Understanding the Mystery of the Trinity

As we continue now with our study of the Trinity, we've seen now something of the doctrine as it's found in the Old Testament Scriptures and in the New Testament Scriptures, and how the doctrine developed in terms of church history, and the early centuries of Christian reflection. But we've noted along the way that the constant criticism of the Trinity is that it is irrational -- that it involves a contradiction. [00:00:01]

In other classes I have taken the time to explore three distinct categories that we need to understand and differentiate from one another. And those categories are the contradiction, the paradox, and the mystery. These three words represent three distinct ideas or concepts. But they are so closely related that all three of them are often confused one with the other. [00:01:41]

A paradox is something that sounds contradictory, maybe the first time you hear it, but upon further scrutiny the tension is resolved. Jesus, you know, in the New Testament says for us to be free we have to become slaves or servants to Christ. That sounds contradictory, but upon closer examination, we're seeing that Jesus is saying that to be free in one sense you have to be a servant in another sense, and so there is no violation here of the rules of logic. [00:02:39]

And so a mystery is something that we affirm is true, but we don't understand all the ramifications of it. Now, biblical Christianity certainly has its share of mysteries. We don't understand how God can be infinite in His being, and yet we affirm that He is. There are many truths that God reveals to us about Himself that are beyond our capacity to understand. [00:04:14]

In fact some of these truths we may never fully understand, even in heaven. As we get new information and new knowledge, things that formerly were mysterious to us, are then unraveled with new insight and new information. And we have seen real progress in knowledge in the history of science, and the history of theology, and other disciplines as we increase our knowledge. [00:04:56]

But even as we increase our knowledge to the maximum point in human experience, even in heaven we will remain finite creatures, who will not have an ability to have a full comprehension of the nature of God. And so, it shouldn't surprise us given the difference between the character of God and humanness that there would be mysterious elements of truth with respect to God. [00:05:23]

The reason why contradictions are not understood is because they are inherently unintelligible. Nobody can understand a contradiction because contradictions cannot be understood. I've told this story before: a seminary professor I had, who wrinkled his brow and spoke in hushed terms, and made the announcement in our class, he said, "God is absolutely immutable in His essence, and God is absolutely mutable in His essence." [00:06:23]

Now, no human being has the capacity to understand a contradiction because, as I say, they are inherently unintelligible. And not only God can understand a contradiction. Some people say, "Well, that's the difference between God and man: where our minds are limited by the laws of logic, and God's mind -- God can transcend the laws of logic, and God can understand something as A and non-A at the same time, and in the same relationship. [00:07:50]

But again the point of contact is we cannot understand a mystery, but it may be that at some point, with more information, and a higher perspective that mystery will be unraveled. And again God can understand. God understands gravity, God understands motion, and God understands ultimate reality and being, where we have not been able to penetrate to these things completely. [00:09:04]

And so sometimes today, theologians and philosophers have more trouble with Greek than God does. But in any case, the idea that the term "trinity" doesn't occur in Scriptures has caused some people to raise an eyebrow. But the question is, what does this word mean? Does the concept appear in the Bible? All the word "trinity" does is focus linguistically as a word to capture within it the content of the Scriptures that teach, as we have seen all ready, the unity of God and the tri-personality of God. [00:12:31]

And the favorite trick of the heretic is what we call the studied ambiguity -- the studied ambiguity. The studied ambiguity is that means of communication whereby something, a word is used to leave the concept intentionally ambiguous. In the Sixteenth Century, the greatest theological controversy in the history of the church broke out at the time of the Reformation, over the doctrine of justification. [00:15:32]

Therefore we see the church coming down on a concept that in a very real sense, functions as a Shibboleth. Remember what he purpose of the Shibboleth was? The purpose of the Shibboleth was as a password to get by a sentry. When the enemies of Israel were trying to send their undercover agents, spies, into the land, anybody who came in was asked to pronounce the word "Shibboleth," and their neighbors were not able to pronounce that word and so their stumbling with the language gave them away. [00:19:21]