1 Introduction
The Trinity is one of the most difficult
aspects of Christian theology yet at the same time arguably the most important.
What we understand God to be like impacts how we understand what God does. Robert
Letham has suggested that “In the West, the Trinity has in practice been
relegated to such an extent that most Christians are little more than practical
modalists.”[1] In other words, in practical
terms, the Trinity really has no impact on the way most Christians live and
move within their faith.
How can
this be?
Clearly,
if theologians suggest that this a “fundamental aspect of the Christian vision
of God”[2] then
surely this must have an impact on the way we worship, the way we engage in
mission as well as our understanding of what it means to be a people of the
Triune God. These are the things we will be focusing upon today. So, whilst we
will make an attempt to describe the Trinity in ways that are understandable,
really the question is “What difference
does a belief in the Trinity make?”
