Trinity Sunday

Psalm: Psalm 8
Old Testament: Proverbs 8:1-4, 22-31 
Gospel: John 16:12-15
Epistle: Romans 5:1-5

Today is Trinity Sunday! Liturgically, it makes sense that after we celebrate the life of Christ throughout most of the year, leading up to his Ascension and then the coming of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost, that now we would celebrate and recognize God as fully Father, Son and Spirit. So although it makes sense to now celebrate the Trinity on a particular Sunday, it is unique for the Lectionary to celebrate a theological doctrine. There are not Sunday's dedicated to the atonement, freewill, or eschatology (end-times). In reading a little bit about the development of Trinity Sunday it appears that a church service was created around the time of the Arian heresy to counter the anti-Trinitarian doctrine Arius was espousing. This was sometime around 300 AD, so relatively early in Church history, and roughly contemporary with the first Council of Nicea in 325 which was convened to deal with questions surrounding the Arian controversy. You can find a good history and primer on this information in any good encyclopedia or by just reading some Wikipedia articles. They are pretty decent and succinct.

What I am discovering about this Sunday is that it always falls around my anniversary (6 years now!). So I always feel rushed and now this entry is over a week late. I had this same problem last year, as you can see from my post then. I also shared this video about the Trinity and the difficulties of trying to clearly describe it. I wrote that some doctrines are better left confessional in nature rather than rationally and perfectly explained. I stand by those words still.

I will just make one point. There are some, now mostly those outside the church, who argue that the Trinity is a foreign concept to the Bible and a 4th century creation of the councils and bishops. I disagree, and so does orthodox Christianity. The word Trinity may not have been used in relation to the Godhead until the 3rd century, but the concept is found throughout the Old and New Testament. Read a few of the words from Paul from a passage in Romans:

Therefore, having been justified by faith we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom also we have obtained our introduction by faith into this grace in which we stand...because the love of God has been poured out within our hearts through the Holy Spirit who was given to us. (Rom. 5:1, 2, 5)

One paragraph, five verses, and Paul has mentioned the whole Trinity in a way that both shows their unity and their distinctness. There are countless examples of this from the letters of Paul, but also from other writers in the Bible.

This week is short. Again, I am over a week late and have had a busy weekend celebrating my anniversary. But I do hope you watch the video and maybe read a little bit on your own about the Trinity and the God we claim to love and follow.

Grace and Peace.