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The Holy Trinity A, June 4, 2023

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The Holy Trinity A, June 4, 2023

One God in three persons—Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. (Mt. 28:19). This is a mystery not meant to be solved but only to be adored and enjoyed. There are many mysteries in Scripture for us to adore and enjoy; but, because we are in bondage to sin, we are bound to go investigating, as inappropriate as that investigation might be.  In our sin, we attempt to solve those mysteries, as imperfect as those solutions prove. We cannot help but, in our bondage, impose a solution upon them that comes from our human and sinful thinking and feeling and doing.

This is why the creeds are so important:  the Apostles’, the Nicene, and the Athanasian Creeds. They set forth the mystery of one God in three persons for us to enjoy and adore. They set limits upon our sinful investigations. The creeds tell us that if we are going to speak of the divine mystery that is known as the Trinity, then we must speak of it within these boundaries. The creeds establish a check upon our speculation, preventing it from running away with us in our bondage.

Scripture is full of instances where the one God is in three persons: right here in Genesis where God refers to himself in the plural (vs. 26) and where the spirit of God moves across the water (vs. 2) and the spoken Word of God (Jesus, see John 1:1-18) brings all things into existence. These instances run all the way through scripture and arrive at Revelation with its Spirit, and the Lamb (Jesus), and God. Not the creeds but scripture itself gives us Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. To express this gift, we’ve applied “the Holy Trinity” as a conceptual term for our three-personed God.  The creeds bear witness to what we have received from scripture and hold us accountable to that content.

Table Talk: Look at the creeds or remember them. Is it comfortable to have limits on your thinking about God?  Why or why not? Think of some mysteries of your own to enjoy and not investigate.

Prayer:  Heavenly Father, you have given us your Word—your Son Jesus Christ—and the Holy Spirit calls us into faith in him. So hold us in such faith that we can adore and enjoy the mystery of your presence. Amen

Genesis 1:1-2:4 English Standard Version

Only Genesis 1:1-9, 26-27 printed here

In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. 2 The earth was without form and void, and darkness was over the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God was hovering over the face of the waters.

3 And God said, Let there be light, and there was light. 4 And God saw that the light was good. And God separated the light from the darkness. 5 God called the light Day, and the darkness he called Night. And there was evening and there was morning, the first day.

6 And God said, Let there be an expanse in the midst of the waters, and let it separate the waters from the waters. 7 And God made the expanse and separated the waters that were under the expanse from the waters that were above the expanse. And it was so. 8 And God called the expanse Heaven. And there was evening and there was morning, the second day.

9 And God said, Let the waters under the heavens be gathered together into one place, and let the dry land appear. And it was so. 10 God called the dry land Earth, and the waters that were gathered together he called Seas. And God saw that it was good…

…26 Then God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness. And let them have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over the livestock and over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.

27 So God created man in his own image,

in the image of God he created him;

male and female he created them.