Ephesians 1,3-14. Holy Trinity Sunday

✠ One Message: Christ crucified and risen for you ✠

The Word of the Lord Endures Forever 

se cwide þæs béaggiefan ábireþ ferhþ

Ephesians 1,3-14  3018

Trinitatis 045 

The Venerable Bede, Pastor, 26. May 735 

27. Mai 2018 

1. О Holy Lord of hosts, the whole earth is filled with Your Glory, strengthen our faith in You and let us cling so firmly to Your Word so that even the gates of hades shall not be able to prevail against our faith in You (Starck 107.108).  Amen.  

2. »Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places, even as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, so that we should be holy and blameless before Him. In love He predestined us for adoption as sons through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of His will, to the praise of His glorious grace, with which He has blessed us in the Beloved. In Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of His grace, which He lavished upon us, in all wisdom and insight making known to us the mystery of His will, according to His purpose, which He set forth in Christ as a plan for the fullness of time, to unite all things in Him, things in heaven and things on earth. In Him we have obtained an inheritance, having been predestined according to the purpose of Him who works all things according to the counsel of His will, so that we who were the first to hope in Christ might be to the praise of His Glory. In Him you also, when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, and believed in Him, were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit, who is the guarantee of our inheritance until we acquire possession of it, to the praise of His Glory.«   

3. Each Sunday, we confess the Triune God; this confession is particularly done when we confess one of the 3 Great Western Creeds. Just as every Sunday is a little Easter celebration, so too is every Sunday a little Trinity celebration through the Creeds we affirm, the hymns we sing and the prayers we speak. There are even Scripture pericopes that speak of the Trinity, such as the baptism of Jesus where the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit are all present and revealed. The Apostle Paul’s Epistle to the Ephesians is another Biblical text that teaches the Triune God: »Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ … in Him you also, when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, and believed in Him, were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit.« The confession that the Father, Son and Holy Spirit are 3 Persons in 1 God is traced back to the very apostles. Numerous creeds that span 2000 years affirm the apostolic teaching of the Triune God. The Western Church traditionally and historically uses 3 of these creeds in the liturgy: the Nicene Creed, the Apostles’ Creed and the Athanasian Creed. The Nicene Creed was written in 325 and amended in 381 with a full article on the Holy Spirit rather than the simple and original „We believe in the Holy Spirit.“, The Apostles’ Creed was written in 390 and the Athanasian Creed 100 years later in 490. 

4. The Christian faith confesses that there is 1 God who is comprised of 3 Persons, namely the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit are 3 Distinct Persons who together are 1 God. This confession separates Christianity from every religion in the world, where there are religions that have a pantheon of gods and goddesses, such as the ancient Greeks and Romans are well-known for, and there are religions that have only 1 god comprised of 1 person, the father, such as modern Judaism and Islam are well-known for. 

5. It may be difficult to grasp the concept of the Trinity, but throughout the millennia the Church has offered up simple examples, such as the triangle and the three-leaf clover, to help us visualize what we confess about the Trinity; another example is found in the writings of the Apostle Paul: »Now may the God of peace Himself sanctify you completely, and may your whole spirit, soul and body be kept blameless at the advent of our Lord Jesus Christ« (1. Thessalonians 5,23). »For the word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and spirit« (Hebrews 4,12). The Holy Scriptures teach that just as God is Triune, so too is the human being, for we are created in the image and likeness of God (Genesis 1,26). 

6. The Triune God created men and women to share a strong bond between the Creator and the creature. So it should be no surprise that the Triune God manifested this fellowship through the 2. Person of the Deity, who is Jesus Christ the Son of God. In Christ, God took up human nature with a real flesh and a physical body. The Book of Genesis tells us that God took walks in the Garden of Eden in the cool of the day as He conversed with Adam and Eve (Genesis 3,8). Adam’s fall into sin ended that daily fellowship between God and man, but God would still appear and converse with particular people throughout the Holy Scriptures. In Christ, God entered our time and space as both God and man; He did so to reestablish a more consistent fellowship with men and women and to free them from sin and the curse. If you would see God, behold His glory and know His will, then look to Jesus who is the Word and Wisdom of the Triune God. Christ brings us God’s mercy, forgiveness and eternal life. It is the will of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit to redeem fallen men and women, for in Christ Jesus the Triune God has indeed redeemed us and the entire world. The Athanasian Creed states this very beautifully: „It is necessary for everlasting salvation that one faithfully believe the incarnation of our Lord Jesus Christ, who suffered for our salvation, descended into hell, rose again the third day from the dead, ascended into heaven and is seated at the right hand of the Father, God Almighty, from whence He will return to judge the living and the dead“ (Athanasian Creed LSB 320,27.36-37). »The promised Holy Spirit is the guarantee of our inheritance until we acquire possession of it.«.  Amen.

7. Let us pray. O Triune God, Your deeds are mighty and Your Glory great; keep us steadfast in our confession of You so that we may glorify Your Holy Name.  Amen. 

To God alone be the Glory 

Gode ealdore sy se cyneþrymm

✠

All Scriptural quotations are translations done by The Rev. Peter A. Bauernfeind using the Biblia Hebraica Stuttgartensia, 4. Edition © 1990 by the Deutsche Bibelgesellschaft, Stuttgart, and the Novum Testamentum Graece, Nestle-Aland 27. Edition © 1993 by Deutsch Bibelgesellschaft, Stuttgart. 

ELKB. Evangelisch-Lutherische Kirche in Bayern. www.bayern-evangelisch.de/www/index.php. Copyright © 2013 Evangelisch-Lutherische Kirche in Bayern. 

The Sunday Sermons of the Great Fathers, Vol. 4. © 1963 Henry Regnery Co. 

VELKD. Vereinigte Evangelisch-Lutherische Kirche Deutschlands. www.velkd.de. Copyright © 2013 Vereinigte Evangelisch-Lutherische Kirche Deutschlands. 

The Athanasian Creed. Lutheran Service Book. Copyright © 2006 Concordia Publishing House.