Search results for: “trinity”
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The Modern Doctrine of the Trinity
The Trinity is God, and God does not change. The Trinity doesn’t develop, mature, improve, shift around, wax or wane, or alter with the latest trends and fashions. But the doctrine of the Trinity is something theologians talk about, and theologians do change, and the way they talk changes. So it’s possible to describe the…
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The Eternal Trinity
Some time ago I got a note from a reader asking if a certain Baptist statement of faith was adequately trinitarian. I think the question came from somebody who didn’t know the Baptist heritage very well, and was just doing his best to understand the words of the words of the statement of faith. The…
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Pannenberg Trinity Sermon: Transcendence in the Midst of Our Lives
Kent Eilers at the Theology Forum blog recently posted part of a 1972 sermon by Wolfhart Pannenberg. As Eilers points out, Pannenberg has a public image as a high-level academic theologian who cultivates dialogue with the most rigorous contemporary thought, so it’s hard to picture him going to the pulpit and speaking to a non-academic…
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R.W. Dale on the Trinity
Today (December 1) is the birthday of R. W. Dale (1829 – 1895), a British Congregationalist pastor and writer. Dale is best remembered for his conservatizing essay on the atonement, and for his commitment to social work in applying what he called “the civic gospel” to Birmingham, England, which needed it. Dale also wrote a…
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How the Trinity Freed the Slaves (Happy Birthday Granville Sharp)
Today (November 10) is the birthday of Granville Sharp (1735-1813). Sharp is remembered for two major accomplishments. First, you will find his name in every history of the abolition of the slave trade. His involvement began when he met a man named Jonathan Strong, a slave from Barbados who had been beaten so badly that…
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Who Said “The Trinity: Try to Understand It, and You’ll Lose Your Mind”?
Read Fred Sanders’s follow-up here. Here is a saying that you run into frequently in popular books on the Trinity: The Trinity: Try to Understand It and You’ll Lose Your Mind. Try to Deny It and You’ll LOSE YOUR SOUL! This aphorism is usually introduced with the vague reference, “As somebody has said…” In fact,…
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What the Trinity is For
What is the Trinity for? I hear this question all the time, in churches and classrooms. It comes from different kinds of people: From well-established Christians who have the basics of a life of discipleship figured out, are spiritually healthy, and who are getting along just fine without thinking often of the Trinity. From apologists…
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William Jones of Nayland on Defending the Trinity
Today (July 30) is the day William Jones was born in the year 1726. He lived until 1800, and is remembered as “Jones of Nayland,” for the last post he held, as perpetual curate of Nayland from 1777 (and because the name Jones doesn’t exactly make you easy to find in English history books). Jones…
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Cranmer Prays to the Trinity
Can you pray to the Trinity? Of course, the very definition of Christian prayer is that it is trinitarian: We pray to God the Father, in the name of Jesus the Son, by the power of the Holy Spirit. That’s the logic of mediation that’s built into Christian prayer, no matter what words we use…
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3 Pithy Remarks on Handling the Doctrine of the Trinity
Not very helpful: The Trinity: Try to Understand It and You’ll Lose Your Mind. Try to Deny It and You’ll LOSE YOUR SOUL! –mercifully anonymous but sadly widespread Much better: Nowhere else is a mistake more dangerous, or the search more laborious, or discovery more advantageous. –Augustine Sweeeeet: It is rashness to search too far…
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Blessed Saints, Blessed Savior, Blessed Trinity (Watts)
The Scale of Blessedness is the title of an Isaac Watts sermon which starts from Psalm 65:4, “Blessed is the man whom thou choosest, and causest to approach unto thee, that he may dwell in thy courts,” and launches out into an exploration of the idea of blessedness itself. Rung by rung, Watts climbs the…
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"When I accept Christ… I am in Communion with the Entire Trinity" (Schaeffer)
Francis Schaeffer had a powerful doctrine of the Christian encounter with the triune God. I’ve explored it here and here. One of the most remarkable characteristics of his teaching on the subject is how it consistently combined two virtues: simplicity and depth. Over and over in his teaching on the Trinity, Schaeffer uses the phrase,…