Delighting In The Trinity (Book Review)

The triunity of God is one of the most foundational doctrines of Christianity. And yet, the Trinity is one of the most neglected and least understood tenets of our faith. I’m afraid I have contributed to this myself. I have been guilty of speaking of the Trinity as if it was something too difficult to understand or too risky to talk about for fear of stepping into heresy.

The problem with such neglect is the misinformed notions we develop about God as a result. Instead of understanding God to be Father, Son, and Spirit, who dwells in eternal unity and love, we fashion a singular god in our own image who often turns out to be cold, distant, and ultimately unknowable. Even if we don’t consciously believe God to be singular and distant, we often live as if he is, expecting his disapproval, ambivalence, and relative absence to characterize our lives rather than warm, enjoyable, loving fellowship with him. The antidote to this, Michael Reeves argues, is to know God as Trinity.

To know the Trinity is “to know God, an eternal and personal God of infinite beauty, interest, and fascination. The Trinity is a God we can know, and forever grow to know better.”[1] The strength of Reeves’ book is that he writes about the Trinity from a relational perspective rather than an ontological one.[2] His goal is not to mine all the nuanced gems of the Trinity’s nature, but to show how God has revealed himself as Father, Son, and Spirit, and how he relates to us as such.

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The Triune God: The Ultimate Christmas Gift

Christmas is here! And all that comes with it: lights, decorations, gatherings, and…gifts. What does that last word do for you- gifts? Does it create excitement, perhaps over the gift you might receive or give? Or does it create a sense of burden over the gifts you need to purchase? Whichever it may be, how would you feel if I told you that our practice of gift-giving could (and should) deepen our appreciation of the Triune God?

Why do we give gifts at Christmas, anyways? We may say, “because God has given us the gift of salvation.” And while that may be true, the gift God has given us is much more than that. The ultimate Christmas gift is a Trinitarian gift. It’s a gift prepared, given, and protected by the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. It is a gift that redeems the world and restores all that mankind lost in the Garden of Eden, chiefly, an intimate relationship with the Triune God.

When God gives us the gift of salvation, He gives us Himself and the ability to know Him. That’s what we lost in Eden. Everything else is merely a symptom of that broken relationship. So God prepares, purchases, and extends this gift to us. But He does so through each member of the Trinity giving themselves so that we may know God in all of His fullness. Let me explain.

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