Critical Questions and the Christian Faith

The Trinity: why does it matter?

by Douglas Miller

The Christian Church believes in the doctrine of the Trinity. That means the Church believes that God is three persons and yet God is one God. What does this mean, and why does it matter? Some say it is the theology of a free and democratic society. Others say it is impossible arithmetic.

God is a community

Now the word "Trinity" or "Threeness" was framed to express a very simple given of the Christian faith. It expresses that the Church believes in three divine persons, who are different from each other: First, it believes in God the Father, the one to whom Jesus prayed, and whom Jesus called "Father". Second, it believes in Jesus Christ, whom it calls the Son of God. Third, it believes in the Holy Spirit, whom Jesus said the Father would send to nurture faith and love within us. The Church trusts and worships all three persons. We pray to God the Father. We pray to Jesus Christ. We pray to the Holy Spirit. We regard all three as truly God, as truly Divine, yet as different from each other.

Now the New Testament never uses the word "Trinity", but it often speaks about the three different persons. We read that Christ prayed to the Father. We read that the Father would send the Holy Spirit to recall people to Christ. Paul often speaks of "God the Father", "the Lord Jesus Christ", and "the Holy Spirit". So the notion that we praise all three persons as God, yet as different from each other, is already there in the New Testament.

One example: in Mark's gospel, we read the story of Jesus' baptism (Mark 1:9-11). We read that Jesus was baptised by John in the river Jordan, and that the Spirit descending on Jesus like a dove, so that he might be strengthened for his ministry of calling people to God. We also read that the voice from above declared "You are my beloved Son, with you I am well pleased". So you have the three persons in the one passage: the voice of the Father speaking from above, the Spirit coming down from the Father to strengthen Jesus, and Jesus from Nazareth being declared to be the Son of God.

So the church worships and prays to the three persons: God the Father, Jesus the Christ, and the Holy Spirit. They are quite clearly distinct from each other, and yet they freely work together in harmony. We pray to each of these as truly divine.

So why not say "three Gods"?

But the church does not speak about the three gods. It speaks about the threeness of God. Why? Because they can't be separated in our minds like three human beings can. Three people may be close friends, but they still look different haand have different thoughts and feelings. The three divine persons are not in different places, for God is not a being in space and time, and has no place, shape, size or colour. God is equally present everywhere. The three persons are not like stories of the ancient Greek gods, who often disagreed and fought with each other. They share one purpose of love for us, and act together for that purpose. When the church says "three persons, yet one God", it means that these three persons freely choose to share one purpose.

Thus the Trinity is a very simple idea.

What the Trinity is not

However often the church has made that simple matter needlessly complex. People have heard the words "three persons, yet one God", and asked how God can be three and one at the same time? How can God defy the laws of arithmetic? Is God three or is God one? Which? Sometimes the church has given unhelpful answers.

... not like a shamrock

In the Western Church, both Catholic and Protestant, people have often said. "The Trinity is like the shamrock (clover), one plant with three leaves" (St Patrick's illustration). Or "it's like a triangle: one triangle with three sides". Those examples don't really help. Everyone knows that a shamrock or a triangle can have three parts, but the Trinity is not about God having three parts. God does not have size or shape, so God does not have parts.

... not like a human mind

Another unhelpful answer was given by Augustine, the great theologian of the West, in 417 AD. He said that our human mind is the thing most like God that we directly know. He said that the human mind has thought and has emotion. The mind, its thought and its emotion exist together, but are different from each other, and none can exist without the others. In the same way, Augustine said: there is God, the Word of God (Jesus Christ) and the Spirit of God. Augustine's answer has a serious problem. It tends to turn the New Testament's talk about three divine persons working together, into talk about God as a single isolated person, who has thought and emotion.

... not an unsearchable mystery

An even more unhelpful answer is given by people who shrug their shoulders and say "God is beyond our understanding, it is all a mystery". Now the being of God is a deep mystery. We cannot picture God in our minds. Our words can never say what God is like. God is indefinably greater than our best thoughts about God. But the concept of the Trinity is not mysterious. It is the very simple belief that we worship the three persons, who freely choose to share one purpose.

Democracy and freedom

The doctrine of the Trinity says something very important about justice, democracy and freedom in human society. In recent years, many theologians coming from different perspectives, have come to stress that the Trinity is a very important concept of the Christian faith.

About thirty years ago, Jurgen Moltmann came to say this after reflecting on the conflict between dictatorship and freedom in many parts of the world. He argued that belief in a single God, like Augustine had proposed, was the theology of dictatorship [God commands, people obey], of monarchy, of upper classes over lower classes, of men over women, of the old over the young. He argued that belief in the Trinity was the theology of a free society that is democratic and caring, a society where people of different races, classes, genders and ages freely choose to co-operate, just as the divine persons freely choose to co-operate with other people. If we believe in a God who is three persons, who freely choose to share one purpose, he said, then we will look for a society where noone tells others what they must do, but where people freely choose to share a common purpose of out of concern for each other.

Many other theologians have come from different perspectives and routes, and come to similar conclusions. Some come from reflecting on the tradition of the church. Others come from questions of liberation. They suggest that we only speak about the Trinity at all, because Jesus has become human and lived and died among us. He welcomes us into the fellowship of the Trinity. We are invited to share in God's welcome to every human being, and we are invited to freely take part in God's purpose to welcome every human being.

If we believe in the Trinity, then we will value a world marked by co-operation, not by one person, group or race forcing their will on another. We will not want to see everyone becoming the same as us, and losing their differences of race, culture or personal characteristics. But we will want to see everyone co-operate together across differences of race, gender, culture and age, out of love, the one for the other. We will not want to see a world where everyone insists on their own rights as much as one where people care that other's rights are respected.

So the Trinity is not an impossible piece of arithmetic. It is about the three persons of the Trinity who freely share one purpose of love for us. And it is about how all people are welcomed into God's community, and it is about a vision for human society where people freely co-operate with each other.

Questions for group discussion

The understanding that God is not a single person, but a community of three persons, belongs to the heart of the Christian faith. Why is this so important?
Do you agree that comparing the Trinity to a clover, triangle or the human mind is unhelpful? Why? Why not?
Do you agree that belief in God as three prersons in cooperation, is the theology of a free society that is democratic and caring?