Preparing for the Future—Lectionary Reflection for Trinity Sunday, C (John 16:12-15)

John 16:12-15 New Revised Standard Version Updated Edition

¹² “I still have many things to say to you, but you cannot bear them now. ¹³ When the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all the truth, for he will not speak on his own but will speak whatever he hears, and he will declare to you the things that are to come. ¹⁴ He will glorify me because he will take what is mine and declare it to you. ¹⁵ All that the Father has is mine. For this reason I said that he will take what is mine and declare it to you.

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                The Christian doctrine of the Trinity is not easily understood. Christians affirm the Trinity (at least most do) but aren’t sure what it all means. Popular versions often end either in some form of tri-theism (three separate gods) or modalism (God wears different masks). Scripture doesn’t offer a clear and explicit form of trinitarian theology. It took until the fourth century before the “mainstream” church figured out a formula, which we find present in the Nicene-Constantinopolitan Creed. I use the full name here because while the Council of Nicaea (325 CE) came up with a formula that included the use of the word homoousious (One Substance) to describe the divine essence shared equally by Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, debates raged on throughout the century leading to an expanded revised version of the original creed at a Council held in the imperial capital of Constantinople in 381. Of course, that didn’t settle everything, which is why we still wrestle with the doctrine to this day. 

                So, as the larger Christian world observes this year the 1700^th anniversary of the Council of Nicaea and its creed (note that I have been blogging through the Nicene Creed), on this particular Sunday in the Christian year, churches are stopping to ponder the nature of God. How might the one God (we are monotheists) exist as three persons? The reading from the Gospel of John will not resolve this question. In fact, what John and other New Testament writers do is raise more questions. Here in John’s farewell address, Jesus offers a word of comfort to his followers as they prepare to face the prospect of losing Jesus in the near future. Throughout this address, Jesus speaks of the Holy Spirit (Paraclete), which Jesus will send to be with them as they face life without his physical presence.

                Each year, Trinity Sunday follows Pentecost Sunday. Now that the word of the coming of the Holy Spirit has been revealed, it is time to bring things to a proper closure. As I noted, there is no clear and explicit reference to the Trinity, though the baptismal formula from Matthew 28 comes close. Here in John 16, we find Jesus making references to the coming Holy Spirit and the Father who sends the Spirit. Of course, Jesus is there. There isn’t a trinitarian formula, but we can discern here something of God’s identity. There is a linkage of some form, such that Jesus and the Spirit do not act on their own, but in concert with the Father.

                Jesus tells the disciples, as he prepares them for what is coming, that he has more to teach them. However, the time is short. While he won’t be there to teach them, the Spirit of Truth is coming. Orthodox theologian Sergius Bulgakov takes note of John’s vision of the Spirit of Truth, writing:

On the other hand, the Third hypostasis is the Spirit of Truth, the guide to all truth (John 16:13), or, according to the old patristic comparison, the breath of God’s lips. The Holy Spirit is, as it were, the transparent medium in and through which the Logos is seen. This corresponds to the hypostatic character of the Holy Spirit as hypostatic love. For love has itself in another, exists only in self-identification with another; it does not exist, as it were, in and for itself, but this non-existence manifests the whole power of its existence, for it is by love that the other exists, that life in the other is realized. [Bulgakov, The Comforter (Kindle pp. 273-274). Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co.]  

The Spirit of Truth will guide them to the truth, thus teaching them everything they need to know. This is an important word for our post-truth era. Unfortunately, even people who claim to follow Jesus seem willing to embrace so-called “alternative facts” on all kinds of issues, especially science. What the Spirit reveals does not originate with the Spirit but with the Father, who will send the Spirit. The good news here is that even though we might not have everything we need to know at this moment, the Spirit of Truth will deliver it at the appropriate time.

                The good news here is that the Spirit will take what belongs to Jesus and comes from the Father, and make it known as needed. The thing is, there is more to learn, so we need to be open to what the Spirit reveals. Augustine comments on this word about what the Spirit reveals, in terms of a trinitarian vision. Perhaps this paragraph will prove helpful.

4. But when He says, “He shall receive of mine, and shall show it unto you,” listen thereto with Catholic ears, and receive it with Catholic minds. For not surely on that account, as certain heretics have imagined, is the Holy Spirit inferior to the Son; as if the Son received from the Father, and the Holy Spirit from the Son, in reference to certain gradations of natures. Far be it from us to believe this, or to say it, and from Christian hearts to think it. In fine, He Himself straightway solved the question, and explained why He said so. “All things that the Father hath are mine: therefore, said I, that He shall take of mine, and shall show it unto you.” What would you like more? The Holy Spirit thus receives of the Father, of whom the Son receives; for in this Trinity the Son is born of the Father, and from the Father the Holy Spirit proceedeth. He, however, who is born of none, and proceedeth from none, is the Father alone. But in what sense it is that the only-begotten Son said, “All things that the Father hath are mine” (for it certainly was not in the same sense as when it was said to that son, who was not only begotten, but the elder of two, “Thou art ever with me; and all that I have is thine),”¹⁶⁵⁶ will have our careful consideration, if the Lord so will, in connection with the passage where the Only-begotten saith to the Father, “And all mine are Thine, and Thine are mine;”¹⁶⁵⁷ so that our present discourse may be here brought to a close, as the words that follow require a different opening for their discussion.  [Augustine, Tractates on John 100, NPNF].

This reading from the Gospel of John will not answer all our questions about the Trinity. Augustine, in his comments on the passage, wishes to make sure we know that whatever is said in John 16 about the three persons in the Trinity, neither the Son nor the Spirit is put in a subordinate position.

While there have been many attempts to nail down God’s triune nature, finding a fully satisfying answer has been elusive. The fourth century attempts to do this discerned a formula and an appropriate  Greek word — homoousias—to describe God’s essence (ousia) which each member (hypostasis) of the Trinity shares in, such that there is one ousia and three hypostases, each of which has its own integrity.  

                Ultimately, when it comes to the Trinity and our attempts to understand the concept, we might want to engage the subject liturgically. Perhaps the place to start is in worship, where we declare our faith in the triune God. We can sing hymns of praise, declaring with Thomas Troeger, “May the church at prayer recall that no single holy name but the truth behind them all is the God whom we proclaim” [Refrain: “Source and Sovereign, Rock and Cloud”]

                As we ponder the meaning of this word about the coming of the Spirit of Truth, who speaks what the Father reveals, we need to remember that truth is more relational than facts are. Nevertheless, truth is not an alternative to facts on the ground. Otherwise, truth has no foundation and thus doesn’t exist.  When it comes to the Trinity, we are talking about something that is ultimately beyond scientific proof. We can see signs of God’s work all around us, but God’s essence cannot be accessed. So, we have to take the testimony of the church seriously, especially those early theologians who were trying their best to make sense of the hints given throughout the New Testament. In many ways, the Nicene-Constantinopolitan Creed does this, though imperfectly. However, we conceive of the Trinity, John’s Jesus wants us to know that God will provide what is needed for the journey into the future.