Pastor's
Study
The
Pastor's Pen
Time
is flying by. There was a time when Sundays were reckoned numerically
and in order after the Feast of the Holy Trinity. Thus the Church
had a way of keeping before the eyes of the faithful great doctrine
which defines western Christianity. “Whoever desires to
be saved must …hold the catholic faith,” this we confess
in the Athanasian Creed (LSB p. 319), “…and the faith
is this, that we worship on God in Trinity and Trinity in unity…”
Confusing?
Over the years I have spent as much time discussing and teaching
the Trinity, as anything else. I used to keep a little “cheat
sheet” in the back of my Bible with all the applicable verses
listed so I would be ready at a moment’s notice to defend
our most holy Faith.
A medieval
abbess, Hildegard of Bingen, (whose writings and chants are making
something of a comeback these days) writes;
As the flame
in one fire has three powers, so the one God is in three Persons.
In what manner? For in the flame abides splendid light, innate
vigor, and a fiery heat. It has splendid light that it may shine,
innate vigor that it may flourish, and fiery heat that it may
burn. So consider in the splendid light, the Father who in His
paternal love sheds His light upon the faithful. In that innate
vigor of the splendid flame in which that same flame shows its
power, under the Son, who took flesh from the Virgin, in which
the Divinity declared His wonders. And in the fiery heat, behold
the Holy Spirit, who gently kindles the hearts and minds of the
faithful…
Therefore
as in one flame these three powers are discerned, so in the unity
of the Divinity tree Persons are to be understood.
Glowing
coals and the flame seem to have been a common way to explain
“the Trinity” in ages past. The saints of every age
struggle to do this. No doubt many of you have on more than one
occasion sat through my illustration using an apple. That lesson
I learned from Joanne Marxhausen’s classic children’s
book, 3 In One, still available from Concordia Publishing House.
Keep in mind
that “the Trinity” is how we experience God. It’s
God’s handle, the name which separates him from any other
so-called god. Others might be addressed as “god”
but there is only One who is triune, three in one. He is LORD,
Creator of heaven and earth, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.
“Make
disciples of the nations,” he says, “baptize them
in the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit, and teach
them to observe all that I have commanded you. And I am with you
to the end of the age.” Mt 28:20
And thus
we name and bless our children under the sign of the cross, with
water and that Name divinely revealed. His is the name implied
Moses. We part blessed by that Name: “the LORD bless you
and keep you; the LORD make his face to shine upon you; the LORD
look upon you with favor and give you peace.” Numbers 6
He is the
God we receive under the forms of bread and wine; he is known
to us personally as the Friend of Sinners, Jesus Christ. “Philip,
‘If you have seen me, you have seen the Father…”
that’s what Jesus said. Again, also in John, Jesus tells
us, “I and the Father are one.”
It’s
not as important to be able to explain the Trinity, as much as
that you can identify Jesus as your Lord and God; “the only
name under heaven by which you can be saved.” Acts 4:12
Our Triune
God loves you beyond all you can imagine. He is the Father who
in love for his Creation, gave the Son as the atoning sacrifice
for the world, the One who makes peace by “the blood of
the cross.” And in the power of the resurrection he sets
us free to be his witnesses here and in every place.
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