The Trinity Is Our Model
How do the relationships within the Triune Godhead help us navigate our interactions with other people?
First, it’s important to remember that God is not contained by human limitations. He is not bound by our conceptions of what he should be. Because of our limited human understanding there is no perfect illustration or example of the triune nature of God. But the fullness of the Godhead has historically been described as the communion of three persons united in one essence. That is how we got the word Trinity.
This doesn’t fully explain the mystery of God but as R.C. Sproul once said, “it defines the limits of our finite reflection.”
We believe in a three-personed God. Each person in the Godhead is fully God, and the Trinity is bound together by divine love even as they are united as one. The love of God the Father for God the Son and God the Holy Spirit, and their love for the divine Father and for each other, then, can help us love others.
As a relational being, the triune God can help us in our own relationships.
God’s trinitarian love shapes the way we interact with others. The Bible doesn’t just say that God loves but that he is love. He is the essence of love. That means God didn’t start being love or putting love into action when He made the world, but even before creation, He was love - His love was displayed within the Trinity, among the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. So when we walk in love and speak the truth in love, we can be assured that it isn’t just some theoretical and abstract notion of love. Being a Christian means being united with God, in Christ, by the Spirit, and because of that we are connected to the very essence of love.
Having a fuller understanding of this, how would that change the way you speak to others? How would it change what you are willing to sacrifice for others?
The Church is called to walk in the security and power of the very essence of love, God himself, so that we would use that freedom not as an opportunity for the flesh but to love and serve one another (Galatians 5:13). God enables us by His love to not grow weary in doing good, but instead to do good to everyone, as we have opportunity. (Galatians 6:9) Let us show a dying world the eternal Triune nature of love through our very actions and words.