Last week, a book that I had ordered several weeks ago finally
showed up on my doorstep: Delighting inthe Trinity: An Introduction to the Christian Faith, by Michael Reeves.
Though late, its arrival was still timely. As our church
works its way through the New City Catechism, this week we arrived at a
question dealing with the doctrine of the Trinity, Question #4, which asks: “How
many persons are there in God?”
When I asked this question of my kids on Sunday night, they knew
an abbreviated form of the answer: “Three!” several exclaimed at once.
But they—like many of us—struggled to explain what that
really means.
The answer the New City Catechism provides is both concise
and profound: “There are three persons in the one true and living God: the
Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. They are the same in substance, equal in
power and glory.”
Sometimes, we think of the Trinity as a mystery that cannot
be understood. But Reeves contends this is not the right way to understand (or
avoid understanding) the Trinity:
God is a mystery, but not in the alien
abductions, things-that-go-bump-in-the-night sense. Certainly not in the “who
can know, why bother?” sense. God is a mystery in that who he is and what he is
like are secrets, things we would never have worked out by ourselves. But this
triune God has revealed himself to us. Thus the Trinity is not some piece of
inexplicable apparent nonsense, like a square circle or an interesting
theologian. Rather, because the triune God has revealed himself, we can
understand the Trinity (12).
The doctrine of the trinity is not only a central tenant to the Christian faith but essential to knowing who it is we worship as God. In
his introduction, Reeves says his book is
about growing in our enjoyment of
God and seeing how God’s triune being makes all his ways beautiful. It is a
chance to taste and see that the Lord is good, to have your heart won and
yourself refreshed. For it is only when you grasp what it means for God to be a
Trinity that you really sense the beauty, the overflowing kindness, the heart-grabbing
loveliness of God (9).
This is an excellent way to approach this doctrine. Tim
Challies, in his review of the book, notes the uniqueness of Reeves’ approach:
I have read several books on the
Trinity in the past and have always enjoyed reading them. James White’s The
Forgotten Trinity and Bruce Ware’s Father, Son, and Holy Spirit are
biblical, systematic and powerful. I’ve read them, benefited from them, and
often recommended them. I will continue to do so. The unique angle—and unique
beauty—of Delighting in the Trinity is that it looks less at a concept
and more at a relationship, less at a doctrine and more at the persons of the
godhead. It is, at heart, an introduction to the Christian faith and the
Christian life that seeks to show that both must be at all times rooted in the
triunity of God. All that God is, all that God does, flows out of his triunity.
I highly recommend Reeves’ book. As the subtitle suggests,
understanding the triune nature of God isn’t just about knowing some
theological jargon. It is about knowing the God we claim to worship.
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