Old Testament Trinity: Andrew Rublev; c. 1425-1427

“The Trinity is the Church’s way of saying that God is so intimately, inwardly and steadfastly bound up with the whole of reality, both past and future, that nothing can separate us from God.  It is this relatedness which is certain, for all eternity, and that is the basis for our hope.” (Lee Snook; Word and World, Winter 1982, p.14)

“If a person once feels the infinite passion of God’s love which finds expression [in the cross], the he understands the mystery of the triune God.  God suffers with us – God suffers from us – God suffers for us: it is this experience of God that reveals the triune God.” (Jurgen Moltmann; The Trinity and the Kingdom, p.4, cf. p.39)

“Thou seest the Trinity when Thou seest love …

    For the lover, the beloved and the love are three.” (Augustine; De Trinitate VII, 12.14)

“The doctrine of the Trinity sums up the astonishingly rich and hard-won insights of Christian believers down the ages into the nature of God.  For the theologian, it is a safeguard against inadequate understandings of God; for the Christian believer, it is a reminder of the majesty and mystery of the God who gave himself for his people upon the cross. … Faced with the choice between an invented God who could be understood without the slightest difficulty, and the real God who couldn’t, the church unhesitatingly chose the latter option.  The believer will still find it easier to talk about ‘God’ than to talk about ‘the Trinity’, and need hardly be criticized for doing so.  But when that believer begins to reflect upon who this God whom he worships and adores is, his thought will move toward the ‘strong name of the Trinity.’  It is here that the long process of thinking about God comes to a stop, as we realize that we can take it no further.  And it is here that thought gives way to worship and adoration:

“Holy, holy, holy, Lord God Almighty!

All thy works shall praise thy name in earth and sky and sea;

Holy, holy, holy, merciful and mighty,

God in three Persons, blessed Trinity!” (Bishop Reginald Herber)