The Deep Things of God: How the Trinity Changes Everything

by Fred Sanders

Our great need is to be led further in to what we already have. The gospel is so deep that it not only meets our deepest needs but comes from God’s deepest self. The salvation proclaimed in the gospel is not some mechanical operation that God took on as a side project. It is a “mystery that was kept secret for long ages” (Rom. 16:25), a mystery of salvation that goes back into the heart of God, decreed “before the foundation of the world” (Eph. 1:4; 1 Pet. 1:20). When God undertook our salvation, he did it in a way that put divine resources into play, resources that involve him personally in the task. The more we explore and understand the depth of God’s commitment to salvation, the more we have to come to grips with the triunity of the one God. The deeper we dig into the gospel, the deeper we go into the mystery of the Trinity. The Puritan theologian Thomas Goodwin taught that the proclamation of the gospel was the “bringing forth and publishing” of a mystery that God had treasured from all eternity and that “the things of the gospel are depths—the things of the gospel . . . are the deep things of God.”

A gospel that is only about the moment of conversion but does not extend to every moment of life in Christ is too small. A gospel that gets your sins forgiven but offers no power for transformation is too small. A gospel that isolates one of the benefits of union with Christ and ignores all the others is too small. A gospel that must be measured by your own moral conduct, social conscience, or religious experience is too small. A gospel that rearranges the components of your life but does not put you personally in the presence of God is too small.