July 8 I Wednesday

Job 36-37

Acts 15:22-41

“Great is the LORD and most worthy of praise; His greatness no one can fathom.”   —Psalm 145:3

Of all the doctrines of Christianity, the doctrine of the Trinity is a difficult one to wrap our minds around. At its simplest, the doctrine holds that there is one God, but He is made up of three distinct Beings.
Each member of the Trinity has a different identity and unique role, but all three are equally and fully God. To deny one is to deny who God is.

Scripture gives two key statements that reveal the members of the Trinity are co-equal. When Jesus gave His final commission to the disciples immediately prior to His ascension to the Father, He said, “Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptising them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit…” (Matthew 28:19). All three members of the Trinity are behind the command to evangelize the world, operating together in unity. In Paul’s closing greeting at the end of 2 Corinthians, he writes, “May the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all”
(2 Corinthians 13:14). These attributes are not specific only to the members of the Trinity to which Paul applies them, but they give a sense of each member’s individual roles when relating to humanity.

Many have tried to describe the Trinity through analogy, such as the comparison of the Trinity to a three-leaf clover, where the three leaves are distinct yet from one plant. But this imagery treats each member as overly distinct and can imply we worship three separate gods, which cannot be further from the truth. The three members of the Trinity are
eternally distinct from each other yet equally God, constantly working interdependently with each other to accomplish divine tasks.

The fact that the Trinity exceeds our understanding should not bother us unduly. If God is God, we should expect aspects of His being and methods to be beyond the limits of our understanding. If we could fit God into a box, He would not be a very big God. God is infinite in His existence and His working, but He is also infinite in His person. There is a complexity to God’s being that is not paralleled in any part of creation, so we depend on His revelation for what we need to know of Him. The rest, for the time being, is a mystery, but what God has revealed of His being and complexity should make us want to glorify Him all the more.

Prayer: Father God, though there is much I do not understand about You, Your greatness continually astounds me. Thank You for working in the world and in my life through Your Son and the Holy Spirit. Amen!