Trinity Sunday 2025
Messenger Dox
Call to worship:
OT:
pastor zachary mcguire
Genesis 1.1-3
NT:
pastor bobby owens
Matthew 3.13-17
song:
Grace Alone
Historical reading:
pastor andrew loginow
Athanasian Creed
song:
Holy Holy Holy
Confession & Pardon:
dr. brett eckel
song:
How Deep the Father’s Love
Sermon:
dr. alex loginow
Trinity 2025
Introduction
You know what I wonder sometimes: am I boring? Or how boring am I? Sometimes I’m talking to people, and I can see them start to get bored – they begin looking around, glancing at their phone. Sometimes someone will ask me a question and then as I’m answering their question that they asked, I watch them get disinterested or distracted right in front of my eyes.
Like fish in water, we’re all immersed in a culture that is bored to death. Our attention spans, our self-discipline has been reshaped and re-catechized by the bite size media we consume – scrolling social, TikTok’s, snaps; we’ve been trained to glance posts or scan articles, who has the attention span to read a book anymore? We rapidly inhale clips or shows, who has time to watch an entire film anymore? Who has time to look someone in the eye and have a conversation anymore when we might be missing something on our phone!
Our undisciplined attention spans are magnified even more when we consider theology, the study of God. I know some of you are theology nerds, but that is not true of American Evangelicalism at large. The disinterest in studying, learning, knowing theology has created an American Christianity that is joyfully ignorant at best and heretical at worst. In 2022 Ligonier partnered with Lifeway to release their semi-annual State of Theology survey; listen to the result of question 2 – they asked self-identifying Evangelicals: true or false; there is 1 true God in 3 persons: God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit? Only 54% of self-identifying Evangelicals said they strongly agree with this statement. That means of the self-identifying Evangelicals surveyed 46% said they did not strongly agree with orthodox Christianity!
You guys understand, this is heresy, like this is heresy 101. I’m not saying 46% of American Christians are thoughtful heretics. But the problem is there is a lack of self-discipline, there is a boredom with knowing God, with learning, with studying, with understanding theology – the study of God – that has infected American Christianity and the result is heresy. That’s why a day like today on the church calendar, Trinity Sunday, is so helpful, so necessary.
Most people believe heresy about the Trinity because of ignorance, but others do because of poor theology and poor hermeneutics. And that’s why we need Scriptures like Galatians 4.1-7. Scholars contend that either James or Galatians was probably the 1st New Testament book written so it’s almost certain that Galatians was the oldest Pauline epistle. That means this pericope is most likely the oldest Scripture we have clearly revealing the 3 persons of the Holy Trinity. Of course, the Trinity is all over the Old Testament, but the types and shadows in the Old are clearly revealed in the New Testament, so here we find probably the oldest Scripture naming the Father, Son, and Spirit.
One God in Three Persons
This orthodox trinitarian vocabulary is revealed in verses 4 and 6. Verse 4 says that God sent His Son and then verse 6 says God sent the Spirit of His Son. The Holy Trinity begins with God the Father. The study of God the Father is called Patriology, or Paterology, and is a subset of Theology Proper and we need to have a proper Theology Proper. In the New Testament the word God (θεὸς) can either refer to the Trinity in total – the 1 true and living God – or it can refer specifically to God the Father. How do we know then which is which? The answer is context; what does the immediate context suggest? And here θεὸς clearly means God the Father.
He is the 1st person of the Holy Trinity, God the Father who sent His Son. The Son is the 2nd person of the Holy Trinity. The Father sends and the Son was sent. The Son was sent by the Father to accomplish the plan of redemption. Verse 6 reveals the 3rd person of the Holy Trinity, the Holy Spirit. After the ascension of Christ, the Spirit was sent at Pentecost, which we celebrated last week.
This is the true and living God – 1 God; 3 persons: the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. This is how God has revealed himself to us. To deny the Trinity is heresy; it is outside the bounds of Christianity. We must confess and not deny the Holy Trinity. This is important because to love and worship and obey God we must know who God is as He’s revealed Himself in Scripture. Every single heresy, every single cult, every single false religion and idolatry stems from a wrong view of the Trinity. If you feel like you have a hard time understanding the Trinity or seeing why you should care about the Trinity, I would suggest you pray; ask God to reveal Himself clearly in the Bible to you and then humble yourself to the Word and if you do that, God will show you Himself in His Word.
Slaves before Sons
Of course, the problem is not with God, it is with us. Our misunderstanding, or neglect, or boredom with God stems from the universal human problem – sin. Paul speaks to this in verses 1-3. If you’ve come to Shane’s class this summer, the setting for Galatians will be fresh on your mind. Paul wrote this strong letter to the Galatian church because the church had abandoned the gospel. A group called Judaizers were teaching that the gospel of Jesus was insufficient to save sinners, but that Christians also needed to keep the Law to be saved, specifically the old covenant practice of circumcision.
In this pericope St. Paul illustrates the gospel with an analogy that this 1st century audience would have understood clearly. In their culture a wealthy orphan son would not have immediate access to his inheritance. The inheritance belonged to him and no one else, but the orphan’s inheritance was under the administration of guardians and managers until the time set by his father. So even though the inheritance was rightfully the son’s, the son functioned like a slave until that time. In practice he had no more inheritance than a slave.
In the same way, before Christ we were enslaved to the elementary principles of the world. Paul uses the phrase again in verse 9:
But now that you have come to know God, or rather to be known by God, how can you turn back again to the weak and worthless elementary principles of the world, whose slaves you want to be once more?
Paul also uses the phrase in Colossians 2.8 and 20. What are the elementary principles of the world, the στοιχεῖα τοῦ κόσμου? The Greek word translated elementary principles is στοιχεῖα; it means,
“basic principles which underlie the nature of something—‘basic principles, elementary concepts’…. In some languages it may be extremely difficult to find the lexical equivalents….In Greek this represents highly generic vocabulary, and in many languages the closest equivalent is ‘how to understand the simple truths.’”
Christian scholars seem to hold to 1 of 3 different views on what this means:
Elements as the material components of the universe: Ancient cultures like the Greco-Roman culture of the 1st century believed the world was made up of 4 material components: earth, air, fire, and water. They identified with these material components as gods. In this view Paul is emphasizing the sovereignty of Jesus over the world because of His death and resurrection.
Elements as spiritual powers: Elementary principles are demonic beings given a limit of control over the world. Before Christ these demonic spiritual forces had more control, but after the Christ event, they’re influence is greatly diminished, especially over the church, though still present.
Elements as basic principles: “Etymologically στοιχεῖα (from the root word στοιχος, a military term meaning “row,” “rank”) refers to things that belong together in a series, essential ingredients, basic components such as soldiers in a platoon, degrees on a sundial, or letters of the alphabet.” Here Paul refers to the natural or tangible philosophies or practices that governed faith and practice.
Considering the context, both in Galatians and Colossians, number 3 seems to fit the best. In Galatians Paul rebukes the church for being “bewitched” into adding ceremonial aspects of the Law, again, namely circumcision, as a requirement to salvation, adding this practice to faith alone in the gospel of Jesus. In Galatians 3.9 the elementary principles are tied to observing ceremonial days required in the old covenant. The gentiles in Galatia were formerly enslaved to the elementary principles of paganism, worshipping the creation or false gods; the Jews in Galatia were enslaved to the tangible elements or practices of the Law that was meant to be a guardian, not a savior.
And the truth is apart from Jesus, we’re all enslaved to sin. We all inherit Adam’s sin and so we all practice sin in thought, word, and deed, by what we do and by what we leave undone. We do not love God with our whole heart; we do not love our neighbors as ourselves. We’re all guilty of breaking the God’s Law and so we all justly deserve eternal conscious punishment in hell.
Adopted in the Gospel
That truth is scary and humbling; terrifying and dark. Is there any relief from this slavery? Is there any hope in this despair? Like St. Paul does often in his epistles, he shines light in the darkness with the 1st word of verse 4: but (Greek: the postpositive δὲ). We were enslaved…
But when the fullness of time had come, God sent forth his Son, born of woman, born under the law, to redeem those who were under the law, so that we might receive adoption as sons.
But when the fullness of time (πλήρωμα τοῦ χρόνου) had come. What a strong and beautiful declaration of the providence of God! From His creation of the world until the advent of Christ everything was unfolding exactly as God ordained to tell His story, to progressively unfold His revelation until the fullness of time, until the chronology overflowed. And at the divinely ordained moment, what happened?
God sent His Son, born of woman. Genesis 3.15 fulfilled – the seed of the woman. But He is not merely a man; no, He is God incarnate. Truly God and truly man; the Word who was in the beginning with God and who was God who became flesh and dwelt among us (John 1.1-2, 14); the sent Son of God born of woman.
And this incarnate Son of God, whose name is Jesus, was born under Law to redeem those under the Law. Jesus was born to fulfill what the Law had promised, and Jesus kept the Law perfectly. Jesus kept the Law in thought, word, and deed, by what He did, never leaving anything undone. Jesus loved God with His whole heart; Jesus loved His neighbor as Himself.
Jesus redeemed us from the curse of sin by keeping the Law in our place, dying on the cross in our place – bearing the wrath of God and enduring the curse of death. And then Jesus redeemed us by taking dominion of death by His resurrection. It is through this gospel, this good news that we are adopted as sons into God’s family. And because we’re adopted into God’s family, the 3rd person of the Holy Trinity, the Holy Spirit is sent into our hearts crying, “Abba Father.”
אַבָּא is the Aramaic word for father, and it is an endearing, personal term that became a liturgical term for the early Christians because Jesus spoke Aramaic colloquially and so when He prayed the Lord’s Prayer, Abba is what He said. Because we’re united to Christ by faith and because the Holy Spirit resides in us now, we can genuinely pray, “Our Father in heaven…” Through the gospel we are no longer slaves, but sons, and if we are sons, then we are heirs. We are heirs of eternal life; we are heirs of the righteousness of Christ; we are heirs of living forever under the blessing and rule of God.
Galatians 4 reveals to us that salvation is a trinitarian work. Just as we see in other passages like Ephesians 1, all 3 persons of the Godhead work in salvation. The Father elected every individual believer before the creation of the world. Jesus the Son redeemed the elect through His life, death, and resurrection. The Holy Spirit regenerates enslaved hearts and then indwells every Christian, persevering in us.
And the means by which we receive this adoption is through faith. If the Father has elected you, you will be untied to Jesus by the regeneration and indwelling of the Holy Spirit. The result is you will repent and believe. God gives you the gift of faith, meaning you know the good news of Jesus – you know that God is holy, you are a sinner, and that Jesus’ life, death, and resurrection is your only hope for forgiveness of sin and eternal life. Not only do you know the gospel, but you assent to it; you agree with it; you confess it and don’t deny it. And you transfer your trust to Jesus alone; you rest in His work on your behalf.
And if you have received the gift of faith, you repent of your sin. You humble yourself. You confess your sin. You turn from your sin.
On this Trinity Sunday the message of Galatians is the same message to Christ Community Church – don’t go back! Don’t be bewitched! Don’t add to the gospel. Your self-righteousness falls short of the glory of the gospel. Your good works are filthy rags. There is nothing you can say or do that is righteous enough to earn God’s favor. Jesus and Jesus alone is your only hope.
Conclusion
This has been God’s plan since before the dawn of time. The Father has elected a people for himself. He sent His only begotten Son so that whoever believes in Him will not perish but have eternal life. Those who have been elected by the Father and redeemed by the Son are sealed by the Holy Spirit through regeneration and indwelling resulting in faith and repentance. I may be boring, but that’s not boring. The gospel is not boring; God is not boring; the Trinity is not boring.
Happy Trinity Sunday!