12 June, A+D 2022
In the Name of the Father, and of the + Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
All Christians should spend a little more time each year
becoming familiar with the Athanasian Creed.[1]
It is the most simple and clear explanation of the Holy Trinity we have and yet
we generally confess this Creed only once a year. Within this simplicity, the
Athanasian Creed gives great detail about the doctrine of the Trinity.
Like me, you probably
know the doctrine of the Trinity is important to the Christian faith but
struggle to see how it impacts you and your faith directly. According to the
Athanasian Creed, there is nothing more fundamental to the Christian faith, for
we explicitly confessed, “whoever desires to be saved must think thus about the
Trinity.”[2]
Unless they repent, all who deny the Trinity will be damned.
This includes all who belong to the Mormon church, the Jehovah’s Witnesses,
Islam, or modern Judaism. It also includes all who refuse to make a confession
of the Trinity, including the Freemasons, who insist on the vagaries of the
Great Architect such that all members can claim to be united in their
Freemasonry, even if they are divided in their memberships on Sunday morning;
and all other groups who require adherence to a doctrine of a vague god but
refuse to name him. By their silence, they deny the Triune God.
There are more in danger. Those who are spiritual but not
religious; those who claim to have their own spirituality but do not find that
spirituality in the gathering of God’s saints around Word and Sacrament; those
claiming to be agnostic or who recognize a god but question who or what he is;
and those who believe there is one god but many roads to reach him and many
names by which he is called—all these deny the True God. They will be damned
unless they repent of this idolatry. They have cut themselves off from the
saving work of God, His atoning sacrifice for their sins, and the grace by
which He delivers this salvation to man.
Ignorance and denial
of the Holy Trinity damn a person, whether the ignorance is willful or not, whether
the denial is implicit or explicit. That sounds harsh. You may not like it. It
feels wrong because God is Love. How it sounds or feels to you or me is not what
establishes the character of God. The Word of God describes who God is and what
God does. “For who has known the mind of the Lord?
Or who has become His counselor?”[3]
Our God is a “jealous God, punishing the children for the sin of the fathers to
the third and fourth generation of those who hate Him.”[4]
Because God is Love, He will never force Himself upon man. Forced
love is no love at all. It is the result of force, enticement, or deceit. The
one who gains love in this way does so from a covetous heart, a sin which God
forbids in the tenth commandment.
Along with Love, God is Just. He will not tolerate rejection
and blasphemy. Those who reject the Trinity, reject the work of the Trinity. They
receive the just punishment of their sins. Salvation is gained only when the
work of the Trinity covers the sinful nature into which man is born. To reject the
Trinity is to reject salvation. “Therefore,
whoever desires to be saved must think thus about the Trinity.”[5]
It would be beneficial for us all to spend more time
contemplating the Athanasian Creed and the doctrine of the Holy Trinity. Not
only is this doctrine fundamental to your salvation but spending time
contemplating it will teach you humility. You will be humbled by the fact that
you do not understand it. The Trinity is not a mathematical formula or even
something to make comparisons to.
For centuries, Christians have made similes to help in
understanding the Trinity, but they all fall short. The Trinity is like the sun
having heat, light, and radiance. The Trinity is like an herb having odor,
taste, and effect. The Trinity is like water, which is a solid, liquid, and
gas. Yet there is only one sun, one herb, and one element of water. These
similes may be a place to begin understanding the Trinity, but they quickly
introduce as many false doctrines as teach the true.
In contemplating the Trinity, you will be forced to
acknowledge your humility before the mystery of God, but this should not make
you stop confessing the Trinity. If you could comprehend the very essence of
God, He would not be God. If you could understand the Trinity, it would not be
a mystery. If you knew everything concerning the plurality of Persons and the
Unity of the Godhead, you would then be superior to God Himself. Spending time
thinking on the Holy Trinity ought to draw you deeper into the mystery of your
faith, rather than be cause to abandon it. Remember, whoever desires to be
saved, must confess the Trinity.
For this reason, do not be discouraged as you realize you
cannot comprehend the Trinity. The desire to know God in His fullness is the
desire to draw closer to God. This is a good, pious desire, driven within you by
the Holy Spirit. It is difficult. It may frustrate you and make your head spin.
It is not something to be conquered. It is something to be fostered. A little
frustration and a little head-spinning is good for you. It is how you grow as a
person and as a Christian.
To this point, the doctrine of the Holy Trinity seems like
strict, condemning Law, or at least an academic pursuit required of all
Christians. The Athanasian Creed is helpful in our contemplation of the Trinity
because it gives us useful language to express the teachings revealed by God
concerning Himself. It also gives us categories for organizing our knowledge of
God. The Creed gives clear definition of what is acceptable regarding the
Trinity and what is damnable; what is in and what is out. There is no
multiple-choice test necessary for entering heaven. Faith is not a test of
memory or formulations.
Faith, in the end, is a relationship. Such language is often
mocked by doctrinal Christians, but it is true. The doctrine of the Holy
Trinity reveals God’s love for us in Christ. It also reveals that the Three
Persons of the Godhead, united in One Divine Essence, are a family. The Persons
are defined as Father, Son, and Spirit. The Son is eternally begotten of the
Father. A Father cannot be a Father without a Son and a Son requires a Father.
There is a bond between them, Love which proceeds from both and returns to
both. This is the Spirit. The Father loves, the Son is loved, and the Spirit is
Love.
It is this same Spirit that is sent by the Son from the
Father to witness to man concerning the life, death, resurrection, and
ascension of the Son. In this way, the Spirit being love, the Love of God is
made manifest in us. We are not the natural sons and daughters of the Father.
The Son is the Only Begotten of the Father. But we are born again, born from
above, begotten of the Spirit, who proceeds from the Father and the Son.
We must never forget that Holy Baptism is an act of the Trinity,
not just one Person within the Trinity. The clearest revelation of the Three
Persons is at the Baptism of Christ in the Jordan. The Son rises from the
waters. The Spirit descends as a dove. The Father opens the heavens and
proclaims, “This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.”
Although not marked by such a spectacular visual miracle, your
own baptism was attended by the Holy Trinity in the same manner. You were
washed in the blood of the Son, flowing in the font. The Spirit descended upon
you in the Word spoken through the lips of man but emanating from the Love of
God. The Father looked upon you and declared, “This is My beloved son, in whom
I am well pleased.” You now have the right to call God your Father and to come
to Him in prayer.
The Holy Supper is also an act of the Trinity. Christ has
provided His own Body and Blood as the feast. The Father has accepted the
sacrifice of the Son and declared the food to be worthy of His children for all
eternity. The Spirit delivers to you the gift of faith by which your sins are
forgiven, and this divine meal strengthens your soul.
Nicodemus sought the truth when he came to Jesus by night.
He confessed that God was with Jesus, but he lacked clarity. Nicodemus was a
teacher of Israel and yet he did not contemplate the mysteries of God. He was
content with the simplicity of a vague God. He was content to have his vision
clouded by the veil of Moses, the weight of the Law hanging heavy on his
eyelids. In other words, he believed in a god but did not know Him.
Christ was a bit harsh with Nicodemus, shaming him for his
lack of faith and knowledge of the Word of God. Christ also comforted him by
speaking concerning the work of the Holy Trinity. The Father, the Son, and the
Spirit have worked together since the foundations of the earth were laid for
the salvation of man. This was accomplished when the Father “gave His only
begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have
everlasting life.”[6]
The doctrine of the Trinity
has direct implications for the daily exercise of your faith. It is the
foundation and substance of your faith because it is the family into which you
have been adopted. To know the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit is to know your Father,
your Brother, and the Love which flows from them to you. “Therefore,
whoever desires to be saved must think thus about the Trinity.”[7]
In + Jesus’ name. Amen.
[1]
This sermon is based on a sermon by Rev. David H. Petersen, pastor of Redeemer
Lutheran Church, Fort Wayne, IN, available at https://cyberstones.org/sermon/trinity-2021/,
accessed 2022.6.10.
[2]
Athanasian Creed 26 (acc. to LSB versification).
[3]
Romans 11:36
[4]
The Small Catechism, What does God say about all these commandments?
[5]
Athanasian Creed 26 (acc. to LSB versification).
[6]
St. John 3:16.
[7]
Athanasian Creed 26 (acc. to LSB versification).
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