The Trinity
Lou Tiscione, Pastor, Weatherford Presbyterian Church (PCA)
The Christian calendar notes several important days of celebration. The intent of the calendar is not to establish a ritualistic schedule of mandatory feast days. It is to lay before believers significant events of God’s plan of redemption. The feast of Pentecost, also called Whitsunday, is one of those significant events in God’s revealed plan of redemption. Pentecost was a required celebration for Old Testament saints. The Bible refers to it as the Feast of Weeks. It was one of three mandatory celebrations in Israel, Passover and the Feast of Booths being the other two. On the occasion of this feast the Apostle Peter’s delivered his famous sermon (Acts 2:14ff). On that day, God poured out His Spirit on “all flesh” in fulfillment of Joel’s prophecy (Joel 2:28) to empower all believers.
God’s Spirit is given to all believers to accomplish His work of building the church. The Old Testament church had a few select people upon whom the empowerment of the Holy Spirit was given, e.g., anointed kings and prophets.
At the ascension of Christ into heaven the Bible says that “He gave gifts to men” (Ephesians 4:8). The ancient creeds of the church profess that the Holy Spirit proceeds from the Father and the Son. Every believer called by God and regenerated by His Spirit is given the power of that same Spirit to accomplish God’s will. The Apostle Paul wrote, “Now there are varieties of gifts, but the same Spirit; and there are varieties of service, but the same Lord; and there are varieties of activities, but it is the same God who empowers them all in everyone” (1 Corinthians 12:4-6).
Apart from the Holy Spirit’s power, we are powerless to bear the fruit described by Jesus (John 15:5). Jesus said that He would build His church and the gates of hell would not prevail against it (Matthew 16:18). It is the Holy Spirit who regenerates, illumines our minds, and empowers us to accomplish God’s will.
The Sunday following Pentecost on the Christian calendar is called Trinity Sunday. Every Lord’s Day that follows Pentecost is marked as a Sunday after Trinity Sunday. The traditional name of this “season” in the church year is Trinity Season. The early church and the reformers continued the practice of referring to the days following Pentecost as Trinity Season.
Their purpose and the ongoing purpose of celebrating Trinity Season in the church is that God has revealed Himself as one God in three persons. We worship a Trinitarian God. The word “trinity” does not appear in the Bible, but every aspect of what the word means does. For example, Matthew 28:19 which forms the first part of Jesus’ great commission, commands disciples to make disciples by identifying them with the Triune God! Jesus’ words in this verse also comprise the Baptismal formula in the universal Christian church.
We were created for worship. The only one to whom worship is due is the true God who has revealed Himself as: the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. The Westminster Confession of Faith, Chapter 2, paragraph 3 declares the Bible’s teaching concerning the Triune God. It states in part, “In the unity of the Godhead there are three persons of one substance, power, and eternity…”
I propose that this teaching is fundamental for our lives. Jesus said that eternal life is to know the one true God and the one whom He has sent, Jesus Christ.
The doctrine of the Trinity teaches that the Father initiated my life in Christ. The Son lived a perfect life and gave Himself as the only atoning sacrifice for my sins and the sins of everyone who is in Christ. Christ’s atonement is the only appeasement of God’s wrath. The Holy Spirit applied the work of Christ to me. The life I live is in Christ by the power of the Holy Spirit for the glory of God, the Father.
“For God so loved the world that He gave His only Son that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life” (John 3:16). The Father is the initiator. The Son obeyed the Father perfectly and the Holy Spirit gives life in Christ and keeps us for Him.
The biblical doctrine of the Trinity is not debatable and only the concern of theologians. It is the core of the Christian faith. It’s the essential element of God’s gift of faith to all who profess Christ Jesus as Lord and Savior.
