Does the Trinity Make Sense?

Greg spoke at a church yesterday on the Trinity.  Ironically, the church meets at a neighborhood synagogue while their own facility is being built.  And it's the Trinity that most distinguishes between Judaism and Christianity.  it was Jesus' claim of deity that most offended the Jews at His time and led to His execution for the charge by the Jewish leadership of blasphemy.  It is one of the distinguishing doctrines of Christianity.  Greg's approach to the topic is that its a solution rather than a problem.  It's what makes sense of the Old and New Testaments.  Here's a quick take on Greg's approach.

Comments

[Howie Luvzus]

My theology prof always said (quoting someone else) "The one who denies the Trinity is in danger of losing his soul, but the one who tries to understand the Trinity is in danger of losing his mind."

Howie Luvzus

[Shawn Wedlund]

The Scriptures teach that God is self-existent (John 5:26) and self-sufficient (Psm. 50:12-13)—that God’s existence is not dependent on anything or anyone, nor does He need anything or anyone. We also find in Scripture that God is love (1 John 4:8), meaning that He is characterized by love.

This poses an interesting question when the previous two perfections are considered:

Love requires an object. It’s not possible to love something or someone unless there is something or someone to love. This suggests that God needs something—an object for His love. So how does this square with His self-existence and self-sufficiency?

The Trinity.

The Father loves the Son, the Son loves the Spirit, and vise versa all around, and this from all eternity. This cannot be said of anything else, for all else is created by God (Gen. 1:1). Hence, the doctrine of the Trinity is the only explanation that avoids contradiction.

Problem solved.

[Robert Casteline]

I have found James White's book, "The Forgotten Trinity", to be invaluable to truly appreciating and adoring this core doctrine. I highly recommend it.