Too often the focus has been on Jesus alone, neglecting Jesus’ relationships with the Father and the Spirit. As noted above, most “one person songs,” as well as the more general “you Lord songs,” focus on Jesus alone. Some call this Jesuology or Jesuolatry. Of course, the birth, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ are central to the Christian faith, and to its preaching and worship. “I resolved to know nothing while I was with you except Jesus Christ and him crucified” (1 Cor. 2:2).
Yet Jesus’ life and ministry can properly be understood only within His relationship to the Father and to the Spirit. For Jesus was sent on the Father’s mission to reconcile the world to Himself. As Jesus was obedient to His Father’s will, so He gave glory to His Father by his ministry. Through the Spirit, believers are able to call the Father “Abba,” for “the Spirit himself testifies with our spirit that we are God’s children” (Romans 8:16).
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Jesus is not a stand-alone figure, relegating the Father and Holy Spirit into shadowy, dispensable background roles. No part of Jesus’ life can be understood apart from his relationships within the Trinity. “Take the H out of H20 and you no longer have water. Take the Trinity out of Christian faith and practice and you no longer have Christian faith and practice.”5 Irenaeus, (an early church leader), pictured the Trinity as the Father with two hands — the Word (Jesus) and the Spirit. Inadequate though that picture is because it de-personalizes the Trinity, it emphasizes how the three persons must be seen working together. Remove any one and God is gravely disabled.
Bruce Ware lists key reasons why the Trinity is important, including: first, it “is one of the most important distinguishing doctrines of the Christian faith,” second, it is “both central and necessary for the Christian faith…remove the Trinity and the whole Christian faith disintegrates”and third, “worship of the true and living God consciously acknowledges the relationship and roles of Father, Son and Holy Spirit.”6
The doctrine of the Trinity has undergone dramatic renaissance through the 20th century. Theological giants like Karl Barth, Karl Rahner, Wolfhart Pannenberg and Jurgen Moltmann set about reinvigorating the classic doctrine, with a ferment of writing that continues until the present with Leonardo Boff, Catherine Mowry LaCugna and John Zizioulas. To this fresh thinking many evangelicals have responded thoughtfully and enthusiastically.
Note especially the applications of trinitarian theology to worship, as in the work of Harold Best, Tod E. Bolsinger, Marva Dawn, James B. Torrance, Kevin Navarro, Robin Parry and Jonathan R. Wilson.7 Preachers need to catch up with this ferment of fresh thinking about the Trinity for, as we shall see, Trinitarian theology has huge practical repercussions for preaching.