Grace Evangelical-Lutheran: Romans 11,33-36. Holy Trinity

Saturday, June 18, 2022

Romans 11,33-36. Holy Trinity

Romans 11,33-36 3222

Trinitatis 46

The Council of Nicaea, 325

Onuphrius, hermit in the Thebais 404
Basilides and companions, Martyrs at Rome 303

12. Juni 2022

1. ℣ Blessed be the Holy Trinity and the Undivided Unity:

℟ Let us give glory to Him because He hath shown His mercy to us (Liturgical Text).

O God, the Father, Son and Holy Spirit, Thou Fountain of blessings that flows forever: flow forever through our hearts, minds and bodies, so that we richly praise You for Your blessings. Amen. (Brunn alles Heils, dich ehren wir elkg 474,5 2021 Gerhard Tersteegen 1745).

2. »O the depth of the riches and wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are His judgments and how inscrutable His ways! For who has known the mind of the Lord, or who has been His counselor? [Job 15,8; Isaiah 40,13] Or who has given a gift to Him so that He might be repaid? [Job 41,11] For from Him and through Him and to Him are all things. To Him be glory forever. Amen.«

3. The Trinity shows up throughout the pages of Holy Scripture. Some instances are explicit: Jesus told us to baptize in the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit (Matthew 28,19). Paul writes in his Roman epistle: »Paul, a servant of Christ Jesus, called to be an apostle, set apart for the gospel of God, which He promised beforehand through His prophets in the Holy Scriptures, concerning His Son, who was descended from David according to the flesh and was declared to be the Son of God in power according to the Spirit of holiness by His resurrection from the dead, Jesus Christ our Lord« (Romans 1,1-4). Other instances are less explicit: Holy, holy, holy is Yahweh Sabaoth; the whole earth is full of His Glory (Isaiah 6,3). And as we already heard from Paul: O the depth of the riches and wisdom and knowledge of God. The explicit reference to the Trinity names the 3 Persons of the Trinity, as Jesus and Paul do; the less explicit uses a triple adjective or attribute of God, as Isaiah and Paul do.

4. The Athanasian Creed employs both usages, summarized in lines 10-11 and 15-16: the Father eternal, the Son eternal the Holy Spirit eternal. And yet there are not three Eternals, but one Eternal. So the Father is God, the Son is God, the Holy Spirit is God; and yet there are not 3 Gods, but 1 God. The Creed confesses that this Triune God is the confession of the catholic faith. This means every true local church confesses this God; it is a universal confession of the Church. If you desire to be saved, then you must think thus about God (26). There is no wiggle room here: there is the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit; these 3 Persons are 1 God. To confess this is to be the Church, but to reject is is to not be the Church.

5. But humans revel in wiggle room. If we can find a way to obfuscate something, then we will. Throughout the history of the Church, there have been Christians who pursued different doctrines not supported by the Scriptures. Arius didn’t believe that Jesus was eternally God, so he said Jesus is the first creation of God. In his poem Thalia, Arius taught:

He [the Father] who is without beginning made the Son a beginning of created things.

He produced him as a son for himself by begetting him.

He [the son] has none of the distinct characteristics of God’s own being

For he is not equal to, nor is he of the same being as him (Arius, Thalia).

You can see where this eventually leads: Jesus is powerful, but since He is not of the same Divine Essence and Nature of the Father, then the whole redemption of humanity is in doubt because maybe Jesus wasn’t able to truly be the sacrifice for all people. In response to Arius, the Church wrote the Nicene and Athanasian Creeds, and it is why we confess them still 1700 years after Arius’ heresy.

6. Christianity is grounded upon certainty, and that certainty is established by Christ. The Creeds teach that Christ suffered, died and rose for us and our redemption. The Athanasian Creed boldly acclaims that salvation is grounded upon the confession that there is only One God who is comprised of the Persons of Father, Son and Holy Spirit. This 2. Person known as the Son of God is Jesus Christ, and He is the only way unto eternal life and salvation. In Christ alone are true riches, wisdom and knowledge. Jesus is God the Father’s redeemer for fallen humanity. The Holy Spirit creates and sustains faith in this Redeemer.

7. We worship this Triune God who has worked out our redemption from all sin and brought us eternal life and salvation. God the Father sent His Son Jesus Christ into this fallen world. The Son of God merited the world’s salvation by suffering, dying and rising again. The Holy Spirit is sent by the Son and proceeds from the Father (John 15,26), speaks through the prophetic and apostolic Scriptures, and through these Scriptures reminds us of all that Christ has done and said. In this we confess and rejoice in the riches, wisdom and knowledge that is the Triune God’s Glory, a Glory He has revealed to us in Jesus Christ, the Son of God.

8. There is no division and no degree in the Divine Essence, but to each Person the whole Divine Essence belongs without division; likewise there is no division and no difference of degree with regard to the Divine attributes, the Divine works and the Divine worship (Pieper I,464). The Godhead of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit is one: the Glory equal, the Majesty coeternal (6).

9. I bind unto myself the Name,

The Strong Name of the Trinity

By invocation of the same,

The Three in One and One in Three,

Of whom all nature has creation,

Eternal Father, Spirit, Word.

Praise to the Lord

of my salvation;

Salvation is of Christ the Lord (I Bind unto Myself Today Patrick c. 373-466 lsb 604,5)

This is most certainly true.

10. The peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus (Philippines 4,7). Amen.

11. Let us pray. O Almighty and Eternal God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit, You have shown us the abundance of Your grace. First, Eternal Father, You created the whole world, and made us in Your image. You, Eternal Son of God, became fully human for us, and carried our sins to the cross. And You, Eternal Holy Spirit, from eternity You proceed from the Father and Son to give us faith and make us holy through the holy gospel. One, Eternal, Almighty God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit, uphold us in the true confession of Your Name and in the true faith throughout our lives, and forever bless as in Your grace. Amen. (Die pommersche Kirchen-Ordnung und Agenda 292,2; Stratman 50).

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 28. Revised Edition © 2012 by Deutsch Bibelgesellschaft, Stuttgart.

Grace Evangelical-Lutheran

Grace Evangelical Lutheran Church

Saturday, June 18, 2022

Romans 11,33-36. Holy Trinity

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