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.” (John 14:16) Jesus declares himself as having existed before Abraham, identifying himself as I AM (ego’ eimee’ in Greek, the covenant name of God (Yahweh) (John 8:58, Exodus 6:3).

During his earthly ministry Jesus taught his disciples how to preach, how to teach, and how to heal. Then he sent them out to practice what he had taught them. After his resurrection, but before his ascension, Jesus gave final instructions to his disciples (Matthew 28:16–20).

Jerome describes it this way: “Authority was given to him in both heaven and earth so that he who once reigned in heaven might also reign on earth through the faith of his believers.” He was delegating authority to his disciples to minister “in his name”, that is as his ambassadors. (cf. John 14:13, “praying in his name”).

‘Go therefore and make disciples (discipulus-students) of all nations’…First they teach all nations; then they baptize those they have taught with water, for the body is not able to receive the sacrament of baptism before the soul has received the truth of the faith. They were baptized in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, so that the three who are one in divinity might also be one in giving themselves. The name of the Trinity is the name of the one God.”8

‘Teach them to observe all I have commanded you.’” So, first the good news of the kingdom, then baptism into Christ’s fellowship, and then all that Jesus had commanded his disciples: how to pray, how to minister to the needs of others: healing the sick, casting out demons, what he had demonstrated to them and then had sent them out two by two to do in his Name…. How very much is contained in that little word “all”. The world itself could not contain all the books that could be written (John 21:25). But lest the task seem too great, he assured them that he would be with them always.9 How would that be? Through the gift of the Holy Spirit.

Which brings us to the third person of the Trinity, God the Holy Spirit. He was present at the Creation. One of the Church Fathers sums it up for us: “It was appropriate to reveal here that the Spirit hovered in order for us to learn that the work of creation was held in common by the Spirit with the Father and the Son. The Father spoke. The Son created. And so it was right that the Spirit also offers its work, clearly shown through its hovering, in order to demonstrate its unity with the other persons. Thus we learn that all was brought to perfection and accomplished by the Trinity.”10

The Holy Spirit inspired the prophets. He was present at Jesus’ baptism (Mark 1:10) when Jesus saw the Spirit descending on him like a dove. He is the other counselor/comforter/paraclete promised by Jesus to his disciples to take his place after he had ascended to the Father.

The Holy Spirit was sent by the Father and the Son on Pentecost (celebrated last Sunday/Lord’s Day-dies domini).

He was given to believers when they heard and received the gospel message proclaimed by the apostles.

Paul’s blessing of the Corinthian Christians includes all three persons:

The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all. (2 Corinthians 13:14) (ends the Daily Office-MP/EP)

In the Sanctus (Isaiah 6:1–3), the words “Holy, Holy, Holy” declare the three persons, and “Lord” declares their one being or essence. The Eternal Three are worshipped by the Church as distinct, yet they are One;—the Most High God being wholly the Father, and wholly the Son, and wholly the Holy Spirit; yet the Three Persons being distinct from each other, not merely in name, or by human abstraction, but in very truth, as truly as a fountain is distinct from the stream which flows from it, or the root of a tree from its branches.11

Let us pray.

Direct us O Lord, in all our doings, with your most gracious favor, and assist us with your continual help to dedicate our efforts to fulfilling that great commission which you gave to your disciples: to make disciples of all nations; to baptize them in the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit; and to teach them to observe all you have commanded us. And Lord in every work begun, continued, and ended in you, may we glorify your holy Name, and, finally, by your mercy, obtain everlasting life; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who with you and the Holy Spirit lives and reigns ever, one God, world without end. Amen.

Notes
1 (The Catholic Religion, Vernon Staley, p. 93 & Catechism of the Catholic Church, pp. 69,70)
2 (BCP 2019, p. 772)
3 (BCP 2019, p. 769)
4 (3until we all attain to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to mature manhood, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ, Eph. 4:13)
5 Knowing God, J.I. Packer, pp. 53-54
6 Mere Christianity, C.S. Lewis, pp. 3-8
7 Packer, ibid., pp. 56-57
8 Jerome (4th/5th cent., Vulgate), cited in ACCS, NT 1b, Matthew 14-28, p. 313
9 Ibid.
10 Ephrem the Syrian (4th cent.), Commentary on Genesis I, cited in ACCS, OT1, Genesis 1-11, p. 6
11 Sermon 24, The Mystery of the Holy Trinity, John Henry Newman, http://lectionarycentral .com/trinity/NewmanGospel3.html

©2019 The Rev. Edward V. S. Moore

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