October 8th, 2025
What makes Christianity distinct is which God we worship. We worship not just an undefined idea or image of God (and yes, we all have an image of God in our minds). What makes Christianity distinct is not just Jesus, either. You can have Jesus, but the wrong Jesus or Jesus in the wrong story.
From its very beginning, what has made Christianity distinct is the Trinity. This is all over the pages of the New Testament, and it was the foundation of the earliest Christians who followed in the footsteps of Jesus' apostles.
The Trinity means that Jesus is not just the connection to the Father or the one who forgives our sins. Jesus is the Son, who eternally has been the Son in relationship to the Father. Which means there was never a time when the Father was not "Father." And the Spirit has always been the necessary life and love that flows out from the Father and the Son. It's not that we confess or believe in these three: Father, Son, and Spirit. It's that this is who God is -- a relational community of three persons in unity who give life to the world.
Sin is when we live outside of this reality. Salvation is restoring us into this reality, where our lives reflect who the Trinity is and how the Trinity lives; where our identity is found as a participant in the household of the Triune God, rather than attempting to be "self-made"; where we live toward our neighbor in a way that reflects the relationships within the Trinity. This is why Jesus commands us to "love our enemies." This is why Paul's letters are full of encouragement to love and serve one another. This is our witness to the world. This is how we were made to live, because the God who made us and all things is the Trinity. This is the magnificent story.
From its very beginning, what has made Christianity distinct is the Trinity. This is all over the pages of the New Testament, and it was the foundation of the earliest Christians who followed in the footsteps of Jesus' apostles.
The Trinity means that Jesus is not just the connection to the Father or the one who forgives our sins. Jesus is the Son, who eternally has been the Son in relationship to the Father. Which means there was never a time when the Father was not "Father." And the Spirit has always been the necessary life and love that flows out from the Father and the Son. It's not that we confess or believe in these three: Father, Son, and Spirit. It's that this is who God is -- a relational community of three persons in unity who give life to the world.
Sin is when we live outside of this reality. Salvation is restoring us into this reality, where our lives reflect who the Trinity is and how the Trinity lives; where our identity is found as a participant in the household of the Triune God, rather than attempting to be "self-made"; where we live toward our neighbor in a way that reflects the relationships within the Trinity. This is why Jesus commands us to "love our enemies." This is why Paul's letters are full of encouragement to love and serve one another. This is our witness to the world. This is how we were made to live, because the God who made us and all things is the Trinity. This is the magnificent story.
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