Trinity

Yesterday, Jordan and I attended the first membership class for the church we've been attending. We're really excited to make our place at ECC official.

I really liked how the class was organized -- basically, the pastor went through a history of the church, starting with the 12 disciples and leading up to today and showing how ECC fit into that big picture story. It was really cool to hear about the church in such a condensed session -- it really brought together some things from the Bible (like Acts) and history (including the different councils where theology was developed) that I had never connected before.

One especially interesting thing I learned was a 4-part exegesis of the doctrine of the Trinity. If you don't know already, the Trinity is both unique and central to the Christian faith. Regardless of whether you are Catholic, Baptist, Reformed, Lutheran, Pentecostal, Methodist or Episcopal -- you will probably hold true the doctrine of the Trinity. In addition, the Trinity itself demonstrates many other things which are unique to Christianity including things like the incarnation and forgiveness of sins. As you read through the Bible, look for these 4-key parts of identifying the trinity and you can develop for yourself the doctrine of Trinity just as the early church fathers did.

1. Each member of the Trinity is address by divine names (for example, "Holy, Holy, Holy" is a name used for both God in the Old Testament and Jesus in Revelation)
2. Each member of the trinity is assumed to have divine attributes (for example, "Before all time" implies eternality which is used for both God, Jesus and the Holy Spirit)
3. Each  engages in divine action which only God can accomplish
4. Each is thought to be worthy of divine worship.