Sunday, June 11, 2017

The Holy Trinity and Our Salvation

As I look back on the year so far on this Trinity Sunday, I remember that something vital about the Holy Trinity has been brought to my attention repeatedly – that all three Persons of the Trinity are very much involved in our salvation.

A common misconception, even among Christians, is that the Father really hates us because of our sin, but that the Son and the Holy Spirit plead for us and change his mind to not zap us.  But actually the whole Trinity, all three Persons, though hating sin, love us amazingly and have been involved in our salvation long before we existed.  On one Trinity Sunday, John Keble exhorted, “Consider how in the work of our salvation each one of these glorious persons has severally manifested His own infinite holiness, He hatred of sin and His love…”

Indeed, the second reading of Morning Prayer this morning at my REC parish, I Peter 1:1-12 is packed with how we are saved “according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, in the sanctification of the Spirit, for obedience to Jesus Christ and for sprinkling with His blood.” (ESV) I oft teach that salvation is something God does.  To spell it out more exactly, salvation is something the whole Holy Trinity does, all three Persons in One.

To those versed in orthodox Christian theology, that is nothing new.  And I’m not being particularly profound in restating it.  But what a vital truth!  I say vital because our eternal life depends on it.

The Holy Trinity is so glorious, the Three-in-One and One-in-Three is so worthy of all worship simply because of who He is.  But how much better for us that we can also thank and worship God – Father, Son, and Holy Ghost – because from eternity past He has wonderfully acted to save us so that one day we can join the heavenly throng in His very presence joyfully crying, “Holy, Holy, Holy.”

I hope you are having an excellent Trinity Sunday and will have a blessed Trinity Season. 

No comments: