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SCRIPTURE READINGS
PROVERBS 8:1-4,22-31
ROMANS 5:1-5
JOHN 16:12-15

TRINITY SUNDAY REFLECTION

The theme for our Trinity Sunday reflection is “Grace, Love and Fellowship. Christians all over the world observe Trinity Sunday to celebrate God’s unique revelation to humanity in three unique or distinct but inseparable personalities. The unity of Father, Son and Holy Spirit as three persons in one Godhead. In other words, God revealed Himself to humanity as a loving  Father, a gracious Son and an empowering Holy Spirit that fellowships with believers. The God we worship is a Triune God. The human mind has not fully comprehended the revelation and doctrine of the Trinity although it is evident in Scripture. How can God manifest Himself in three ways and yet remain the same God? This is a divine mystery. Some erroneously think that Christians worship three Gods. The fact remains that, we worship one God who has three personalities based on the manner He chose to reveal Himself to humanity. Paul in his concluding words to the Church of Corinth prayed for the blessings of the Trinity for them when he wrote, “The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ and the love of God and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all. (2 Corinthians 13:14). Paul attributes three functions unique to each personality in the Trinity, these function is the theme for our reflection and we shall discuss the functions or work of the personalities in the Trinity as mentioned by Paul. They are:

1. Grace
2. Love
3. Fellowship

Firstly,  grace is attributed to the Son, who is our Lord Jesus Christ in the Trinity. “The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ” (2 Corinthians 13:14). Grace means unmerited favour God made His living Word or Wisdom available to humanity and the world through Jesus Christ.  Jesus Christ who is the logos, in other words, the Wisdom or Word of God had co-existed with God before the creation of the universe and humanity. King Solomon’s description of wisdom eulogized Jesus Christ as God’s gracious revelations of Himself to the world when he wrote in our first scripture reading, “Before the mountains had been shaped, before the hills, I was brought forth before he had made the earth with its fields, or the first of the dust of the world. When he established the heavens, I was there; when he drew a circle on the face of the deep when he made firm the skies above when he established the fountains of the deep when he assigned to the sea its limit so that the waters might not transgress his command when he marked out the foundations of the earth, then I was beside him, like a master workman, and I was daily his delight, rejoicing before him always, rejoicing in his inhabited world and delighting in the children of man.” (Proverbs 8:25-31). God made His Word, Jesus Christ, graciously come into the world through His incarnation and His offer of salvation. It is for this reason, during Jesus’s baptism we saw the manifestation of the Trinity and God said, “This is my Son, whom I have chosen; listen to him.” (Luke 9:35) Again, to prove that Jesus is God’s Word and Wisdom that has been graciously given for our salvation, God said during the Transfiguration event, “This is my Son, whom I love; with him I am well pleased. Listen to him!” (Matthew 17:5). John also confirmed Jesus’ gracious incarnation to safe the world when he wrote, “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God.  All things were made through him, and without him was not anything made that was made. In him was life, and the life was the light of men. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.” (John 1:1-5). Dear friend, the only way we can be saved is through the grace and saving knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ, who is the Logos, Word or Wisdom of God made manifest in human flesh.

Secondly, the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit is not complete without the Love of the Father. It is the love of the Father that led to the incarnation of the Son into human flesh for Him to be sacrificed so that we can become beneficiaries of the fellowship of the Holy Spirit. Paul confirmed this fact when he wrote, “For what the law was powerless to do because it was weakened by the flesh, God did by sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh to be a sin offering. And so he condemned sin in the flesh, 4 in order that the righteous requirement of the law might be fully met in us, who do not live according to the flesh but according to the Spirit.” (Romans 8:3-4) Again, to understand the love of God, John 3:16-18 tells us that “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him. Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only Son of God.” In other words, through the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, we experience the love of the Father and through the fellowship of the Holy Spirit, this love is made active in our lives so that we may live a righteous life. This is the reason we have maintained that God has three distinct but inseparable personalities. It is important to note that God’s love has always been available to humanity even before the fall of human beings or the sin of Adam and Eve, His love was made incarnate through the person of Jesus Christ who graciously bore our sins so that we “…may have life and have it abundantly” (John 10:10).

Thirdly, having experienced the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ as the manifestation of the Father’s love, God equips and empowers the church or believers through the fellowship of the Holy Spirit to live according to His will and the truth. It was for this reason Jesus assures us in the third Scripture reading that “I still have many things to say to you, but you cannot bear them now.  When the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all the truth…” (John 16:12-13). A believer who fails to fellowship with the Holy Spirit will be powerless and defeated by temptations. They will no longer live and worship God in Spirit and truth for “God is spirit, and those who worship him must worship in spirit and truth.” (John 4:24). The Holy Spirit teaches us to obey God’s Wisdom or Word who Jesus Christ. Jesus came to teach all that is written about God in Scripture. Without the Trinity, our Christian life is empty and our salvation is worthless, it is for this reason, that Jesus acknowledged the efficacy of the Trinity in the believer’s life when He said “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.” (Matthew 28:18-20). If we rely on the Holy Spirit, He will lead us to live by the truth so that we will continually please God until the second coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.

In summary, through the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, we experience the Love of God and through the fellowship of the Holy Spirit, we are empowered to live according to the truth and will of God until the return of our Lord Jesus Christ. May we continue to experience the power and blessings of the Trinity or the Triune God in our lives as faithful believers. Amen.