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Practical Effects of Rejecting the Trinity

Posted Sunday, April 09, 2006 by Charlie Trimm

I am teaching on the Trinity in an adult Sunday School class, and so my interest has been piqued recently on the practical implications of holding or rejecting the Trinity. Here are a few of my thoughts, perhaps you could add some.

There are many areas of implication in other areas of theology, like redemption and Christology, which are clear. But I am more interested in actually how we live. One primary area of application that I see with the trinity is the valueing of diversity. Since God Himself is diverse in Himself, then it follows that we as his church should also be diverse. I wonder if there is a connection between the rejection of the Trinity by the cults and then a strict rejection of diversity by those same cults. The only answer is the one that is officially sanctioned, and any other answer is rejected without consideration. Are they connected? Or is this simply two separate issues that show up with the same groups?

But for those of us who hold the Trinity, we should welcome diversity in the church, whether it be gifts (see 1 Corinthians 12:4-6 for a classic example of this as Paul assumes the Trinity to make a point), personality, ways of expressing passion for God, or styles of ministry. Not everyone needs to be just like us. Of course, the Trinity does also involve the oneness of God, so there will also be consistency in the church. But this needs to be balanced with diversity.

Monday, April 10, 2006 4:28 PM

Brian wrote: Enjoying the Mystery

The Trinity is a mystery that defies comprehension. We may contemplate it, delight in it, or simply shake our heads in bafflement, but we cannot honestly claim to comprehend it.

Rejecting (the mystery of) the Trinity is tantamount to insisting that nothing lies beyond human comprehension.

Monday, April 10, 2006 4:59 PM

Tom wrote: Since I opened my mouth on the ex-dog's post I thought i would just throw in my two cents here as well. The trinity does reflect diversity and i liked how you followed that to practical application in the life of the church. i would also add that the trinity reflects community. And if we reject the trinity we, (in addition to a lot of other things) devalue, de-emphasize what we were created for...community and relationship. The trinity communes and has fellowship with one another. It gives us a picture of the community that we are to experience with one another in the life of the church. Community is plastered all over in scripture - and especially in the NT we find when one person of the community is going their own way, doing their own thing or jealousy is happening the community of faith suffers. And one of the ways in which it suffers is that it does not reflect a loving community having good relationships with one another. And if that is happening it tends to weaken and dillute our outreach to those around us. I guess what I am saying with this disjointed post is that community is so vital, so important, so all over scripture, so central to the heart of God for his followers is because it seems to be based on and originating from the community and fellowship of the Trinity. So if we reject the Trinity we will have a hard time, biblically, calling ourselves a 'community of faith.' Anyway, again looking forward to someone who knows what the heck they are talking about.

Monday, April 10, 2006 7:04 PM

Sam wrote: Brilliant! Thanks for the post, Charles...I think Josh is working on this subject, too...I just wanted to say "Brilliant!" to Thomas' addition. Also, I wanted to clear the air, and let everyone know that he was one of the very first to become an ex-dog (I believe Nate-dog was first...Big Ham!).