Evangelical and Catholic:
the Sunday Liturgy
of the
Lutheran Church
(PDF File)
What About
Kneeling? 		The Sign
of the Cross 		"catholic"
Worship
The Real Presence
of Christ in
the Sacrament 		Bowing What is, and Why use,
the Historic Liturgy
On Turning Together
Toward the Lord 		The Most Holy
Trinity 		Reverence and
Preparation
The Most Holy Trinity

While the understanding of God the Holy Trinity is considered at best elusive and at worst, confusing, this need not be so, when one looks with the eyes of faith to see the Triune God on every page of Holy Scripture—in both Old and New Testaments! Of course, the most obvious and direct reference is found in Matthew 28, where our Lord Jesus Christ himself commissions his followers saying, "Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, the Son, and of the Holy Spirit…" There could be no more specific reference to the one God in three persons than here, where Jesus expressly gives the divine name in which the Church is to baptize, incorporating new believers into the Body of Christ, and so the "Holy Communion".

Just as specific, although explaining the interrelatedness and interrelationship of the Triune God are Jesus' words known as the "Farewell Discourses" in John's gospel (chapters 14-17). Whereas the synoptic gospels (Mt, Mk, Lk) present Jesus' words and life in much more biographical, historical detail, John records Jesus' words which provide meaning and understanding to the events of his life. The synoptic ("seeing-together") gospels, broadly speaking, proclaim what happened and how it happened—John proclaims why it happened and what it means. In the Farewell Discourses, we learn from Jesus himself that He will be arrested, crucified, and raised on the third day. He goes on to explain, however, that this means the Father will send the Holy Spirit to the Church, to be our Advocate, Counselor and Guide, once Jesus has risen and ascended. Jesus then prays for His Church, asking the Father to protect, defend and unify her, that we may be one, even as the Father, the Son, and the Spirit are one. The Farewell Discourses, then, present the Divine Godhead itself, as a "Holy Communion" of three persons in one being, even as the Church is to be a Holy Communion of many persons, in the one Body of Christ.

In much the same way, we see the Holy Trinity throughout the Old Testament as each of the divine persons are at work and visible, ever-present, interrelated, though not presented in a developed, fully revealed godhead as in the New Testament when the Son, himself, enlightens believers regarding the reality of God in three persons. And where do we see the Holy Trinity in the Old Testament?

Of course, at the very beginning, at the moment of creation, the Spirit of God is moving over the face of the watery deep—chaos. The word for "Spirit" in Hebrew is also translated "wind" and "breath". In this sense, the unity of the Holy Trinity is manifested as God is present as "Spirit" and "Breath"—-the "Word" of God by which creation takes place, as God speaks His Word and chaos is ordered. This breath of God is the mind, will and intellect/intention of God that is revealed in the Gospel of John as the "Logos"—the very Word of God present at creation—without which nothing was made that was made. John writes, "In the beginning was the Word and the Word was with God and the Word was God…" On the first page of the book of Genesis, the first page of the canonical Old Testament, the fullness of the Holy Trinity is present, though not yet fully revealed.

Later in the book of Genesis, we see Jesus' sacrifice on the cross "introduced" and prefigured by Abraham's willingness to sacrifice his son, Isaac. In this instance, however, God stays the hand (and knife) of Abraham—effectively putting an end to human sacrifice among the Hebrews, until the once-for-all sacrifice of God's own Son, Jesus, on the cross to be the expiation, the payment for all human sin. We describe the pending sacrifice of Isaac as a "type"—for the sacrifice of Jesus on the cross, and prepares later generations for what was to come on Good Friday. In this way, we clearly see the Holy Trinity in Genesis, as presented in the typology of Abraham and his son, Isaac.

We also see Jesus clearly prefigured in the "suffering servant" songs of Isaiah, as He is described there as bearing our sins and iniquities, and "with his stripes we are healed". In the fullness of the canon of Scripture, Christians see God—Father, Son, and Holy Spirit revealed, albeit not with the fullness of revelation provided by God the Son Himself, in the New Testament.

And what more must be said in this brief treatise about the Holy Trinity—this complex and in some ways confusing divine godhead that is one-in-three and three-in-one? We must point out that our almighty God, desiring not to be thought of or perceived as abstract, distant, or "mere philosophy", chose to become human, to become one-with-us—to be not a god far-off, but Emmanuel—God with us. To keep from being a "doctrine", the great God incarnate Himself fully in the Son, Jesus of Nazareth, born of Mary, conceived of the Holy Spirit to be in one being both God and man—divine and human. Now, we need no longer be troubled by the mystery of the Triune God—for the mystery is Christ among us (Ephesians 3)—God with us, not watching from a distance, not God who set the world in motion then returned to a heavenly throne to be entertained, but God intimately involved with us, walking with us, guiding us, consoling us and comforting us—by His presence, bringing us peace... a peace that surpasses all human understanding. For, as Jesus in Matthew 28 commands us and instructs us to baptize, to make disciples in no name other than the divine name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, at the same time He promises us that in Him, this God will be with us forever, saying, "And lo, I am with you always..."

This Triune God, this Holy Trinity is worthy of our utmost praise, worship, respect and reverence! This is why it is appropriate to bow at the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, and why we use it only for "prayer, praise and thanksgiving" as Luther states in the Small Catechism. The Triune Name of God is the only name by which people must be saved, and so we treat God's name with the greatest care and awe!