Today, I would like to take a moment to reflect on the truth of the Trinity and what heresies try to undermine this beautiful truth. May this understanding of who our God is cause us to praise and glorify him all the more.
First of all, God is a triune God. When we say that He is a triune God, we are speaking about the fact that He is one essence or being, but three in person: The Father, The Son, and The Holy Spirit. The three persons are all co-equal, and they are all fully God (divine). The understanding of the Trinity is that the Father begets the Son, and the Holy Spirit proceeds from the Father and the Son. Each person, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, has His own work which is for the good of the others in the Trinity. It is important to note that although we can try to understand this truth, there is still a great mystery regarding the Trinity. However, this does not give us cause to question it, but to marvel and praise God for who He is that even our finite brains cannot fully comprehend Him.
Next, for us to appropriately view the Trinity and the truths surrounding it, I want to lay out some heresies that attack this beautiful truth so that we are always on guard and watchful of them creeping into our homes and minds.
The first one of these heresies is Modalism. This heresy says that the three members of the Trinity – Father, Son, and Holy Spirit – are not three distinct persons. This belief sees them instead as three different modes. These modes are three different manifestations of God, as if he were wearing a mask and changing his mask to play a different role. Another analogy is like throwing all three persons of the Trinity into a blender. God is seen to move from one mode to another. This is wrong as it takes away from the distinct persons of Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, and the work that each person does within the Trinity.
The second heresy that we need to be careful to avoid is Tritheism. Tritheism is a heresy that says each person of the Trinity is a distinct god (deity). This also makes it appear that there is a fourth God, seemingly God himself along with the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. This would be idolatry as it would be in a belief of more than one God. Believing in Tritheism is a breaking of the first commandment of the Law of God which commands us to have no other gods before Him. I hope that as I briefly touched on reminding you about the truth of the Trinity, that you have a renewed love for God and how great He is.
Written by: Kierra Hauck
Young Calvinists 