{"id":10776,"date":"2025-06-12T04:59:28","date_gmt":"2025-06-12T11:59:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/crossalone.us\/?p=10776"},"modified":"2025-06-12T05:03:26","modified_gmt":"2025-06-12T12:03:26","slug":"trinity-sunday-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/crossalone.us\/?p=10776","title":{"rendered":"Trinity Sunday"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Select here for a pdf version.<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

I Corinthians 8:6; John 16:12-15<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A Sermon for Trinity Sunday based on the Athanasian Creed<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Today is Trinity Sunday, that one Sunday each year when we focus on the fact that God is one and three in one: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. What do we make of this?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Some have said that the Trinity is like water: it can be like steam, water, ice.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Or, the Trinity is like a triangle which has three corners but it\u2019s one.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Or it can be like Augustine, the great early church father said: The Trinity is like the one who loves, the one who is loved, and the loving.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The most important thing to understand about the Trinity is if you think you have understood it, then you have misunderstood it. What do we do now?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What is it about? This Trinity, God is one and three in one.

We Lutherans hold to three ancient creeds. They are found at the beginning of our Book of Concord. They are the Apostles\u2019 Creed, the Nicene Creed, and the Athanasian Creed. People like the Apostles\u2019 Creed best because it\u2019s the shortest, although it is not the oldest. The Nicene Creed is the oldest. After that came the Apostles\u2019 Creed, and then finally the Athanasian Creed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

On Trinity Sunday we deal with these ancient creeds and the battle in the early church that necessitated these great confessions. Because we often deal with the Nicene and Apostles\u2019 Creeds, today we will take up the Athanasian Creed. It opens with these words: \u201cWhoever wishes to be saved must, above all else, hold the true Christian faith. Whoever does not keep it whole and undefiled will without doubt perish for eternity.\u201d That\u2019s strong language. Whole and undefiled. Every bit of it and without wavering, in order to be saved.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

That reminds us that there are some differences among these three creeds, differences significant enough that the Orthodox (230 million Christians) do not hold to either the Apostles\u2019 or the Nicene Creed in the way we do. And the Athanasian Creed is simply held by some churches in the West\u2014Roman Catholics, Lutherans, Anglicans, Presbyterians (Reformed)\u2014but not all of Western Christendom.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What is it that we have to believe, and what if we don\u2019t believe all exactly and totally?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

When that question is put to us, we commonly back off and say: \u201cWe believe what\u2019s in the Bible.\u201d In the New Testament there are fragments of creeds from the early church. One of them is John 3:16 which is sometimes called \u201cthe little Gospel\u201d: \u201cFor God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And there is 1 Corinthians 8:6: \u201cThere is one God, the Father, from whom are all things and for whom we exist, and one Lord, Jesus Christ, through whom are all things and through whom we exist.\u201d In this creed there is the eternal Lord and then Jesus in parallel with him.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Some people have a red-letter Bible which highlights the words we supposedly have to believe in. But as a famous Lutheran, Ernst K\u00e4semann, said: \u201cThe New Testament is the mother of all heresies.\u201d All Christians use the Bible, but there are many ways to go astray.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Some say the rally cry for the Reformation was \u201cScripture alone.\u201d But that slogan did not suddenly appear in 1517. It had been used for several centuries before Luther. Although Luther used it, he didn\u2019t mean it in the way others did. For him, \u201cScripture alone\u201d meant \u201cChrist alone\u201d: Was Christum treibet. <\/em>Whatever drives to Christ and proclaims Christ.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

So what is it that we have to believe in light of those opening words of the Athanasian Creed: \u201cWhoever wants to be saved must hold the true Christian faith and if you don\u2019t, you perish eternally.\u201d That makes it pretty serious.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

People say: Cut to the chase. Just tell me. Is it John 3:16? Is it every word in the Bible? The creeds? And then there are those who say: \u201cJust believe in Jesus.\u201d But what is that about, specifically, concretely?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

There\u2019s also the problem of being earnest. You can mouth all of these things, but do you really believe them? Earnestly, from the heart. The problem with that is, of course, as Jeremiah 17:9 says: \u201cThe heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately corrupt.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We use the word \u201crude\u201d for someone who doesn\u2019t have any manners, doesn\u2019t\u2019 know how to behave in public. But it\u2019s really a Latin word which means somebody who doesn\u2019t have any education, who was brought up simply.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Roman Catholic Church teaches that an uneducated person may not understand Catholic doctrine right. After all, it\u2019s big and complicated, and someone may have this wrong or that wrong. So the real question is: \u201cDo you intend what the church intends?\u201d Then it\u2019s O.K. What matters is that you intend to believe what the church believes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The problem with that is, as the saying goes: \u201cThe road to hell is paved with good intentions.\u201d When we realize intentions are a problem, we fall back on: \u201cYou just gotta believe.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Back in the Nineteenth Century there was a Roman Catholic who said (paraphrase): \u201cI accept everything the Pope teaches is OK, and if I\u2019m asked to believe six impossible things before breakfast, I\u2019ll do it. Just tell me; I\u2019ll believe it. Whatever it takes. Do you want me to believe that the whale swallowed Jonah? Fine! If you want that, I\u2019ll believe that Jonah swallowed the whale. Whatever you want. I will believe because it\u2019s impossible.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

His stance echoes a phrase from the early church father, Tertullian, who said: \u201cI believe because it\u2019s impossible.\u201d The trouble with that, of course, is that is just believing in believing. And that\u2019s not what it\u2019s about.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What happens then is that we throw up our hands and say: \u201cHey, it\u2019s really difficult. Do whatever works for you. If it feels right for you, if it works for you, fine.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

How can we know? How do we sort it out? Having gone far in \u201cwrecking the house,\u201d that is, showing the problems, we want to build it up again.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What do we have doctrines or beliefs for? Doctrines or dogmas are like road warning markers and signs: Do not cross the center line. The shoulder of the road is here. That\u2019s for a reason, because it\u2019s dangerous if you do cross that center line or go off the shoulder. You may not see what\u2019s ahead, but you follow the rules of the road, you will likely get to your destination.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Or there\u2019s a sign on a mountainous curve which says: \u201cDanger! Cliff ahead.\u201d And you know you don\u2019t want to drive too close to the shoulder on that curve.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Doctrines are like those signs. Doctrines are warning signs, because every generation has a tendency to be wayward, to fall into one ditch or another. But, of course, we\u2019re not saved by the warning signs. We\u2019re not saved by our theology. We\u2019re not saved by our doctrines.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

That happens to be a danger for those of us raised in the Lutheran tradition because we do emphasize knowing doctrine, knowing where these warning signs are. But then we can end up holding to the signs and not what it\u2019s about. We end up just mouthing or saying \u201cwhatever.\u201d \u201cYeah, I\u2019ll believe this or that.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And that leads to another ditch, the ditch of many ways of salvation. A large Lutheran church in St. Paul, Minnesota has a standard funeral bulletin, the cover of which states: \u201cIf you are not a Christian, we greet you with deep respect.\u201d (Bravo, but nothing new here. All churches treat funeral attendees with respect.) But then it goes on: \u201cWe give thanks to God for the many ways that divine mystery is named and practiced.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Whoa, no! God is one. Christ is Lord, and beside him there is no other. As the Nicene Creed says: \u201cJesus is the only Son of God . . . God from God, Light from Light, true God from true God . . .  of one Being with the Father . . .\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Those lost Lutherans have taken away the road signs and are leading others to fall off the cliff.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What do we say about those who are not Christians? We say we really do not know. We don\u2019t say they are damned. We don\u2019t say they are saved. What happens is God\u2019s business, not ours. We really do not know, and we do not speculate.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But we know the diagnosis every person faces, and it\u2019s frightening: We cannot redeem ourselves; we are each only a heartbeat away from death and on our way to nothingness (Oberman, Luther: Man Between God and the Devil<\/em>, 224).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As the Athanasian Creed says, it is serious business. Salvation is in Christ alone. That is basic. That is the promise. We don\u2019t know what happens to those who are outside of Christ, but for those who are in Christ, that\u2019s the promise.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Salvation is not about a set of \u201cbeliefs,\u201d nor it is about \u201cbelieving\u201d because that just means we end up believing in believing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Rather, salvation is the fact that God in Jesus Christ saves us. That\u2019s what it\u2019s about. That he does it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In Romans 1:16 it says: \u201cThe gospel . . . is the power of God for salvation.\u201d That\u2019s what does it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

How does this come to us? \u201cFaith comes by hearing and hearing comes by the preaching of Christ\u201d (Romans 10:17) And \u201cIf we have been united with him in a death like his, we shall certainly be united with him in a resurrection like his\u201d (Romans 6:5).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Salvation is God\u2019s doing. We have then the relief and happiness of being certain, being sure, because it is not up to us to think it right, to do it right. Rather, God does it, he reaches down in his Word and sacraments and rescues us from the abyss, and that\u2019s the great gift which is beyond all price.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Amen<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I Corinthians 8:6; John 16:12-15<\/p>\n

A Sermon for Trinity Sunday based on the Athanasian Creed<\/p>\n

Today is Trinity Sunday, that one Sunday each year when we focus on the fact that God is one and three in one: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. What do we make of this? <\/p>\n

Some have said that the Trinity is like water: it can be like steam, water, ice. <\/p>\n

Or, the Trinity is like a triangle which has three corners but it\u2019s one. <\/p>\n

Or it can be like Augustine, the great early church father said: The Trinity is like the one who loves, the one who is loved, and the loving. <\/p>\n

Select here<\/a> to read more or here <\/a>for a pdf document.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-10776","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/crossalone.us\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10776","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/crossalone.us\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/crossalone.us\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/crossalone.us\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/crossalone.us\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=10776"}],"version-history":[{"count":8,"href":"https:\/\/crossalone.us\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10776\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":10785,"href":"https:\/\/crossalone.us\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10776\/revisions\/10785"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/crossalone.us\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=10776"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/crossalone.us\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=10776"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/crossalone.us\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=10776"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}