True Spiritual Authority is Trinitarian

True Spiritual Authority is Trinitarian

This past Sunday at services we looked at how the church that Jesus wants to love us into is a church that submits to His spiritual authority that He exercises in and through the church.  For a fair number of folks, I realize this may be the first sermon we’ve heard on this subject in our lives.  That is a tragedy, for it means we have been robbed of knowing and enjoying more of our Triune God.  Let me explain.

We worship a single God who is yet three persons within the Godhead.  The Athanasian Creed written in the early 5^th century is a masterful summary of the Bible’s teaching on the unity of the 3 persons in one God.  It describes the Trinitarian nature of God this way:

3. And the Catholic Faith is this: That we worship One God in Trinity, and Trinity in Unity;

4. Neither confounding the Persons: nor dividing the Substance.

5. For there is one Person of the Father: another of the Son: and another of the Holy Spirit.

6. But the Godhead of the Father, of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, is all one: the Glory equal, the Majesty coeternal.

7. Such as the Father is: such is the Son: and such is the Holy Spirit.

8. The Father uncreated: the Son uncreated: and the Holy Spirit uncreated.

9. The Father incomprehensible: the Son incomprehensible: and the Holy Spirit incomprehensible.

10. The Father eternal: the Son eternal: and the Holy Spirit eternal.

11. And yet they are not three eternals but one eternal.

12. As also not three uncreated, nor three incomprehensibles, but one uncreated: and one incomprehensible.

13. So, likewise, the Father is Almighty: the Son Almighty: and the Holy Spirit Almighty.

14. And yet they are not three Almighties but one Almighty.

15. So the Father is God: the Son is God: and the Holy Spirit is God.

16. And yet they are not three Gods but one God.

17. So likewise the Father is Lord: the Son Lord: and the Holy Spirit Lord.

18. And yet not three Lords: but one Lord.

19. For like as we are compelled by the Christian verity: to acknowledge every Person by Himself to be God and Lord:

20. So are we forbidden by the Catholic Religion to say: There be three Gods, or three Lords.

21. The Father is made of none: neither created nor begotten.

22. The Son is of the Father alone: not made, nor created: but begotten.

23. The Holy Spirit is of the Father and of the Son: neither made, nor created, nor begotten: but proceeding.

24. So there is one Father, not three Fathers: one Son, not three Sons: one Holy Spirit, not three Holy Spirits.

25. And in this Trinity none is before or after another: none is greater or less than another.

26. But the whole three Persons are coeternal, and coequal.

27. So that in all things, as aforesaid: the Unity in Trinity, and the Trinity in Unity, is to be worshipped.

28. He therefore that will be saved, must thus think of the Trinity.

About a thousand years later, the Westminster Assembly of pastors and theologians would re-affirm this Biblical doctrine of unity and yet diversity in the Larger Catechism:

9. How many persons are there in the Godhead?

There be three persons in the Godhead, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost; and these three are one true, eternal God, the same in substance, equal in power and glory; although distinguished by their personal properties.

 

10. What are the personal properties of the three persons in the Godhead?

It is proper to the Father to beget the Son, and to the Son to be begotten of the Father, and to the Holy Ghost to proceed from the Father and the Son from all eternity.

You might be saying, “OK, that and $2.50 might get you a small latte.” So what does that have to do with spiritual authority and my life?  Here’s the connection: the very nature of God as a Trinity is the ultimate picture of how we can be equally valued in the church and yet have distinct roles!  Scripture declares we are all made “in the image of God”- that means our lives are meant to reflect God’s own nature including His nature as a Trinity.  We do this in the church as we love one another in a way that reflects the love each person in the Trinity has for one another. We also do this in the church as elders relate to other members as servant-leaders and as members submit to their elders.  When we do this from hearts full of gospel-created love, then there will be an equal valuing even while real authority is expressed between elders and members.

I love how Pastor Kevin Miller describes the Trinity’s love, authority, and submission in action:

“The Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit live in absolute unity of love. The Father glorifies the Son. The Son gives glory to the Father. The Spirit knows the thoughts of God and prays to God for our sake. The Father has all authority, yet he gives that authority to the Son, and the Spirit speaks on God's authority. Meanwhile, the Son lives in absolute obedience to the Father, for the Son does only what he sees the Father doing. And the Spirit is sent by the Father in the name of Jesus…. Do you see that in the Trinity there's no jealousy, no politics, no power plays? The reason we can't find many good analogies for the Trinity is that we constantly live in such broken relationships that it's hard for us to imagine a Community in which there's constant joy and creativity and each Person pouring himself out for the others. It sounds crazy, but I think it would be theologically accurate to say: ‘God is a party, and you're invited.’”

The church is to be a party of grace and holiness that shows the world the Trinitarian nature of the one true God.  That party will only become visible when we give up our consumer attitude towards the church that keeps us independent and un-submissive to Christ’s authority in the church.  That party will only become visible when elders dedicate themselves by God’s grace to live as servant-leaders who humbly exercise redemptive spiritual authority in people’s lives and to live in mutual submission to their fellow elders as Christ’s authority-bearers (something each man vows upon ordination). 

This is what it means to really become fully human, to begin to live again in the image of God, to experience and demonstrate to the world the party of grace and holiness that our hearts were made to long for at the deepest level of our being.