Why We Need the Trinity

I've been reading this afternoon a new book from Mike Reeves, "The Good God",  a slim, punchy, hard-hitting little volume about the Trinity. I'll post a review soon, but for the moment I just wanted to share a few things - a few reasons why we need the Trinity, as a doctrine and as part of our Christian life.

Upcoming book - review tomorrow!

Firstly, we often think/say/are told that the Doctrine of the Trinity is irrelevant and pointless. That would put is right back to some of the first heresies - and it would be dangerous. Mike Reeves is quick - and right - to point out that this is not the case. As well as providing a reasonable basis for the book, Mike allows this observation to lead to another. It's perhaps an obvious one, but its key. When we proclaim Jesus as Lord, we are saying a range of things. We are talking about Jesus - the Son of God, the Christ. The Son needs a Father, and the term 'Christ' implies anointing and working with the Spirit. The basic Christian confession of faith is inherently Trinitarian!


Secondly, and this is going into territory previously un-charted by this blog, there is maths! This may come as a surprise. Reeves expertly talks about a variety of conflicting world-views, theologies and mythologies, and concludes that maths only makes sense a Trinitarian God at the centre. To the Buddhist, 1+1 can often equal 1. To the individual not clued up on basic maths, 1+1 could occasionally equal 83. Reeves makes a brilliant observation:

"There needs to be such a thing as ultimate plurality for maths to make any real sense, for me to believe that '2' actually means something. And yet there also needs to be such a thing as ultimate unity so that 1+! always = 2 and not sometimes 83. To be coherent and meaningful, maths requires the existence of ultimate plurality in unity"

It's a bold observation, but I think its a valid one. The Doctrine of the Trinity - and more importantly, the Trinitarian God of Love and creation that it describes, gives us a reasonable basis for maths.


The third and final reason that Christians need to consider the Doctrine of the Trinity - and be able to articulate it - is so that we know what God we are actually believing in. As I've blogged on before, the Christian God is very different from the Islamic God, Allah. In his book, Reeves is good at pointing out differences between Allah and the God of the Bible and reality. Reeves critically examines one of the 99 names of Allah - "The Loving", and asks the question, "how could Allah be loving in eternity?". A solitary God cannot love itself/himself - the title explicitly does not mean self-loving - only a triune God can be self-loving. Only Yahweh, the God of the Bible, Father Son and Holy Spirit, can be a God of love ETERNALLY, in contrast to any other supposed deity.


Mike Reeves has written a great book - these are just three reasons why people need to think through the Doctrine of the Trinity - review coming soon!