The Soleminty of the Most Holy Trinity
Beloved. Today we celebrate the Feast of the Holy Trinity. At its core is the really basic question of all of theology and of all of human longing and searching, “Who is God?” God created in us that longing for fellowship/ communion with Him. People instinctively know there is a God but because of sin we don’t know who that God is. That’s why God had to reveal Himself to us—in the pages of holy Scripture and in a most wonderful way in the person of the Son, Christ Jesus.
God revealed Himself as the holy Triune God: Father, Son and Holy Spirit. That’s what separates Christians from all other religions. Only Christians believe in the Triune God. Other groups like modern day Jews or Moslems, for example, would say that God is Father—but not that He is Father, Son and Holy Spirit. Long story short: it is worthless to say “I believe in God”; the question is: who is that God that you believe in/ put your trust and confidence in? The Christian answers that question with: I believe in the holy Triune God—one God who is three distinct Persons: Father, Son and Holy Spirit. We are not Unitarians—like modern day Jews or Moslems who do not see the Persons of the Godhead; we are not Tritheists who worship 3 gods. No! Christians are Trinitarian—we worship one God who is three distinct and equal Persons: Father, Son and Holy Spirit.
Today holy Church celebrates this great mystery of God with the Feast of the Holy Trinity. Normally the great feast days of the Church celebrate a great event of our salvation—an event which also has deep theology behind it. Think of Christmas, for example. We celebrate the birth of Jesus; God coming into the world to save us from our sin. Along with this is the great doctrine and mystery of the incarnation—God becoming also true man. But think of the doctrine of the Holy Trinity. There is no great work of salvation involved. It just is; God just is. We are not celebrating an event in the life of Christ that leads to our salvation—like Easter or the Ascension; we are celebrating a doctrine, a fact, something that just is. And that’s good! We need to be taught and reminded of this basic doctrine of who the God is that we worship, lest we ever begin to think that all gods are the same, that all religions worship the same god, that we are all on different paths to the same god, that it doesn’t matter what that god is that you worship. No! As the holy Triune God said through the prophet [Is. 42.8]: I am the Lord, that is My name; and My glory I will not give to another. We, dear Christian, worship the holy Triune God, the one true God. All the other gods are not gods at all—at best, they don’t exist; at worst they are demons.
An argument that you will hear is that Christianity “invented” the doctrine of the Trinity; that it isn’t in the Old Testament. But that is completely false. To be sure, the words “Trinity” or “Triune” are not in Scripture. Instead, they are words used to describe the doctrine of one God and yet three Persons. The doctrine, though, is found in both Old and New Testament. It may be more subtle in the OT but it is there. In the Gospel we have Jesus specifically naming the Persons of the Godhead: “Make disciples by baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.” But the doctrine of the Trinity is subtly there already in the first verse of the Bible. In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. What is fascinating is that the word “God” in Hebrew is plural, more than one; but the verb is singular—one doing the action. Very subtle! Then the next verse has “the Spirit of God.” And then later on in the creation account, we have a conversation recorded between the persons of the Trinity: Then God said, “Let Us make man in our image, after Our likeness.” Notice the Us and the Our—and it’s the same plural subject, singular verb like we had before. Here are the persons of the Trinity involved in a conversation about the creation of humanity. There are other examples of these conversations between the Persons of the Holy Trinity being recorded in Scripture. In his Pentecost sermon, St. Peter refers to the psalm of St. David in which David records the Father speaking to the Son: “The Lord said to my Lord, ‘Sit at My right hand…’” Again, some of these OT references to the Trinity may be subtle; some not so subtle. But the doctrine of the Trinity is no invention of the Church but it is throughout Scripture.
Our text today, is a part of St. Peter’s Pentecost sermon. The very beginning of his sermon we heard last week on Pentecost. As we examine today a small portion of this sermon, we will see that the Triune God is the God of our salvation as all three Persons of the Holy Trinity work together for our salvation.
Remember what we heard earlier—that the Triune God took counsel together for the creation of humanity. Then God said, “Let Us make man in our image, after Our likeness.” And then what do we read? So God created man in His own image, in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them. Notice the repetition of God creating us in His image. What joy He must have had in our creation! —a joy that’s not there with the other creatures; only with people, the crown jewel of the creation. That’s another reason why Christians are pro-life; we see the value and dignity of every human life—no matter at what stage—a life that is far more valuable than a tree or squirrel. Luther remarks at this joy of God over His creation of humanity: Undoubtedly, this, too, is true: just as God at that time had pleasure and delight in His counsel and work of the creation of man, so also today He has pleasure and love in restoring once again, through His Son and our Redeemer Christ, the lost perfection of His work [Wegweiser, 128]. All three Persons of the Trinity were involved in the work of our salvation. Our text: This Jesus God raised up, and of that we all are witnesses. Being therefore exalted at the right hand of God, and having received from the Father the promise of the Holy Spirit, He has poured out this that you yourselves are seeing and hearing. Here the Father raises from the dead, the Son, Jesus; and now, Jesus, the Son, at the right hand of the Father, gives the Holy Spirit so that we may be brought to faith in Jesus as our Savior and receive the fruits and blessings of His saving work—forgiveness of sins and eternal life.
When it comes to our salvation, we naturally think of Jesus, the Son, the Second Person of the Trinity. It was He who also became man, a true human being; it was He who was born of the Virgin. It was He who lived a holy sinless life for us. It was He who took all our sins on Himself. It was He who suffered and died on the cross for our sins. Yes, Jesus is the eternal Son of God—equal to the Father in power, majesty and glory. After the work for our salvation was done, Jesus returned to heaven, returned to the right hand of the Father; He ascended to where He was before [Jn 6.62] and was crowned with glory and honor [Hb 2.9]. Although Jesus is the eternal Son of God, during His earthly life His glory and majesty were covered by His humanity and hidden under much weakness. But with His resurrection, the Father made it clear for all to see who exactly Jesus is. St. Peter preaches in our text: Let all the house of Israel therefore know for certain that God has made Him both Lord and Christ, this Jesus whom you crucified.
When it comes to our salvation, what is so wondrous is that Jesus is both the eternal God and at a certain point in history became also true man, one of us, born of Mary. So when we see here Jesus being raised from the dead and ascending into heaven and ruling all things in heaven and earth, it is not just Jesus, true God. It is Jesus, the God-man. In other words, Jesus’ human nature is being exalted with the ascension and ruling; as God, the Son, the Second Person of the holy Trinity, Jesus was already eternally exalted with infinite majesty and power. Our text: For David did not ascend into the heavens, but he himself says, “The Lord said to my Lord, Sit at my right hand, until I make your enemies your footstool.” The Lord—the Father—didn’t say this to the Lord—the Son—as the 2nd Person of the Trinity; —He already was eternally exercising divine power and majesty. He said it to the Son as man. Jesus, also in His human nature was exalted/ raised up to rule forever with divine majesty and might. What joy and delight God must have in us that He Himself became one of us in order to save us and to restore to us our lost dignity and perfection! Now we see that in Jesus man has been raised from the dead and man is in heaven. Where Jesus has gone, His dear Christians will one day go as well. We will one day be with our Lord soul and body in heaven.
Let all the house of Israel therefore know for certain that God has made Him both Lord and Christ, this Jesus whom you crucified. By the resurrection, the Father made it clear for all the world to see that Jesus, the Son, is indeed the Lord and Christ. What was man’s verdict on Jesus? – This Jesus whom you crucified. But what His verdict on Jesus? What was the Father’s verdict on His Son? He overturned man’s verdict: God has made Him both Lord and Christ. By the resurrection, the Father was clearly revealing Jesus’ status, that Jesus the God-man, is both Lord and Christ. The Father revealed Jesus as Lord—that is, as the true God, the God of divine power and majesty. But going back to the OT, Lord is also God’s personal name and that means a God of mercy, who loves and reveals Himself as their Savior. And that is also picked up in the word/ title Christ—or anointed one, Messiah. As the long expected Messiah, Jesus is the One who would save us from our sins. By raising Him from the dead, the Father was saying, “Jesus is My Son; He is the long awaited Messiah whom I promised would come and destroy the devil and all his works, who would take away the sins of the world. By His holy life and innocent suffering and death, He made the perfect sacrifice for sin—and see I accepted it; I raised Him from the dead!” By Jesus being both Lord and Christ, He is the only hope for us sinners! –So declares God the Father!
St. Peter in our text: This Jesus God raised up, and of that we all are witnesses. Being therefore exalted at the right hand of God, and having received from the Father the promise of the Holy Spirit, He has poured out this that you yourselves are seeing and hearing. Remember, St. Peter is preaching this on the first Pentecost: the crowds were gathered having heard the sound like a rushing mighty wind; they saw tongues like flames of fire on the heads of the disciples; these people from all over the world heard the disciples preaching in their own native language. That’s what they were seeing and hearing that day. The fact that all this is going on means that the Holy Spirit has come upon the Church with all His gifts. And why was it that the Holy Spirit came that day—and still continues to come to us today? –Because the resurrected and ascended Jesus, in heaven, at the right hand of the Father sends Him. Now, with the work of salvation completed, Jesus sends the Holy Spirit to bring to people all the gifts and blessings He won for. The Holy Spirit, sent by Christ, works through the word and sacraments to create faith—faith that receives and makes our very own that forgiveness of sin, eternal life, peace with God, etc. By the Holy Spirit’s work, we then confess this crucified Jesus as the/ our Lord and Christ. The Holy Spirit, whom He sends gives us life and teaches us to know the true God aright: to know the holy Triune God—Father Son and Holy Spirit—the only true God and our Savior, who delights in and has saved us. INJ