https://app.dropwave.io/episode/6f71ba9a-03f9-4d99-89e3-2a3309d12ff7/the-most-holy-trinity-ad-2025.mp3

++ JESU JUVA ++

In the Name of the Father, and of the + Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

The Christian faith is not complicated or confusing. The Athanasian Creed states that only two things are necessary. First, whoever is to be saved must confess the Trinity. Second, he must believe in the incarnation of the God the Son — that our Lord Jesus Christ is both God and Man.

That’s not to say that other doctrines aren’t important. They certainly are. What one believes about other things often influences these two primary doctrines. But everything centers around the doctrine of the Trinity and of the Two Natures of Christ. “Whoever is to be saved must think thus about the Trinity.” Anyone who denies or rejects the Trinity will be delivered to hell.

Who denies the Trinity? The Mormons, with their doctrine that God used to be a man but has been exalted to Godhood. The Jehovah’s Witnesses, who believe that Jesus is a creation of God. Modern day Judaism and the Mohammedans, both of which reject the idea that God has a son. These religions all deny the Holy Trinity. They all cut themselves off from the one, true God, and the salvation that comes through the sacrifice of His only begotten Son.

There are also those who believe God is simply a ‘higher power.’ Or those who claim that there are many names for the one God — many paths that all lead to the same place. Whether one is willful in his ignorance or not, the rejection of the Holy Trinity puts one outside of saving faith. Therefore, to reject the Athanasian Creed is to deny the God revealed in Holy Scripture — the only God before whom every knee will bow.

This is the first point today: Believe that the doctrine of the Holy Trinity is necessary for salvation. There is no salvation apart from Him.

But rather than simply confess this doctrine of God, we try to explain it. We come up with analogies to try to make the nature of the Holy Trinity make sense to us. Sometimes the analogies can help you begin to understand one part or another of the doctrine of the Trinity. But no analogy is perfect. Even more than that, these analogies are dangerous. Anyone who seriously believes them — who takes such analogies to their logical conclusion —. Those who firmly believe in these analogies destroy their own faith.

No analogy will suffice. God is unlike anything else we know or can imagine. God is the Creator. You are His creature. Seeking to understand what God has not equipped you to know will destroy your faith. Simply confess what the Scriptures say. St. Augustine wrote much about the Trinity. At one point, he observed how some people were complaining that they couldn’t understand the doctrine. They wanted it explained. But Augustine said something to the effect that we are talking about God, so why be surprised if you can’t comprehend His nature?

The demand for God to explain Himself to you is nothing other than pride. So don’t fall into the trap of fitting God into your little mind. Don’t require Him to be bound to your puny reason and understanding. This kind of thinking is the beginning of a dangerous game.

Many Christians exalt reason above the Scriptures. They bring foreign assumptions to the text. They set philosophy above theology. Man’s thoughts are exalted above God’s thoughts. Their reason and observation tell them something other than what God says in the Bible. Then even the plain words of God are rejected. Some reject the creation of the world in seven natural days. Others reject words like ‘baptism now saves you,’ and ‘this is My Body.’

Even John Calvin, when addressing the words of Jesus, ‘this is My Body,’ said this: “These words are repugnant to reason.” He rejected God’s words in favor of his own reason. Calvin found it more dangerous to go against his fallen human reason than to go against God. This is outright pride.

Now this is not to say that anyone who has such error is not a Christian. No — they are often well-meaning. But they are deceived, and they are rejecting part of God’s Word. They are playing a very dangerous game. Because once you find that some words of Jesus can be dismissed because of human reason, then what protects Jesus’ other words from being judged by human reason, too?

We do not explain the Holy Trinity. We confess Him. We adore and worship Him. We puny creatures cannot begin to understand this mystery. We simply fall on our faces in awe. That’s why, in the liturgy, we bow upon speaking the Triune name. We genuflect at the confession of the incarnation. You know how you’re supposed to feel on Memorial Day or Veterans Day? — that patriotic fervor and gratefulness for the sacrifice of your countrymen? Speaking the Creed ought to fill our hearts with a far deeper humility. Confessing these words ought to fill us with an immensely greater joy. We are standing before this altar practicing making this confession before kings and the world.

This is the second point: Don’t bend the doctrine of the Trinity to your reason. Submit to the written Word. Accept the mystery. Recognize that God is God and you are not Him. There is one God, three Persons. Think on these things. Meditate upon this truth.

Maybe everything I’m saying this morning sounds nitpicking and demanding. The Creeds describe the limits of true faith, the boundaries of the truth. They describe the Church and say that some are in, while others are out. For those who transgress the Creed’s boundaries, there are serious and eternal threats. To us sinners, there will always be an aspect of boundaries and limits that we will find confining and obstructing. Seeing any kind of fence or restriction makes us want to know what it’s like to live on the other side of it.

Or maybe this all just sounds like a whole lot of tedious and technical information. Perhaps you thought that way about the Athanasian Creed this morning — it’s just tedious information. There is only one God, not three. The Father is not the Son. The Holy Spirit is not the Father. The Son is not the Holy Spirit. Persons. Substance. Divinity. Flesh. Must. Cannot. Compelled. Prohibited. One can easily get lost in the demands and requirements. Sometimes the Bible sounds that way. Or maybe the catechism seems like mere facts.

But the reason we confess the Creed and the Catechism is because they summarize the Bible. They simply restate what God has revealed about Himself. Like we heard from Jesus last week: The one who loves Jesus keeps His Word. This Word of God is not a mere conveyance of information or a download of data. No — this is an expression of God’s love and grace toward you.

The Creeds are an expression of the boundaries of the Faith as found in the Scriptures. The Athanasian Creed expresses the boundaries of Christianity as an expression of God’s love. Not because God simply wants you to have the right information or believe the right doctrine or be able to correct false religions. All these things are good, but the ultimate purpose is that God has revealed Himself to you so that you would know Him. God isn’t a mere being to be studied or one who is so shrouded in mystery that He cannot begin to relate to you.