Trinitarian Community

From outset of my Christian walk, Trinitarian theology has permeated my thinking. I’ve always known the doctrine as that which distinguished orthodoxy from heresy. Furthermore, I've had no problem seeing it present within the biblical text. Though it is not "explicitly" there, the NT writings drip with Trinitarian theology, despite the fact that their authors did not formulate it as systematically as the 4th century fathers did.

Though this doctrine has flooded my beliefs for years now, I don’t think I fully valued it until the last two years. Yes, I understood it theologically (as much as is possible) and intellectually, but I never understood its practical implications – that is, why this doctrine actually speaks life into the soul of the Christian community.

Then 3 years ago I was reading a lot of Feminist and Liberation theology texts. The doctrine of the Trinity in these circles has distinct and direct practical applications. Trinitarian theology is no mere abstraction for them or purely pragmatically beneficial in polemical debates - it actually does something.

When I began to look at my own understanding of the Trinity, I realized that the doctrine meant nothing to me on a practical level – aside from the fact that it let me know my theology is orthodox. It had no real practical value in everyday life. It meant nothing to how my family functioned or I worked within my ecclesiastical community.

As I read the Feminist and Liberationists, not only did I realize I needed to rethink the Trinity’s practical applications, but I also realized the Feminists and the Liberationists have got much of its application correct!

Within the Trinity there is a loving relationship. This loving relationship produces reciprocal submission amongst the members of the Trinitarian community. The three persons are of one essence (ousia), and thus are ontologically equal, even though they willingly submit to one another at different points. The Holy Spirit (though often identified by Feminists as the ‘mother’) has no gender, neither does the Father (ontologically speaking). The only one with gender is the Son (and that becomes a reality only at the incarnation). This suggests that the Trinity basically transcends gender.

The mutual submission of equal members of the Trinitarian community ought to be reflected in the life of the Christian community. We are supposed to be equal and in submission to one another at different times – reciprocal submission, as Paul hinted at in Ephesians 5. This submission transcends gender boundaries as our community of faith strives to look like the Triune God. Yes, gender is present, but gender does not create inequalities – practically or ontologically.

These communal relationships, in reflection of the Triune community, ought to be characterized by love. Contrary to Calvinism which sees God’s primary attribute as his sovereignty, the biblical support lies in the primary attribute being love. (Sovereignty is a conditional attribute – that is, it exists in relationship to creation. Love is not contingent upon a creation – love exists within the Godhead before the creation ever appears.)

Thus, love should characterize the Christian community. All else submits to this. Yes, justice and love may go hand in hand, but justice can never exist without love – justice without love is revenge. Thus, God is a social being who relates socially within Himself and to created persons. He primarily relates within these social settings in a loving manner. If Christians are to reflect this Trinitarian community, this makes the doctrine of the Trinity not only invaluable to the practical life of the church, but it makes it an especially relevant model for us in our gender relationships, social hierarchies (within the covenant community), and our call to social justice.