The Forgotten Trinity

The Trinity is a doctrine that is hardly being talked about, for the most part, Christians don’t really understand it, and they have little or no knowledge about it. While in reality, we have a lot of questions as regards the Trinity, but are scared of how we would be seen. So, people prefer to keep silent instead. To be spiritually rich, is to have a full assurance of understanding of God’s nature. In other words, is to have a true understanding of God’s nature.

We should see God as He is, and not how we want to see Him. We should not try to picture God in some form or way, but how He truly is by the help of the Holy Spirit through revelation. Williams G. T said that “the doctrine of the trinity is the foundation of theology.”

One of the main reasons why Christians shy away from talking and debating about the concept of trinity, is the fact that human language is limited and cannot really describe or explain who and what the trinity really is. In other words, we as humans struggle to express this, because our limited medium of communication (language) cannot explicitly explain what trinity that is unlimited is. We cannot really tell or describe who or what God is, and each time we try to compare God with anything, we are limiting God to that particular thing. God is not to be compared with anything in this life, because He is outside of creation, He is the creator. It will therefore be an error to compare Him with His creation.

I agree with the writer when he said, our language fails us in two distinct ways. First, our language is based on time. Meaning, it is only able to address or talk about the past, present and the future. Any time we uses our language to describe the triune God, we automatically will put some limitations on Him. The second way, he calls it “excess baggage”. How we use words to a large extent carry some imaginary pictures. When we talk of the personality of God or of Jesus or even that of the Holy Spirit, we somehow see it as the person of human beings, having all that we as humans have.

Another truth the write says, is that everyone who thinks or talks about God, is consciously or unconsciously a theologian. In other words, the process of thinking or talking about God generally is called theologizing. No wonder, theology is regarded as the queen of sciences! Because theology, for me, is the root of life itself. Out of theology, that is trying to find out how things came to be or better still, trying to find the answer to WHYs in life that brought about the concept of theology.

This triune God is indeed God above every other gods! He has attributes that cannot be seen in any other creature or anything in this life or life to come. And these attributes are the facts that God is one of a kind, unique and distinct. To whom will God be compared with or to what can one liken Him to? And of course, the simple answer to this question is none and nothing. We cannot compare God with anything that has been or that is or that is to be. He is all things and everything we can ever imagine. God is a Spirit. He is not human in any way. He is everywhere at all time, doing different things at the same time. He is, and cannot be limited by time or space.

I discovered something new, when the writer talked about “in the beginning”. And that is, the beginning was not really the beginning! Genesis 1:1. Time existed before the “beginning”. The bible says, it was void and dark, and was without form. We can never know how God came to be, because He has been in existence even before time began. Before time began, God is, for more than the human mind can ever imagine. It will be better to put it this way that God has no beginning and most definitely He has and will never have an end.

Again, the doctrine of the trinity has been misunderstood and there are a lot of arguments as regards that. God the Father, Son and Holy Spirit are one but each, taking different task or responsibility in the eternal covenant of redemption, and that does not reduce any of them from being God. God is Spirit, this is already an established fact. The Son Jesus is fully God as well as fully human. In other words, He is God in human form. And they all took these different responsibilities in the eternal covenant of redemption, right from time, because they are one and together from time. As Murray Harris said, Jesus is not just superior to the angels, He is equal and the same with the Father and He shares in the divine nature, while distinct in their responsibilities. In other words, Jesus is far above any angel with respect to nature and function, and one and the same with God with regard to nature, but different with regard to function.

This book is an eye opener for me. It has opened my eyes to the truth about the trinity, I have known better. In explaining his points, the writer gave enough verses of the scripture to make his points clear as regard the triune God. That is, God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit. And the truth is, no one in the whole of creation can describe or tell who God. And as humans, we lack the capacity and ability to fully understand who God is. And that is what makes Him God! Notwithstanding, there is much for us as Christian to know about God, however, we can only know what He has chosen to reveal to us about Himself.

The word trinity, as I have said earlier, has been misunderstood and even been ignored by many Christians today. Christians don’t really know what it means and even when they do, they do not prioritize it as they should. I have a better knowledge of the concept of the trinity, it is one of the most important teaching of the Christian faith. It defines who God really is and describes how He relate to us. White’s purpose for writing this book has been accomplished, because it is not for him to equip us with theological knowledge that we can use to win debates, but to show us the wonderful and amazing God, who has revealed Himself to us as the Father, Son and Holy Spirit. White says, “I wish to invite you, my fellow believer, to a deeper, higher, more intense love of God’s truth. It is my longing that when you complete this work, you will not simply put it down and say, I got some good ammunition to use next time I debate the Trinity. Instead, I hope that God, in His grace, will use this to implant in you a deep longing to know Him even more. I pray that longing will last the rest of your life, and that it will result in your loving Him more completely, worshiping Him more fully, honoring Him with the totality of your life.” He shows how understanding this particular teaching will take us deeper in to the understanding of what it means to be a Christian.

White has written this book out of passion, of how he loves God and everything about Him, so much so that he would want to share it to as many people as he can. Just as we would be happy to tell everyone about someone we love, and be hurt when they are being mistreated or lied about. The same has to be true about God for us. Our knowledge about God, determines how we treat Him. In other words, we have to have a perfect knowledge to be able to truly worship God. How passionate and how much we love and value something, shows in the way we treat such thing. More than that, we have to know something completely and wholly, to be able to place value on such a thing. As Christians, we must jealousy and passionately talk about who our God is to those who may not have known Him. And any time we hear people talking negatively or ignorantly talking about our God, we tend to be displeased with such people.

Above all, this book has actually opened my understanding about the concept of the trinity. I wish White has written extensively about this topic, though he pointed out that it is not meant for those without the knowledge, but those who are knowledgeable about the topic in question. This book is highly recommended to everyone, Christians in particular. Because this will help give one a new and better perspective of what trinity is, and its importance in the life of a believer.

MARTIN KAMAIDAN