Delighting in the Trinity: An Introduction to the Christian Faith

by Michael Reeves

John Calvin said that the sinful human mind is like “a perpetual factory of idols,”[4] meaning that we are all constantly distorting the nature of God in our minds, making the Father of lights out to be less than he is, and devilish. In fact, this tendency is the very source of all spiritual coldness, for when we suspect that God is really a Stalin-in-the-sky, of course we run from him. We have a real challenge here, for it is very easy to speak about some “God-in-general,” perhaps as if there were some “God” behind and before Father, Son and Spirit. We can do a lot of such “God-talk,” even speaking about God’s constancy, glory, sovereignty and so on, and still not be clear which God we are talking about. The single-person God could be described as glorious, constant and powerful, but all such characteristics, when characteristics of that God, would be horrifying. Is he constant in his lovelessness? To what end does he use his frightful power? And what exactly is his glory? But the triune being of God changes the flavor and meaning of every word we use about him. His glory, for example, is entirely different than the glory of any other god; his power and justice quite unique. In fact, when we speak of God’s characteristics—God’s majesty, say—and we are clear that we are referring to the majesty of the Father, Son and Spirit, then God’s majesty shows itself to be something infinitely more beautiful than we could otherwise have seen. Of course, for now we have distinguished ...