A triune Godhead

Андре́й Рублёв

The Christian faith in God as a triune Godhead¹ is not a result of theological speculations but has developed from a wish to describe the Christian experience of God. You will not find the trinity as a theological term in the New Testament, but the book is filled with examples of how the Christians experienced God as one and at the same time three distinct persons.

To explain the experience of a mysterious God will always be limited by the fact that we are using human expressions in a spiritual realm. These limitations are clearly expressed by Paul: 

“For now we see in a mirror, darkly, but then face to face: now I know in part, but then shall I know fully…” 1. Cor. 13:12 

I think this also applies to the doctrine of the trinity. At the same time, I like this way of explaining the Godhead – it is a beautiful picture of unity, integration and love – an image in which we ourselves are created.

The Russian monk and icon-painter Andrei Rublev (Андре́й Рублёв) who lived in the Sergej Posad monastery (1360 til 1427) was captured by a great desire to portray the trinity. He went into a 40 days-period of fasting and the Spirit revealed to him the story about the three men visiting Abraham in Mamre with the message that he should have a son. Like in an ecstasy he painted one of the most famous icons in the world: Abraham experienced a visitation of the Father, The Son and The Holy Spirit. About this biblical incident Ambrosias of Milan writes: “In his guests he saw three but worshiped one!”

Another of the church-fathers, Thomas Aquinas, expressed a thought which I believe is very true: How we explain the creation is not irrelevant for our understanding of the Creator. I think it is difficult for the human intellect to grasp the doctrine of the trinity before a person has experienced God both as Father, Son and Spirit, but another reason can be the lack of understanding of how we are created ourselves. In the first chapter of the Bible God says: 

“Let US create man in OUR own image!” Genesis 1:26 

– If God is a trinity, a human being must be a trinity also!

Through history dualism has influenced man’s understanding of himself. This is a Hellenistic thought but has often found its way into Christian teaching even though it is considered a heresy. We know that man is created with body, soul and spirit (1. Thess. 5:23). In our soul we find our personality, intellect, emotions and will – we may say that our soul is the seat of our self-consciousness. We also know that we have a body – and so far even the Gnostics (the Hellenistic philosophers) do agree in their dualism. The body is the seat of our world-consciousness because it is by the means of our body we relate to this world. But when we have become Christians we are also aware of the fact that we have a spirit. This spirit of man longs for God, and if a gospel is not preached or received, this urge will make man create a god in his own image. But having accepted salvation through what Jesus did for us on Calvary and having received his Spirit in our spirit, we know the experience of harmony, integration and love which is also the character of a triune Godhead. Because I know myself and my experience of God I know that this must be a correct way of trying to explain God. Our spirit is the seat of our God-consciousness.

The Bible gives us another picture which in a wonderful way helps us to explain the triune God. 

“Don’t you know that you yourselves are God’s temple and that God’s Spirit lives in you?” 1. Cor 3:16

The Temple was a triune building. It consisted of the court, the holy place and the most holy place.

Everybody had access to the court – there was even a part of it which was called the court of the Gentiles. If we follow the thought that our body is visible to the world (our world-consciousness) and that God in Jesus was made visible to the world, we can see how this comes together.

Only selected people had access to the holy place. The priests went in there daily to do the prescribed rituals (Heb. 9:6). This is an excellent picture on the soul of man. We know that the soul is the seat of the self-consciousness with personality, intellect, emotions and will – we decide whom we will invite into our “holy place”. We select with whom we will share emotions and thoughts. Before Christ this was the same with God the Father. Only the people he selected were given access to his “holy place” and could share his thoughts and emotions. But in Christ all people are selected to come into this divine fellowship – and if we see the picture of the Temple, we see that to be able to come to the “holy place” you have to pass through the court. In the same way the access to fellowship with God goes through the court = Jesus (John 14:6).

The Most Holy Place” is the core of the Temple = the core of God – His Spirit. This is also the real core of man – his yarning for God his Creator, and the reason why the Bible very often refers to the spirit of man as the “heart of man”. Only the High priest had access to the “Most Holy Place” once a year to sacrifice on behalf of the people.

And now, for me, one of the most exciting happenings in the history: In the moment Jesus died the curtain into the “Most Holy Place” was torn from the top to the bottom. This was a 30 cm thick woven curtain which was 10m tall – try to imagine the sound! This was not an isolated incident without any spiritual reference. In the very same moment the same thing happened in the spiritual world. It happened in every human being: the curtain to the spirit of man was torn – as a miracle there was made an opening from God’s heart to man’s heart. This is also why the Bible names Jesus as our High Priest, because he entered into the Most Holy Place with the perfect sacrifice and opened the way for men to God’s heart, but also a way for God to man’s heart.

When I go to God through Jesus Christ, and because curtain is torn I receive His Spirit in my most holy place – my spirit. He dwells there, but does not close the door behind him – the holiness of His Spirit should flow from my most holy place, to my holy place. He should influence my thoughts, my emotions and my will. He should even flow to the court – my body, so that His holiness should be seen in me. This sounds like the doctrine of holiness, and further this doctrine is easier to grasp if we allow the Spirit to reveal for us the beautiful thought about God as a triune God. Vice versa, an experience of holiness will help us understand this way of describing the Godhead. If He reveals for me the true picture of myself, the true picture of the Temple, I will see the true God – three in one!

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¹ derives from the Latin word trinitas the combination of tres (three) and unus (one)

Published in the Russian War Cry 2006