The Trinity: Understanding only grows with personal experience

EXPLORING CHRISTIANITY - THE TRINITY

THE BIBLE
Can we trust a book written 2000 years ago?

EYEWITNESS
Did the writers of the New Testament get their picture of Jesus right?

GOD - MAN
Is Jesus really God?

RESURRECTION
Did Jesus really rise from the dead?

RELIGIONS
With so many religions, why Christianity?

SUFFERING
If there is a God, why is there so much suffering?

TRINITY
Understanding the Trinity.

SCIENCE
The complementary nature of Science & Christianity.

FORGIVENESS
What it is and why it matters?

GUIDANCE
How does God guide?

REPENTANCE
What it is and why you can't get to heaven without it.

BORN AGAIN
What does it mean to be converted and born again?

SAVING FAITH
The kind of faith that will get you to heaven

ASSURANCE
Can I know for sure that I am going to heaven?

TRUTH
What is truth and does it matter?

MORALITY
Does it matter how we live? A Christian view of morality.

THE CHURCH
God's vision for his family, the Church. A call to the churches of the new millennium.

PURPOSE
How can I find a great purpose for living?

IDENTITY
Who am I; Finding my true identity as a human being and as a child of God.

SELF-ESTEEM
How can I feel good about my self? The Christian basis for proper sel-esteem.

LIFE AFTER DEATHChristianity's Hope & Challenge.

THE CROSS
Why did Jesus Die? What the Bible says about the Cross.

Grace
The importance of grace in the New Testament.

Understanding only grows with personal experience

Thirty years ago a friend came to see me with a problem. He was a member of the church where I was minister. I will call him Bob. He had been disappointed in the choice of a career and was uncertain about what he should do. Something was missing in his life. We soon got on to talking about the gospel and our relationship with God. He admitted that he wasn't too sure about that.

Shortly after, in company with another mature Christian, we had a further discussion. Bob said that he would like to make a commitment of his life to Jesus. However, he didn't feel that he understood enough to make that commitment yet. We showed him a passage from the New Testament, I Corinthians 2:9-12, where Paul explains that only the Holy Spirit knows the mind of God. There are many things God cannot reveal to us until we actually receive the Spirit into our lives. Therefore, if we wait till we "understand it all" we will never do anything about it. Bob thought about that for a while and then deliberately got on his knees. He said, "Would somebody pray with me?" We were happy to do that and Bob committed his life to Jesus, asking him to forgive his sins and come into his life by the Holy Spirit.

Over the next few days Bob's wife realised that he had found something real and a week later she made the same commitment. Over the past thirty years they have both had a very useful ministry in service to God and others, both at home and overseas. They have also raised a lovely Christian family.

Now I am quite sure that Bob would tell you, if you asked him, that he still doesn't understand all about God. However, I am equally sure that he would tell you that life has been very satisfying, despite its problems, and that his understanding of God has grown with his personal experience of him.

In any human relationship, if you really want to know someone and understand what makes them tick, you must first commit yourself to them. You must also allow them to share their lives with you. So it is with God. But once you have surrendered your life to him, things will begin to happen. You will become aware of the Holy Spirit at work in your life, doing things the Bible says he will do. Your love for Jesus will grow - the one who suffered for you and who now represents you in heaven. Your trust in the promises of your heavenly Father will grow as you search them out in his book, as will your desire to please him. In short, the Trinity will begin to make sense, even if you don't understand it all. It will also make much more sense than anything else!

There will always be areas that we don't understand. However, we can sort out these when we get to heaven. The Western church, in seeking to explain the Trinity, has tended, from the time of Augustine, to start with the unity of the Godhead and then explain the differences of the persons. The Eastern church started with the apostolic witness and the church's experience of the three divine persons, and then explored, as an act of worship, the marvellous unity within the Godhead. We can safely leave it to the theologians to sort out such things. The New Testament gives us all we need to know in order to experience God as Father, Son and Holy Spirit, and to grow through our lives in our enjoyment and understanding of our relationship with them.