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I am so thankful that there are people in the world who know how an internal combustion engine works. I am grateful to God that the secret knowledge of how to repair such an engine has been passed down through the generations ever since this technology was invented. When my own vehicle is having issues, there is someone out there who is capable of helping me fix it. There is no doubt that aspects of my life would improve if I understood more about how a car works and how to fix it. Sad to say, I just don’t. And yet, I survive. Because when my son needs to go to the hospital, knowing how the car works is not nearly as important as knowing how to drive it. When the ball rolls into the street, and the basketball player chases after it, understanding how hard one needs to press on the brakes to stop the car is more important than understanding how the brake mechanism works. When surprised with a crisis or emergency, knowing how to use the technology or information is much more important than knowing how to explain the information. That’s why the goal for this discussion will not be to explain the doctrine of the Trinity in a as satisfying a way as your mechanic (or you!) can explain how an engine works. Everyone who has tried, throughout the history of Christianity, has failed. Unlike an internal combustion engine, God is not an invention of mankind. His thoughts and ways are higher than ours (Isaiah 55:8-9); his knowledge, his being surpasses ours (Isaiah 40:13-14). Every time we confess God to be almighty, divine, the “LORD,” we recognize how superior he is to us (Isaia 40:28). So, why bother? If God’s essence cannot be fully comprehended nor explained, why even try? Why “invent words,” as we are often accused of doing with the words “Trinity” or “Triune,” which don’t appear in Scripture (which is true, they don’t)? Why did the early church fight tooth and nail to against trinity-deniers, to protect a doctrine that is by nature incomprehensible? First and foremost, because God reveals it to us. The words Trinity (noun) and Triune (adjective) do not occur in Scripture, that’s true. But the concept is all over Scripture’s pages. We get little glimpses of it in the Old Testament. In Genesis 1:1-3, God the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit are all present in the creation of the world (compare with John 1:1-4). God commanded the priests of Israel to pronounce a three-fod blessing over the congregation, and Isaiah has a vision of God’s glory where he hears the three-fold praises of the angels, “Holy! Holy! Holy!” understood by many to be hints at the trinity (Isaiah 6:3). (There is more we could say about the Trinity in the Old Testament, but we’ll stop there for now.) The New Testament reveals the Trinity a bit more explicitly. At Christ’s baptism, God the Son was being baptized while God the Father spoke, and God the Holy Spirit appeared as a dove (Mark 1:9-12). The three-fold blessing that hinted at God’s three-in-oneness in Numbers becomes more explicitly trinitarian in Paul’s closing blessing when he says, “May the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all” (2 Corinthians 13:14). Peter summarizes the contributions of each person of the trinity in his gospel preaching (Acts 5:30-32). The Bible never attempts to explain how it is possible that God can be only one God (Deuteronomy 6:4) and yet also exist as three, distinct persons (Father, Son, and Holy Spirit). However, God’s Word does reveal this truth to us, despite the difficulty in comprehending it. See 1 Corinthians 2:7-10, where Paul describes the truth of Scripture to be “a mystery” and “the things God has revealed to us by his Spirit.” So, if God is so far above us that we can’t understand him, and if he picks what to reveal about his incomprehensible will and nature to us, and if he chose to reveal the fact that he is triune to us, doesn’t it make sense to conclude there must be a good reason? Return to the example above. If I know how to explain an internal combustion engine, that’s great. It’s more important that I know how to use it, especially when in crisis.God reveals the truth of his triune nature to us, because this is a truth we need to know. This is information that we can and should use, because we’re in crisis! To a humanity that is in crisis of identity, God reveals, “I have formed you, created you, and love you, you are mine” (see Isaiah 43:1). He says, “I will always protect, preserve, and provide for you,” (see Psalm 145:15-16). These are activities ascribed to the person of God the Father. To a human race that is in crisis of belonging, of acceptance, knowing we need love but not knowing where to find it, God reveals, “I am a God of grace, of unconditional love. I don’t hate you, but love you everlastingly,” (see John 1:14,18). To a human race plagued by gnawing guilt and agonizing shame, God creates a relationship of safety, of forgiveness, of everlasting and eternal life (see 1 Timothy 2:5-6). This is what we ascribe to the person of God the Son (Jesus). To a human race in a crisis of direction, of ignorance, in need of guidance and hope and comfort, God reveals, “I am with you. You are mine. I will yoke myself to you and always be with you. I will lead you,” (see Galatians 5:22-26, 1 Corinthians 6:11, Romans 8:4 and 8:9). This is what we ascribe to the person of God the Holy Spirit. Simply observe how Paul uses the work of God the Father to reach the hearts of the people of Athens in Acts 17:22-34. See how the forgiveness and love of Christ is used to spur us on to similar acts of service and love to one another in Ephesians 4:32-5:10. Go to Romans 8:14-17, 8:26-27, 15:14-16 and 1 Corinthians 2:9-16 to be comforted by the truth of the Holy Spirit’s work. The trinity is a doctrine to be studied, certainly, but it is a beautiful doctrine that begs to be used! That’s why leaders in the early Christian church fought tooth and nail to protect it. The stakes were high! To abandon or misrepresent the doctrine of the trinity meant depriving anxious souls of the comfort they need, wayward wanderers of the direction they sought, and depressed and lonely hearts of the belonging and love that is so clearly there. That’s why it was worth their time to come up with three Creeds (the Apostles, the Nicene, and the Athanasian) that succinctly and directly express what Scripture teaches about each member of the Trinity. This is that important. Next time you worship with us (and I so hope and pray that this is soon!) count for yourself how many references to the trinity there are in the service. More than that, observe how the doctrine of the trinity is used throughout! See for yourself how beautiful this doctrine is. Put it to good use. After all, that’s why it’s there! This was a very quick discussion of a complex topic. If you have more questions and thoughts, we’d love to keep the discussion going! Join us any Sunday for Bible class at 9am, and service at 10:15am, and/or reach out to us directly via the Contact page. God bless you!  Pastor Mike Cherney

Before you continue, we recommend reading the previous post: “I Hope So” (A discussion of the Fall into Sin and God’s Promises of the Savior) if you haven’t already! The disciples were a band of misfits. Each of the Jewish men Jesus called into his close fellowship came from a wildly different background, different levels of education, even different political persuasions. It would be superficial to conclude that they, being Jewish men residing in the Mediterranean area during the first century, were all exactly the same. What they did have in common, though, was Jesus. They were entranced by the authority, the teaching, the power, and the love of this man. Jesus is on his teaching and healing tour. He’s aware that the day of his crucifixion draws near. While traveling, Jesus asks this band of misfits, his students, “Who do people say the Son of Man is?” In our Sunday morning Bible class, we asked each other the same question. Who do people say the Son of Man (one of Jesus’ favored titles for himself) is? The answers covered it all. We observed that, of course, many maintain that Jesus never existed, despite the extra-Biblical (“outside of the Bible”) historical evidence that supports that he did. Others accept that Jesus was a real person, and that he was an influential figure. However, there’s a lot of confusion about the extent of that influence and the type of influence he had. People will talk about Jesus the same way they talk about Martin Luther King Jr., an important man who stood by his beliefs even when it cost him everything, and through whose legacy the world greatly improved. People will equate Jesus with prophets and important figures from other religions, as if he’s just Christianity’s “guy” as much as Mohammed or Buddha are the “guys” of Islam and Buddhism, respectively. Thus is the basic gist of what you hear about Jesus “out there.” During the same Bible class, we asked each other, “Who is Jesus to you?” and the answers were very different. Far from, “A teacher,” or “An influential figure,” or even, “A man who may or may not have existed,” participants finished the sentence “Jesus is…” with: “My friend,” “My shield,” “Protector,” “The Light,” “Patient,” “Nurturing,” “Selfless.” Now, before you say to yourself, “There’s nothing uniquely Christian about those perspectives. Many people believe Jesus was a positive character,” let me ask you this: How crazy would it sound if you said that Martin Luther King Jr. was not just an important historical figure, but that he is your personal friend, your protector, your teacher? For one thing, he was killed in 1968, decades before I was born, and maybe you too. It would be ludicrous to believe that you have a personal relationship with someone so removed from you in terms of life, time, and geography. The answers the participants gave to the essential question, “Who is Jesus?” showed that they feel a personal relationship with him still, even though he was crucified close to 2,000 years ago. I don’t think that sounds any less ridiculous than the way the disciples answered the same question when Jesus himself asked it. After collecting their responses to his poll of who the people say he is (Matthew 16:13-14), he turns the question on the disciples, “But what about you? … Who do you say I am?” and Peter, often the spokesperson for the disciples, declares, “You are the Messiah, the Son of the Living God,” (Matthew 16:15). By confessing this about Jesus, Peter was declaring all the prophesies of the Messiah and Savior to be fulfilled in Christ (we talked about this in the previous post titled “I Hope So”). He declares that Jesus is not just the mascot of a new religion getting off the ground, but that he comes from – is the “Son of” – God himself. Which means that Peter believes God almighty to have given his Son into the world, which means that God has initiated his plan of salvation in the world through Jesus Christ. Clearly, Jesus is so much more than just the “guy” of Christianity. The writer to the Hebrews records, that Jesus was “made lower than the angels for a little while,” that is, that he came from heaven and submitted himself to life as fully human (Hebrews 2:9). He became a mortal man so that he could live under the weight of the expectations of God’s holy law (Galatians 4:4) perfectly in our place, and so that he could die the death we sinners deserve (Hebrews 2:9). The writer to the Hebrews concludes, based on this, “In bringing many sons and daughters to glory, it was fitting that God, for whom and through whom everything exists, should make the pioneer of their salvation perfect through what he suffered. 11 Both the one who makes people holy and those who are made holy are of the same family. So Jesus is not ashamed to call them brothers and sisters” (Hebrews 2:9-11). Because Jesus was truly human, he is the Savior that sits beside me. As the participants in our bible class pointed out, he is our nurturing and gentle friend. Peter declared his faith that Jesus, a true, flesh-and-blood human being, is also the Son of God. That this man standing before him, whom he had seen eat and drink, go to sleep, and maybe even excuse himself to take bathroom breaks, is not just a man. Compare this to what John, another disciple, later wrote about Jesus, “John writes, “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was with God in the beginning” (John 1:1-2), and “The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the one and only Son, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth” (John 1:14), and “No one has ever seen God, but the one and only Son, who is himself God and is in closest relationship with the Father, has made him known” (John 1:18). While Jesus became 100% human, he also remained 100% God. As Paul wrote, “For in Christ all the fullness of the Deity lives in bodily form” (Colossians 2:9). This is crucial. If Jesus were just human and not God, his righteous life and innocent death would have no significance in my life. He would just be an important guy, another tragic martyr lost to human cruelty. However, if Jesus were just God and not human, then he would just be another “angel of the Lord” appearance as we see in the Old Testament. He would have just been a vision. He wouldn’t be the empathetic Savior who suffers for me and with me that he claims to be. Jesus is more than just the mascot of the Christian religion. He is God himself. That’s why participants in the Bible class were able to say that he is, “omnipresent” (a fancy word meaning “everywhere”), “all-powerful / omnipotent,” “truth itself,” “eternal,” “all-knowing / omniscient,” because he truly is God himself. Don’t get lost in the theological jargon. Jesus isn’t just God. He is your God, and my God (John 20:28). He isn’t just a deity figure of this particular religion, he is your brother (Hebrews 2:11), who came to bring you into God’s grace (John 1:17-18). If you’re having trouble wrapping your head around that, then take a break. Don’t try too hard to solve it logically, but think about this: How does it make you feel about the rough week you’re going to have at work, to know that Jesus, though God, suffered through many rough weeks of his own? How does it make you feel, when you are burdened with temptation, to know that Jesus felt the constant nagging of temptation as well (Luke 4:2)? How does it make you feel to know that even though your sin separated you from God, God himself bridged the separation by becoming a human just like you (Ephesians 2:14-18)? Remember this the next time you feel far from God. No matter how ashamed of yourself you feel, God is not ashamed of you (Hebrews 2:11). No matter how distant you feel from God, his grace is not distant from you. No matter how weak you feel in your own flesh and blood, Jesus is powerful for you. That’s the difference that recognizing the two natures (1. human nature, 2. divine nature) of Christ can make. Permit one final observation: This band of misfits, of wildly different people, called “the disciples,” were united by one thing: the importance and specialness of this Jesus character. Not all of them hung onto that truth. In fact, one of them betrayed that same Jesus, handing him over to death. It still is worth observing the tremendous power Jesus has to bring different people together. If you are looking, you will see the same phenomenon in any church that teaches “Jesus” rightly. You will find people from wildly different backgrounds, having different tastes, maybe even different political persuasions. My prayer is that, when you enter such a church, you’re able to see what unites them: that each worshipper is enamored and captivated by this person called Jesus Christ. And I pray that you become as enamored and captivated by the grace of the God-Man, too. Let’s talk more about this. Visit us any Sunday for Bible Class at 9am (your input and participation just might get featured in a future blog post!) and worship of our Savior at 10:15am. God bless you with the peace that comes from knowing Jesus!  Pastor Mike Cherney