TRINITY
If any doctrine makes Christianity Christian, then surely it is the doctrine of the Trinity. The three great ecumenical creeds—the Apostles' Creed, the Nicene Creed, and the Athanasian Creed—are all structured around our three in one God, underlying the essential importance of Trinitarian theology. I once commented about the Trinity that "in no other subject is error more dangerous, or inquiry more laborious, or the discovery of truth more profitable." More recently, Sinclair Ferguson has reflected on "the rather obvious thought that when his disciples were about to have the world collapse in on them, our Lord spent so much time in the Upper Room speaking to them about the mystery of the Trinity. If anything could underline the necessity of Trinitarianism for practical Christianity, that must surely be it!"
Yet, when it comes to the doctrine of the Trinity, most Christians are poor in their understanding, poorer in their articulation, and poorest of all in seeing any way in which the doctrine matters in real life. One theologian said, tongue in cheek, "The trinity is a matter of five notions or properties, four relations, three persons, two processions, one substance or nature, and no understanding." All the talk of essence and persons and co-this and co-that seem like theological gobbledy-gook reserved for philosophers and scholars-maybe for thinky bookish types, but certainly not for moms and Sri dent. Those events being, the Father sending the Son and the Father and Son sending the Holy Spirit for the application of our salvation (John 17:25 – 26; Gal 4:4 – 7; Eph 1:3 – 14). The Trinity is not merely some abstract doctrine to be pondered or debated upon, but about the God who is to be experienced. The Triune God is all together beautiful, good, holy, just, loving, and powerful. In addition, the Trinity is what makes Christianity unique and distinguished from Judaism, Islam, and other world religions.