Holy Trinity Sunday – June 19, 2011

Genesis 1:1-2,26-28 -  In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. ² Now the earth was formless and empty, darkness was over the surface of the deep, and the Spirit of God was hovering over the waters…²⁶ Then God said, “Let us make man in our image, in our likeness, and let them rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air, over the livestock, over all the earth, and over all the creatures that move along the ground.” ²⁷ So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them. ²⁸ God blessed them and said to them, “Be fruitful and increase in number; fill the earth and subdue it. Rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air and over every living creature that moves on the ground.”

Today is Holy Trinity Sunday. And in addition to being the only Sunday of the Church Year that we confess the Athanasian Creed, or “the long one” as it’s also known, it’s also the Sunday we have the special opportunity to review the teaching of the Holy Trinity. The God in whose name we gather and have our being.

So what do you remember about the Holy Trinity? Well, it’s one of those teachings that is hard to wrap our heads around, precisely because it is a teaching about the God who is never going to fit into our heads. He’s a big God - not made with human hands or the figment of human imagination. But he is The Hand, The Mind, The Reason behind all that has life and breath.

But did you know that the word “trinity” is not in the Bible? That’s right! You can read from Genesis 1:1 to Revelation 22:21 and you will not come across the word. But it is important to realize that while the word “trinity” may not be in the Bible, the teaching is, and it runs throughout Scripture. It is because it is hard to explain this teaching with few and simple words that the Church came up with a way to describe it in fewer and more simple words: Holy Trinity. It’s a Latin phrase that means “Three in One.” So the Holy Trinity is One God, three persons; Three Persons, one God. And if you’re trying to do the math in your head it won’t work. That’s where we come back to the thing about God not fitting in our head. But we don’t really want him to, because then we would have one a small god.

But as said before, this is a teaching that runs throughout Scripture. Already at creation the Triune God was at work. That’s right! Even though we often speak of the work of creation as the work of God the Father, it was not the Father alone who created the amazing world in which we live. Our lesson tells us that the Holy Spirit also participated in the work of creation. For it says, “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth…and the Spirit of God was hovering over the waters.”

Not only was God the Holy Spirit there, God the Son was there as well. Speaking of Jesus Christ, God’s Son, Paul writes in Colossians 1:16, “By him all things were created: things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible…all things were created by him and for him.” When we accept the unity and authority of Holy Scripture as a whole and interpret this creation account in view of the entire Scripture, we can and should see the Triune God as being active in the divine work of creation.

This then helps us to understand another section of our text where the Trinity is evident in veiled language - “Then God said, “Let us make man in our image, in our likeness, and let them rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air, over the livestock, over all the earth, and over all the creatures that move along the ground.” ²⁷ So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them.” This is of course the account of mankind’s creation. But did you notice the language? The plural verb “let us make,” along with the plural possessive “our image” and “our likeness” are to be understood as a revelation of the Holy Trinity. God, singular, said let us, plural, make man in our, plural, image, singular. When we read passages like this and then couple them with passages like…“Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit” (Matthew 28:19), and “May the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all” (1 Corinthians 13:14) we get who is speaking in that Genesis passage – the Triune God. It is the one who is One God, three persons; Three Persons, one God.

The Triune God is maker of heaven and earth - and just look at what he did for us! He spared no expense at making the absolute best place and then put the crown of his creation right in the middle of it. He created the air that we breathe and the food and water we need to live. The sky provides a place for birds and butterflies to fly. He made the earth to turn on its axis and revolve around the sun so there could be seasons for the earth to work and rest. He created the animals that become our friends, and the beauty and wonder of nature. He made a woman for man and a man for a woman and instituted the closest relationship on earth – marriage. But the greatest blessing of all is that he created Adam and Eve in his image - that is with a perfect knowledge of God’s will and the perfect desire to carry out that will. He created a heaven on earth and intended mankind to live there forever.

But you know what happened next. Adam and Eve rebelled against that perfect knowledge, listened to the lie of Satan, fell into sin, and lost that perfect image. Their heavenly relationship with the Triune God was gone. Now they were cursed with sin, cursed with guilt, cursed with death. Now they were subject to God’s punishment. Now they would pass this curse down to every generation.

So it is that we share the curse of sin. We are no better than they. Our iniquities are no less. Just this past week we did something that every single commandment tells us not to do! Just this last week we failed to do something every single commandment tells us we are to do! Don’t believe me – go home after service today and pull out Luther’s Catechism. Read through the section on the Ten Commandments. Then come back and make your case. You deserve the common grave of hell in payment for the sin you’ve inherited and the sins you’ve committed. So do I! What our Triune so beautifully and miraculously made for us, a perfect union with him, is lost.

So our Triune God stepped in again. Immediately after Adam and Eve sinned, God promised. And he didn’t promise death and damnation like Adam and Eve deserved, but he promised a Savior. He promised one who would crush the head of the awful enemy, pay the penalty of sin, and save sinners from themselves. And our Triune God kept that promise. So the Father sent the Son he loved, and he came in a body like ours. He ate as we eat, slept as we sleep, wept as we weep, and died as we die. But he did not sin as we sin. And so, when Jesus died on the cross the Father accepted the Son’s perfect life and innocent death as the atoning sacrifice for our sins and, when he died, the Father raised him to life as the guarantee that we have been justified forever.

That’s great news! But there’s a problem! On our own our stone-dead hearts could do nothing but refuse to believe it. On our own we could do nothing but hate that which was good and love that which was bad. So our dead hearts had to be made alive. The unfertile soil of our souls had to be made fertile. The walls of unbelief needed to be broken down so that the seed of faith could be planted and grow. That undertaking was the job of God the Holy Spirit. Working through the good news of what the Father has done for us through the Son, he tore down the walls of unbelief and created saving faith in our hearts.

You are loved beyond compare. Can there be any doubt! You are precious to God! Can you deny it! We owe everything to the Trinity! What a wonderful teaching this is. What a wonderful God we have. Don’t forget that next time you hear the words with which we start our service, or close our prayers in his Holy Name. The Triune God, the true God, Father, Son and Spirit worked together as the one true God to create the universe and to make man in his image, so also the Father, Son and Spirit have worked together to make you a new creation and are working together to renew you in his image. We have a Father who loves us, a Son who redeems us, and a Spirit who makes us holy. It doesn’t get any better than that! Amen.