A bridge to far…

“The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the communion of the Holy Ghost, be with you all. Amen.” 2 Corinthians 13:14 (AV)

Is the Trinity an essential doctrine to Christianity?  The first line of the Athanasian Creed reads, “Whosoever will be saved, before all things it is necessary that he hold the catholic faith…” it then goes on to confess the triune nature of God.  Is the catholic faith Trinitarian?  Is it necessary to hold to the triune nature of God in order to be saved?  Is it necessary to have an understanding of the Trinity to find salvation?

The nature of God as revealed in the Bible is triune.  This fact has come under attack from various heresies inside and outside the Church.  Men have grappled with unity and diversity for 2000 years and still struggle to understand it.

So bottom line:

Is the Trinity an essential doctrine?  Clearly it is.  Every other doctrine truly understood has a triune nature from creation to re-creation.  If you deny the trinity you deny creation, salvation, revelation, etc.  All of the workings of God are the works of the Three and the One.

Is the catholic faith Trinitarian?  Clearly it is.  The catholic Church or the invisible Church is under the headship of Jesus Christ (Eph 5:23), its members are the elect chosen by the Father in Christ (Eph 1:4) and brought into union with Christ by the working of the Holy Spirit (1 Cor 12:13).  If that is not Trinitarian, what is?

Is it necessary to hold to the triune nature of God in order to be saved?  And is it necessary to have an understanding of the Trinity to find salvation?  I do not think so, with a caveat.  To claim that holding to the triune nature is necessary unto salvation would be to deny the ultimate and total sufficiency of the sacrifice of Jesus Christ.  I believe that you can be regenerated and justified without an understanding of the Trinity.  I also believe that, “…faith comes from hearing, and hearing through the word of Christ.” (Rom 10:17) and with a stronger faith will come a better understanding of the Trinity and the true nature of the God we worship.  Regeneration and justification are just two parts of the order of salvation.  Sanctification not only plays a part in our outward acts or visible good works but in our faith and relationship with God as well.  In union with Christ by the works of the Holy Spirit we will hear the Word, properly preached, see and partake in the sacraments, properly administered, and grow in our faith and understanding of God and His triune nature.

A close reader will note that I explain “Word, properly preached” and “sacraments, properly administered”.  I do not know how it would be ordinarily possible to come into a saving relationship with Christ outside of the catholic Church.  I believe that it is incumbent on the believer to ensure that they are in a Church that preaches “the word of Christ” and not the word of man.  When we are engaging with people outside of the catholic Church we need to engage them with the beliefs of Christianity.

What does this mean for people who engage others outside of the catholic Church.  Cornelius Van Til tells us this,

Christianity offers the triune God, the absolute personality containing all the attributes enumerated, as the God in whom we believe.  This conception of God is the foundation of everything else that we hold dear.  Unless we can believe in this sort of God, it does no good to be told that we may believe in some other sort of God, or in anything else.  For us everything depends for its meaning upon this sort of God.  Accordingly we are not interested to have anyone prove to us the existence of any other sort of God but this God.  Any other sort of God is no God at all, and to prove that some other sort of God exists is, in effect, to prove that no God exists. (The Defense of the Faith)

What is the point of online dialog with members of the Mormon Church?  From my perspective it is generally pointless if you think you will convince someone of another faith that their beliefs are wrong across the internet.  So why do I do it?  Plainly and simply, I want to better understand the beliefs and apologetic that Mormons use against Christianity.  I want to see what their answers are to a Christian apologetic.  I want to understand what to say and what not to say.  I never want to be intentionally insulting of Mormons and I want to understand how not to give unnecessary insult when engaging with them.  By doing this I come to a better understanding of how to engage with the Mormons in my life.  Gently and lovingly, slowly and patiently always ready with an answer when they have a question.

I believe it is considerate and compassionate to have an understanding of Mormon beliefs and to see how they think about theology.  I know it is important never to misrepresent Mormon beliefs or to caricature their doctrines.  I find it pointless and counter productive to be insulting about the “hot topics” of Mormon history.  But none of this is the end; it is the means to the end.  Polite and civil engagement is possible but not for the purpose of polite and civil discourse.  I have no desire to bridge a dived between Mormons and Christians.  The only bridge I want to see is the bridge out of Mormonism.

~ by gundek on July 5, 2009.