The Truth from Which All Truth Proceeds

Text: John 3:1-17, Isa. 6:1-8

In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

            There’s an age-old debate among artists, engineers, biologists, architects, nearly any profession that deals with physical materials. It’s the question of form versus function. Does function determine form, or does form determine function? That is, is the way we use something determined by its shape, substance, durability, and so on; or do we design things to be a certain shape, out of certain materials, because of what we want to use it for? No matter what side of the debate you land on, one overriding truth is clear: there is a fundamental connection between what a thing is and what it does, or even why it does what it does.

            This truth is seen in clear celestial light when we look at our Triune God. We’ve spent more time than usual today, saying very precisely what God is and what He is not as we went through the Athanasian Creed. He is not one God who simply shows three versions of the same face. He’s not a being who comes to us in three different forms. He’s not three gods who are united in purpose or will or anything of that sort. He’s not a hierarchy of gods, all of different glory or power. All of those incorrect concepts spring from human minds that try to force God into the limitations of what we can imagine. It’s from these wrong and limited ideas that countless false religions have sprung up, from the many gods and goddesses of the pagan religions, all ranked by their power and which part of the universe they rule; to the single god of Islam, who lives in completely unapproachable and terrifying might, because there is none like him to provide a bridge between mortals and Allah’s own infinity.

            But we can say that because our God is three-in-one, He is different from all other gods, all deities, all philosophies and anything else that the human imagination can invent. And because our Triune God is different, it means that He will work differently than those other gods invented by mortals. He does things differently because He is Triune, three-in-one.

            The first thing that we come to realize when we learn our that our God is three-in-one is that He is always and eternally in community. He’s never alone, even when it’s just Him. He is always Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, all together, from eternity to eternity. He has no desire to dwell isolated in majesty. Because He is three-in-one, He desires always to be with others. In fact, that’s the entire point of creation. If you want to know why God created anything at all, let alone why we human creatures are given a share in His own image, all you have to do is look at the fact that God is Triune, three-in-one, always and eternally in community. It’s His very nature to be with others in a bond of love and grace. Creation then, exists because God is Triune, so that God has something to love, something to care for, something to pour out every gift from His infinite supply of goodness. The love that exists between the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit—which can only exist when there’s three Persons in one God—that love is so great, so immeasurably much, that He creates an entire cosmos, filled with living beings, that He can love.

            Furthermore, even when that cosmos runs away from Him, or seeks something else that we might think is better, when we rebel and sin and chase after the things that are not the Triune God, we see that this same three-in-one God reaches out to save us. And how does He do this? Through His Word. This is another key point that we learn about God because of the fact that He is three-in-one: He communicates. A singular god, like Islam’s Allah or any other deity who is alone in its might, that god does not communicate as such. If a god is completely alone in its power and eternity, it has no need to communicate—nothing will ever be able to understand it anyway. Think of all the people who talk about signs from “the universe”, whatever that means; or the universe “wanting” something. And how many times can those signs or messages from “the universe” be misunderstood, or misinterpreted, or not even signs and messages at all. But because our God is Triune, three Persons in one God, that means that He does communicate. He speaks. From the very beginning, the Father speaks with the Son, the Son speaks with the Father, the Holy Spirit speaks what He hears them saying, as Jesus told us last Sunday at Pentecost. God speaks at the beginning when He’s creating everything that exists. God spoke and said, “Let there be light; let the waters be separated into sky and sea; let there be dry ground; let there be living creatures of all sorts.” And then when the time came to create a humanity that He could focus His love toward in the most unique and beautiful way, the three Persons of the Trinity had a conversation among themselves: “Let us make man in our image, after our likeness.” And when that humanity rebels, when it runs and hides from Him, God speaks again. He sends a message, He communicates. In our Old Testament reading today, the thrice holy God (it’s not a coincidence that the seraphim sing “Holy” three times) says to Isaiah, “Your guilt is taken away, and your sin atoned for.” And then He sends the prophet Isaiah as a messenger, to speak His words to His people, that they eventually would be returned to Him.

            That communication, that word from our speaking God, who speaks because He is three-in-one, is recorded in Holy Scripture. It’s how He communicates today, in clear language, because He is the talking God, unlike the mute idols of the pagans. So we take our teaching about God’s Word, Scripture, so seriously because we believe that God communicates, because He is Triune. It’s all linked together.

            Finally, we learn that because our God is Triune, three Persons in one God, we also learn what His love is. It’s not just nice thoughts or fuzzy feelings. It’s sacrificial. It’s self-giving. The Father is always giving all things to the Son out of love. The Son loves the Father perfectly, being subject to His will, doing all that is required. The Holy Spirit proceeds from the Father and the Son. He proceeds from the creating, saving, and redeeming love of both. All that God does for His creation—us, the ones He created to be in community with Him—all that He does toward us is done of out love, self-giving and sacrificial. And that’s because He’s Triune. Suddenly all the other truths we’ve heard over the course of the church year lock into place. We learn that the Father sends the Son, who is true God, out of love. We learn that the Son of God takes on human flesh, doing all that the Father requires of humanity, doing all that He needs to in order to save us, He does this out of love flowing from the Trinity. We learn why we’re saved by His grace instead of our works—it’s His love that ignites that. We learn why we take His Word so seriously, not disregarding the parts that don’t make sense to our limited, finite minds or turning away from the parts we don’t like or that make us uncomfortable. We learn why we love God and our neighbors—because the Triune God’s love overflows and changes our hearts and minds to be like Him. We learn why God will end this fallen age and bring us to Himself in the new heavens and the new earth: to be with Him in that eternal community, that eternal togetherness that has existed between Father, Son, and Holy Spirit since before the world was made. This is all because of the love that can only exist in a Triune God.

            The Trinity is not just an add-on doctrine. It’s not just an answer to get right on a religion quiz. The Trinity, our God who is three co-eternal, almighty, all-loving, yet distinct Persons in one Godhead is the truth from which all other truth proceeds. It’s the foundation of what we need to know in order to understand what He has spoken. Our Triune God is the reason for our faith, hope, and love. In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.