First Presbyterian Church                                                                Rev. Michael J. Imperiale

Salt Lake City, Utah                                                                     August 13, 2006

                                                    “The Confessing Church: The Apostles’ Creed”

                                                                    Matthew 3:13-17; 28:16-20

Introduction

It is a term used to describe the one true God shown to us in three coequal, coeternal persons, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Almighty God has revealed himself in the Bible throughout the Old and New Testaments this way. There are not three gods or three parts or even three unified mere purposes of God. There is one triune God. The very nature of God is this tri-unity. The term of course is the Trinity.

On one hand, the Trinity is a fairly plain, simple idea. After all, the whole concept of God or gods in some form is common to all human life, culture and experience. The Bible in its history, people and events reveals this One God yet invites us to know each person of God in unique, special ways: our heavenly Father, our Savior Redeemer Jesus, and the personal presence and power of God in the person of the Spirit. On the other hand, the Trinity can be a concept filled with mystery causing every generation and every Christian person a struggle to understand or explain. One God, in three distinct persons is difficult for us mere human beings to wrap our minds around. The Father is God, the Son is God, the Holy Spirit is God. The Father is not the Son, the Son is not the Holy Spirit, the Holy Spirit is not the Father. Yet the Bible is filled with this description of the one true God, the God of Creation, this God of Redemption, the God of Life.

I. The Trinity throughout the Bible

The first words of the Bible say that “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth… and the Spirit of God was hovering over the waters” (Genesis 1:1-2). The apostle John begins his biography of Jesus with parallel words: “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God… Through him all things were made… The Word became flesh (became a human being) and made his dwelling among us” (John 1:1-14). Clearly, John is speaking of Jesus. When it comes to creation, we believe that God created all things. The Father, the Son and the Spirit were active together in creation. Our Creator God is the Trinity.

         The apostle Matthew begins his gospel with the message to Joseph, “Do not be afraid to take Mary home as your wife, because what is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit. She will give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins.” Then quoting the prophet Micah, “And they will call him Immanuel – which means ‘God is with us’ (Matthew 2:18-25). Luke the evangelist begins his account with Mary’s encounter with the angel. “Do not be afraid, Mary, you have found favor with God. You will be with child and give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus. He will be great and he will be called the Son of the Most High… The Holy Spirit will come upon you… So the holy one to be born will be called the Son of God” (Luke 2:26-35).

We are so familiar with the Christmas stories. How could anyone miss the Trinity in the description of God in the persons of Father, Son and Holy Spirit? Isaiah’s beautiful prophecy of the child to be born describes Jesus the Christ, “And he will be called Wonderful Counselor (there’s the Holy Spirit), Mighty God (there’s divinity), Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace” (Isaiah 9:6).

When Jesus was baptized, the Spirit came down upon him and a voice from heaven said, “This is my Son, whom I love; with him I am well pleased” (Matthew 4:16-17). Throughout the Old Testament, the name for God is the eternal “I am,” Yahweh. Throughout Jesus teachings he identifies himself as this great “I am… I am the bread of life; I am the light of the world; I am the good shepherd; I am the resurrection and the life;” and most tellingly, “Before Abraham was, I am.” This is what got Jesus into trouble with the religious leaders of his day. “He’s blaspheming!” they claimed. “Who can forgive sins but God alone?”

When doubting Thomas finally got to see and touch the risen Jesus, he responds in faith saying, “My Lord and my God.” The apostle Paul describes Jesus in Colossians saying that “in him dwells all the fullness of the Deity in bodily form” (Colossians 2:9). The writer of Hebrews starts out by saying that “the Son is the radiance of God’s glory and the exact representation of his being.”

Old and New Testaments speak of the Spirit anointing and blessing his people with gifts for ministry and fruit for faithful living. The gifts of the Spirit and the fruit of the Spirit are just as certainly the gifts of God the Father and gifts of Jesus our Savior.

This is just a cursory review of the biblical witness to the reality of the Trinity.

II. The Trinity in the Church’s Life and Faith

Then of course, Jesus said, “Go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything that I have commanded you.”

Baptism in the name (singular) of the triune God (Father, Son, and Holy Spirit) welcomes us into the family of God, the church. Just so, the church has always acknowledged the Trinity in its worship, teaching, and outreach. The Heidelberg Catechism emphasizes the Trinity as it teaches the Apostles’ Creed as an authentic and reliable exposition of what the Bible teaches us to believe and do. Pastor Sue led us in a few questions from the Heidelberg Catechism. Q. 35 asks, “What is the meaning of ‘conceived by the Holy Spirit, born of the Virgin Mary?’ A. That the eternal Son of God, who is and remains true and eternal God, took upon himself our true humanity from the flesh and blood of the Virgin Mary through the action of the Holy Spirit.” Again, an example of the Trinity in the historic, biblical, Christian faith.

The fact that Christian faith involves accepting Jesus as Savior and Lord meant that the Trinity quickly found its way into the creeds and confessions of the church. Ever since, the mystery but clear teaching of Monotheistic, Trinitarian faith has been a cornerstone of Christian understanding. So, if anyone ever confronts, denies, alters, dismisses or explains away the Trinity, you know they are out of step with biblical truth as understood by Christians from the beginning.

Most pseudo-Christian movements will do two things: deny the Trinity as the basic nature of Almighty God, and add a book of “scriptures” used to interpret the Bible in their own selective ways. If people want to believe and follow these other prophets, teachers or religious movements, that’s their business. But let’s not pretend they are authentic expressions of biblical faith. Only Trinitarian theology (whether Presbyterian, Reformed, Methodist, Episcopalian, Assembly of God, Free Church, Baptist, etc.) is truly Christian.

Conclusion

I believe in one God the Father, maker of heaven and earth. I believe in one God, the Lord Jesus Christ, who together with the Father and the Spirit has created, redeemed and sustains my life. And I believe in one God, the Holy Spirit in unity with the Father and Son, renews me, forgives me, offers God’s grace to me, and equips me to live a life of faith in Christ. Amen.