In my sermon last Sunday, I spoke about some of the problems we encounter in the Church when it comes to both the profession of our faith and the living out of our faith. To be more specific, I spoke about the problem of people passing off their own ideas as articles of faith and the problem of people claiming to be Christians whilst, at the same time, they ignore the teachings of Jesus and the prompting of the Spirit. People who do these things can and do cause problems in and for the Church. They can often be very forthright in their views and opinions, not least of the sinfulness of those who disagree with them. They can be very public in their rather less than Christian behaviour too. And people can and do leave the Church on account of people like this and people outside the Church can be and often are put off the Church and the Christian faith because of people like this. So how do we deal with this problem.
Obviously, before we can deal with this problem we have to be clear about what the Christian faith, the faith we’re called to live by, actually is. But here again we can run into problems. For some people, the fullness of the Christian faith is found in scripture and anything that’s not there isn’t and shouldn’t be part of the faith. Those who are ordained in the Church of England, for example, are asked to declare that they,
‘…accept the Holy Scriptures as revealing all things necessary for eternal salvation through faith in Jesus Christ.’
And yet before they’re asked that the archdeacon or registrar must confirm that those to be ordained have made oaths of allegiance to the sovereign, obedience to the bishop and have,
‘…affirmed and declared their belief in ‘the faith which is revealed in the Holy Scriptures and set forth in the catholic creeds and to which the historic formularies of the Church of England bear witness’.’
So it’s not quite so straightforward as it might seem.
Many people in the Church speak about the true Christian faith as that which was ‘once delivered to the saints’. That’s an expression we find in the Letter of Jude, and it’s obvious that it was first written to deal with the very problem I’m speaking about.
‘Beloved, although I was very eager to write to you about our common salvation, I found it necessary to write appealing to you to contend for the faith that was once for all delivered to the saints. For certain people have crept in unnoticed who long ago were designated for this condemnation, ungodly people, who pervert the grace of our God into sensuality and deny our only Master and Lord, Jesus Christ.’
But who are the saints the faith was once delivered to? The Apostles, certainly, but a lot of what we regard as the basics of the Christian faith were formulated by the early Church, long after the time of the Apostles. The Nicene Creed, for example, which we say every Sunday and which we use as the standard profession of the Christian faith was first set down in the year 325. But the version we use which speaks of the Holy Spirit being worshipped and glorified with the Father and the Son didn’t appear until 381 and that version wasn’t finally ratified until 451.
So whilst the Christian faith, as we now know it, was first delivered to the Apostles by Christ, it was more fully developed by the Apostles and the early Church through the inspiration of the Holy Spirit. But that shouldn’t surprise us because it’s quite in keeping with what we read in this morning’s Gospel. Jesus quite openly tells the disciples, those who would become the Apostles, that he hasn’t told them everything because they’re simply not ready. It’s the Spirit who will lead them into a fuller revelation of the truth. So it should be no surprise that the Christian faith has developed over the years and has continued to develop as we live under the influence and guidance of the Spirit who guides us into all truth.
But how then can we decide what is of the Spirit and what isn’t? How can we discern between those who are speaking under the influence of the Spirit and those who are simply speaking for themselves?
When it comes to matters of doctrine the best and simplest way is to look at any new idea or teaching and ask if this is consistent with scripture and especially with the teaching of Christ. If it clearly isn’t in keeping with these things, and especially if it contradicts these things, then we can safely reject the idea as being of human origin. But if it is in keeping with scripture and Christ’s teaching then it’s something that we should think about very carefully. And that still goes even if what’s being said is only implied in scripture but can reasonably be said to be true.
One of the groups I often think of when it comes to this is an obscure sect that grew up in Russia in the 18th Century, the Klysts. On the whole they were simply a rather extreme Pentecostal Church who rejected clergy and all the saints except the Blessed Virgin Mary and whose liturgies consisted of ecstatic utterances, speaking in tongues and dancing until they dropped from exhaustion, all under the influence of the Spirit. But there was a small sect among the Klysts who had some very strange ideas. Some of the Klystee seemed to believe that in order to experience forgiveness and salvation they had to sin. And the more sinful they were, the greater the experience because the greater the grace they were given through forgiveness and salvation. Mixed in with this seems to have been an idea that to be truly holy, all earthly passions had to be lost, and the simplest way to lose earthly passions was to sate them until they no longer wanted them. I think the reasoning here is easy to understand. If you want to know what something tastes like, taste it. And by the same rule, if you want to know what forgiveness and salvation is like you have to do something to be forgiven for and saved from. So the reasoning is easy to understand but carrying on like this can hardly be said to be living in accordance with the teaching and example of Christ can it? So we can’t possibly accept this as a revelation of the Spirit.
Today we celebrate a great mystery of the Christian faith. It’s something that’s never stated explicitly in Scripture and it’s something that, in fact, many people have said and do say, contradicts scripture. But nevertheless, it’s something that has been revealed to the Church by the Spirit and set down in the Creeds of the Church accordingly, the mystery of the Trinity.
We worship the God of Jesus, the God the Old Testament and the New Testament. Both Testaments say that God is one. And yet we worship a God who is Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. We know that Jews and Muslims might think that we can’t possibly be worshipping the same God they do because we must have three Gods, not one. We know that, over the years, and still today, there are those who accept Jesus as their Saviour, and yet cannot accept the Church’s teaching that while God is one, God is, at the same time, also three distinct persons. But whilst this understanding of God isn’t made explicit in scripture, it is implied in scripture.
It’s implied at the very beginning of The Scriptures that, although there is only God, there’s some distinction within God;
‘In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. The earth was without form and void, and darkness was over the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God was hovering over the face of the waters. And God said, “Let there be light”, and there was light.’
That’s implied again in God’s creation of the first human being;
‘Then God said, “Let us make man in our image, after our likeness.’
We at least have a distinction here between God and the Spirit but, in the prologue to his Gospel, St John speaks of God’s Word as distinct too.
We find implicit references to the divinity of the Son of God in Jesus’ own words that he and the Father “are one” and in his prayer,
“…Father, glorify me in your own presence with the glory that I had with you before the world existed.”
We find implicit references to the Trinity in the account of Jesus Baptism, in the voice of the Father revealing Jesus as his Son and in the descent of the Spirit in the form of a dove. And in Jesus’ command to his Church to baptise people in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.
So when people may say that the uniquely Christian understanding of God as Trinty isn’t found in scripture, they’re mistaken. It may not be explicitly stated in scripture, but it is implied in many places in scripture. How God can be three distinct persons, at one and the same time, and yet still be one is a great mystery. It’s something that defies explanation. But shouldn’t we expect that of God? Shouldn’t we expect that there are things about God we simply can’t fully understand or explain? Some people say that the doctrine of the Trinity defies reason. I say that what defies reason is that we should be able to understand God so well that we can fully explain God. Rather than trying to explain the inexplicable, I think it would be much better if we simply accepted the Trinity as a mystery of God. Something we can’t fully understand or explain but as a truth about God that has been revealed to us by the Holy Spirit who was sent to lead us into the truth.
Amen.
Propers for Trinity Sunday, 15th June 2025
Entrance Antiphon
Blest be God the Father,
and the Only Begotten Son of God,
and also the Holy Spirit,
for he has shown us his merciful love.
The Collect
God our Father, who by sending into the world
the Word of truth and the Spirit of sanctification
made known to the human race your wondrous mystery,
grant us, we pray, that in professing the true faith,
we may acknowledge the Trinity of eternal glory
and adore your Unity, powerful in majesty.
Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son,
who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
one God, for ever and ever.
Amen.
The Readings
Proverbs 8:22-31
Psalm 8:4-9
Romans 5:1-5
John 16:12-15
Prayer after Communion
May receiving this Sacrament, O Lord our God,
bring us health of body and soul,
as we confess your eternal holy Trinity and undivided Unity.
Through Christ our Lord.
Amen.
Parish Church of St Mark Chadderton 