Several weeks ago, I posted an article about sharing the gospel. In it, I laid out the method I would recommend for sharing the faith with someone: God, Man, Christ, and Faith. Upon reflection, though, I left something out in the “God” section of the article: the Trinity. Growing up, I had trouble seeing the real importance of the doctrine of the Trinity. I knew that we believed it. I knew that there was one God. I knew that the one God existed in three persons. Yet, if you asked me why it was important to believe this doctrine, or if you had asked me to demonstrate this doctrine from Scripture. Well…I honestly don’t know if I could have given a good answer to either question. So, let’s take a moment to discuss the importance of the doctrine of the Trinity. Then, in a future post, we will define the doctrine and provide biblical evidence in its favor. For now, though, let’s ask ourselves, why is this doctrine so important?
First and foremost, the Trinity is a defining doctrine of the Christian faith. What I mean is, there are certain doctrines on which we can disagree and still be part of the same congregation. This would be things like eschatology (Premillennial, Postmillennial, Amillennial) or even the interpretation of Genesis 1 (literal 24-hour days, Day-age theory, Framework view, Analogical days). We can disagree on these issues without having to break fellowship in any way. Then there are issues where disagreement will cause the necessity to separate into different denominations, yet both sides acknowledge the other to be Christian. Baptism is probably the best example of this kind of doctrine. We believe the children of believers should be baptized. Our Baptist friends don’t. We believe they’re wrong, and they believe that we’re wrong. Yet we all still acknowledge one another as members of the Christian family tree. Disagreement on that issue requires separation, but it’s separation within the one, holy, catholic, and apostolic church. The disagreement doesn’t put either side on the outside of the faith.
Then there are issues on which there may be no disagreement. Disagreement on one of these issues places a person outside the Christian faith, making it necessary to regard them as an unbeliever. Now, if you’re wondering which doctrines are these all important “primary issues,” the best place to look is The Apostles’ Creed. This Creed was not designed to be exhaustive, but it was designed to be the confession of faith given by converts at their baptism. In other words, because “Baptism is not to be administered to any that are out of the visible church, till they profess their faith in Christ, and obedience to him,”[1] the Creed was designed to give a succinct articulation of what one must confess in order to be a Christian. And what do we confess in The Apostles’ Creed? “I believe in God the Father Almighty…and in Jesus Christ his only Son our Lord…I believe in the Holy Spirit.”
Put simply, if you don’t believe in the Trinity, you aren’t believing in the correct God. The person who says that Jesus Christ is not God, but rather was merely a great prophet who pointed people to God, is not worshipping the one true God. The person who says that Jesus Christ was the eldest spirit-child of Heavenly Father who had to go through a mortal probation just like everyone else in order to achieve godhood, is not worshipping the one true God. The person who says that Jesus is really Michael the Archangel, the first and greatest creation of Jehovah God, is not worshipping the one true God. The one true God is Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, and anything less than that is not a belief in the one true God. Dr. James White puts it this way in his book, The Forgotten Trinity,
“To Know Christ truly is to know the Trinity, for God has not revealed himself in such a way as to allow us to have true and balanced knowledge of the Father outside of such knowledge of the Son, all of which come to us through the Spirit. A person who wants to “know Jesus” must, due to the nature of God’s revelation, know Him as He is related to the Father and the Spirit. We must know, understand, and love the Trinity to be fully and completely Christian. This is why we say the Trinity is the greatest of God’s revealed truths.”[2]
If we want people to know Jesus, then we need to be able to tell them about the Trinity. I know that sounds intimidating, but it is the truth. Christ said, “no one knows the Son except the Father, and no one knows the Father except the Son and anyone to whom the Son chooses to reveal him.”[3] John said, “No one who denies the Son has the Father. Whoever confesses the Son has the Father also.”[4] And lest you think I’m leaving out the Spirit, Paul said, “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us…with every spiritual blessing.”[5] And lest that isn’t convincing enough, he later says, “For through him [Christ] we both have access in one Spirit to the Father.”[6] Just to give one last example, a couple chapters later Paul writes, “There is one body and one Spirit – just as you were called to the one hope that belongs to your call – one Lord, one faith, one baptism one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all.”
This is a doctrine of first importance, so I highly encourage you to know this doctrine, love this doctrine, and confess this doctrine. To know the Trinity is to know God. To love the Trinity is to love God. To confess the Trinity is to confess belief in the one true and living God. Where (else) can we go in the Bible to find this doctrine? Well…that will be the subject of my next post.
[1] WSC 95. Lest there be any confusion based on what I said earlier regarding baptizing the children of believers. The catechism goes on to say, “but the infants of such as are members of the visible church are to be baptized.”
[2] James R. White, The Forgotten Trinity: Recovering the Heart of Christian Belief (Bloomington, Minnesota: Bethany House), 15.
[3] Matt. 11:27
[4] 1 John 2:22
[5] Eph. 1:3
[6] Eph. 2:18
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